“Over here! The rest of the wall is smooth, but that part isn’t. Looks like a vent...and large enough to get through,” I yelled to his ear. Magnus nodded, took a moment to think, and ran out, firing the gun he’d pilfered. The red beam blew a hole in the wall three feet across and we could see a dimly-lit passageway beyond.
“Let’s grab the Shield and head down the tube,” he said. “And hope it leads us near the center somewhere.”
We rushed back near the ship, grunted as we lifted the heavy device, and made for the hall as fast as we could. One of the Kraski fired at us from the entrance, creating a crater in the floor in front of us. He died right after, and we narrowly missed hitting the hole. Once back on balance, we entered the opening Magnus had blasted and kept moving.
“Maybe such an obvious escape wasn’t necessary,” he said.
“I think we’re committed now. They know we’re here. I just hope if this all goes well, that we can find our way back to Mary. You don’t have any bread crumbs, do you?” I asked.
Magnus slowed and shifted the Shield so he was only holding on with his right hand. With his left, he drew his knife. “No, I don’t have any bread, but I do have pants.” He lifted his leg and cut his right pant leg below the knee. I took the full weight of the device for a minute and was amazed that Magnus was able to walk with it alone. My knees buckled at the weight of the thing. He hurried, and soon he was dropping a small piece of cloth in the hall. “Just like Hansel and Gretel, hey, Dean? Let’s just hope there’s no witch at the end of this tunnel.” I almost laughed but couldn’t. Not yet.
We kept moving, and since we hadn’t shifted direction, we knew we must still be heading toward the interior. “How big do you think this ship is?”
Magnus’ face scrunched up. “I was never the mathematical type. We had that guy in the crew, though. His name was Otter. He could look at anything from any distance and know the size of it. To be honest, I think he may have had magical powers.”
“Why did you call him Otter?”
“He swam really well. What do you think?”
I didn’t reply and couldn’t tell if Magnus was just having fun with me or not. I was amazed at how calm he was, but then again, he had probably been through countless terrible situations in his line of work. What was the big deal? Just invading an alien mother ship with a device that would kill them all.
“I think I heard Teelon say there were about thirty hangars along the sidewall. The ships hover in them, and I would say that room was about eighty feet high. At minimum, this ship is twenty-four hundred feet. I would say closer to three thousand, accounting for the floors between each hangar, and the space above and below the top and bottom hangars. We’re looking at a mile tall. It seemed at least twice as long as it was high, so a couple miles wide. As for depth, I would just throw a guess at close to a mile as well. We only have to take this thing half a mile.” I had no idea as to the accuracy of my guess, but I knew we were close to that target.
The hall was about eight feet across. Unlike the floor on the ships and the hangar, it was a metal grate-like composition. There were dim white lights illuminating as we moved on, then turning off as we passed by. It reminded me of those fancy grocery stores we’d purchased last year with the occupancy-sensor freezer section. A routine task like grocery shopping seemed a lifetime ago at that moment, and I wondered if there was ever any going back to that life after all of this.
My back was killing me as we trudged this thing down the hall. After a while, we stopped and set it down. We stood back to back with it between our legs, and we held our newfound guns up in front of us. Alarms still blared from all directions, but the floor and walls muted the noise down here.
“What happens now? This ship is big, but there’s no way everyone from Earth is on here. Where are those massive vessels? Teelon didn’t seem to share much about what we do after this,” I said, nervously waiting for something bad to come down the hall.
“I’m not sure. Didn’t you mention Vanessa told you a story about the Kraski and her people? What did she say happened to them?”
“I couldn’t trust her; she was saying she was from the race abducted thousands of years ago. They kept five percent and killed the rest. How they achieved that, I don’t know. I have a feeling she was just retelling Teelon’s people’s story for sympathy.”
“If they were beamed out, for all we know, they took our people away, or to another planet,” he said.
He was right, but I didn’t think it was going to be that complicated. I just hoped we weren’t too late.
We stood like that until my arms got tired and my leg started to cramp up. I thought about Mary in the ship in the hangar and Carey sitting there with her, both of them probably sick with worry. I assumed the worst for Teelon and Natalia, out there alone. Teelon had said he would have allies here among his people, and this would double as their race’s first strike of liberation against their oppressors. Just how many were back at the Kraskis’ home world was anyone’s guess.
The machine’s constant hum slowed, and I panicked, turning to look at it. The lights on it were dimming, the noise getting softer and softer. We stared at it blankly, horrified it might be turning off and leaving us for dead in the middle of the enemy’s territory. It whirred on for a moment and then, like a flashlight running out of battery power, it stopped completely. The alarms ran on, and we could hear footsteps echoing from down the hall.
TWENTY-THREE
Magnus got to his knee and held his gun up, ready to blast anyone coming at us. I moved back a ways and aimed from my feet, hoping to catch another angle. My hands shook at the anticipation of having to shoot someone else, and visions of Ray’s dying body crept into my mind. You’re a good man. You were a good friend. I could still hear him gasping his final words. I blinked quickly to clear them and felt sweat drip down my forehead. When did it get so hot?
The occupancy lights were coming on now to match the footsteps coming closer. The louder the steps, the closer the lights were getting to us. My finger shook beside the trigger, ready to pull if I had to, but scared to do it.
“Dean, Magnus!” a monotone voice called down the hall. “Teelon sent us to help you.”
We lowered our guns and Magnus fell back, resting his back on the wall. Sweat was dripping off him too, and suddenly, I didn’t feel so foolish. We were in this together.
“Did we win? Are we good?” I said as they approached. They looked like the twins, no visible hair, and plain jump suits on.
A small, almost invisible smile crossed the alien’s face. “They’re all gone. We are finally liberated!” Dozens of them came down the hall and soon they were all cheering loudly. We even threw a couple whoops in with them until I remembered why we were really there.
“Where are our people?” I asked.
The cheering stopped quickly as the man speaking to us raised an arm. “Come with us. We will bring you to them. I am called Drendon, leader of the Deltra.”
We followed them back towards the hangar a way, but made a turn at some point before making it all the way back. He wouldn’t respond to any of my further prodding, only saying all would be clear soon. He praised our skills and tenacity at accomplishing something so miraculous. I was beaming as I thought about all I’d been through in the last week. I couldn’t wait to be reunited with everyone I loved. My mother was probably scared to death. I couldn’t wait to find James and see the look on his face when he found out I’d helped save them all. He would owe me beer and wings for life after all of this.
Drendon led us to a metal staircase and we followed behind, entering a spacious room. It was large and open, bright with soft white light, and computer consoles were everywhere. The bridge of this ship maybe, though I couldn’t see any viewscreen or windows. I was sure all of that was available through some sort of camera or sensor system.
“Where are they?” I asked, looking around. It would be hard to hide seven billion people.
Drendon went to a co
mputer screen on the wall and swiped his hands across in a few quick movements. The wall moved and a massive screen appeared. On it were dozens of cubes, maybe as many as a hundred.
“That’s them? How do we get them back?” I asked, suddenly feeling queasy.
The camera zoomed out, and the ships shrank to a tenth their size. In the near distance, the sun roared hot. “You don’t, human.”
“You son of a bitch! What have you done?” Magnus grabbed my shirt, pulling me back, and raised his gun. I looked around and saw dozens of their weapons pointing at us. We were helpless but continued to stand resolute in the open silent room.
“In a few hours, your world’s population will be disintegrated, and we will be the sole heirs to Earth. Redemption for the centuries of oppression under the Kraski. They were arrogant. I can’t believe it was this easy. All we had to do was convince them to come here, so many years after we planted the Kalentrek. We had been building it to protect ourselves from their imminent invasion but hadn’t finished in time.” Drendon’s thin lips curled up in a hideous smile.
“Why tell us this?” I asked, hoping to keep him talking.
“Because it doesn’t matter anymore. It’s done. We orchestrated the emancipation of our race and gained a planet in doing so. Hidden away, our savior finished the Kalentrek, with every intention of freeing us from them, only he couldn’t find us. He came upon this world, planted it, and sent us a message. Centuries later, we’re finally here. We played the long game but won in the end.”
“It doesn’t have to be like this. We can coexist. Just help me get our people back and let’s go to Earth together. We have so much we can learn from one another.” I pleaded my case.
He assessed me, head slightly turned to the side. “There is nothing you can teach us. Your race is deplorable, human.” He turned to an armed guard beside him. “Kill them.”
I tensed, knowing this was it. We had come so close, but not close enough. It was all an intricate game, and we had been played by both sides. As I closed my eyes, I heard someone drop beside me. Turning to the sound, I saw the guards dropping one by one. Magnus started to fire and we ran to the back of the room, ducking shots every step of the way.
“Over here!” someone yelled at us. It was Mary! She was firing volley after volley of red beams into their group, dropping them like flies. We rushed to her and Magnus turned, joining the firing frenzy. I climbed behind them and ran down the stairs and into the passageway that would lead us back to the dock.
“Let’s go!” I yelled, and soon Mary was running down the cramped cavity, I was in the middle and Magnus was bringing up the rear. We almost passed the Shield we’d left sitting in the hall and decided we might still need it. Adrenaline was the only reason Magnus and I could find the energy to haul the thing all the way back.
We made it unimpeded for a few minutes but could hear fire behind us. As we approached the bay we had landed in, one of them stepped into the entranceway and fired a shot at us. It grazed Mary’s leg, and she stumbled before firing a kill shot, dropping the alien in the doorway. We hopped over his body and ran at the ship. Pressing the buttons on our shirts, we lifted up in the green light and toward the ship’s belly, red beams shot around us, and I could swear one went right through me. In moments, we were back into the sterile ship, and Carey was jumping on me, trying to lick my hands. I gave him a quick pet as we rushed to the cockpit, where Mary fired up the ship.
“There are no bays open,” I said, turning my head to the sound of laser fire pulsing against the shields.
“Hang on to your socks, boys. We’re going out with a bang.”
The ship lifted in the bay, red alarm lights flashing in our view port. She paused over some controls, and with a confident keystroke, a massive pulse shot out of the front of the ship. We hovered there as the wall to the stations crumbled and space’s vacuum sucked everything around us out. Teelon’s people floated past us, dead.
“Let’s get the hell out of here. We have no idea how many of them are around,” Mary said.
Our sensors showed green dots emerging from the massive cube behind us.
“Shit! I see at least four. I have a feeling there weren’t a lot of the Deltras on that thing. I really wish I knew if Natalia was okay. We could use her help right about now, if Teelon didn’t harm her.” I stood behind the pilot’s seat trying to hide my adrenaline-riddled shaking hands.
“We do what we have to do, gents,” Mary said as our ship lurched to the side. She let out a yell and started firing at the Deltras. Their shields held for the first few blasts, but with her unpredictable pattern of shots, three of them exploded and burned out in quick order. Mary raced past a cluster of four ships, firing in all directions as she did. One of the ships went dark and floated there, while the others chased after her, firing shots at us. We took a few, but she also evaded many, red pulses continuing on past our front view port.
“Bogey coming up quickly from our left!” Magnus called, sitting down beside Mary. He took over the weapons as she spun through space, like a bat out of hell. Meat Loaf’s song raced through my mind as another ship was destroyed. I felt like I was holding my breath, and gasped when I saw more green lights appear on our screen.
“There’s more of them.” I knew Mary was good but didn’t see how we could possibly get out of this.
“We don’t have much of a choice. Their ships are the same, and I’ve no idea if this Kraski one is any faster than their smaller ships. There’s no running.” She gave a quick glance back at me. “We stand here, for all of humanity.”
I almost laughed at the cheesy line, but she was right. The Deltras that we had been fighting had eased off and limped back behind the fresh ships coming in. There were five in total, and I hoped that was it for their fleet. We were only one.
Mary eased the ship forward as they began approaching, red beams firing at us. The strangest thing happened. One of the ships in their cluster exploded and took two others down with it.
“What was that?” Magnus asked.
Mary had taken the controls back, saying she’d be more in sync with where she was going and would be more accurate. She ignored him and fired away, cutting down another.
We took another shot and red lights flared up inside our cockpit. That was a severe shot…our shields weren’t going to last. This was it for us.
Then we saw one of their own ships in the back firing away at them, two more exploding before they turned and fired back. With their rears open, Mary fired a volley of shots at them, flying over top. Between us and the ship that was helping us, we finished them off once and for all.
We cheered and I threw a fist pump into the air.
“Mary, you’re amazing!” I yelled to her through the cacophony of screeching sirens and celebration.
We looked at the ship left floating out there, and I felt my pulse race with uncertainty. Magnus hit the comm-speaker and we went quiet. He found the alarm silencer, and the room was eerily still for a moment. “Nat? Nat, tell me that’s you, babe,” he said into the speaker.
For the first time, she spoke, accent thick. “It’s me, Magnus. It’s me.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Tears flowed down the big man’s face openly, and he laughed as he sobbed. Mary put her arm around his shoulder and he leaned in.
“How…what happened?” I asked through the comm.
There was a pause, and her voice poured through at us, crisp Russian accent marking her long-hidden words. “Teelon has died. He’s succumbed to his wound from Earth. He didn’t betray his people, but I felt something was off. He staggered away when we arrived, lay on a bed, and avoided me. I had to speak to ask him questions. He seemed quite surprised by my voice. He was in pain, and I saw a small mask in his hand. He took a last look at me, said ‘I’m sorry,’ and inhaled a deep breath in the mask – his last breath.”
I stood there in silence, still trying to wrap my head around Natalia speaking. Magnus just nodded slowly.
“They tu
rned on us, Nat. The bastards all used us. The Kraski thought some alien race built the Shield to stop them from coming, but it was the Deltra the whole time. They both just wanted to kill us all. Are you okay?” Worry crept out of his voice in thick droves.
“Da, I’m okay, Magnus,” she said softly. “It was time anyway.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but Magnus just nodded again. I checked the scanner, and there were no green blips anywhere. I hoped they didn’t have another force out there waiting to trap and destroy us. “I think we should get out of here.”
Mary turned back to me and smiled. “Not until we do something to the bastards that did all of this.” She flew toward the huge Kraski vessel and fired at it without mercy. Natalia duplicated her pattern a few hundred yards beside us. They did a full loop and repeated it on the other sides of the vessel. Fire erupted all over the place, and by the time we sped off toward the sun, I knew their huge vessel wasn’t going to be in one piece for too long. So much for the invasion. I wondered if there were some Kraski ships still flying around on Earth, but knew I had to focus on the task at hand first.
“What are our options?” I asked.
“We sit here and do nothing. We go home, and the four of us restart the world’s population,” Mary paused and gave me a sly look, “or we fly to the sun and try to save our people.”
“I vote sun,” Magnus said quickly.
“Sun.”
Carey jumped up on my legs and let out a bark.
“Then it’s settled, gang.” Mary had the frequency open to the smaller ship, where Natalia was alone with a dead alien. “Let’s go get them back!”
The Survivors: Books 1-6 Page 17
