The Cloud

by Daniel Boshoff

  “Yeah,” Matthew replied in awe. “I don't know how it's possible, but yeah.”

  Before them lay a familiar image: a spacecraft circling a star – the OrbiCor logo.

  “Just like on your very special clothings!” Bob said. Then he hung his head and went on solemnly, “I am sorry to telling you, but I think your friends have been dead for some long times already.” He studied them sadly, clearly distressed at having to deliver this news.

  So sincere was his concern that even Kenji was moved. “That's okay buddy. We didn't really know these guys anyway.” He bent a little closer to the skeleton in the chair. “At least, I don't think so. This one kinda looks like my grandma, but she was never too keen on flying, so probably not her.”

  Matthew was the first to voice what Evelyn had been wondering. “How did this thing get here? I mean, we were the first to be sent through the rift. And Reyner said it was closing and nothing else would be able to get through.”

  “I think it's pretty obvious that this shuttle arrived here long before ours,” Evelyn pointed out. “But yes, how?”

  Clove had an answer. “OrbiCor must have developed a means of faster space flight. It's the only way this craft could have reached Janus before us.”

  “This thing is massive,” Matthew said. “Do you think they would send something like this without knowing exactly what was waiting for them?”

  “You're thinking there were others before this one?”

  “Who knows. At any rate we should take a look around, maybe we can get a better idea of … something.”

  “I agree.” Evelyn was extremely curious about this new discovery. She had been wondering for some time how it could be that there was human life – human life that spoke the English language – on a previously undiscovered planet on the other side of a dark matter rift light years from Earth. If OrbiCor had sent others ahead of them, then that would explain at least some of the mysteries they had encountered here. The Mind was still a conundrum she had no idea how to approach, and she doubted she would find any clues aboard this ship, but it couldn't hurt to look.

  “There are two passageways, should we split up?” Matthew suggested.

  “Yeah, let's be quick. We'll meet back here in a few minutes,” Evelyn said.

  Kenji shook his head at them in disgust. “Have none of you guys ever watched a horror movie? Do you know what happens when people split up? They die!”

  “Oh come on, what's going to kill us in here?”

  “Hmm, I dunno? Maybe all they same things that have been trying to kill us ever since we arrived.”

  “He kind of has a point ...” Matthew conceded. “Okay, so we'll take the right hand way first. Together.”

  “Thank you!”

  “After you,” Matthew smiled at him.

  “Oh, very funny.”

  “I'll go in front,” Evelyn pushed past them, tired of the delay, and entered the short passageway. It was dimly lit and filled with the smell of damp, but a large tear in the hull up ahead let in a few rays of light that illuminated dust motes gently swirling in the air. The entire structure seemed to shudder as she stepped carefully over the gap in the floor. It wasn't a long way to the ground, but who knew what creepy-crawlies were lurking down there ...

  “What are we looking for anyway?” Kenji whined somewhere at her back.

  “I don't know ...” Evelyn had reached the end of the passageway. She pushed the door there, and it creaked open slowly. Ahead of her lay a massive open chamber, filled with what at first appeared to be coffins. She stepped into the room, Matthew and Clove following close behind.

  “What are those things?” Matthew asked.

  Evelyn moved over to the closest one and brushed aside the dust that had settled upon the top. “There's a kind of window in it ...” she leaned in closer, peering inside. Barely visible in the poor light, the face of a monster stared back at her.

  “Eek!” She pulled away.

  “What is it?” Matthew moved to her side. He looked through the panel as she had done and saw the rotten corpse inside. Unable to dry out or properly decompose in the sealed chamber, the flesh had simply softened and discolored on the bones, taking on a lumpy, misshapen appearance. The eyes were sunken, the hair had fallen out, and the skin had mostly flaked off. “Oh my God.”

  “There's … a person inside.” Evelyn said to the others.

  Clove, who had moved to another of the coffin-like structures, looked back at them. “This one too. Oh jeez ...” She gagged, looking somewhat pale, and stepped away.

  “You know what these look like?” Matthew said. “They look like the pods we traveled in, the NAM pods.”

  “Guys, I don't like it here,” Kenji said. “Can we please go back outside now where it's sunny and not full of potential zombies?”

  “What do you think happened?” Evelyn asked. “I mean, this ship made it all the way here with all these people and then … crashed?”

  “A lot of complications can occur when re-entering atmosphere,” Matthew said.

  “Yes yes, let's talk about it outside,” Kanji persisted. “I'm getting out of here. This place gives me the creeps.” He hurried back out to the passageway.

  “Maybe your very clever friend is having good thinking. We should going to my very safe place soon.” Bob said.

  “Not you too ...” Evelyn rolled her eyes. She turned towards the passageway. “Fine, I guess there's nothing much else we're going to learn here– What was that?”

  “What was what?” Clove asked.

  “I heard it too,” Matthew said. “It sounded like … a howl.”

  “The hunters ...” Bob's face had turned white. “We must going. Now!” He dashed from the room. Evelyn and the others glanced at each other in confusion, then followed.

  Kenji turned from the bridge and saw them running towards him in panic. “This can't be good ...”

  “We've got to go,” Matthew shouted. “Move!”

  “That's what I've been saying this whole– Behind you!”

  Evelyn spun around just as Clove, who was taking up the rear, stepped over the tear in the passageway. Except she seemed to be levitating … Evelyn's eyes rose up Clove's body to find an arm reaching down through the gap in the ceiling, trying to lift her out by the collar of her suit. Through the gap, a familiar face looked blankly down at Evelyn.

  “Seren … Let her go!” Without thinking, Evelyn leaped up and grabbed onto Seren's arm, jerking sharply downwards. The AI tried to pull away but Evelyn had been too quick. Seren came tumbling down through the gap headfirst. Evelyn and Clove landed on the far side of the passageway, which listed violently at the impact.

  Evelyn scrambled up, turning, to find that Seren had gone straight down through the tear in the floor. Suddenly the passageway tilted forward, nearly throwing her from her feet as it came to a lurching halt several feet lower than it had been before. All that could be seen of Seren was one arm sticking up from the floor. She had been completely crushed.

  Evelyn stared at the arm, which twitched freakishly.

  “Coming!” Bob urged from up ahead. “The hunters they are getting closer.”

  Barely had the words escaped his mouth than Evelyn heard another howl, this time loud enough that even Clove heard it clearly.

  As they hurried from the downed ship out into the forest, which seemed to have gotten darker, Evelyn couldn't help but recall Seren's eyes as she had fallen into the pit below the ship. She could have sworn they were black, instead of the brilliant blue she remembered …

  “This way!” Bob led them off into the trees.

  As she ran after him, Evelyn glanced over her shoulder. She thought she saw an enormous shape moving through the trees some distance behind her, but couldn't be sure. She quickly returned her eyes forward, as Bob was taking them at a full sprint through the trees. The ground was sloping upwards, and it was all the rest of them could do to keep up with him.

  “Running!” he called. “Running for your lives!”<
br />
  Clove, who was panting as she ran beside Evelyn, turned and met her eyes. The terror on her face made Evelyn's stomach clench tight. “I … can't ...” Clove panted.

  “You must!” Evelyn urged.

  Clove gritted her teeth and kept going, but she was slowing. The trees began thinning now, and the ground seemed to be leveling out. Evelyn risked another glance back, and immediately wished she hadn't.

  Wolves. They were being chased by wolves. And they were massive, as tall at the shoulder as her elbow. The creatures appeared to be loping along quite leisurely about ten paces behind them. It seemed they could easily catch up any time they wanted to. At first Evelyn thought there were only three, but then movement in the trees to her right caught her attention. More of the creatures were flanking them. What were they waiting for?

  A few moments later she learned the answer. Up ahead, the treeline abruptly ended, leaving another forested plateau visible across a gap of about a hundred yards. Bob had been leading them to the edge of a cliff, and the wolves knew it.

  Evelyn skidded to a halt beside Matthew and peered over the edge. The drop was enough to take her breath away; she guessed it was close to forty feet. A dark river flowed lazily along the bottom of the gorge. It didn't look deep. She turned, holding her blaster in front of her. The wolves – she counted seven in all now – had begun forming a semicircle in front of them, a snarling wall of fur and fangs. The group had nowhere to go.

  It was then that Evelyn noticed the wolves' eyes. They were all completely black.

  “We must jumping!”Bob cried.

  “That's suicide,” Matthew replied, holding his blaster steadily aimed towards the wolves.

  “You cannot shooting them all,” Bob urged. “They are too quickly.”

  “The water's too shallow,” Kenji said. “There's no way we'll make that jump!”

  “We will making it. Trusting me!”

  The wolves were feet away now, and one of them rushed forward, making an almost playful swipe at Kenji, who was on one side. He scuttled behind Bob.

  “Okay, let's jump,” he said, and without another word hurled himself over the edge.

  Evelyn watched him fall. His descent seemed slow, and she was surprised that he didn't make a sound. He hit the water with a tremendous splash.

  “Oh God ...” Clove said.

  Evelyn turned back to the wolves. She didn't like the way they had gone down onto their haunches. They were preparing to pounce.

  “He made it!” Clove called suddenly. “I can see Kenji. He's alive.”

  “Guys …” Evelyn said under her breath. “On three. One … Two ...”

  The wolves rushed forward.

  “THREE!” Evelyn fired her blaster at the oncoming wolves, dropping it in the same second. Grabbing Clove in one hand and Matthew in the other she leaped from the cliff, pulling them with her.

  It felt like a fist was tugging at her insides, trying to force them out of her mouth. A strange sound filled her ears, and she realized it was Matthew screaming, “Fuuuuuuuuuu...!”

  Her lungs didn't have time to draw breath before she finally hit the water, and the force tore Matthew and Clove from her grasp. Her leg hit something hard, sending a painful jolt up her body. Evelyn didn't know which way was up in the turbulent water. Bubbles filled her vision. She could feel the cold creeping through the protective layer of her suit. She needed air. The re-atomizing filter in her helmet couldn't help her to breathe water.

  Finally she broke the surface and sucked in a huge gulp of oxygen. She cast about, paddling frantically. It took her a few seconds to realize that it was easy to stay afloat in the sealed suit, which, being filled with air, acted as a kind of flotation device.

  Where were the others?

  She spotted Clove bobbing a few feet away, and Matthew nearby. Kenji had already been swept downstream and she couldn't see him.

  “Where's Bob?” she called.

  “I don't know,” Matthew replied.

  “I didn't see him jump,” Clove added.

  Evelyn tried to look upwards, but the current was a lot stronger than it had looked from atop the cliff, and the place from where they had jumped was already out of sight. Suddenly she heard a splashing behind her, and spun in the water in time to see Bob surfacing. He shook his head, shedding water like a shaggy dog. There was a huge grin on his face. “You seeing? Jumping is good!”

  “We need to get out of the water,” Evelyn shouted back to him. The current seemed to be picking up even more speed, and her foot struck a rock on the bottom. Then a kind of white noise reached her from up ahead, and her heart sank. That could only mean one of two things: rapids or falls.

  “Coming this way!” Bob began paddling to the same bank from which they had jumped. Evelyn's instinct was to go the other way, get as far from the wolves as possible, but the opposite bank was twice as far at least, and the rapids were getting closer – for the noise was indeed from rapids. She could see them now, white heads of water, leaping over rocks and between boulders. She swam as hard as she could, and reached the bank before any of the others. She quickly pulled herself up onto the rocky shore and was dismayed to see that Clove was still several yards out, though Matthew and Bob were right behind her. Kenji was still nowhere in sight.

  “Come on Clove!” She urged. “Swim!” Clove was tiring quickly. She had already been out of breath when they jumped, and it was hard work paddling in the ungainly suits. Matthew and Bob reached the bank now, but Clove was still being swept downstream. Evelyn ran along the beach of pebbles, keeping up with her. She was still about seven yards out and didn't seem to be getting any closer to shore. Evelyn's eyes scanned ahead. They were on a bend in the river, and in a few more yards the beach of rocks that had collected on the elbow ended and the water abruptly dropped off into the rapids. She had to get Clove out now.

  Evelyn ran back into the water, leaping out as far as she could and then paddling to Clove.

  “I've got you, come on Clove. It's swim or die.”

  Clove's jaw was clenched tight with fear and adrenaline, but with Evelyn's help she began moving towards the shore. The water was choppy now, and little wavelets sluiced over their heads. Evelyn could see the shore. It was so close. Her feet were touching the bottom, but the force of the river was so strong it didn't help. She kept paddling. Now her feet held. They were going to make it.

  When she slammed into the underwater boulder she was totally unprepared. The arm holding Clove felt like it had been driven over by a truck, and Clove was ripped from her grasp. Unbalanced, her feet were swept out from beneath her and the current took her once again. Clove was already two yards away from her, and they were both hurtling for the rapids. Large boulders stuck up from the white froth ahead of them, and Evelyn knew that if they didn't get sucked under by the violent water they'd both be battered to death on the rocks. Their only chance now was to try and grab onto one of them, but with the powerful waters tugging at them that seemed impossible.

  “Clove!” She yelled at the top of her lungs. “Grab onto something!” She didn't know if Clove had heard her, but there was nothing more she could do. Now it was her own life she was fighting for.

  They went over the first of the rapids, and Evelyn lost sight of Clove as she was dunked under the water and spun around like a garment in a washing machine. Her shoulder hit a rock, but it was a glancing blow. Finally she resurfaced, her arms flailing around for something, anything. They found a purchase, and her fingers latched onto it. White foam washed over her helmet as the water tried to wrench her away, completely obscuring her vision so she had no idea what she had managed to grab. It felt like the trunk of a small tree, but it was softer.

  Then it moved.

  16

  Evelyn felt herself being lifted from the water, and she clung on to whatever was lifting her for dear life. As the foam ran off her visor she was finally able to see what it was. Except she had no idea what it was …

  The creature had the vague se
mblance of a lizard, but its skin was smooth and the same color as the wet boulder to which it clung with wide toes. Its head was flat and broad like that of a viper. It was at least three times her size.

  It turned a curious eye on the thing clinging to its foreleg. Then it grunted.

  Evelyn could not tell if the grunt was aggressive or not. Either way, she fought the urge to let go. If she did, she would be swept away into the rapids and near-certain death.

  The giant salamander apparently had plans for her, for it began to shake its leg, attempting to deposit her onto a boulder protruding from the water beside it. After several shakes Evelyn couldn't hold on any longer, and she dropped onto the rock like a cat, fearful of slipping back into the current. The salamander now squatted above her, and as she looked up it opened its mouth. The jaws were completely toothless. Nevertheless, Evelyn got the distinct impression that she was lunch, and faced with that or the rapids she decided that at least there was a chance, however small, that she could survive the rapids. She rolled off the boulder.

  The salamander was quicker. It snapped her up around the torso, hoisting her into the air. Evelyn screamed. It was a survival instinct, if nothing else; an attempt to frighten away the predator with noise. It didn't work.

  The salamander was sliding into the water now, and as she gathered her wits and looked around she realized it was swimming her to shore, pulling itself along the slippery boulders, apparently unmindful of the raging waters around them. She also noticed that not all of the boulders were actually boulders. She spotted at least four more of the salamander creatures, crouching with their heads beneath the water and just their backs visible, swaying ever so slightly in the current.

  “Evelyn! Evelyn!” She heard Matthew's voice above the roaring water. “We'll get you out of there!” He was shouting to her from the bank, but she couldn't see him. She could see something else: another of the salamanders had caught itself a meal several yards downstream. It too was making its way to shore with Clove clasped in its wide jaws. Now that she could see one of the creatures in full, she noticed that they had only short, stubby tails and long powerful, frog-like legs. Clove almost resembled a smaller version of the salamander, in the wet, gray protective suit.