Velocity Rising

by Angie Arland

  Once the nausea subsided, Tayla caught sight of her reflection in the tank’s glass. She still wore the ripped jeans and torn shirt stained with blood. Claire’s blood. “I don’t know when they’ll return, but we’ll need to arm ourselves. I don’t suppose you have a weapon?” Tayla held up the scalpel. “I doubt this will make much of an impact. The soldiers all carry weapons.”

  Kella shook her head. “Their weapons won’t work for us. Fleet have tried cracking the code, even using Terudithan DNA but so far nothing has worked.”

  “We should stay here then.” Tayla frowned. “It’s too risky and there are so many of them.” She shuddered recalling the cavern filled with aliens.

  “Stay here?” Kella raised her brows. “Surely you don’t mean that.”

  Tayla looked back at the tank and shivered. “I-I don’t know. Last time I walked through a door, my sister was killed right in front of me.” Tears slid from her eyes.

  “I’m sure as hell not giving up that easy. Besides, I have a holo,” Kella pushed up her uniform sleeve to reveal a wide cuff bracelet. “It’s not a weapon but I’m kind of wishing it was right now.” She frowned, tapping at the device. “I’ve been trying to contact my ship, but I’m not sure they’re still in range.” Kella stepped off the short deck area housing the tanks. “We’ll worry about getting off the planet later, right now, I have an idea.” She proceeded to the door and turned back waiting for Tayla.

  Walking on stiff legs, Tayla joined her and swiped the scalpel over the mid-section of the door. Nothing happened.

  “Yeah, I doubt that is going to work, let me scan for a control panel.” Kella held up her holo device, whatever that was, and tapped in a sequence of commands.

  Tayla’s eyes widened as a beam of green light swept in an arc over the wall.

  “Gotcha!” Kella paused the scan and pushed an invisible panel at the side of the door. The cover popped out to reveal a set of transparent wires, each one a different glowing color. “Oh…I didn’t expect such an advanced system.”

  “It is?”

  “They’re using a microfluidic transduction system. The good news is, I can hack it easy enough, now hand me the scalpel.”

  Tayla hesitated, still unsure of her true intentions.

  “Stop wasting time! I want to get out of here just as much as you do.”

  Tayla, against her better judgement, relaxed her shoulders and handed over the scalpel, deciding she had nothing left to lose.

  Kella scowled and muttered under her breath as she severed the strands of fine cables. She jumped back as sparks flew and fluid spewed out of the panel, onto the floor.

  The door slid open. Kella grabbed Tayla’s arm, pulling her to the side and out of view.

  Tayla winced at the unexpected contact.

  “There could be guards stationed at the door. Better to be safe than sorry.” Kella whispered through gritted teeth, and with scalpel extended, poked her head around the corner. “All clear.”

  Tayla glanced back at the tank and couldn’t help but feel vulnerable now she was free of its protective confines.

  Kella looked at her with raised brows. “You coming?”

  “Y-yes.” Tayla took a tentative step through the door and found herself in a long corridor, similar to the one on the ship. Over bright lights shone from the ceiling forcing her to squint.

  Kella took off at a jog and déjà vu hit Tayla like a sledgehammer as she tried to keep up.

  An alarm blared overhead, and the corridor lighting changed to red.

  “Damn! They’re onto us!” Kella sped up.

  Tayla slowed, out of breath. “I can’t keep up.” Her legs were weak and trembling.

  “You have to.” Kella returned and grabbed her arm, pulling her along. “There’s a door at the end of the corridor, I bet that leads outside.”

  A half dozen armed Terudithan soldiers emerged from the door at end of the corridor.

  “Shit!” Kella steered Tayla back around but four more armed soldiers were coming at them from the opposite direction.

  “There’s no way out!” Tayla froze and her chest restricted as panic welled up.

  “They aren’t shooting us at least!” Kella turned to the nearest door; it opened on its own. She pushed Tayla backwards through the door. “I’m going to lock the mechanism on this side so they can’t follow. It should buy us some more time.”

  Tayla looked on, stunned as Kella interacted with the holo on her wrist. “Almost!”

  The aliens converged from both sides and launched themselves at Kella.

  Tayla reached out and grabbed her arm in both hands and pulled but the captain was dragged back by the hoard. Their arms reached in to grab Tayla, but she stepped to the side, evading their onslaught. Kella screamed in terror as the door slid shut, locking the door between them.

  “No!” Tayla yelled and thumped on the door with her fist.

  She took a step back, and looked down at the holo in her hand, dumbfounded. It must have slid from the Kella’s wrist. Slipping it onto her own wrist she pressed the mirror-like surface, but the device didn’t respond. If she could open the door and…and what? She asked herself. There were too many of the aliens and what could she do? Nothing!

  To her left, a row of Terudithan pistol-type weapons hung on a low rack. She picked one up, shoved it down the back of her jeans then reached for another. It was a longshot, but it was all she had. If Kella was right and they were DNA coded for the aliens, then she didn’t stand a chance in hell, but she had to try.

  Gripping the pistol-sized weapon in her hand, she backed up a few feet and fired at the side of the door, attempting to trigger the controls into opening the door. A blue streak streamed from the muzzle and a deafening crack erupted, leaving a scorch mark on the wall. The door remained closed. The weapon worked? How is that possible?

  A salty rotten seaweed smell hung in the air and a slurping noise behind her forced her to spin around. A dozen, maybe more, gray aliens in black military uniforms sat at long tables, a spread of various aquatic animals before them. Tayla gagged at the smell of raw rotten seafood and insects crawled over the piles of tentacles and tendrils. A couple of aliens had their hands mid-air, mouths open holding what looked like squid. They were all looking right at her.

  Tayla’s heart gave a start as she backed into the door. Holding the weapon up as a warning she said, “Stay back, or I’ll shoot.”

  A hive of activity erupted. Two aliens to her right launched themselves from their chairs and charged for the weapons rack, but Tayla fired, the blazing laser sliced through their slim forms. Violet-pink blood erupted, and they fell to the floor. Another three ducked and wove their way around the tables to her position. She grabbed the second weapon from the back of her jeans and fired both pistols, killing them where they stood, mid stride.

  Tayla eyed the panoramic window beyond the tables and formulated a quick plan to escape. From what Kella said of their arrival, the air was breathable outside.

  Using the charging aliens to her advantage, the first two made it to the weapons rack and turned to fire. Tayla dodged to the side to avoid contact, allowing the laser bursts to fly past, killing two of their own. The alien shrieks and squeals echoed in the cube shaped room, piercing her ears. Dodging their outstretched arms, she wove her way toward the window, firing both weapons at once.

  Weapons fire whizzed past her ear and hit the huge window, sending shards of glass flying in all directions. Tayla returned the favor and fired, the soldier clutched its chest, blood spilling from its mouth.

  She vaulted onto a table top and spun, shooting the last five vermin that were attempting to escape through the window. She paused, the panorama outside taking her breath away. A blue ribbon of water snaked its way through a pebbled beach and out on the horizon a range of snow tipped mountains beckoned to be climbed.

  Easing herself to the floor, she looked at the weapons in her hands in disbelief, and found her body covered in the alien’s violet-pink blood. Glan
cing at the door, then at the holo on her wrist, she decided there was no possible way to save the Captain on her own. If Kella was right and her crew had abandoned her maybe she could find a village or some kind of help and return for the woman, if she lived that long.

  No time to stop now, she’d analyze later. Clearing a path through the bodies and broken glass she pulled a chair over to the window ledge and, at last, without a backward glance, climbed toward freedom.

  The End.

  About the Author

  Angie’s passion for science fiction was piqued early on when she saw the first Star Wars movie at the drive-in theater. Although she admired Princess Leia, her childhood dream was to fly an X-wing fighter.

  Angie grew up in rural Tasmania, with the wild outdoors, a budding imagination, and four siblings for company.

  For many years her family camped and fished their way around Australia and that’s when she fell in love with the night sky and the ever-changing landscapes. She felt compelled to capture every moment so she turned to photography and later astronomy.

  Angie currently lives an interesting and challenging existence in Australia with two kids and a dog.

  Follow Angie on social media or join her reader’s group via her facebook author page.

  Explore Angie’s world of Velocity and receive a free short story, Velocity Resist, when you sign up for her newsletter HERE.

  Also By Angie Arland

  Velocity Resonance Series

  Short Story: Velocity Resist (free)

  Book One: Velocity Rising

  Book Two: Velocity Recon (TBA)

  Book Three: Velocity Recall (TBA)

  Book Four: Velocity Resurrection (TBA)

  Book Five: Velocity Revenant (TBA)