So Close to Home

by Galen Surlak-Ramsey

  My brow arched. “Thingies?”

  “I don’t have a direct Progenitor translation, and the transliteration as best I can tell is about one hundred and thirty-three characters long. I thought you’d appreciate me saying thingies more. It’ll either be on the wall near the ground or somewhere overhead.”

  I relayed her description to the others, and we found her yellow pipe thingy near the floor, and it was precisely as she described. To my reluctant admittance, it was so oddly shaped that ‘thingy’ was probably the best descriptor. Unless you wanted to be morbid, because it did have a spine-like quality to it as well.

  “Got it,” I said.

  “Perfect, follow it aft of your position. It should lead you right to the battery room.”

  “What’s the sitrep on the bomb Yseri’s building?”

  “Should be done in a few minutes,” Daphne said. “You’ll need to hurry. I wouldn’t call it stable. Unless you think an active volcano is stable. Then it’s quite so.”

  “Trust me. We’re moving as fast as we can.”

  A spurting sound came from behind. I spun around as four Nodari scouts entered the hall from the other end. For a split second, they stopped and gawked at us, which was nice because that meant they could be startled like anyone else.

  My Kibnali buddies drilled each one a dozen times over with a hail of plasma fire. Their smoldering bodies had yet to hit the ground when Tolby gave his orders. “Move like you’ve got a purpose, Black Talons,” he barked.

  Our squad pressed forward. Tolby took the lead, flanked by two other Kibnali. I trailed behind with five others while the rest provided rear security. Following the yellow-purple conduit (which is what I started calling it, as I just couldn’t say “thingy” in my head anymore), we went through a hatch that automatically opened when we drew near. Once through, the hall split left and right while at the same time descending down a pair of small ramps covered in some sort of pink membrane covered in pus.

  “This is going to make me sick,” I said after my second squishy step. I could feel the bile rise in my throat, and I think the only thing that kept me from spewing was the thought of how rancid the inside of my suit would become.

  “For once in my life, I wish I had your nose,” Tolby said. “The stories from our assault marines do not do the stench of this place justice.”

  I shuttered, realizing how bad it must be for my best bud. At the same time, my awe for how tough he was grew tenfold.

  We followed the conduit, which took us down the passage on the left, but it ended up meeting the other passage anyway. Apparently, the layout had been an elongated donut. There, we continued to follow it for another fifty meters before we hit a T-junction. Before we reached said T-junction, our world erupted in chaos.

  Scouts rounded both corners from above, but unlike our previous encounter, they were expecting a battle. I dove to the right, finding scant cover behind some weird-looking organic support that ran from floor to ceiling.

  Streams of acid-filled darts flew from the Nodari weapons. Though their fire was met with our own, the Nodari scouts did not falter. They stood there and took the hits in order to land their own shots.

  The Nodari fell, heads exploding, torsos shattering, but so did the Kibnali. Roars of defiance blasted in my ears, and the Kibnali marines who hadn’t been outright killed struggled to pull off pieces of armor before the acid ate through.

  “Incoming rear!” one of the Kibnali yelled.

  I twisted so my back was against the beam, figuring I’d best deal with whatever was coming that I didn’t have cover from. Tunnelers, four of them, barreled down the hall, jaws open and ready to snap shut. The first two made it about ten meters before succumbing to the Kibnali fire. The third a few paces more. The fourth, however, thanks to a combination of luck and speed, closed the distance and struck our rearmost guard. It’s scissor-like jaws sheared through the Kibnali’s rifle as well as his left arm.

  To the Kibnali’s credit, he didn’t falter. Instead, he spun with the momentum of the charging monster and used a kick to get himself clear. A half second later, the rest of our rear guard finished it off.

  “Grenade out!” Tolby yelled. I glanced over my shoulder to see him lob one off his belt. It landed in the middle of the T-junction and exploded. A storm of organic-metal shrapnel blew in all directions, and flames licked the sides of the beam I was behind. Despite the fierceness of the blast, we seemed to suffer no other casualties. I couldn’t say the same for the scouts.

  “Well, if the entire ship didn’t know we were here before, they all do now,” I said.

  A deep rumble came from all around.

  We gathered ourselves together in a flash. A few Kibnali went to aid the injured, which amounted to nothing more than slapping some sort of cauterizing gel on the wounds and then sticking the warriors with combat stims.

  “Dakota, I hope you’re almost there,” Jack said into my headset. “The fleet out here is taking a beating.”

  “Working on it,” I said as we all ran down the hall, again following the conduit.

  “Work on it faster!”

  “We’re kind of taking a beating here, too, Jack,” I said. “You think we’re playing tourist?”

  He huffed something, but I didn’t catch it. Probably just as well. We didn’t need to be jabbing each other, especially as the Kibnali and I were racing through the battleship’s tunnels once again.

  Our path twisted, and the entire time we ran, I swear I could feel the walls watching us, directing the Nodari to our position. The distant, but closing, howls of multiple Nodari hordes closing in on us from every direction only solidified that belief.

  The door ahead unfolded. It didn’t want to at first, but after Tolby put a few shots through it, the damn thing unfolded, slinging yellow goo from the wounds my bud gave it.

  On the other side, we were met with the most glorious of sights. Seriously, I could’ve broken into the Hallelujah chorus at this point. True, we hadn’t been in the ship long, but it was long enough that all I wanted at this point was to be at our target, which we were.

  The chamber before us was almost exactly what Daphne had displayed on screen. It was a cavernous thing that looked like it could swallow a small starship, and given the teeth-like protrusions all around, it would probably devour one just the same. Countless emerald-green bulbous sacks lined the walls, and near them were these large, semi-clear chutes in which a thick, mucusy fluid dripped. The conduit we followed ran to the center of the room where a giant pedestal stood. A dozen spines sprouted from said pedestal, many curling upward to form a loose, wire cage around a pulsating sack.

  “We’re here,” I said. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Perfect,” Daphne replied. “We’re on our way back to pick you up. Be there soon.”

  “Back? Back from where?”

  “I was going to tell you earlier, but I didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news,” Daphne said. “You know how you get.”

  “How I get? What—”

  “Watch it! Left flank!” Tolby yelled.

  I dropped to the ground and crawled for cover as acidic darts filled the air. Off to our side, some fifty meters away and coming down three separate passages, were scores upon scores of Nodari scouts. Within moments, we were pinned. A few more after that, Kibnali started to fall.

  A Kibnali marine a few meters away darted out of his position to get to a better vantage point. Along the way, he fired a short burst from his rifle that took out a couple of scouts. Despite such skill, Fate did not smile on him. Before he reached cover again, his head vaporized, and his body toppled over.

  Five seconds later, another two Kibnali died, and then a third when we were suddenly caught in a crossfire as more Nodari came from yet another passage, this one to our right.

  “Damn it, Daphne, where are you?” I said, firing like a madwoman. I think I hit a few, but as far as this fight went, a few were nowhere near enough. What we needed was the angry fist of God to smi
te these abominations.

  “As I was saying, we had to take evasive maneuvers and flew out of range of the portal device,” she said. “We’re back now.”

  “Send the bomb! Send it right now!”

  “Are you sure?” Daphne asked. “It sounds like a lot of fighting is going on. A stray shot and the bomb might detonate. And wouldn’t that be a dreadful mess if that detonation occurred in here.”

  “I’m sure, damn it! We’re getting chewed to pieces!”

  “Okay, but if we go nuclear, I’m blaming you.”

  I ducked behind the sack I was using for cover as more Nodari fire zipped by, threatening to melt my face off. “I’m going to open two portals back to back, got it?” I said, peeking around the corner at the battery array we needed to take out. “Set the timer to thirty seconds.”

  “Say again? Twenty seconds? That’s not a lot of time.”

  “I know, Daphne! If we’re not out of here by then, we’re all dead!” I pulled a grenade off my belt, and with a little boost from my telekinetic awesomeness, I landed it directly into the Nodari line. Scout bodies vaporized, giving us a few precious seconds of reprieve. “Soon as the bomb is here, shut the first one down, and I’ll open a second by us.”

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Daphne said.

  I sucked in a breath. “So do I.”

  I shot out my hand and focused on the battery array. As troublesome as Daphne was being, she was right about a stray shot ending things quickly. Not to mention, if I opened a portal facing the Nodari, they’d have free access to shoot up our ship. Now, I don’t know how you feel about people—or ravenous aliens for that matter—playing target practice with the interior of your ship, but I for one, am not a fan.

  A beautiful portal sprang to life on the far side of the battery array, safely tucked behind it. A warhead as tall as I was and easily as thick fell out and landed inside the chamber with a heavy thud. I cringed reflexively, half expecting my world to end right there. The portal closed a split second later, and after launching my last grenade, I dropped a portal near the entrance we’d come through, about twenty meters away. I would’ve liked to have made it closer, but it was the nearest spot that wasn’t facing a Nodari firing line.

  “Black Talons, we are leaving!” Tolby bellowed. The intensity of fire from the Kibnali went up tenfold, and no doubt their power packs would be spent, and their weapons would overheat in a matter of seconds, but that’s all they needed.

  The remaining Kibnali bolted through the portal with the wounded being either carried or dragged through. Even the dead weren’t left behind. Tolby was one of the first to the portal, but he didn’t go through. Instead, he took up position using an alcove for cover and kept the Nodari at bay as much as he could.

  I raced for the exit with everything I had. Less than a few meters away, out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a Nodari captain charging through the scouts. Before I could get another stride in, he raised his weapon and fired. Dozens of bolts of lightning shot out of the funnel-shaped barrel, electrifying everything they hit.

  Three Kibnali caught most of the blast, and as their charred bodies fell, secondary bolts leaped off them, one striking my arm. The jolt through my body was more than enough to send me to the ground, screaming in pain.

  “No! God, no,” I groaned. I tucked my knees up under me, but I couldn’t get up.

  Something rammed into my side, rolling me over. Tolby, my furry knight in battle-hardened armor, kept me pinned. “Stay down,” he ordered as he tossed a grenade.

  As soon as it went off, he yanked me up. We started for the portal, but to my utter horror, it distorted for a split second before disappearing altogether.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Running Amok in Muck

  “Stop the detonation!” I yelled. I tried reopening the portal, but all I was successful at doing was sending a stab of pain up my arm and through my neck.

  “Why?” Daphne asked.

  “We’re not aboard!” I said as I slammed into the wall full tilt. For Frapgar’s sake, why couldn’t that stupid portal have destabilized two seconds later? “Now stop the damn bomb from going off!”

  “I can’t, failsafe settings and all,” Daphne said.

  “Get us a portal open then!”

  “Power levels are still too low,” she replied, actually sounding sad for a brief moment before going back to her plucky self. “You’ll be pleased to know, however, that in twenty seconds, you should cease to feel any sort of terror. Unless those hellfire and brimstone types are right, then you’ll feel a lot of terror. And pain. And suffering. For eternity, of course.”

  “You’re not helping!”

  “I did try to help, remember? I tried giving you the Word right after we went through that wormhole after the museum. You wanted nothing of it.”

  Tolby peeked out from the cover he was using long enough to explode a scout’s head with a well-placed shot. “Everyone is safe. That’s what matters.”

  As he spoke, I was barely listening. The hell I was going to die coming this far. My eyes darted around the chamber a hundred times in less than a second, scouring for something—anything—that might save us.

  “There!” I said, directing Tolby to a nearby drainage chute. I snapped up my rifle, and with a short burst, I blasted the casing apart. “In! Now!”

  I dove headfirst into the tube. Tolby followed right behind. The thing was like a bumpy, mucus-filled waterslide designed explicitly to terrorize anyone foolish enough to shoot down it. The only thing that would’ve made it worse was the detonation of a small-yield nuclear device and the subsequent chain reaction of energy cells rupturing throughout the entire Nodari ship.

  Oh, wait…

  My world shook worse than if I’d been trapped in a giant hamster ball and tossed into a tornado. Tolby slammed into my ass as we fell when the blast wave caught up to us. Thank god for Kibnali armor. That stuff is tough. Even if I’d been in a Martian Mk IX battle tank, I bet I would’ve been torn to pieces. Thankfully, I was wearing the best tech any spacefaring race had ever developed, Progenitors aside, and survived the hit.

  The shockwave accelerated us to speeds beyond comprehension. We probably flew a half a klick before shooting out of the tube like a wayward champagne cork. Now don’t get me wrong. I was thrilled to still be alive and nearly as ecstatic to be out of that slimy, dark tunnel of putrid crap, but where we ended up wasn’t much better. I might even go as far as to say that it was even worse.

  We landed inside an oblong sack, for lack of a better word, that probably stretched thirty meters from where we ended up. Numerous other tubes entered this area from above, each one dripping a thick, yellow mucus that made me gag just thinking about it. And because said mucus was dripping in from numerous other places, that meant that the entire room was covered in it. In fact, it was so covered in it the floor was drowned in the substance by almost a meter. So when we bounced off the wall and fell back down, we were each treated to a full bath.

  “I almost wish we died,” I said, finding my footing. I tried to get Daphne on the comm but stopped after being greeted with a lot of static, which was then followed by me noticing a flashing icon on the bottom left of my HUD. The connection was lost. Damn.

  “This might be the grossest thing you’ve led me through,” Tolby said. “And that includes chasing that firetoad through that malfunctioning septic system.”

  “That was not my fault!” I said. “How was I supposed to know he was going to eat my keys?”

  “Because he ate your flashlight before that.”

  “So?”

  “And your laser pointer. And your socks. And your—”

  “Okay, okay. Sheesh,” I said.

  Tolby smiled, and that smile turned to a nervous one when another explosion rocked the ship. “At least this is just like old times, huh?”

  I wrinkled my nose as the sickly sweet smell of the god-awful room we were in started to seep through my armor. Apparently, m
y armor wasn’t completely sealed from atmo anymore. “Old times? Gah, I don’t ever want this to be considered old times to look forward to.”

  “If the past week is any indicator of our future, seems like we’re in store for this a lot,” he said. “After all, what’s this, the third ship now that’s started to disintegrate with us in it?”

  “To be fair, the museum took two out at once,” I said. “But if we wind up on another abandoned planet with some long-forgotten Progenitor facility with aliens trying to make us a snack, I’m calling shenanigans on life.” The comm link indicator on my HUD suddenly lit up, and I seized the moment. “Daphne? Are you there?”

  “Dakota! How delightful that you lived!” she said. “Well, mostly delightful. I’m out twenty credits.”

  “You’re out…wait, you bet against us?” I said, filling in the details. “How could you do that?”

  “Oh, very simple,” she said. “After calculating the odds of your survival, the bet was a no-brainer. Have you ever thought that you might have some feline DNA? By my estimations, you used at least a few lives up these last few days. I don’t suppose you’ve found a shuttle bay that you could escape out of?”

  I shook my head and sighed. “If only. I have no idea where we are.”

  “That does add a certain challenge to things.”

  “You think?”

  “Especially since the Nodari reinforcements will be here in less than seven minutes. Maybe six. But if I were you, I’d be out of there in five at the most. Their cruisers are a lot quicker than I’d anticipated. On the flip side, you did manage to knock out their shields. You should see the fireworks from here. The Kibnali are tearing the ship you’re in to pieces. Perhaps you could escape through one of the many breaches in the hull.”

  I stumbled as the battleship rocked with a series of explosions, and thankfully Tolby kept me upright before I was swimming in mucus again. Actually, I should correct that. He caught me from swimming in the mucus for about two seconds. After that, the bottom of the sac fell out, and we were treated to a nice sticky bath of putrid goo.