by Marc Everitt
The thought of that likely scenario only made him more determined to find out what was so special about Graves’ World. Well, he was not the sort of man to solve one puzzle when there were several around. He suddenly came upon a box that looked interesting and opened it to find a considerable cache of guns and weapons. Selecting a small, snub-nosed laser pistol and a heat sensitive motion tracker, he pondered that it was a shame that their last owner hadn’t taken them out with him a few moments ago. They may have saved his life. ‘A ship’, thought Taylor, ‘he must have had a ship hidden somewhere nearby’. He thought it would be wise to locate that vessel in case the death toll on the planet continued to rise and he needed to find a refuge for Eli. He began to search the room for a clue as to where the ship could be.
***
Earth
In Eli’s apartment, Benny 4 was just having its dinner. It had been programmed to need to eat as a way of making its owners feel needed. As it tucked into a nice bowl of simulated tuna chunks its ears pricked up with a low mechanical whirr. It could hear someone approaching the front door, but it didn’t sound like its master. The footfall was too quiet to be Eli, so the cat stopped eating and its claws slid out of its paws, ready for trouble. Padding quietly towards the door it was surprised to see the heavy door burst open with a huge thud and two men with a net enter the hallway grinning evilly. The cat recognised one of the men by his smell, certainly the same man who had tried to gain access before.
Well, he was back and he had brought a friend. The cat backed up, it’s heckles up and its back arched as the men walked slowly towards it, net held in front of them. It occurred to the cat that it couldn’t last long once caught in the net and so decided that it needed to avoid that scenario. As the tall familiar man veered to the left with the net, the smaller man charged at Benny 4 trying to scare it into running into the net.
‘These men must think I had my processors generated yesterday’, thought Benny 4 as it leapt straight upwards and came down on the onrushing figure of the smaller man. It sunk its metal claws in briefly and then leapt off and ran into the kitchen. The tall man screamed in frustration and ran after the cat, determined to not be made a fool of again. The smaller man merely screamed in pain. Once in the kitchen, the cat decided hiding was the best option and chose the biscuit barrel on top of the fridge as the best place. It had barely tucked its tail behind the container when the men came into the kitchen in a flurry of fury and inept restraint.
Tearing open various cupboards, the men searched for Benny 4 as it looked down upon them. ‘Why are they looking in there?’ it thought. ‘How do they think I opened the cupboards to get in there?’ One of the men turned towards the fridge and, for a second, Benny 4 thought it was finished. The man, however, opened the fridge and pulled out a beer, smiled brightly and began to drink.
“Wang! What the hell are you doing?” cried Rodriguez in despair. He hadn’t caught the cat straight away as planned and it was only a matter of time before the forced entry alarm led the police straight to them. They needed to be out of the flat within ten minutes or they were history and his idiot partner was stopping for drink.
“What?” shrugged Wang with genuine surprise, “I’m having a drink. What’s the problem?”
Rodriguez marched over to his cohort and hit him hard across the side of the head with the palm of his hand. “We’ve got to be gone in ten minutes. You idiot. Or haven’t you heard of forced entry alarms?”
“So, I can strip this flat in five minutes at the most. What is your problem? Forget the cat. So, it scratched your leg, so what?”
“So what? Did you know that a robo-cat’s memory chip can be removed and used as evidence? We need to catch the cat first and then we can go,” replied Rodriguez with exaggerated disdain and another blow to Wang’s ear. Before Wang could reply with anything other than a glare, he was struck hard on the temple by a metallic biscuit barrel and fell to the ground dazed and giddy. Rodriguez looked up in time to see the Robo-cat leap down from the fridge and run into the next room. His anger grew and he kicked Wang as he walked around the semi-conscious form on the kitchen floor.
Realising he had about eight minutes before he could expect police to attend the scene, he ran after the cat. As he passed through the living area he looked longingly at the electrical goods which sat there for the taking, if only he could catch the cat. He could see no sign of the mechanical terror and the clock was ticking. Benny 4 could see the tall man searching for it and can hear the other man, the one it had heard referred to as Wang, moaning in the kitchen. It had to stay hidden and out of reach as long as possible, but where could it hide where it would not be found? The tall man’s feet approached the cat’s hiding place and slowed.
The cat feared the worst, but then they moved on towards the other side of the room. Benny 4 could not believe it had not been found, it always hid in the same place when it had been mischievous and its master always found it immediately. This man was obviously a cretin. Under the bed was the first place to look, surely? The cat had an idea and, ever so slowly, used a paw to pull a shoe towards it and hid down behind it. It was a matter of seconds before Rodriguez realised the cat was probably under the bed and he dropped to the floor, careful to keep his face out of range of Benny 4’s claws, and looked under the bed to see…. no cat. He could see clothes, shoes and books but no cat, and was starting to get annoyed. He must now only have five minutes to get out of the place and could not leave without catching the cat.
Wang stumbled woozily into the room and approached Rodriguez. “Well, where is the vicious little furball?”
Rodriguez shot him a cruel glare and stomped off to look in another room while Wang checked the first place he could think of – under the bed. Benny 4 crouched down as low as it could behind the shoe of its master.
“Hey, Rodriguez, come and see this. This guy has got a killer pair of shoes here. I think I’ll help myself to them.”
“Whatever,” yelled Rodriguez from the next room.
Wang reached for the shoes that the cat was hiding behind and Benny 4 suddenly found itself wishing it had chosen a less attractive pair of shoes to hide behind.
Eli walked into the canteen, totally unaware of his mechanical pet’s predicament, and strolled over to where his new friend Alan sat toying with a disgusting looking slice of what could be quiche. Alan looked up as Eli approached and gestured for him to join him. “If I were you I’d avoid the cheesecake,” he advised. Eli laughed in spite of himself.
“That’s cheesecake. I thought it was a quiche!” he exclaimed as he sat.
“Maybe it is,” Alan replied, “it’s hard to tell sometimes the way this machine works.” He gestured in the general direction of the wall mounted food dispenser. Eli leaned back in his chair and looked around the canteen. In the far corner he saw Major Hastings eating his meal and making sure to keep his uniform nice and clean by sitting ridiculously straight and bending his neck at an almost unbelievable angle forwards.
“Where’s your friend?” asked Alan curiously.
“Who, Taylor? Could be anywhere,” toned Eli for what seemed to him to be the thousandth time. It occurred to him that he never seemed to know where Taylor was, but decided it was a subject to leave well alone. “How’s the research going?” he said, changing the subject.
Alan’s eyes lit up, despite the terrible recent events on the planet the work was still riveting to a scientist like himself. “Well, we have realised the tremors are getting bigger and more frequent.”
“Why is that? Unstable area?” asked Eli. “No,” said Alan rapidly and in obvious delight, “the tremors occur all over the planet and, as far as we can see, are caused by no recognised geological feature. They seem to….,” he tailed off.
“Seem to what?” prompted Eli.
“They just seem to happen of their own accord,” sighed Alan in academic wonder. None of this seemed particularly incredible to Eli who, having worked with Taylor West for so long, was used to strange thi
ngs happening of their own accord. He could see, however, from Alan’s manner that it was a situation of an unusual nature. He was about to ask a question when he noted Alan’s demeanour completely alter.
Chris Maxwell had just stormed into the canteen, wild-eyed and with a face like thunder. He rushed past them both and headed over towards Major Hastings. Eli thought to himself there was clearly going to be trouble now and tried to watch without appearing to do so. Alan shrank down into himself and tried to act invisible.
Hastings was frowning as Maxwell approached. “Yes? Can I help….,” was as far as the Major got before a large fist struck him square in the jaw, and he tumbled backwards off of his chair to the floor below. He didn’t have time to think before Maxwell’s boot arrived in his gut and all the air was gone from his body. All the while, Chris Maxwell was bellowing, slurring his words and calling the Major a pervert.
Eli jumped up and ran over to the two men. He was not keen to have a confrontation with Maxwell but was afraid that he may kill the Major in his present rage. Blows rained down on the prone Major who curled in defensive stance and was losing consciousness. “You bloody pervert! Watching Lana through a sodding viewer. I’ll kill you!” bellowed Maxwell just as Eli grabbed him in a bear hug from behind.
“Come on Chris. You’ve done enough. Leave it now.” Eli tried to sound calm, but inside he knew he would now bear the brunt of the anger. Pushing him off, Maxwell turned and rounded on him.
“You’ve been watching my wife too, haven’t you? Been watching my wife undress.” Eli shook his head slowly backing away from Chris and holding up his palms as a placating measure.
“I don’t know what’s going on, Chris, but….,” he was interrupted by having to dodge a bull like charge. A quick side step to the left and he was circling again trying to keep his distance until he could work out what was going on and what he was going to do.
“Oh yeah, you bloody well know. You probably sat in his room,” Maxwell indicated the prone form of the Major, “and watched her with him. Probably turned you both on so you could get it up for each other!”
Out of the corner of his eye, Eli could see Alan creeping closer towards them, behind Maxwell, with a spanner in his hand. Eli tried to keep his distance while no longer circling so Alan could advance closer without being seen.
“Look, Chris. I don’t know what’s going on. I’ve not been watching your wife. I didn’t know Hastings was,” another dodge to avoid a swing from Maxwell’s fist. The angry man seemed to Eli as if he were about to explode. Eli had never seen a temper like the one this man had. He didn’t know if the Major was unconscious or worse. As Alan struck Maxwell hard on the back of the head with the spanner and the large man crumpled, he felt surer than ever that he had just been tussling with the killer of Jeff Hanley and Will Shanks.
***
Later that day with Maxwell safely restrained in a storeroom and the Major being treated for his injuries by a medical computer and a server droid, Alan came and found Eli. He had the look of a very worried man. “I think Chris killed Jeff and Will,” he blurted. Eli nodded and said that he could see, after the incident in the canteen, why Alan might come to that conclusion. Alan looked around as if conspiratorial, “But there’s more. Things you don’t know. Will told me the night before he died.” Over the next few moments the look on Eli’s face became more and more interesting.
***
Taylor thought that the inside of the ship was much better than the outside. It had not taken him longer than ten minutes to find the switcher in the camp that de-activated the stealth screen on the ship. Once he had done so the craft appeared almost half a mile from the camp and he had set off, jauntily, towards its gleaming, sleek hull. When he stepped into the small vessel, he was impressed. It was the latest design military issue combat fighter, armed to the teeth and with all optional extras. Now he had the switcher, he could use the ship if needed. If things began to get too dangerous on the station as least he could get Eli and himself off the world. It appeared from the situation as if that eventuality was becoming increasingly likely.
Leaving the craft, he made a mental note to remember where he had parked it and walked back to the station, still keeping a wary eye out in case the creature was still looking for food. He may have been a first engineer but he had no intention of being a second course.
***
Sara Crick was in the control room looking at an unending flow of data being spewed out from a workstation when she was interrupted by Lana. “What do you want?” she mumbled, unwilling to be distracted from her analysis.
“Did you hear about the Major?” asked Lana in what Sara considered to be a very strange tone. She thought the best thing to do would be to ignore her and get on with what she was doing. Lana was not to be ignored, however, and continued. “He’s been watching me change through a secret camera.”
“Really?” replied Sara with not total disinterest.
“Yes. Chris found the transmitter and traced it back to the Major’s room. I don’t even want to think what he did while he was watching.”
“I bet you don’t,” muttered Sara sarcastically.
“Apparently, Mr Jackson stepped in to help the Major or Lord knows what might have happened.” Lana seemed to be heading somewhere with all this and sure enough, she followed up with, “You like Mr Jackson, don’t you?”
At this Sara did take notice. She stopped what she was doing and looked Lana straight in the eye. Mrs Maxwell was wearing her usual cleavage-revealing outfit and this seemed strange to Sara as there were no men present. Lana looked hard at Sara. “I’ve noticed you dressing yourself up a little more.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Sara fumbled uncomfortably.
“Have you tried to talk to him about it?” Lana actually seemed interested. Sara was finding this a very bizarre situation. Lana moved a little closer as if they were suddenly the best of friends. “I think you look so much better now. Your hair a bit looser, a little touch of make-up, and…. well….” she looked Sara up and down before continuing, “I never realised you had a figure.”
Lana moved in closer to Sara who flinched as she reached up and stroked her face. “You look quite attractive now.” This was not at all what Sara expected from her female colleague. Bitchiness, back-stabbing and sarcasm, yes, but not friendliness and compliments.
However, as Lana moved ever closer, Sara began to feel there might be something more to it than that. Lana moved herself to within a few inches of Sara and continued to look her up and down.
At this close proximity, Sara was afforded an even more vivid than usual view of the thrusting Maxwell breasts than usual. Lana caught her glance drop and smiled. “I see you’ve got the same thing in mind as me.” Her hands started to drop from Sara’s cheek towards her neck and downwards onto her breasts. She started to stroke them through Sara’s coveralls. Lana tried to touch Sara further but Sara snapped herself out of her state of shock and fled the room, embarrassed and appalled at what was happening. Lana’s smile returned once Sara was gone, only this time it was a smile of cunning.
‘That was a job well done,’ she thought. She hoped it would keep Sara out of the way for a vital few minutes and let Lana have the control room to herself. Anyway she had enjoyed it. Certainly, it was more fun than she had thought it would be. As she thought it over, she walked over to a nearby console and spoke into a small hand-held unit.
“Chris, I’m about to release the door lock to the store room. I suggest you stay out of the way for a while. Get out of the station until the Major’s treatment is finished.” Then she pressed a button and in another part of the station her husband was freed from his confinement. The door slid open and Chris peered warily around. Lana was right about the fact that he had to get out. He needed time to think. Chris Maxwell headed cautiously for the compound surrounding the station.
Five minutes later, the most northerly of the maintenance terminals on the perimeter fence was hacked into and the comple
x locking mechanisms for the security systems were accessed. Commands were entered and a countdown began. The figure responsible then made their careful way back to the station, knowing they did not have any time to spare if they were to be prepared for what they knew was to come.
It was twenty minutes later that Alan visited Eli, this time a frantic, panicked Alan. “Eli! We’ve lost all power to the fence!” he cried, clearly in some distress.
“What? How can that happen? There are dozens of safeguards to stop a total power failure!” stated Eli, rising from his seat.
“I know,” continued Alan wild-eyed, “but it looks like someone had bypassed them all, probably from a terminal on the gate, and then shut the power down.” He was practically shouting his words now and Eli’s face began to pall as he came to the same realisation as Alan. Alan’s next statement voiced both of their fears, “If there is a creature out there, then it doesn’t have to stay out there any longer. It can just walk up to the door and knock!”
Chapter Seven
Cat Amongst The Pigeons
In the seconds that followed, very little seemed to happen. Then, all of a sudden, as if a switch had been thrown and movement was now possible, everything seemed to be happening at once. The unreal silence was shattered as Eli heard the maniacal voice of Sara Crick screaming down the com-unit. Running towards it, Eli tried to calm her down. “The fence is down, someone’s put the fence down,” she whimpered.
Eli put on his best calming voice, despite feeling very nervous inside, and replied, “I’ll be there in two minutes. Stay calm, I’ll get it back up again.” Then, followed by Alan, he ran as fast as he could towards the control room. The short distance to the control room seemed to take Eli a lifetime. It appeared to Eli that the attitudes of the research team had changed drastically.
