Planet of the Valkyries

by Callista Hawkes

  “Unauthorised personnel will be expelled from the vessel.” They reply in unison. You raise your blaster.

  “Last chance, bucket heads.” You growl. “One more step and I open fire.”

  “Intruders are hostile.” The androids rasp, their eyes suddenly glowing red instead of blue. “Use of deadly force approved.”

  “Shit.” You squeeze the trigger, the first android’s chest erupting in sparks and the acrid smell of burning electric components. He falls forward, collapsing onto the deck. The remaining androids continue relentlessly forward and you see there are yet more in the corridor behind them. You both fire, two more of the androids falling, but still they come, stepping over their fallen counterparts.

  “There’s too many of them!” Juno cries out, taking another step back. “Oh no! Behind us!” More androids are marching along the corridor behind you. There is a door leading back into the ship, but you are so close to the airlock and the safety of the shuttle. Maybe you can fight your way through.

  Fight your way to the airlock

  Get out of the corridor

  “Keep them off our backs!” You tell Juno. “I’ll try to carve a path back to the airlock. There can only be so many of them.” She nods, her eyes wide with fear as she turns and continues firing into the androids closing in behind you. You concentrate on the androids between you and the airlock, picking them off one after the other, but each time one falls, another takes their place.

  “There’s too many of them!” Juno calls out, her voice cracking with terror. You glance over your shoulder, the androids closing in behind, the corridor back into the ship now blocked and beyond your reach.

  “Keep shooting!” You call back, continuing to fire your blaster at the approaching column. The air is thick with smoke and the acrid smell of smouldering androids, but still they come. Rather than carve your way through them to the airlock, the androids are closing in on you from both sides now. A strangled cry makes you glance over your shoulder. One of the androids has Juno’s throat in his grasp. Her blaster has been torn from her fingers and her hands claw uselessly at the mechanical arm of her assailant. The android’s fingers tighten around her neck, Juno’s eyes bulging as he crushes her windpipe before her arms flop uselessly to her sides.

  “Intruder neutralised.” His synthesised voice announces, casually dropping her corpse to the floor.

  “Son of a bitch!” You cry out, turning and opening fire. At point blank range, the blast knocks the android’s head clean off, its neck arcing and sparking before the decapitated android topples over. Consumed with fury, you fire again and again into the endless ranks of androids as they relentlessly close in on you. Trapped between the advancing automatons, there is no escape and despite your resistance, the blaster is ripped away and metallic hands close around your throat. As the vicelike grip of the android crushes the life from you, you gaze at its impassive moulded face, its red eyes boring into yours before the blackness of oblivion closes in around you.

  THE END

  Go back a few moments and rethink your actions

  “You’re right, there’s too many of them.” You reply. “Come on, let’s get out of this corridor before we’re overrun!” Picking off the nearest androids, you fall back into the adjoining corridor and run back into the depths of the Zephyr.

  “What now?” Juno asks, her voice quivering with fear. “We’re cut off from the shuttle on a doomed freighter! It’s hopeless!”

  “Keep it together, Ensign.” You growl as you hurry along the corridor. “We’re not done yet. You’ve been trained for situations like this.” She nods and takes a breath.

  “Sorry sir.” She replies. “A moment of weakness, that’s all. Do you have a plan?”

  “Assuming there are any escape pods left, we’ve still got a way off this ship.” You reply. Juno nods, chewing her lip, deep in thought.

  “I think I might have another plan.” She tells you. “If we can get to the Zephyr’s mainframe, I might be able to access the reactor, disable the safeguards and trigger an electromagnetic pulse. It will fry every electrical circuit on the ship.”

  “Taking out every single android.” You murmur, nodding appreciatively.

  “And the shuttle.” She adds with a wince. “Some of the Zephyr’s critical systems such as life support will be shielded, but we’ll still be trapped on board a doomed vessel.”

  “True, but at least we’ll have solved our android problem.” You reply.

  “Shall we try it, or abandon ship?” She asks.

  Trigger an electromagnetic pulse

  Find an escape pod and abandon ship

  “Let’s get the hell off this ship.” You tell Juno. “The Zephyr along with the goddamn androids are going to burn up in a few hours anyway. Let’s head for the port side. The escape pods will be facing the planet below, so less chance of skipping off the edge of the atmosphere.”

  “Sounds good.” She replies, glancing nervously over her shoulder. “The sooner we get off this floating death-trap, the better.”

  You hurry through the labyrinthine corridors, passing ominously abandoned crew quarters as you head across the Zephyr to the port side.

  “Nearly there.” You tell Juno, noticing a large red arrow on the wall labelled ‘Emergency Escape Pods’. She smiles back at you, her relief palpable. Just as you begin to relax, you hear a door slide open behind you.

  “Hostiles detected!” A synthesised voice grates. Spinning around, you both fire together, the android exploding in a mass of metallic components. Behind him, you can see several more androids slowly advancing towards you.

  “Quickly!” You tell Juno, turning and running along the corridor.

  “How many of them are there?!” She replies as she keeps pace with you. As you turn a corner, you feel relief wash through you.

  “There it is!” You point ahead at a circular escape pod hatch at the end of the corridor. “Come on!” You both begin to sprint along the corridor, conscious of the pursuing androids behind you.

  “Commander!” You hear Juno grunt behind you. Glancing over your shoulder, you can see her sprawled out on the deck. As you turn to help her, a side door slides open and more androids step out, cutting you off from each other. You open fire, androids collapsing to the deck, but more and more take their place, the corridor quickly filling with the murderous automatons. You glance over your shoulder at the escape pod hatch just a few paces away.

  “Don’t leave me!” Juno shouts through the legions of androids spilling out between you.

  Try to reach Juno

  It's hopeless. Abandon her and leave in the escape pod

  Ensign Juno Anderson is under your command and there is no way you will abandon her no matter how hopeless the situation.

  “Hold on!” You shout out, furiously blasting at the androids as they continue to pour into the corridor. You can barely see Juno through the writhing mass of mechanical limbs, but you can hear her blaster firing again and again, smoke and sparks filling the air above the throng. As you continue to pick off the murderous automatons, you hear Juno cry out, her blaster falling silent.

  “Ensign?” You call out, shooting the head off the nearest android. Her reply is a blood curdling scream which is abruptly silenced. Knowing it is too late for her, you turn to the escape pod hatch, jabbing your finger against the button, the door sliding open. As you throw yourself through the circular opening, you feel the cold grip of metallic fingers around your ankle. You are pulled screaming and struggling from the safety of the escape pod.

  “Neutralising hostile.” One of the androids announces as his steel fingers tighten around your throat. The others look impassively on, the last thing you see, their red eyes burning bright as everything else fades to black.

  THE END

  Go back a few moments and rethink your actions

  “Sorry Ensign,” You shout out, “I can’t hold them back any longer.” Juno blinks, her expression one of disbelief. You turn away and punch the door
open button. The circular hatch slides open and you clamber through it, catching one last glimpse of her face, now contorted in fury. Turning away, you strap yourself in and thump the emergency escape button. The hatch seals behind you before the tiny capsule is hurled into space. Your stomach feels like a twisted knot as guilt claws at your soul for abandoning the young ensign. She was under your command and you’ve left her to die. You tell yourself that you had no choice and that she was doomed whatever you had done. It might be true, but it doesn’t make you feel any less of a coward.

  The escape capsule automatically locks on to the planet below and plummets through the atmosphere. You watch through the window as the yellowy-brown surface rushes up to meet you, the retro thrusters firing and slowing your descent before you smash into the ground. The jarring impact makes you feel as though every bone in your body must be shattered and yet, somehow, other than a few superficial cuts and bruises, you are unharmed. Checking the instruments, you are relieved to find that the planet’s atmosphere is breathable. You activate the emergency beacon which will transmit your co-ordinates and open the hatch. The hot air that breezes through the open hatch takes your breath away. You clamber out to find yourself standing on top of a sand dune, the hot sun beating down upon you. Looking all around you, the sand dunes roll away to the horizon in every direction.

  “Shit.” You murmur before you notice the sun glinting off something in the distance. Shielding your eyes from the glare, you focus on it. It’s another escape capsule! Perhaps Ensign Anderson did survive after all! You estimate it’s a couple of miles away. A long hike in the burning heat of the desert. You grimace and pull off your jacket, stripping to your t-shirt beneath. After collecting plenty of water from the capsule’s emergency provisions, you set off towards the distant escape pod, praying that Juno has landed safely.

  As you cross the desert, something catches your eye above you. You glance up at the cloudless sky, a long streak of fire stretching overhead as the Zephyr burns up in the atmosphere. You watch for a moment with grim satisfaction, knowing that at least the murderous androids have been destroyed.

  With your mouth dry and your face dripping with perspiration, you scramble over the crest of the last dune, seeing the cylindrical escape pod half buried in the sand ahead.

  “Juno!” You call out, your voice echoing in the vast desert. You see movement inside the open hatch and stop dead in your tracks. The first thing that strikes you about the beautiful woman that emerges from within is that she is not Ensign Anderson. The second is that she is naked apart from a tight vest and a pair of skimpy panties.

  “Behind you!” She cries out, gesturing furiously. You glance over your shoulder, your eyes widening as you spot the sand shifting a short distance away as something beneath closes in, leaving a trail in the desert behind it.

  Run for the escape pod

  Shoot the creature

  You draw your blaster and squeeze the trigger, the sand exploding up into the air. Its unearthly cry of fury and pain fills your heart with fear. You fire again and again, clouds of sand obscuring your vision. The unseen creature’s cry stops and you smile with relief and satisfaction.

  “I got it!” You call out to the woman, who is still cowering in the hatchway of the escape pod. As you glance back at the desert floor, something dark red and scaly bursts out of the sand. Glimpsing a terrible gaping maw filled with tiny needle-like teeth, you throw up an arm but it is too late. Its teeth sink into your exposed throat and blood wells up, gushing out and staining the white sand at your feet. You collapse to your knees, gurgling as you try to wrench the creature from you. You can hear the woman screaming in horror as darkness closes in and you slip away.

  THE END

  Go back a few moments and rethink your actions

  You half sprint, half slide down the steep dune towards the escape pod, kicking up a spray of sand in your wake.

  “Quickly!” The woman cries out, the urgency in her voice making you glance over your shoulder. The unseen creature’s long trail is following you down the sandy bank and it’s gaining on you.

  “Shit.” You gasp, sprinting across the flatter terrain towards the escape pod. A strange unearthly howl fills the air just behind you, but you dare not glance back. The woman urges you towards her as your heart pounds in your chest.

  “It’s right behind you!” She screams, her eyes wide with horror. You are just a few paces away from the escape pod and launch yourself through the open hatch, falling hard onto the metallic floor. A terrible cry of rage fills the air before it dies away, the eerie silence of the desert returning, punctuated by your own panting breaths.

  “What was that?” You ask the woman as you pick yourself up off the floor.

  “I don’t know, but it’s a vicious bastard.” She replies. “It nearly had me the moment I stepped outside. You’re lucky to have made it across the open desert. My name’s Zoë by the way. I am… was… the navigation officer aboard the Zephyr.”

  “Kyle Chase. First officer aboard the U.E.S. Ranger.” You reply. Zoë has long, dark raven hair and a tall, statuesque figure. Keen brown eyes gaze inquisitively across at you from an attractive face sprinkled with freckles across her nose and cheeks. “Must have been quite a landing. Looks like it knocked your uniform clean off!” You add, just about suppressing a smirk.

  “Yes, sorry about my attire, or lack of it.” She blushes, self-consciously throwing an arm across her chest, shielding her cleavage. “My uniform is in tatters. Besides, it’s so damn hot and I really wasn’t expecting company.”

  “I must admit, I was expecting you to be someone else.” You tell her. “I had a young woman under my command. We got separated and I thought she was dead. Guess she is dead after all.” You add sadly.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” Zoë replies, her arm dropping from her chest as she puts a comforting hand on your arm. “But if it’s any consolation, you might have saved my life instead. My pod’s beacon is inoperable and I’ve got just two days’ worth of food and water. I’ve spent the last few hours facing death, so you’re my goddamn hero!”

  “Only now we’re trapped in here.” You reply.

  “I was already trapped in here.” Zoë shrugs. “At least now I have company.” She glances at you, her brown eyes meeting yours. “You know, it’s nearly dusk and the nights here only last about an hour. I was about to lie down for a while if you care to join me?”

  “I think I’m too wired to get any sleep.” You reply, your pulse still racing after your life or death sprint.

  “I didn’t say anything about sleeping.” Zoë smiles, her chest heaving, her nipples clearly visible through her tight vest. It takes all your willpower just to hold her gaze.

  Give in to your baser instincts

  You need to deal with the creature

  “I’m flattered, Zoë, I really am.” You reply, pulling away and stepping towards the open hatch before gazing out at the shifting sands. “But we need to deal with that creature. It’s out there, lying in wait, ready to attack the moment we step outside.”

  “I guess you’re right.” She sighs. “So what do you have in mind?”

  “One of us could draw it out while the other one shoots it.” You suggest. “How good a shot are you?”

  “I’m a navigator, not a soldier.” She replies.

  “Then how fast can you run?” You ask. She narrows her eyes and shudders at the implication.

  “Got any other ideas?” Zoë asks. “Preferably ones that don’t involve me running for my life?”

  “How about we try to trap it in here.” You suggest. “I could stand in front of the door and jump out of the way just as it closes in for the kill. With luck it will throw itself into the escape pod and we can lock it inside.”

  “I’m not sure I like that any better.” Zoë sighs. “I don’t like any plan that includes the words ‘with luck’. It also leaves us both out in the desert and you’re assuming there’s only one of those creatures out there.”

/>   “If there are any others nearby, I don’t think I’d have made it across the desert.” You reply. “Once it’s trapped, we can retrace my footsteps back to my escape pod.”

  “Both those plans sound risky.” Zoë replies doubtfully. “You sure you wouldn’t rather just wait for rescue? I can think of far more pleasurable ways to get our pulses racing.”

  Use Zoë as bait and try to shoot the creature

  Try to trap it inside the escape pod

  Give in to Zoë’s seductive charm

  “I’m a good shot.” You tell Zoë, pulling your blaster from your holster. “Trust me. I’ll pick the nasty little son of a bitch off before it gets anywhere near you.”

  “You’d better.” She grumbles, stepping towards the open hatchway and peering warily through it. “You ready?” You nod and she steps out onto the sand, glancing nervously about her as she walks slowly into the desert. Dusk is falling on the desolate planet and it is eerily quiet. You watch the ground intently, trying to detect any sign of movement.

  “There!” You call out, pointing towards a strange hump of sand which moves slowly towards her. Zoë’s eyes widen and she sprints away from it, the creature speeding up rapidly and leaving a trail of disturbed sand in its wake.

  “Shoot it! Shoot it for fuck’s sake!” She screams. You step out into the desert, aim your blaster and pull the trigger. A puff of sand is kicked up as your shot hits the ground, but still it comes, gaining on Zoë now. Your pulse races as you again take aim. Again a cloud of sand erupts into the air, but once again the subterranean creature continues its pursuit, apparently unscathed.

  “Fuck.” You cry out as you quickly sweep your blaster around to take another shot. Just as you are about to fire, it springs from beneath the sand. You watch in horror as you see the terrible organism, all red scales and needle-like teeth smash into Zoë’s back, knocking her to the floor. Her scream of terror fills the air as she rolls onto her back and tries to scramble away. The creature is upon her as you again take aim.