by T. M. Catron
“Did you ever wear robes as a Galaxy Wizard?” Rance asked.
“Why would I wear robes?”
“To make you look the part?”
“Robes would only get in the way. I wanted to catch criminals, not give them something to laugh about when I got tangled up in robes and fell on my face.”
“I always thought people with robes looked graceful.”
“That’s because you grew up with people around you who didn’t have to fight for a living.”
“True.”
Abel stood in his dark gray armor at the galley door, armed with two guns—a rifle and smaller blaster, two knives, and enough ammunition to take out a tank. Next to him, Rance felt very under-armed. But it was Solaris she was concerned about.
“Please take another weapon,” she said.
He laughed. “Captain, I just used my staff to deflect an entire pirate army’s worth of fire. And you don’t think I could use it to protect myself—and you?”
“I don’t need you to protect me,” she said. “But Moira may need a lot of help.”
Solaris moved past her, saying as he went by, “I’ll protect you if you need it, Captain, whether you want me to or not.”
He was so infuriating sometimes.
Tally stood by the door, his green eyes watching her every move. Rance hated that look. It meant he was worried about her. As he pushed the button to lower the ramp, he said, “Come back to us in one piece.”
Then the relative quiet of the hold shattered as the chaos from outside pierced the hull.
The wall of noise hit them like a physical punch. Sirens blared throughout the city, shaking windows and trees in a wavering Doppler effect that made Rance dizzy. Her ears began to throb before she even left the Streaker.
On another wavelength, the sounds of chaos underpinned everything. People ran past the ship shouting and yelling at each other. More fights had broken out down the street.
Rance looked back at the Star Streaker, knowing that the ship would be vulnerable while they were gone. It was ripe for stealing.
She never underestimated the power of panic. If someone decided to get into the ship, they would find a way to do it. James, Tally, and Harper would only be able to protect themselves by taking off, and it wasn’t as if they could go into orbit and wait for Rance to get back.
Solaris must have had the same thought because as the ship closed, he faced it with his staff in front of him. More sweat broke out on his brow, and Rance could tell he still hadn’t recovered from his ordeal. Despite his weariness, he managed to camouflage the ship. She gasped as the Star Streaker dissolved from their view, blending into the background of the buildings behind it. It wasn’t invisible, exactly. But it had changed patterns, like a chameleon.
The only way anyone would find it would be to run straight into it. With all the people running about, that might happen. But Rance was relying on the chaos to keep anyone from becoming too curious even if they did.
The blaring sirens were too much. She pulled on her helmet and tapped the visor down, which helped with some of the noise. Solaris and Abel did the same. Abel had a heads-up display inside his helmet, and Rance’s NNR picked up the city networks and immediately projected a map into her vision. Looking around to be sure no one was paying attention, they ran toward an alley.
“Which way, Captain?” Abel asked once they stood inside the alley.
“She’ll be in the residential Senate section,” Rance said. “That’s where we’re headed.”
“Do you know the way from here?” Solaris asked.
Rance nodded. “It’s been a while, but I know where we’re going. My father has a house there.”
A moment later they were winding their way through back alleys, heading in the direction indicated by Rance’s map. Since Rance had never used the back alleys before, they would rely on the maps as much as possible.
On previous visits to the city, she’d always accompanied her father whenever possible. The lush, green vegetation and the clean air were always welcome changes from her home planet of Xanthes. Now though, with the current of fear running into the very foundation of the city, Rance thought Prometheus could have been a different place altogether.
Without the maps, they would have been lost within ten minutes. The back alleys and darkened passageways between buildings proved to be a labyrinth of metal, concrete, and closed doorways. They could have wandered around the alleys for days while the city burned down around them. Even with the maps, the alleys were so convoluted that they soon lost their sense of direction.
They met no one. Rance felt sure others would try to use the alleys. Where was everybody?
After an hour of wandering through the labyrinth, she began to feel suffocated. The buildings stretched up around them on all sides with a sliver of daylight shining down into the crevasse between. But the sun was sinking, and she didn’t want to be trapped in the alley at night. They would have an even harder time getting out after dark.
Rance stopped. They had a choice, to either turn around and go back the way they’d come—if they could find their way back out again—or to continue using the maps, which hadn’t been very helpful in leading them out.
“This is pointless,” she said.
“I don’t know about you, Captain,” Abel said, “but I think we should either go back the way we came, or let Solaris unlock one of these doors and walk through the buildings out the other side.”
“Then we run the risk of getting lost inside the buildings,” Rance said. “I vote we keep going.”
Abel shrugged. “You’re the boss, boss. We follow you.”
“Okay then. But if we get stuck in here and wonder around until the pirates come down and get us, I’m holding you both responsible.”
“I don’t think it’s going to matter. The pirates will never find us in here. They’d have to blow the buildings apart.”
Solaris looked at Rance and smiled nervously. She hated when he did that like he didn’t really know what he was doing. But she knew better. Solaris was smart and quick on his feet. Whatever he was thinking, he was keeping it to himself. That worried her even more. Solaris usually spoke his mind. She wondered what else was bothering him, but she didn’t want to see the buildings fall on top of them.
Time to move on.
They walked a few more minutes, taking two more turns and letting the map guide them toward the center of the city.
“Why haven’t we met anybody?” Solaris asked.
“Don’t know,” Rance muttered, unwilling to face the fact that she had made the wrong decision.
They turned two more corners, and then Abel, who had been walking beside Rance, pulled up short. “You hear that, boss?”
“Hear what?”
They all strained to listen. Their breathing echoed loudly in the empty alley.
“I don’t hear—” Solaris began.
“Wait!” Rance whispered. “I did hear something.”
She unlatched her helmet and took it off. The internal speakers would magnify anything, but she wanted to know if what she was hearing was real or just feedback from something else. An unusual wind blew through the alley, prickling the hairs on the back of her neck.
Then she heard it again, something scraping along the pavement, clacking, rather, in quick succession. It grew louder, and Rance spun on her heel to look behind. Nothing. Then, along with the clacking sound, they heard a snarl come from an alley ahead. The three turned as one toward the sound.
Rance crept toward the alley, screwed up her courage, and peeked around the corner.
A giant, wolf-like animal, with scales and feathers on its legs and mottled gray hair on its back, was running down the alley.
When it saw her, its nostrils flared. It bared its teeth, revealing unusually large, yellow fangs.
At least, Rance thought they were unusually large.
She hid around the corner, desperately trying to get a hold of her common sense. But all she could see were
those fangs. The clacking sound continued—the creature’s claws on the ground.
It was getting closer.
Abel and Solaris, curious about what was causing Rance’s panic, leaned around the corner to look.
“NO!” she said.
A huge snarl erupted from the animal’s mouth, mingled with a high-pitched squawk. It sounded like a dog and a bird had mated, and their offspring was now intent on killing the three of them with its voice alone.
“Run!” Solaris said.
Abel and Rance didn’t need to be told again. They sprinted down the alley from which they had come, all three of them stealing glances behind. But the beast didn’t give chase, and Rance halted them.
“Wait,” she said. “Where’d it go?”
Then something hit her so hard she flew sideways into a wall. All her breath was knocked out of her, and she banged her head as she fell to the ground.
Solaris and Abel were yelling, but she couldn’t shake the ringing in her ears. If the Star Streaker had landed on top of her, she didn’t think she could feel any worse. Disoriented and confused, Rance tried to stand, struggling to get a leg beneath her.
The next second, a great snarling sound overtook the ringing, and she managed to open her bleary eyes.
The bird-wolf stood over her. If it hadn’t stopped to snarl, she’d already be dead. Solaris and Abel’s shouting seemed far away. All she could do was look at the great fangs hovering over her face. At the big splash of drool dripping onto her nose.
She wanted to pull her visor down, a pitiful barrier between her and the beast. But her visor wasn’t there. Where was her helmet? Rance vaguely remembered taking it off, but she didn’t know where it had landed.
Then everything became a blur again as a great purple shield hit the animal and knocked it sideways into the wall. Solaris had planted himself in the middle of the alley, his staff held out in front of him. Transparent purple waves of energy emanated from him, creating a barrier between her and the creature. It shrieked and fought back, trying to burst through the shield.
Rance scrambled to get up as the animal tried to recover from Solaris’ onslaught. Her head ached, and she felt blood trickling down the back of her neck. The next minute, Abel had his hands under her armpits and was hauling her to her feet. Every bit of her hurt, but as soon as she was upright, she stood without assistance.
The beast yelped.
Rance and Abel jerked their attentions back to the ongoing battle. Rance expected it to turn and run. Instead, it gathered itself and charged.
In a great leap of power, the creature burst through Solaris’ shield.
Solaris was hammered back against the wall while his shield disappeared around him. But the bird-wolf hadn’t expected to break through and had already turned for another charge.
As the animal turned to lunge for Solaris, Rance seized her rifle from the ground. She used her ZOD to line up a shot at the beast’s head and fired. The rounds bounced off the animal and disappeared.
But the diversion gave Solaris enough time to scramble to his feet. Rance continued to fire as the creature lunged for him, its fangs bared. Solaris pushed his staff out ahead of him, creating the energy shield again, and the animal bounced off. But the blow barely fazed it, and it climbed to his feet, huffing and angry.
Rance fired, again and again, the bolts from the energy rifle causing the air to prickle with electricity. Abel had joined her. Drawn by their fire, the beast turned from Solaris, staring at the tiny humans trying to get its attention. It squawked again.
Without waiting for it to attack again, Rance yelled and charged the creature.
“Rance! No!” Solaris yelled as his shield disappeared.
Abel yelled too, and charged after her.
Sensing a challenge, the bird-wolf pounded the pavement toward Rance. Its fangs opened wide, expecting an easy meal. At the last second, Rance leaned back and skidded onto her back. The animal bellowed at her sudden course change.
Teeth slid past her head, and her momentum sent her sliding between its front legs. Rough concrete grated down her back, tearing her suit. As the creature’s belly slid by, Rance fired. She managed to get off three shots before it jumped out of the way.
Abel launched himself into the air and landed on the animal’s neck. He tried to grab a handful of fur, but he slid down as it shook its large head. Dangling off the creature’s neck, Abel extended a blade from his armor and stabbed. The powerful blow should have torn through the animal’s hide, but instead the blade glanced off the fur in a shower of sparks. The bird-wolf howled and shook its head, sending Abel flying down the alley.
Painfully aware of how close the animal now was, Rance scrambled to her feet, firing straight into its hairy back. The animal turned and swiped its long tail over the top of her head. Only then did she see the sharp spike at the end of it. She ducked and rolled to the side to avoid being impaled.
As it sprang for her again, Solaris’ shield returned, and this time it encapsulated the whole animal. He stood dangerously close to it, watching its every move and waiting for it to break free. Beads of sweat ran down his face and fogged up his visor.
Behind Solaris, Abel lay on his side, crumpled near a wall. He slowly stood to his feet. Other than being stunned, his suit had protected him. Rance thanked the Founders that he had not been bitten. Solaris must’ve done something to prevent it.
She went to Solaris’ side.
“I couldn’t cast the shield around it while you were so close,” he accused. His words were clipped as he concentrated on trapping the animal.
“I didn’t think about it before I did it.”
“That was obvious.” Solaris shot her a look, but he didn’t look angry.
The creature struggled, beating against the shield. With each blow, the shield looked thinner, as if it were stretching beyond its endurance. Now that she wasn’t running or charging it, Rance could take a closer look at the animal. It was only then she realized that the hair on its back was not fur, but spikes. She shuddered, thinking how close she’d come to brushing up against them.
With each blow to the shield, the spikes scraped along it, leaving little tiny sparks. Was the animal magical? Was that why it was able to fight Solaris?
Solaris had said there was no such thing as magic though.
The creature hit the shield one more time, and a great tearing sound echoed throughout the alley. Rance held up her gun, prepared to shoot. But she didn’t know what good it would do.
The shield was still in place, but the tear grew wider and wider at each successive blow. Solaris struggled to keep it together.
Rance nodded to Abel, and they both trained their weapons on the animal. She noticed blood dripping from its belly where she had shot it. That’s where it was vulnerable. But when the shield broke, how would they manage to shoot its belly before it killed them?
Then she had an idea. A really stupid, crazy idea.
“Solaris!” Rance yelled. The tearing sound grew, and the creature roared, blocking out her voice. When Solaris glanced at her, she said, “Roll it over!”
Just then, the shield broke, and the resulting shockwave rolled through the alley and hit the three of them, sending them backward like a small bomb had detonated. Rance went head over heels into the pavement. Terrified that those fangs would sink into her flesh while she lay there, Rance ignored the new pain in her body and pushed herself to her feet.
Solaris had regained his footing first, and as the animal turned to him, he hit it with a different type of shield.
Instead of creating a bubble, it created a wall, blocking off the alley and pushing the animal away from them. The creature fell on its side, shrieking. Fearing her eardrums would burst, Rance covered her ears. But Solaris had something else in mind.
“On the count of three!” he yelled.
Rance grabbed her rifle and trained it on the beast. Beside her, Abel followed suit.
“One, two, three!”
Solaris
released the wall, and Rance and Abel fired their weapons on the animal’s underbelly, over and over until the air was thick with smoke and the burned smell of their weapons. Rance ran out of ammo long before Abel, who reloaded several times. She grabbed her pistol, ready to keep going.
They still weren’t doing enough damage. Despite the firepower being directed at it, the animal scrambled to its feet and jumped up out of the way. Rance saw a flash of teeth and aimed for it. Her rounds bounced off its fangs in sparks that lit the alleyway, lighting up the smoke like lightning in a storm.
Then, a tooth exploded. The creature shook its head and halted, a look of confusion in its eyes. Just as Rance was about to fire again, it ducked its head and whimpered.
“That’s interesting,” Rance muttered.
Abel paused to reload. “What do we do, boss?”
“I have no idea.”
“Maybe it just wanted to play with us, and you hurt its feelings,” Solaris said. He was breathing heavily and looked almost as weak as he had when he’d collapsed in the cockpit.
“Play with its food, you mean.”
“At least we know why no one was using the alleys,” Abel said. “I wonder how long this thing’s been living out here?”
The animal was blocking their escape. Running back through the alleys would only give the creature a bigger advantage. It probably knew every shortcut. If they turned and ran, it would no doubt burst out in front of them again.
And then Rance had another idea. The creature shook its head. Spittle and blood went flying, coating the alley walls. Again, it focused on its tiny prey, looking ready to fight again. Rance holstered her weapon and raised her arms, waving them around wildly.
“Hey!” she yelled. “Over here you stupid animal!”
“Uh, Captain?” Solaris asked.
“What are the chances of getting it to chase us?” Rance asked.
“I thought that’s what it was doing,” Solaris said, rolling his eyes. “If that’s not chasing us, I don’t know what is.”
“Okay,” she said. “Your shield can’t stop it, and our weapons can’t hurt it. So, we have to do something else.”
