by T. M. Catron
“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 ducke
d 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.”
“My shield is just fine!”
“You can disguise the ship, manipulate gravity, and change your face at will, but you can’t generate a shield strong enough to keep this monster away from us!”
The creature wasn’t going to give them a chance to stand around arguing about it anymore. After another moment of contemplation, it seemed to have decided Rance was the main threat and fixed an eye on her. A warning message flashed through her vision.
Hostile proximity too close for maneuvering. Suggest running.
Oh great, Rance thought. Even her ZOD was a coward.
“All right, guys,” she said, “this is your chance to prove your loyalty to me.”
“I hope you’re not thinking of doing anything stupid,” Solaris said. He kept his eyes on the creature and crouched low, his staff pointing forward like a rifle.
“You haven’t known me very long, have you?” Rance said. She took her eyes off the monster for only a moment, to give Solaris her best smile.
The creature charged, running straight for Rance. She turned and sprinted away, yelling over her shoulder, “Trip it!”
She hoped beyond hope that they’d understood her command. Because if they didn’t, this creature was going to catch her and eat her.
Then she heard a great roar. A thud shook the alley. Feeling a strange movement of air behind her, she pressed herself to the wall just in time for the creature to fly past her, head over heels. The beast somersaulted until it crashed into a wall at the end of the alley, going straight through and creating a rumble of noise inside one of the buildings.
Rance stepped out and looked at Solaris and Abel.
Solaris looked at his staff, which he’d flung out in front of the charging animal. “It seems like the staff is good for something, at least.”
Abel shook his head. “Why didn’t your magic stop it?”
“Some creatures are immune to it,” Solaris said. “But that doesn’t mean that I can’t physically trip them. And I added a little extra power so it would be rigid enough to withstand the charge.”
He turned to Rance and frowned. “Next time, Captain, would you tell us your plan before you run away?”
“What would be the fun in that?”
“Oh, you know, the adrenaline rush is fun. But I think I’d rather get out with my captain in one piece than go on a thrill-seeking mission.”
Rance’s grin faded. Solaris had a way of taking the fun right out of the adventure. Still, she had been worried there for a minute. So maybe his concern wasn’t unfounded. She shrugged it off and went to find her helmet.
It lay down another alley, having been cast aside when she was first attacked. She wished she’d been wearing it when the monster had knocked her over. Her head throbbed painfully. She was only just noticing it.
Before leaving, the three stood watching the hole in the wall. Inside, the creature was still thrashing around, squawk-roaring.
“Do you think there are any people in there?” Rance asked.
“We would have heard the screams by now, I think,” Solaris said.
“Boss, let’s get out of here before it finds its way out of that hole.”
Solaris tried to look at the wound on Rance’s head, but she mashed on her helmet and strode off down the alley, ready to resume following the map. Wavy lines crossed her vision, and the grid faded from view. The blow to her head must have interrupted the signal between her NNR and ZOD.
Rance tapped the back of her helmet to jar it. The action sent shooting pain up into her brain. She jerked her hand away. They would have to follow Abel’s map from here.
During the fight, they had got twisted around. Abel led them through turn after turn, each alley looking exactly like the one before it. Just as Rance was beginning to think they’d wander the in-between spaces of the city forever, everything became familiar.
“Haven’t we been here before?” Solaris asked.
“Yes,” Rance said. “I think so.”
“The map says we are almost out to the street,” Abel said.
Finally, Rance recognized a series of doorways she thought they had passed on their way in. She jogged over, peeking around the corner of the building. There, just down from where she was standing, was the street they’d used to enter.
She growled in frustration and motioned for the others to follow. The Star Streaker was hidden up the street. Rance looked at Solaris, who confirmed that it was still there, invisible and safe. The comm crackled with James’ voice, sending more throbbing pain through her already sensitive head.
“What in the Founders’ name are you doing, Rance Cooper?”
“I thought we’d take the scenic tour of the city, James.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Captain, but we’re seeing fewer civilian ships and more fighting. Be careful, please.”
“Why James, it’s like you're worried about me.”
“This isn’t funny, Captain.”
“I’m not laughing. Save the gooey stuff until I get back to the Star Streaker though, huh?”
James clicked off, and Rance thought she’d probably offended him. No, their situation wasn’t funny at all. Sometimes, she didn't know how to behave when people expressed concern for her. Even those who loved her. But she didn’t have time for his sentimentality. They’d lost a lot of time, and if they didn’t find a way through the city soon, they’d be stuck without shelter at nightfall. Also, she had no idea when the pirates would begin landing.
“You know,” Solaris said as they jogged along. “Every time I’ve been to Prometheus, I’ve always wondered why the city refused to have a stronger military presence. It’s a Core world, and with all the nobility and officials living here, you’d think that they would demand a stronger show of force.”
“It’s because they were always a Core world that they didn’t bother with it,” Rance said. “My father always complained that they were too confident for their own good. Looks like he was right about this, at least.”
The Core worlds, buffered by endless colonies in between them and alien planets, had grown soft. They had become complacent in their own power. Prometheus was no better. Although it held the financial seat of the empire, and a secondary parliament for the Outer Colonies, it behaved as if it were Triton itself—strong and invincible and arrogant.
Although the pirates had been gaining numbers in recent years, no one ever thought they would join to become anything more than ragged, scrabbling individual clans.
“Why didn’t your father do anything ab
out it?” Solaris asked. “I thought he had some influence.”
“He has some influence. He has influence on his own planet, less in the Senate. He doesn’t have enough clout to determine how much military the Core worlds keep around.”
Abel moved ahead, checking around the corner of the building for any obstacles before motioning to Rance and Solaris. Then he said, “They were so busy worried about the aliens out beyond the Outer Colonies, they forgot to protect themselves against their own kind.”
“You’re right, Abel,” Solaris said. “Sometimes we humans forget we’re capable of just as much damage as any outsiders.”
“As much as I love your need to discuss philosophy,” Rance said, “I’d rather focus on our immediate surroundings and the gang of thugs that just walked out that alleyway up ahead.”
Four large men watched them from the street, lazily though, like they weren’t too interested. They didn’t look like pirates—that is, they weren’t covered in tattoos and didn’t carry large weapons. But they didn’t exactly look friendly. One of them caught Rance looking and shifted direction for them.
That was enough for Rance.
“Let’s go around them,” she said. “Follow me.”
She crossed the street, stepping left around a large transport abandoned near a building. Except for Abel’s weapons and armor, they didn’t have much for anybody to steal. But she didn’t want to take any chances. She broke into a run, going until she had a stitch in her side and they had put some distance between themselves and the thugs. The jogging made her head pound with every step.
“I think we lost them,” Solaris said. “You still know where we are?”
“Yes. I think so.”
She hoped so. They rounded a corner.
And ran straight into an angry mob.
Chapter Six
A crowd had gathered in the street. Sounds of shouting and breaking glass bounced off the towers and echoed back to them. Thick, sharp-smelling smoke drifted down the street. The crowd had concentrated around a tall tower which was on fire.
