The Ruins of Arlandia Complete Series

by William Wood

  “OK, she’s not here,” Calvin said. “Maybe she’s on the bridge.”

  He put his hands out in front of him and did his best to walk in a straight line; at least what he thought was a straight line.

  He bumped into a wall four times and twice he spun around because he thought he heard something. Was it a real noise, or were his ears playing tricks on him? It sounded like footsteps running up on him. He chose to ignore it and keep walking. The silence was very eerie, and familiar. But this was different. This time he had Astra, and he had to find her.

  Calvin hoped to find her on the bridge. It was still too dark to see. She could be on the bridge, right? The door was closed; that’s why he couldn’t see any light.

  At the end of the corridor, he found the bridge, and the door was open. It was just as dark inside as out.

  “Astra?” Calvin whispered. “Are you there?”

  Astra wasn’t there. He felt his way to his chair and sat down. He thought his eyes were adjusting to the darkness, but he was wrong. A small amount of light was coming through the windows, giving a faint glow to the bridge. He sat down in his chair and stared out the window. At least there were no enemy ships, not that he could see. Of course that didn’t mean much. His eyes alone didn’t have a great deal of range. He wished he could see back along the hull to see if there was any damage.

  So what was the problem? If only he had a computer that could tell him. He knew the computers were down because the switches were not lit up and the bridge was as quiet as a tomb. But that didn’t stop him from pressing some switches, namely the sensors and communications; not surprisingly, nothing worked.

  It also took him a second to realize the ship was not traveling in hyperspace. They were floating dead in space. What was going on? Where was everyone? If he found the escape pods were missing he was not going to be happy. They wouldn’t have left the ship without him, right?

  Calvin got up and went to the door. If she wasn’t on the bridge, where would Astra go? Main power was offline, the engines were offline, and therefore she would go to the engine room. Of course! Obviously everyone was in the engine room trying to repair the ship. He was about to head into the darkness, willing to feel his way all the way there when suddenly, he remembered there were flashlights in a small cabinet under the computer station in the back.

  Calvin wasted no time. He went to the cabinet and opened it up. There were three yellow handled flashlights hanging inside. He took one out and turned it on. A nice, bright beam emitted from the end. “OK,” Calvin said. “That’s better!”

  He hurried down the hallway to the stairwell, and ran down them two at a time. He entered the corridor on the lowest level of the ship and shined his light ahead.

  There, in the middle of the floor, was an odd looking shape. He slowly approached the dark object wishing for the first time that he was armed. When he got closer, he saw what it was. It was a combat robot. Calvin bent down to examine it. Clearly, it was Sierra Two. The robot was heavily damaged. There was a large hole in its chest. It didn’t go down without a fight, but clearly it lost the fight. It was lying in a heap, with its internal components lying on the floor around it.

  Calvin walked on, and quickened his pace to the engine room. He wasn’t prepared for what he found.

  The first thing he saw was Astra on her knees, bent over a dark shape. He got closer and saw that it was Nils. He was lying in a puddle of blood, and Astra was pumping on his chest.

  “Come on Nils,” she said. “You can’t leave us, not like this.” Wexton was walking back and forth. He had a flashlight and was waving it around the room. Calvin shined his own light around the room and his heart froze with what he saw. It looked like a bomb had gone off in the engine room. All of the computers were savagely ripped apart. The engine core was a mess. The floor was covered with debris; pieces of the engines.

  “What!” Calvin gasped.

  “Wex, we have to get him to medical.”

  “But everything is offline,” Wexton said.

  “But MD-71 isn’t!” Astra snapped. “I hope. Help me. He’s not breathing and his heart stopped. Now help me get him to medical now!”

  Wexton put the flash light in his mouth and picked Nils up. He left the room with Astra close behind. Calvin turned to follow, and nearly bumped into Ion. The familiar hum from his scanners filled the air. Ion moved around the room, scanning each area slowly.

  “What happened here?” Calvin asked. “Did the engines explode?”

  Ion continued his scan, careful to stay out of the middle of the room, which was wet from Nil’s blood.

  “No sir,” Ion said. Calvin scanned the room with his flashlight. He didn’t know what else to do; he felt useless again. As he looked around the room, he found half a robot lying on the floor.

  “Ion, look!” Calvin said.

  “It’s one of the engineering robots,” Ion said. He bent down and pulled something out of the wreckage. It was long and white, with blood running down the side of it.

  “What is that?” Calvin asked.

  “It’s a claw,” Ion said. He held it up and showed it to Calvin. “Its molecular structure is consistent with that of a Dark Terror.”

  “What!” Calvin hissed. “A Dark Terror? Are you telling me we have a Dark Terror on board?”

  “Yes sir,” Ion said. There were times Ion’s way of stating bad news without emotion irritated Calvin. Now was one of those times.

  “How?” Calvin asked. “There’s no way.”

  “I’m sorry, but the evidence seems to indicate there is a Dark Terror aboard, maybe more than one. But I’m confused. My sensors aren’t detecting them. It’s very strange.”

  “What are we going to do? Can you repair this mess?” Calvin thought he knew the answer, or thought he did; there was no way they could repair the engines without a starship repair dock. The damage to Azure Frost was too extreme. Calvin looked at the devastation around him and felt lost.

  Calvin walked out into the corridor and shined his light into the darkness. There was a Dark Terror on board. The nightmare was just beginning.

  CHAPTER FIFTY:

  DARKNESS AND FEAR

  It was pitch dark and dead quiet; two things that were really bad on a spaceship. That meant the power was off, and so was life support. But that wasn’t the worst thing; Lieutenant Calvin Range was living out his worst nightmare. Azure Frost was disabled, and there were Dark Terrors on board.

  Calvin shifted uneasily on his feet and nervously shined his light around the engine room. Ion had just given him news that hadn’t fully registered in his brain yet, but it did evoke a familiar feeling; dread. He was scared and had no idea what to do. He needed time to think, but wasn’t sure he was going to get any.

  The level of destruction in the engine room was horrendous. Computer consoles had gaping holes in them. Monitors were shattered, keyboards smashed. The innards of computers were lying on the floor. A puddle of oil mixed with lubricant and hydraulic fluid was slowly spreading across the floor, migrating towards the puddle of blood left behind by Nils.

  The scene Calvin walked in on was haunting. Nils had been savagely attacked. He had long slash wounds across his chest and was bleeding all over his body. He wasn’t breathing and his heart had stopped. Astra tried desperately to resuscitate him, but was unsuccessful. Finally, hoping to save Nils’ life, Wexton picked him up and carried him to the medical bay, followed by Astra. Nils was dead, Calvin was sure of it, and he felt sick thinking about it.

  Calvin tried to calm his mind and focus on the problem. Normally that helped, but not this time. He was forced to deal with one of his nastiest nightmares; there was a Dark Terror on board the ship, and it was invisible. Even Ion’s advanced scanner couldn’t detect it. They were all in deadly danger. How many Dark Terrors were standing in the engine room right now that they couldn’t see? Now there was a terrible thought.

  “Are we really sure there’s a Dark Terror on the ship?” Calvin asked. Maybe there wa
s another answer. Maybe a massive power spike in the engines caused all the damage and killed Nils.

  “I’m afraid there’s no other possibility,” Ion answered. At that moment Dev stumbled into the room. “What!” he exclaimed, shining his light around the room. His eyes were wide and he looked terrified. “What happened in here? I can’t believe this!”

  “I’ve been analyzing our situation, sir,” Ion said. “There can be only one possibility; we’ve been boarded.”

  “Boarded?” Dev said. “By who?”

  “How?” Calvin asked. “How could we have been boarded?”

  “Master Calvin,” Ion said slowly and quietly. “Think for a second. On the bridge, we just discussed the idea that the Goremog were weaponizing Dark Terrors in order to get them aboard enemy ships.”

  “Yeah,” Calvin said. “I remember. I was hoping it wasn’t true.”

  “What?” Dev said loudly. “Are you telling me we have Dark Terrors on the ship?”

  “Let me show you something,” Ion took them to the broken remains of an engineering panel. “Look at these marks. These were made by very powerful arms with sharp claws.” Ion held up a bloody claw. “This came from a Dark Terror. It must have been torn off when it destroyed this computer, and all the others.”

  Calvin’s mind raced at high speed. What were they going to do? He took a deep breath, and tried to carefully explain what he believed needed to be done first.

  “OK.” Calvin said. “The first thing we need to do is get ‘em off the ship, somehow, I don’t know how; I don’t care how.” Calvin stopped, realizing that in his fear, he was beginning to ramble.

  “Or kill them,” Dev said.

  “Right,” Calvin said. “And we have to do it fast. We won’t be able to get anything done until we do.” He looked around nervously.

  Dev shined his light around the room, and then stopped when he saw the blood on the floor. “Whose blood is that?” He asked.

  “Nils,” Calvin said. He didn’t want to say anything more about Nils. He was angry and scared and didn’t want to deal with another death; not yet anyway. He couldn’t think of a nice way to say it, so he chose to say nothing.

  “Is he OK?”

  “I don’t think so,” Calvin said. “Come on, let’s go put on our combat gear, and get some weapons.”

  “Calvin, where’s Wex?”

  Calvin was deep in thought about how they were going to catch an invisible monster and was irritated by Dev’s questions.

  “Dev,” Calvin said firmly yet with as much calmness as he could summon. “Wexton is fine, so is Astra. They took Nils to the medical bay. Let’s get our gear and then we’ll go find them. Then we can figure out exactly how to deal with the monsters.” He couldn’t believe he just said that. He couldn’t believe there was a Dark Terror on board the ship. They were in big trouble. From his experience dealing with Dark Terrors, and it was becoming extensive; Dark Terrors were very hard to kill, even with advanced weapons.

  “Ion, we’re going to the armory to get weapons and gear.”

  Ion reached his hand out towards Calvin. Suddenly, without warning, half of his arm disappeared. Ion turned, looked at his arm and froze. Calvin and Dev froze too, in shock. The end of Ion’s arm sparked and sputtered; oil and hydraulic fluid squirted out, running down his body. For a single horrifying second, nobody moved.

  Then the most horrific thing happened. Ion was hurled backwards and smashed into a wall; his body was crushed inward across his chest and legs.

  Calvin and Dev jumped back. Calvin was unable to believe what he was seeing. Desperately, he wondered what he should do, but forced to deal with the fact that there was nothing he could do, but watch.

  Ion groaned and struggled, he fought hard with both arms, including the half arm. Ion was picked up and appeared to float in mid-air. Then he was slammed backward into the wall again. When Ion was able to get an arm free, he thrashed violently and finally got in a good hit. Small pieces of metal hit the floor, and a red, oozy substance leaked out.

  Ion fought hard, but couldn’t stop his invisible attacker from thrashing him around, back and forth into the wall. Suddenly a large hole appeared in Ion’s chest, exposing circuits, wires, and metal rods. A savage bash to his head took part of his left side off, exposing a highly sophisticated computer core.

  In a seemly last desperate act, Ion wrapped his arms around his attacker and squeezed. If it weren’t for the fact that Calvin was watching the destruction of the most advanced robot the Alerians had ever made, the nightmarish contest almost looked comical. Calvin could hear his servos screaming louder and louder. There was the smell of burning metal, and smoke coming from Ion’s motors.

  It was difficult to watch, and Calvin felt totally helpless. Dev paced around, circling the deadly struggle; getting close but never too close. Both of them shined their lights hoping to reveal the monster, but it was no use; the creature was completely invisible.

  Finally, Ion’s arms went limp, and there was a loud thud.

  There was a dark shimmer, and a disjointed body appeared on the floor. Calvin stared at it, not sure what he was seeing. It took a few moments to realize he was only seeing the broken and crushed parts of the Terror; other sections remained invisible.

  Calvin and Dev slowly approached Ion. The big robot slouched backwards, using the wall for support.

  “Ion,” Calvin said, kneeling on the floor next to his friend. He wanted to ask if he was OK, but realized how stupid that question was. But, he decided to ask it anyway. “Are you OK?”

  Dev just stared, with his mouth open.

  “Ion, can you hear me?” Calvin asked.

  The robot moved, the only movement the robot seemed to be able to do was turn his head to look at Calvin. “I… am…. not….. OK.”

  “You killed it, at least,” Dev said. “You killed the Dark Terror. That means we’re safe, right?”

  “Yeah, but did you notice that it was invisible?” Calvin asked. “That means there could be more on board.” Calvin stood, and the gravity of their situation was slowly dawning on him. “There’s no telling how many more.” He didn’t want to stand there and discuss it. The engine room was a terrible mess, and he wanted to get away from it.

  “Come on, Ion,” Calvin said. “Let me help you to the repair bay.”

  “But Calvin,” Dev said. “There’s no power. How is taking him to the repair bay going to help?”

  “One problem at a time Dev,” Calvin said impatiently.

  “Leave… me… here…Master…..Calvin.” Ion stuttered. Dev looked at Calvin with a helpless, confused expression, but Calvin had already made up his mind. Ion was out of action and they would have to deal with him later.

  “All right, Ion,” Calvin said. “Stay here. Come on Dev.” Calvin turned to look at his robot friend, lying motionless on the floor as the red lights from his eyes faded and then went out.

  “Ion?” Calvin said. “Ion.”

  “He’s dead,” Dev said sadly. Calvin stood up and shook his head.

  “He’s a robot,” Calvin said. “He was never alive to begin with.”

  Calvin hurried out of the room. The smell of death and blood were making him feel nauseous and sick.

  “Calvin, where are we going?” Dev asked.

  After they had walked halfway to the stairs, Calvin stopped and took a deep breath, finally he felt like he could breath. “To get Wexton,” Calvin said. They followed a trail of blood up the stairs, all the way to the medical bay; a grim reminder of what was waiting for them.

  When they got to the medical bay, they found Nils lying on a bed. Astra was over him, and Wexton was near the door. MD-71 was lying on the floor in a heap; heavily damaged.

  Calvin slowly approached the bed and looked at Nils. His face was pale, and he wasn’t moving.

  “Is he dead?” Calvin asked sadly.

  “No,” Astra answered. “But he will be soon if we can’t get the medical equipment working.”

  Calvin s
tood by her in silence for a moment.

  “I’m not a doctor!” Astra said, the desperation was clear in her voice. “I took a basic life saver course once. That’s how I knew how to resuscitate his heart, and restore his breathing. But he’s lost a lot of blood. He’s not gonna last very long.”

  “What do you need?” Dev asked eagerly.

  “Power,” Astra said simply. “I need main power to be restored so the Medcomp can stabilize him and repair his injuries.”

  Dev looked thoughtful for a moment, then suddenly had an idea, “Backup power!” He exclaimed. “There’s a backup power generator under the main engine. I’ll go turn it on.”

  “Whoa, slow down there Ace,” Wexton said, stepping out of the dark corner where he’d been concealed. “I think you’re forgetting something. There’s a Dark Terror on board. I don’t think you want to go running around in the darkness until we arm up. Clearly we have to kill it first.”

  “Actually,” Dev said. “It’s already dead.”

  “What are you talking about?” Wexton said.

  “That’s right, Ion killed it,” Calvin said.

  “He did,” Astra said. “Is he OK?”

  “No, he’s not,” Calvin said. “He’s going to need a major overhaul in the repair bay. Let’s get main power turned on, and maybe we can start cleaning up the mess.”

  “Dev, do you want me to go with you?” Wexton offered.

  Dev didn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes please.”

  “OK, come on.” Then to Calvin he said. “We’re going to turn on the emergency power. We’ll be back.”

  “Are you going to arm up first?”

  “Why? I thought you said the monster was dead.”

  “It is. I guess I’m worried there may be more than one aboard.”

  “Then we’ll deal with it, come on,” Dev looked very unhappy as they left the room.

  Calvin walked to the door and watched them go down the corridor. Their lights disappeared when they took the stairs down. He could hear the echo of their footsteps slowly die away into the distance. He turned back to Astra. She was searching a cabinet for supplies. Everyone had a job. That was always the case. Calvin could fly the ship; he could navigate to their next destination. He could go on missions to retrieve the segments or fly a fighter in space and shoot down enemy ships. He had skills. But now, he felt totally useless. He couldn’t repair anything. He couldn’t get the power back on or analyze dead Dark Terrors, not to mention live ones. He felt totally useless. What was he supposed to do now?