by Nick Walters
Then its lips closed around her and she was in total darkness.
Chapter Fourteen
Fresh Meat
Peri ran back towards the avenue of trees, her feet scattering luminous petals. Taiana sprinted ahead, calling Athon’s name in foghorn tones. Why she wanted to find him was beyond Peri. They didn’t seem particularly close. But then, Athon was Taiana’s only link with the home she’d probably never see again. Peri’s one thought was to find the Doctor. How he could possibly save them all from a ship full of insanely ravenous beasts, she had no idea, and didn’t really care. She just wanted to be with him, when they came. With the Doctor around, miracles happened, last chances popped out of the blue. Without him she was as good as dead.
She came to a breathless halt beside Taiana, who was looking around, brows knitted in confusion.
‘What’s the matter?’ Peri gasped between gulps for breath.
‘There’s no one here!’
It was true: no Doctor, no Aline, no Athon and Lornay. Peri peered into the surrounding gloom, but all she could see were patches of glowing fruit that intensified the surrounding darkness. Taiana was pacing around, shouting out Athon’s name with increasing impatience.
Loudly. Very loudly. Too damn loudly!
Peri launched herself at Taiana, grabbing at her arms. They were like iron bars. ‘shaddup!’ she hissed. ‘Do you want them to find us?’
Taiana shook her head, her golden eyes widening with dawning terror.
The two women stood in silence, staring up at the starscape for further signs of movement. But there was nothing, and for long seconds that seemed more like minutes nothing happened. Peri concentrated on listening for the others’ voices.
But there was no low hubbub of conversation, no snores of the soundly sleeping -and no gasps of passion from lover-boy and soldier-girl, thought Peri with a mental sneer. So where the hell was everyone? Could the Valethske have got them already?
Taiana pointed to a patch of starry sky above the Tree. ‘It must have come down some distance away.’
‘We hope. Something occurred to Peri, and a shameful feeling of relief washed over her. ‘Hey, what are we worrying for?
It might not even be the Valethske! It could have been a regular falling star, or even a rescue ship of some kind.’
A flicker of hope animated Taiana’s face. She was about to speak when something roared overhead, sending them diving for cover. A blast of air followed in its wake, shaking the trees and whipping up a storm of leaves and petals. Peri blundered into what she thought was a tree, but it moved and steadied her with long, strong arms. Taiana. As the thing thundered into the distance, Peri observed it bank around the side of the Tree, its outline clear against the starlit blue.
No mistaking. It was the same as the ship that had shot down Athon’s skyboat. She felt a rush of blood rise to her head, and her heart began to pump faster. Run, screamed her mind. You gotta run. Now!
Peri realised she was still holding on to Taiana. She let go, brushing bits of leaf and grass from her hair, trying to make up her mind which way to run. Did it matter? Wherever they went, the Valethske would surely sniff them out.
Her eyes came to rest on the Tree, looming into the night sky beyond Taiana, blotting out the horizon.
Taiana’s shoulders jerked in a robotic shrug. ‘What shall we do?’
‘The only thing we can do,’ said Peri, heading off at a run towards the Tree. ‘Hide, and hope.’
Hunt Marshal Veek hung on the threshold, her gaze sweeping across the planet’s surface. She knew that somewhere down there among all that useless vegetation, prey scuttled.
Beside her, Flayoun adjusted the shoulder-hasps of his copter backpack, a continuous low snarl emanating from deep within his chest.
Veek prepared to jump, outstretched arms resting lightly on the frame of her copter-pack, claws curled around the controls.
‘Look at it all!’ bellowed Flayoun, his voice rising above the roar of the skirmisher’s engines. His eyes were crazed with bloodlust. All that plant-stuff! No good to us.’ He leaned out of the hatch, Answering the roar of the wind. ‘I want something’s flesh!’
Veek rolled her eyes. ‘And you shall have it, my hunter.’
She jerked the control handle. Above her, the rotor-blades unfurled and the engine stuttered into life. Bracing herself against the airframe, Veek waited until the revs reached a level she knew would bear her weight and then she stepped out into thin air. Behind and above, she heard Flayoun’s battle-yell as he followed her. She plunged downwards, clear of the skirmisher, the ground rushing up at her, the air roaring around her, her teeth bared in a grin of exhilaration. A stray thought flitted past: Cut the engine and you’ll be out of the Great Mission for good. S he dismissed it angrily. Hunt Marshal Veek’s death, when it came, would be honourable, not cowardly.
Straining against the harness that clutched her like the talons of a giant bird of prey, Veek mastered the controls, listening to the complaining whine of the engine, judging her adjustments, as the rotors churned the air, bearing her aloft.
Stars whirled about her like bright metal dust.
She came about in time to see the skirmisher bank sharply and disappear round the side of the enormous tree that dominated the area. Swooping down towards her were a dozen hunters in standard sweep-and-search formation, dark shapes against the speckled night-blue of the sky. Flayoun’s voice crackled through her comm-unit and she barked out a series of orders. She watched with satisfaction as the hunters broke off in pairs, spreading out over the area. Flayoun headed forwards to join her.
Scans had picked up faint signs of mammalian life, concentrated In one area of the planet, near to where they had located the stolen skirmisher. As Hunt Marshal, it was Veek’s job to lead the hunters in the search. She welcomed it as a distraction from the futility of the Great Mission.
Veek and Flayoun swept through the sky, eyes intent on the dark masses of vegetation below. Curiously, it all seemed to be laid out in regular patterns of strips and squares. Patches of it were glowing with soft fire that Veek took at first to be nocturnal insect life, which confused her as the survey scans had detected only plant life and the escaped prey. She heard Flayoun intermittently cursing the plant-life. At times like this, Veek felt disappointed in her mate. At least this world was a contrast to the only other planet in the system - a barren, solid lump of rock, barely more than an oversized moon.
It had taken their instruments mere minutes to map that wretched world, turning up no signs of life whatsoever, intelligent or otherwise. No transmissions of any kind, no surface structures, no sign of mining or underground habitation, nothing at all. Just a rock. The hunters were sorely disappointed, and the Vale Commander nearly had a rebellion on his hands. But Kikker knew his hunters, and he appeased them by releasing all - all! - of their captive prey. The hunters gorged themselves stupid - even Veek, for what Valethske can resist fresh prey? There was a bit of a furore when one of the younger Vale Guards, unable to endure the smell of spilled blood any more, threw himself into the pit and on to the torso of a half-eaten human. Such heresy! Of course, several hunters - including Flayoun - immediately fell on the hapless Vale Guard, and under the unforgiving gaze of Commander Kikker eviscerated him where he stood, passing round his heart, liver and kidneys to be consumed before his dying eyes.
Veek had watched with a sinking heart. That Valethske should be reduced to this. Surely she couldn’t be the only hunter immune to the madness this cursed mission had spawned! But as she watched Flayoun and Burzka gulping down the Vale Guard’s entrails, she reflected that maybe she was the only sane one among them.
As a consequence of this feast, they had no prey left. All this meant was that before the next long sleep, they’d have to go hunting to replenish their stocks. This prospect pleased Veek but also irritated her, for it would bring only a temporary halt to the Great Mission, and once the sleep cells were full of prey, they could go on. On and on for centuries mor
e. The mission and the future were one. There was nothing else.
She had vowed, as she’d checked over her copter-pack, that this plant-world would be her last stop. Somehow, she was going to escape. Even if it meant desertion and execution.
Veek flew nearer to the ground, the rotor chattering above her, the downdraught from the blades flattening her ears against her head and tickling her whiskers, alert for any sign of movement. She could have deployed her motion-tracker or heat-sensors, but Veek was a true hunter and preferred to rely on instinct. It had never failed her before and it didn’t fail her now. There - running low, trying to use the cover of the trees - were two humans, their pale flesh standing out in stark contrast to the dark grass. A shout from Flayoun confirmed that he’d sighted them too. The two hunters circled around the fleeing prey, spiralling closer in, cutting off any chance of escape.
The copter-packs weren’t built for stealth - they were meant for speed and terror. Valethske possessed excellent night-vision, so Veek had no trouble zeroing in on the prey. Now she was right on top of them, cruising just above their heads. She snapped on the lights of the copter-pack, drowning the two humans in a sudden blaze of unbearable brightness. She recognised them immediately - the smaller one, the one with short red fur on its head, was one of the soldiers they’d captured and tortured on Thynemnus, centuries back. It would be good to finish off the job. The other, larger one, its dark hair flailing around its face in the blast of the rotor blades, was one of the lumbering, cowardly creatures they’d snared on the last hunt. Veek noticed with amusement that they were both naked. She could smell the musk of the male, the sweet scents of the female. The odours aroused her and she began to drool.
She descended in front of them, killing the power, the blades sighing to a halt.
The two humans clung to each other, blinded by the lights of Veek’s copter-pack. Flayoun touched down on the far side of the pool of white light, his mouth hanging open, hunger, as always, in his green-yellow jewels of eyes.
In a sudden blur of movement, the smaller human made a break for it, towards the trees. Before Veek could do anything Flayoun drew his bolt-gun and fired. There was a wet crunch and the female’s skull exploded in a messy burst of blood and bone. It dropped immediately, face down, blood pumping from its shattered head. It twitched and shuddered violently for a few seconds, a liquid gurgle bubbling from the ruins of its face. Veek stared balefully at its smashed head, its pale skin laced with its own blood. Its left foot suddenly jerked spasmodically, thudding against the earth as if trying to kick down the doorway to the underworld. And then it was still.
Veek glared at Flayoun. ‘Hunter, that was foolish! We need to question this prey?
She turned to the male, which had sunk to its knees, its eyes fixed on the body of its dead companion. Veek cursed Flayoun once more under her breath. He just didn’t think, sometimes! Now the male, traumatised by the death of its mate, would be impossible to interrogate.
Nevertheless Veek grabbed its hair and pulled it to its feet.
It was large for a human, almost as tall as Veek, but despite its prominent muscles it was shivering in fear. It had defecated, the smell of excrement mingling with the metallic tang of blood and the odours of heat and sweat in a heady cocktail that made Veek reel.
She breathed in its naked skin-face, watching it gag and splutter. ‘Where are the others?’
In answer, the prey made unintelligible sounds, and liquid began to pour from its eyes. Useless. Veek took out her dart-gun and stunned it, tilting its body so it fell beside its companion.
She cut the lights and switched on her comm-unit, gathering reports from the other hunters. No sign of any more prey. She looked around. Into the night sky rose the gnarled silhouette of the giant tree. Veek cocked her head at it speculatively then turned to Flayoun. ‘Contact Hunters Burzka and Akkia, tell them to take these two back to the ship. Then tell the others to follow us.’
‘Where are we going, Hunt Marshal?’
‘The only place they could be hiding.’ Veek started the motor and the blades began to whirl slowly above her head, gathering speed.
Over the thumping of her heart and the gasping of her breath, Peri could hear the unmistakable chattering of rotor-blades. She felt as if her legs were going to give way any second and willed herself on. Hopefully, in the sprawling shadow of the Tree, the hunters wouldn’t be able to see her. It stretched like a vast wall in either direction and its spreading branches blotted out the stars.
Peri stumbled into a patch of darkness at the foot of a massive trunk and looked frantically around. Taiana! Where are you?’
‘In here!’
Peri followed the sound of the voice into a gap between two of the trunks. She felt hands grab her and haul her inside.
She found herself in an earth-floored passageway like a fairy grotto, with glowing green walls and roots and things hanging down, brushing her face.
She peered back out into the dark Garden.
In the sky, way above the tops of the silver-barked trees, she could see figures outlined against the stars. She could hear the chattering engines of the copter-packs, louder now It took her right back to the desert and the crashed skyboat and she felt sick.
The figures were getting bigger by the second, getting nearer.
She looked at Taiana, and the tunnel beyond. It seemed to lead quite a way back before twisting into the unknown. Good
- the twistier the better. Right now they needed to get as lost as possible. ‘Ready?’
‘What about Athon and the others?’
Peri tried not to think about what might be happening to them. ‘We can’t do anything for them. Maybe they’ve come in here too. Come on.’
They moved on down the tunnel, and it wasn’t until it had taken a couple of dozen snake-like turns and forked off an equal number of times that Peri began to relax - but only a little. She turned to say something to Taiana when from round the next corner, the Doctor appeared.
Peri stood with her mouth open, too surprised to speak.
He looked hurt; he was limping and clutching his upper left arm with the right. His troubled frown gave way to a smile of welcome when he saw them.
‘Peri, Taiana!’ Then he frowned. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Hiding,’ said Peri, ‘from the Valethske.’
The Doctor looked from Peri to Taiana. They’re here?’
Taiana nodded.
Without another word, the Doctor turned back and ushered them before him, casting a glance up the tunnel.
‘Where’s Athon?’ asked Taiana.
‘I don’t know!’ snapped the Doctor.
‘He’d gone off with Lornay, last I saw,’ said Peri. Even though she hated his guts, she hoped they were safe.
That left... ‘Hey, what about Aline?’
The Doctor shook his head. ‘I wish I knew. I hope she’s alive.’ He heard Peri gasp. ‘I’ll explain later. Come on, we’ve got to find somewhere to hide!’
After a few more minutes frantically hurrying along the tunnels they came to a circular chamber lined with giant translucent pods. Inside each pod Peri could just make out the still form of a Gardener.
“This is as good a place as any,’ said the Doctor.
‘Let me look at that arm,’ said Peri.
The Doctor drew himself away from her. ‘Only a bruise.’
What was up with him? ‘Are you going to tell us what happened to Aline now?’
The Doctor walked around the chamber, hands held behind his back, looking at the pods absently. ‘I wish I could. She’s been -harvested. Taken inside the planet by whatever it is that’s behind all this.’
‘Which is?’ said Taiana.
‘The presence she sensed, remember? Well, it seems to be real.’ His voice was hard, his eyes glaring. ‘She wanted to make contact with it and, well, I hope they’re very happy together.’
He was angry, but only with himself, Peri realised. She knew he would have tried to save A
line, and wouldn’t forgive himself for failing.
‘Oh, great,’ muttered Peri. Valethske on the outside, strange alien force on the inside, and them sandwiched in between. She went to the nearest pod. Inside, a Gardener was festooned in a network of fibrous roots. Despite their predicament, she was curious.
‘They’re basically autotrophes, so they need to metabolise energy through photosynthesis,’ said the Doctor in a calmer voice. ‘But they’re so complex they can’t obtain all the energy they need from photosynthesis alone. These pods probably provide some other method of sustenance, nutrients from the Tree.’
Peri nodded, feeling as if she was in a dream. Here they were, being hunted to death, and the Doctor was lecturing them on extraterrestrial plant biology. It didn’t help. She couldn’t keep down the feeling of fear and panic. ‘Doctor, what if they find us?’
‘They won’t,’ he said with a smile of reassurance that vanished as soon as it had appeared. ‘I hope.’
‘Hope isn’t enough this time, Doctor,’ said Taiana in a dull, flat voice. ‘We need a miracle. And as we all know, miracles never happen.’
Peri wanted to argue with her, but this time she felt inclined to agree.
The Doctor perked up. ‘I do, however, have an ace up my sleeve - the TARDIS!’
Peri could have kicked herself. Oh yeah - if the Valethske are here, so is the TARDIS!’
‘Every cloud...’
Then the Doctor’s face fell.
In the entrance to the chamber stood two Valethske.
Peri backed up against the pod, hands scrabbling against its smooth glass-like surface, her body still looking for a way out when her mind told her there was none. She bumped into Taiana, and looked up at the tall Eknuri. There was no sadness in her eyes, only resignation in her lowered eyelashes, a longing for home faintly flickering in her golden irises.
