by George Wier
Ekka veered the vehicle in a sliding turn that took them out of the robot’s fire for a moment. The men acted fast and patched the holes with whatever was available. When they finished, Denys tore a piece of cloth from his white shirt and bound Teach’s forearm.
“Thankee, Jay-Patten. I be beholding to ye.”
“A round of grog while we sit under palms in Jamaica will be ample payment, my friend.”
Two Hats said, “Iron giant not know we friends?”
Ekka said, “It knows. There is treachery aboard the Arcadia.”
“Who?” Billy asked.
Ekka looked at him, “Merkam.” The robot sprayed the colored ropes of fire toward them, but Ekka expected it and cut sharply away again, and this time she positioned the Ares so the black, Gibralter-like rock was between them and the robot, blocking the line of sight. The tracing bullets continued to lace into the aliens on both sides of them, decimating hundreds, but none came at the Ares.
A hard thump came through the hull and suddenly Ekka saw aliens clinging to the Ares, slashing at it with bitter-looking swords, trying to gain entrance. She sped up, heedless of the dangerous stones peppering the landscape.
[ 91 ]
Ross sat in a daze on the engine room floor. He coughed once and red droplets spattered his shirtfront. He looked at his steel right arm, then reached his left hand across and patted it. The arm I damned is the one that saved me. He turned to look at the headless robot, still standing but inert.
Judah Merkam stepped into the room and looked at him. His eyes had an insane light in them. “You cannot have my air!”
Ross said, “What…?”
Jude went to the controls and worked them to accelerate the transmogrifier to the next level. He left without another word. Ross struggled to stand, but could not. Things were very, very wrong.
[ 92 ]
Tesla revived and saw Merkam staring out the glass, muttering to himself. Tesla followed his gaze and saw a blue glow and, here and there, blinks of red and green. “Jude, untie me. We can work out any problems.”
Jude spun to him, his face a furious mask. Then he blinked and staggered against the console. Merkam looked around as if unsure of his surroundings, then focused on Tesla tied on the floor. “Nikola, I am sorry.” He staggered to Tesla on rubbery legs and knelt to work the knots free.
A tremendous crash rocked the Arcadia and Merkam fell on his side. “What in heaven’s name?”
They both heard a skittering noise. An alien rushed into the room. It brandished a sword. Tesla said, “Untie me, Jude!”
The alien advanced toward them.
[ 93 ]
Ekka jerked the vehicle left and right, trying to throw off the aliens, but they clung to the hull and banged away with their swords. She had to be careful because every time the Ares was visible to the giant robot, it directed fire at them.
“They’re cracking the glass!” Denys said.
Ekka decided what she would do. She said, “Brace yourselves! We are going to the Arcadia!” She eased the Ares to the left until it was in a direct line on the spine of the black rock. She would drive the vehicle up the sloping back of it and launch them toward the giant robot and the ship.
Billy figured out what she was attempting. He touched her shoulder, “Do it, querida.”
The Ares rocketed up the sloping black rock and sailed through the emptiness.
The giant robot swung the machine gun and got off a short burst into the belly of the vehicle an instant before the nose of the Ares smashed it backwards into the ship. The force crushed the giant robot against the cargo door, tearing off its huge head and bursting the door inward. The gigantic body slid down along the Arcadia and ripped the ladder and cage from the vessel.
The Ares plunged into the cargo hold in a metal grinding growl and slid across the floor to bang into the interior safety door so hard it sprang open along the seam. Escaping air shot ice crystals into the cargo area. The robot head clanged off the wall and spun like a top. One alien lay pinned under the vehicles wheels, but the other one slid off the Ares. It scurried through the door’s icy crack and entered the Arcadia, sword in hand.
The vehicle lay as a broken mass of metal. Bullet holes showed everywhere. The door lay against the far wall and the glass in four portholes lay in pieces on the floor. Two Hats was shaken but uninjured. Teach and Jay-Patten had injuries, but none severe. Billy and Ekka were not so lucky.
The three men worked to free them. They could breathe only because the escaping air from the interior door left enough oxygen in the cargo hold for them to do so. It was bitter cold and thin, like air at the crest of a high mountain, but would keep them alive until the air pressure lessened, which would be soon.
Ekka was unconscious, with a bleeding gash on her head, but otherwise appeared unwounded. Billy was another story. A rod of metal had pushed backward on impact and skewered the gunman through the shoulder and out the back, where shiny metal extended another two feet.
“Get me off of here,” Billy hissed. He was conscious.
Teach and Jay-Patten grasped him. Denys said, “We will pull you off on the count of three.”
“Okay.”
Denys looked at Teach, and they understood one another. They firmed their grip and Denys said, “One— ” Teach and Jay-Patten jerked Billy off the rod in one strong pull.
Billy gasped, but didn’t yell out. He leaned against the wall, pale as flour and said, “How is Ekka?”
Teach said, “Two Hats carried her inside the ship. She is addled, but she is made of stern stuff.”
A movement caused them to turn. An alien walked toward the interior hatch. It carried a sword, and it had not seen them in the vehicle.
Denys scooped the pinned alien’s sword from the cargo hold deck as the alien became aware of their presence. When it raised its sword, Jay-Patten dispatched it with two strokes. He picked up the sword and tossed it to Teach. He turned to Billy, “Can you make it through the door?”
“Yes.”
“You have to deal with the trouble inside. Tell Two Hats he must guard the inside door and try to close if it he can.”
Teach said, “We stay here.”
Billy said, “They’re still coming.”
“By the thousands.” Teach reached beyond Billy and decapitated an alien coming into the icy hold.
Denys said, “Don’t say anything, Billy. Go inside, do something heroic and save the ship and the others. They need you.”
Teach said, “Ekka needs you. Now go.”
Billy left, wiping his eyes from the sudden moisture. He looked back once and slipped through the interior door.
Denys said, “It is an honor, sir.”
Teach bear-hugged him and laughed as he lifted the African in the air, “As it is mine, Denys.” He sat the man down. The floor below their feet vibrated with the hundreds of feet clawing up the exterior, coming to the open hatch.
Denys glanced at the open door of the Ares. “Where is Conklin?”
After that, the two men were too busy fighting to talk as aliens poured into the hold. Blades flickered and flashed, dropping bodies left and right and in front. Still they came. The ice crystals blew, coating the dead in white shrouds and the backs of the pirate and the big game hunter in ice.
Teach went down first, and Denys jumped in front of him, fighting like an avenging angel, laying waste to the aliens until bodies lay piled waist high all around them. He went down at last, falling with his arm across his friend.
[ 94 ]
When the Ares crashed, Conklin slid across the floor and out the open door, rolling to a stop two feet from the open interior door. He was unhurt, and removed his shoe to reach the scalpel. An alien went by him and entered the ship. He used the scalpel and was instantly free of his bonds. He crawled through the door. Conklin stood up inside the ship, listening. There was some commotion in the command deck. He wanted to disappear, not battle, so he descended toward the engine room.
[ 95 ]
<
br /> Merkam untied the last knot holding Tesla’s wrists and stood to face the alien. Tesla untied his ankles as Merkam maneuvered the alien to another part of the deck. The alien stopped pursuing him and looked at Tesla as he struggled to stand. It turned away from Merkam and raised the sword to strike down on the kneeling man.
Merkam charged the alien and knocked it staggering for several steps. The alien spun to face Merkam. Merkam said, “I am sorry, Nikola.”
The alien ran its sword through Judah Merkam’s chest, then pushed his sagging body off the blade.
[ 96 ]
Billy came through the hatch and saw Two Hats guarding it. Ekka was conscious, sitting up. Two Hats said, “You go to Judah. I hear noise.”
Billy pushed on the front wound in his should to staunch the blood and said, “Close the door.”
“But…”
“Denys and Teach told me to tell you. Close the door.”
“I close.”
Billy helped Ekka to her feet and both of them staggered up to the command deck. Billy stepped inside as the alien stabbed Merkam. He drew his pistol left-handed and shot the alien. It dropped beside Merkam.
Ekka went to Tesla and helped him rise. Billy was about to fall, but said, “The aliens are crawling all over this ship. We need to leave.”
Two Hats appeared and said, “Door closed.” There was a sad look in his eyes, but he said nothing more.
Tesla said, “Two Hats, go to Ross and tell him to get us into the sky.”
“Me tell.” He left as they all listened to the banging sounds echoing in the ship.
Tesla said, “Make ready. Billy, you must fly us. Ekka, you assist. Two Hats and I will work everything between here and the engine. With all the damage, there will be much to do.”
[ 97 ]
Conklin was near the engine room when he saw a bloody Jack Ross attempt to stand, but fail. The heat rushed through him. One more kill before I seclude myself. Jack The Ripper walked toward Ross, the scalpel in his hand.
Jack saw him and exclaimed, “Conklin!” The realization of who was Abigail’s real killer swept over him. Rage fueled adrenaline gave him strength and he stood.
The Ripper said, “I can’t give you all the time I would like, Jack. Pity, but I must have a little fun and then be off for Earth.” He went at Ross quick as a panther.
They collided in front of the headless robot and the Ripper stabbed deep with the scalpel. Ross gasped and swung his metal arm to knock the killer away, but the Ripper was too quick and ducked underneath the blow. He stabbed Ross two more times in rapid succession and stepped back.
Ross staggered and knew the wounds were mortal. The Ripper stood relaxed, looking at him. Jack hooked his metal arm around the back of the headless robot and shoved it at his killer.
The move was unexpected and the Ripper was not able to dodge the huge metal body as it crashed into him. He flew backwards against the spinning bulk of the transmogrifier. The headless robot’s weight pushed him hard into it.
The transmogrifier spun at one hundred revolutions per second, and the rough metal and wire exterior shaved minute portions of clothing, then skin, hair and bone from the serial killer.
Conklin screamed so high and shrill it sounded like a steam whistle. Ross collapsed against the far wall and watched. The transmogrifier began to smoke from the skin’s moisture, and when it hit the bone and shaved it into slivers, the entire engine vibrated in an uneven rhythm.
At the last, there was nothing left of Conklin, alias Jack The Ripper. Even his shoes were shaved to nothing. Jack Ross died with a faint smile on his face.
Two Hats stepped onto the scene and realized Ross was dead, and someone else, too. He smelled the area around the transmogrifier and knew who it was. There was nothing else he could do here. He returned to the command deck and informed the others.
[ 98 ]
The pounding on the ship’s exterior was increasing, and creaks and groans came from the cargo hold’s door. Tesla said, “We have no choice, we must ascend, even without enough oxygen to return alive. I would rather die attempting a return than have these things tear me to pieces.”
“Can you work the transmogrifier?” Billy asked Tesla.
“Yes, but these vibrations worry me. Something is irregular in the alignment.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Billy said, “We have to go. Now.”
Tesla said, “Are we agreed?”
The others said, “Yes,” in unison.
“So be it.” Nikola limped toward the bloody engine room.
Ekka looked out the glass where aliens crawled over the ship. Billy noticed it and said, “Like ants on a sugar hill.”
“Not ants. Owl-eye people in bug suits,” Two Hats said.
“And we are going to shake them off pretty soon. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Me too,” Two Hats said.
Ekka said, “Tesla is in the engine room. We should take our places.”
Tesla’s tinny voice came through the talking tubes, “I will do one extra thing before we lift off. Please do not touch anything metal until I give the okay.”
“What does he have up his sleeve?”
They found out ten seconds later, when the lights dimmed and jagged blue bolts of lightning jumped and arced from every metal surface. The smell of ozone was strong. Suddenly it stopped inside and the entire hull of the Arcadia erupted in thousands of lightning bolts striking anything and everything on or near the ship.
Aliens fell from the ship as if they were scraped off with a knife. Tesla’s voice returned, “Take us up.”
They ascended in a shaking, shuddering, vibrating bluish light and at a speed that gradually increased. Ekka had a chance to look out the glass as the ship rotated. She saw the aliens carrying off their dead, and carrying off the remains of the giant robot and the Ares, which had slipped from the hold on takeoff. In short order they were in the ether, but the vibrations did not lessen. An hour later, Ekka discovered a leak in the hull.
[ 99 ]
They met on the command deck and talked it over. Someone would have to go outside and repair the leak. Tesla said, “The ship’s irregular vibrations will make it difficult to repair.”
Two Hats ended the discussion early. “I go fix.” He pointed at each of them, “You hurt, you hurt, you too smart. I go.”
Billy left Ekka at the controls and went to help Two Hats don his space suit, although with only one good arm he wasn’t sure how much help he would be. When he was ready, Billy said, “Be careful out there. Anything can happen in the ether.”
Two Hats said, “I fix. You fly us home.”
“Deal.”
Two Hats exited the smaller undamaged entry hatch and worked his way across the hull in magnetic boots. The ship vibrated so strongly that it tickled the bottoms of Two Hats’ feet. The moon was huge and bright, for they were not far from it. The earth, on the other hand, looked like a blue ball streaked with white. The sight made Two Hats take a deep, slow breath.
He eased across the dented hull in slow, precise movements, and found the puncture ten minutes later. Repairing the small hole took another half hour. He stood up, satisfied. He looked at the moon and earth again, and felt happy. He walked to the glass windows on the command deck and peered inside. Billy and Ekka saw him, and Tesla was there, too. He waved at them and they waved back. Billy used sign language to ask if he repaired the hole, and Two Hats said yes. Billy motioned him to come back inside, and Two Hats nodded. He stood and looked at the small blue planet and smiled.
Something hit him hard and shot a bolt of burning cold though his body. His boots clicked loose from the ship and he drifted backward, stunned. He saw Ekka looking at him through the glass. Her mouth was open in a scream, but he could not hear it. Billy and Tesla pressed their faces to the glass beside her and mouthed words he could not hear.
He moved both hands to his stomach, and even through the gloves felt the air pressure blowing out of the small hole. He knew his stomach
was wet, too. Two Hats twisted his arm so the back of his hand rubbed against his back and he felt the air there, too. When he pulled the glove back, frozen red blood smeared it.
There was no pain. Two Hats was grateful for that. He was tired, and didn’t feel like showing his bravery by ignoring pain. He continued to drift away from the Arcadia, and his friends’ faces were small dark shadows on the glass. He waved his arms and legs and his body turned, ever so slowly, until he could see the blue planet. He was very tired now, and only wanted to watch the beautiful thing before him. He closed his eyes for a moment then reopened them. Things were blurring, but then he saw something else.
His wife and children stood before the family teepee and smiled at him. His wife, so young and beautiful, beckoned him to them. The children did the same. Things became clearer around them. It was summer, the grass was lush and green. Behind the teepee, The Powder River ran clear, and buffalo grazed beside it. His wife was closer now, and more beautiful than he ever remembered. His heart felt so full of warmth and happiness he could not breathe. She put her arms around his neck and pulled Two Hats to her, resting her head on his shoulder. The smell of her hair was like honey and fragrant summer flowers.
Two Hats turned her so he could look at her face. Her eyes took him in and he felt love so deep that nothing else mattered. She took his hand and the children followed as they walked through the green grass, into a warm, diffuse light that became all there was…
[ 100 ]
The three survivors aboard the Arcadia were devastated. Billy felt as though he lost a close brother, and something more: a last part of the old West. His sense of loss was so deep he could not cry, and he did not talk. Ekka and Tesla cried openly. Billy and Ekka had been witness to much death, but Tesla had not, and he was grief-stricken almost to the point of incoherence. They consoled each other as the Arcadia drifted in the ether. After an hour, Tesla said, “So much death, so many good ones killed, how do we go on? I do not know if I can. The pain is so near my heart I can scarcely breathe.”
