Alliance

by Andrew Stride

  “Take your pick, each compartment is the same. There’s plenty of room, after all, they were designed for individuals nearly twice your size. Each one is fitted with a provisions locker, containing water and a selection of edible items. I would advise the removal of the protection device, at least whilst we’re in here, otherwise you may find it reacting with the other tech.”

  They all gathered around Clom’s capsule and it was a reminder to them of how quickly things can turn bad. It was a setback, but Huey assured them that he would feel considerably better in the morning and with that they all wandered off to their compartments.

  Alone now, Lim’s mind was a jumble of images and no matter what he tried, he couldn’t clear them. He wanted answers and the only one who might have been able to help, was Robin, but he wasn’t here.

  Lim told himself to get a grip, but the fact remained, Miar was gone and it was slowly driving him crazy.

  They all awoke at the exact same time. Something of a coincidence, except Huey had seen to it that everyone was up early, to make the most of the daylight hours.

  After stumbling out of their individual compartments, yawning and stretching, Huey reminded them that they had a long day ahead.

  “Pack some provisions, water and whatever else you need. We leave in half an hour.”

  “What time do you call this?” asked Clom.

  “Here on Vulsumar, we refer to this time of day, as morning,”

  “Smart arse. How come we got the smart arse, can someone tell me?” Clom mumbled from his capsule.

  Lim dashed over and looked in on him because it sounded like he was back to his normal self, which was quite remarkable considering the state they’d seen him in after the attack.

  “Don’t say anything. I don’t want to know if the food’s any good as I haven’t been offered any.”

  “We’ve had this conversation,” said Huey. “It’s for your own good.”

  “My own good! That machine is going to starve me to death.”

  “It looks like you’re back to normal to me,” said Lim.

  “He isn’t,” said Huey. “His damaged leg cannot bear weight.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m telling you, Lim that damn thing wants to leave me here, I can see it in its eyes.”

  “Clom, stop making a fuss. If it wasn’t for Huey, you’d be dead,” said Joeum.

  “If anyone would like to join me, I’m going up to the observation deck,” said Huey.

  The centre column concealed an elevator that would take them up to the first floor. Joeum was keen to see this observation deck and Lim joined him, while Laja remained talking to Clom.

  The deck looked just like another circular room with a domed ceiling, but it turned out to be something quite different and it wasn’t until they’d sat down in the oversized chairs that the room began to reveal its true purpose.

  The whole room started moving, rising up from its resting place, which they hadn’t expected. Huey detected mild anxiety, but he assured them that all was fine and as if by magic the walls and the floor of the room became completely transparent. It was like being back in that strange teleport room at the Demituva Station.

  “This is Femesumma technology,” Huey reminded them.

  The observation deck continued to rise, reaching the upper part of the cage-like structure of the tree, which must have been over two hundred feet above the ground. The predawn light was filtering in through the forest canopy and Lim was feeling a bit vulnerable and exposed up here.

  Huey was quick to point out that this wouldn’t be much of a hide if the wildlife could see them. The walls of the structure were still there, but it was now possible to see through them.

  One-way walls thought Lim, how ingenious.

  “Do you see anything?” asked Huey.

  Lim sat up a little. “No.”

  “Joeum?”

  Joeum blinked a few times, trying to clear his sleepy eyes. “No, not really.”

  “Now watch.” Huey touched something on the chair nearest him and an overlay moved up in front of them, which filtered out much of the forest and revealed a few coloured patches of light.

  “We are viewing the forest using a heat sensitive filter, so what was once invisible, is now visible.”

  Just when they thought they were able to see everything that could potentially threaten their existence, Huey informed them that some animals on Vulsumar had developed ways of shielding their body heat to avoid detection.

  “We need a different overlay for them,” Huey informed them.

  “It would be handy if we had this sort of technology to take with us,” said Lim.

  “I am fitted with an array of detection devices,” said Huey. “So actually we do.”

  “Looking at all the activity out there, this might not be the best time to leave,” said Joeum.

  “Leave we must. Although we don’t have to walk out into the forest do so. There is another hide about six miles from here and we can reach it via an underground tunnel.”

  “The Femesumma thought of everything,” said Joeum.

  That was unfortunately not the case; otherwise, they would still be here. They returned to the main space where Laja and Clom were chatting and after gathering some provisions, they were ready to leave, well not quite. There was still Clom to think about. Huey returned to Clom’s capsule, but instead of removing him, the whole capsule detached from its resting place and glided unaided.

  “Am I stuck in this thing now?”

  “Your leg should heal completely, but only if you rest it.”

  They moved back into the elevator and this time descended to the tunnel that Huey had told them about. Stepping into the dark tunnel woke it from its slumber. Overhead lights blinked on and these continued down the tunnel and disappeared into the distance. Due to the absence of transport, it looked like they would be walking the six miles of tunnel to reach the next hide.

  Without saying anything, Huey glided forward, then stopped abruptly and his presence alone was enough to cause sections of the tunnel to detach. The detached segments moved this way and that and quickly assembled themselves into a shape that resembled an oversized bullet. Their ride awaited them. A bullet, poised and ready to be fired down a rather large barrel.

  Huey rotated on the spot. “What are you waiting for? Step aboard, unless you want to walk.”

  As soon as they entered the bullet-shaped capsule, it began to move, picking up speed rapidly. They covered the distance in no time and after taking another elevator up to the surface, they stepped out into an identical building to the one they’d just left.

  Huey’s first priority was Clom and he took him over to an equally well equipped medical bay and the good news was that his leg was looking a lot better. Huey opened the capsule and Clom eased himself into a sitting position. Clom was hoping for some food, but instead was presented with a beaker of water and told to keep drinking.

  Lim went over to him because he could see that he was on the verge of losing it.

  “Huey knows what he’s doing.”

  Huey left for the observation deck with Laja and Joeum and they were soon comfortably positioned high above the forest floor. Here they had an uninterrupted view of a large lake, its surface covered in a light morning mist.

  “What are we hoping to see?” asked Joeum.

  Huey was hoping to see nothing and then they could leave this place without any worries and he wasn’t disappointed.

  They returned to the main deck and Huey announced that they were leaving and instructed Clom to rest back in the capsule, which seemed contradictory. Clom did as he was asked and Huey pushed a few buttons and the capsule slowly rotated until it was fully vertical. Then with Lim and Joeum’s assistance, Clom took his first step since the attack. The leg felt stiff, but Clom wasn’t experiencing any pain. Huey observed and then moved in and traced the line of puncture wounds with his right hand. After a few moments of Huey looking a little absent, he returned his verdict and Clo
m was given the all clear. It was now just a question of letting the leg heal and under normal circumstances, this would have been possible, only these weren’t normal circumstances.

  They left the safety of the hide and were greeted by a little sunlight. A rare sight indeed and a real contrast to yesterday.

  Pacing themselves, they skirted the lake they’d seen from the hide and climbed a few hundred feet before the terrain levelled off. They approached what looked like, a broad, flat, stone path. The path was very smooth and in parts it had been lost to the encroaching vegetation and Huey stopped and looked up and down its length. If he’d had a gut, it would be telling him to head north to the telepoint, but they were going the other way, the wrong way and looking at Clom, only confirmed his opinion.

  Huey explained that this was a track used by a hovertrain, the only means of transport left to the Femesumma. Clom’s leg was aching but the talk of technology and the idea that they might catch a glimpse of one of these trains took some of the pain away.

  “Are we likely to see one?” asked Clom, looking hopeful.

  “The trains still run on some parts of the track, but not this part,” said Huey.

  “Oh,” said Clom, sounding a little disappointed.

  “The Formless Ones would have no use for this form of transport, but it’s still operational?” questioned Lim.

  “They would have no practical use for it, but it would serve a purpose nonetheless, since prolonged suffering is their style. Breaking parts of the track or derailing a train will always cause disruption and don’t forget, this is just a game to them, wearing the Femesumma down, a piece at a time.”

  They had stopped briefly and Clom had taken the weight off his bad leg, which had started to throb. He was determined not to give in to the pain and refusing to be carried, he hobbled with Lim’s support. The risk of permanent damage was high and after only a short distance, Huey stopped and looked at the map and then at Clom.

  “Don’t look at me like that. I can make it,” said Clom.

  They followed the track for a while and then left it and climbed steadily. The lake they’d passed earlier that morning was still visible below, its surface shimmering in the morning light.

  Huey was up front, gliding over the difficult terrain and Laja wasn’t far behind him, making the climb look effortless.

  Clom was slowing them down and Lim and Joeum were practically carrying him and with their support, he hobbled up to where Huey and Laja were waiting. Clom complained that it felt like his leg had shortened and he was in a lot of pain now and his pale complexion was evident of this.

  Laja looked at Clom’s leg and his conclusion was that the ligaments had shortened, either from the initial attack or a reaction to the treatment. Clom’s condition could not be left untreated and his conclusion was the same as Huey’s and that continued use of his leg would result in permanent damage.

  Clom felt pathetic and said as much, but Laja assured him that he wasn’t and after some protesting, he agreed to let Huey carry him.

  They were moving a lot quicker now, working their way up the rugged slopes, which the Femesumma had attempted to tame, using drystone terracing. These drystone walls snaked around the contours of the mountain, which in the past had helped hold back valuable water for growing crops. Since these walls were lying in a state of disrepair, the mountain had begun to take back its slopes and the terraces that remained were filled with wild grasses and a hotchpotch of bushes and trees. Once refined and orderly, the terracing now only complicated the climb and they found themselves looking for collapsed parts of drystone wall to clamber through.

  They stopped briefly, while Huey took a look at his map, only there was a lot of interference and the hologram was unstable, which probably meant there was a strong scrambling device up ahead.

  The terraces got steadily wider until they found themselves on fairly level ground. The drystone walls continued, dividing up the land and some of these plots looked to have once been orchards. Most of the trees had fallen, either from age or disease and those that remained standing were probably not long for this world.

  It was pretty evident that the area had not been worked in quite some time and they followed what may have once been a track.

  Ahead of them was an area dotted with rocky outcrops and blending in almost invisibly with the surroundings was what looked like the remains of a dwelling. The dwelling had been constructed out of stone, a jigsaw of huge boulders. It was squat and partly obscured by the natural rock, making it appear as if hiding and not wanting to be seen.

  It had taken the best part of a day to get here and it was crucial that they got the next part right. Lives depended on it and Huey didn’t want to risk taking the humans any closer and he set Clom down.

  “You can’t just leave me here,” said Clom.

  “Only Laja and I will continue.”

  “Is this where the others are being held?” asked Lim.

  “That’s what the data is suggesting,” said Huey. “Whatever happens, remain here until we return.”

  “The place looks haunted if you ask me,” said Clom.

  “Haunted?” questioned Huey.

  “Don’t they have ghosts on Vulsumar?”

  “Ghosts?”

  “Okay, forget it,” Clom sighed.

  Laja and Huey continued towards the dwelling and they hadn’t gone far when something ran across their path, but whatever it was, it wasn’t sticking around.

  “This place looks deserted.”

  “It isn’t. We are being watched and the scrambling device they’re using is so strong that it’s affecting my sensors. There would be no need for such a device if there was nothing to hide.”

  Now up close, the dwelling leaned heavily on the natural rock, its walls bowed and buckled, its roof sloping at a precarious angle. In fact, there wasn’t a straight edge to be seen. Huey knew these mountains were littered with such dwellings, only this one held some secrets that it didn’t want to share.

  Huey informed Laja that there was a cloaked Femesumma on one of the higher terraces, just to the left of the dwelling and it was armed. Perhaps the Femesumma were hoping they would see a deserted building and leave.

  So far they hadn’t met with any hostility and if they were to keep the captives alive that was the way it had to stay.

  Huey continued to monitor the cloaked Femesumma, while Laja went in for a closer look. The door to this place looked pretty solid and since no one was coming out to them, maybe they should head on in. Laja tried the latch and leaned into the door, but it wouldn’t budge. He wasn’t overly surprised and since the cloaked Femesumma wasn’t challenging them, Huey came over to take a look for himself.

  A blue glow from Huey’s hands reflected on the rough surface of the door, as he began a deep scan, in an attempt to identify what security measures were in place, but there was a problem.

  “There’s been an activation.”

  Huey’s scan must have triggered an alarm because the site was now armed and Huey and Laja immediately went on the defensive. The turret on each of Huey’s shoulders became active, accompanied by a low hum of his combat-ready drives.

  The place had been slow to show its true colours, but they were about to get a taste of what was really here and within moments a turret had emerged from out of the ground and was searching for a target.

  As ready as he was, Huey had a bad feeling about this. He just hoped the humans were far enough away, so as not to get mixed up in what was about to go down.

  Huey shot out over open ground and the turret tracked him and fired, just as he had anticipated. Huey had a good turn of speed and was able to successfully evade and return fire. The turret sustained two direct hits, but it was built to withstand such an attack and this was far from over.

  The turret returned fire, missing Huey for a second time and blasted a huge boulder, which sent pieces of rock flying off in all directions. Some of this debris hit the ground close to where Laja was standing, but he
was okay. He had been waiting for the moment to join in the assault, eyeing up the turret and imagining he could take it out with a well-aimed projection of sound. To be effective, he needed to get closer and since Huey was still drawing its fire, now seemed as good a time as any.

  Laja launched himself forward, but his sudden movements drew the attention of both the armed Femesumma and the turret. Laja was fast, but dodging two projectiles at once was going to be a challenge. Laja saw a plasma bolt leave the cloaked weapon of the Femesumma and he was well out of the way when it impacted the ground. He had halved the distance to the turret but when the air distorted in front of it, he knew a second bolt of pure destructive energy was heading his way.

  Laja knew he only had one chance at this and a break in concentration would result in certain death. He assumed a defensive position and focused all his energy on creating a shield that he hoped would be enough to save him.

  The energy from the impact was so great that it pushed him backwards despite his grounding, but he held it together and this normally invisible shield, glowed and flexed violently. The air around him crackled from a build-up of charged energy, but the shield not only deflected the plasma bolt, it also returned it with enough force to split the turret’s casing, causing it to leap out of its mount.

  The twisted remains of the turret lay smoking and some parts of its construction glowed white hot. The rock behind it had also taken a huge hit and loose material was still settling.

  Huey was back at his side. “Impressive.”

  “But not impressive enough,” came a booming voice. “Deactivate that RDU or I’ll send these devils back to hell, where they belong.”

  Huey and Laja couldn’t see where the voice was coming from, but they guessed it was the cloaked Femesumma. Laja looked in the direction he thought the Femesumma should have been and there huddled on the ground were the three humans. So much for keeping them safe. They must have been rounded up, while Laja and Huey had been busy taking out the turret.

  “The RDU is the least of your worries,” said Laja. “We are seeking the rest of our group and I demand that you release them.”