Godeena: SF Novel

by Stjepan Cobets

  Berry immediately threw himself down and looked at where E.T. is aiming. He shuddered when he spotted a robot with numberless sharp legs jumping towards him. E.T. pulled the trigger and the energy stroke through the robotic creature back a couple of feet, tearing apart its elongated arms and its bluish hull. E.T. continued to shoot at the other creatures which were jumping across the square and dashing towards them. “Berry, get up! I need your help.”

  Berry grabbed the rifle that was lying next to him, jumped to his feet, opened fire toward the invading robots and cried, “Damn, shit robots advancing like a rat!”

  E. T. brusquely snapped to him and brought down with precise hits a few more robots, “Shut up and shoot!”

  *

  They left the museum and passed through two corridors to the door that led to a lower level. After a short play with the combinations, Wilburn opened it. Henry waved his hand to Diana to come closer. “How many levels are there below us before we get to the radiation?”

  “Two more levels and then we reach the first level of radiation. It is in the three deepest levels.”

  “Where could the source of the radiation be?”

  “They come from the lowest level in the main room.”

  Kir, who was listening, said, “The Being is in that room. I lost him somewhere in that area. That’s the single place in the city where I’m not able to get closer to him. I reckon the radiation is the cause of that.”

  Henry raised his eyebrows and looked at Kir. “And you think that he is there?”

  “I don’t feel him anywhere else in the city. I’m convinced that he is hiding there and awaiting us.”

  Henry looked down the illuminated corridor that spiraled to some depth. “We won’t allow him to wait too long for us.”

  Further down they found a smaller room with three doors with encrypted coded locks. Henry looked towards Diana; she pointed to the right door and said, “Behind that door, there is a long corridor leading to the door to the next level.”

  Wilburn was already standing at Henry side. “Shall I open it?”

  “You may.”

  This time, he played with the code for longer, and he asked him, “Do you have some problem?”

  “This is more complicated,” he responded, continuing with innumerable possible combinations.

  “Will you be able to break it?”

  Wilburn only laughed loudly. “They don’t call me Sesame without any reason…” He quickly typed the last combination and, contentedly spreading his hands, shouted, “Open sesame!”

  The door opened only eight inches and then stuck with a dull clang. The corridor beyond was in complete darkness, so Henry threw two signal markers through the narrow gap and illuminated its interior with fluorescent green light. Beside the door, he noticed a pile of bones which had probably caused it to get stuck, but they weren’t the only ones. The entire corridor was full of bones. “The Being has no mercy,” he said quietly.

  Nobody was able to crawl through the narrow gap left by the stuck door, except Mark Bontovic. Henry called him. “Mark! Come here; there is a job for you.”

  When Mark came closer, he asked, interested, “What job?”

  “You have to crawl through this passage and move away from the bones which have stuck in the door.”

  Mark peeped through the narrow passage and concluded, “I have to take off my ammunition vest to be able to do that.”

  “Wilburn will help you!”

  While he was helping him, Henry threw into corridor three more markers as far as he could. Henry didn’t notice anything that would be dangerous, so he examined the mortal remains more carefully. The clothes were ripped off all of them, bones were broken, and the majority were headless. Mark interrupted his considerations.

  “I’m ready, Commander!”

  “The passage is very narrow. Be careful not to damage the suit.”

  “That won’t be a problem.”

  Mark first put his head slowly through the narrow passage and then slid like an eel to the other side.

  Henry asked him, “Can you see what was stuck in the groove of the door?”

  Mark shook his hand, “I’d like to have more light.”

  “Wilburn, get me his cannon!” When he was offered cannon to him, he switched on the light and handed him to Mark. “Hurry up; I don’t like you being all alone there on the other side.”

  Mark illuminated the corner at the bottom of the door. “A bone stuck in the groove of the door and halted it. Now I’ll…” He bent himself, lay the cannon aside and began to move the bones with an expression of disgust on his face.

  Out of the corner of Henry’s eye, he noticed some movement at the end of the corridor, so he lit it up. Something that was lying among the bones began moving slowly, shaking off the remnants of bones and clothes with which it had been covered. It didn’t look like one of the robots which had attacked them in the city; its body was coated with numberless small, flexible tubes filled with some greenish liquid which began to pulsate and lights up as it stood. Most of the tubes were connected to its chest, from which they forked off towards its head and legs. Two large red eyes focused on Henry like camera lenses. He aimed towards it and shouted, “Mark, hurry up!”

  Mark pulled out the bone. “I’ve got it!”

  While the door slowly opened, scraping against the broken bones, the robot dashed towards them like an arrow. Henry opened fire, hitting it in its chest. The energy impact slowed it down for a while. But robot still didn’t stop it, but it provided Henry with plenty of time to hit it again when he had slipped through the door. The second impact threw the robot to the opposite wall, along which it glided and scraped before falling to the floor. It looked like a marionette string puppet with the strings cut off: its limbs stuck out at crazy angles, and its head collapsed onto its shoulder. Henry approached it slowly; aiming at its chest, ready to fire at any movement, but the robot was still.

  Colburn and Wilburn followed him into the corridor. He signaled them to spread out. Suddenly the robot jumped up as if it had been catapulted and attacked Henry. Wilburn fired and missed, and Henry threw himself on his back, avoiding the attack from its sharp cutting edges which tore up the air a couple of inches above his chest. His rifle stuck in its leg and flew from his hand towards the entrance of the corridor. In its flight, the robot sliced Colburn’s right shoulder. He swore furiously. “Go to Hell your devil’s creature!”

  When it turned towards Mark, Henry took out his Ansker knife from its sheath and cries, “Shithead, come here!”

  For a moment, robot turned towards him, attracted by his yelling. At the same time, Mark unloaded his solar load into its shoulder. The robot swayed from the strike. The whole of its shoulder was melting and smoking, and some green liquid was spraying along its hand, which was hanging loose. This time, it turned towards Mark and Henry used the advantage of the moment to dash at it and jump. He cut off the flexible tubes at robot neck and its head rolled away towards the remains of its victims. Jets of green liquid sprayed along the way and the robot made another step before losing balance and falling down. For a while, its limbs twitched like a dying animal, but that only sped up it’s perishing as it created a green pool around itself. When it had completely quieted, Wilburn approached it, pushed it strongly with his leg and swore angrily, “What the devil is it?!”

  Colburn hissed through his teeth with a painful grimace on his face, “A dead devil.”

  Blood was running down his hand, so Henry asked him, “Are you all right?”

  “I’ve been better,” he answered with a sour smile.

  Henry stared at his grim face and makes claims, “I think you’ll have to return to base.”

  Colburn shook his head, he knowing that it would be disastrous to go down to the source of the radiation with his damaged equipment. Henry looked over his shoulder, and he asserts icily because the wound was quite deep, “But first we have to patch you up, friend. Keniko,
we need the equipment for the first aid!”

  Keniko ran up, opened the first aid bag and got out some sprays and a large plaster. Colburn was still holding his hurt shoulder so she asked him, “May I have a look at it?” He moved his hand from the wide cut and blood ran, but Keniko reacted quickly and sprayed the cut. The blood clotted instantaneously and stopped running. Then she made a wider cut in his clothes to have better access and used another spray to clean the clotted blood from the deep wound. She took out an injector which looked rather like a pistol and filled the wound with a special jelly. When the jelly began to coagulate, she closed the wound and plastered it, concluding contentedly, “It’s over, Sergeant, you’ll be like new.”

  Colburn looked to cut, and satisfied nodded. Then he pointed to the place where the clothes were torn and asserted dissatisfied watching the torn part, “This hole should be patched.

  While Keniko was plastering his torn up, suit Henry whispered into his ear, “Friend, you mustn’t come down with us. The radiation might kill you, and I don’t know how effective the plaster will be at protecting you against the Being.”

  “You don’t have to worry. If I am destined to die in these tunnels, then I’ll die anyway. I’m more worried about leaving you alone.”

  Henry laughed and looked askance at the rest of the crew. “I think you’re leaving me in safe hands.”

  He shook his head. “I know, but it’s different when I’m not with you. I think…”

  Henry gently leaned his hand on his shoulder. “Do not worry my friend. Just move your fat ass to the base and everything shall be well.”

  Colburn smiled at his comment, said, “I know some women who wouldn’t agree with your opinion that I have a fat ass.”

  “I’ve always said that we don’t discuss taste.”

  Colburn hit his chest with his healthy hand and shouted to all present, “Take care of him for me!”

  Endy was standing not far off and cleaning his hand grenade launcher. “As we can see, he takes considerable care of himself,” he said.

  Colburn approached him and tapped his shoulder. “I’m thinking just that. He always wants to be the center of attention.”

  Henry loudly claimed, “And I’m doing it very well,”

  “Yes but maybe a little too well. However, I must go to see what happens on the surface.” Though unwilling, he set off towards the exit, saying farewell to the rest of the crew. He turned towards Henry and shouted, raising his thumb, “See you when it’s all over.”

  “Take care of yourself, friend.” Henry waved to him.

  When he left the hall, Henry called to Vandor. “You go with me forward. I need your Khak cannon at my side; we’ll surely need it. I doubt that shit…”, Henry pushed the remnants of the robot on the floor, “…is the only one in these underground tunnels.”

  “I’ll enjoy chopping them up,” said Vandor as he stroked the cannon with his fingers.

  Diana was looking at the robot’s head and pushing it with her foot. Henry asked her as she angry watched the remains on the floor, “Diana, what is behind this door?”

  She woke up and looked through him for a while, and then after a brief reflection she said, “We have to pass through some small hall to reach the next place to descend.”

  “Marvelous! That means we may hope to meet more of these creatures.”

  Kir approached him and whispered in his ear. “You know they won’t permit us to come easily.”

  Henry was aware that it was a miracle that no one was killed in the first attack, but he still remained without Colburn, and it made him angry. “I don’t doubt that.” He waved to Mark and Vandor to come closer. “Vandor, you’ll take the position in front of the door with Mark, and I will protect your flanks.”

  They took his positions. Wilburn broke the security code quickly and stepped aside. The hall was in absolute darkness. Henry took out two signal torches from the vest, switched them on and threw them strongly into the hall. The dim green color of the flickering light illuminated the hall, but nobody was in it. He slowly stepped in with his rifle in front of him and watched the interior through the sight. With a hand, he signaled to Mark and Vandor to follow him. Except for the dust whirling and floating around his feet, nothing moved inside the hall, but when he stepped forward, some mechanism activated. There was no sound, only the bright, lively colors on the floor, which quickly rippled out in circles from the center to the edges of the hall.

  Henry loudly warned Mark and Wilburn, “I think we have woken up the beast! Prepare…” But he didn’t finish his sentence when tens of robots like the one they had killed in the corridor rushed through the doors and attacked them. Vandor immediately fired, tearing them to pieces with his Khak cannon. Mark hit the nearest one in its chest with his ultrasonic cannon; the brunt tore away its chest like a hammer and threw it into the group which was rushing towards them. However, it stopped them for only a moment; they ripped it into pieces as if it had been made of paper. They looked ghostly splattered with the green liquid.

  At Henry side Vallery appeared, firing and asking loudly, “Do you need some help?”

  Shooting one of the robots directly in its head, he said with a smile, “Always.”

  Presently the last one was lying on the floor. Vandor was still shooting and butchering an already killed robot, so Henry tapped him on the shoulder. “I think this one isn’t able to do you any harm.”

  Vandor stopped shooting and, while its parts rotated, he frowned and concluded in an icy voice, “Now it won’t, surely!”

  Henry set off, treading across the still smoking remnants and once firing a short burst into a robot which still was moving. Afterward, he waved to the others to follow him. “Let’s go down. We’re having so much fun.”

  The second and the third corridors were empty, though the lights in the floor were lit up. They arrived at the next door; behind it was the first level from which they were reading the radiation. With his fingers, Henry showed Wilburn what to do, and he wordlessly set about his job. But when he touched the security screen a strong energy stroke blinded all of them and threw him straight to Henry’s feet.

  When his eyes recovered from the light, he looked at his burned body that was still smoldering. Wilburn dead eyes were wide open and looked right at him. Henry could not move away from the sight of his eyes, in which he saw the shock and disbelief. He closed his eyes; this hit him more than he could have imagined. But instead of Wilburn, he saw Carlos’ pale face. His green eyes focused on him as if they would drag him into an abyss. A fresh wound opened. Henry was standing in the fields of death, everything was repeated, the smell of death filled his nostrils and down the back of the sliding icy sweat drops. They were dead; his soldiers were dead. Wilburn is dead.

  Vallery caught his shoulder and broke Henry out of his trance. “Are you all right? You completely pale.”

  Henry gathered his thoughts and said quietly, “I am OK.” He knelt and watched Wilburn with sorrow in his eyes. The front part of his suit was scorched and black as coal. He looked at his burnt face and then furiously hit with a hand against the floor and shouted, “Damn you and your tricks!”

  Henry got no answer but the dull silence which reigned in the room. When his emotions became wild as a storm, Kir approached him and whispered in a serious voice, “We have to move! We mustn’t delay here! He knows that we’re getting closer and closer and is taking advantage of our every mistake.”

  Henry growled, “I’ll kill him with pleasure.”

  “I don’t doubt it, but if we remain here, we won’t get to him.”

  Henry called Endy, who was looking at Wilburn’s dead body. “Endy, I want you to clear that passage!”

  Endy grinned contentedly. “Commander, it would be good if you moved away from the door!” He aimed and pulled the trigger. The door flew into a thousand pieces and the dust which had fallen for years dispersed all around them.

  I approached slowly and illuminated
the passage through which they had to descend to the next level. Nothing moved.

  *

  Colburn was angry. He reflected the whole way back to what had happened in that corridor. He hadn’t been ready for the attack, and he was convinced that he could have avoided the robot’s strike. Preoccupied with these thoughts, he didn’t notice that he had stepped out of the dome-shaped building. The Being didn’t attack him, so maybe he hadn’t even noticed him, and Keniko had done her job by covering the place where that shithead had cut him. Swiftly he made his way through the piles of destroyed robots, some of which still were smoking. He was worried that he wouldn’t find any of his men he had left at the aircraft alive, so he shouted when he came closer. “Berry!”

  A moment later Berry appeared from the other side of the transporter. Noticing the Sergeant, he waved his hand. “Here, Sergeant.”

  Colburn moved towards him. At his side John was leaning on the landing leg of the transporter; Knife and Flan were standing nearby and had just finished dressing John’s chest with a bandage. He was pale. His helmet was off, and his suit was splashed with blood. When he caught sight of the Sergeant he tried to say something, but a sharp attack of coughing caught him.

  Sergeant approached him, knelt and put a hand on his shoulder. “Take it easy.” Then he turned to the three other men and asked, “What happened?”

  Knife strongly pushed one of the supine robots, with its long sharp legs which reminded him of spiders. “One of them got hold of him.”

  Colburn looked at the small robot at his feet. It seemed frail. “How could they get close to you?”

  Berry threw his rifle on his shoulder. “There were hundreds of them. Besides, they were difficult to hit while they were jumping.”

  John collected himself and added, “Don’t blame them. I… I wasn’t… swift enough.”

  “I caught a glimpse of it when it jumped on him, but it had already hurt him when I killed it,” Flan said, massaging his neck.

  John looked at him. He knew that they had barely got out alive, and so he encouraged them. “You did the best you…” Suddenly he coughed again, wiped blood on his lips and caught Colburn’s hand. “Sergeant, can you come closer?”