by Allan Burd
“It’s dead,” she said as she climbed out of the tunnel and surveyed the room. “All clear. Come on up,” she said to Logan.
Logan paused a second to regain his composure. He braced his hands on the room’s floor and pushed himself up. This room was not like the others. It was much larger and the lighting in the room was brighter, though still not great. The most notable feature was a huge metallic sphere about twenty five feet in diameter surrounded by a clear protective shield. Extending from the top of the sphere was a ten foot cylindrical tube. Leading out of the top of the cylinder were thousands of crystalline strands, just like they saw on the walls in the tunnel. The strands divided into groupings and each led to different sections on the walls. Each section was marked with alien symbols, except along one wall which was ruptured destroying a large section of the strands.
“This is different,” commented Logan.
Rebecca bent down checking the alien for any life signs. She found none. Its skin was dark blue, slippery, and cold. She rolled the alien over and found a huge burn wound on its chest. A smattering of blue fluid was smeared and trailed off to the left to a small coagulated puddle. “He wasn’t in here alone. He died over there and someone dragged his body over this hatch.”
Logan bent down to study the blue puddle. The poor lighting didn’t allow a good inspection. He felt the liquid with his finger. “It’s dry. If this is his blood, he must’ve died hours ago.”
“I think another one was just recently in here and dragged its body to this spot, setting it up so it would fall onto the hatch when he left.”
“What do you make of the room?”
Rebecca looked it over for a few moments. “It has got to be their control room or their engine room—something of vital importance to this ship’s operation. That thing over there,” she said, pointing to the large sphere, “has got to be some kind of power source. Those crystalline strands must transfer that power all over the ship.”
They both heard the sound of metal slapping metal by the hatch. In a split second Rebecca was on the ground, prone position, with her gun aimed directly toward the sound. Logan ducked awkwardly as he turned around. They saw a human hand holding a Smith-Wesson emerging from the open hatch on the floor. A second later Dr. Jeff Blaze pulled himself out of the tunnel.
“Jesus,” Logan snapped. “You nearly scared us to death.”
“Are you crazy? I could have accidentally blown your head off,” said Rebecca in a low tone as she lowered her gun. “Where are the others?”
Jeff had no reaction to their anger. He was studying the room in its entirety, the beam from his flashlight touching on every detail. “They’re searching the rest of the ship. I’d say your assessment is correct, Ms …?’
“Ransom,” answered Rebecca.
“Ms. Ransom. I just traced the filaments from the machines on the upper level and they led here. Actually, all the filaments seem to lead here one way or another.”
Logan was stunned at the brazenness of Jeff’s approach. “You just crawled through the tunnels of this ship alone. Are you nuts? You could have been killed.”
“Yes, well I guess my curiosity got the better of me. Don’t say it. I know what happened to the cat.” The truth was, he would’ve been alone either way, so he decided a search through the arteries of the vessel would be productive, keeping his mind off the fear. He walked over and felt the clear material surrounding the sphere. “Yes, this confirms it. It’s still slightly warm. Someone just turned this off a little while ago.”
“Should we look for an on switch?” asked Logan.
“Now’s not the time,” barked Rebecca. She walked over to the door and pointed out a sealed latch. “This door was locked from the inside. That’s why we couldn’t open it. We also know that one of the aliens was just here and I’d guess is still on this ship.”
“Maybe that was the one we saw leaving the ship,” said Logan optimistically.
“I doubt it,” Rebecca replied. “I thought I saw something when I looked into the tunnel before.”
“I thought I heard something before too, but when I crawled through the tunnels they were empty, and when I was with our fearless leaders, we went straight to the upper deck without spotting anything.” Blaze added uncertainly, “I think the survivors abandoned ship and we’re just letting our imaginations get the better of us.”
“I’d prefer to make sure,” Rebecca said. “The ship seems empty, but I want to make another pass through these tunnels. It would be a great place for them to hide and I want to find them before they find us. Doctor, since you know these tunnels better than us, would you care to lead the way?”
“Actually I’d prefer to stay here and learn. Trust me, the tunnels are empty,” said Blaze, without conviction. Logan shot him a look. “All right, let’s go, but I’m telling you, they’re empty.”
“I hope you’re right, Doc,” said Logan.
Rebecca climbed down the hatch first. She scouted each way making sure it was safe. With his Smith & Wesson still firmly in hand, Dr. Jeff Blaze joined her.
“I hope you’re right,” Logan whispered to himself as he sat down on the edge of the hatch. Then he jumped in behind them.
Chase and Gaines combed the third level like the trained professional soldiers they were. One man charged forward to the next cover point while the other guarded his back. The roles continually reversed until all the empty corridors and rooms were completely searched. Like Rebecca and Logan, they only found scattered materials and unknown objects on the floors of each vacant, silvery, bland room. In two rooms, significantly larger than the others, they found a green canister and a purple cylinder, similar to those found in the “storage” room. They guessed the rooms were probably the mess hall and the infirmary, but there was no other indication to back up that hypothesis.
“Third level’s secure,” said Chase.
“What about these floor hatches?” asked Major Gaines.
“We’ll cover the hard parts last. Let’s stick to the primary areas for now.”
Gaines nodded his agreement as they made their way silently to the second level. Gaines pointed to the first door. Chase popped the panel, pulled the latch, and the door slid open. Gaines rushed in with his weapon in front of him, prepared for anything. Chase quickly followed. The results were the same as before. The room was empty with a few odd items strewn about in no discernible pattern.
“You get the feeling we’re being set up?” asked Chase.
“By them or by you?” asked Gaines suspiciously.
Chase ignored the snipe. “It’s too empty, too quiet.”
“They might’ve figured we’d overrun them eventually, gathered what they needed, and split.”
“Split where?” asked Chase.
“I don’t know.”
“And they couldn’t have taken everything.”
The twosome moved back out into the corridor. “Maybe they travel light,” Gaines suggested.
“Even homeless don’t travel this light. Look at this place—no tables, no chairs, no beds. It ain’t right.”
They heard a thump. Gaines put his index finger to his mouth, telling Chase to be quiet. They listened intently. Moments later they heard another thump.
Chase placed his index finger on the trigger and aimed his gun at the floor. He motioned with the barrel of the gun, indicating the sound was coming from directly beneath their feet. Chase stepped lightly over to the nearest floor hatch and whispered to Gaines. “Wait for it to pass then pull the hatch.”
Once the sound passed beneath their feet, Gaines yanked the hatch off and Chase pointed his gun in the direction of the last noise. To his surprise, something grabbed his wrist from the other direction, twisted it, and yanked him in.
Steele was faltering. His back rested firmly on the wall. His breathing was labored. His legs wobbled like jelly. His mind refused to abandon his post and give in to the irresistible urge to rest. Nevertheless, his body quit where his spirit would not. Gradual
ly, he slipped downward, and by the time he slumped onto the cold floor, unconsciousness took over.
He was awakened moments later when a hand gripped his shoulder.
42
Whatever grabbed his wrist flipped him around so hard and fast that Chase’s back hit the floor first. He kept his chin tucked into his chest, preventing him from bumping his head, and absorbed the impact with his free arm. He recovered quickly and made a grab for his knife. However, a gun was thrust into his face before he could reach it. He looked directly up into the eyes of his assailant.
Rebecca smirked and withdrew the weapon. It wasn’t her intent to assault Chase. She had heard footsteps above them and, not knowing if they were friendly or not, she opted to err on the side of caution. She sent Dr. Blaze ahead as bait, without his knowledge, and when the hatch opened and a weapon thrust through it, she didn’t hesitate. However, she was not about to apologize. “You step too loudly,” she said. “If I was the enemy, you’d be dead.”
Chase rolled to his feet, ducking his head beneath the low ceiling. “You are the enemy,” he said. Underneath, however, he was beginning to like her. He admired her commitment, her professionalism, and her strength. And she was right. He set the trap, but instead she reversed it on him, and he fell right into it. If she was an alien, he would be dead. He would have to be more careful.
Gaines stood above the hatch, the only member of the team not in the access tunnel. His weapon was pointed at both of them, which quickly got their attention. Gaines was initially unnerved by Chase’s sudden disappearance, but he kept his composure. Good thing, too. Had he fired into the tunnels … No, that thought was too terrible to contemplate. Firing at your own men during the confusion of battle was every soldier’s worst nightmare. “I think we would be better off sticking together,” he said. “Things are getting too tense and I don’t want us shooting at each other.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Blaze. He caught a glimpse of Chase’s gun pointed in his direction before Rebecca yanked him down.
“All right,” Chase agreed hesitantly. “What’s down here?” He took Jeff’s flashlight and studied the tunnels.
“Power conduits. These are the tunnels they run their wires through—in this case these strands—to transfer power to the rest of the ship,” said Blaze, breathing a little heavily. He was out of shape, and keeping up with these two was taking its toll.
“Power?” asked Major Gaines.
Rebecca answered. “Yes. We found their energy source. We don’t know how it works, but it is the focal point for all these strands.”
“Was it on?” asked Chase.
“No,” said Blaze. “Still warm though. They must’ve cut it off just before we got here.”
“That would explain why our radios started working again,” Gaines reasoned.
“The power source was probably emitting electromagnetic radiation that interfered with all transmissions.” Blaze looked at Chase and read his eyes. “Don’t worry, we didn’t mess with anything.”
“Good. Let’s not fool with anything we don’t understand,” said Chase.
“Ship’s empty, Colonel,” said Blaze. “We found one dead in the engine room. No aliens anywhere else.”
Just then a parade of footsteps was heard coming down the corridor. They rapidly got louder. Major Gaines, the only one left on floor level, looked up to scan the hallway. He saw an alien, dressed in black, running at him on all fours as fast as a cheetah. Its skin a kaleidoscope of violet and gray, cascading to match the background it passed with every quick step. Before he could fire a shot, it was upon him. It dove over the hatch and in an instant its slimy webbed hand knocked his gun away and its other hand grabbed his face, smothering him as it barreled him over. As they hit the ground the creature shoved Gaines hard, pinning him down with surprisingly strong limbs.
Chase anxiously looked for the gun he had lost when Rebecca took him down. It was a stupid mistake not to retrieve his weapon immediately and he cursed himself for it. Luckily, Rebecca still had hers in hand. She leapt up through the hatch and pointed her pistol at the alien.
It anticipated her move. Its leg shot back like lightning and kicked her square in the mouth, sending her tumbling back into the tunnel. Her reflexive shot went wide and the bullet ricocheted harmlessly off the wall.
“Empty, huh?” Chase swore under his breath as he recovered his weapon. Unfortunately, Rebecca landed on top of him, preventing him from getting a clean shot.
More footsteps were heard above them. One pair belonged to Dupres, still in his bio-suit, sans helmet, a nasty gash on the side of his head. He dropped to one knee and aimed carefully to make sure he shot over the alien and his commanding officer. Without hesitation, he double-tapped the trigger releasing two rounds high through the corridor over everyone’s head.
The alien shrieked, taking the hint to back off. It released Gaines and ran. Another soldier, standing to the left of Dupres, fired three consecutive shots. Crimson colored the bland walls and the alien slumped to the floor.
“Damn,” said Dupres, slapping his palm to the steel. He glanced angrily at the other soldier. “You dumb rookie sonuva bitch.” His hand curled to a fist, but then he decided against striking him as dark crimson alien blood oozed out from its back and formed a stream that flowed toward him. No more violence, he thought.
Another soldier ran to the alien, confirming the kill.
Dupres walked over to Major Gaines. He extended his hand to help him off the floor. “You OK, sir?”
It took Gaines a moment to realize what had happened, another to realize that the approaching stampede meant the backup team had arrived. He took Dupres’ hand and pulled himself to his feet. He rubbed the back of his shoulder where it hit the floor. It hurt. He was quickly becoming a walking bruise. “I’m fine. Good to see you, soldier.”
“You too, sir,” Dupres answered.
More soldiers came into the corridor. One of them saluted the Major. “Lieutenant Carlson, sir. Leader of extraction team Alpha. We’ll have the ship secured and ready for transport ASAP. “
“Any other survivors?” asked Gaines.
“Sorry sir. Dupres was the only one we found,” answered Carlson.
“Where’s Steele?” Gaines asked.
“He’ll be fine, sir. We’ve got a medic looking at him.”
Rebecca rose through the hatch. After she pulled herself up, she touched her lip. She stared briefly at the blood on her fingers and wiped it off.
Chase came out of the hatch next. He looked at Rebecca’s lip, then her angry eyes. He couldn’t resist. “Even in outer space, chivalry is dead. Too bad.”
Logan and Blaze came out next as quickly as they could. Lt. Carlson looked at the three of them, noting by their apparel that they weren’t Canadians, and looked backed to Gaines for a command.
Gaines paused, thinking it over for a moment. “Take them outside. Watch them closely. If they try to get away, shoot them.”
Chase immediately raised his gun at Gaines. The soldiers quickly did the same at Chase. “You double-crossing sonuva bitch,” he growled.
“Put the gun down, Colonel,” Gaines said calmly. “We’ve been through this before and you’re not going to win.”
“What about our deal?” shouted Chase.
Gaines walked up to the barrel of his gun. “I think it’s time we renegotiated.”
Chase looked around. Blaze and Logan would be no help. They were already covered and didn’t offer much as fighters anyway. He looked at Rebecca. She raised her weapon at him and smiled, as if eager to pull the trigger. He lowered his weapon. He wasn’t prepared to kill or die just yet. Let them have the last laugh for now. The important thing was to complete the mission and the only avenue left to do that was to stay in the game. Besides, he still had one card left to play.
Gaines reissued the order. “Take them outside. Hold them. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” The soldiers quietly disarmed them and took them away.
“You gon
na let him get away with that, sir?” asked Dupres heatedly.
“I’ve had a gun shoved in my face so many times today I’m getting used to it,” he replied dryly. “You were on Team Two. What the hell happened out there?”
Dupres paused, not wanting to answer.
“I need the truth, soldier. No bullshit.”
“Prestone …” He shook his head. “Guess it don’t matter no more anyhow. Prestone freaked.”
Gaines now knew without a doubt this entire conflict was all their fault. “DAMN!” He thought he chose better.
Each man was supposed to be able to handle this extraordinary situation. Obviously he chose wrong, and no matter what anyone else said, he would take it upon himself to bear the responsibility for this tragedy.
Dupres responded as if he knew what Gaines was thinking. “Wasn’t the aliens, sir. It was the bear … I mean the grizzly. We came across a dead grizzly as we approached the ship—but it wasn’t an ordinary kill. Its guts were scattered everywhere. I think that’s what freaked him out. He must’ve thought that whatever could do that to a grizzly would do the same to us.”
“Who fired first?” asked Gaines, his tone demanding a definitive answer.
Dupres paused again. “Prestone, sir. Next thing we knew, blue bolts of lightning were striking right and left and we were in the fight of our lives.”
Gaines became agitated. Chase was right, he thought. His platoon did make a mess of the whole situation. His man’s actions started the killing that left nineteen good men dead as well as an uncounted number of extraterrestrials. And now that one mistake was forcing him to cooperate with the Americans. “Anything else, soldier?”
Dupres’ voice was quieter now. “Well, sir, when the fight was over, they had me dead to rights. I was defenseless and surrounded. Thought I was a goner for sure, but they didn’t kill me. That’s not the act of a hostile enemy, sir.”
Major Gaines remembered when he was pinned under the tree, at their mercy. Would they have really killed him? He thought so, but now he would never know. “No, it isn’t,” he agreed.
