Enigma: A Space Opera: Book Six of The Shadow Order

by Michael Robertson

  Seb squinted and leaned close to the windscreen too, but he couldn’t see either. A wall of white, his stomach flipped every few seconds in anticipation of a collision with some unseen object. Like in the sub, he looked over Sparks’ shoulder at the three-dimensional map she’d pulled up of the landscape in front of them. It showed three pulsing green dots close by. Beyond that, it showed a cluster of red dots a little farther along.

  While pointing at the green dots, Sparks said, “They’re really close.” A double tap against her screen helped her zoom in on the image. It showed what looked to be the cave they were trapped in. On the way over, Seb had spoken to SA, and she’d told him everything she knew from her perspective. They’d been trapped by an avalanche and couldn’t get out.

  The ship lurched, tossed by the fierce weather. Seb watched Owsk make slight adjustments to hold them as steady as he could.

  “Here we go,” Sparks then said, holding up her computer for them all to see. “Everything in green is solid rock.”

  Green dominated the image save for a small section that had cracks of red on it. While pointing at that part, Sparks explained, “This must be where all the rocks fell with the snow. The red veins show the weaknesses we can exploit.”

  When another sharp lurch from a particularly strong gust of wind threw them to the right, Seb grabbed the back of Sparks’ seat to remain upright. He saw Buster do the same on Owsk’s. In the reptile’s narrow yellow eyes, he saw his own battle with the panic that threatened to overwhelm him. It wouldn’t be long before one of those gusts clipped their wings.

  Owsk’s voice rose in pitch. It was the first time Seb had heard him so flustered. “Sparks, I can’t take my eyes off the front to study that map. Just tell me what I need to do.”

  Instead of replying to him, Sparks quickly tapped at her computer. On the final tap, she set the device down, angling it so it projected an image on the front windscreen. A much larger version of what she’d just shown Seb and Buster appeared in front of them. “This is exactly what’s out there. It’s to scale.” While pointing at the blocked entrance to the cave, she looked at Owsk. “You need to switch the ship’s blasters to a beam. I reckon we can burn our way through to them. Seb, can you tell them to move as far away as they can?”

  Now they were close, Seb could speak easily to SA. Can you get as far away from the entrance as possible? We need to burn our way through to you with a laser. You need to make sure you’re not in its path. Although Sparks could have communicated with her too, she let Seb do it. A true friend, she knew he needed it.

  Okay. Give us thirty seconds before you do anything.

  “They need thirty seconds,” Seb said.

  Owsk grunted. Both hands on the flight stick, he continued to make slight adjustments to keep them hovering in roughly the same spot. At least the projection on the screen gave him something to aim at.

  “That’s thirty seconds,” Sparks said, who’d watched her computer to time it. “Right, Owsk, we need to get them out of there.”

  The beam on the front of their ship glowed green when Owsk pressed the fire buttons on the flight stick. A thick and continuous bar, it drew a line from them to the entrance of the cave.

  The snow melted away instantly, exposing the rocks beneath. Silence in the cockpit, they all watched Owsk do his thing.

  The first rock then broke apart, and the green beam connected with the one directly behind it. Seb’s eyes stung from watching without blinking.

  The next rock proved more stubborn than the first, the centre of it glowing red from the beam’s focused attention. A few seconds later it shattered into thousands of pieces, the small shards exploding in every direction. A shower of them tapped against the thick windscreen in front of them, forcing Seb to flinch.

  After several more explosions and crumbling rocks, Sparks said what they could all see on the projection. “I think we’re on the last one.”

  When Seb saw Owsk’s finger cover the trigger on the flight stick, he said, “Stop!”

  The other three turned to look at him.

  “We can’t shoot it.”

  “Why not?” Owsk said. “You’ve told them to get out of the way of the beam.”

  “Have you seen how some of the others shattered? What if this one explodes into the cave and hurts them?”

  Although he clearly didn’t have an argument for that, Owsk said, “So you’re going to go down there, are you?”

  “Yes. Buster and Sparks are coming with me too.”

  Buster opened his mouth to respond, but Seb cut him off. “Were it not for us, you wouldn’t even be here. We nearly drowned saving you.”

  The argument clearly died within Buster, who released a deep sigh and shook his head. “Fine.” While scowling, he looked at the image on the windscreen and spoke through gritted teeth. “If we’re going to do this, let’s do it now before I change my mind.”

  CHAPTER 36

  Despite their ship only being a few metres away when they’d cleared most of the rocks and snow from the cave’s entrance, by the time Seb arrived at it on foot with Buster and Sparks, the heavy snowfall had already covered the final rock.

  When Sparks held up her computer to show their task more clearly, Seb looked at the red lines outlining the last obstruction. “Right,” he said. “We need to be quick. Too long and Owsk will have to burn the snow away again.”

  The sound of the ship’s engines continued to roar behind them, and although Owsk hovered nearby, when Seb looked over his shoulder, he struggled to see the large vessel.

  Seb cleared some of the freshly fallen snow with his hands and pulled on the rock. Of course it didn’t move. He shoved it. Nothing. Can you push from the inside? he asked SA.

  After a few seconds, SA came back to him. It won’t budge.

  When Seb turned to the other two, he met Buster’s cold yellow glare. The same stare he’d regarded him with since he’d said they needed to move the rock by hand. “You think you’re the only one who doesn’t want to be here?” Seb said.

  Buster didn’t reply other than to flick his tail in a display of aggression.

  Seb ignored the gesture. “We all need to pull on this rock.”

  Sparks cleared away a space lower down and wedged her fingers into the small gap. Buster found a spot slightly higher up. Seb returned to the crevice he’d cleared out at the top. The large grey rock stood taller than him by a few inches.

  “Right?” Seb said. “One, two, three …”

  All three of them pulled. The rock didn’t budge.

  When the other two let go, Seb said, “We need to try again.”

  “What’s the point?” Buster said.

  Before Seb could reply, Sparks said, “You don’t think we should get Owsk to shoot it?”

  “No. It’s too risky.” Seb then pulled a deep breath in and slowed his world down. He’d already tried looking at the rock in slow motion, and for the second time, he saw no weakness in its structure. Yet he still drove a hard punch into it, his metal fist making a solid connection. Other than a wedge of snow falling down on top of them, nothing happened.

  Just as Seb wound back for another blow, Buster pulled on his shoulder and said, “Stand back.”

  At first, Seb remained where he was. Nothing about Buster up until that point had shown him he cared for the safety of their three friends. But when Sparks pulled on his arm too, he let her drag him away. He trusted her judgement.

  Still in slow motion, even Seb struggled to see it. With a slight twitch, Buster drove his thick tail against the rock. The whack rang around the mountain range like a thunderclap and more snow fell from above.

  After jumping aside to avoid the falling cold rush, Seb looked back at the rock and the cracks now running through it.

  Buster gave it another whack, which did even more damage to the rock’s structure.

  When Buster wound back for a third time, Owsk came through on Sparks’ computer. “Stop!”

  Buster looked behind him in the d
irection of the ship.

  Owsk’s voice came through again. “The ship’s scanners have just detected movement high up in the mountains.”

  “Someone’s coming?” Sparks said.

  “No, I think you’re destabilising large amounts of snow up there. Another hit and you might bring another avalanche down on top of you.”

  Seb looked up the mountain, but the heavy snowfall blinded him. When he looked back, he couldn’t see any better. Not that he needed the visuals to comprehend being hit by a wall of snow and then being tossed out into the oblivion that was the fall behind them. On their way over, Sparks had filled them in on what the lower down air would do to their lungs.

  For the briefest moment, Seb’s world had returned to a normal speed. Once he’d slowed things down again, he saw the rock completely differently. Moving past Buster, he pointed at the spot that stood out as the weakest. “Sparks.”

  The small Thrystian snapped her head up in acknowledgement of his call.

  “Can you electrocute this spot here?”

  Although she frowned at him, Sparks still came forward and looked at where Seb pointed. She raised her computer before sending a bolt of electricity shooting from it.

  The large rock instantly turned to rubble and fell as if the bonds holding it together had suddenly failed. Now a small pile of jagged pebbles on the ground, it revealed the dark cave beyond.

  A second later, Reyes and then SA appeared in the space. She might have been distancing herself from him, but Seb still ran up to SA and wrapped her in a tight hug.

  When she squeezed him back and said, Thank you, he gripped even harder.

  CHAPTER 37

  When Seb let go of his love, he looked into her calm bioluminescence. Not as present as she’d been before they started on this mission. She clearly still wanted to keep her distance, which he respected. Although nothing would change how he felt about her. If he had to wait forever in case she changed her mind, he would.

  Seb had been so caught up in the moment that he’d only just noticed it. As he looked from Reyes and back to SA again—both of them shivering in the cold—he said, “Where are your jackets?”

  The same wince at the same time on both their faces. It sank dread through him.

  Because of the darkness inside the cave, Seb couldn’t see into it. “Where’s Bruke?”

  Reyes rubbed her face before she said, “It’s not good.”

  “Huh?”

  “I think we’ve lost him.”

  Sparks stepped forward. “Lost him where?”

  After heaving a weary sigh, Reyes said, “We think he’s dead.”

  “What?!” Seb said. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “You had enough to worry about.”

  “Where is he?”

  Tears glazed Reyes’ brown eyes and she bit on her trembling bottom lip. She pointed back into the darkness.

  Seb led the way at a charge. The second he entered the shadowy space, he saw Reyes’ computer from where it had the light on. It had been too bright outside to see it, but now in the cave, he saw how it shone on Bruke. He lay on the ground, covered in both SA’s and Reyes’ coats. He lay perfectly still. Dead.

  Fire ran through Seb’s kneecaps when he crashed down next to his friend on the hard stone. His hands buzzed with their need to touch him. A chaotic mess of emotions swirling through him, he did his best to ignore them as he lay his palms on the still figure.

  Warmth throbbed through Seb’s touch as if it poured from him. But nothing happened. Bruke continued to lie there. Still. Cold.

  The others crowded around. The only sound Seb heard—other than his own frantic pulse through his skull—was the sound of the howling wind outside.

  “Try again,” Buster then said. The cold detachment he’d looked at Seb with outside had gone. “Give it another go.”

  Another deep breath, Seb tried to still his mind as he put his hands back on Bruke.

  “Look,” Reyes said, pointing at Bruke’s foot.

  Another twitch ran through it as if responding to her observation.

  The heat continued to throb through Seb’s hands.

  Another twitch, this time much more obvious than the last. Not sure how he did it, Seb focused his attention on the flow from him to his friend.

  Bruke’s mouth then flew wide with a gasp, making Seb jump. The large lizard coughed and spluttered, but he didn’t sit up. Instead, he twitched and twisted on the cold rocky ground. Far from recovered, his eyes were white from where they were rolled back in his head. But he looked better than before. Better than a corpse.

  “Get a stretcher,” Sparks said.

  Both Reyes and Buster ran out of the cave.

  While the others were gone, Seb held Bruke’s large hand and spoke in a calming voice. “It’s okay, mate. We’re here for you. We’re going to get you out of here.”

  Not sure whether he heard him or not, Bruke continued to fit. As upsetting as he found it, Seb would have taken that over what he’d walked in on. At least he still had life in him.

  CHAPTER 38

  It might have only taken a minute, maybe even less, but it felt like hours passed before Reyes and Buster returned with the stretcher. They laid it down on the ground and all five of them lifted the heavy Bruke onto it.

  Buster took the front of the stretcher, managing the weight of it with ease. Seb took the back. SA took one side and Reyes the other. Although Sparks tried to help, she must have quickly seen the futility of it and ran ahead of the others out into the snow.

  As they left the cave, Seb heard a loud whack. He saw Buster’s tail bounce back off the wall it had crashed into. Before Seb could say anything, a rumble came from above them.

  Reyes obviously recognised the sound and shouted, “Avalanche!”

  Almost blinded by the driving snow, they ran in the direction of Owsk’s ship, the thunderous roar of frosty death behind them. Sparks tapped against her computer, clearly in contact with him. When they got close enough to see the silhouette of his vessel, he’d already lowered it and turned it around, the open cargo bay ready for them to run straight in.

  Sparks hopped on first. Then Buster. Once he’d gotten on, Reyes and SA slid the stretcher into the large hold.

  While they carefully loaded Bruke on and jumped aboard the ship themselves, Seb felt the ground rumble more violently than before. He wanted to shout for the others to hurry up, but could see they were moving as quickly as they could.

  Seb looked behind. Where he’d seen sheets of snow falling from the sky, he now saw a swollen cloud rushing towards him.

  It took for the stretcher to get ripped away from him before Seb looked back at the ship. They’d cleared the way.

  Seb’s feet sank into the now shifting snow as he tried to find purchase. The rumble swelled around him, making the ground harder to stand on. Reyes and SA leaned out of the cargo bay and held their hands out to him. His footing then slipped with the moving ground. Before it could carry him off the side of the mountain, he made a lunge for his friends.

  The second Seb’s hands touched theirs, both of them gripped tightly and Reyes shouted, “Go!”

  The ship lifted with Seb still hanging out of the back of it, his legs dangling down. The air from the dense and vast white cloud clattered against his ankles on its way through, swinging him underneath the ship so he crashed against the underside of the vessel.

  But Reyes and SA held onto him, and when he swung back around, they pulled him to safety.

  Out of breath and shaking with fatigue, Seb fell flat against the cargo bay’s cold metal floor. He rolled over onto his back and looked up at the others.

  “You okay?” Sparks said, her purple glare narrowed as she inspected him.

  Seb nodded. Before he could reply, he heard movement on the stretcher behind him. When he lifted his head, he saw Bruke sitting upright.

  Bruke looked like he’d just awoken from a nap. A wonky smile on his thick face, he said, “Uh, did I just miss something?”


  Seb let go of a long exhale, looked at the others, laughed, and then fell flat again. While staring at the ceiling, he shook his head and closed his eyes. “Not much, Bruke. Not much.”

  CHAPTER 39

  Seb spooned the salty and rubbery mushroom derivative into his mouth. He chewed on it for a few seconds to make it easier to swallow. Each bite released a saline kick and not much more. At least it had the right nutritional balance to be everything his body needed. A good taste would have been a bonus.

  The others ate different foods. Moses had packed them all, making sure each being had the optimal mix of what they needed. By the looks on their faces, their food didn’t taste much better than his. The worst of the lot had to be Owsk’s meal. It looked like snot, and it took all of Seb’s resolve to refrain from watching him drink the slimy substance. It didn’t help that he gulped several times after, his eyes watering. The gloopy solution clearly didn’t go down too easily.

  They drifted in space just out of the snowy planet’s atmosphere. The second Owsk had lifted them high enough, he’d thrown the ship on autopilot so they could all have a moment to regroup.

  While they ate, they caught up on what had happened with everyone. All of them except Buster, who watched, taking in everything said around him without offering his own story.

  They finally got around to the slaughter of the mandulus in the warehouse, which Buster had witnessed before being captured. He’d rubbed his eyes several times during Sparks’ retelling of their experience as if he could push the tears back in. He winced to hear about what had happened with the last one, whose head had exploded.

  They talked about the Quartz and how they’d found it crashed on the mountainside purely by accident. On their way out of there, Reyes had asked Sparks to scan the wreck. They found as many dead bodies on there as had left Aloo. Wherever they were headed, it looked like they hadn’t made it.

  They’d been drifting for about fifteen minutes when Seb looked at Bruke for what must have been the thousandth time.