Five minutes? Phil's legs felt like they could last the better part of five seconds tops.
'I am engaging the hostile force now.' he heard Smith crackle over the intercom. 'They are large and...pink... and appear to be pursuing two figures.'
The sound of blaster fire prevented them from hearing whatever it was Smith was saying next, then the comm went dead altogether.
'Agent Smith, come in.' RJ shouted, beginning to tire from this endless running. 'Agent Smith, do you respond?'
But there was nothing, Smith was gone.
'I guess we're on our own now.' Annika's voice cut in nervously, she had taken more than one look back as they had run.
'Ship... need to... make...' Phil supplied with a gasp, before stumbling.
'Phil!' Annika shouted.
'Captain Jones!' RJ shouted.
'Unnnghhhf' Phil informed them as he collapsed in a tangled mess of leg and uniform.
Immediately and to their credit, the rest of his crew came to a halt, something that Phil couldn't have guaranteed he'd have done in their place.
'Are you able to stand, Captain Jones?' RJ asked, the stress in his voice from their run causing the intercom to squeal with distortion.
'Unnnghhhf' Phil repeated more urgently, trying to get his legs underneath him.
As he eventually rose, the pounding that Smith had sacrificed himself to temporarily halt had once again grown louder. It wouldn't be much longer until they were upon them, whatever 'they' turned out to be.
Scrambling to his feet, he began pump his legs into action in an attempt to get as far away from the incoming noise as soon as possible. RJ and Annika seemed to agree with his assessment of the situation and rang alongside him.
'Judging by the speed that the noise is gaining upon us, we have less than a minute to get to the ship.'
Phil didn't respond, he focused instead on placing one aching foot in front of the other. The jungle floor's impact had been unforgiving in spite of his new armour.
Instead it was RJ that asked the dreaded question. 'How long have we got until we reach the ship?'
A few beeping noises of her helmet-mounted computer resulted in silence.
'Well?'
'We will be within sight of the ship in approximately... six minutes.'
'You said five minutes last time! Your darn head computer has busted a gear!'
'The calculations are in fact accurate, RJ. Our speed has decreased considerably since Phil's unfortunate fall.'
As he wheezed alongside them, Phil realised that they hadn't been going flat out but merely keeping pace with his efforts. They could have saved themselves easily, instead they had stayed behind so that their staggering Captain need not do so alone.
'Get...safety...both...go.' he told them, hoping that some kind of sense could be made of his words.
'We can't do that Captain.' they replied in unison, then seemed uncertain as to who should explain why.
'Order....dammit.' Phil wheezed in response.
'No sir, when it comes to saving the life of your Captain, there are no orders that trump that.' RJ responded infuriatingly.
They were both going to die, all because he was too fat and useless to make it back to the ship in time.
The pink glove squeezed his hand from inside his suit and he came to an abrupt halt. If he was going to die then he'd do it facing whatever it was that had hunted him down.
Wait... that didn't sound like him in the slightest! Why had he suddenly decided to stop?
Both Annika and RJ in turn came to a halt in response to this, thinking that perhaps he was deliberately sacrificing himself so they could get clear.
'Captain, what are you doing?' Annika asked, though it almost seemed rhetorical at this point.
'It appears that I am making a stand, Lieutenant.' Phil replied, not knowing where the words were coming from. 'If we cannot make it back to the ship in time then we shall die on our feet, facing our enemy. Not to be hunted down like cowards as we flee for lives which are already forfeit.'
'Right you are, Captain.' RJ agreed. 'Damn their skinny hides, let's shoot them out.'
Judging from the rumbling that had now grown very loud indeed, RJ must have meant 'skinny' figuratively.
They stood in silence as the noise grew louder and more intense, it was almost as if it were a stampede of wild horses. Or at least, what Phil imagined a stampede of wild horses would sound like. He had never so much as got close to one, let alone a herd. He knew they could kill you with one kick if they chose.
This led on to the inevitable pondering about whether the aliens approaching would kill him in one kick or not. Said ruminations did nothing for the state of his bladder, which had decided that now was indeed the perfect time to pass water. His suit certainly didn't appreciate the sudden wetness that was now sloshing about it.
His thoughts were interrupted by a solemn comment over the comm system in his helmet.
'Here they come.'
He didn't recall who had said it, his mind was now completely focused upon the sight ahead of him.
There were too many of them to count, pouring their way through the jungle either by leaping from tree to tree or stampeding their way over the ground toward them. A huge pink wave of strange alien creatures that promised nothing but death.
A flash of light from the front of the group caused an explosion in the trees nearby, something was still firing at the creatures. It was Smith, and two other men following him at a sprint.
Chapter 17
Argggghhhh! Ohnoohnoohnoohno! Wholesale!
'It would appear that we are in a spot of difficulty, Cadet.' Darwin informed Trigger as the rows of spears prodded them viciously. Trigger could have spotted this without Darwin's vocalising of the situation. The rows upon rows of pink alien creatures that had emerged from the trees all had that same malevolent look in their eyes that made him want to run away, very fast.
'Any other plans, sir?' he managed to stammer, hoping that the Captain had a contingency plan that involved a second daring escapade that saved both their lives.
'Just one, Cadet. Just one.'
Trigger didn't know why, but for some reason the reassurance in the man's voice gave him that wild surge of hope once more. Surely even a man such as Darwin could not break free of the creatures surrounding him though, could he?
'Come closer Cadet, you're still too far away.' He murmured under his breath, before slipping his arm around Trigger's waist.
'Captain, I don't think this is the time nor the place for...'
Darwin put a finger to his lips and smiled, an expression that was swiftly wiped off his face by another vicious prod from one of the spears.
'Prepare yourself, Cadet.'
'What for Capt...'
'Now!'
Trigger had no idea what Darwin had planned but next thing he knew he was being flung off his feet and carried horizontally right into the billowing cloud of spears surrounding them.
'Argggghhhh!' he screamed, his high voice bouncing around as the Captain carried him like a sack of grain under one arm.
Then suddenly they were free of the circle of aliens, and more importantly their spears. Whether he had batted them away or used some strange trick to evade them, somehow his commanding officer had taken the initiative and managed to escape once again.
'What's the plan Captain?' Trigger managed, his ribs bouncing up and down in the man's grip like a xylophone in a mattress factory.
'We head to the Scavanger and hope all of this just blows over.'
It was the worst plan he had ever heard in his life.
'I...see.' he replied. 'And you think they'll just lose interest when we make it to the Scavanger?'
'I'm counting on it Cadet.'
'Ensign.'
'Cadet?'
Trigger sighed. 'I'm an Ensign sir, Ensign Trigger Hawkins.'
'Right you are, Cadet. We're going to keep running to safety, are you much of a sprinter?'
'Yes sir,
top of my class.'
Darwin promptly dropped him. 'Good to hear, that man! We've got a long run ahead of us, better get those legs pumping.' he cupped his ear as if waiting for something, then a slow rumble began in the background. 'Yes, better get them pumping very soon indeed!'
A huge roar came from behind them and in spite of their need to flee, they both turned immediately to see what was following.
It was a huge lumbering beast-like version of the aliens that had followed them before. Instead of a relatively paunchy frame it was all hard-packed muscle and sinew, with a much smaller trunk that seemed to dangle limply from its face like a deflated water-balloon. Most distressingly about all this was that it was headed in their direction.
'Ohnoohnoohnoohno.' Trigger said in response to such a sight, even Darwin seemed lost for words. The aliens had confiscated the knife the Captain had used to cut himself free before and as a result they were completely unarmed and incapable of facing such a monster.
Then it started to break out into a run, and as quickly as they had felt worried, there was now a sense of reassurance. It may have had an unconscionable amount of bulk, but it was desperately slow. Now all they needed to do was avoid the other aliens and make it back to the ship!
And do what exactly?
The thought hit him once more as they turned to run, where exactly were they running to? The Scavanger was grounded indefinitely and its hull plating was torn apart in many places, there was no way they would be protected from those huge grasping arms as soon as the beast caught up to their scent.
'What are we going to do now when we reach the ship, Captain?' Trigger asked once more, hoping that the sight of the huge monster following them may have speeded Darwin's thought processes along.
'You have a jolly good point there, Cadet. The natives may lose interest in us but I doubt that big beast will. It probably sees us as a meal rather than captives, we'll have to duke it out when we get back to the Scavanger.'
Trigger almost lost his footing in disbelief. 'Duke it out? With that thing?'
Darwin smiled confidently. 'There are weapons back at the ship, Cadet. We'll see what our oversized friend makes of them when he arrives. Then if the rest follow they can meet the same fate!'
'So you're telling me that your solution to our problems is to shoot everything on the planet until it's dead?'
Darwin smiled. 'A bold and cunning ploy, wouldn't you agree?'
Trigger said nothing, he didn't want to get into any more trouble than he was already.
As expected, the beast that had roared at them was falling behind as they sprinted down the jungle path back to the ship. Unfortunately the rumblings of pursuit had started to grow louder, apparently his kinsmen were much fleeter of foot than they had anticipated.
'Sir.' Trigger said, noticing that his Captain was starting to pant. 'are you sure we're going to make it back to the ship in time?'
'They're bound to lose interest eventually, Cadet.' Darwin responded between breaths. 'Just...keep...running.'
Trigger nodded and continued to match the Captain's pace, though he silently wondered if the somewhat corpulent man could sustain such momentum even with death on his heels.
As they grew increasingly fatigued and frantic in their attempts to escape the stampede that followed them, the path they trampled across seemed to become both more treacherous and without end. Surely they would be in sight of the ship soon? He didn't dare to look back.
A blaster bolt flew past Trigger's ear, the place where just a second before his head had resided. He let out a scream and ducked while still barrelling toward their attacker.
'Hold your fire man!' Darwin managed to roar with what was left of his breath. 'save your shots for what's following us!'
Their unnamed assailant seemed to consider that for a moment, then sent another blast in their direction. Trigger couldn't tell if the man was just a lousy shot or whether he was deliberately missing them.
A squeal from just behind him answered his question, the pink alien creatures had caught up with them, they weren't going to make the ship in time!
The lasers continued to flash past them rapidly as their now assumed assailant slowly transformed the closer they got to him. There was no doubting now that this individual was not aiming for them, even the worst shot in history could have taken them out from this distance with target correction on.
'That's a Star Command suit!' Darwin cried, redoubling his efforts not to die after sighting a familiar uniform.
He was right too, that appeared to be a standard issue hazardous environment suit. It looked like the folks at Star Command had finally mounted some sort of rescue mission. He only hoped that they'd sent legions of troops in with them, things were about to get hairy.
The figure switched guns now, mounting what looked to be a large rifle upon his shoulders. This cost valuable seconds and Trigger could now feel the breath of these strange creatures upon his back.
'Duck!' came the shout, Trigger and Darwin complied immediately in the face of such weaponry, diving onto the jungle floor and hoping that they wouldn't be run over by a furious pursuant.
The beam arched out of the large gun, but instead of hitting the pink aliens head-on it skewed to the left and tore apart the trees, sending them crashing down just a foot away from where they had dived.
A thudding sound indicated that the aliens had run straight into the rough bark of the huge obstacle and weren't getting past it any time soon.
The man approached them now and lifted the visor of his helmet to reveal a pair of black shades and a grim-looking face.
'Agent Smith, Star Command. May I assist you, gentlemen?'
Their saviour had a brisk and authoritative tone, just the sort of person you'd require in a crisis. Trigger felt their hopes going up with every second since the man's arrival.
'Smith, eh? A new man at Star Command?' Darwin asked.
Smith sighed. 'No sir, in fact I've saved your life on multiple occasions and am solely responsible for the success of the majority of your missions. Success that you incorrectly claimed was down to you, a claim that the Grand Admiral bought wholesale.'
Darwin blinked, then continued as if he hadn't heard it. 'Excellent then, do you have a ship?'
Smith nodded. 'Our crew stand ready for departure, we need just make it back to the wreck of the Scavanger. Are there any other survivors?'
'No other survivors man, we should get moving before our pursuit learns how to climb logs.'
A thudding sound stopped them dead in their tracks, followed by a familiar roar of discontent.
'Oh no.' was what Hawkins tried to say, what actually came out was some form of high-pitched gibbering that signified the same sentiment.
The trunk was lifted high over the muscular beast's head with a giant heave, then split in twain and tossed to the side of the jungle path, sending smaller trees to the earth as if it were crushing blades of grass.
Smith stepped forward and planted his feet firmly into the tangled weave of the jungle floor.
'Run.' he said simply, then engaged the gun mounted on his shoulder.
The beam did not diverge from its projected course this time, hammering against the pink monster who snarled in fury as the attack impacted directly upon its gut. There was no explosion though, instead the thick carapace of the creature seemed to harden and swell around the beam as if gorging itself upon the energy directed toward it.
'Stop firing!' Trigger shouted at Smith, who didn't seem to hear him over the cacophony of the blast.
Nobody ever listened to him. Oh well, on his own head be it!
With a clear goal now in mind, Trigger broke into a flat sprint, much faster than the simple running that he had been doing to keep alongside Darwin. He tore away at high speed and left the explosions and chaos behind him.
That was until he tripped up on an upturned root that he hadn't spotted in his path. He was sent sprawling to the jungle floor and only righted himself in time to see Cap
tain Darwin flying past him at a surprisingly fast pace. It would seem that the Captain's speed was a sensible precaution for Trigger, even if it was flat out for that man.
He caught up with his commanding officer in short order and kept his eyes firmly on the path ahead, trying his best to stifle the growing sense of terror at what was happening to the beast that Smith had shot at. The fact that the stampeding had just started once more didn't help matters.
His eyes flitted up ahead briefly and he caught sight of three other suited figures also running from the oncoming rush of alien bodies. They would need an army to deal with these things, he only hoped that Star Command had sent one.
Then the figures stopped and turned as one, they had given up retreating. If they weren't going to get back to the ship in time then there was no way Trigger and Darwin were.
He saw the flashes of light before he heard the laser fire, but there weren't any bolts coming from ahead of them, the action was from behind.
'That Smith fellow is holding them back with his pistol somehow.' Darwin remarked, having hazarded a look back. 'Good show, shame we won't make it to the ship in time.'
Then the world went white, Trigger went deaf and when he next looked he had been tossed fifty feet into the air.
'Uh-oh.'
Chapter 18
Motown! Roaraneese! ENGAGED!
Phil watched aghast as the bodies of the Scavanger survivors came crashing down to the earth with a crunch. It looked altogether far too painful, but it was the only way to distract himself from the blinding light that had just discharged a short distance away from him.
'Move! Move! Move!' screamed Smith as he went careening into him. 'Jones, get to the ship, now!'
All pretence of command had been lost in the heat of the moment as a frazzled Smith picked himself up and readjusted his shades.
Phil looked back at where the people he had seen thrown up in the air had landed, there was no sign of them.
'Jones, we don't have time to search for the others. Get to the ship, now!'
He picked himself up as quickly as possible and started to haul his body after Smith, not daring to ask what had happened to the rest of the crew, or the aliens.
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