by Gary Weston
‘Caves,’ said Warner. ‘And if I’m not mistaken, Joe’s people.’
‘Not necessarily,’ said Shorty. ‘It could be the enemy. Zoom in, Captain.’
‘Not the enemy,’ said Millet. ‘Lots of our friends. Nice of them to be visible.’
Warner said, ‘Not a good sign. They’re all sick. They can’t turn themselves invisible. And see that? A mass grave. They’re burying their dead.’
It was all becoming clearer. Millet said, ‘All the enemy have to do is to stay away and let the parasite do their dirty work for them. They aren’t suffering like Joe’s people. That’s where we have to put Joe down, by those caves. Captain Dorran?’
‘It’s all pretty open ground in front of the cave system. Plenty of drop-zones. This looks like a likely place, between this water and the cliffs. Let Joe out and job done.’
‘What is that water?’ asked Shorty. ‘A small lake?’
‘Fed by this small river from the mountains here,’ added Millet.
Warner said, ‘I don’t think we could have come here a moment too soon. I dread to think what we’ll find when we get there.’
‘Just another couple of days and we’ll find out,’ said Dorran.
Chapter 293
‘Hello, Boss,’ said Commander Felix Gordon. ‘Good timing. Just had an update from Captain Dorran. ‘One full day to go before they reach the planet Slug.’
Raven sighed. ‘We really need to do something about that name. What did Dorran have to say?’
‘Agent Jordan’s done a great job with Joe. Joe has indicated a good place to land. Looks like his people live in a series of caves on the north west of the main jungle. Having a closer examination of the previous recordings, they have identified Joe’s people who are in a very bad way. And that was from their previous visit. It’ll be a lot worse by now.’
‘I suppose Joe is aware of that. Does he fully understand he’ll be working alone?’
‘Captain Dorran isn’t too sure about that, Boss. But General Millet is determined not to land.’
‘He’d damn well better not land,’ snapped Boss. ‘I’ll not risk losing any more of our people. We have done all we can and more. If you hear any of them say anything about landing, tell them no way will Boss sanction it.’
Gordon said, ‘I think they got that message, Boss. But, I’ll remind them if they have other ideas.’
‘Good. That planet is right off our “nice places to visit” list.’
After another long day, Raven jumped in his personal buggy and pressed the button sensor to command it to take him home.
* * *
‘I sense a chilly atmosphere in here, Agent Jordan,’ Millet said.
‘Joe finally understands the situation. He’s probably a little scared.’
Millet looked into Joe’s face, a face he’d actually come to like. And there in Joe’s eyes was the familiar, universal look of fear. And when Millet thought about what this solitary being faced alone, he more than sympathised. Joe knew that many if not all of his people would be dead or at least dying. On top of that, he had to go down there alone and single handed try to inject the saline into anyone still alive, doing that whilst possibly being under attack from his mortal enemy.
‘I’m sorry we can’t do more, Joe. I really am,’ said Millet.
Joe understood the tone, if not the words and he nodded, perhaps gathering courage for what he had to do.
The drop-pod was made ready. Everything secured inside. The pod would be dropped from ten yards above the surface of the planet. They placed the mattresses Joe slept on, on the floor of the pod, to cushion the impact for him. It was all they could do. This was to be Joe’s final night on the ship, before being dropped onto the planet.
Chapter 294
One hour before entering Slug’s atmosphere, all sent a message to Home. The reports and messages would take time to be received and none expected a reply before they were putting the plan into action. They were saying their farewells to Joe, when Joe stopped them and went to the whiteboard. It was his final attempt at making them understand. He had proved himself quite a gifted artist, making a few lines tell a lot.
‘Those are the cave entrances,’ said Shorty.
Jordan said, ‘He’s still trying to tell us something. Something important.’
‘There’s the jungle,’ said Millet. ‘Right. Now he’s drawing the water. That small lake.’
Joe drew a cross through the lake and then he jabbed it with his finger.
‘The water?’ said Warner. ‘What about the water?’
The frustration on Joe’s face was obvious, even to a human. He kept tapping the water, watching the humans for the realisation of what he was trying to say to them. It just wasn’t happening. Joe suddenly roared and picked up the whiteboard and broke it up into pieces with his powerful hands.
‘Ok, Big guy,’ said Millet, calmly. ‘We just don’t get it.’
Captain Dorran’s voice came over the speakers. ‘Buckle up. Buckle up. Five minutes before we enter atmosphere.’
Tilly placed a soothing hand on Joe’s arm. ‘You need to go in the pod, Joe. I…We all wish you…’
‘Four minutes. Buckle up,’ said Dorran.
‘Open the inner airlock door, for Joe to get into the pod, Captain Dorran.’
The inner door opened. Joe started to get into the pod. He paused, looked back at the humans, and nodded his huge head, then he climbed inside and lay on the mattresses. The humans were making their way to buckle up when Warner suddenly cried out.
‘Wait. Damn. So obvious. Captain Dorran. Do another orbit before entering atmosphere.’
‘What the hell for?’
‘I’ve just realised something.’
Dorran said, ‘Ok. One more orbit.’
‘Warner?’ said Millet.
‘The water. Joe saw it. He knew. That’s where the parasite comes from. If we cure everyone still alive, they’ll immediately become re-infected as soon as they drink the water. Joe.’
Joe heard his name and joined the others, his head cocked to one side.
Shorty said,‘So all this was for nothing? We send Joe down there to die a horrible death?’
‘Not on my watch,’ said Millet. ‘We need to test that water.’
Agent Jordan said, ‘Don’t even think about about landing. Do so, I will take over this mission.’
Shorty said, ‘We don’t have to land’
‘Make your mind up, Shorty,’ said Tilly. ‘If you have a way…?’
Shorty grinned. ‘Joe. We’re not giving up on you yet, pal.’ She elbowed Millet. ‘And, me being a woman, therefore a superior intellect to a mere general like you, I had the foresight to pack a little extra equipment.’
Chapter 295
‘Buckle up, everyone,’ said Dorran. ‘And I’ll not take no from anybody, ok?’
‘Just get us down, Captain,’ said Millet. ‘We all know what to do.’
Joe was in the pod, closed in the airlock with the inner door opened to give him the benefit of the pressure and air. The ship entered atmosphere, and they roared through it, everything normal and expected. Dorran let the marsillium coated hull take the heat, then he was slowing down in the single orbit, one half mile above the planet’s surface. He took them over the surface above the open ground between the caves and the suspect water. As they cruised using just the landing thrusters,Joe got out of the pod and joined his human friends.
Millet unbuckled and said, ‘Warner. Shorty. You ready?’
Warner said, ‘Pre-loved marsillium coated suits have their own ripe smell. But yeah. Ready as I will ever be.’
Shorty, resplendent in her own coated suit, said, ‘You won’t complain if showered in flesh dissolving acid.’
Millet said, ‘You, Shorty, are a remarkable woman. Any General would be proud to marry a captain like you.’
‘You got that right. Come on, Warner. You got science stuff to do.’
‘You just cover my backside with that laser
.’
Shorty fastened the line to her belt-hook and checked Warner’s line.
‘And such a cute backside. I’ll take care of it.’
Warner had the sterile empty container in his gloved hand. They both only had limited vision through their marsillium helmets. Joe waited in the airlock because he also had his part to play, too.
‘Nice and steady, Captain Dorran,’ said Millet. ‘Open outer door in five. Five, four, three, two and go.’
The outer door opened, Shorty was out on her line first, ready to shoot anything she didn’t like the look of with her laser rifle. Unarmed Warner dropped only with the collection container. The pair dropped to just above the water, Warner spinning around trying to dip into the water, Shorty just two yards away from him.
‘Got it,’ said Warner.
‘Go, Joe,’ said Millet.
Joe grabbed the two lines in his hands and pulled hard, both humans back in the airlock in seconds. Dorran closed the outer door and Warner raced with the water sample to his testing gear. It took only minutes to confirm.
‘Joe was right. This is full of parasites. We send Joe down there, he’s going to die.’
Joe picked up on what was going on around him and had more to contribute. He walked over to the broken whiteboard and snorted his indignation. He picked up a marker. Circle. Planet Slug. Upright cross, Joe. Blob, the enemy. Joe pointed at the blob, then the floor, or more specifically, the water beneath them.
‘Of course,’ said Warner. ‘The enemy poisoned the water with the parasite. It was a deliberate act to kill off their adversary.’
‘We have some saline left over,’ said Shorty. ‘We could dump it in the lake.’
Warner shook his head. ‘Literally a drop in the ocean.’
Tilly Jordan spoke up. ‘Remember how we got the Masters in their sea? We blasted the crap out of the water with the lasers. We have the cannon. Maybe it will kill the parasite?’
Millet said, ‘We would never get that much volume of water boiling with the lasers.’
‘Might not have to get it that hot,’ said Warner. ‘Many fish have parasites. Killed off below seventy degrees Celsius. Sixty…something. I’ll go see what it will take on our little wriggly things. I’ll be right back.’
Bringing the remainder of the sample slowly up in temperature, Warner watched the parasites die. ‘Gotcha!’
Returning to the others, Warner declared, ‘Sixty-six degrees-Celsius, those bad boys are history. Worth a shot.’
Millet said, ‘Agent Jordan. Captain Armstrong. Get in the laser turrets and blast the crap out of that water. Go get it nice and warm and preferably parasite free.’
‘Some fun at last,’ said Shorty. ‘Last one blasting buys the beer when we get Home.’
‘You’re on,’ said Tilly.
Shorty beat Tilly by half a second. The two laser cannon seared the lake as Captain Dorran monitored the rise in temperature. For three hours, the women worked those lasers, knowing a whole race of people was at stake. Dorran called out the painfully slow rise in temperature for each degree rise.
‘I’m almost spent,’ said Shorty.
‘Me, too,’ said Tilly. ‘Captain Dorran?’
‘Sixty four. We need more. Keep going.’
Another ten minutes, Tilly was on her own, shooting token shots until her cannon also gave up.
‘I’m all out,’ Tilly said, relieved to let go of the laser twin triggers. ‘Captain Dorran?’
‘Sixty-four degrees.’
Shorty stormed out of her turret, locking it down against any acid attack. Jordan was on her heels.
‘Troy. We need a sample,’ said Shorty.
Warner was already waiting in the airlock with a collection beaker in his hand. ‘What kept you?’
‘Joe,’ said Shorty. ‘You get ready to yank us out of there, ok’
Joe made pulling motions on the slack line.
‘Good to go,’ said Millet. ‘Outer door open, Captain Dorran.’
The outer airlock door opened, Shorty and Warner were out and back in under twenty-five seconds. Warner disappeared to test the water. He returned with the beaker full.
Millet snapped, ‘Warner?’
Warner replied by drinking the water. ‘A little warm, but not bad.’
Chapter 296
‘Cool,’ said Shorty. ‘Or rather, not cool. We got good water. We still have a whole load of sick people down there. So far, we are keeping our word to Boss. We have not landed. We gave Joe clean drinking water, a way to save his people and we’ll be here to shoot anything we don’t like the smell of.’
Warren said, ‘Like invisible creatures lasers can’t hurt?’
‘Yeah. But give me one I can see, I’ll fry the son of a bitch.’
General Millet said, ‘This is it. Time to let Joe do his thing. Come on, Joe. You are one sharp cookie. We have done all we can.’
Joe nodded with that big head of his. He understood. It was time to go. He went to the airlock and paused at the pod door for the last time. He went inside and closed the door behind him.
‘I’ll miss that big lug,’ said Tilly.
‘We all will,’ admitted Millet. ‘Captain Dorran. A twenty-five degree list to port, if you please.’ The fighter listed to port. ‘Open the outer airlock door.’
The outer door opened wide. The three of them put their backs into it, and the pod rolled easily out the airlock, sending dust into the air as it landed with a discernible thud. They watched the pod door open and Joe running out, two dart-guns in his hands, ready to shoot his own kind. The airlock door closed up after the big guy.
‘Time to go, General Millet?’ Dorran asked.
‘Hell, no. We are backup for Joe if he needs it.’
‘With what?’ Dorran asked. ‘The cannons are spent. Won’t be re-charged for eight hours.’
‘We have hand guns. We stay for now, Captain Dorran.’
‘I should have seen that one coming. Ok. We stay. I got Joe on the big screen if you want to take a look.’
They gathered around in the flight-deck. It was a pitiful sight. Joe was at the main cave entrance, all of which was covered in his kinds hieroglyphics. There were a dozen smaller entrances along the cliff face. Joe bellowed into the main one. It was like the cry of a blue whale. The call of a bear to her cub. The whine of a bitch dog after her pups had gone to new homes. When Joe fell to his knees, they all gasped, both Shorty and Tilly wiping away a tear or two, with their heads turned so the men couldn’t see.
Then they came out of the cave system, tens, hundreds, thousands. All weak. All dying. They heard Joe talking to his people. He would have to shoot them. He would have to shoot all of them.
“This will hurt,” he told them. “You think you have pain? That is nothing. This…” he waved the gun at them. “This is what I have to shoot you with. You. And you. You must help me. One dart each. Not all of you will survive.” Nobody moved. Perhaps too sick. “You. Here. Take this and these. One dart each. Some will die anyway.”
Nobody moved. Then one shuffled towards Joe and took a gun from him. Joe showed him how to load and fire the gun. Three others stepped painfully forwards and took a gun and darts. The others lined up, expecting pain. The darts hit their targets and the creatures pulled out the spent darts, tossing the offending articles away. For some, the pain set in quickly, and they were writhing in the dirt in agony. Joe hated what he was doing, but knew he had no choice. He and the others fired dart after dart, and as they helped each other into the caves, their screams of agony froze the blood in the veins of the humans sharing Joe’s suffering. A few never made it into the caves, falling dead in the dirt outside, the others too weak to do anything for them.
Joe picked himself up out of the dirt and shuffled towards the cave. Before he got there, a small child reached out to him. Joe took his hand and sat by him, cradling him in his arms. Joe pulled the dart out of the dying boy child. The humans, all openly weeping, witnessed the whole event.
The
child died in Joe’s arms. A silence descended. Like the whole planet had died with the boy child. Joe rocked back and forth, holding the child tight. Then he roared a sound that seemed to rock the small planet. He held the child for a while, then, with a tenderness so unexpected from such a huge creature, he set the boy down to rest. Joe stood at the mouth of the cave, turned, looked up at the ship and entered his home.
The saline hit home. The agony Joe had experienced as the saline repaired his dying body, was multiplied by thousands in the caves. The caves, acting as a monstrous echo chamber, amplified those harrowing sounds of tortured beings. Millet turned off the sound.
‘Anyone in a hurry to go Home?’ He was looking at D S I Agent Tilly Jordan when he said it. If she said go, they went.
‘We’re not finished here yet, General Millet. Perhaps we should stay?’
‘We stay.’
Chapter 297
They all slept, on and off, their dreams marred by the screams of thousands of alien people, echoing in their cave system. They were all jaded when they faced the new day. Dorran did his ablutions, drank juice with his energy bar and forced his body into the still unfamiliar pilot’s seat of the ship. Sure, it was a fighter, but she had her own personality. He would work with her with that.
He stared at the sensor for the external microphones. Not really wishing to hear those thousands of screaming, suffering people, he dared to turn the microphones on. He had braced himself for more blood-curdling screaming from thousands of tortured beings, as the saline tried to cleanse their sick bodies, but when he heard none he feared the worse.
‘We tried. They died.’
He was about to turn off the depressing screen, when a creature, perhaps Joe himself, came out of the cave. Then another followed and another. Not sick. Not perfect, but not as sick as before. The thousands gathered together outside to greet the morning sun and they roared and bellowed as one. The whole ship shook with the sound, enough to bring the others running still in their underwear to the flight-deck.
