With a tremendous jerk, their forward motion ceased as a number of parachutes deployed. The escape module swung twice under its canopy of scarlet and gold then slammed into the ground.
Calvin lost his grip, and his head smashed into the instrument panel. Although his helmet and visor absorbed most of the blow, Calvin was still stunned by the impact.
With another flash of flames and a loud “chunk!” the canopy blew off.
“Come, human,” Captain Skrelleth urged as he exited the remains of the craft. “We must get out of here before the demons come. This planet will soon be swarming with them; we don’t have long.”
Calvin heard the words, but they were slow to register through the fog filling his brain. Seeing the Terran unmoving yet again, the Ssselipsssiss officer reached down, grabbed him by both shoulders and lifted him from the capsule.
“Here,” Captain Skrelleth said, thrusting a laser rifle into Calvin’s chest.
“Uh, thanks,” Calvin said. His suit went to work fixing the new damage caused by the lizard’s claws. Several red lights illuminated in his heads-up display as pharmacopeia and nanobot levels dropped into the critical.
The captain removed a second rifle from the cockpit, slung it over his shoulder and took several steps away from the craft before turning and waving Calvin forward.
“Let’s go!” he urged. “I may have given us a little time; hopefully, they will think we were in the shuttle when it crashed. If they come down and look for us, though, it won’t take them long to figure out where we went.”
“I’m coming,” Calvin replied as he clambered from the cockpitto join the Ssselipsssiss. “Do you know if Farhome made it?”
“Farhome?”
“The Aesir who was traveling with me.”
“Your care for your mate is touching, but it is out of place at the moment. I do not know if he made it off the ship, but I would assume he did not. It exploded soon after we departed.”
“Mate?” Calvin said, stopping to turn toward the Ssselipsssiss. “He’s not my mate. He’s a…well, he’s a friend, I guess. Sort of. Kind of a protector, too, I suppose. But mate? Definitely not.”
“Fine; he’s not your mate. You Terrans talk too much. Can you focus? Let’s go! We have to get away from here before they come looking for us.” He turned and began jogging away from the wreckage of the capsule toward a tall cliff several miles away; Calvin was forced to a full run to keep from getting left behind. Overtaking the Ssselipsssiss was not an option.
“Wait!” Calvin called after a couple of minutes when he could see he wasn’t going to be able to keep up. “Where are you going?”
Captain Skrelleth stopped and turned around. “Isn’t it obvious?” he asked. He motioned toward the face of the cliff. “On top of that cliff is a spaceport. Hopefully, there is still a ship there we can use to escape. Less talking; more running.” He turned and began running toward the cliff again.
“Could you…” Calvin puffed, “just slow down…a little? Your legs are…lot longer…than mine.”
The Ssselipsssiss slowed marginally, enabling Calvin to keep up, and they quickly covered the remaining two miles. The captain stopped as he reached the side of the sheer cliff, which rose over 1,000 feet above them.
“We are almost to my home,” Captain Skrelleth said.
“We’ve got to climb this?” Calvin asked, gazing at the face of the cliff. It was nearly vertical, with little in the way of handholds to be seen.
“Don’t worry,” the Ssselipsssiss said. “It’s easy.”
“Are you sure, captain?” Calvin asked. “It doesn’t look like an easy climb to me.”
Without warning, the lizard turned and hit him in the face with a closed claw, knocking him to the ground.
Calvin lay on his back, rubbing his jaw. It didn’t seem broken, but hurt like hell. He was in no hurry to get up for more. “What was that for?”
“In our culture, if we lose a ship, we lose our rank. I am no longer Captain Skrelleth. I am now just Salissessolliss.”
“So you had to hit me?”
“I went easy on you. If any of my people had dishonored me so, I would have killed them.”
“Well, thanks for just punching me then,” Calvin replied; “however, if we’re going to work together, maybe next time you could warn me if I violate one of your moral codes, rather than resorting to violence from the start? It might help our working relationship. Like, a lot.”
“I will think about it, but will not make any promises.”
“Don’t do me any favors. What did you say I’m supposed to call you?”
“Salissessolliss. It is my name.”
“In the interests of time, like if an enemy is about to shoot at you, can I just call you ‘Sal?’ That way, I don’t mispronounce your name and cause some other grave insult?”
“Shortening my name is an insult.”
“I’m not sure I can pronounce the whole thing.”
The lizard hissed. “Well then, just call me Sal. It is probably better that way. The less I have to hear you speak my language, the greater I will like it.”
“The feeling is mutual,” Calvin muttered. Looking at the bluff from his back, he didn’t see any openings or doors…or anything which would indicate the cliff was populated. “So where is the city?”
“Right here.” The captain pushed a black rock jutting out from the cliff face and Calvin heard a ‘click.’ The outline of a door became visible. “It’s inside the hill.” Captain Skrelleth took hold of the rock and pulled open the door. “After you.”
Chapter Six
Emperor Yazhak the Third’s Estate, Grrrnow, 61 Virginis, December 12, 2021
“There was a civilization on the planet, which appeared to be Sila,” Captain Sheppard said. “As you requested, we did not interact with them. Of note, this is the first time we’ve found a Sila civilization where we didn’t see any evidence of the Efreet. This appears to have allowed the Sila to progress into the space age. They had at least two destroyer-sized ships, as well as a solar collection facility on the moon.”
“Thank you for doing that,” Emperor Yazhak replied; “I will sleep better at night knowing the Efreet or Shaitans aren’t going to pop in and start bombing my cities. I would like to open up relations with the civilization, but I am willing to wait until you return for that.”
“You’re welcome,” Captain Sheppard said. “We will be happy to make contact with them the next time we’re here, but for now, we have a dark planet to find and a crewman to recover.”
Passages, Sssorowyn, Sssellississ, December 13, 2021
The doorway opened into a passage that led deeper into the cliff. Sal hadn’t been kidding, Calvin realized; there was an entire city inside the hill. He followed the Ssselipsssiss through a warren of passageways, with tunnels branching off in every direction. The passages were a three-dimensional maze; they would climb several flights of stairs only to go back down again, even further, a few minutes later.
Complicating things, Ssselipsssiss were running everywhere. Big ones, small ones; all were running somewhere. Calvin was jostled, bumped and, on two occasions, slammed into the wall. Within minutes, Calvin was hopelessly lost and couldn’t have found his way back out if his life depended on it. And looking at the situation, it soon might.
After another few minutes of being banged around by creatures larger than himself, Calvin finally had to ask, “So, where did you say we were going?”
“We’re almost there,” Sal replied over his shoulder. He turned back just in time to crash into another Ssselipsssiss, and he pushed it away. The unfortunate lizard bounced off the opposite wall, tripped and went headlong into Calvin’s knees, cutting his legs out from under him. Calvin went down in a heap, his helmet flying forward to bounce off Sal’s back.
Sal turned with the hiss of steam escaping a broken boiler and grabbed Calvin’s shoulder again to lift him upright. Calvin saw stars and was momentarily dazed. Until Sal slammed Calvin’s helmet int
o his stomach, nearly knocking the wind out of him.
“Come on!” Sal urged. “We are almost there.”
“Almost there” really meant five more minutes of travel at a forced march; the last two of which were climbing stairs. Up, the entire way.
“We are here, finally,” Sal said. He stopped next to a door that looked just like the others they had passed. The Ssselipsssiss surveyed the hall and slid the door to the side.
Calvin started to enter, but Sal grabbed his arm. “Let me go first,” he said. “We’re liable to have fewer problems that way.”
Calvin wasn’t sure what he meant, as the room appeared empty, but he moved to the side and let Sal slide past him. Sal took three steps into the room, stopped and emitted an ear-piercing whistle.
At the sound, a group of smaller Ssselipsssiss exploded from the places they’d been hiding. One even dropped from a vent in the ceiling. The four were all about five feet tall, and they were armed to the teeth; each had at least one wicked-looking blade and a laser pistol. They came running toward Sal, but stopped when they saw he had someone with him.
“These five are the children from my last, and best, brood. Their mother was a warrior beyond compare.” He indicated the tallest of the group. “This is Reyl. He is the first-hatched and extremely smart although often more generous than is appropriate. He’ll give you the shirt off his back without a thought to his own need.”
The second lizard stepped forward. “This is Syrusss. He is also very smart but tends to the sly. You’ll never see his revenge coming and usually won’t know that he’s gotten even until long after it’s done.”
The third Ssselipsssiss wasn’t as tall as the first two but was built like a tank. Calvin couldn’t remember ever seeing a lizard with bulging muscles, but this child had them. “This is Karver. Don’t let the muscles deceive you; he is almost as smart as his brothers.”
“The smallest one is Paxton. He is the runt of the litter but mean as all hells. If you ever wrong him, you’d better kill him because he always gets even. He’ll start a fight between his brothers then walk away laughing.”
“I thought you said there were five,” Calvin said. “I only see four.”
“Turn around.”
Calvin turned to find the muzzle of a laser pistol several inches from his right eye. Her other hand held a knife at stomach level, ready to eviscerate him.
“That’s their sister, Burkuri. She’s the leader and most dangerous one of the bunch.”
“I see,” Calvin said. He reached up and pushed the barrel of the pistol away from his face. “I’m a friend,” he added.
“Is he really a friend, father?” Burkuri asked, moving to block the doorway. “Or can we kill him and eat him? He looks tasty.”
Calvin tensed, ready to attack the young Ssselipsssiss, but Sal intervened.
“Yes, he is a friend,” Sal said. “If not a friend, he is at least an ally against the demons. If you kill him, you will deprive our civilization of his experience.”
“As you wish, father,” Burkuri said, spinning the pistol around her finger once before sliding it into the holster. She did the same with the knife in her other hand before sheathing it. “I still say he looks tasty, and meat has been in short supply.”
“Maybe another time,” Sal said, which didn’t boost Calvin’s confidence. “Right now, though, we need him. Everyone grab their packs; we’re leaving.”
Within 10 seconds, the five children were back with their packs. “Ready, father,” Burkuri said.
Sal drew Burkuri aside and said something to her Calvin couldn’t hear, although he could see she wasn’t pleased by it. He said something else and then returned to where Calvin was waiting.
“Let’s go,” Sal said, then he turned and led the group into the tunnel system. This time they went up, staircase after staircase, and it wasn’t long until Calvin’s legs were burning again with the effort. Finally, Sal stopped.
“There is a cave mouth nearby that overlooks the spaceport,” Sal said. “Children, I want you to stay here while the Terran and I take a look.”
“But, father, if we do not also look, how will we be able to assist you in the planning?” Reyl protested.
“I want you to stay here and guard our backs,” Sal replied. “The enemy will be here soon, if they haven’t already landed. Two of you on each side of the passageway, with Burkuri on overwatch. Do it!”
“Yes, father,” five voices chorused, and they scampered off to take their positions.
“Quietly,” Sal said, turning back to Calvin. “If they are at the spaceport, they will hear you.”
He pulled open a door and lay down to slide out on his belly. Calvin also got down on his stomach and followed. Beyond the door was a small overhang that opened out from the hill above the spaceport. The complex was in a circular depression about three miles in diameter at the top of the plateau.
Sal crawled to the edge and peered down for a moment before sliding back away from the lip. “The enemy approaches,” Sal whispered.
Calvin let the lizard slide past him and took his place. The narrow ledge overlooked the spaceport from about 25 feet above it. He froze as he saw a number of creatures going by below, then slid forward to get a better look at the procession after it passed. Four centaur-like beings herded three of Sal’s countrymen with some sort of electric prod, laughing as they used it on the helpless lizards at will. The creatures looked like what you’d get if you crossed a longhorn steer with a four-armed man and then added an extra pair of eyes on antennas. They were the creatures from his nightmares.
Shaitans.
He pushed himself backward before one of the Shaitans could look up and see him.
“Yeah, that’s our enemy too,” he whispered. “Those are Shaitans, and it looks like they captured three of your people. We’ve got to find a way to free them.”
“They are as good as dead,” Sal said, “just like the rest of this planet. It is more important to find a way off-planet and take the word back to my people.”
“What are your people going to do with the information?” Calvin asked. “Just knowing the name of the race you’re fighting isn’t going to help defeat them.”
Sal hissed, his annoyance evident.
“It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not,” Calvin argued; “it’s the truth. We have the same problem. We know who we’re fighting, but we don’t know where their home planet is, or anything else about them. All we know is they have at least a limited mastery over time because they use it as a weapon. If they can do other things with it…more powerful things…then we are well and truly screwed.”
“My race is already, as you say, ‘screwed,’” Sal replied. “They have taken most of our planets, including our capital, and now my world. If we don’t find a way to stop them, and soon, we will be annihilated.”
Having fought the Ssselipsssiss, Calvin wasn’t sure the loss of the race was something the galaxy would mourn, but he shrugged internally. Better the enemy you know than the one you don’t.
“If nothing else,” Calvin said, “at least we now know we’re fighting a common enemy. If we can put pressure on them in another place, maybe that will help your race to hold on to what you still have. To do that, though, we have to get the word back to my people.”
“Agreed. How do you suggest we do that?”
“I don’t know,” admitted Calvin. “Maybe we can hold out here. Do you think your people will come looking for you?”
“No,” Sal replied, with another hiss. “With the loss of my fleet, our entire navy consists of just two cruisers. They will not send an offensive expedition to look for us; we don’t have one. What about your people?”
“We are almost as bad off,” Calvin replied. “We just lost our only super dreadnought fighting the Shaitans and the Jotunn, as well as two battleships. Unless we’ve built a lot more while I was gone, that only leaves us with a cruiser and a couple of battleships.”
“That’s all?” Sal
asked. “You are even worse allies than I thought. I knew allying with you was a mistake. We should have just fallen back on your planets and taken them as our own.”
“You would turn your back on our agreement? That quickly?”
“No one is altruistic with the fate of their civilization at stake. Yes, I would happily turn my back on the agreement if it saved my race. Faster than I could kill you.”
“Well, happily for Terra, then, you’re marooned here with me, and that knowledge won’t make it back to your people if we don’t get off this planet.”
Sal hissed again.
“You know, you hiss a lot,” Calvin noted.
“We do that to show anger or frustration.”
“We do something we call sighing,” Calvin said. “I’m told I do that a lot, too. If nothing else, at least we have that in common, just like the fact that both our nations need us to make it back with the information we have.” He held out a hand to the Ssselipsssiss. “Truce. At least until we make it out of here.”
Sal looked at his hand for a few seconds, causing Calvin to wonder if he would take it or bite it. As the alien had a mouthful of extremely sharp teeth, Calvin hoped for the former.
“Truce,” Sal said finally, taking Calvin’s hand in a claw-to-forearm grip. “At least until we get back.”
“Fair enough. Now let’s go see if we can figure out a way off this rock.”
Chapter Seven
Spaceport Overlook, Sssorowyn, Sssellississ, December 13, 2021
Sal and Calvin slid back onto the ledge and surveyed the spaceport. A disassembled engine sat next to a destroyer on the left side; most of the rest of the field was covered by some type of assault/shuttle craft. There were over 100, parked in neat rows.
“That’s a lot of crap out there,” Calvin said. “Are those your shuttles, or is it the invasion force?”
The Dark Star War (Codex Regius Book 3) Page 4
