by JE Gurley
At the sound of a footstep, he reached for his laser rifle just out of reach. He pulled his .40 caliber pistol from his holster and peered into the darkness, half blinded by the dust. The crash had broken the floodlights and only one of the headlights still worked. Ivers called out from the darkness, “Don’t shoot. It’s me.”
Relieved, Dax lowered the pistol. “What the hell are you doing here? You should be with the others. Why do you think I took the mine? Who’s driving the sledge?”
“Plia’s on the sledge. Andy and Romeo are driving ATVs. I came back to help you.” He raised his hands in the air waist high. “If you’re okay, I can just go back.”
“Damn you. Help me roll this bastard over and let’s get the hell out of here.”
“What were you going to do with that pistol?”
Dax grinned. “I don’t know. It just felt better than laying there with a rock in my hand.”
Ivers lifted the edge of the ATV just enough for Dax to pull his foot out. He stood without pain. “Just bruised, I think,” he said to Ivers’ questioning glance. They rocked the ATV until it tipped back over onto its tires.
“Rathiri said most of the Ravers were still down on Level 5 digging out their fellow monsters, if this explosion doesn’t bring them running. The crazy bastard walked down there yesterday to check on them. I imagine that’s where the bodies went, to feed the newly awakened Ravers. It might be a good idea to keep them bottled up down there.”
Dax knew where Ivers’ story was headed, and he didn’t like it. “Rathiri’s half mad from dehydration and shock. He’s probably delirious.”
“Still, if he’s right ….”
Dax shook his head. “Man, you really do want to die don’t you?”
Ivers locked Dax with his intense gaze. Dax found himself unable to look away. “Would you die for your crew?”
The question did not take Dax by surprise. He had been asking himself the same thing since they had landed on Loki. He thought about taciturn Plia, young, full of vim and vigor Andy, blithe, spirited Romeo, soft, delicious Tish, and dedicated Nate, for whom he had been too late. It was for them that he had taken Ivers’ place with the mine and Ivers knew it. Now, he expected even more from him.
“Yes, I would,” he answered. “I’m their captain.”
“I thought you would when you went back to face the Raver. This is a chance to save them all, or at least even the odds for them. We don’t know how many creatures are between us and the surface, but we do know more are down there.” He pointed down the tunnel. Dax followed his pointing finger and imagined he could see the creatures digging out their hibernating kin. “What do you say, Captain?”
Dax sighed and picked up the walkie-talkie where he had dropped it. He keyed the mic. “Plia, get them out of here. Don’t wait for us. Hit orbit as fast as you can. If we make it, we’ll take the station’s shuttle.”
Plia didn’t answer. Tish did. “Dax, don’t do this, please. I need you.”
The tears in her voice broke his heart. He knew he could not let her sway him. It would be far too easy. “I’ve got to, babe. I promised to keep you safe.”
“No, Dax. Not this way.”
“Listen, in the safe in my cabin there’s a document. The combination is my birthday. It … it divides the Luck among you all equally, in case … in case I die. Andy will be the Luck’s new captain, but all of you listen to Plia.” He clicked the mic off and back on. “Oh, hell, forget that. I’ll be back. I’ll meet you in orbit in twenty minutes.”
He clicked off the walkie-talkie. He couldn’t take anymore, or he would start blubbering. “Let’s do this before I change my mind.”
Ivers nodded. “Now, you’re a captain.”
Now that he had made up his mind, the fear receded. “How do we do it?”
“We leave the ATV here, go in slow and quiet, and reconnoiter on foot. If they’re down there, we blow the ceiling on top of them.”
“It won’t work. They’ll know we’re coming.”
“The explosion?”
Dax shook his head. “No, they are communicating with each other. I’m betting they know how many of us there are and what color underwear you’re wearing.”
“You’re serious,” Ivers replied.
“These aren’t some dumb beasts. If an alien race created them, why is the idea they made them smart enough to cooperate such a difficult concept?”
Ivers’ face turned grim. “If that’s true, they’re even more dangerous than I thought. We have to destroy them.”
“I’ll settle for sealing them in long enough for us to get our asses out of here.”
“Okay, then we go in hard and fast. We drive in like berserkers, toss the mine, and run like hell before they know what’s happening.”
It sounded like a recipe for disaster, but he had no better idea to offer. “Sounds like a real plan.”
“How much charge left in your laser?”
Dax checked the power gauge and frowned. “About a quarter.”
“Hmm. Five or six shots. The disruptor is about the same.”
Dax pulled out his .40 caliber pistol. “I’ve got this.”
Ivers grinned and pulled out an army knife with a fifteen-centimeter blade.
Dax climbed into the ATV, laid the laser in front of him so that the barrel pointed out the broken front windscreen, and strapped in. The harness bit into his tender, blistered flesh, but he didn’t think he would have to worry about the pain for very long. Ivers laid his disruptor across his lap and set the remaining thermal mine between the seats where either of them could reach it. To his surprise, in spite of the rough treatment, the ATV cranked on the first try. Feeling like a man in a hurry to reach the gallows, he pressed the accelerator to the floor and took off.
With only one headlight, the lower ruins, which had received little attention from the K124 crew, looked like piles of rocks strewn randomly across the floor of the lava tube. They appeared suddenly like ghosts at the edge the light, racing at the ATV. He swerved to dodge the jutting bones of walls and natural solidified lava ledges the Huresh had left in place. He raced up a sloping fallen roof and hit air on the other side. The ATV came down hard and bounced precariously for a moment but remained upright. The shocks were taking a beating and the steering column had picked up a lot of slack. He hoped the vehicle held together long enough to escape.
By the time the Huresh had retreated to the lowest level, they no longer had the resources they had lavished on their earlier buildings. There was no roadway or any standing buildings. It was a war zone. The Ravers had demolished the last refuge of the Huresh in their zeal to kill its occupants, or perhaps the defenders had caused the destruction in the efforts to defeat the Ravers. Then, having completed their mission, the Ravers dug crypts for themselves, and slept away the intervening centuries.
A faint glow down the tunnel confused Dax until he rounded a bend and saw battery-powered LED work lights strung along the tunnel’s ceiling left by the archaeology team. Gathered in front of one tunnel wall, five Ravers scraped at the hard-packed earth with their enormous clawed feet. Three semi-conscious Ravers lay on the ground, freshly excavated from their graves. As Ivers had reported, they were smaller than the live creatures and looked like shriveled fossils. A sixth Raver fed them bits of flesh with its mouth. Dax saw the mound of rotting corpses from which the flesh had come at almost the same time the stench hit him. He retched and almost threw up. Here was the missing crew of K124, reduced to bits of flesh for monsters to feed upon.
His fear of dying vanished, as an overwhelming desire to kill as many of the creatures as possible raged inside him like an erupting volcano. Just as the Ravers turned as one to face them, he slid the ATV to a stop. A cloud of dust swept past them and partially obscured the Ravers. The two adversaries, human and Raver, stared at one another for a few heartbeats; then, both he and Ivers opened fire at the same time. His laser did little physical damage, but he poured his hatred into every shot. Ivers’ carefully aim
ed shots from his disruptor brought panic to the creatures. They milled about trying to decide whether to attack or defend the immobile Ravers, roaring their confusion. One fell kicking at the ground with wounds to its leg. A second ran headfirst into a wall and knocked itself out when Dax shot it in the snout.
As the bloodlust waned in Dax’s veins, he turned the ATV around. The Ravers’ confusion ended at the same time. After much chirping and grunting among the group, all but two resumed the freeing of their companions. The two chosen launched themselves at the fleeing ATV with a fury that explained the fate of the Huresh. They charged through the rubble heedless of any injuries, leaving a cloud of dust and a cascade of strewn stones.
Dax gunned the engine, but staying ahead of them was not easy. If not for the head start, it would have been impossible. The creatures’ long strides ate up the intervening distance at an alarming rate. He pushed the ATV to its limits, driving like a madman, weaving through the rubble with no thought to the consequences of losing the race. The pair of Ravers crept inexorably closer. Ivers turned in his seat to fire at them, but Dax’s weaving and the creatures’ leaping and dodging made a hit impossible.
He swerved to avoid a mound of rocks and clipped the side of a building. The ATV went into a spin. As he fought the wheel to right the vehicle, a Raver rushed headlong at them from the darkness ahead of them. Dax’s hands were full with the steering wheel.
“Ivers!” he shouted.
Ivers, who had been firing at the Ravers behind them, whirled in his seat, saw the Raver rushing toward them, and fired the disruptor. The energy bolt seared the hood of the vehicle and struck the creature dead center of the forehead, stunning it. It splayed its legs in a comical ballet effort to maintain its balance, stumbled, and hit the ground face first. Dax had no time to swerve. The ATV struck the creature’s head, bounced into the air, and landed nose first on the two front tires. It continued forward twenty meters standing on its nose before slowly tipping over onto its roof and sliding through the rubble. The impact ejected Ivers. He soared through the air for three meters before slamming hard into the ground and sliding on his back. Dax held on and stayed with the vehicle as it rolled.
When it stopped, he scrambled out. The Raver they had hit trembled on the ground, its legs kicking out wildly in spasms. Dax didn’t know if it was dying or merely stunned. He dismissed it to focus on the pair of Ravers racing up the tunnel toward them. On foot, Dax knew their chances of surviving were slim. His gaze fell upon a small, four-wheeled multipurpose tractor parked next to a dump trailer. The tractor had a front-end loader rock bucket attached with which the archaeologists had removed overburden and rubble. He leaped into the driver’s cage, cranked it, and turned it toward the advancing Ravers. With the bucket raised Raver-head high, he met the leading creature head on, while Ivers stood his ground firing the disruptor. Tractor and Raver met. The impact shoved the tractor backwards with its wheels spinning. The Raver had underestimated the tractor’s threat. The teeth on the bucket sliced into the Raver’s neck. Blood gushed from the wound as it pawed at its neck in confusion.
As it stumbled around bleeding its life away, he sparred with the second creature. Seeing an object almost as large as it was and witnessing what it had done to its brethren, the second Raver hesitated in pressing the attack, instead, moving around, seeking a better angle. He forced the creature backwards into a pile of rubble. It stumbled and fell over backwards. Seizing the opportunity, Dax backed up and used the tractor to push the dump trailer sideways across the tunnel; then, used the tractor to seal the small gap between the trailer and the wall, partially blocking the tunnel and penning the Ravers on the far side.
“Come on!” he yelled to Ivers. He knew the heavy machinery would not impede them for long. “Do it!”
Ivers nodded and triggered the mine, but he did not toss it away immediately. Dax stared at him as the lights on the device began blinking rapidly. He began running up the tunnel. Finally, just as he thought Ivers was going to sacrifice both their lives, he took a running start and lobbed the mine over-handed beyond the tractor then joined Dax in a hasty retreat. Eight seconds later, the mine detonated.
Dax had thought the heat from the first mine had been scorching. This time, he felt as if he were surfing the corona of a supernova in a Speedo. Although he faced the opposite direction, the bright flash almost blinded him in its intensity. He blinked back tears and dodged barely discernible objects in his path. He took refuge behind a broken wall, but the intense heat spilled over and around the wall, turning exposed stone blistering hot. The heat baked his body through his heavy shirt and melted his hair around the edges of his cap. His already blistered skin felt as though it was peeling away from his bones. He tried to suppress a scream, but it erupted from his savaged throat feeling like a ball of fire. His clothing smoldered. A cloud of hot dust and air descended on them like a vengeful god, engulfing them. This time, he kept his mouth closed to avoid inhaling the hot dust and smoke.
Ivers fared no better. He lay on the ground a few meters away, his clothes smoking from chips of hot rock blasted out by the explosion. Dax crawled over to swipe them away, but the pain in his hands forced him to stop and curl up in a fetal position. He didn’t know how long they remained laying there. He assumed they had succeeded or the Ravers would have eaten them. He tried to turn his head to look at the damage they had caused, but his blistered neck refused to allow it. Finally, the screaming pain receded to a dull constant hurt in the places that were not entirely numb from overtaxed nerve endings. He could barely feel his swollen hands.
The heat and dust dissipated but the steady rumble increased. The floor of the tunnel trembled. The stone wall behind which he had sought shelter disintegrated into a loose pile of rock. Chips of rock flaked from the roof of the tunnel and fell around them. With the sound of two bowling balls colliding, the roof cracked. Dax glanced at Ivers, who had the same look of fear in his eyes. The blast had weakened the entire lower-level tunnel. They were about to be buried alive.
They leaped from ground, ignored their pain, and raced up the tunnel. Larger chunks of rock from the roof followed them. Ivers switched on the flashlight attached to the ion disruptor to light their path. The crack outpaced them. Dax watched the spider web of fractures in the roof spread and widen. He held his arms over his head to ward off the cascade of rocks and dirt.
As if squeezing a tube of toothpaste, the collapsing lower end of the tunnel moved toward them, forcing dust and hot air over them. Dax knew they could never outrun it. He could barely see. He ran with his hand touching the side of the lava tube to maintain a straight course. When his hands touched metal, he stopped – the sanctuary where they had found Rathiri.
“Here!” he called to Ivers.
Ivers charged out of the dust darkness, almost colliding with him. They found the open door and tried to pull it closed it behind them. It wouldn’t budge. Dax kicked at the rocks, blocking the door until the massive door began swinging shut. Rocks pounded on the door as it closed as if the devil were seeking entry. Once inside, he collapsed on the ground coughing from the dust and the strain. Ivers collapsed with his back against the door. The air in the sanctuary was dusty but not as bad the air outside. He saw Ivers wrinkle his nose at a foul odor and play his light around the room. It settled on a pile of human excrement in the corner.
“Rathiri,” he said. “Thanks, Director.”
The rumbling continued for several minutes more before slowly subsiding. Ivers tried the door with no luck. Dax climbed to his feet and leaned into the door. Together, they managed to open it just wide enough to wiggle through the narrow opening. To Dax’s dismay, the falling rock had blocked the tunnel leading to Level 2. Since he had already collapsed the roof of the tunnel to Level 3, they were going nowhere.
“We are thoroughly and intimately fucked,” he said.
Ivers stared at the tons of fallen rock. “Well, we did what we set out to do. We either killed or trapped the Ravers on Level 5.”
>
Dax glared at him. “I didn’t set out to suffocate or to bake. Hell, I thought the first explosion would kill me. When it didn’t, I allowed myself to hope. Now, my crew has my ship, and I have you for company until the air turns foul. Like I said, we are fucked.”
“We could try digging our way out,” Ivers suggested.
Dax looked at his bleeding, blistered hands. “I can’t feel my fingers. I don’t think I can dig.”
Ivers sat down and leaned against the metal door. “We’ll rest up awhile.” He pulled a small container from his belt and opened it clumsily with his burned fingers. “Here.”
“What is it?”
“A mini first aid kit. It contains a tube of burn ointment with antibiotics, a few pain pills, and shot of Boost for energy.”
“I’ll share the burn ointment with you and split the pain pills, but I don’t need more energy.”
Ivers handed him the ointment and two pain pills. “We’ll need it later when we dig ourselves out.”
Dax rubbed the emollient on his hands and dabbed a little on his face. At first, it stung, but then the burning abated to a dull gnawing pain he could live with. He was glad he couldn’t see the extent of the damage by the dim light cast by the flashlight.
“You are an optimistic one, aren’t you?” he said.
“We ain’t dead yet.”
Swallowing the two pills dry with his savaged throat proved impossible. He let them dissolve in his mouth and wished he hadn’t. The bitter taste was worse than the pain.
He heard a rustling sound. “What are you doing?”
“Getting some sleep.”
