by Adam Drake
Behind her the waste-worms moved closer. Nearly all of them seemed to be searching the valley. Suddenly a worm emerged from a thicket of plants to her right. She swung around and aimed her rifle at it, but the thing marched by like a slow moving train. It ignored her and went over to inspect the corpse.
Ash glared at the keypad, willing it to open, but the security sequence completely flummoxed the hacking device. Somewhere to his right he heard voices echoing through the cave.
Femke edged back to the ridge line as more worms appeared and converged at the sight of the dead worm, their massive forms writhing with agitation. “I'm out of time here, honey,” Femke said, concerned. “You in yet?”
“Not yet,” he said. Shadows played against the rock walls, the men were underneath the nose of the cockpit coming this way. Finally, the device beeped a confirmation and the security override went from red to green.
One of the worms turned its blunt head around to key in on Femke, mandibles extended, searching.
“Uh-oh,” she said and moved into a crouch gripping the rifle with both hands. Then as one, all the waste-worms turned their massive heads in her direction. They hissed in unison and surged forward.
The hatch slid open much to Ash's relief. As he rushed inside, he caught sight of the two men ducking out from under the nose of the transport. Did they see him?
“I'm in!” he said as he palmed the hatch closed. He was in an airlock, something smaller ships did not have. With another palmed command the opposite hatch unlocked and swung open, revealing an interior anti-way. He quickly went through it and pushed the inner hatch closed again, all the while expecting alarms to sound and armed men to appear.
Deciding things had reached a head Femke stood and fired at the worms. The shots bounced off, leaving bright blemishes on their armored skin.
Ash moved fast to the cockpit, pistol at the ready. All the interior lights were dimmed or off, which he took as a sign the ship was unoccupied.
The cockpit was empty and had a standard four seat arrangement. As he examined its readouts he spotted a monitor which showed the entry hatch's exterior. Stacks and Klayd were walking up the ramp. He thumbed the pistol to its stun setting. “Might have myself a little shoot out here. How is the worm situation?”
“Worms are very angry!” Femke said as she backed against the rocks, firing a board swath of shots. She wanted all of their attention and she certainly got it. “Going to give you a distraction of epic proportions.”
Ash rushed back down the main hall which ran along the length of the ship. He took up position behind a bulkhead and aimed at the airlock's inner hatch. An indicator light on the airlock's panel showed the outer hatch was opening.
Femke fired more, hollering into the comms. Then, just as the closest worm descended on her, she turned and ran over the ridge line in a blink of an eye.
Now at the edge of the clearing she was detected by the Constabulary ship and a gunport swiveled to lock onto her.
Then she did the one thing any sane person would avoid when confronted with a twitchy ship bristling with guns. She shot at it.
The scout responded in kind and opened up with a hail of fire from two of its rear guns.
Femke dodge every shot, dancing around the clearing with incredible speed. Behind her, the waste-worms surged over the ridge line like an advancing army from a Dust-addict's fevered nightmare.
Ash could see Stacks on a monitor standing at the inner hatch waiting for Klayd to close the outer door. This was going to get ugly.
The dull thudding sound of gunfire permeated from outside through the airlock. Both men stopped and listened.
“You okay, Fem?”
“Just great!” she panted over the comms. “Making friends where ever I go!”
Not sure what to make of that, Ash settle to simply aimed his pistol at the hatch door. But Stacks and Klayd quickly left the airlock and went back outside. The outer hatch slid shut behind them.
Ash breathed a sigh of relief. “They're leaving! They're coming to you!”
“Get that bird flying!” Femke shouted. The intensity of her movements was draining her. Each shot from the scout had the power to atomize her in an instant, but her insane acrobatics bought her time.
The waste-worms slid into the clearing from all approaches, like the tide of a dark ocean. It was then the guns on the scout keyed into their obvious presence, calculating they were the greater danger, and fired into them.
Waste-worms screeched and hissed as the ship's high plasma shots melted through their armor and bore into them. Like one living thing, they turned to the ship.
As all the ship's gunports reassigned themselves to the wave of worms, Femke ran toward the transport feeling her energy depleting. But she stopped as Stacks and Klayd ducked out from under the ship's belly, pistols in hand.
The two men took in the incredible scene with wide eyes.
The worms surged across the clearing by the dozens. The sound of gunfire, screeches and the marching of thousands of legs filled the night air.
Ash raced to the cockpit and dropped into the pilot's chair. He hooked up the hacking device to the cockpit panel and his fingers flew around. “Working on the override. Hang in there!”
Femke detoured away from the men as they opened fired on her and raced to the bunker building, the only other cover which wasn't crawling with giant worms. “Get it out of there fast! Things have gotten crazy!”
An auto-cannon suddenly dropped down from the edge of the cave ceiling and swivelled around to fire at her. She narrowly avoided the first shot which singed off a shoulder-pad. Cartwheeling along the ground she fired the rifle one handed at the stationary cannon.
The cockpit override was much easier than the outer hatch and Ash gained control. “Got it! Firing it up!” His fingers danced over screens and he felt the ship vibrate as the engine came to life.
Outside, Femke immobilized the auto-cannon and zipped to the rear of the bunker. Crouching down for a breather she peeked around to see where the men were.
Stacks had dropped to one knee and was firing his pistol at the worms which now swarmed over the scout ship. His weapon seemed ineffectual, but that didn't deter him from shooting, anyway.
Amazingly, Klayd was running to his ship and firing while shouting orders into a wrist comm. The ship's gunports on the starboard side adjusted their aim and concentrated their fire on the worms nearest the scout's entry hatch. The intensity of the barrage turned the worms into glowing pulp. Klayd navigated through a gap in the roiling chaos and climbed the short ladder to the hatch.
Ash punched in a set of commands. “Honey, can you get to the hatch?”
Femke fired at another auto-cannon which popped out of the ground deeper in the cave. “Don't worry about me. Get it out of there first!”
As the transport's engine roared to life, Stacks did a double take, then ran back under the ship. Femke fired at his retreating form but the auto-cannon kept her down. “You're going to have company in a second!”
“Who?” Ash said, as a red indicator light showed that a clamp was applied to the landing gear near the rear of the ship. “What the hell?” When he tried to override it, his heart sunk at a realization. “There's a damned clamp on one of the rear struts. It can't be unlocked from inside!”
Movement on one of the monitors drew his attention. Stacks was running up to the hatch, and he looked angry.
“Uh-oh,” Ash said. He tried to lock the hatch down from the cockpit but he did not have time to rewrite the security codes. Stacks simply palmed the hatch open and ran in. “Going to have a drama here in a moment.”
Femke finally destroyed the auto-cannon and glanced at the scout. Dark worms covered its surface and gunports fired pointblank into them, yet they kept on coming. “I'll deal with the clamp, you deal with your guest!” She ran out from the cover of the bunker and raced under the belly of the transport.
Ash dropped the engines to idle and ran down the main hall, again. Just as
he approached the anti-way he saw the inner airlock hatch swing open.
Stacks knew someone had to be in the cockpit and without bothering to look, started firing blindly down the hall.
Ash felt a shot glance off his side and burn a hole through his suit's light armor. Shouting in pain, he ducked into a small alcove and returned fire.
“You okay?” Femke commed.
“Just great, honey,” Ash said looking at the smoking cauterized flesh poking through his suit. “My guest brought a welcome basket.” He fired again.
Moving slower than she wanted Femke found the large clamp attached to one of the massive landing gears. This effectively prevented the ship from flying away without tearing a hole in the hull. As she crouched down to examine the clamp's datapad a loud screeching made her turn.
Outside the scout was attempting to take off. But tons of angry waste-worms crawled over the ship's surface biting into the hull plating. Only one gunport remained active, the rest having been destroyed. Femke caught a glimpse of Klayd through the cockpit glass looking frantic. The ship bucked but could not lift off. The engine cells glowed hot with the effort which fried the worms that got to close.
Tearing her gaze away she refocused on the clamp. “I need an override.”
“Give me a moment, dear, and I'll ask,” Ash said as he dived across the hall and into a small kitchen area. Stacks had stopped shooting wildly and instead waited to make more accurate shots.
Ash rolled into a crouch behind a fixed table. A shot ricocheted off its shiny surface and bore a hole through the kitchen's auto-chef. “Mind giving me the codes for the clamp?” Ash shouted.
“Eat slag!” Stacks hollered, firing again.
“Sorry, honey,” Ash commed, ducking back. “You'll have to do it the fun way.”
“It's always the fun way that sucks the most,” Femke said as she took a few steps back. Ignoring the screeching chaos outside, she aimed at the clamp's casing and started firing.
In the kitchen, Ash tried to get a bead on Stacks, who kept popping his gun around the corner to shoot. Ash was getting frustrated. “I don't have time for this!” he shouted.
Stacks didn't respond, but stopped shooting.
Concerned, Ash backed away down the length of the table, then spotted a doorway leading into another hall. Thinking he could circle around and flank Stacks he bolted toward it.
Just as he crossed into the hall, he crashed right into Stacks who was trying to do the same thing.
After a moment of surprised confusion the men grabbed for the other's pistol. They slammed each other against the walls and bounced back and forth down the hallway.
Ash was dismayed to realize Stacks was stronger than him and knew it would only be a matter of time before he lost this wrestling match.
With renewed energy, Ash head-butted Stacks, but it resulted in them both seeing stars. Still in each other's grip they fell through a doorway and into the cockpit.
They stumbled about with Ash dropping his pistol with a curse. Stacks, nose bleeding, grinned into Ash's face and heaved them both onto the cockpit's paneling. Lights flashed on and the engine roared to life, again.
Outside, Femke's rifle shot was only damaging the casing slightly. Slinging the rifle over her shoulder, she reached into the damaged hole and began ripping the casing off with her bare hands, all while screaming profanities.
To her surprise, she pulled out a piece of an inner mechanism and the clamp popped open, freeing the landing strut.
“Honey, I did it! You're good to-,” she started to say when the entire transport lifted up a short distance then abruptly banked. Femke barely had time to jump up as the landing gear smashed into her. Stunned she clung on for dear life as the transport moved out of the cave, its roof scraping loudly along the cave's ceiling.
As the ship banked, Ash lost his balance and accidentally bashed his forehead into Stacks's face, again. The second time was the charm and Stacks went cross-eyed, collapsing to the floor.
Ash grabbed the gun from the other man's limp hand and tried to focus his blurred vision on the cockpit panels which were blinking madly with proximity warnings. Somewhere a klaxon rattled off.
The transport finally scraped its way out of the cave and shot out into the clearing.
The Constabulary scout had managed to lift up several meters as worms slipped off its hull like nightmarish party streamers.
Then the transport collided with it.
Beneath, Femke screamed as the top of the scout's bubbled hull sheered off the landing strut directly opposite of her.
Then they were lifting off. Below, the scout wobbled under the loss of lift and its engines sputtered out. As it fell to the ground, it was immediately overrun with hundreds of worms.
Clinging to the landing gear, Femke grinned into the wind as the transport accelerated up over the hills.
“You were right, honey,” she shouted into the comms. “This is way more fun than our honeymoon!”
PART TWO
“We did it!” Ash cheered as he piloted the transport around jagged hills. “For a second there I didn't think we'd make it.”
“Honey,” Femke commed.
“Yeah?”
“I'm still under the ship!”
“Oh, right. Hang tight and I'll find a spot to land.”
“No, don't! You're missing one of the rear landing struts.”
“Look at that, you're right. What do you want me to do, then?”
“Just take it low by some cover and I'll climb over to the hatch.”
“Will do. Hang on.”
Ash slowed the transport to a stop and descended into a narrow valley. Once he locked it into a hover, he gave Femke the all clear.
Clinging to the landing gear, Femke peered at the hull's skin for the hand-holds which lined every ship. They made repairs much safer when crews needed to maneuver around outside in space. She found the closest one and grabbed it. The wind buffeted at her with ferocity, willing her to slip and tumble into the darkness below.
Carefully she picked her way across the ship's belly hand over hand, legs dangling. Her arms and shoulders burned with the effort.
“You okay?” Ash asked.
“Yup, just needed to make a detour around the damaged section.”
“How bad is it?”
“Bad enough that we might need a land-yard. If we did too many landings without the strut, the hull integrity will eventually be compromised.”
She made it to the starboard side of the ship and pulled herself up so she was next to the hatch. “You lost your ramp, too.”
“Figures. I didn't really have time to retract it since Stacks was busy trying to kill me.”
Femke palmed the keypad, but it beeped in protest.
“Hatch please!” she said. Her energy was nearly gone, she could feel it. And with the wind tearing at her body it wouldn't take much to lose her grip.
“Sorry,” Ash said.
The hatch slid open, and Femke performed a last bit of acrobatics to get herself around the entryway and inside. She flopped to the floor on her back and the hatch closed. Merciful silence replaced the screaming wind.
The inner airlock hatch opened and startled her out of sleep.
Ash looked down at her with concern. “You stopped answering my comms. Are you all tapped out?”
“Yup,” Femke said, groggy. “Gonna need a hand here.”
Ash helped her to her feet and carried her along down the main hall. “You did good, honey,” Ash said, as he kissed her cheek.
“We both did. And did you notice?”
“Notice what?”
“I didn't shoot you this time.”
Ash chuckled. “You didn't have an opportunity.”
He guided her into the cockpit and eased her into one of the padded chairs. She sunk into it and smiled.
“Nice and comfy,” she said, but the smile vanished when she saw Stacks hogtied and out cold on the floor at her feet. “Oh, he's still here?”
“Yeah, he is. Although I did debate tossing him out the airlock once we made orbit.”
“Orbit won't be happening for a while, if ever,” Femke said.
Ash patted the console. “Think the ship is already stolen? Planetary Control won't let us leave atmo if it is.”
Femke shrugged weakly. The motion made her look all the more adorable to Ash. “We can't know until we've done a complete check.” She removed her goggles and breather in one practiced motion. A long ponytail of silver-white hair spilled down to her waist.
“Check of what?”
“Of everything.” She looked down at Stacks and nudged him with her foot. “Is this transport hot?”
Stacks didn't respond. Instead, he snored softly.
Femke frowned. “His face is mashed up good. Was that you?”
Ash nodded.
“Good boy,” she said, making an effort to sit up.
“Take it easy. You need time to get your strength back. Do you want me to get you something?”
“Yeah, a new landing strut. But, no, thanks. I'll be fine after a good long snooze.” And with that, she drifted off to sleep, slumped in the chair.
Ash smiled at her and felt his heart beat faster. She was such a beautiful woman, he thought. And great to have around when you needed to move something heavy.
Not happy with Stacks being so close to his sleeping wife, restraints or no restraints, Ash decided to move him. He found a utility closet barren of anything usable and dragged his prisoner into it. After double checking the restraints, he closed the door and locked it. They'd figure out what to do with him later.
While Femke slumbered away, he decided to check the rest of the ship. He routed the control panel readouts through to his pocket scanner and with scatter-pistol in hand went exploring.
The transport was of typical design with four main decks and two subdecks. There were nine crew quarters with lots of space, the kitchen, a rec room with a massive view screen at one end, and the engine room nestled in the transport's middle.
