by Adam Drake
Ash switched to night vision then gasped, raising his rifle. Something moved through the foliage a couple dozen meters away.
“Don't fire!” Femke said, moving to stand beside him. “Stacks might hear it.”
The thing moved past them, tall as a man and almost as long as a transport. Thousands of legs helped propel it along at an alarming speed. Orange nodules glowed on its dark armored skin, emulating the flowers which occasionally bloomed in the region.
“A waste-worm,” Femke said, unnecessarily. Everyone on Jorduss knew what these night stalkers were and rightfully avoided them.
They waited patiently as the colossal thing snaked by through the plants. Then it was gone from view.
“Maybe it didn't see us,” Ash said sounding hopeful.
“Or maybe we're too small to bother with,” Femke said. “Come on. Let's climb up to that ridge and see what's on the other side.”
Ash followed her up the steep slope, keeping close. If one of those things decided they weren't to small to eat, he wanted his wife right beside him. She'd be their best bet at surviving such an encounter.
They climbed to within a few meters of the ridge and then crawled the rest of the way.
Ash kept checking behind, expecting to find a giant worm slinking up to them, death carried along by thousands of legs.
“You worry too much, honey,” Femke admonished, as she paused to adjust her suit's thick kneepads. Crawling on the ground with them made it awkward. “If it wanted to eat us, then we'd already be dead. Those things can move a lot faster than that.”
“I feel so much better now,” Ash said.
When they were directly at the ridge, Femke said, “Here, let's switch.” She motioned to his rifle.
Although unhappy about it, Ash gave it to her, taking the scatter-pistol. “I like my rifle,” he said.
“I like it more,” she said and moved its scope above the rocks.
The image feed on their HUDs showed a wide clearing with only sparse patches of plants. On the other side were high stone cliffs which stretched along the length of the clearing. One section of rock formed a large natural cave.
“Oh, nice!” Ash said as Femke zoomed in closer.
Within the cave, and protected by the rock's overhang, was a spaceship. Next to it was a small oblong bunker carved out of the ground. Next to the bunker's door was parked a hoverbike.
“The stars are smiling down on us,” Femke said with a grin. “We just found his stash.”
“Never mind the bunker,” Ash said, eyes wide. “Check out the ship.”
His HUD ran the spacecraft's profile through its database and spat out a schematic labeled Vesta-Transport 11AX.
“Beautiful,” Ash whispered.
“That old thing?” Femke said, turning to look at him. “Why would you even think-.”
She caught movement at the edge of her goggles. Spinning around, she leveled the rifle at the waste-worm racing up the ridge toward them.
The huge creature moved with shocking speed, its long body slithering through the undergrowth like a massive millipede. A row of black pitted eyes lined the blunt front of its head. Dozens of articulated mandibles quivered and reach forward from a triangular mouth. It hissed as it closed in for the kill.
Femke fired, shouting with surprise over the comms. The white plasma charges bounced off the thing's curved armored skin leaving deep scorch marks, but didn't slow it down.
Ash had the presence of mind to aim the scatter-pistol at its front legs and shot as rapidly as the gun could handle. His bolts penetrated the thinner armor, but the thing kept coming, hissing louder.
“The eyes!” Femke said as she altered her aim. Ash did the same.
The speed of its movement coupled with the motion of its body made getting a clear shot on the small eyes difficult.
Cursing, Femke quickly unhooked a plasma grenade from within her suit.
Ash wanted to shout a warning. At this range the grenade would kill them both as much as it would the worm.
She pulled her arm back, grenade ready to be thrown. “Stop shooting!”
“What?” Ash said, confused, but did as she said, even if it meant they'd die right then and there. His trust in her went beyond his own understanding.
Sensing a meal close at hand, the beast roiled forward, the mandibles of its mouth spreading outwards revealing countless rows of curved black hooks within.
With stunning speed, Femke threw the grenade. The movement was so fast, Ash barely registered it before he realized she'd tossed the live grenade directly into its mouth like a cannon shot.
“Get down!” Femke said, jumping onto Ash who tried to protest.
The blunted head of the waste-worm suddenly glowed white from within as the grenade activated. Then its massive head exploded in a hot flash of light.
Their goggles barely filtered out the intensity of the explosion, causing them both to shut their eyes.
Although missing its head, the waste-worm still had momentum. The thing's body propelled forward as it coiled into itself.
Ash suddenly realized he was being carried by Femke out of range of the worm's thrashing body. She deposited him behind some rocks. They watched the creature's final death spasms which resembled a derailing grav-train.
Soon the decapitated monster stopped thrashing, but with some legs still moving.
Ash, stunned to be alive, gave Femke a hug. “You did it, honey!”
“We did it,” she said with a smile. But her face became serious again. “I hope Stacks didn't hear all of this racket.”
Suddenly, a low flying ship appeared above the hilltops from the direction of Karro.
Its hull lights revealed gunports and an insignia of a fist.
“By the stars!” Femke said in disgust as the ship sped toward them. “The damned Constabulary!”
The Constabulary ship flew over them and flicked on its search lights. But instead of shining on their position, it pointed at the ground next to the bunker.
“They're not here for us,” Femke said, as she and Ash watched from the ridge line.
“Is this a raid?” Ash said. He kept looking from the Constabulary ship to the writhing form of the waste-worm. “Those clowns are beating us to the stash.”
The ship slowed to a hover then gently landed in the clearing, kicking up clouds of dust which looked gray under night vision.
Femke shook her head, rifle at the ready. “I don't think so. If this was a raid, they'd have come in blasting to give any defenders second thoughts about putting up a fight.”
Once the ship had settled, the landing lights dimmed and were replaced by less intrusive area illumination. The engine cells brightened briefly then dimmed as they cooled down.
“They didn't see us,” she said. None of the gunports were pointed in their direction.
“Well, at least we have that going for us,” Ash said, barely hiding his sarcasm. “Now we just sit here and wait for the friends of that thing to come finish the job.”
“You can watch our six, honey, if it makes you feel better,” Femke said.
“I will,” Ash said and positioned himself to watch their flank. “I don't think my suit can handle absorbing my reaction to another surprise. Bio-recyclers can only take so much.”
“Classy,” Femke said. She sighted the ship with her scope, but not before double checking that the rifle's laser sights were off. That would most definitely trigger a response from the ship's sensors.
It was a standard Constabulary scout, third or fourth generation judging from its profile. Not that this information was terribly important. But she did need to know how many crew could be inside.
Area lights winked on around the bunker building and its main door irised open. A man stood illuminated in silhouette inside.
“Stacks,” Ash said, watching the scope's feed at the corner of his goggles.
“Mm-hmm,” Femke said, zooming in. Stacks was armed with a pistol which was holstered on his hip.
“Guess neither the cops nor that maniac driver know we're here,” Ash said. “Hard to believe considering all the noise you made.”
“I only made enough to get the job done,” Femke said. She moved the scope back to the ship which now had its side hatch open. A man was climbing down a short step ladder. He wore a standard issue Constabulary uniform with silly looking fist emblems on the shoulders. “Looks to be a captain.”
“Not a captain, but the captain. Karro only has the one now,” Ash corrected. The Constabulary lost two captains during a failed raid on a rebel garrison in the northern sector. At least that's what the press reported. They could very well have been culled because they didn't pay their higher-ups enough in bribes. But it was best to show them going out in a blaze of glory defending the populace.
“Klayd?” Femke said. “He's the last man standing now is he?” She eyed the two men as they approached each other and shook hands. “Looks like a lucrative position to be in.”
“Figures,” Ash said.
Both men talked, with Stacks gesturing wildly while Klayd stood immobile.
Ash sighed loudly. “Maybe they'll kill each other and make this easier for us.”
“I don't know,” Femke said. The men then walked into the bunker and the door closed behind them. “I seriously doubt Stacks is intent on murdering Klayd. The Constabulary has the exact position of the ship, so it's not like he can be subtle about it.”
“Now what do we do? Wait?”
Femke scanned the clearing again and settled on the old transport. “Think you can get an engine pulse from here?”
“Not from here,” Ash said, looking at the image of the ship.
When he didn't speak again right away Femke turned to look at him with a smile. “Are you sure?”
Ash let out another sigh, then he pulled out a scanner from his side-pack and thumbed its screen, all the while watching the surrounding darkness. “There's a static screen bubbled over the clearing. The only signs I could read would be graffiti.”
“How far in?”
“About ten meters, give or take. Why?”
“Why don't we go in for a closer look. If the engine on the transport is still alive, then we take it.”
“Take it? While Stacks and the Captain are right there?”
“They're not right there, they're inside, probably drinking a toast to some illicit arrangement.”
“What about the scout?”
“The scout won't care unless we decide to shoot at it. Besides, you can finally use that stealth stuff you've been carrying around with you since forever.”
Ash frowned at the image of the transport. “I'm not convinced this is the best plan. What if they come outside, or we trip an alarm?”
“Then I'll stay up here and cover you,” Femke said patting the rifle. “You know I'm the better shot.”
Ash knew that she was right, even though it was fun to argue with her. It was one of the reasons their marriage had lasted so long. “All right, fine,” he said moving up into a crouch.
Femke grinned at him. She knew it didn't take much prodding to convince him to steal something.
Ash examined an overlay of the clearing. “I'll go around to the northwest and enter the bubble along the rock wall. Then I'll go to the transport and check for an engine pulse.”
“Which there better be.”
“If it's a go, I'll hack the door. Once inside, I'll run a quick diagnostic and see where things stand.”
“And I'll cover your butt from up here. Just me and the waste-worms.”
Ash sighed and moved to Femke. “Wish me luck?”
Femke reached around his head and pulled him closer. Since they couldn't kiss with their breathers on, they rested their foreheads against each other. “I wish you luck, honey.”
“You promise not to shoot me by accident, again?”
Femke flinched. “You'll never let me live that down, will you?”
“You need to promise, Fem.”
“I promise,” she sighed.
Then Ash pulled away and moved off into the darkness.
Femke watched until he vanished around a rocky outcropping. “You do have a nice butt for me to cover, you know,” she commed.
“I know,” Ash sent back. “I suspect it's the real reason you married me.”
Femke laughed. “Suspect?” She turned her attention back to the clearing and sighted the bunker with the rifle.
The door was still closed, and she prayed to whichever gods might exist in this star system that it would stay that way.
Ash moved swiftly, avoiding the huge plants thanks to his night vision. He gripped the scatter-pistol in one hand while holding the scanner in the other. According to the readout, the static bubble nearly overlapped the rocks he was skirting along.
“Best not to flirt with danger,” he said, more to himself than Femke. He paused long enough to activate his cloaking field. Calling it a cloaking field was perhaps a little too generous. To a passive observer he would appear as a subtle smudge against any backdrop. When he moved, he would look like rippling water until he stopped. But the real benefit was it made him virtually undetectable to scanning devices or motion sensors. Usually.
“Okay, I'm hot,” he said as he approached the edge of the clearing near the rock wall.
“Got it,” Femke said.
Ash moved up behind a large boulder and peered around it. The bunker was ahead, maybe forty meters distance. Hunkered down next to it was the Constabulary ship, exhaust ports hissing out steam. The transport was further inside the cave entrance, out of view.
He looked around, trying to see if his goggles picked up anything out of the ordinary. Satisfied there were no nasty surprises, he said, “Okay, I'm about to make my grand entrance. All clear?”
A few moments passed, then, “All clear, honey. Go for it.”
Ash stepped out from behind the boulder and tip-toed over to the rocky wall. He was well within the static bubble now, the indicators oscillating on his HUD showed it. With one eye on the scout he moved forward along the wall. As it curved inward, he paused to take a peek.
The large transport sat in profile, a dark grey hulk. Above, the rocky ceiling hung low.
“Whoever flew this thing in here knew what they were doing. Or was drunk enough to make the attempt,” he said moving closer. Approaching the nose section, he said, “Entry hatch is on the other side. I have to go around.”
“Okay,” Femke said. She took a brief moment to glance behind her, mindful of any slithering surprises. In the far distance she sensed movement, but whatever it was moved away. She returned to the rifle sights.
Ash ducked beneath the nose which contained the cockpit and watched his step for any traps or odd wiring. “I see the power-couplers are hooked up, probably to the bunker's cells, I'd guess.”
“So it has juice. Take that as a good sign.”
The exit ramp was extended to the ground, about halfway down the starboard side, but the hatch was closed. He didn't know whether that indicated someone was inside, or was just too lazy to retract the ramp when they'd left.
“You're quiet,” Femke said.
“I'm in stealth, honey. Space-ninja's aren't suppose to talk a whole lot when on a mission.”
Femke scoffed. “Space ninja, ha!”
Ignoring his ever supportive wife, Ash moved toward the engines but did not go further than the ramp. “Okay, I'm close enough. Running scan.”
“Gotcha,” Femke said. The bunker door remained closed, so she glanced behind herself again.
The little valley now roiled with movement. Waste-worms slithered through plants and crested the ridge on the opposite side. For a moment Femke stared, stunned. It was like some kind of mass migration. Then she realized it. She looked over at the dead worm, with several legs still kicking. “By the stars,” she whispered, cold fear washing over her.
“What?” Ash said, alarmed. “What is it?”
“I think our dead friend managed to send o
ut a signal of some kind. There are other guests coming to join the party.” She shifted her body so she could watch the bunker and the valley behind without wrenching her neck.
“How much time we got?”
“About as long as it takes you to crack that ship open.”
Cursing, Ash looked at the scanner's monitor. Almost immediately it showed that the engine core was still alive and could be fired up. “We're good here. Gotta pulse. Going to crack the door.” But before he pulled away, he noticed an odd reading. Something was inside. Faint and small. The numbers didn't indicate that it was a person, but something else. Rats? Or the Jorduss Three equivalent?
Whatever. He pocketed the scanner and moved up the ramp. At the hatch he placed a small device against its keypad. The device's hacking program instantly threw up a bunch of red warning messages declaring the security could not be overridden.
Ash cursed again and tried another sequence. “Working the door. How are things on your end?”
“About to get really crowded here in a moment,” Femke said. Ash could hear the strain in her voice.
The hacking program stubbornly repeated its message again and again. The security on the door was unusually complex. Why?
Femke said, “I think I may come around to you, static field or not.”
“No!” Ash said, emphatically. “The cannons on the scout will blow you off this rock.”
“I think I can out run them, besides I might not have much of a-,” she went quiet.
Still tapping at the device, Ash said, “What? What is it? Fem?”
Femke cursed, something she never did out of principle. “They're coming out.”
“Who?”
“Stacks and the constable,” she said. “Uh-oh.”
“What?”
“They're moving away from the bunker.”
“The constable is leaving?”
“No,” she said more urgently. “They're heading to the transport!”
Ash muttered a curse as he worked feverishly to hack the keypad. Sweat dribbled down his neck to be absorbed by his suit, making him itch.
“How close are they now?” Ash said, his fingers tapping harder on the device's little monitor.
“Close enough to be a problem,” Femke said. Stacks and Captain Klayd moved purposely along the length of the transport toward the nose of the ship. “They're directly opposite of you now. Maybe you should find somewhere to hide.”
