by Marc Everitt
Chris was perfectly aware of the fact, and also had a growing feeling that he was not going to be able to get past the Warrior and out of the door, even if he could get it open. He concentrated on what he was doing, trying to disregard the rapidly approaching beast. “There!” he said triumphantly as he hit the key. The screen in front of him flashed ‘Temporary Security Release Authorised. Time to reinstatement: 10 seconds’. The readout started to countdown as the door slid open. Chris turned and ducked below the first swinging blow from the Warrior. It saw the door open and moved to try and stop Taylor from getting out of the bunker, but Chris impaired its motion. The big man had thrown himself onto the Warrior and shouted to Taylor, “Get out of here. I’ll keep this bastard busy. Now!!!”
Taylor looked on in shock. Chris was actually managing to delay the Warrior but he could not hope to stop it. Taylor saw the door was beginning to slide closed again, and realised that Chris had only been able to achieve a temporary release of the security protocol. He looked at the ever-closing gap between door and wall, and then shot a glance back at Chris’s futile struggle. Already the Warrior had used one of its horned protrusions rising from its knee to carve a deep hole in the big man’s chest and Taylor could see blood pouring out onto the floor.
Still Chris would not let go of the Warrior. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do,” muttered Taylor sadly, and he slipped out of the door, fractionally before it sealed itself again, and he was out onto the surface. Chris Maxwell lived for just long enough to feel a partial sense of victory at having cheated the creature out of one victim, before his head caved in from a vicious blow from the Warriors tail. He saw the approach of the tail as if in slow motion and felt the blow. As his brain was crushed his senses fired wildly and randomly, and all he could see was his wife. Other images tried to force their way into his mind, but he clung to that one. As his twitching body was flung to the floor in the Warrior’s rage, the image of Lana Maxwell, in a summer dress that Chris could have sworn she had thrown away years before, faded away never to be replaced.
Taylor ran. He was fairly sure the Warrior would take a good deal of time to open the door again, as it was far stronger than the door it had blasted its way through to get into the bunker, but he didn’t want to hang around and find out. He caught up with Eli, Kyle, Fenchurch and the guard. Kyle and Fenchurch had been trying to get into the bunker when the door had slid shut and Kyle was sure no one would be coming out of there alive. Eli looked at Taylor in joy. “At least you made it. Where’s Chris?”
Taylor looked grim, “He saved me.”
“You mean he’s….,” Eli asked, knowing the answer as he did so.
Taylor nodded, “He’s gone. Are we close to the ship?”
Kyle turned from in front of Taylor. “Not as close as I’d like. We need to fly you across to ferry you to her two at a time.”
“Is there the time for that?” Taylor looked concerned.
Kyle smiled sheepishly. “If there isn’t, we’ll get to see something not many people see.” Taylor agreed, but inside his mind he thought that Kyle didn’t know the half of it.
***
They had walked some distance when Kyle pointed out the incoming figures of Cameron and Pope swooping down from the sky. Taylor marvelled at the elegance that the hover-paks provided, but he only wished they could allow the wearer to carry more. Kyle looked at his crewmates as they touched down on the ground, “Are the other two in the ‘Cavalry’?”
“Yes,” replied Pope, “who’s next?”
Kyle looked at the people around him and tried to decide who should be the next to take the trip to relative safety. His chivalrous instincts told him he had to let the female guard go in the next trip, and at the same time, he refused to let his altruistic feelings place his crew in danger. “Fenchurch, you and this young lady get back now. When you get in the ‘Cavalry’ make sure she is ready to fly as soon as I’m there.”
Fenchurch moved over to Pope gratefully, he did not want to stay out in the desert any longer then he needed to. Cameron grabbed the young guard tightly. He was pleased he had ended up carrying her and not Fenchurch. She did not seem so thrilled, but said nothing. Cameron and Pope fired their thrusters and lifted into the air. “We’ll be back as soon as we can, it takes about five minutes there and back,” said Pope as he rose.
Kyle nodded. He wished it was a shorter trip then that but hoped they would have enough time. Taylor was not so sure they did. He calculated they only had about twenty-five minutes left until it was too late. All around them, the ground was beginning to crack in numerous places and the low rumble they could hear was getting louder. Taylor had to close the psychic section of his mind several times in order not to feel the coming of it.
With Fenchurch and the guard on their way to the ‘Cavalry’, Taylor was left walking towards the distant ship with Kyle and Eli for company. They had the consolation that the distance between them and salvation was growing ever smaller but also had the knowledge that the time they had left for them to escape was growing ever smaller also. The cracked, parched ground beneath their feet betrayed no clues to tell them they were heading in the right direction and Taylor had to rely on the fact that Kyle knew where he was heading.
When Pope touched down outside the ‘Cavalry’ for the second time, lowering a grumbling Fenchurch to the ground, he did not even power down the thrusters. He was back in the air and on his way back to Kyle in seconds; he had a feeling that the extra time would be important in the final reckoning. Cameron was less swift in depositing his passenger and lifting off again, and he could see Pope away in front of him as they glided back.
Inside the ship, Dr Skandia looked at his wrist indicator nervously, it read 00:22:12 and seemed to be running down quicker every time he looked at it. He knew that was a trick that his mind was playing on him but it was very difficult to shake the feeling. He did the maths in his head, two more trips should get the last person back at the ‘Cavalry’ with two minutes to spare before they needed to start their ascent to the heavens. Two minutes was not, he thought, a great amount of time to spare; and he prayed that fate would kind to them and not throw a spanner into the works. He had no way of knowing, but fate had its throwing arm warmed up and ready to go.
***
Carlton dragged her half-dead body across the lab floor, trying to ignore the agony. She had expected to be dead by now, but the reaper did not seem to be ready to take her just yet. Her bravado at standing toe-to-toe with the alien creature had lasted for as long as it had taken for the creature to swing an arm at her and send her flying across the lab, smashing into the wall. It must have assumed she was dead, she supposed, and with good reason. She could feel that when she had hit the wall she had shattered her legs beyond hope of repair.
Her inside’s felt like they were on fire and her breathing was becoming laboured as her lungs slowly filled with blood from her internal injuries. Although no doctor, she was painfully aware that she did not have long left. Death was lurking just around the corner, as if wanting to see her suffer a little longer before claiming her. Only one thing kept her from lying on the floor waiting for the end. Her body may have been ruined but her will was untouched and she had unfinished business.
In spite of the catalogue of injuries she was dying from, the one that played on her mind the most was the arm that had been broken by the devil of a man they called West. If she could just reach the panel on the far wall of the lab, she could die content. She could see the panel before her, it was still over a metre away and it had taken her over ten minutes to travel that far over the floor. The room felt strange, throbbing with a life all its own. The plexi-screen behind her afforded her a view if the violent motion behind it. The liquid seemed to be darker now somehow, as if something behind it were getting closer. She was glad she would not be around to see it when it arrived.
In a remarkable insight into the situation, she finally understood what Dr Skandia had known for days, and felt no fear of dying
before it occurred. She just wanted to make sure West died with her. The memory of what he had done to her burned with more fire than all her grievous, fatal injuries put together. With a gargantuan effort, she pulled herself forward with her one remaining good arm, and felt something in her chest burst. It didn’t matter though. She had almost reached the panel now. She had seen that someone had activated the defence systems of her station, and that would help her.
Once near enough to the panel to be able to reach it, she keyed her Executive code into the touch pad. It accepted her code gratefully and allowed her access into the defence network for the bunker. She felt herself fading and tried her hardest to concentrate on what she needed to do. Keying in a sequence of numbers and letters on the pad, she called up the one thing that could reach her adversary now. The screen confirmed her orders and elsewhere in the bunker a small missile armed itself and shot out of its silo, bursting through the ground above and barrelled through the still air.
The screen read ‘Target acquired’, and that message stayed in Carlton’s mind as she died with a cruel smile on her face; thinking West would soon be joining her and she could spend eternity punishing him in hell.
***
As Cameron strained his eyes to see where Pope had landed, he thought he could see something else in the skies, small but definitely there and heading his way. He lowered to the ground, by which time Pope had already taken hold of Eli and was lifted off again. “You really do need to keep up,” teased the old man as he rose up again.
Their opposite paths took him too far from Cameron before he could say anything in reply. When Cameron’s feet touched the ground he could see the object in the sky more clearly as it neared. Kyle could see he was looking beyond Taylor and himself and turned to see what his cousin was looking at. “Oh God,” was all he managed to get out before the small, deadly missile flew overhead.
“It’s missed us,” said Cameron with relief.
Taylor was not so relieved. “It’s just setting itself up for a more accurate approach. We won’t be so lucky next time.”
As he spoke, Cameron could see the missile turn in the air and line itself up for another dive at them.
“You got anything that’ll shoot it out of the sky?” Taylor asked, knowing full-well the chances of hitting a rapidly moving object were slim.
Kyle shook his head, and then had an idea. “I’ve got an S & S net left, if we could throw it over it, it should lose its targeting grid for a while.”
“Worth a try, give it to me and get out of here while you can,” Taylor ordered.
Kyle saw he meant it and handed him the tiny cube that he would have to defend himself from the incoming warhead with. “Cam, let’s go,” Kyle said and his cousin lifted him off the ground and into the air. “I hope to see you soon,” he said to Taylor. The warhead turned in its flight and seemed to be distracted by the movement, but soon disregarded the swift moving aerial target and reacquired the ground target. Taylor stood and waited for the warhead to get closer. His timing needed to be perfect if this was to succeed and he only had one chance.
As the missile closed in on him, and he could see the markings on its nose cone, he threw the cube at it and dived to the floor. The net opened as it neared the missile and the charge it gave off fried the missile’s electronic brain. It flew on, over Taylor as he had hoped. With no targeting capabilities active it simply flew straight on and did not turn to reacquire him.
His joy was short-lived as its path drove it into the ground a hundred metres away from him. The eruption threw him back to the ground and ripped a ridge in the already devastated desert plains. Taylor saw the canyon spreading closer to him but had no time to get out of its way, and he fell into its depths.
His body jarred painfully as he struck a ledge several metres below the surface. He looked around him, the ledge appeared stable and he could see the sky above him, not too distant. But the walls of the canyon were too smooth to climb and he had no hope of reaching the lip of the ridge without a rope. The four or five metres between him and the surface may as well be four or five miles, he thought. He cursed his luck, one of the ‘Cavalry’ crew would be back for him in a few minutes and he doubted they would see him down here. He looked below him and could see the liquid bubbling beneath, close enough to touch; and below that he could see movement. Massive, ominous movement.
***
Dr Skandia saw Pope drop off his passenger, the big black man who was a friend of Taylor’s and was surprised to see the other young man with a hover-pak not close behind. He looked again at his wrist indicator, knowing he could not do anything to help speed things up or slow time down. The evil-looking crewmember had warmed the ship’s engines up in anticipation of their departure, but could do no more. The young lady who Skandia believed was called Lana spoke in a worried tone. “I hope my Chris is coming next.” Dr Skandia hoped to live to see another day, his willingness to die no longer so strong after his conversations with Taylor about the different projects all over the colonies that needed a scientist like him. He had a new purpose and hoped he had a chance to fulfil it.
As he finally saw the other crewmember glide to the ground, carrying the ship’s captain, his indicator read 00:16:53. He realised the only people they were waiting for was the burly engineer and his new friend Taylor West, and he hoped they were cutting down the distance between themselves and the ship as they waited.
***
Outside the ‘Cavalry’
Kyle ordered Cameron into the ship before him and spoke to Pope. “You sure you are all right about going back? He’s a good man, but you’re part of my crew. I should go back myself.”
“I wouldn’t leave anyone out there to die. I’ve got time to get him. Hopefully he has walked a bit closer to cut down the time,” Pope replied as he lifted off again and rose into the air.
Kyle watched him glide away before muttering, “If he’s still alive at all.” He could do no more and followed his cousin back into the ship.
***
Pope saw the landscape roll beneath him as he skimmed as low to the surface of the planet as he dared. He knew that he had less than seven minutes to get to the last man and get him back to the ship. He had hoped to be able to see him by now, but he had been flying for two minutes at least and could still see little. There were giant canyons and ridges as the world prepared itself to pull apart; he could see several of them, but no sign of the man he had come to fetch. He slowed and circled for a couple of seconds, he should have seen the man by now and could not think where he had got to. He looked at his watch. According to his best guess, he had to head back in less than a minute or he risked being left behind. He strained his eyes, attempting to pick out anything that could give him a clue where the man could be.
***
On his life-saving ledge, Taylor tried to shout up to the old man he could see circling overhead. The noise of the growing crescendo of eruptions beneath the surface, however, made an effective shield. He was sure the man could not possibly hear him from that height. He searched his pockets desperately, trying to find something with which he could signal the old man’s attention. His eyes filled with tears of frustration as he saw Pope check his watch and take a final look around the surface before gliding slowly back in the direction he had come from. Taylor felt a feeling of finality as he saw the old man leave, and take any hope of Taylor getting off the planet before it was too late with him.
***
In the bunker, Sara was beginning to wake. Her head felt sore and she was stiff all over, but she had not trained as an undercover operative and been manipulating her way through the Company for several years, just to miss the moment because she had been shot. She rose groggily to her feet and made her way through the corridors of the bunker towards the lab. She hoped she could get in there in time to see the first moments and hurried her pace as much as her sore legs would allow. She felt no remorse about what she had done to get where she was now. She had a sacred task to perform, no one
was to know about what was going on under the surface, which meant that no one was to know about the bunker and the work going on there either.
She had been forced to kill Hanley once he had told her what he had seen, and Shanks had not only known but had also offered her an excellent opportunity to switch the attention towards Chris Maxwell. Shanks had been careless in letting her overhear his conversation with Alan, and she had thought it ideal that Chris would be seen to have a motive for Will’s death. It was obvious to her that Alan would put two and two together and get five; and also that he tell others what he had been told. She had thought it had all worked out so well, if only she could have got the damned West fellow killed she would have got away with it.
She could not understand how he had managed to come back from the horrendous wounds she had seen her pet cause him. The only thing she knew of that could heal such wounds was the nectar of her Gods and she was sure they wouldn’t bestow it such a man. She herself had been forced to wait until she was eighty until Father Cassius would allow her to bask in its restorative powers and it was another twenty years before she was entrusted with the mission of placing herself here as the guardian of the resurrection.
She would not allow herself to miss it, not after all she had done and all the years she had wasted. The only thing that she regretted was the way in which she had grown attracted to Eli. Her affection towards him was no subterfuge, and she had been hurt by the look she had seen on his face when she had emerged from the shadows, gun in hand. She knew she couldn’t let a man interfere with her task, but felt strongly that he should understand who she was and why she had done what she had done.
But it was too late, he was gone, most probably dead by now and she would never see him again. She passed straight past the warrior as it stood near the door to the lab as if guarding it reverentially. It made no move to stop her or attack her. The ambience in the lab was so developed now that it could almost be touched and felt. Sara had never met the creatures she thought of as her Gods but could tell that this was the presence of them in the room with her now. The time was almost upon her now and she felt joy at her acceptance into the room. The Warrior sensed it too, its masters had born this human no ill will and it was content to leave her alone until told to do otherwise.
