Starfall Muta

by Alan David

  ‘Ogrins!’ Clark moved back. ‘Follow Pacian and make as much speed as you can. I’ll drop back to give cover. The Ogrins can’t stand up to the Laser. Did you hear the shuttle-craft going over? I figure it crashed a couple of miles from here.’

  ‘It’s in the general direction we’re heading,’ Balfin said. ‘We’ll check it out on the way.’

  Clark nodded and dropped back, ensuring he knew which direction the Avics were taking, and a strange silence fell quickly as soon as the familiar figures of Balfin and Magenta were lost among the trees. Clark remained behind a tree, listening intently, watching carefully, and now there were none of the heavy sounds Balfin had reported.

  He glanced over his shoulder at the two dead Ogrins, and shook his head slowly as he tried to hold his shock in check. This was a nightmare that seemed to be getting more horrible as time went on. He glanced around again, keeping himself under tight control, and when he was satisfied that he was not being approached he prepared to slip away and follow his party.

  He skirted the clearing and followed the faint trail that had been left. Now Mallory was very much in his thoughts, and he tried to judge the direction the crash had sounded. If Mallory had come down and was not dead he might be needing help.

  The silence in the jungle was eerie now, and Clark kept looking around apprehensively. There was a brooding quality to the atmosphere, and none of the natural sounds that one normally associated with a jungle were now apparent. There were no signs of Balfin and the others, and Clark increased his pace to come up with them.

  When he spotted another clearing he paused and lay in the undergrowth, staring at the small patch of blue sky that showed among the trees. A skyraft went silently overhead, and it was low. He could see dark figures aboard, and wondered at the Brutans, as Pacian had called them. If the Avics themselves and the Ogrins were anything to go by then the Brutans would also be horrific.

  He moved on and was careful to remain under cover. He followed the faint tracks that had been left by his party, and hurried to gain on them. He knew they could be followed by the signs that were left, but he could not worry about probabilities while there was so much definite trouble to face.

  Soon he caught sight of a couple of Avics acting as a rear-guard for the party, and they halted when they spotted him, testifying to their alertness. He spoke to them, reassuring them, then went on to where Balfin and Magenta were sitting down with their backs to a tree. There was no sign of Pacian and the other Avics.

  ‘Pacian’s gone on ahead with some of his men to check for Mallory,’ Balfin said. ‘They figure he came down around here, and they know the area better than we do.’

  ‘I’d better go take a look.’ Clark did not pause. ‘You keep a sharp eye open, Kester. We don’t want any more nasty surprises.’

  ‘You can say that again,’ Balfin said, and took hold of his Laser.

  Clark hurried on, soon disappearing in the dense undergrowth, and he found it difficult to track the Avics, but he came eventually to sure signs that a craft had crashed. The tops of the trees were mown down in a swathe that stretched for many yards, and foliage was strewn on the ground, but soon the trees themselves were down, some of them uprooted at the impact with the shuttlecraft, and Clark pushed on until he came to the craft itself, lying in a twisted mass of broken trees, upended with its nose buried in the soft ground.

  Pacian and four Avics were staring at the silent craft, and they did not move when Clark came up with them. Clark paused for a moment, his eyes narrowed as he took in the obvious signs of irreparable damage. Then he clipped the Laser to his belt and went forward to try and discover the whereabouts of Mallory.

  He could not get at the hatch, and in any case it was sealed and would resist all efforts to be forced open. He clambered on the dented forward section and peered through a viewport, his lips thinning against his teeth when he saw the limp figure of Mallory hanging against the seat straps. He could see blood on Mallory’s face, but could not tell whether the man was dead or not.

  Pacian trilled at him, and Clark turned enquiringly. He saw the leader of the Avics pointing upwards at the hole torn in the treetops by the descending craft, and framed there in the opening was the motionless shape of a skyraft, its very silence more ominous than if it had opened fire without warning.

  Clark dropped to one knee on the front section of the shuttlecraft and reached for the Laser. He crouched a little as a beam stabbed down from the skyraft, and a number of trees to his left disintegrated instantly. Without waiting for more trouble, Clark fingered the mechanism of the Laser and subjected the alien craft to a shot. Immediately there was an explosion and the skyraft sideslipped to the ground, erupting in a white glare of brilliance.

  Pacian came to the side of the craft. His beady eyes were bright, his bat-like face unable to show expression.

  ‘Please, we must leave this area. It is too dangerous. The Brutans will be landing very soon now to check this craft. We cannot delay.’

  ‘I’ll be right with you,’ Clark said. ‘But first I must check on the man inside. I don’t know if he’s dead or alive.’

  He turned to the shuttlecraft, lifting the Laser. The viewports were the most vulnerable to fire, and he was thankful Mallory had not erected the deflector screens. He chose a side viewport and hoped to avoid Mallory with the Laser beam. He fired the weapon and cut the viewport out completely, then leaned in through the aperture he had created and reached for one of Mallory’s limp arms. He was surprised and relieved to feel a pulse beating weakly, and he turned to Pacian.

  ‘Mallory is still alive. We can’t leave him.’

  ‘Can you lift him out? We will carry him if you get him to the ground.’

  Clark climbed in through the opening and unstrapped the unconscious man. He carried out a swift examination before attempting to move Mallory, and suspected the man had sustained broken ribs. Mallory had somehow struck his head at the moment of impact, and there was a nasty swelling on his left temple. Clark could not tell if the skull had been fractured, and he grunted with the effort as he tried to ease the limp body out through the shattered viewport.

  The Avics came to help him and Mallory was borne swiftly away. Clark alighted and hurried after them, noting as he left the area that two more skyrafts had appeared over the broken area of jungle, and he knew they were not a moment too soon in departing.

  Magenta had somewhat recovered by the time they returned to the spot where Balfin awaited Clark’s return. They pressed on once more, the Avics struggling to carry Mallory, and Clark became increasingly uneasy as they went deeper and deeper into the forest. He was aware that he had placed too much trust in these strange aliens who had apparently befriended them, and all his training had been pointed to the fact that one could not trust aliens in any circumstance. But he appeared to have no choice in this particular situation, and he carried the Laser ready for action just in case his hunch proved to be correct.

  They went on and on, and it was obvious to Clark that he would never be able to find his way back to the spot where they had landed. The shuttlecraft was gone, and with it their only means of escape from the planet. He did not want to dwell upon useless thoughts of what might happen. He could only go on with the hope that disaster was not waiting to overwhelm them. But he noted that the Avics began to lose their tension, and he assumed that they had left the danger area.

  ‘How much farther to your camp, Pacian?’ Clark demanded when they rested once more.

  ‘We are almost there. In a short time now you will meet the survivors of the other spaceship.’

  ‘Do these survivors have names?’ Clark pressed. He could not but hope that his brother would be among them. ‘How many are there?’

  ‘Four, and they arrived in a ship such as the one you landed in.’ The Avic spoke in his reedy tones, his bat-like face giving no expression.

  Clark shook his head, feeling that it was hopeless that his brother might have been one of the four from four hundred. But Ver
n had been Communications Engineer on Probe 1, and it was possible that he had been selected to go with the advance landing party, as Mallory had been chosen for his own party.

  They went on as soon as possible, and Balfin edged towards Clark as shadows began to grow densely around them. Clark looked at the tough Major, and saw uncertainty on the big man’s face.

  ‘What’s on your mind, Kester?’ he demanded softly.

  ‘I’m wondering if we’re making a mistake, going into the interior like this,’ Balfin retorted. ‘How far can we trust these aliens, do you suppose?’

  ‘We’re trusting them all the way,’ Clark replied, and tried to kill his own uneasiness. ‘Our lives are practically in their hands. We’ve got to go along with them, but just be ready for anything. That’s all I can advise.’

  ‘I’ll feel a lot easier when we meet up with the survivors from Probe 1. When we’ve compared notes with them we’ll know exactly where we stand.’ Balfin tried to conceal his uneasiness, but Clark could see it in the background, and because this big man was uneasy, Clark found his own outlook deteriorating.

  ‘It’s getting near sundown,’ Clark observed.

  ‘It’s been a long day,’ Balfin retorted.

  Presently the undergrowth began to thin out, and Clark soon saw the sky in places through gaps over their heads. There were some dark clouds drifting quickly, and night seemed imminent. Clark felt strands of weariness wending their way through his consciousness, and as the shadows increased he became more acutely aware of his depression. They were a long way from home and all the indications were that they would never be able to return.

  His thoughts were shattered by a sudden commotion ahead. The Avics were twittering like a flock of starlings, and somewhere an Earthman’s voice was calling a sharp challenge. Clark caught his breath. Had they arrived? Were they amongst friends at last?

  Chapter Four

  Their surroundings were now too shadowed for Clark to make out any details as they moved slowly forward after the challenge, but presently figures appeared ahead, and the next instant two men were confronting Pacian and the two Avics carrying Mallory. Clark, with the semantics transmuter in operation, heard one of the men demand to know what had happened, and he was talking in the Avic language.

  ‘Hello there!’ Clark could not keep a tremor from his tones. ‘Are you men from Probe 1?’

  ‘Who the heck are you?’ came the startled reply, and Clark grinned despite his sombre mood.

  ‘We’re the survivors from Probe 2!’ he retorted. ‘We fell into the same kind of trap that wiped out your craft.’ He paused, unable to bring himself to ask the vital question about his brother. But it had to come, and he stiffened his lips as he went on. ‘I understand there were four survivors from Probe 1. Who are they?’

  ‘There were four of us,’ came the reply. ‘One was caught by the Ogrins a couple of weeks ago. We figure he’s dead by now.’

  ‘I’m Commander Theron Clark. My brother Vern was Communications Engineer aboard Probe 1. What happened to him?’

  ‘I’m sorry, Commander, but your brother was not among us who survived. There were only four of us in the advance landing party, and Commander Wragge was taken by the Ogrins a fortnight past. The three of us left are Lieutenant Paine, who’s ill with some kind of poisoning, and two crew members. I’m Gunner Hanton and this is Mr Searby, a scientist. We’re all that's left of Probe 1.’

  Clark was silent for a moment, recalling the explosion that had claimed Probe 2, and he could imagine the explosion that had taken his brother’s life. There was an image of Vern’s face on the screen of his mind as he took a deep breath, then exhaled sharply to rid himself of the accumulated tension.

  ‘How are you situated here, Hanton?’ he demanded.

  ‘Comfortable, but in a parlous position. The aliens on this planet, with the exception of the Avics, are terrifying.’

  ‘We’ve met the Ogrins,’ Balfin said, standing at Clark’s side. ‘What are the Brutans like?’

  ‘They’re more like our species than either the Avics or the Ogrins,’ Hanton replied. ‘But they’re cold blooded. They kill at the least excuse. You have only to be an alien to give them the excuse.’

  ‘They appear to be more advanced technologically than us,’ Clark commented.

  ‘They are, Sir,’ Hanton agreed. ‘But so far we’ve managed to hold our own against them. They don’t penetrate this far into the jungle, which is fortunate for us. Do you have any weapons along heavier than the general issue sidearms, Commander?’

  ‘We’re equipped with a couple of Lasers,’ Balfin said. ‘We’ve already had a run-in with some Ogrins, and tangled with Brutans, although we haven’t seen the Brutans personally.’

  ‘We’ll put you in the picture more fully after you’ve rested up, Commander,’ Hanton said. ‘If you’ll follow us we’ll take you into the camp and see you get some food and drink. I guess you’ve had a long trip, huh?’

  ‘It’s been a bad day,’ Clark agreed.

  They went on, and came eventually to a spot where the trees had thinned out but still gave good cover to the ground. There were several huts built under the trees, and small huts set among the lower branches of some of the sturdier ones, with here and there an Avic male, or female, squatting in the branches.

  Clark sighed with relief when they entered one of the huts, and he got the chance to look at Hanton and Searby. Hanton was an oldish man, around forty, which was old for Space, and he looked into Clark’s eyes as he turned up the wick of a lamp set on a heavy table.

  ‘All the comforts of home, sir! Hanton said, grinning. ‘We’ve settled in quite well. It may take you a time to get used to the surroundings, but it’ll come to you eventually.’

  ‘Are there any chances of getting off this planet?’ Balfin demanded.

  ‘We haven’t found the means in the months we’ve been here,’ came the pessimistic reply. ‘The Ogrins aren’t advanced enough to possess such craft, and we haven’t dared venture into those areas where we might contact the Brutans. They would kill us on sight. There have been three determined efforts made to get us, but thanks to the Avics we’ve eluded trouble each time.’

  ‘Sounds as if it isn’t an uneventful place,’ Clark commented. ‘Where is Lieutenant Paine? I’d like to see him. Is he seriously ill?’

  ‘The Avics says he will die. He’s picked up some kind of poison. I don’t like the look of him, sir, but I’m not a doctor, and there’s been little I could do for him.’

  ‘I’ve had medical training,’ Magenta said, her dark eyes dull and showing shock. ‘Perhaps I’d better take a look at him.’

  ‘This way then.’ Hanton sounded cheerful, and Clark wondered if he would ever become as resigned to his fate as this man had evidently become.

  They went to the next hut, and Hanton lit a lamp. Clark looked around and saw a figure lying on a pallet in one corner. He went across with Magenta at his side, and they both stared down at the pallid face of the unconscious man confronting them. Clark remained silent while the woman examined the man, and when she glanced at him her dark eyes were practically concealed by her curving black lashes.

  ‘He’s far gone, Commander,’ she reported. ‘How did he get poisoned, Hanton?’

  ‘Something he ate, ma’am,’ the Gunner replied. ‘We’ve been very careful, and the Avics have been most helpful, but the poor Lieutenant ate some orange berries he found before checking with our friends the birds. The Avics reckon the Lieutenant won’t pull out of it. It’s a lingering death, they say.’

  ‘You’ve got a couple of medical bags with you, Magenta,’ Clark said. ‘See what you can do for him, will you?’

  The woman nodded and departed to fetch her equipment. Clark remained staring down at the Lieutenant’s face for a moment, then turned to the watching Hanton.

  ‘Is there any danger at this camp?’ he asked.

  ‘Not usually, Commander, unless the Brutans make a push to try and catch us. Normally they won't b
other, but if they know they got Probe 2 then they’ll be stirred up by another invasion by aliens. I think they might make a sweep to try and pick us all up.’

  ‘We’ll need to rest up a couple of days. I doubt if an attack could be mounted within that time.’ Clark narrowed his eyes as he spoke. ‘Then we’d better move into a safer area while we plan what should be done.’

  ‘What can be done, apart from ensuring that we don’t fall into alien hands, sir?’ Hanton watched Clark with steady gaze.

  ‘We’ll have to see about getting off the planet!’

  ‘Lieutenant Paine was always talking about that, but with respect, sir, it seems to me that it’s only a hope we can hold on to for the sake of our confidence. There’s no reality to it, as I see it. We’ll be wasting a lot of time and effort that could be employed more usefully in other ways. I think we have to concern ourselves with survival.’

  ‘That is the first priority, of course.’ Clark nodded thoughtfully. ‘But I was given a specific job to do. I’ve discovered now what happened to Probe 1. My task is to get that information back to Earth, and to prevent a second follow-up disaster. You know what will happen if they send a Probe 3, don’t you?’

  ‘That goes without saying, sir, but what can we do about returning to Earth? Lieutenant Paine checked out the local situation as best he could, and came to the conclusion that it was not feasible to lay our hands upon an alien craft that might be capable of lifting us off this planet.’

  ‘We’ll go into details later, Hanton,’ Clark said. ‘I think any discussion will go all the better if I’ve rested and eaten.’

  ‘Certainly, sir. I’ll attend to the details. If you’d return to the other hut I’ll see about some food.’ Hanton turned to leave, but paused and lifted his steady gaze to Clark’s face. ‘I’d like to think there was a chance we could get off this nightmare of a planet, sir! We’ve been here a matter of months now, and I still can’t believe that we’re stranded here, amongst birdmen and giants and murdering monsters who have no pity. They wage a constant war, one against another, except the Avics merely fight for survival. They’ve been real friends to us, sir.’