by Dan Oakley
The place had needed a thorough clean after being neglected for the past ten years. But now the steel surfaces gleamed, and there was a faint antiseptic smell in the air.
Trella straightened up, satisfied. “I think I’ve got most of the toxin out.”
As soon as the saline stopped flowing over my cuts, the burning sensation started back up again.
“Still kinda hurts,” I said.
Kira brought over the box containing the runes. We’d used special crystal runes in our communication attempts, but the medical runes looked like plain pebbles engraved with the runes. Trella assured me they’d been infused with magic.
I looked at them doubtfully. They didn’t look as impressive as the crystals.
This was the first time we’d tried to use them.
“Are you sure we couldn’t use the crystals?” I asked as Trella waved me over to a gurney. The crystals worked well for me before, and I wasn’t sure the pebbles would have the same impressive effect.
“These will work fine. It’s the magic that counts, not what they look like, Tomas.”
I reclined on the gurney and closed my eyes. Right now, it hurt so bad I didn’t care if Trella used baby elephants, just as long as the pain went away.
Trella got to work. A calming sensation passed over me, and soon the pain lessened considerably. By the time she’d finished, I only had a little stiffness in my side.
I opened my eyes and looked down at her handiwork. There were three pink lines where the deep scratches had been.
“Impressive,” I said. “When are you going to teach me that?”
“Healing with the runes is one of the simplest things a mage can learn,” Trella said. “You told me about the baby you helped save with Maureena…”
I’d forgotten I’d told Trella about Nathanium and my role in healing him. It was more luck than judgement, though.
Trella was easy to take to, and we’d been living in such close proximity for the past three months it was inevitable we’d start talking about our backgrounds.
“Yes, but I wasn’t sure what I was doing with Nathanium, and I don’t think I could repeat it.”
“It’s simply a matter of using the runes as a way to channel energy. The complicated part is making the runes in the first place. They are able to store a small amount of residual energy in a specific configuration. Minerals are the easiest things to work with. That’s why runes are often carved on rocks or crystals.”
“How are you feeling now?” Kira asked.
“Much better.” I shifted my bodyweight tentatively, then sat up. “I think it’s time we found out how that lizard made its way past our security fence.”
“I agree,” Trella said. “It’s perplexing. We’ve seen the creatures throw things at it before, but they’ve never been successful in getting past the fence. I think we should check the camera footage.”
“Say the lizard somehow managed to scale the fence without triggering an alert…?” Kira said, tapping her finger on the counter. “Why didn’t the security system detect movement out there? We have two alarms that should have been triggered. How did it bypass both of them?”
“Well, the movement alarm is easy enough to explain,” I said. “When I go out there to patrol the perimeter, I turn that one off because otherwise it would be constantly picking up my movements and continually activated. The fence is always armed while I’m out there, though, unless it’s the section I’m working on. If the fence was tampered with, the alarm should have sounded”
“The only thing that can give us answers is the camera footage,” Trella said decisively. “It’s a boring job, but we’re going to have to go through all the recorded footage from the past three hours.”
Kira sighed. “I swear, if we find out those things can climb trees and that’s how it got over the fence, then I’m never going outside again.”
She smiled to show she was sort of joking, but Kira’s sense of self-preservation was strong. She was not afraid to run and hide if the situation necessitated it. It was the reason she managed to stay alive alone on this planet for so long.
After I got changed, the three of us sat in front of individual consoles, running through the video footage. We watched it on 6x speed which helped a little, but it was still monotonous. I was starting to think we’d never get an answer as I came to the end of the feed from camera six when Kira suddenly exclaimed, “Hang on a minute…what’s that?”
She pointed to her screen.
Trella looked over her shoulder, and I got up from my stool to take a look.
Kira had paused the screen and there was no sign of a lizard, but she was pointing at what looked to be a mound of earth.
Peering closer, I shook my head in disbelief as Kira zoomed in.
“Flaming fires,” she said. “They are tunnelling under the fence. That’s how they got in.”
I nodded slowly. “Clever brutes.”
The three of us stood motionless, staring at Kira’s monitor. She pressed play. On the screen, clumps of soil flew upwards and the pile of dirt grew larger, until finally we saw the wedge-shaped head of a lizard break through the crusted earth.
Kira took a step back. “That’s not good. But I don’t understand. When animals tunnel, don’t they push the earth behind them?”
“Usually,” Trella said. “But in this case, the lizard has just pushed a small amount of the dirt above ground. I bet the bulk of the soil is on the other side of the fence.”
All three of us looked closely at the screen, but the vegetation behind the fence was too thick to see where the tunnel started.
“Well,” I said. “I guess our first step is to fill in the tunnel. We don’t want any more lizards using it.”
“But even if we fill in this tunnel, what’s to stop them making another one?” Kira asked, chewing her thumbnail.
“Nothing,” I said, deciding it was best to be honest. “But if we keep on top of it, filling them in as soon as they are created, maybe they’ll realise it’s fruitless to keep tunnelling. Plus, there are only certain regions around the perimeter where there is bare earth like this. Most of the area is covered with concrete.”
Kira shivered. “What about underneath the complex building itself? That’s concrete too, right. They can’t come in through the foundations?”
“No, we’re safe in here,” Trella said. “Let’s turn the alert system back on. That will tell us if there is any further movement outside.”
“Already done. I did it as soon as Kira and I entered the building,” I said. “Now, we should fill in that hole as soon as possible. There is some broken up concrete near section Seven. If we put some of the larger pieces of rubble in the hole, that should help fill it fast, then we can fill the rest up with earth.”
“That will do for now, but I have an even better idea,” Trella said. “As long as I can get hold of the right materials, I should be able to cover the remaining bare earth and stop the tunnels for good.”
Kira smiled. “Great idea.”
“Maybe one of us should stay inside monitoring the cameras at all times. That way, the creatures won’t be able to creep up on us.” I raised an eyebrow as I looked at Kira. “Do you want to handle that job?”
“Sure,” she said and began to arrange the touchscreens, so she could view every camera feed at once.
I’d walked over to the sink to splash some cold water on my face when there was a piercing, continuous beep.
I wiped my face and hurried back to the console. “Another lizard?”
Kira stared intently at the touchscreen. “I’m afraid so.”
Trella stood up and stretched. “I’ll take this one.”
Chapter 3
I grabbed Kira’s plasma weapon and headed for the door.
“Wait!” Kira swivelled around on her stool. “There’s no need to go outside. We could go up to the roof and shoot the creature from there. The plasma weapons will still be in range.”
I paused and looked at Trella.
It wasn’t a bad idea, and after my experience just a few moments ago, I had to admit lizard target practice from the roof sounded more appealing than going back out there.
But this time would be different. Trella would be with me, and her powerful magic would quickly make mincemeat of the lizard.
Trella gave Kira a sympathetic smile. “We’ll be fine.”
Kira ran a hand through her spiky hair in exasperation. “Sure, you probably will be fine, but why take the risk.” She turned to me. “Tomas, surely you can see it makes more sense to shoot them from the safety of the roof?”
“It’s a good idea, but we’re going to have to go outside at some point, Kira. We need to fill in the tunnel. We can’t do that unless we go out there.”
Kira’s face fell.
“We’ll be back as soon as we can,” I promised. “It’s going to be okay.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything. Considering she’d been living alone for ten years with no human interaction, other than the recorded TV shows she watched, Kira had adjusted well over the past few months. Occasionally, she would take herself off somewhere to decompress. After years of isolation, she found constantly being around people tiring. But she also had a touch of separation anxiety. She didn’t want us to leave her.
I had no plans to leave Kira. Even if by some miracle we got off this planet, I would make sure she left with us. I had a feeling it wouldn’t be easy to persuade her to leave, but I’d deal with that problem if it ever came up.
“You know,” Trella said. “Kira’s idea of shooting from the roof is a good one. I think we can all agree my aim is much better than Tomas’s.”
“It couldn’t be much worse,” Kira said, smiling to show she was teasing. “Tomas missed the lizard by miles.”
“I didn’t miss! I hit its tail.”
Kira smirked. “Yes, but that wasn’t what you were aiming for, was it?”
“No,” I conceded. “I was aiming for its belly. But it wasn’t my fault. It moved.”
“That’s the thing about moving targets Tomas, they don’t tend to stand still and wait for you to attack,” Trella said.
“Right, well, you can show me how it’s done. Why don’t you use your magic to dispatch the lizard from the roof?”
Trella pondered that for a moment and then shook her head. “The further I am from the target, the harder it is to direct the magic accurately. It’s much easier when I’m closer.”
“Outside it is then,” I said. “Watch our backs, Kira.”
“Always,” Kira said quietly, so quietly I almost missed it.
I followed Trella out of the medical room, leaving Kira to follow our progress on the touchscreens. Trella strode confidently towards the rear access door as I adjusted my earpiece.
“Kira can you hear me? Can you see which direction the lizard is heading?”
“Yes, and yes. It’s near section six at the moment and is heading for section five.”
“Thanks. We’re heading out of the rear access door now.”
After pressing the quick release button, Trella shoved the door open.
As soon as I stepped outside I was surrounded by the hot, sticky air. My limbs felt heavier as soon as I started to move. Over the past few months, we’d acclimatised to the lower oxygen, but I still didn’t find the environment pleasant.
“The lizard is at section 6, heading towards section 5,” I told Trella.
She looked at me and nodded confidently. “Well, it won’t be moving for long. I can assure you of that.”
“That’s music to my ears.”
Stealthily, we made our way toward section 6 but stayed close to the building. It wasn’t long before we spotted the creature. It wasn’t as large as the one that had attacked me earlier, but it’s still made my skin prickle with unease.
Trella looked at me. “Do you want to test your magic on this one?”
“Not really,” I said, eyeing the beast warily. “I think we should get rid of it as soon as possible. For all we know there’s a gang of lizards on the other side of the perimeter lining up to come through the tunnel.”
Trella’s face tightened with anxiety, but her expression was quickly replaced by one of confidence. Trella didn’t show her insecurity easily.
“All right, watch and learn, mage,” she said, raising her arms and generating two glowing, red balls of light in the palms of her hands. They seemed to form instantaneously.
The lizard, who’d been snuffling around in the dirt, hadn’t noticed us because we were downwind, but the bright light attracted its attention. It let out a low hiss and the claws on its huge scaly feet scratched against the ground.
It opened its mouth wide, and I was expecting it to let out a tremendous screech when suddenly Trella shot both energy bolts straight at the lizard.
They entered the lizard’s open mouth disappearing into the blackness. For a moment, the lizard did nothing. Then it let out a strange gurgling noise and clamped its jaws shut.
It began to shake.
Oh no. I knew what was coming.
I held up my arms to protect my face just in time as the lizard exploded. Chunks of lizard flesh flew everywhere, splattering my clean uniform and covering the floor around me.
“Seriously?” I said, brushing the largest fragments off my uniform. “Did you have to make it explode? A direct hit to the belly would have been fine.”
“At least I got the job done,” Trella said, wiping her hands together and pulling a face at the bits of lizard carcass dotted around us.
“Now we have to clean it up.” I groaned.
Trella tilted her head to one side. “I have to admit, I may have slightly miscalculated the range of the lizard flesh projectiles.”
“Slightly? I’m covered in the stuff!”
She picked what looked to be a piece of lizard skin out of her hair with a grimace. “All right, so it wasn’t my finest takedown. At least I didn’t miss.”
“Fair point.”
I looked around and saw there were no other creatures in the immediate vicinity. I pressed the green button to communicate with Kira.
“One lizard dispatched. Can you see any more?”
“No, there’s nothing on any of the other feeds. I’m keeping a close eye on the tunnel exit, but nothing so far.”
“Good news. We’ll head over there now and try to fill in the hole.”
When we arrived at the tunnel, we paused. The hole was larger than it looked on the screen, and all around the gaping exit were claw markings in the dark earth. Reluctantly, I got down on my hands and knees to peer inside. I couldn’t see anything. A few pebbles were dotted around the entrance, but beyond that, it was just blackness. I moved closer, trying to listen, straining my ears for sounds of scuffling or scratching to indicate another lizard was on the way. Holding my breath, I stayed still, expecting to hear claws tearing through the mud, but it was silent.
“Nothing there as far as I can tell,” I said, straightening up and getting to my feet.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead. My whole body was already dripping, even though the sycrilline fabric was supposed to wick moisture away from my skin. It was high-performance fabric, the like of which I had never seen on Terrano, but it didn’t stand a chance against the climate on planet Tor.
Trella stood beside me with her hands on her hips. “That’s good news. We’d better get to work. Let’s fill it with earth and broken up concrete for now, and we can make a more permanent seal once we get the raw materials together.”
“Even I should be able to use my magic for that,” I said with a rueful grin. I didn’t seem to have much trouble moving inanimate objects. They didn’t move and break my focus.
In no time at all, I had three large, crumbling concrete blocks stuffed in the hole. Then I pulled all the freshly dug earth into one pile and dumped it on top of the concrete. I smiled. Not bad for a rookie mage, even if I did say so myself.
Trella held her hands over the freshly filled tunnel and
used her powers to compact the surface.
“That should keep them out for a while,” she said with a grin. “And we didn’t even have to get our hands dirty.”
“Maybe not our hands,” I said. “But the rest of me is pretty dirty.” I looked down at my blood-splattered uniform.
Trella inspected the mess. “Let’s deal with the lizard remains then head back for a shower.”
I handled the large body parts with ease, but the smaller pieces were harder. I didn’t think I’d ever get them all. In the end, Trella took pity on me and swooped them up, making them hover in the air, while instructing me to scoop out a large hole to bury the remains. That I could do. A short time later the ground was free of lizard parts.
As we turned and started to walk back towards the building complex, a sharp beep sounded on our wrist devices.
We both looked at the alarm at the same time.
It was a breach.
“It says alarm A27,” I said turning to Trella. “I can’t remember which one that is.”
Trella was too focused on her wrist device to reply, tapping it frantically.
I stopped walking and turned to her. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Trella looked up at me, her eyes wide. “Alarm A27.”
“Yes, what does it mean? You’re starting to worry me. Do we need to get back to Kira? Is she in danger?”
Trella bit her lower lip. “It’s nothing like that. A27 is our communication scanner. It means there’s a ship in communication range.”
Chapter 4
The first thing I did was call Kira over the comms and give her the good news. My excited babbling about the ship in communication range was greeted by an ominous silence.
“Kira? Did you hear what I said? There’s a ship in range.”
Again, silence.
I jabbed the green button on the earpiece in case it had become jammed. “Kira, can you initiate communication with the ship? We’re on our way back but we can’t afford to miss this opportunity. It could be years before we get another chance.”
