Eradication: A Space Opera: Book Four of The Shadow Order

by Michael Robertson

  The vast expanse of red wasteland stretched out in front of Seb. He saw it as slightly orange because of the yellow tint to his visor. It made sense for him to drive. If the tank moved as quickly as they thought it might, his slow-motion view of things would help.

  After a deep breath, the tank’s engine purring through the machine, Seb called back to the others. “You ready?”

  “Hang on,” Bruke said as he tied another strap around Sparks. They’d already secured her to her seat, but they wanted to make sure she couldn’t get free. Especially as Bruke would have to be the one to restrain her again.

  After he’d pulled the strap tight, Bruke looked up at SA on the turret and then back at Seb. He nodded. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  Seb stamped down on the accelerator and the tank took off. Pinned back in his seat, their velocity switched on his ability to see the world in slow motion.

  It took just seconds for the tank’s hard tyres to send a tooth-loosening rattle through the vehicle. They were tough, able to deal with any terrain, but because they had no air in them, their lack of absorption made for a bumpy ride.

  The rattle through the tank blurred Seb’s vision and he had to use his strengthened grip just to hold on to the shaking wheel. But they moved like they would break the land speed record. No wonder everyone wanted to get their hands on ruthane.

  CHAPTER 55

  The landscape continued to shoot past them and Seb felt like he hadn’t blinked for the past ten minutes. His eyes burned as he watched the slightly orange blur outside the tank’s windscreen. As much as he focused on the horizon, he hadn’t yet seen the rainforest Wilson had talked about. Clearly, it was more than a few miles away. He drew a deep sigh. Poor Wilson.

  Then Seb saw them: three huge pink blobs. Just before he could shout up to SA, a thick green shot burst from the turret on top of the tank. She missed.

  Three large creatures like the ones they’d seen outside the hangar. Because they were moving towards one another, the gap between the tank and the beasts closed quickly. Too quickly. SA shot again and this time she hit one. Where their blasters had been ineffective, the green cannon bolt sank into one of the beast’s heads, vaporising it.

  “Good work, SA,” Seb shouted back into the tank, his voice wavering with the vehicle’s vibrations. The creature had no head and neck left. “That must have taken out the grub too.”

  Two more shots and SA dropped the other two. She’d clearly found her aim.

  “Woot!” Seb shouted through the ship, his foot still pressed to the floor as he swerved to avoid the pink bodies. “Well done!”

  Before the echo of Seb’s shout had died down, he saw the others. He slumped in his seat. “Damn!”

  They must have only taken down the front-runners. A line of creatures at least twenty wide stretched across Seb’s view.

  SA sent more blasts into the beasts. Several more large explosions of blue mist. Several more of the beasts tripped and fell. She had this, Seb didn’t need to worry.

  But then the shots stopped.

  After a few seconds of no blasts—the creatures and the tank getting closer to one another—Seb called behind him again. “Bruke, go up there and see what’s happening.”

  Despite the rattle of the tank going over the hard ground, Seb could just about hear Bruke shout, “What’s going on, SA?”

  Hard to listen in on a one-sided conversation and drive the tank. Especially as Seb’s slowed-down perspective dragged out every one of Bruke’s syllables.

  Despite his overwhelming urge to stop and go back to investigate, Seb had to trust they’d sort it out between them. They needed him behind the wheel.

  No more than about fifty metres separated the tank and the creatures now. At least fifteen of them left, the powerful vehicle could probably mow down one or two, but not the wall of pink in front of them. The immovable objects undermined what Seb had seen as their unstoppable force.

  “What’s going on?” Seb called back, his stinging eyes on the beasts in front of them.

  No reply.

  “Sod it,” Seb said, came off the accelerator and pressed the brake. A pounding heart, he gripped the gear stick with his sweating hand and shoved it into reverse. Then he waited, stationary in the middle of the red wasteland.

  “The cannon’s overheated,” Bruke finally said. The tank’s growling engine sounded out as the only background noise now they’d stopped moving.

  Bruke then said, “It’s cooling down now.”

  About twenty metres between the tank and the beasts.

  “How long?” Seb asked.

  No reply.

  Ten metres.

  Still nothing from Bruke.

  Seb saw the monster’s red eyes fix on him. Their shaking stampede sent vibrations through his seat. A twitching foot, and Seb tried again. “How long, Bruke?”

  Still no reply.

  Just a few metres away, Seb slammed the accelerator down. The tank shot backwards just as one of the lead beasts roared and leapt at them. It missed, crashing down on the rocky ground where the tank had been only moments before.

  Seb gripped the wheel as tightly as he had when going forward. The monsters kept pace with him for the first few metres, but he slowly increased the gap between them.

  The rumble of the uneven ground vibrated through Seb’s hands. He had to hold the steering wheel straight. Sweat leaked from his brow and ran into his already sore eyes. He listened to his own panic in his rapid breaths; smelled his own perspiration. Whatever happened, he had to hold them straight. Any slight twitch and they’d lose control.

  “How long?” Seb shouted again. The beasts were still close to them.

  Nothing.

  Such a tight grip, Seb felt the galvanised rubber steering wheel give in to his pressure. He loosened his squeeze a little as they passed the three beasts they’d killed first. Thankfully they didn’t crash into them. “Bruke, how long?”

  Still no more than ten metres between Seb and the fastest beast. They were losing them, but very, very slowly. He stared into its red eyes, its bald snout, its almost featureless face as it bobbed up and down with its unusual gait. The thing was still so close to them he could almost see the pores in its skin. He could almost smell it through the glass screen in front of him.

  An explosion of blue mist made Seb jump. The creature he’d just been looking at vanished behind the inky spray on his windscreen. A thud ran through the ground as it crashed down. The beast’s blood on the windshield made it almost impossible to see the others behind it.

  The pulse of another shot rang out above him. Through the blue mess in front of him, Seb only saw the silhouette of another creature fall. Then another pulse, each one kicking a hard recoil through the reversing tank.

  What must have been seven or eight shots went off and Seb slowed down a little. He could only reverse for so long before he lost control. As he squinted through the blue mess in front of him, he saw more silhouettes. SA continued to rip off shots. Between each one, she paused longer than before. It must have been her way of stopping the cannon from overheating.

  Five more shots and SA stopped.

  “How are we doing up there?” Seb asked.

  “All down,” Bruke finally replied.

  Seb eased off the accelerator and let the tank roll to a stop. When he let go of the steering wheel, he saw the imprint of his grip still on it.

  “What’s going on down there?” Bruke called out.

  For a second, Seb said nothing as he looked at the windscreen and the blue blood coating it. “I can’t see anything,” he said. He stood up from his seat. “I need to go outside and wipe the windscreen. Make sure you’ve got my back.” Although confident SA had blown all their heads and necks off, he added, “And watch out for those damn grubs.”

  CHAPTER 56

  Seb gave Sparks a wide berth on his way to the tank’s exit. The small Thrystian twisted and spat, growling at him as he got close to her. Hard when it hurt to see her in such a stat
e, he did his best to ignore her anyway, and pressed the button next to the tank’s door to open it.

  The hatch lifted with a whoosh and Seb stepped out onto the barren planet, flinching at the expected rush of heat. Again, the rush didn’t come. Hopefully he’d never get used to that. They needed off Carstic well before its quirks became familiar to him.

  Red rock stretched away from Seb in every direction. Other than the tank and the fallen bodies of the creatures, he saw nothing.

  A sudden wave of gratitude ran through Seb. The windscreen might have been coated in blood, but at least they hadn’t broken down. There weren’t many recovery services in this corner of the galaxy. He checked his top pocket for the radio and he found it there—just in case he needed to call Moses.

  As Seb walked around to the front of the tank, he eyed the headless and neckless creatures. SA had bullseyed every one of them. He looked up at the turret. Both SA and Bruke stared back at him through the clear dome that sat on top of the vehicle like a pimple.

  The creature’s blood looked even worse from the outside. Blue and thick, it clung to the front of the tank like tar. Thankfully the suit prevented Seb from smelling anything; the creature’s insides probably stank.

  Because Seb didn’t have a cloth, he used his gloved hand to wipe the screen.

  The blood had an oily quality, streaking across the glass every time Seb tried to clear it. No matter how many times he wiped, he still couldn’t see through the windscreen.

  Just before Seb could go back into the tank to find something to wipe it down with, a heavy blast shook the ground. SA had shot at him.

  “What was that for?” Seb shouted as he looked up at the turret.

  Even if SA had been able to speak, he wouldn’t have heard her through the glass dome.

  A chill crawled up Seb’s spine. Whatever SA’s reason, the situation had turned sour. She wouldn’t shoot without good cause. Despite his reluctance to do so, he turned around. He then gasped, steaming his visor up temporarily. He’d already seen them, a wave of fat grubs rushing straight at him.

  CHAPTER 57

  Easily the size of sheep, the bugs were larger than any Seb had seen. They rushed at him in a wave of fat and pulsating horror.

  Another green bolt flew over Seb’s head and another bug exploded when the shot connected. It would seem it took more than blowing the heads and necks off the creatures to kill the parasites inside them. Maybe they settled in different parts of their host’s anatomy depending on what species they took over. Maybe these parasites had very little to do with the ones they’d seen in the mines. What they’d learned so far could be useless.

  Seb returned to the windscreen and rubbed quicker than before, his right shoulder aching from the effort of trying to clear his view. It spread the oil around the glass surface but not a lot else. He redoubled his efforts. SA would keep him safe. He had to trust that.

  Shots continued to fly over Seb’s head. Each one exploded closer behind him. When a shot hit the ground not far from his heels, the goo from the inside of the bug splattered his back with such force it thrust him against the tank.

  Seb used his hands to brace against the windshield. When he pulled away, he saw the blood had cleared a little where he’d been pressing. The bug’s bodily fluids had cut through the greasy oil.

  Seb cleared the screen with renewed vigour, biting down on his bottom lip while he rubbed as hard as he could.

  When he’d wiped a spot large enough to see out of—the blasts continuing to fly over him—Seb looked behind again. He wished he hadn’t.

  Spurred on by the sight, Seb ran away from the grubs around to the the back of the tank so he could re-enter it. He dived into the vessel, gasping for breath as he slapped the red button to close the tank’s door.

  The door seemed to take forever. It slowly rose while SA continued to rip off shots from the cannon.

  Sparks fitted with more vigour, the appearance of the grubs clearly riling her. Screaming, shaking, and foaming at the mouth, she fought against her restraints and the entire tank shook with her movement.

  The whoosh of the fat bugs slithered over the rocky ground as they got closer to the tank, but just before they reached it, the door clicked shut. A smattering of fat bodies slammed against the now closed door and Sparks turned to watch it, something akin to hope on her face as if she expected them to break through and free her.

  After a double-check to be sure the door remained locked, Seb returned to the driver’s seat. The reading on his screen showed his suit had 2h35m left. The three hours had seemed like a good amount of time when they’d landed. Now it seemed woefully inadequate.

  Still able to see from the gap he’d wiped in the windscreen, Seb waited for a pause in SA’s cannon shots. He shouted up at her and Bruke, “Right, let’s get out of here.”

  As Seb moved forward, the grubs returned to the front of the tank like he’d hoped they would. They threw themselves against the screen, their fat bodies hitting the glass and sliding down it.

  Rather than hindering him, they actually helped wipe the screen clear, especially when SA shot one as it jumped towards the vehicle. Its explosion of fluids sprayed the screen and cut through the grease.

  The pop of the grubs snapped through the tank when Seb ran them over. The hard tyres made light work of their fat bodies. Between him and SA, they could kill them all without having to go outside again.

  As they picked up speed, the rush of adrenaline settled within Seb. His tired arms shook and his breathing eased. At least they were safe inside the tank. Although, when they got to where they were heading, no doubt they’d have to get out of it again.

  But he couldn’t think about that. He’d deal with it when he got there.

  CHAPTER 58

  “It’s hard to see through the trees,” Bruke said as he appeared next to Seb, bobbing and weaving as if his strange motion would improve his vision.

  Seb couldn’t see much either through the dense vegetation. The shock of lush green in front of them stood in stark contrast to everything they’d seen of Carstic so far. Not even the yellow tint of his visor could dull it. Vibrant, alive, and clearly damp like a rainforest. Despite having his suit on, he could almost feel the humidity of the place. “All of Carstic’s water must be concentrated in this small area.”

  “Small?” Bruke said.

  The forest loomed over them as they stood in front of it. It stretched away from them on both sides. So far Seb couldn’t see either edge. He shrugged. “Relatively small compared to the miles of arid rock surrounding it.”

  Bruke looked over his shoulder at the locked-up tank behind them. “It’s a shame we have to leave our early warning system behind. Do you think she’ll be all right on her own?”

  The question sent a snap of tension through Seb’s gut. It hadn’t been an easy decision to leave Sparks tied up in the tank. The reading on his suit’s visor said ‘2h30m’. Not an insignificant amount of time to leave her for. “I hope so,” he finally said and shared an anxious look with SA. “I hope so.”

  Silence followed Seb’s words as the three of them stared into the forest again.

  Seb finally said, “I mean, what other choice do we have? We’re doing this to help her, and we all need to be on hand to fight those things. She may give us an early warning, but she’ll also slow us down. Have you seen the size of the monsters we have to fight? What if there’s something even deadlier in there?”

  It clearly didn’t do much to calm Bruke down. The stocky creature moved from side to side, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he held his gun with a tight grip.

  The silence hung between them again and Seb looked back into the forest. On a sparse, dry, and barren planet, it stood as an oasis of life. The trees were taller than any he’d ever seen. Although, despite their vibrancy, they had to be the ugliest trees he’d seen too. Lumps littered their trunks like tumours. Thick bracken gathered at the base of them. Red and brilliant blue, it cluttered the ground. At
some points it stood over six feet tall.

  “The queen has to be in there somewhere,” Seb said. “I just hope she’s close by. We need to get this done for Sparks’ sake if nothing else.”

  Seb lifted his semi-automatic blaster as he looked across at the other two. The timer on his screen had ticked down to ‘2h28m’. “Right, let’s do this. You both ready?”

  Not that Seb needed to ask SA, who raised her blaster. A few seconds later, Bruke nodded and did the same. SA had only taken one of Sparks’ blasters this time, leaving the other one in the tank with her—for what good it would do.

  “Okay.” Seb stepped forward into the lush green forest, pushing through the bracken to enter the place. Condensation formed on his visor for the briefest second before he heard a click in his helmet and the mist cleared. Thankfully their suits were smart enough to deal with the hostile environment. Hopefully they were too.

  CHAPTER 59

  No more than two steps into the forest and Seb stopped. He looked at SA and Bruke. “Did you hear that?”

  Before Bruke could answer, the sound came again. Louder than before. The rip and pop of snapping branches and the whoosh of bracken as something raced through it. Something large. Something heading straight for them.

  The thunder of footsteps shook through the soft ground. They were close, but because of the densely packed trees, Seb couldn’t see them yet.

  A quickened pulse and shorter breaths, Seb saw the world in slow motion. He raised his blaster and looked down the barrel of it, doing his best to remain calm and keep himself steady.

  A quick glance at SA and Bruke, and they both had their weapons ready to go too. They pointed them in the same direction as him.

  By the time Seb saw the pink bobbing head, no more than about ten metres separated them. He ripped off a line of shots at the brute, but it did nothing to slow it down. Each green blast hit the monster’s thick hide. It looked like the beast didn’t even feel it as it continued to charge.