Dead Force Box Set

by S D Tanner

  That much was true and, hoping he might retrieve the mission after all, he looked across the habitat hoping to see the bag of tubes. A swarm of black bodies were sweeping across the dome. They were streaming out of what he could now see was a damaged pipe. Although his bullets hadn’t hit the wall of the dome, he had broken open one of the massive pipes inside the habitat. The shattered pipe had released millions of insects. Using their wings to compete with zero gravity they were winding their way toward the fleas. Cockroach versus flea turned out to be no contest. Small enough to bite through their translucent bodies, they weren’t large enough to set off the incendiaries inside the humanoid fleas.

  “Judge. Rok. Stand away from the door.”

  “Why?”

  Without bothering to answer, he ordered, “Jessica, open the main door.”

  The door behind him opened and he fell backward when gravity hammered him into the floor. Pulling a blade from his belt he cut through the tether and pulled Lolo to safety. Judge and Rok were against the wall of the corridor and leaning forward to peer through the doorway. With one hand holding onto Lolo’s harness he dove for the wall just in time. Screeching in fear or anger, he wasn’t sure which, the fleas were landing inside the corridor. He’d seen them flying, but never walking. The twenty tentacles on each flea slapped against the floor and walls as they galloped along the corridor. They were followed by an angry buzzing sound as cockroaches the size of his fist zipped past his face.

  “What did you do?” Judge asked.

  “I accidentally shot a pipe with insects.”

  “What kind of insects are they?”

  Nothing grew the same way with gravity as they did without it. The cockroaches weren’t like any he’d ever seen on Earth. They were at least thirty times the size and black rather than brown. These little monsters could fly and their wings were batting at the air creating a buzzing sound. When they landed on a flea they bit hard and drew blood. As cockroaches swarmed a flea they delivered the death of a thousand little bites. Mindlessly vicious and pointlessly relentless the cockroaches roared from one flea to the next. He couldn’t think of a more fitting end to a flea than being eaten alive by a cockroach. In his mind if you lived by the sword it was only fitting you died by one. One scavenger being killed by another one was only fair.

  “Law of the jungle,” he replied. “Every species has a predator.” When Judge didn’t reply, he added, “Jessica, open all the doors leading to the chamber. Let’s guide our little friends to their supper.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY: Boom, Boom, Baby

  Chasing the black, buzzing cloud, Rok was bounding along the corridor whooping with delight. “Go, you little buzz fuckers!”

  Zipping past him in a feeding frenzy, the cockroaches hit every part of his body. Now prey to the tiny winged monsters, the fleas were pushing him aside as their tentacles slapped wildly against the walls and floor. Jessica had sealed every door except those where they wanted them to run. In a mad game of chase, they were running with the pack. After hastily tearing off her spacesuit Lolo was running beside him. Protected on all sides by the squad, the fleas and cockroaches appeared too distracted to bother with her.

  Not appearing to be out of breath or even breaking a sweat, she shouted, “What have you done?”

  “Made new friends.”

  A swarm of cockroaches landed on a flea running ahead of him. Descending like a black fog over the translucent body the flea quickly stopped running along the corridor. Tentacles running with blood gave an unsteady final farewell before landing with a thud onto the floor. Like a plague of locusts, the cockroaches landed and feasted. Seeming to prefer running blood they quickly grew bored with their meal. Lifting into the air with a single mind they swarmed again searching for their next target.

  Some fleas were squeezing into open vents and disappearing inside the tunnels on the ship. It wasn’t enough to save them. As one bulbous, translucent body heaved itself inside a narrow vent, the cockroaches landed on the tentacles still slithering inside. Leaking blood from a thousand tiny bites the tentacles grew limp until they hung motionless from the vent. There was no escaping the hard-shelled black insects. As if born to hate their captors they only enjoyed their food while it still bled. Men and cockroaches was an odd alliance, but he’d take it.

  “This is gonna work!” He shouted.

  Judge was behind him and Rok was running ahead. Sounding disgruntled, Judge replied, “I don’t think so, Tag.”

  They were jogging along a narrow corridor toward the main one. Bodies with long tentacles were clambering over them. In their panic, the fleas seemed to have forgotten who they were. A smaller and more capable enemy had sent them running. Eager to escape the cockroaches the fleas weren’t paying any attention to their presence, not that they ever had. Now he understood why the fleas had only attacked them when they threatened their nest. He and the squad were dead and therefore not food. He would have expected them to be interested in Lolo, but perhaps the cockroaches had panicked them. If tentacled creatures could stampede then he guessed this was what it would look like.

  Shrieking and howling echoed along the corridor, only to stop when an angry mob of cockroaches would drop onto a flea. When they reached the main corridor, even more fleas were galloping along. Their long tentacles tangled with others causing them to slow their rampaging pace. Relentless and lethal, the cockroaches took advantage of their confusion by tearing into every flea along their flightpath. The corridor was fast filling with limp and motionless fleas. Blood was leaking from the many cuts turning the corridor from gray to a brilliant red.

  Jessica had only opened the door to the armory. The fleas, funneling through the entrance, were heading straight for the chamber they used as their nest. He didn’t care how many fleas made it into the chamber. Once they were trapped inside there would be no escape from the cockroaches.

  Pointing as he ran through the door, he couldn’t keep the glee from his voice. “It’s gonna work, Judge.”

  Squeezing through the door to the platform inside the chamber, he had to stop himself from being pushed over the edge by the fleas following him. With his back against the wide window the fleas and cockroaches were streaming inside. The battle for who owned the ship had begun and it wasn’t his fight. Like tiny fighter pilots the cockroaches flew past the pods and rows toward the ceiling. Thousands of fleas were clinging to the roof, completely unaware they were about to die.

  Behind him Judge simply shook his head. Staring through the window from the armory, he was watching the battle from a position of safety. Judge’s sour disposition, which he usually found comforting, was irritating him. Judge should be happy. Better the cockroaches kill the fleas than a virus they knew nothing about. He wasn’t even sure the bag had contained viruses so the cockroaches were a stroke of good luck. Why wasn’t the man happy? Lolo was standing beside Judge, her mouth hanging open in shock or horror, he couldn’t tell which. Rok was on the other side of the entrance with him. The screeching and howling of distressed fleas started at the ceiling and echoed its way across the chamber.

  “What’s up with Judge?” Rok shouted.

  “I don’t know.”

  A moment later he knew exactly why Judge hadn’t been happy. A flea flew past the platform he was standing on and plummeted to the bottom of the chamber. Falling head first, its arms and legs had followed, leaving a streak of blood in its wake. Clearly the cockroaches had attacked and it had let go of the ceiling. The hole representing its mouth was wide open and emitting a shocked howl, but his satisfaction was short-lived. When the flea hit the bottom of the chamber a fireball launched upward. The red flames licked at the platform he was standing on before expiring.

  Bites from the cockroaches might not set off the bombs inside the humanoid fleas, but landing hard at the bottom of the chamber did. When more humanoid fleas fell from the ceiling the explosions would take out the chamber. Turning to look at Judge through the window, he shook his head. He�
��d been too cocky again. The explosion caused by thousands of humanoid fleas would destroy the Ark. No one inside the pods would survive. He’d screwed up.

  Judge merely waved his hand at him indicating he should leave the chamber. Like a rabbit caught in the headlights he couldn’t make his feet to move. In becoming so single-minded he’d destroyed another Ark.

  Rok grabbed him by the arm. “We’ve gotta go!”

  The only way off the ship was by shuttle. Hawk and Flak were already in the bay with a shuttle ready to go. “Flak! Hawk! The ship is lost. Get ready to leave. We’re on our way to you.”

  Remembering his squad was enough to make him move. Guided by Rok, he stumbled toward the door. Fleas were falling fast now. Spinning past him they plummeted not only to their deaths, but they heralded the end of the sleepers as well. Loud explosions were making the platform shudder. One after another they compounded until a fireball blasted past the platform they were on. A growing heat was rising inside the chamber and billows of smoke swept across his face. The noise of the explosions was followed by the crashing of metal. Every level was built on top of the other. Just losing a few would be enough to bring the entire grid of pods crashing down. Bombs were exploding above and below where he stood. In every part of the chamber more fireballs were ripping upwards. The wide and tall room was shuddering with movement.

  A hissing sound came from above and near his head. Nozzles that he hadn’t known were there released a white foam into the chamber. Designed only to contain a small and localized fire they couldn’t protect the chamber. Foam sprayed across the platform and quickly hardened on the pods and walkways. Bleeding fleas caught by the spray were painted white again. Foam spurted across the chamber from every level on every row, but it was fighting a losing battle against the relentless explosions.

  No more fleas or cockroaches came through the doorway to the armory, but the damage was done. Unable to save the sleepers, they’d be lucky to escape. All they could do was leave. His trainers had been right. He was antagonistic to the point of being destructive. How had he died? Had he done something stupid? How many men had he taken with him? Convinced he was a screw up, he turned away from the chamber, allowing Rok to push him through the door to the armory.

  “Joker! Head to the shuttle bay!”

  Feeling himself pulled through the door by Judge, he was then pushed toward the arterial corridor. “Not your best idea, Tag!”

  Cockroaches that were unable, or unwilling, to enter the chamber were swarming fleas who no longer knew where to go. Some were of the squid type; too many were humanoid. An explosion blasted across the armory throwing him against the wall. The room began hissing with the sound of foam. If it hardened around them they would never leave the room. Fireballs, which had been contained within the chamber, compounded and grew larger. They leaned against the wall and shielded themselves from a blast inside the room; the window to the chamber exploded inward. As it shattered, glass flew across the room like tiny bullets.

  Lolo was screaming again, a sound that was becoming all too familiar. Foam on the floor had already hardened within seconds and his boots became glued to the ground. He jerked one foot after the other and shoved Lolo toward the door to the arterial corridor.

  “No! No!” She screamed and pushed back against him.

  Inside the room, or outside of it, their safety wasn’t guaranteed. A warning alarm had started up. Whooping in a never-ending siren, it was deafening. He didn’t need to be told there was a problem. The noise from more explosions was muffled by the wail from the siren. Lights that had been white flickered and returned the color of blood. The armory was thrown into a flashing gloom that was only disrupted by the sharp flashes of exploding fleas.

  With his feet still gripping the sticky floor, he pushed Lolo through the door and into the arterial corridor.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: Dead to Me

  Rok was running headlong into the fleas racing along the corridor, but they were no longer the enemy. By releasing the cockroaches he’d been more destructive than any flea, losing the one thing he’d sworn to save. When he’d woken there had been three Arks, but now there was only one left and he didn’t even know where it was.

  Skidding on the hardening foam, Rok only said one word. “Ash!”

  Ash was with Bart in the living quarters. Everyone in the squad had already died and it wasn’t easy to die a second time. If they’d returned Ash to a pod then he would have recovered, but now he didn’t know what would happen to him. Rok’s intention to save Ash might be admirable, but it was also foolhardy. They’d be lucky to make it to the shuttle, much less have time to evacuate someone who wasn’t even conscious.

  Following Rok along corridor, he shouted, “He’s dead.”

  “We’re all dead.”

  Judge was following him while dragging Lolo by one arm. She seemed confused and disoriented in a way he hadn’t seen since saving her from falling to her death inside the chamber. Lumps of flea flesh oozing blood littered the corridor. Blood from the dead and dying fleas had spread across the floor. Splashes and smears of congealing gore covered the walls and ceiling. Sirens were wailing and the corridor was flashing red. Yet even with blood, body parts and a wailing warning, compared to the chamber, the corridor felt peaceful.

  The escalating blasts inside the chamber were sending waves of heat through the two open doors. Foam was filling the armory, but the pace of warfare inside the chamber would overtake any attempt to save the ship. Before long, the floor inside the chamber would melt and the engines would be compromised. When that happened, the hull would crack open and let the universe inside. His bad judgment would be scattered across space until the Ark was just another unknown piece of debris. The universe wouldn’t just bury his mistake, it would be dumped across a million planets.

  Rok was leaping over bodies desperate to reach the living quarters. He could leave him to it, but that would only add cowardice to his list of crimes for the day. Judge had already decided he was stupid. Maybe he’d left the army with a dishonorable discharge, and he couldn’t blame them if he had. Although he didn’t think of himself as an impulsive man he guessed he didn’t have the best judgment. He could almost see his performance evaluation.

  Tag does not follow or give orders well. Promotion not recommended.

  Everything inside the corridor was heating up, including the lifeless squids on the floor. The increasing heat was only making them leak even more blood. Smoke was billowing from the open door to the armory. Blood that had partially congealed was melting in the growing heat and trickling down the walls. Rok used his metal left forearm to lever open the door to the living quarters where Ash was lying on the bed just as they’d left him.

  Seeing them barging through the door, Bart stood up from the corner he’d been cowering in. “What’s going on? Why are there alarms?”

  “The fleas are exploding inside the chamber,” he replied.

  “Why? What did you do?”

  “The cockroaches in the dome escaped.”

  “What were you doing inside the domes? They’re not for people. They don’t even have gravity.”

  There was something wrong with Bart’s line of questioning. He seemed to know more about the ship than Lolo had implied he should. Now that he thought about it, so did Lolo. Few pods had been left untouched on the Animax and now he wondered why.

  Ash was at least a foot taller than Rok. His body was hanging over Rok’s shoulder making him look like the dwarf Ash had once accused him of being. With his teeth clenched under the strain of carrying Ash’s body, Rok had already turned toward the door. He wasn’t interested in Bart or what he knew. Single-minded and focused, Rok was determined to deliver his buddy to safety. While he continued eyeing Bart with a growing suspicion Rok left the room with Ash.

  Grabbing Bart by the corner of his collar, he almost lifted him from the floor. “Who are you?”

  Hanging limply under his grasp Bart didn’t lift a hand to d
efend himself. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  “Done what?”

  “Killed the fledgling.”

  “Is that what the fleas are? Newborn aliens.”

  “Space changes how things grow.”

  On the surface, Bart’s answer didn’t make much sense, but he understood what he meant. Just as bacteria, viruses and insects grew differently in zero gravity, space could have a similar effect on any species. Perhaps the fleas were grown in space so they would reach their full potential and become whatever it was they really were.

  “What does an adult flea look like?”

  A slow and smug smile spread across Bart’s face. No answer was needed. The cold eyes and sinister smirk said it all. “You son of a bitch.”

  He’d been played for a fool. Not only was the Prognatus no Ark, it wasn’t even meant to be a spaceship. They were onboard a floating nursery. The ship had four domes and now he wondered what the other two had contained. He’d done everything wrong. Instead of treating the Ark as enemy territory he’d believed the packaged lies told by the confident sounding presenter. Where he should have cross-questioned Lolo, he’d accepted her explanation about Lunar.

  Leaning into Bart’s smirk, he asked, “How close are we to Earth?”

  An outline of Judge appeared in the doorway. In the flashing gloom, and with the smoke shadowing his body, he appeared to be standing in the doorway to hell. “Tag! Leave it.”

  Still holding Bart by his collar, he shook his head. “He’s one of them.”

  Stepping into the room, Judge grabbed the back of his tactical vest. “It doesn’t matter who he is if we’re dead.”

  “We’re already dead.”

  Dragging him toward the door, Judge shouted, “I think therefore I am. You said it yourself.”

  Letting go of Bart’s collar he followed Judge’s calm voice. What defined life? He breathed. He mourned. He felt anger. Was he dead? If not, then Lunar had a lot to answer for. They might not have killed him, but they’d taken his life as if they had. He could have gone home, been with his wife and daughter, but instead he’d been taken for a fool. Without his knowledge or consent he’d become the property of Lunar Horizon. Who had he been? Someone Lisa had loved and wept over. The joy on Daisy’s face when she ran toward him meant he’d been a good father. Judge wasn’t a man to suffer fools and yet he’d followed him wherever he went. He might not know who he’d been, but like anyone he had his strengths and fought with his weaknesses. Lunar Horizon had taken more than his life, they’d stolen his identity and taken his confidence with it.