by Exurb1a
William said softly, “Get over here, both of you. Slowly. Do not fire. More will come. Get over here.”
They began to shuffle over, taking little steps, eyes fixed on the creature. Then the creature ran, the paces gigantic, covering ground in no time.
“Run!” William yelled.
They ran, the creature not ten feet behind them, its mouth wide, its eyes wide, arms outstretched. They reached the hut and William threw the door closed when the two travellers were inside. He grabbed the heatcoil from Matthews and fired off three bursts through a crack in the door. The creature stepped backwards, gurgled, then fell dead.
William slumped against the wall.
“What the fuck was that?” Isadora yelled.
William said, “Just a moment please.”
The travellers dusted themselves off and retreated to opposite ends of the hut, eyeing each other fiercely. William said, “That was a distant descendant of yours, if you really must know.” Both Isadora and Matthews stared incredulously. “Not everyone was lucky enough to catch a ride on the temporal vehicles. Some either chose to stay behind, or had to stay behind.”
“What happened to them?”
“We're not sure. Radiation poisoning, cosmic ray mutation, maybe just savagery. Still, they’ll eat you alive if you’re too slow.”
There was another howl. A second followed.
“That's two more…” Matthews whispered.
William said factually, “And thanks to your nice hole in the fence, they’ll be getting in with no trouble.”
Matthews drooped his head.
William pulled up a trap door in the floor. “Luckily such an occasion was prepared for.” He beckoned for the two travellers to enter.
Isadora said, “Wait, what about my vehicle?”
“We’ll draw them away from the compound, then come back when they’re sleeping for the night, fix the vehicles up.” He beckoned again.
Matthews climbed in and Isadora reluctantly followed, finally bookended by William. He closed the hatch behind him and lit a torch. They clambered down a narrow tunnel that eventually widened and plateaued. Matthews grumbled, “Who are you anyway?”
William said, “I’m the caretaker. I’m told you all think there’s someone waiting in the middle of history to brief you on battle tactics, then send you on your way again. Well, it isn’t like that. Your vehicles don’t have enough power to see them through the whole journey without refueling. I’m here to operate the gas pump, if you like. Patch up repairs if they’re needed.”
“For Antica and Garic…” Isadora growled.
“The war doesn’t matter out here,” William said. “That was a long time ago now. I know for you it’s only been—”
“Seven hours,” Isadora said.
“—seven hours, but really, it’s done. Maybe they’re still fighting in the future, maybe they’re not. Here though, it’s irrelevant. If someone needs help, I’ll provide it.”
“But why in the same place?” Isadora said.
“How much do you know about your vehicles' mechanisms?” Isadora and Matthews said nothing. William composed the explanation in his head first, then delivered it. “Your vehicles are quite different, but they both use the same principle for travel. Gravity is distorted around the hull, much in the fashion of a singularity. This slows time down inside the craft, relatively. As a result, years flow by in seconds. Your respective governments both thought this was a clever strategy to outrun an apocalypse, just delay the war a few thousand years into the future.”
Isadora started, “That doesn’t explain why we both appeared in the same—”
“Because of geography,” William said. “Your vehicle moves through time, but not space. That means if you started the vehicle on a point of the planet that spins, in just a few seconds the planet will have moved under you, and if you stop too soon you’ll end up in the ocean, or in a wall or something. You have to begin the journey so you’ll end it on the same point. The only point that isn’t moving is the planet’s axis. We’re on one of the axes. There is another on the other side of the orb of course, but that happens to be in the ocean. So, during the course of your war this is where both governments launched their vehicles from at one time or another. It was occupied by both Antica and Garic at various intervals.”
“And which side were you on?” Matthews said.
“Neither. I’ve never travelled. I was born in this age.”
“Then it’s not all monsters?”
“A few of us are holding out against the dark.”
From behind them came a call like an injured dog. Matthews turned about with his heatcoil, but William pushed his hand down. “Don’t, it’ll only make it angrier. They have terrible eyes, thank God. Come on, the ladder isn’t far.” All three of them began to jog, snatching glances behind, but all was dark. The scream came again, closer, joined by another. Matthews whimpered a little.
“There!” William shouted. The ladder was ahead, rusted but whole. Isadora clambered up first.
“The hatch is locked,” she whispered.
“Pull then,” Matthews spat. “Garic scum, pull!”
She put her whole bodyweight into the effort, but the hatch handle wouldn’t budge.
“Jesus shat…” Matthews yelled and threw her the heatcoil. She vapourised the hatch and slid past the steaming remains. William went next, then Matthews. They emerged into a dark forest. William jogged ahead into the trees. They followed and ducked down behind a trunk.
Moments later two of the creatures appeared from the hatch, prowling slowly like lions. They circled, smelling the air. They licked the ground. They surveyed the wind. They left.
Matthews laid back in the grass and put his hands over his eyes. “Christ…”
“Almost got us killed, idiot,” Isadora spat.
“Me? Who gave you the fucking heatcoil?”
“And if you hadn’t blown a hole in the fence, would we have been running in the first place?”
Matthews was silent.
William said, “There’s no time for this. Matthews didn’t know what he was doing. You fired first, if I recall. Just stay calm, both of you. We’ll be out of this mess in no time and you can be on your way. There’s an abandoned radio tower nearby. We’ll get it going. The creatures are drawn to electromagnetic radiation. They’ll flock from all across the plain. We’ll sneak past and get back to the compound, fix up your vehicles. How much power do you have in your weapons?”
“I’m out,” Isadora said.
Matthews examined the heatcoil panel. “Maybe enough charge for a few more blasts. That’s it.”
William said, “Well, we’ll just have to be careful then.”
He led the way through the trees before they could protest. He collected water from a leaf in his hands and drank and they copied his example. Isadora said, “Where do the…non-monsters live?”
“In a city called Mu. The only one left on the planet.”
“What about the empire, are they on their way?”
William left a respectful pause then said, “The empire’s gone. For all we know Mu is all that’s left of the species anywhere in the galaxy. We don’t know what happened, before you ask. But the core worlds aren’t responding. No one’s responding.”
Matthews looked up at the sky. He said, “Empire never gave a shit about Antica anyway…”
“Antican propaganda,” Isadora muttered.
William said, “Neither is true. This’ll hurt to hear, but both of your governments were lying. The war was over delphium. They both wanted control of it. The records are clear. You were pawns.”
Matthews shouted, “Bullshit, Garic was trying to poison the water supply for years.”
William whispered, “Please would you keep your voices down? It’s true that poison was used, but on both sides. You were both as bad as each other. The war is over. It was based on resources. No one needs the resources now anyway. It doesn’t matter.”
An hour or so of s
ilence and they spotted a huge black mass in the distance that William confirmed as the radio tower.
They came to a flat, grassy plain and crouched instinctively. The moon was out now and they were all lit quite clearly, feeling like conspicuous and stupid crabs. The main door wasn’t locked. William led them in.
They crept about, feeling their way through the reception room. William guided them up a large winding staircase and they found themselves in what appeared to be a laboratory. There was a sealed chamber at the far end.
“What’s that?” Isadora said.
William said, “The transmitter is very powerful. It uses liquid oxygen for coolant. The coolant has to be pumped through the station while the transmitter is running. I’ll activate the main system, but someone has to go in and run the cooling mechanism.”
Isadora didn’t hesitate. “I’m technically trained. I’ll go.”
“All right. Matthews, please keep on the lookout for more creatures, would you?”
“Sure.”
Isadora entered the cooling chamber and the door sealed behind her. Her voice came over the speakers. “What’s going on?”
William said, “It’s okay, just a safety measure. In the unlikely event something goes wrong, the designers didn’t want the whole tower flooded with liquid oxygen. You’ll be fine. Just operate the controls.”
Matthews went out onto the balcony with his heatcoil and surveyed the night. “Anything?” William said.
“Nothing. What happens now?”
“I’ll tell the tower to send out a radio pulse, but on a delay. It should go off about ten minutes after we’re out of here.”
“Then back to the compound?”
“That’s right.”
Matthews tasted the night air. It was different here, now, in this time. Thinner.
“What’s Mu like?” Matthews said. “That city you mentioned.”
“Very civilised. We’ve kept some of the old knowledge alive. We live peacefully with each other. No more war.”
“Maybe for now…”
“No, not for now,” William said. “Sometimes a mistake is so present in the collective memory that it doesn’t need to be repeated.”
“Always need war sometimes…”
William ignored this, continued at the controls.
A deafening squawk rang out.
“What was that?” Matthews yelled.
“Great Hare…” William whispered.
“What?”
“The delay circuit, it isn’t working. That…was a huge burst. They must have heard it a hundred miles away. We have to leave. Now.”
“Let me out then,” Isadora yelled over the intercom.
William fumbled with the controls. “Just a moment…”
“Old man, I see them already,” Matthews said. “They’re on the horizon.”
“Yes yes…”
“Let me out, damnit.” Isadora was screaming now.
“There’s a problem with the lock. There’s a problem with everything. I’m trying.”
The squawk sounded again.
“Jesus, stop that!” Matthews yelled.
“I can’t,” William said. “It’s hundreds of years old. The thing is insane.”
A third squawk.
Matthews yelled, “They’re coming, I see them. Tens, maybe hundreds. They’re below. They’re coming.”
Isadora was pounding on the chamber door. “Hey, something’s flooding the room in here!”
“Just a moment,” William said. “That’s liquid oxygen. Try not to take any deep breaths. There’s a large green lever at the far right of the chamber. Turn it. It’ll shut off the power and stop the signal.”
A clambering from below.
“Oh Jesus…” Matthews whispered and raised his heatcoil.
A bloody head appeared at the staircase. Matthews shot off a blast. It missed, vapourising part of the wall. He fired again. The heatcoil was spent.
The thing darted at William. He put his hands up over his face and cowered. The two of them were locked in a mad dance.
“Let her out!” William yelled. “The chamber controls are right in front of you, Matthews.”
“Turn the power lever,” Matthews shouted. “Shut the signal off or I’m not letting you out, Garic scum.”
William tried to throw the creature off, but to no avail. It bit at his ear, bit at his face. He screamed.
Isadora yelled, “Open the door first. I’m not turning the lever until I can get out. You’ll leave me in here.”
“We won’t fucking leave you. Turn the damn lever or you’ll get us all killed.”
She sidled up to the window of the chamber. “Open the door.”
“Turn the damn lever.”
They stared at each other as William thrashed about, grappling with the monster. Another appeared at the staircase, walking leisurely this time, convinced of its dominance. Another joined. And another.
“Open the door,” Isadora barked. Behind her were clouds of mist, noxious fumes. She began to choke. “Open the damn door!”
“The lever, I told you.”
“Not until you open the door.”
But Isadora didn’t move. And Matthews only stood by the controls watching the creatures approach.
William went limp, mouth open, covered in blood, motionless. The first creature looked to Matthews hungrily.
“Garic scum,” Matthews yelled. “In your damn saferoom. Had no intention of helping, did you?”
“You’ve gotten us killed, you idiot!”
The creature launched itself at Matthews, fangs out.
Matthews screamed like a little boy, covering his face, on his knees.
But no claws ripped into him.
He opened an eye. The creature was standing over now, grinning. It wiped the dirt and blood from its face. It looked to its comrades. “Spineless,” it chuckled.
“Spineless,” the others agreed.
William got up, dusted himself off.
The liquid oxygen had stopped pouring into the chamber now and Isadora stared at the scene.
“What’s going on?” Matthews whispered.
William joined the monsters. They were removing their masks to reveal men and women beneath.
William’s face was neutral. “You are primitives,” he said. “You lack compassion, both of you. You lack feeling. You were willing to kill us all just to save helping a former enemy.”
“The war,” Matthews yelled.
“Oh, the war, the war. What of it? Centuries ago, your stupid war. We’ve inherited the mess you made. And thank you so much for that.”
“Was it a muon net?” Isadora said sadly from her chamber.
Excitedly William said, “Yes, just so! The girl is fast.”
“What…” Matthews said.
“There are plenty of ways to interrupt temporal motion. One is muon bombardment. We fill the plain with radiation and out your craft come tumbling. You know, since your expedition set off all those years ago, only ten or so craft have gotten past us.”
There was a silence, then Isadora said, “What happened to the rest, the other travellers?”
William looked about at the beasts that were not beasts. He said, “Many were reasonable. They put old grudges aside, joined the Mu population. Many were not reasonable, much as yourselves.”
Isadora murmured, “And what happened to them?”
William said, “You broke the world with your stupidity, you know that? You deserve everything you get.”
Matthews said, “If we’d known it was a game…”
Several of the folk burst out laughing, William too. “What’s good behaviour when it’s for a treat? We tried that a while ago, let everyone in. Plenty went primal soon enough, tried to resurrect the old grudges.”
Matthews said, “But you shot one of the...monsters.”
William produced an unfamiliar-looking heatcoil from his pocket, discharged it at a man nearby. The fur-suit absorbed the blast with ease. “Pleas
e,” William said. “We’ve moved past such nonsense.”
The liquid oxygen chamber opened. Isadora stepped out glumly.
Matthews was staring out the window. “There are lights…” he said. “On the horizon, dim ones. Is that Mu?”
“Yes.”
“How many people?”
“A few million.”
Matthews turned on Isadora. “You stupid wretch, look what you’ve done.”
William rolled his eyes. He motioned to his troops and they took the travellers' arms. Neither Isadora nor Matthews resisted.
Isadora said, “What will happen to us now?”
“We’ll send you on ahead.”
“What?”
“To your destination. Coordinates 293.B9, yes?”
Matthews nodded uncertainly. He said, “Why?”
“Because the only ones we let continue are the savages, the warrers. Best place for them. Go live in hell's sandbox then with all the other toddlers.”
Lullaby for the Empire
I think I'll leave this under a rock.
I don't mean that dramatically. Just seems safer.
The world you're standing on now is called Last Stop. I don't know if that was always its official name, but that's what we called it.
There were only four thousand of us living here. By my estimation that makes it the most populated planet in the galaxy.
Recreational activities generally included: drinking, shooting, and playing cards. Work hours were spent: drinking, shooting, and playing cards.
An old woman called Binx Mavis used to live on the second continent, plugged into some kind of reality machine. We never spoke much to her except on Empire Day. Everyone else lived on the first continent.
Excluding the old woman and the folk who lived in the city, six of us had a camp on the outskirts of a town we didn't know the name of, nor found an occasion to name. The freezers in the storage pits still ran fine so we had ourselves enough food for ten lifetimes each. I'm talking Altrithian steak, French toast, Cetian saltwrinkles, everything in perfect condition.
If something hurt or we drank a little too much then the machines at the hospital took care of whatever.
