“Don’t say that. It’ll be all right.”
She squeezed Diana’s hand with her last gasp of strength and again coughed out some foam mixed with blood. “You were never good at lying…”
Then suddenly her whole body trembled like a leaf at the draft. Her hand which was squeezing Diana’s sank into the ground.
Gordon descended close to Diana and asked, “How is she?”
Diana lifted up the visor on her broken helmet, closed the wide open eyes of Vera. There was nothing to be said.
He stood silently for a couple of moment and then gently touched Dianaʼs shoulder. “Shall we bury her?”
She lifted her visor and wiped away her tears. “I think there’s no need to take her out of here.”
“Shall I collect stones?”
Diana looked at him sadly and waved with hand. “There is no need. Gordon, there are no animals here to tear her away, and the sand will fill the cave completely anyway.”
Gordon leaned over her and silently gave a last farewell by putting his fingers on her pale face. “Goodbye, Vera!”
Then he started climbing up the rope and left Diana alone. She was sitting on the damp ground and looking around aimlessly. The cave was beautiful, filled as it was with numerous stalactites and stalagmites which sparkled in the light from the flashlight. But no matter how beautiful it was, it was also the tomb of her best friend and Diana was starting to hate the place. After a few minutes of silence, she leaned over Vera and gently kissed her on the forehead. “Friend, see you in some better place at a better time. I’ll miss you.”
*
Considering that more than a month had now passed since that had happened, Diana was still unable to let the event go. Still,Veraʼs pale face was before Dianaʼs eyes. “I didn’t succeed in saving you, friend. I miss you! I miss you all!”
Diana cried as she set up one of the last transmitters. The red sun was leaving dark-coloured tracks on the brink of the horizon. The night was slowly overwhelming the day and the sky was adorned with numerous twinkling stars. Watching them, Diana noticed something that at first seemed like a star, but it was turning on and off at different intervals. She looked more intently at the shining, twinkling points and read aloud the Morse signals that they were being sent to her. Diana’s voice had a youthful exuberance, as she spoke the words loudly. “Go – towards – the east – to the crater… the rescuers – are – waiting – for you.”
The message was repeated again. With trembling hands, she reached for the map, turned on the light on her helmet and started looking for the crater, but it wasn’t there in a radius of a hundred miles. “The crater. What a devil’s crater!”
Diana enlarged the map and, her enthusiasm died instantly when she saw that the crater was about 150 miles from where she was now. Diana cried out loudly at the far light, which was sending the signals incessantly. “150 miles. Are you insane? If the desert doesn’t kill me, the Being will! He is very angry with me for I am constantly beating him.”
She threw herself on her back and lay on the warm sand. Diana closed her eyes and remembered the moment seven days ago when the Major had called from orbit with his rescue crew for the first time. The rescuers, Gordon and Nelly – all were dead now, and who could save her now when nobody could descend to the planet lest the monstrous Being would kill them? That’s why all these signals didn’t give her any hope, though they looked promising. Diana was scared.
Regardless, she would go to the crater. She had no choice now, but one thing was sure: Diana wouldn’t be as hasty as her friends had been.
*
Diana remembered Gordon’s laughing face as he came closer and handed her the communicator. “They are coming for us!”
“Who’s coming…?” But her question was interrupted by a voice from the communicator.
“This is Major Laura Panton, commander of the rescue team. Miss Uterra, can you hear us?”
Diana looked towards the place from which this rescue signal was coming. The storm, as usual, was approaching, getting closer and closer and moving much faster towards the tiny transmitter. After thinking for a short while, she quietly said, “We won’t be calling.”
Gordon was so surprised and asked in one single voice, “Why?”
“Look behind you!”
“Jesus! This time, it has come considerably earlier,” Gordon stressed with fear in his voice.
“Yes, for that reason we won’t be calling, or we’ll die long before they get to us. The rescue party must have already set off to where the transmitter is, and we have to speed up our pace lest the storm should catch up with us.”
“At least we might warn them.”
Diana closed her eyes. Truly it was the least they could do, so she took the communicator from his hand and shouted, “Major, don’t come closer to the transmitter or the storm!”
Then they repeatedly heard her voice, broken by the static disturbances. “We’re not appro… What happened….”
Then they heard only static rustling. Diana didn’t call them anymore for the storm had changed its direction and was moving towards them.
“There are no more calls. We have to flee from this place at once!”
“But…”
Diana hastily interrupted Gordon and pointed behind his back. “If we don’t set off immediately we’re dead!”
She moved to the East at a rapid pace, and they followed her reluctantly without raising any more issues. They spent a long part of the night in total silence. They hoped that the rescue crew would escape from the storm, but the communicator was silent the whole time. Suddenly, just before dawn, it came to life, and they heard the voice of the Major. Diana didn’t want to decide, so she asked the others, “What do you reckon?”
Gordon looked around. There was no storm anywhere in sight. “I think we might do it.”
“Give a call. I’m not able to endure this,” Nelly added.
“I agree with you this time, but first, we must find a place where we might hide in case the storm arrives before they do. I hope that is clear to you!”
“I agree with you, Diana.” He pointed to the right with his hand, to a huge stone surface. “I think that we could find an appropriate cave among those cliffs which would work as a makeshift shelter.”
Under the frail moonlight, Diana looked at the group of gigantic stones. Such hills were everywhere in this hot desert, and they had to avoid the hot sun in many caves, which were made by nature and the desert wind.
They hastened their pace to arrive as soon as possible to the huge stones. In those moments the stone seemed to be as far, as eternity, although in truth they were just a few miles away. They arrived within an hour and then they needed half an hour to find a proper shelter in one of the caves. Once they found a cave, only then did they send the first call. “This is Diana Uttera. Major Patton, answer please.”
After a short pause, they received a response. “Where are you now and why didn’t you call before?”
“Now we are ten miles to the east of the place from where we sent the Mayday signal. You’ll easily recognize the location – we are hiding in the rocky hillock. This talk has lasted too long. The Being might get the signal and set off toward us.”
“What Being?”
“The Being is one who killed all our friends in the base camp and who is destroying all our transmitters. And he might have killed you if you fell into the tempest encouraged by him.”
“We didn’t see any Being around the transmitter. But because of the bad weather, that appeared we had to leave that position.”
“So you were at the transmitter?!”
“Yes, and as we didn’t find you there, we had to leave because of the tempest.”
For a couple of moments, Diana thought about what the Major had said. To her the communication suddenly appeared suspicious; there was no chance of them landing near the communicator. But when Diana caught Gordon and Nelly’s glance she kept he
r suspicion to herself and said, “We’re awaiting you in the position that I described.”
“We’re arriving in a couple of minutes.”
Diana broke the contact. “That’s that. I hope the Being didn’t hear our conversation. I don’t know why but I had a very unpleasant feeling about that conversation.”
Gordon looked at her inquisitively, “Because they survived the tempest?”
“Yes, because of that.”
“It’s still a military transporter, more durable than the civilian one.”
“How come he didn’t attack them when they were at the transmitter?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he was busy pursuing us.”
“You believe that? Have you forgotten how mighty he is?”
He looked at her and after a short pause concluded, “They are coming for us. I don’t want to walk anymore in this shitty desert. Hand me that communicator; I’m going out to see them appear. You can continue thinking about the Being.” Gordon had no wish or will to stay on the planet anymore.
“Wait, I’m going with you!” Nelly ran out behind Gordon.
Diana watched them as going out of the cave. She had no respite from the terrible feeling. To calm herself down before going out behind them Diana reached for the water container and took a good gulp. “It’s all right. It might just be that they were lucky enough to avoid it.”
*
They were standing twenty-odd yards from the entrance to the cave, on a stone hillock, carefully watching the west because the transporter had to appear from that direction. Diana approached them and asked Gordon, who didn’t move his eyes from the western horizon, “Can you see them?”
“No. She said that they would be here in a couple of minutes.”
At that moment Nelly cried out, pointing in the direction from which they were coming. “I see them!”
In the distance, the lights were flickering on the outer parts of the transporter. Diana didn’t see any sign of the tempest behind them. It was a wonder that the Being wasn’t following them, and she said to herself, “Where’s the storm?”
Gordon put up his hands; he was clearly fed up with these questions. “What’s the matter with you? Isn’t it better without him?”
“This isn’t weird to you? Earlier, we would simply leave a tiny transmitter, and the tempest would appear. Now the people we were talking to a couple of minutes ago are flying a transporter to us, but the Being is nowhere to be seen. Isn’t that a little suspicious to you?”
“Maybe we’re that lucky…” He shrugged his shoulders and then turned to her. “Leave me alone, Diana! I want to get off this planet. That transporter is my ticket back home.”
Diana didn’t say anything more. She was anxiously watching the dark transporter, approaching quite fast.
Gordon called them and informed them to land on the stony plateau twenty yards under the place where they were standing. Though he didn’t get any response from the Major, he and Nelly started descending closer to where the transporter would land. Gordon turned towards Diana and beckoned her with his hand. “What the hell are you waiting for? They are landing soon!”
“I’ll watch the surrounding for a minute! I want to be sure that the monster doesn’t appear!”
“As you wish, but you have to know that we won’t be waiting long!” He laughed.
“You don’t have to worry. If it is all right, I’ll come down quickly!”
He shook his hand and started descending the slope.
The transporter was landing slowly, and now Diana noticed something odd on the top of the hull, which Nelly and Gordon weren’t able to see. It seemed that somebody or something had torn the hull. She wasn’t able to see the pilot and the pilot’s cabin was in the dark. Gordon and Nelly were watching the landing and Diana weren’t able to call out to them until the motor became silent. When it did, she lifted her visor and shouted loudly. “Run! Run away! It’s a trap!”
Gordon looked at her, confused. “What the hell are you talking…? What trap…?”
He was interrupted by the door opening and the hissing of the swing-stair, which slowly descended from the back of the transporter. At the open gate, the Major appeared in her battle uniform and started to come down to him. She turned her head strangely left and right and asked with interest, “Are you all here?”
Gordon lifted his visor and answered with a smile, “Are we taking off immediately?”
“Oh, yes, right away!”
He turned to Diana and shouted, “Diana! It’s all right. You may des…” He couldn’t finish his sentence as out of his chest appeared the black tip of a sword like an object, stained with blood.
Diana hurriedly lowered her visor and helplessly watched the wild expression of Major’s face as she repeatedly pierced him with her other hand; she was enjoying it. As Gordon fell to his knees, he looked in shock at the Major. She made another move, and it was the last he saw.
Nelly screamed and started to run up to Diana, but at that moment monsters appeared, closing her in a circle, and she didn’t see Nelly anymore. Not long after that her screams were silenced and Diana watched, panic-stricken, with widely opened eyes, the bloody slaughter by the monsters. Body parts and organs lay strewn across.
Then the Being, who had shape-shifted to appear like the Major, raised her gaze toward the place where Diana was standing, still as a stone, and shouted loudly, “Diana! It’s all right!” Her sweet voice sounded a morbid contrast to her grotesque appearance. Her uniform was totally bloody, and her hands ended in black sharp edges, stained with Gordon’s dark blood that dripped onto the ground beside her feet.
That voice woke Diana from her state of shock, and she dashed into the cave. Once in, she turned back to look at the top of the hillock where she had been standing a moment ago. A dozen of his monsters was wildly whirling their cutting edges, tearing up the air and striking against the stones, which echoed and emitted sparks. If Diana had stayed there, she would surely have been dead like her friends. Again she heard the loud call, but this time, it was Gordon’s voice.
“Diana! Where are you? It’s all right – you may come out!”
Diana hid in the deepest part of the cave and squatted inside a natural passage between the cliffs. She continued to be in shock with very little consciousness to keep her on. Her heart was pounding like crazy while his calls echoed loudly through the caves. She heard the howling monsters wildly thumping against the stony hillock; the echoes were almost metallic. The Being knew she was in the vicinity, but he couldn’t see Diana, so he fiercely roared and called her.
For a moment all became quiet, and that silence was a bit unnatural. Diana had sensed it right for within no time the wind grew wild. The tempest awoke and was more destructive than the others. But the cave was deep and safe enough, so Diana had no choice but to wait for it to calm down.
*
When the storm finally calmed after three days, the entrance of the cave was completely covered by the desert sand, so it took Diana a couple of hours to clear it away.
During those three days, she had worked out what to do. Diana had lost any hope of saving herself and escaping from the planet. She felt like a field mouse, caught by a giant hungry snake. However, Diana still decided to walk to the east, hoping that the Being’s power would be lesser there.
She had hoped for a miracle, and it had happened, but it was 150 miles from the place where she was lying. Diana felt miserable and broken as she lay and watched the signals.
Then she suddenly stood up and shouted, “I am fed up of this self-pitying!”
Diana quickly ate a dry fruit energy bar, had a gulp of water and put the knapsack on her back. “Let’s go, baby, there’s a long way before me, and it doesn’t pay to lie around!”
She watched the desert, which extended endlessly for miles and miles. Without a clear route before her, she set off. Diana knew that she would get closer to her aim with each step.
On the
Way to Godeena
VIII
“Can you see those soldiers, Lieutenant Jon?”
Jon with a deep voice full of hatred, curtly said, “You call them soldiers? They seem to be no more than a heap of garbage.”
Sergeant Colburn looked askance at the two officers who were talking at a neighboring table in the cruiser’s canteen. He wanted to wallop them in the middle of their offensive and ugly snouts, but he didn’t react to their comments. He looked at all of the prisoners at the table and whispered, “You better not be tricked by those provocations. Is that clear? I’m talking to you, Endy.”
Endy raised his eyes from his lunch tray and chewed his mashed potato, murmuring confusedly. “Mmm… But I… hmmm… haven’t said anything.”
Colburn waved his index finger at him and with a smile on his face, watching his blissfully disinterested face, said, “And you’d better continue doing that.”
Endy looked at the soldiers who provoked them and casually shook his head, put a piece of meat with a fork in his mouth and concluded, “Mmm… this food is much better than in the base. They have a fantastic cook.”
“You’re no better than a pig – you’re used to eating swill,” commented one of the soldiers at the opposite table, grinning.
Sergeant Colburn turned towards the Lieutenant and addressed him in his serious voice. “Temper your men, Lieutenant!”
He only laughed cynically. “And what will you do if I don’t, ‘Sergeant’?”
Colburn thought for a moment, “This is a piece of shit full of himself. I’d love to break his nose and close this slimy mouth with my fist.” Then he said to him with a voice full of teasing, “I reckon you’ll have to chat with my Brigadier. I’m not so stupid as to clash with you. You still have a higher rank, Lieutenant.” Colburn then nonchalantly turned his back.
Lieutenant Jon with clenched fists slammed on the table, on which cutlery and plates soared into the air and angrily asked him, “Are you provoking me, Sergeant?!”
Godeena: SF Novel Page 17