by Gary Weston
‘As long as you don’t stray too far. Shorty. Troy wants to do some testing. You go with him and cover his back. Are you packing?’
Shorty patted her belt holster with her D S I military issue laser handgun. ‘I never leave home without it. Come on, Troy. Let’s go find Goldilocks and see if she’s bare.’
Warner looked nervously at Millet who just rolled his eyes to the ceiling with an expression that said, “don’t blame me, pal. It was your idea.”
Warner put the webbing of two large, heavy bags of testing instruments over his shoulders and offered a third hopefully to Shorty, who just shook her head and led the way out of the ship. Millet stretched out on the airlock ramp door and closed his eyes. This was as far as he intended to go on this planet.
Shorty said, ‘Where do you want to go, Troy?’
It was twenty-two-year-old Warner’s second space trip since joining the D S I military after finishing his degree. It wasn’t stepping out onto strange planets that scared him. The notorious Shorty Armstrong terrified him. He tried to sound confident when he said, ‘There’s a small lake over there. I’d like to test the water.’
‘Then away we go, Troy. After you.’
Warner adjusted the heavy bags and set off towards the water, Shorty a few paces behind him, fingers on her gun holster.
Shorty said, ‘I just hate it when a guy has a cuter backside than I got.’
‘Thanks, I think,’ said Warner, feeling the colour rising in his cheeks, now consciously aware that the dumpy captain was watching his backside.
The unnamed planet’s air had a burnt taste to it, slightly sulphurous. At least they didn’t need their helmets for the short stay. No trees were more than ten feet tall, mostly scrubby bushes. A few had flowers on them with huge insects buzzing around them. The bushes thinned out as they reached the waters edge. It was a small lake, fringed by low hills on the far side, where the water would most likely originate from.
‘Looks ok,’ said Shorty.
With much relief, Warner unburdened himself of his bags and rummaged in one for his water testing kit. With his gloved hand he took a sample of the water and placed in several probes.
‘Not bad, actually. Nothing in the way of nasties by the look of these results.’ He washed out the beaker and sipped it. ‘Good. Want a drink?’
‘Only if it’s brown and beer flavoured.’
Warner continued to drink, admiring the view across the lake.
Shorty said, ‘Troy. Step back very slowly.’
‘What…?’
‘Step back and keep your voice down,’ whispered Shorty, taking her gun out of the holster.
‘Jeez,’ said Warner.
Swimming towards him were several large red lizards. He took another few steps, and the lizards kept coming. He reached Shorty and stood by her side.
‘When I say, get ready to run,’ said Shorty, gun hand rock steady.
They were about fifty yards from the edge of the lake, and the lizards, most about four feet long, crawled onto the bank. There were about ten of them. Some were reddish brown, larger ones were a brighter red.
‘The big ones are males,’ said Warner. ‘They’re the poisonous ones.’
They each had six legs, the pair half way along the lengths of their bodies more like flippers, but also worked as legs on land. The lizards stood watching the two strange creatures, deciding on their edibility. One made his mind up and with surprising speed, raced at the humans. In mid-air in a flying leap, he was spitting something at Warner, and some got on the arm of his suit. A zap from Shorty’s gun and it fell dead at Warner’s feet. A few more shots scattered the lizards back into the water.
‘Back to the ship,’ yelled Shorty.
The pair hurried through the bushes, only to be bombarded by several huge blue butterfly’s flapping their beautiful wings as they circled the running humans. They had tiny bat-like heads full of tiny pointed teeth. One annoyed Shorty too much and the back hander she gave it broke its neck. Shorty hardly paused as she crushed it with her boot as she ran on. Running shots from her gun downed two more. The ship was in sight and they ran at full speed to reach it, the butterflies staying behind in the bushes.
The casual football match going on between the two ships crews halted when they saw the rare sight of Captain Shorty Armstrong running, Troy Warner on her heels. Several grabbed guns, expecting something to be charging out of the bushes in pursuit, relieved when nothing did.
‘Shorty?’ asked Millet.
‘We’re ok,’ gasped Shorty. ‘Just a run-in with the locals. The red lizard variety.’
Millet asked, ‘Either of you got bit?’
‘No,’ said Warner. ‘But my arm was sprayed, so nobody touch me.’
‘Medic,’ said Millet, his medic rushing to him. ‘Warner has had some lizard venom sprayed on him. Get his suit hosed off then give him the once over. Everyone else, on the ship now.’
‘You were fantastic back there, Shorty,’ said Warner. ‘Thanks for saving my life.’
‘You’ll do the same for somebody else one day. It’s what we do. Shout me a beer when we get home.’
Shorty climbed into the ship and flopped down in her seat, buckling up, more than ready to take off. She didn’t have to wait too long, when Warner’s suit had been thoroughly washed down and the medic had done a few basic checks on him, declaring him ok.
Five minutes later, they had blasted off and were on their way to the next planet.
Chapter 205
A human was summoned. A male. The Master, swimming slowly in his world of thick, dark green, probed his mind.
‘Our ships approach?’
‘Yes,’ said the humans mind. His eyes were closed and his lips did not move. ‘We have received word from my brother, Sam Thorne.’
‘Indeed. And did Sam Thorne explain why his return has taken so long?’
‘He did not, Master.’
‘And his cargo is unharmed and well?’
Master sensed an unease in the human as his own kind had been referred to as merely cargo. This in turn made the Master cautious. He knew not to trust humans. In the main, humans did not even trust each other, so it was wise to to be wary of them. The Master swam in the shallows, not breaking the surface.
Master said, ‘I asked you a question, human.’
‘The cargo…my people are unharmed.’
‘Excellent news. How do their shelters progress?’
The human wheezed. ‘Slowly, Master. The air here makes physical work tiring, Master. It saps our energy, just breathing.’
Master did not like this petulant human. There was a sense of restrained rebellion within him. Human rebellion could escalate and fester, if allowed. That could not be tolerated.
‘So, human…’
The human shouted, ‘My name is Clive.’
Insolence! That could not be excused. The Master grasped the man’s mind and squeezed with his own mind. Clive’s knees buckled and he fell to the ground. The Master studied the man named Clive. The human looked weak. His contribution to the work would be very limited. Without words, the Master forced the man to crawl to the edge of the water. The voice in Clive Thorne’s head told him to put his arm into the green liquid. Clive resisted, but the Master was much stronger.
Fighting back with all his will, Clive tried to stop his hands entering the liquid. It stung human flesh. As his fingers dipped into the liquid, he could feel it burning his skin. He tried to pull his hand away, but the Master made his brain feel like shards of glass had exploded in his mind. Clive screamed, then the clawed webbed hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the sea.
The Master was stronger in every way and Clive was dragged into the green world of the Masters. It was usual for the Masters to relieve their victims of all feeling before consuming them. But this time, no such mercy was shown. A frantic thrashing of the surface, one remaining badly chewed arm waved obscenely to nobody, the head bobbed up, Clive gasping to fill his lungs of the acrid air b
efore he was dragged under, never to be seen again.
Chapter 206
Commander Felix Gordon called on Raven at home. Joy Dainty opened the door to him.
‘Felix. Why does it always have to be work related callers?’
‘Because I’m Boss,’ Raven called out behind her. ‘Come in, Felix.’
It became first names when it was in Joy’s home. ‘Tagg. Thought I’d let you know Captain Casey is less than eight hours away.’
Raven breathed a huge sigh of relief. ‘Have our D S I ship go escort her in. I don’t want to lose her now she’s made it this far.’
‘I anticipated that, Tagg. Taking off as we speak. Meet up in just over three hours.’
‘Good. No other news, I suppose?’
Gordon shook his head. ‘Sorry. Not since we received that last message from General Millet.’
Raven chuckled. ‘That Captain Shorty. Only Shorty would be mentioned in the same sentence as giant flesh eating butterflies and venom spitting lizards. Should we give her some kind of decoration for saving Troy Warner?’
‘Like a medal or something? She has a drawer full of them. She actually only displays her beer drinking and arm wrestling trophies. Buy her a few beers and she’ll be much more impressed.’
‘Done.’
Joy said, ‘Talking of beer, Felix, can I get you one?’
‘No thanks, Joy. I want to get back. Keep in contact with the ships.’
‘Don’t you ever sleep?’ Raven asked.
‘Probably more than you do, Boss. I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight.’
‘Goodnight.’
Gordon went outside, and felt the cool breeze on his face. He looked up in the clear night sky; a dozen stars he hoped were guiding his ships safely to rendezvous out in deep space. To him it was irrelevant if they were D S I or commercial. If they ended up on his turf, they were his ships. He hopped in his open buggy, itself a museum piece he’d lovingly restored, and pressed the three numbers on the dash. It set off through the almost empty streets to the highway that led to the launchpads and hangers.
The buggy automatically pulled up at the security gates. From the panel on the front of the gates, a green laser scanned his his face and the locks clicked open. The buggy continued through the gates which swung shut behind it. A similar laser scanned his face again and a door to a hanger opened. Once through, the door closed and the buggy parked itself and plugged into the charging unit.
Gordon walked across the massive empty hanger, his footsteps echoing his presence. He entered the communications centre where a woman in D S I uniform sat at the consul.
‘Anything, Gloria?’
‘No, Commander. Shall we call the ships?’
‘No need. Is the tracking working ok? It sometimes plays up when ships are at full speed.’
Gloria said, ‘Steady, Sir. Might be a different story as the fighter gets further away.’
‘We’ll see. You get off home. I’ll take it from here.’
‘Thanks. I should have been home three hours ago. Oh, not that I’m complaining.’
Gordon smiled. ‘I know. We all do that bit more in times like this. Your daughter Timalla is on that fighter, isn’t she?’
‘Cannon shooter. She was so proud when she got through D S I training.’
‘I remember. Four generations in the D S I.’
Gloria cast her eyes to the floor. ‘When Joe died in that battle for the runners space-station, I begged her to drop the D S I. Timmie said…Timmie said, she wanted to stay in the D S I for her dad, not leave it for him.’
Gordon sighed. ‘Joe was one of the best. So is Timalla. She’ll make captain within two years, I’m betting.’
Gloria’s pretty green eyes were moist with tears. Gordon knew she would stare at the night sky once she got home clasping the picture of her late husband to her heart, shedding tears for him, praying her girl would come home safely. Neither Gordon or Gloria would sleep that night. He poured himself a coffee and sat in the still warm chair, and watched the screen tracking Timalla and his ship.
Chapter 207
The two fighters, dwarfed by the massive skyliner, landed not far from the deep green sea. Thorne hurried from the fighter to the skyliner as its main airlock opened and Captain Mabel Syrup came out first.
Syrup said, ‘This planet stinks like something a dung beetle rejected.’
Thorne laughed. ‘Not even that good, I thought.’
The passengers poured out, gathering around the captain who had flown them there.
Charlie Smithers, his arms about his family, demanded, ‘Where the hell is this dump? Why have you brought us here?’
Syrup said, ‘Care to explain, Thorne?’
‘I owe you all that much. Ok, everybody. My name is Sam Thorne. My crew and I are not pirates. Not really. We were captured during the drixolate wars, presumed either dead or missing. We had no choice but to bring you here.’
Smithers said, ‘You should have fought to the death rather than drag more of us into this.’
‘They would torture and kill our families and friends if we disobeyed. Could you let them do that to your kids?’
‘They?’ a woman said. ‘Who are they?’
‘The Masters.’
They needed no further explanations. Everyone new of the dreaded Masters who had been responsible in enslaving and killing millions of humans on many planets.
‘They were killed,’ said Charlie Smithers.
‘No. Only the ones on the space station. This is their home planet. Over there. That sea. That’s where they live.’
A man said, ‘They’re fish? The Masters are damn fish?’
‘I wish,’ said Thorne. ‘Look. You know all about them, how they control minds. They can kill with their minds, too. They haven’t given up with their plans to take over our planets and use us for slaves.’
Charlie Smithers left the others and approached Thorne. He whispered, ‘They want us for more than just slaves. Isn’t that right, Thorne? They want to farm us for food.’
Thorne nodded. ‘Yes.’ Then he winked. ‘But not without a fight, right?’
Smithers nodded, grimly. ‘Darned right we’ll fight.’
‘Thank you. Look. We have built accommodation. It isn’t much. We had to use what we had available. Some of you can also use this ship.’
Syrup said, ‘Take us, Thorne. Let us meet the others.’
Thorne led everyone along a rough dirt track. After a couple of miles they came to a shanty-town of buildings.
‘They made us build here. It has a source of water from an underground stream. Tastes like crap, but we made a filtration system which helps. There’s something else, though.’
Using hand signals and nods with his head, Thorne took Syrup and Smithers away from the others to a large crater and walked them to the middle of it.
‘We discovered the Masters can’t get into our heads here. This is the only place we found we could say and think what we wanted. We keep that to a select few, because it minimises the chance of the Masters finding it out. When we plan, we’ll do it here, ok?’
‘Good,’ said Smithers. ‘We’ll maybe form a committee. Thorne. I’m sure I speak for the others when I say this. We all know how cruel those Masters can be. Nobody will blame you for this.’
Thorne extended a hand and Syrup and Smithers shook it, forging a bond of determination to fight the masters any way they could.
Thorne led them to the camp. The others understood exactly what was going through the newcomers minds and did all they could to help them. Thorne introduced Syrup and Smithers to a woman in a dirty dress.
‘Elizabeth. Is Clive around?’
Elizabeth said, ‘Gone. They took him.’
Elizabeth broke down and Thorne hugged her. He looked at the others. ‘Clive was my brother.’
Chapter 208
A bleary eyed Raven walked into the communications centre where Commander Gordon was doing three things at once. Gordon signalled for
Boss to sit in the spare chair.
‘Ok, Captain Casey. Nice and easy on the entry into atmosphere. An old pal of yours just walked in here. Boss.’
‘Hi, Boss. Hope you got some beer on ice?’
‘Sure have. I’ll pass, though. Four in the morning is either way too late or way too early for me.’
Casey laughed. ‘I lost my body clock years ago. Ok. Coming in.’
The fighter escorted Casey right to the landing pads, where Raven waited for her.
‘Morning, Boss. If you tell me I gotta go straight back up again, I will not be responsible.’
Boss gave Casey a hug. ‘Quite the opposite. I’m grounding everything until further notice.’
Casey nodded. ‘I approve of that. Well. I’m off home, if I can remember where it is.’
‘My buggy is just here. I’ll take you. Commander Gordon will see to your stuff later.’
Casey said, ‘I have the essentials. Lead on, Boss.’
‘I’m still getting used to being called that. It’s a hard act to live up to.’
As they walked to the buggy, Casey said, ‘Word has it, you’re getting the hang of things.’
‘Between Miss Saltoe and Joy, I get a lot of advice. Some of it even useful.’
Casey threw her bags on the back seat. ‘How’s Joy coming along?’
‘Painting the nursery, last time I saw her. We know it’s a boy, so it’s all blue.’
‘Nice. I’ll go and give her a hand, seeing as how I’m grounded. Tagg. Those missing ships. What the hell is going on?’
Raven said, ‘I have no more idea than anybody else. Every rumour you can think of, it’s doing the rounds.’
‘Wish I could help. Actually. I was thinking of a change of career. Time to hang up my space helmet for keeps.’
‘You not flying? I never thought I’d see the day. What do you fancy doing?’
‘No idea at the moment. Nothing too desk-bound.’
Raven said, ‘I’ll see what we need. Sure to be something we can put all that experience of yours where it’ll be useful. And here we are, right to your front door.’
