by T. L Smith
I pulled off the harness and headed aft. With gravity totally shut down, it took two or three launches from one rung to the next, before I had a pattern down and moved quickly towards the armory. When I twisted around the last corner, the doors already stood open.
Marc glared at me. “You couldn’t do as I asked and stay up front?”
“Obey wasn’t in my vows.” I moved past him to my locker and pulled out my environmental suit. “I don’t know who these people are, but I got a bad feeling off them.” I let him sense my probe of the other ship, letting him know exactly what I felt. He shuddered. “We need to hurry. If we’re being boarded, we might lose atmosphere.”
I curled my body up and hooked my feet into the boots. A kick magnetized them to the flooring. Secured, I sealed the suit upwards. The layers of suit molded to my body. Marc was already loading weapons to his gear holster. He slapped a personal sidearm to the hook on my pant leg, laser cartridges, percussion grenades and finally a fully loaded laser rifle. It clicked firmly into the magnetic hook on my thigh.
I looked up at Marc. He still wished I’d done as he asked. I couldn’t help but smile. “You know that doesn’t work with me. If fighting is our only way out, one shot…”
“… can determine victory.” Marc finished my sentence as the ship again jerked violently.
I kissed him, then stepped out of his protection. “Move out.”
The armory guarded the cargo bays. We took defensive positions as the clanging of docking clamps sent a thundering echo through the ship. Mark jabbed at the control panel. “Bay two breached. Exterior cargo doors opened and multiple unknown life forms have entered.” He glanced at me. “At least they didn’t blast the hull.”
“Doesn’t mean they want us to breathe. Hoods up.” Heavy thuds against the armored doors sent Marc back to my defensive post, his weapon swung to a ready position. I pulled my rifle as the interior doors trembled and then started to give.
“What the fuck!” Thick fingers pried into the gap forming in the doors. Marc started cursing too, over the horrid screech as those fingers manually opened doors designed to withstand explosive pressures.
In the threshold stood a creature with arms outstretched, holding the doors ajar as automatic locks ground, and then clanged into place. No human, no MHR, could do that. It took every fiber in my being not to fire, or run.
The creature, while humanoid in shape, filled the cargo door, three meters high and wide, and wore full body armor. It appeared to be hard metal sculpted to the creature’s shape, but it had an odd shimmer to it. Like oil over the surface of water… or… an exoskeleton.
“What the fuck is that?” Marc hissed through the com in our helmets.
Ignoring my fear, I took one step forward, training my rifle on the creature’s chest. I felt Marc ready to tackle me back. I defied him. “I don’t know who… or what you are, but get off my ship. Get…Off… MY…SHIP!” I stepped forward with each word.
The creature tipped his head as I spoke and looked down at the red light in the center of his chest. He took two thundering steps forward. Behind him other creatures stomped into the corridor, armed soldiers, their weapons trained on me.
Shit! So much for bravado. Despite obvious doom, I fired. A laser beam burst from the tip of my weapon, crossing the shrinking space between me and the invaders. It spread out over the black armor of the leader.
Marc opened fire too. Blinding flashes flew by me, but our rifles were ineffective. I switched to my sidearm, backing away, ordering Marc to do the same. I felt his hand at my back, guiding my retreat. Then he jerked me around a corner. We ran for the next defensive position, fighting the magnetic pull of each boot step.
Behind us the heavy thump of the invaders’ boots never changed pace. “I don’t know who… what they are, but they sure are cocky. They haven’t even returned fire.” I pulled my rifle again, switching it to pulse blasts, feeling a surge of disapproval from Marc. “I don’t see a choice.” I pointed to the access ladder. “Drop in behind them. Aim for any weak spots.”
Mark moved with a stealth most never expected from MHR, getting inside the tubes before the intruders rounded the corner. I made sure they followed me past his ambush point.
At the next bulkhead I turned back and opened fire, again aiming at the leader. “Get off my ship. I’ll do what I have to, to defend her.” My eyes were on the creatures, but in my head I kept track of Marc. I didn’t want to hit him with pulses aimed at the aliens. The pulses only put a slight stagger in my target’s step. He countered by leaning into them. “Really?”
I aimed for his legs, maintaining fire as Marc drop down into the corridor. He fired his laser rifle at the back joints of their armor. One creature staggered to a knee as the pulses hit the back of his leg, but he regained his footing.
Marc continued to advance from the rear. “No effect, fall back!”
“To where! I need you up here. We got one weapon left.”
Marc holstered his rifle and dropped back a few steps, surveying the invaders as they continued to ignore him. “Once I’m clear, toss the grenade.”
I braced, fixing my eyes on the leader of this group. Though meters away, he seemed close enough to touch, a huge figure encased in an impenetrable suit. So far nothing got through and the grenades were my last deadly choice. Maybe more deadly to us. I held it in my hand, staring at the invader. Stop. Please. I silently screamed inside my head. I don’t want to do this.
The lead figure hesitated. His head tipped again.
Did he hear… understand my thoughts? I clutched the grenade, but opened my senses again. I didn’t expect to feel fear radiating from these creatures, but what I felt angered me. I sensed amusement, but the leader’s thoughts seemed more curious. His intent was to take us.
In that moment of stillness, Marc disengaged his boots and used the lack of gravity to throw himself away from a bulkhead, gliding his body tight along the corridor wall and past the invaders. As he reached me, I grasped one of his suit straps, jerking him around the corner of the bulkhead.
With Marc clear, I tossed percussion grenades at the intruders, pushing myself after Marc, hoping the bulkhead would reduce the percussion.
It didn’t. My whole body felt the shockwave of the explosion, then impact as I was thrown even harder down the corridor, bouncing violently off the walls.
Then hands grabbed me. Marc. Both arms wrapped tight around me. We rolled a few more times, then landed on a wall. I heard the click of magnetics before we ricocheted again. At least I thought I did. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. Marc’s arms were clamped around me. He didn’t move either.
As I managed a gasp, tasting oxygen and a bit of blood, I heard a heavy thump, then another. Then I saw them round the bulkhead, stop and look our way. The leader broke from the group, approaching us alone.
“Shit!” Marc’s voice whispered in my ear.
We were both still alive. “Don’t move.” I managed the words.
“Like either of us can.”
His arms tightened even more. The creature’s body armor creaked as he crouched down in front of us. It didn’t reach out to touch us, but it wasn’t amused anymore. Did I feel… concern? Despite Marc’s grip on me, I pushed against his arm. My ribs hurt, as well as other bones. I stared into the creature’s face. I could see nothing in the black faceplate, but my own reflection. Still, alien eyes stared back at me just as intensely.
This time I didn’t shout my question, except through my thoughts. “What…do you want?” I was fairly certain the alien didn’t speak Standard English, but it seemed a logical enough question to need no translation.
The huge creature turned his head slightly to look at Marc, then back at me. From deep in his chest a sound rumbled, growled, unintelligible, but I also heard what must have been his comm system, a loud whisper from his helmet.
He leaned closer. A thought from inside the armor rushed out and through me. An answer? I still didn’t understand. “What… d
o… you… want?”
The creature reached out a huge hand and one of those fingers, capable of prying open cargo-bay doors, prodded into my chest.
I pushed his hand away. “What do you want?” Now I did raise my voice.
Those fingers, much more gently this time, touched my chest again. “YOU!”
“Me?” It was such an odd thing to say, especially accompanied by the sensations rolling from this creature. It wasn’t said in malice. “Why me?”
“You are the race that binds. We are here, for you.”
Wait… my sleeping mind stumbled. The dreams often varied from the stories, slightly, never going further.
“What do you mean? You can’t be here for me. You don’t know me.”
The creature looked away from me, as if out beyond the hull of the ship. “The darkness returns.” The helmet turned back to me. “You return. A race that binds to extinguish the darkness. We are here.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“They’re here!” I was out of the bunk before the alarms blared.
“Red Alert! Unknown object in dangerous proximity. Red Alert!” The ship’s computer blasted the warning and lights flashed.
Carl tumbled out of the bunk. “What’s going on?”
“They’re here. The Elders.” I stumbled naked to my portal and Carl joined me. The stars shifted oddly, and then disappeared. Something large obstructed all view of space.
“Red Alert cancelled.” The lights stopped flashing.
Carl spun away from the portal, confused as he raised his voice at the computer. “Cancelled? We don’t know what that is, how can you cancel the Red Alert?”
“Sir. Huracid assures no danger is present. He requests Captain Ghiya in the dayroom.” The computer spoke calmly, unaware of the impact of this newest arrival.
“Damn, I knew this was going to happen too soon. I’m not ready.” I tried to dress, but I was shaking too hard to untangle my clothes.
“Calm down.” Carl spoke firmly, getting dressed a lot faster and more efficiently than I was managing. I could sense he was pulling on ‘Military Carl’. “You’ll get there when you’re ready. They came to see you, not the other way around.”
I took a breath and managed to get my boots on the right feet, finally. I combed my fingers quickly through my hair, then twisted it into a knot to hide the fact that we’d just had a mid-afternoon roll in the bunk.
Carl opened the storage cabinet next to the door and started to remove weapons, then thought twice and put them back. “Already been down this road.”
“Yeah, and it didn’t end pretty.”
He slammed the locker shut and waited for me.
“Computer, tell Huracid we’re on our way.” The computer chirped acknowledgement as I looked out the portal. What kind of ship could this be? I’d felt their arrival in my dream. Was that why the dream changed? “Jesus, this is it. The answers we want.”
“Hopefully.” Carl’s arms wrapped around my shoulders, his head next to mine. “Whatever the truth is, I’ll be here, with you.”
“I know.” I leaned my temple against his cheek, our thoughts and words flowed together, just as our fates had. “Ready or not.” With his support, we left my room.
Two of Huracid’s men met us in the corridor. I laughed. It wasn’t like I could run away now. Carl’s hand slipped up my back, calming me again. We reached the dayroom. Boots pounded from behind us and Everett ran into the room, along with several of his soldiers.
Huracid occupied the larger portal, the best vantage point to see what hovered beyond. He stepped aside for us all to see. Even with my face pressed to the portal, I couldn’t see the entire object. “Huracid, can we see this from your ship’s vantage point?”
Huracid whispered an order through his com and the portal shimmered from clear glass to a projected image broadcast from his ship. We all stood speechless. The new arrival loomed over us all, but it wasn’t a ship.
Where Huracid’s ship was sleek and beautiful, and our human ships as functional as we knew how to produce, this appeared to be some type of molecular cloud. It blocked out all light from the stars. It loomed, as if prepared to engulf us all. As we watched, it shimmered, a cloud of dancing color.
I turned to Huracid, but he spoke before I could. Awe poured out in his voice. “The legend is true. They use no ships.”
“What? No ships? What do you mean?”
“That is the Elders we waited for.”
“It’s a cloud. Where’s their ship, inside it?”
“They need no ships.”
I stared into the dancing lights, reaching out a tenuous thought, instantly feeling life. It was… alive.
“The cloud. That’s a life form?” Everett pushed up next to me, also mesmerized by the light show playing out for us.
“Yes, that is their form.” Huracid turned slowly to look at Carl. “Are these your people, the Elders?”
Carl shook his head, searching as deep as he could reach into his own mind, but not feeling denial from that thing hiding within. “I don’t remember being one of them, but…” Still no impulse to lie or run. Or to protect Kali. “I think it’s true.”
“They’ve come for me.” I turned to Huracid. “What am I supposed to do?”
“I am only a hunter, told what to seek. In our worlds they are…” Huracid looked back to the entity, still in a constant state of flux. “…in your society, godlike. They are old, powerful, never seen. The Collective has accepted their principles longer than your civilizations have existed.”
“Accepted? So, you do their bidding with no questions asked?” Carl tightened his arm around my waist.
Human history replayed in Carl’s mind, but it was Everett who spoke those thoughts out loud. “Like slaves? We have an unpleasant history with blindly obeying every edict passed down to us. First normal humans, then us. We were created to be soldiers, brainwashed into following orders. But no more blind obedience.” Everett took a step closer to me. “We won’t do that.”
“Are we like you once were? Only doing as ordered?” Huracid shook his head. “No. The Collective are many species who work together. All contribute freely in manners best suited to abilities.” Huracid’s attention refocused upon Carl. “Each member is valued and their loss mourned deeply. The Elders offer tenets by which to consider our actions. The Council determines the penalty for violat—"
Carl bristled at the direction of Huracid words. I thrust myself between them. “Enough!” Despite efforts, they remained antagonists, too easily provoked. “There will be no council and I expect you both to…” I had to catch an unexpected breath. “…to keep… keep your word."
The room shifted as a wave of pressure flowed over me. A crushing weight of a full G, though no one else seemed to feel the change. The edges of my vision lost focus, but the center tunneled into brilliant clarity. A jerk of my head made the whole image kaleidoscope. I pushed everyone away as something else gripped me.
“Kali, what’s wrong?” Carl tried to reach for me as I backed further away.
Everett blocked him. “Leave her be.”
“Do as he says. Stay away!” Even my voice changed, sounding muffled. Carl’s protest faded into the distance and I realized I stood completely inside the field of disruption. It surged around me, containing me.
In a few breaths ghostly lights formed around me, shapes within the haze. This was the Elders, their portal to board my ship. To get to me. My heart raced with anticipation. I could barely get out a whisper. “They’re here.”
Acknowledging their presence was an invitation and they rushed in upon me.
The pressure wave turned into a vise and these entities became a thousand hot electric wires piercing my flesh. Their energy pushed into every pore of my body. They burrowed through my muscles, invaded my blood stream. A new consciousness ripped through my veins.
Their voices echoed in my brain, needing no translations as they conversed on a cellular level. Suddenly EH telepathy became no more
complex than the murmurs of babies. Eons of information saturated my mind. They awakened memories, vividly and painfully. No longer just fractured dreams, but real memories were ruthlessly ripped from the deepest recesses of my mind. I died over and over, my soul released from one body only to be reborn in another.
These Elders took no heed to my agony. They needed me to remember the past, to understand the future. Only then could I bind all into one. I had to understand. They had to make me understand. I had to prepare. I gasped for air as they bludgeoned me with purpose. A terrifying word echoed through my head. It screamed of great grief, of pain and death.
Punitraq.
I screamed in pain more intense than any I’d ever felt in my life. “Stop!” As suddenly as they seized me, they drew back. Not a total release, but their endless assault eased. I collapsed to my knees.
The chill of the metal decking meant I had some of my senses back. Carl struggled to get to me, held back by Huracid. I could see him clearly, but differently. These strange new aliens swarmed, invisible to my companions, luminescent to me, like ghosts in the stories meant to frighten children. Except the one burning hot inside Carl’s body.
He was one of them. An Elder. Given to me ages ago as a protector, as a guide. He had served me well and brought me to this place. This time. Just as intended. As I saw him for what he was. So did the Elders, but he couldn’t see them. He fought Huracid’s grip, his only thought was to protect me. He fought for me, even as the Elders closed around him.
More appeared, but ignored where I knelt immobile. They swarmed Carl. I suddenly knew what the Elders intended. Pain struck Carl’s face and realization struck the creature within him. For the first time I could see it clearly, feel it as it tried to recede again, but it had no way to hide from them. They began to rip his life force from the shell he’d become accustomed to.
Carl’s body convulsed and collapsed. Confused, Huracid lowered Carl’s shaking body to the floor. From deep within me a fire of strength erupted, flowing out over my whole body. “No!” I threw off the control of those surrounding me and staggered to my feet.