by Ken Lozito
Connor looked up the way he’d fallen and cursed. After a few moments, he heard the sounds of something else coming down, so he brought his weapon up and waited. Three CDF soldiers slid down the tunnel like Connor had and came to a stop nearby. Connor darted over and helped them up. The third soldier was Captain Randle.
“Are you all right?” Connor asked.
Captain Randle sighed and shook his head as if to clear it. “I’ll live. I was just about to tell you to get back from the edge when you slipped. I ordered the team to find another way down, then followed you, along with Corporal Mathis and Sergeant Brennan here.”
Connor opened an IR channel and tried to reach the rest of the team, but there was no response. Captain Randle turned and looked up the steep slope of the tunnel. The slope angled away from them, so they couldn’t see to the top and there was no way to tell how far they’d come down.
“Should we try to open a comlink, sir?” Corporal Mathis asked.
‘We can’t risk it. The comlink would draw attention to us,” Connor said.
“I think we already did that, sir,” Captain Randle said and leaned in toward the glistening wall.
Connor frowned. ‘What do you mean?”
The orbs inside the walls became brighter and the whole tunnel seemed to light up in an amber color. Captain Randle’s helmet was less than a foot away from the wall, and Connor was about to tell him to step back when Captain Randle quickly backed away and glanced at Connor.
“It looks like a swirling mass of liquid is moving beneath the surface. I checked the corridor before we went down and I could’ve sworn that tunnel wasn’t there before.”
“Are you saying you think the tunnel just formed?” Connor asked.
“I wasn’t sure. I’m sorry, sir. I should’ve said something sooner,” Captain Randle said.
They were all a bit jumpy, and Connor couldn’t fault Captain Randle for not speaking up. He started to get the feeling that they were being toyed with.
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s keep moving,” Connor said.
They continued moving forward. The tunnel widened into a vast chamber, and the glowing orbs inside the walls pulsed brighter. Connor looked around the chamber, trying to find another way out but didn’t see any near them. They walked into the chamber past massive columns made of the exoskeletal substance.
Corporal Mathis cried out and Connor spun toward him. The CDF soldier was trying to move the legs of his combat suit, which were sinking into the ground. Sergeant Brennan and Captain Randle grabbed his outstretched arms, trying to pull him free. Connor glanced at the floor and saw that the area by their feet had a swirling substance beneath the hardened surface. It was gathering underneath the two men. Corporal Mathis sank to his thighs and screamed in panic, firmly rooted in place. Connor shuffled to the side and squeezed off a few rounds into the swirling mass surrounding the corporal. The slugs penetrated the hardened surface but had no effect, and Corporal Mathis sank past his waist.
“It’s in my suit!” Corporal Mathis cried.
Sergeant Brennan started to sink, and Connor saw the area beneath Captain Randle’s feet begin to liquefy. Connor yanked Captain Randle backward. Captain Randle tried to grab the sergeant, but he sank too quickly. Within a few moments, the two men were completely submerged, with only the gurgling sounds of the dying men’s screams escaping the viscous liquid. Connor stumbled back and pulled Captain Randle along.
“What the hell! How could it just swallow them up like that?” Captain Randle said.
It had all happened so fast that Connor could only react. He’d never seen anything like it.
They ran across the open chamber. “I don’t know,” Connor gasped. “We have to keep moving or the same thing is going to happen to us.”
A shudder worked its way through Connor as they hastened from the chamber. He felt like each step they took would sink them into the exoskeletal substance. The amber glow continued to pulse along the corridor. Connor looked at the ground and there was no escaping the hardened substance. He risked a glance behind them and saw something swirling beneath the glowing surface, as if it were swimming through the liquid. Connor felt his heart pounding in his ears and his mouth went dry as panic gripped him. They came out of the corridor into another vast open chamber. Connor looked up and couldn’t see the ceiling. There was only a thick fog gathered about ten meters above him. The glowing orbs inside the walls faded off to either side of them where the fog thickened.
Captain Randle clutched his weapon as he spun around, trying to peer into the gloom. Connor used the combat suit’s systems to cycle through a visual spectrum range, and only infrared showed a huge circular shape in the middle of the vast chamber. Thick, rounded cables connected to it. Some he recognized as power cables and others were something he couldn’t identify.
Connor moved forward and Captain Randle followed. The lighting in the chamber began to increase and Connor was beginning to make out details of what was with them in the chamber.
“Holy shit!” Captain Randle gasped.
Tall, dark shapes seemed to appear out of nowhere as the fog receded away from them. Their thick dome shaped heads seemed to angle downward aggressively and a harsh blast of air expelled from their mouths startling Connor. He pointed his AR-71 at one, and several of the Vemus fighters shifted their thick legs and clawed feet. The sound of that shift echoed throughout the chamber. There must have been thousands of them in that chamber alone.
Captain Randle’s breath came in gasps. He clutched the AR-71 with shaking hands.
“Hold your fire,” Connor said.
“Sir, they’re going to kill us,” Captain Randle said between gasps.
“If they wanted us dead, we’d be dead already,” Connor said.
Connor felt a cold shiver rush down his spine as he made himself lower his weapon. He took a step forward and the Vemus soldiers didn’t move. A thick amber cord was attached from the lower backs of the Vemus soldiers, went to the ground, and stretched in the direction of the central, amorphous mass in the middle of the chamber.
“There are too many. Too many of them. We can’t . . .” Captain Randle muttered.
Connor felt terror grip his chest, but he forced it away. “Wayne, you need to calm down.”
Captain Randle turned toward him with wild eyes, moments from panicking. Focusing on him, Connor felt his own fear subside.
“Bull, you can’t freak out now. Come on, you’ve got to keep it together,” Connor said.
Captain Randle continued to gasp and then started running. Connor glanced at the Vemus for a moment, but they didn’t move or appear to pay any attention to him. Connor ran after his friend, who was heading toward the middle of the chamber. He’d gotten so far ahead that Connor couldn’t see him in the gloom. Only a partial image of his combat suit appeared on Connor’s heads-up display. He heard Randle grunt loudly, and it sounded as if he’d fallen.
“I’m coming,” Connor shouted, hoping Randle would hear him.
Captain Randle screamed and Connor darted toward him. The CDF captain was tangled up in the cords along the ground. Connor squatted down as Randle was trying to push himself to his feet.
“Connor, they’re crawling all over me. Get them off me!” Captain Randle said.
Connor tried pulling the cords away, but the ends sought out the fallen captain like snakes. Connor swung his rifle around and started shooting at them. The AR-71’s projectiles chewed through the cords, and there was a hiss of vapor whenever they were pierced.
Bright overhead lights flared and Connor could see that he was only three meters from the giant amorphous mass. It was dark gray in color, with streaks of pink spidering across it like veins. Connor froze and his breath caught in his throat. Feeding into the mass were thick power cords over two meters in diameter. For each power cord, there was another cord made from the same exoskeletal material found throughout the ship.
A comlink established a connection to his combat suit.
&n
bsp; “Colonel Gates, NA Alliance military,” a deep monotone voice stated.
Thousands of high-pitched whistles sounded from the Vemus forces, and Connor felt his knees go weak. The Vemus collective had just spoken to him—using his old rank.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Noah raced to the colossus cannon, with Sergeant Gray and a security team following closely on his heels. A blue-and-white lance shot from the colossus cannon, and Noah glanced in the direction the shot had gone. A ship in the distance crashed to the ground and smoke billowed from the wreckage. The massive barrel swung overhead and was priming for another shot. Noah headed for the base of the cannon where the controls were—the only place he could end the lockout.
He heard someone cry out, and as he rounded the base of the cannon, he saw Captain Raeburn Gibson lying on the ground with Lenora standing over him. She had her stunner pointed at Barnes.
The large Field Ops and Security sergeant looked at Noah. Then he regarded the other CDF soldiers and raised his hands. “We had to defend ourselves,” Barnes said.
Lenora looked back at Noah. “I tried to stop them, but it was already too late.”
Noah nodded and then looked at Sergeant Gray. “Secure the prisoners,” he said and went right for the colossus controls. He didn’t have time to consider how Gibson and Barnes had managed to free themselves, but they must have had help. There was a tangle of wires sticking out from underneath the control panel, and Noah clenched his teeth.
Lenora came to his side. “What do you need me to do?”
Noah studied the wires and then looked at the command status of the cannon. It was locked on the Vemus scout ship heading toward Sanctuary.
Lenora reached for something behind the console and pulled out a small metal box. “This is Field Ops issued.”
Noah’s eyes widened. “Good work. That’s causing the lockout. Here, let me see it.”
Lenora handed him the box and Noah peered along the edges. Finding a slight indentation, he jabbed his thumbnail in and pried it open. Pain lanced through his thumb as his nail started to tear, but the box opened and Noah used his fingers to force it the rest of the way. He twisted the control chip and it split in two.
Noah opened a comlink. “Colonel, you should have control now.”
Lenora took his hand and wrapped healing tape around his thumb. “I’m forever cutting my fingers on a dig, so I always have supplies on hand,” Lenora said.
Noah nodded appreciatively.
“Colonel, can you confirm you have weapons control?” Noah asked.
“We have control,” Colonel Cross said, finally.
Noah blew out a breath. “Glad to hear it, Colonel,” he said and explained how Captain Gibson had taken control of the colossus cannon and that Lenora had stopped them.
“Thank Dr. Bishop for me, but Gibson shouldn’t have been able to take control of the weapon using a secure authentication box,” Colonel Cross replied.
“Normally you’d be right, but Gibson removed the hardwired connections that would have prevented it. It’s a real mess and will take hours to clean up, ma’am,” Noah said.
“No time for that. We need that weapon operational for as long as possible. We’ve got incoming ships headed right to our location,” Colonel Cross said.
“I’ll return to the Command Center at once, Colonel,” Noah replied.
“Negative. I need you to stay there and keep that weapon working. Is that understood?” Colonel Cross asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Noah said.
“Captain,” Sergeant Gray said, “where should we take them?”
Several loud pops from the sky drew their attention.
“Take them to the fortifications near the entrance. Then remove the shackles and give them a weapon,” Noah said.
“Sir?” Sergeant Gray asked.
“The Vemus are coming here and we have to defend ourselves. That means we put every able-bodied person who can shoot on those fortifications. Now go,” Noah ordered.
Sergeant Gray saluted Noah and took the Field Ops agents away. Lenora started to follow them.
“Where are you going?” Noah asked.
“I’m going to the fortifications. You said they need everyone who can shoot. Well, I can shoot as well as any soldier,” Lenora replied.
Noah pressed his lips together and tried to think of a protest he could make so she wouldn’t go, but he couldn’t. “Stay safe,” he said.
“You too,” Lenora said and ran.
Noah scrutinized the tangle of wires. The colossus cannon primed for another shot, and the charged particles in the air made the hair on Noah’s neck stand on end. He needed to see the status of the power converter, the console of which was down thanks to his good friend Raeburn Gibson. How much time could they save if they fitted the idiots of the world with shock collars to prevent their stupidity from affecting others?
Noah quickly got to work reconnecting the monitors for the power conversion systems. The weapon would still work without them, but he’d have no way of knowing if the entire weapon system would simply fail on the next shot.
Noah gathered his engineering support teams and stationed them near the power converter at critical systems. He needed to squeeze all the power he could from the old alien power station.
The colossus cannon fired another straight bolt of blue-white lightning surrounded by a blue nimbus. Noah looked up, knowing that the reason they’d put the cannon on such a high platform was to minimize radiation exposure.
Every time the colossus cannon hit its mark, it did devastating damage to the Vemus ships. The beam melted away the exoskeletal hull, wreaking havoc inside, but the Vemus troop carriers were entering the atmosphere almost on top of Sanctuary. Noah heard gauss rifles being fired and knew that some of the Vemus had made it to the ground.
Noah managed to keep the colossus cannon firing for an hour, then it failed. In the end, it wasn’t the power converter but the alien thermal core taps that had completely melted away due to the severe overload of the system. The heavy barrel of the colossus cannon sank down as the mechanized support structure lost power. He’d been so focused on converting the power for the colossus cannon that he hadn’t even thought of the effects the sustained power output would have on the old alien technology. Now that it had failed, it seemed painstakingly obvious and something he should have noticed. But he wondered if he could have done anything about it if he had known.
Noah ordered all his teams to the fortifications near the entrance of Sanctuary. There was nothing more they could do here. As he ran out of the heart of Sanctuary, he didn’t pass many colonists. Colonel Cross must have had anyone who couldn’t fight moved as far from the fighting as possible.
One of the first things Colonel Cross had the CDF soldiers do when she’d first arrived at Sanctuary was set up fortifications that could be quickly assembled if the Vemus were to discover their location. Noah hadn’t given it much thought when she’d done it, but as he reached Sanctuary’s entrance, he couldn’t have been more thankful that Colonel Cross had prepared them for battle.
Noah was quite familiar with the sounds most CDF-issued weapons made when they were used, but it was the sounds the Vemus made that instantly grated on his nerves. He’d seen the video recordings of the Vemus from combat suit cams, but they sounded different now. The ear-piercing whistles made him clench his teeth.
Noah raced for the nearest fortification and found Colonel Cross looking at drone feeds.
“Put me to work, Colonel,” Noah said.
Colonel Cross glanced at him and the people he’d brought with him. “We only have civilian hunting rifles left. Grab them and get up on that wall.”
Noah grabbed the CAR-74 semiautomatic hunting rifle that was a common weapon for people who worked remotely, as well as Field Operations. While he knew the CDF had more powerful weapons, there hadn’t been enough to circulate to everyone. He raced down the fortification wall and found Lenora wearing a CDF-issued helmet and firing her
own CAR-74.
Noah took up position next to her, peeked over the wall, and wished he hadn’t. There were thousands of Vemus fighters on the field. They fired their white stunner weapons that would completely disable a person if they were hit with it. Noah aimed his rifle toward the nearest Vemus soldier and fired a shot, taking him in the chest. The Vemus hardly slowed down. Noah fired off a few more rounds at it, hitting it on its large, rounded head. Gritting his teeth, he found another one and kept firing his weapon. He noticed that CDF soldiers were interspersed throughout the fortification and were firing incendiary ammunition at any Vemus that went down. Death by fire was the surest way to guarantee that the Vemus stayed down.
“What are you doing here? Don’t you have a cannon to keep working?” Lenora asked between firing her weapon.
“I missed you,” Noah said.
White bolts slammed into the fortification walls near them, and Noah jumped.
“You’re the only family I’ve got,” he said.
Lenora smiled and punched him in the arm. “Don’t get sentimental on me now.”
They continued fighting and the Vemus drew steadily closer. They kept coming over the nearby hills, and he had no idea how many of them there were. Runners had come by and dropped off ammunition blocks, but Noah was almost out again.
