Deep Space Dead

by Chilvers, Edward

  “It is strange, these vibrations, but not entirely unknown,” said the geology councillor Prima Blak as she stared at the data collated from the borers set down by the miners. In the last few days they had been noticing mild tremors and there had been a few minor rock slides which had caused some mines to be evacuated, although no injuries had been reported. “Most likely there is a hub of volcanic and tectonic activity manifesting itself below the crust of this planet. It is of no danger to us, probably just means the planet is younger than some of the ones we have been used to colonising and things haven’t entirely settled down beneath the surface. It would also explain the sulphurous springs and volcano range around the spot where our rangers vanished.”

  “But why is this all taking place now?” Asked Arianna.

  “It is probably not unusual,” said Prima Blak. “Most likely it is a geological event which takes place every few years or so, or perhaps it is always taking place to some degree. Leastways I have extensively studied the soil around here and it remains solid; minimal erosion, no fault lines and as likely as not the landscape has remained unchanged for nigh on a million years.”

  “What about the area around the revenants?” Asked Jak with concern.

  “There is activity around that volcanic area,” said Prima Blak. “As expected the signals are strongest around those parts with the fault lines and volcanoes.”

  “It means we probably won’t be able to retrieve those rover pods,” said Jak worriedly.

  “But on the plus side it might have done for those beasts we saw in the caves,” replied Arianna hopefully.

  “Doubtful,” replied Jak. “They looked like they could weather almost anything.”

  It was a sobering thought but there was little time to dwell upon it. Tomorrow was the day they were at last to set out on the scouting mission back to the volcanic region.

  10

  Arianna watched Ambra sleeping and decided not to wake her. Jen Henna had come round and would stay at the house until she woke up. Arianna had decided not to tell Ambra where she was going. She didn’t want any more awkward questions and was dreading the assignment enough as it was.

  Arianna, Jak and Prima Blak set off in the rover just before dawn. Jan Lybne and his troop of rangers took the other rover. Arianna viewed the growing town from the air. Already there was so much to see it seemed impossible to think they had not even been on this planet a month. But then that was the lesson of history, thought Arianna. The march of humankind was relentless. Despite this race’s inbuilt genetic flaws, which were legion, somehow there was no stopping them and faced with an empty galaxy they were determined to exploit it to the full. Meanwhile Prima Blak made herself comfortable in the back of the ranger and promptly fell asleep.

  “I know they might be miles away but I just don’t like the thought of us sharing a planet with those things,” said Arianna with a shudder.

  “Not for long,” replied Jak. “They’ll be little more than a distant memory by this time next week when we’ve sent some of those fuel rods into meltdown in those caves.”

  “The sooner we can be shot of them the better,” said Arianna. “I still get the impression some people don’t entirely believe us. They thought it suspicious we should be the only ones to come back unscathed, we being together and everything.”

  “You’re being paranoid,” said Jak guardedly. “All the Council know what happened to the Admiral and the Hains. If they really thought we were up to no good they would never have let us come out on this next assignment.”

  “They don’t have much choice,” muttered Arianna. “You’re one of the only rangers left. Sol doesn’t appear to be that enthused by having to help you out either.”

  “Sol can handle it,” said Jak dismissively. “It’s always tough being the first generation on a colonisation mission. Those who were important on the starships often find themselves stuck for something to do once they reach their destination. Sol can keep himself busy with the surveying for a few years. It’ll do him the world of good.”

  “Sol wanted to be Chairman,” said Arianna.

  “Still does,” replied Jak. “Bol isn’t getting any younger, let’s face it. Still, if he does eventually step up to the fore it’ll keep him even busier still.”

  A minute later Prima Blak was alerted from her slumbers by an urgent beeping noise coming from one of the computer screens. “Strange,” said the geologist, creasing her brow. “I’m getting a stronger reading around here and yet there’s no fault line listed for almost a thousand miles.”

  “How far away are we from Grumium?” asked Arianna.

  “Around a hundred miles,” said Jak. “We’ve not even begun to pick up speed yet so the instruments can become accustomed to the landscape.”

  Arianna looked ahead and saw a shimmering sea on the horizon, the water reflecting white from the sun’s rays so she was forced to look away or be dazzled. It took her a few seconds to realise there was something seriously wrong. “There is no sea,” said Prima Blak in confusion, rubbing her eyes as she starred towards the horizon. “Or at least not in this direction.”

  “It looks like it is moving,” said Arianna, straining her eyes. “Like oil running across a table.”

  “It is not oil,” declared Jak. “It is alive.”

  They were running fast, and in unison and even from so far up Arianna could make out the shapes of the revenants who had terrorised them in the caves but a few days ago. Their heads were down and they appeared to be united in one single purpose. They were moving at an impossible speed, almost keeping up with the rover. It defied all scientific reasoning that such creatures could move so fast, thought Arianna.

  “Where are they heading?” Wondered Jak.

  “They’re going towards the town!” Exclaimed Prima Blak with a sudden terrible realisation. “They’re coming for us!”

  Jak swung the starship around in an arc so it was going back in the direction from which it had come, back towards Grumium.

  “Far more than ten thousand!” Exclaimed Prima Blak aghast.

  “Pick up speed!” demanded Arianna urgently.

  Suddenly the starship’s radio crackled into life. “Mayday!” Came the urgent voice of Jan Lybne, the leader of the second group of rangers. “We’ve got creatures all over us, Sir. They’re running fast, thousands of them!”

  “You mean they’re coming from your direction as well?” Replied Jak in askance.

  “From all directions, sir,” replied Jan Lybne, and he was unable to keep the panic from his voice.

  “Why are they coming?” Demanded Arianna. “Why now?”

  “They’re coming for us,” replied Prima Blak grimly. “Because we’re here and easy meat.”

  “We’ve got no defences, no walls, nothing with which to fight them and what’s worse they must outnumber us a hundred to one!” Exclaimed Arianna. “You saw how much damage even one of those things did.”

  Jak seized hold of the radio and pressed the button to speak to the communications team back at the town. “Get everyone inside!” He shouted down the radio. “This is an emergency!”

  “What is it?” Demanded Barra Herr, his voice sounding bemused. “Is there an earthquake?”

  “Revenants!” Replied Jak urgently. “Hundreds of thousands of them, coming from all directions and straight towards the town!”

  “You’re not serious,” breathed Herr. “But I thought those things were thousands of miles…”

  “Don’t sit here and debate me, Herr!” Snapped Jak furiously. “I know what I’m seeing right now. Just do as I say! Sound the alarms! Get out there and holler at the top of your lungs but for crying out loud get everybody back inside the starship!”

  The line went dead. Jak closed his eyes and prayed the communications chief had his wits about him. They were now travelling at a speed of five hundred miles an hour but as Arianna turned in her seat she saw the revenants now pick up speed across the plains. She closed her eyes and prayed Ambra was still sle
eping at home in the starship. The vessel picked up more speed, so much so that it almost overshot the town then turned around and swooped down towards the landing deck.

  Jak and Arianna leapt out of the starship and started running. Prima Blak followed close behind, only stopping to gather up her reams of equipment. An alarm was sounding across Grumium but people were not moving especially fast. Arianna ran ahead of Jak through the landing bay and into the Council quarters and straight up to her apartment where she found Jen Henna looking around in confusion. “Where is Ambra?” She demanded urgently.

  “She went to play in the arboretum,” replied the librarian.

  Arianna rushed passed her colleague and ran headlong down the stairs, past the shuffling bodies of bemused colonists and into the arboretum. She ran from one child to another, each time demanding to know if they had seen her daughter. None of them had. Arianna didn’t hesitate. She rushed through the chambers and outside into the main street of the city.

  Meanwhile Jak hurried into the armoury, calling others to join them. He knew they could not possibly hope to repel the entire force of revenants but he was nonetheless hopeful of taking down the initial outriders and allowing the colonists some time to get inside the starship.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Demanded Chairman Bol, hurrying up behind the ranger as fast as his aging legs would allow. “Have you gone completely out of your mind?”

  “Thousands of revenants!” Panted Jak. “More than I would ever have thought possible, and they’re coming straight for us!”

  Arianna ran out on to the meadows. “Ambra!” She called. “Where are you?” She stopped and listened closely. From behind came the sound of the alarm, summoning the colonists inside. But there was another sound too, coming from over the horizon. It was the sound of an approaching rainstorm, of a landslide or a typhoon. Arianna could not quite explain the sound but she understood well enough what it was.

  Jak hurried outside to the old gangplank of the starship. Sol joined him a moment later. From their raised vantage point Jak and Sol looked over the horizon and now they saw it too. But still the colonists were not moving fast enough. They were stopping to pick up their supplies, amicably chatting to their friends, taking a leisurely stroll back towards the starship. It was clear they thought the whole thing a drill.

  “We’ll never get everyone back in time!” Said Sol with mounting alarm and he estimated that at least half the population were still outside.

  “Hurry up!” Roared Sol. “Get inside as quick as you can!”

  Jan Lybne came to join then on the platform. “Order the rangers to the entrances,” said Jak. “Tell the police officers to come too. We need to hold them off as much as we can to get everyone back inside.” He turned to Sol. “Come with me,” he ordered. “We need to hurry along some of these stragglers and hopefully take a few of the bastards down before they get too thick.”

  The two of them charged down the steps and into the main street, fighting against the crowds heading in the opposite direction. As they reached the start of the plains they saw one of the creatures far ahead of the others, leaping and bouncing high over the long grass towards them. Sol and Jak opened fire together. At first their shots just seemed to bounce off the revenant. It stopped its charge and turned around to face them, threw back its head and roared in terrible anger. Jak charged forwards and fired again, keeping his fingers pressed on the trigger. Blood spurted from the revenant’s chest as it began to charge but Jak remained stoic and now Sol joined him, his gun firing continually. The revenant slumped forwards and fell, dead at last. “Too much work,” muttered Sol, trying to keep the panic from his voice.

  “They don’t die easily,” affirmed Jak, looking up towards the multitude getting closer by the second.

  “This is hopeless,” declared Sol. “We can’t possibly take them all out. We have to get back to the ship. We have to save as many people as possible.”

  Jak saw that Sol was right. Without another word the two of them turned and began to charge back in the direction of what was fast becoming their only hope of long term sanctuary.

  At the same time Arianna was also running, yelling her daughter’s name as she hurried down the main street in the direction of the river. By now the other colonists had seen the terrible sight on the horizon and were dashing around frantically, the air wrought with screams of terror. Arianna dashed on to the plains where she saw a dark head bobbing up and down just over the long grass.

  “What is it mummy?” Asked Ambra innocently.

  “We have to go,” said Arianna urgently, and without waiting for a response she seized her daughter around the waist and lifted her up before running as fast as she could back towards the starship. A hundred feet in front of her she saw a gleaming white body rush through and into the departing crowd, then another. Their fists cleaved through the skulls of the fleeing colonists. People screamed and ran in all directions. Some ran uselessly back to their homes. As Arianna watched she saw the revenants swing their arms and decapitate several people as they fled and with such force and feed that the headless colonists continued running for several metres afterwards before collapsing in the final stagger of death.

  Arianna knew she would not make it in time. She pulled Ambra to the doorway of a half-finished shop and crouched down low as the viscera and guts of one colonist were flung over fifty metres through the air, landing with a sickening splat on the wall behind them. Arianna saw her daughter’s eyes bulging at the sight of the chaos although she kept her mouth shut in what was most likely a stunned silence. She knew there was nothing for it except to hide out and hope for the best. All around them people were fleeing at full pelt. Some made it back to the starship, others were cut down on their feet. It was simply a lottery. Arianna realised that if they didn’t go now they would simply be postponing an inevitable death. She put her head down and ran, carrying Ambra in her arms and trying to make herself as small as possible. Arianna heard inhuman roars and a cacophony of screams behind her; blood splashed in her face but she dared not deviate from her course for a second.

  The doors to the starship opened quickly, but only to a height of five feet so that the colonists had to duck down to rush inside. The lowered height presented a greater problem to the revenants who found it harder to follow. People were running inside with their arms ripped off, with parts of their shoulders completely ripped out and huge gashes and claw marks across their faces. Most of the running injured made it inside then promptly collapsed inside the door, there to be trampled over by the rushing crowds before the rangers stepped in to roughly drag them out of the way.

  Arianna was almost at the steps to the starship when something crashed into her with what felt like the force of a boulder. She cried out as she was knocked aside but managed to keep hold of Ambra and looked up to see the revenant rising above her, its teeth bared and its fist raised to destroy them. Arianna pushed Ambra beneath her, determined to shield the little girl as best she could with her own body, closed her eyes and waited for death to take her. There came a series of blinding flashes. Arianna looked up to see half the revenant’s head had been shot off and it was tilting back and forth. She leapt up and dragged Ambra out of the way just as the thing toppled down, landing in the exact spot where she had been crouching with a resounding crash.

  “Come on!” Roared Sol, rushing up to her and pulling her away by the arm. Jak was with him and together the four of them hurried back up the steps and into the starship.

  Jak and Sol remained framed in the doorway, firing indiscriminately and yet the revenants took no notice of their assault. They continued attacking even with hideous injuries, showed no pain even when their arms were hanging off and their intestines were seeping from their abdomens. More and more revenants were turning their attention to the ship, charging up the stairways and beating their fists upon the doorways which were quickly closed. It was only a matter of time before a breach occurred. There was nothing for it. Jak picked up the radio and spoke
to his men. “Close all the doors,” he ordered with quiet determination.

  Arianna spun around to look at him. “But there are still thousands of people out there!” She exclaimed in horror.

  “Those people have no chance now,” replied Jak. “We have saved as many people as we can.”

  The order went through on the radio. Within thirty seconds the doors had slammed shut. There came a frantic hammering from outside. It only lasted a minute before being replaced by the sound of tearing, snarling and cracking bone. Arianna dropped to her knees, hugged Ambra tight and for a good few minutes the tears overwhelmed her.

  People were lying in the corridors, some being cradled by relatives. Other survivors had not been bitten but were clearly in a state of shock. Some slumped against the walls whilst others wandered up and down as if in a daze, unable to cope with the magnitude of what had just happened. Screams echoed up and down the corridors; they were the screams of the bereaved, the injured and the shocked.

  “We need to isolate the wounded,” said Chairman Bol worriedly when he came to survey the devastation. “Get them to the concert hall in the arboretum.”

  “But this is where the survivors have gathered,” objected Arianna. “We’ve jettisoned most of the living quarters.”

  “There’s another problem,” said Jak gravely. They all turned to look at him.

  Bol was the first to break the silence. “The bitten,” he said quietly. “You think they’re going to turn.”