by G J Ogden
He turned back to Tory, but her assailant was also now on the floor, blood gushing from his nose. Then angry cries filtered down the corridor, from the direction of the navigation hub.
“Quickly, they might still come after us!” Hudson shouted. Then, as if on cue, one of the original four hunters appeared at the end of the corridor. Hudson quickly fired two rounds, driving the female hunter back into cover, then he ran, harder and faster than he’d ever run in his life.
Hudson’s lungs burned and muscles ached as he scrambled over the makeshift bridges that led back to where they’d entered the Revocater. Heavy bootsteps continued to follow them, and Tory periodically halted to fire shots back along their route, driving their pursuers into cover.
“They’re persistent, I’ll give them that!” shouted Tory over the crack of more gunfire. Hudson reached the ropes that they’d set up to climb inside the ship, and held one out to Tory. However, Tory simply grabbed the rope and hooked Hudson onto it. “You go first,” she said, before sliding some more rounds into the Winchester from the ammo holder on its strap.
“Hey, we go together,” said Hudson, not buying into the idea of leaving Tory to fend off four angry hunters by herself, but Tory shook her head.
“You have to get that relic out of here,” she insisted, “I’ll keep these assholes busy until you get up to the surface. Then I’m relying on you to haul my ass to safety.”
Hudson glanced up through the fissure in the hull; the ascent looked considerably more difficult than the descent had been. “I’m going to need arms like Rex to pull that off…” he said, doubtfully.
“Then I’ll just have to rely on your desire not to see me shot to pieces to give you the boost you need…” Tory added, before slapping him on the back, “Go, now!”
Hudson grabbed the ascender and started to climb the rope as quickly as he could. He’d barely made it ten meters before Tory started shooting. Each crack of the rifle was like an extra shot of adrenaline, pushing Hudson to climb harder and faster.
He finally reached the top and rigged a quick three-to-one raise, before calling down to Tory, “I’m ready!”
Tory popped off another couple of rounds and then clipped herself on to the rope, before shouting, “Go, go, go!”
Hudson began to pull on the rope, wishing at that moment that he really did have arms like Rex Kove. Tory slung the rifle and quickly prepared another glimmer. A hunter appeared below and fired, missing Tory by inches. Tory swung out of the hunter’s firing arc, then armed the glimmer, before dropping it down the chasm. There were more angry shouts from below, then the glimmer detonated, briefly filling the darkness with a brilliant white light. It had worked; the compact stun grenade bought Hudson just enough time for Tory to reach the ledge and haul herself to safety.
Hudson collapsed on to his back, gasping for air, as more shots flew up the chasm. His arms felt like they were no longer attached to his body, as if they were molded from plasticine and merely stuck on to his shoulders. Tory quickly drew her knife and cut the ropes, before also collapsing onto her back beside Hudson.
They both lay there, panting for another full minute, until Hudson was finally able to speak again.
“I take it back,” Hudson wheezed, as Tory rested her head onto his aching shoulder. “Relic hunting isn’t fun at all…”
CHAPTER 12
With the crystal recombiner safely aboard the Orion, and Tory doing the flying, Hudson used the welcome lull in activity to catch up on the news feeds about Goliath. It made for grim reading. The OPW were already gone, and Elgar Five – one of the outermost CET portal worlds – had been attacked too. Reports of the alien ship’s progress now put Brahms Three directly between it and Earth. Hudson knew that it was only a matter of time before Goliath showed up in the system, but despite the urgent need to get the crystal recombiner to Morphus, he still couldn’t leave without knowing that Ma was safe. He owed her that much.
On their approach to the spaceport, Hudson observed that the exodus from Brahms Three had intensified. News of Goliath’s proximity had obviously reached the scavenger town too, and as they set the Orion down and again exited into the container-lined streets, it was clear that the looting had gotten worse.
With weapons raised, Hudson led Tory through the narrow avenues towards the Landing Strip. Fights were breaking out all over, as looters clashed with store and home owners who were either unable to leave, or stubbornly didn’t want to. Hudson knew the streets well enough to reach the Landing Strip while avoiding the worst hot spots. Bar a couple of brief scuffles – which ended as soon as the looters spotted Tory’s Winchester rifle – they had made swift progress.
“We can cut through this side street then take a right,” said Hudson, glancing around the corner. “Then we’re pretty much there.”
Tory nodded then returned to watching their backs, while Hudson crept ahead. Suddenly, a hand reached out from a dark doorway and grabbed his shoulder. He cursed himself for carelessly missing the alcove, and spun around to confront his attacker. Then he froze as the face of an attractive, young woman stared back at him. She looked vaguely familiar, Hudson thought, and she also looked distinctly pissed off.
“Oi, you rat bastard, you double-crossed me!” the street walker yelled at him. Tory arrived just in time to catch the woman slapping Hudson around the face. “You did a runner without paying what you promised me!”
Hudson rubbed his stinging cheek, though the sharp pain had also served to jolt his memory. It was the same street walker who he’d burst in on while she was ‘entertaining’ Private Hanes. With her help, he’d then stolen Hanes’ uniform to gain entry to the CET Presidio so he could raid the vault. This was how he had first come to be in possession of the crystal, and Ericka’s leather jacket, which he still wore. Hudson remembered that he’d promised to share the profits of the theft with the woman, in order to gain her cooperation. Then he had promptly left Brahms Three without doing so.
“Well, cough up what you owe then, you shithead!” the woman screeched at him.
Hudson shrugged and rapidly backed away, “Sorry, I didn’t manage to get anything – that’s why I’m still stuck here, like you.”
The woman hurled a barrage of insults and curses at Hudson, before shouting, “I knew you were a shit robber!” and slamming the door.
Hudson let his breath out slowly, then realized that Tory was glowering at him.
“So, you ran out on a street walker without paying, huh?” said Tory folding her arms while still holding onto the Winchester, threateningly. “This had better be good…” she added, before raising her eyebrows and waiting expectantly for Hudson’s explanation.
A couple of gunshots popped off down an adjacent street. Then another group of looters ran past, chased by a second gaggle wielding clubs and knives.
“Really, you’re choosing now to ask about this?” said Hudson, echoing what Tory had said to him outside the massage parlor in the Gale Basin.
Suddenly, a looter stopped in the street and aimed a pistol at them. “Drop the fancy gun, lady! That’s mine now!” he shouted.
Tory continued to lock eyes with Hudson, before casually swapping the Winchester to her left hand. She then drew her six-shooter, cocked it and pulled the trigger in less time than it had taken Hudson to breathe in and out. The looter fell, screaming and clutching his leg.
“Fine, but you’d better have a damn good explanation,” Tory continued, while holstering the six-shooter again, as if nothing unusual had just happened. Hudson was speechless. “Now, before any more jilted street walkers slap you, where’s this bar?”
Hudson pointed to the next side-street along, and Tory stormed away. The injured looter was trying to reach for his weapon, but Tory booted him in the head as she passed, knocking him out cold.
“Seems like you’ve got your own problems,” came the voice of the street walker. She had popped her head back out of the door to see what the commotion was about. “Good!” she yelled, and slammed i
t shut again.
Hudson sucked in another deep breath to calm his already frayed nerves. Even with the prospect of Goliath arriving in the system at any moment, the one thing he feared more than anything was a vengeful Tory Bellona. He ran ahead and finally spotted the Landing Strip across the next street. Some of the windows had been smashed, and Hudson could clearly see that the door had been kicked in.
“We might already be too late,” said Tory, as Hudson arrived at her side. She was reloading the Winchester and six-shooter in preparation for whatever might be waiting for them behind the door. “We go in hard,” Tory added, her expression grave, “but be prepared; you might not like what we find in there.”
“I understand,” said Hudson. He appreciated Tory’s frank warning, but he was still determined to discover Ma’s fate. “Let’s go.”
Hudson covered Tory as they moved up to the door of the Landing Strip. Then Tory counted down from three on her fingers, before rushing inside, weapon raised. Hudson followed and immediately saw Ma on her knees in the middle of the floor, with her hands on her head. Standing behind her, with a pistol pressed to the back of her skull, was Rex Kove.
“Unless you want me to redecorate this place with your friend’s brains, I’d put those guns down,” said Rex. One of his two sons was emptying the till, while the other was in the back room, filling a bag with whatever he could find of value.
Hudson looked at Ma. She’d taken a bullet to the arm, and her face was bloodied too. Clearly, she hadn’t given in without a fight. “Let her go, Rex,” he called over. “Keep what you want, but just let her go.”
“Like hell he can keep my stuff!” shouted Ma, but Rex just reached down and squeezed her wound, causing Ma to scream in agony.
“It’s funny what you find out when you do some digging around,” said Rex, smiling at Hudson. “Nice little setup you had going here; stashing some of your score for a rainy day.” Rex’s two sons were now also aiming their weapons at Hudson and Tory, in a sort of Mexican standoff. “So, I’m going to take what you owe me, and some more as interest,” Rex continued. “And if you try to stop me, I kill the barkeep here. Then I’ll kill you and your nutjob girlfriend too.”
Hudson looked at Ma, and though she was in pain, he could see her mind was still sharp. They could try to shoot it out, he thought, but at such close range, even Tory wouldn’t be able to get all three members of the gang, without getting hit too.
Hudson lowered his weapon, “Fine, just take what you want,” he said, before turning to Tory, “It’ll all be gone soon anyway.”
Tory seemed to understand Hudson’s meaning. There was no point dying to protect a bunch of things that were likely to be annihilated, along with the planet, in a matter of hours.
“Smart choice,” said Rex. Then to his sons, he added. “Get their weapons.”
Nervously, Rex’s two sons moved out from behind the bar area, and approached Tory and Hudson. One of them tentatively reached for the 1873 Winchester, but Tory pulled it away from his grasping fingers.
“Touch this and I’ll shove a barstool so far up your ass, I could use your head to sit down on,” said Tory, locking eyes with the young man.
“Now, now, Tory,” said Rex. “Let’s not have any violence.”
Suddenly, Ma spoke up, “You know what, violence sounds like a great idea...” she said, and thrust her head back into Rex’s groin and abdomen. The burly hunter yelped and bent double, as Ma sprang up and tried to grapple the weapon from his hand.
Hudson used the distraction to land a hard-right cross to Rex’s first son, before grabbing his scruffy brown hair and smashing his face into a table. Tory had also reacted quickly, stunning the other son with a couple of hard shots, before tossing him through a pile of stacked up chairs, like a bowling ball toppling nine pins. Hudson then ran to help Ma, but Rex had won their tussle and was again standing over her. One of his powerful hands was clenched over Ma’s wounded shoulder, squeezing blood from it like water from a sponge. The other held a pistol to her head.
“Enough!” Rex yelled, “You had your warning, and now she pays the…”
A shot rang out, and Rex slumped to the floor, cracking his head on the bar on the way down. Hudson jerked around to see Tory lowering her six-shooter, smoke oozing from its barrel. His first thought was that Tory had killed Rex, but as he looked over, he saw that the muscular hunter was dazed, but still conscious. There was a single bullet wound to his left shoulder. Tory, remarkably, had shown him mercy.
Hudson rushed to Ma’s side, and helped her to stand. Despite being beaten and shot up, she was as tough as ever.
“I’d have put that bullet in the asshole’s head,” said Ma, as she began to collect up the three hunters’ weapons from the solid wood floor.
“I don’t do that anymore,” said Tory, holstering the antique revolver. “But I don’t let bastards like Rex get away with doing it either.”
“Fair enough,” said Ma, as she tossed the hunters’ weapons in the trash. She then grabbed a clean towel from behind the bar and tied it around her wounded arm.
One of Rex’s sons recovered, and saw his father lying on the floor. He ran over to the man and dropped to his knees, yelling, “You’ve killed him!”
“I only wounded him,” Tory corrected the young hunter, sounding a little annoyed at the accusation. “Don’t make me regret it.”
Ma turned to Hudson and said, “Grab the medical kit from behind the bar. I guess we can at least stop this lowlife from bleeding to death on my floor, not that he deserves it.”
Hudson rushed around the other side of the counter and started searching for the kit. “Let the kid patch him up; we have to leave,” he said, as he rummaged through the lower shelves. Then he found the medical kit and pulled it away from its mounting. It was caked in a thick coating of dust, and clearly hadn’t been used for years, if ever.
“Leave?” replied Ma, incredulously. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Hudson returned and placed the medical kit on the counter top. “Ma, Brahms Three is directly in that alien ship’s path. It will literally tear the planet apart when it gets here.”
Ma sighed and reached over the bar, grabbing a bottle of whiskey, though it wasn’t one of her own. She pulled the cork out with her teeth and took a long swig, before her nose and eyes scrunched up. “Hell, this crap is terrible,” she said, tossing the bottle in the trash with the hunters’ weapons.
“Ma, I’m serious, we have to go,” repeated Hudson. “That’s why we’re here.”
“It’s good of you to check on me, Hudson, you always were a good kid,” replied Ma, warmly. “But there’s no telling if that ship will come here. It may just fly on past. Until I see it with my own eyes, I’m staying put.”
The floor of the bar then began to shudder, as if a large ground transport had just rumbled past. Except that instead of the rumble fading as the transport moved further away, the vibration remained.
Hudson glanced over to Tory, and he could tell that the same thought had invaded her mind too. They both raced out of the Landing Strip and peered up, hoping that the massive shape of Goliath wasn’t already looming above them. All of the looters had stopped too, and there now wasn’t a single person on the street whose eyes weren’t cast skyward. And they were all looking in the same direction. Hudson knew what had grabbed their attention, even before his own eyes saw it. Goliath had arrived, and it was coming straight for them.
Ma ran outside and looked up. For a few seconds, none of them spoke, before Ma simply said, “I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it,” said Hudson. “This planet will be destroyed. I’ve already seen it destroy others.”
Ma shook her head, “All that time hunting inside the alien wrecks, and I never once asked what took those brutes down to begin with.” Then she looked at Hudson, and added, “You’ve seen this thing destroy entire planets?” Hudson nodded, and Ma shook her head again, and sighed. “I take it you’ve got your fancy ship here with you?”
“It’s in the private dock you sorted for me,” replied Hudson, still looking up at Goliath. As terrifying as it was to see, the great ship was also an awe-inspiring sight.
“Give me a couple of minutes,” said Ma, before disappearing back inside the Landing Strip.
Hudson scowled, “Give you a couple of minutes? Ma, we have to go, now!” He ran inside after her and saw the ex-hunter carrying out the large bag of valuables that Rex’s son had filled. She handed the bag to Hudson. “Anything else, or can we run away from the giant killer space ship now?” said Hudson, amazed at how coolly Ma was handling everything.
“Just one more thing,” said Ma, rushing back behind the bar.
Hudson shook his head, and saw that both of Rex’s sons were now kneeling at their father’s side. Rex was still dazed, but coming around. Hudson ran up to the closest of the two sons, and the young man raised his guard. Hudson grabbed the medical kit off the table, and thrust it at him. “Patch him up, quickly. Then get the hell off this planet, while you still can.”
He left the young man looking terrified and puzzled, and turned back to see Ma returning from behind the bar. She had a square bottle of her own-brand whiskey in each hand.
“Now, I’m ready to go,” she said, nodding towards the door. “If I’m going to have to watch this planet die, I need a proper drink to send it off with.”
CHAPTER 13
The few ships that were still left in Brahms Three’s spaceport were blasting off without any regard for one another. Before Hudson, Tory and Ma had even reached the Orion, Hudson had seen two shuttles collide in mid-air and crash into the shipping-container city. However, as shocking as this was, he knew it soon wouldn’t matter. The ground was starting to shake more violently, and Hudson realized that Brahms Three was on the verge of collapse.
