Godeena: SF Novel

by Stjepan Cobets

  “So you’ve decided to be their bait.”

  “The others aren’t fast enough.”

  Vallery approached the desk, took a swift look at the map he had drawn for our plan and pointed to a place on it. “If you go through this passage, you might get there in time.”

  Henry had a look at the place at which she was pointing. “Er… I missed that part. That could give me a couple of seconds.”

  “Anyway, you’ll need much luck even if you do get through in time,” asserted Kir, and then she pointed at another place. “This is the most critical part – you’ll be exposed for twenty meters with no protection or shelter.”

  “I’ll have to be especially quick there…” All at once an interesting idea struck him. “What you think about if we break through a wall?”

  The two of them gazed at the place he had pointed to and Vallery commented, satisfied with his idea, “That’s great, but ten meters of exposure will still remain. That’s why Vandor and I will personally cover you.”

  Pointing to the map, Kir added, “I’ll protect you from this side with another man.”

  Henry simply nodded and concluded the conversation. “I think that’s it. There is nothing to add. When we start the action, everything will depend on me and Endy, who will be laying down the mines. However, first of all, we have to clear this part of Hularis and only then can we straighten out his elite units.”

  “Don’t forget that he’s in possession of the power to materialize his monsters,” Kir reminded me.

  “I haven’t forgotten it, but first, we have to reach him.” Then he turned to Vallery and gave a command. “Prepare everybody to move. Only Diana stays with the robots.”

  While Vallery marched towards the crew, who were entertained with one of the robots, he turned to Kir. “Did you feel anything during your meditation?”

  “I felt a trace of Aranam Guartinas, or at least what remains of him. Neekulba is still keeping him alive.”

  “How’s that possible? Aranam should have died a long time ago.”

  “I didn’t know that Neekulba could maintain the life of his creator for that long time. It is terrible; Aranam wasn’t able to offer resistance and couldn’t prevent Neekulba from growing wild.”

  “Have you communicated with them?”

  “No, but I’ve felt sorrow and horrible pain in Aranam’s brain.”

  “Where’s his body, or what remains of it?”

  “Neekulba has kept Aranam in a cybernetic chamber since the moment he took mastery over his thoughts. They are now an integrated Being. But I’ve felt something hidden deep under the surface of Aranam’s thoughts.”

  “What?”

  “He wants to die!”

  “Most probably he can’t forgive himself for making such a monster. It’s the single thing that it is to our advantage. It would be good if you could somehow…”

  Kir interrupted him, waving her hand as if she was rejecting his idea with the wind. “Unfortunately not, he has any influence over Neekulba and we won’t gain any benefit from his knowledge. Neekulba is entirely his master, and he will fight against us with all his power; he doesn’t want to die.”

  Henry picked up his equipment from the desk and said in a serious voice, “We have to ruin him at any cost! Shall we go?”

  “Let’s go?”

  “And where’s your rifle?”

  “I won’t need it anymore.”

  “I’d like if you had it with you.”

  “You shouldn’t worry about it. I know what I’m doing.”

  Henry shrugged with shoulders and watched the crew, who had gathered at the door that led out of this room of machinery, and then an idea struck him. He set off toward Halaman I. “Halaman I, could you help us?”

  He immediately stopped cleaning the large shaft of a machine, which he had polished to a perfect shine and turned to me. “How can I help you, Sir?”

  “Do you know the codes to open the remaining doors?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Can you insert them into this map?”

  The robot took the plate what Henry handed to him. “Before you came here Neekulba protected the door combinations with powerful electric shocks, which would react only if you entered the wrong code. I reckon that happened recently since we’ve had some problems with our generator. Now you’ll be safe; these codes are correct.”

  Henry read the codes and put the plate into his breast pocket. The robot bowed and continued cleaning the shaft. Henry checked the equipment and set off towards Vallery, interrupting her while she was adjusting Mark’s equipment. “Are they all ready?”

  “Yes, they are, Commander.”

  “When we have cleared the first corridor we’ll divide into groups. Mark, you and Vandor are coming with me.” Henry gave them to sign with his hand to follow him and, to their great surprise; Henry headed over to the panel at the door. He quickly typed code, took the safety off the rifle, pushed a clip into the socket and lifted it, ready to fire. According to the maps, there was an area before us which Hularis didn’t go into, but he wasn’t leaving anything to chance. He waved to Mark and Vandor to take their positions at my sides.

  The hall they entered was full of parts for the machines maintained by Halaman I and the other robots. On their left was a tall heap of destroyed and dusty parts and opposite this rubble, Henry was surprised to see a large number of desks and shelves filled with neatly tidied and polished parts. Some of the parts shine so that you could see yourself on their surfaces like in a mirror. Following Halaman’s map, they had to pass through a narrow passage between these ruined and rescued parts. It was three meters high but so narrow that two men could hardly pass each other. Henry decided to check whether the whole length of the passage was safe, so he commanded the crew to wait for him.

  Luckily there was no reason for his distrust; the robots had done a good job, and there was no chance that either of the walls would fall in. In fact, when Henry took a closer look at them he noticed that each item was tied in place by a green-blue metal alloy. It was elastic and soft to the touch, but when he tried to pull out one of these connectors it was impossible, they clung so strongly to the metal parts. The passage meandered like a snake between the high, bulky heaps and he came across a clearing, in which there was a heavy door. Henry went back to the group, who were waiting worriedly for him at the entrance, and Vandor asked him to look at one of the heaps. “Commander, will this fall on our heads?”

  “You needn’t worry about it; it is all fastened properly.”

  Endy, snickering, appeared from behind him. “Vandor, you needn’t worry, if anything falls on your head you won’t feel it, it’s so hard.”

  Vandor looked at him over his shoulder and snapped at him, “Endy, don’t be an asshole!”

  “What’s the matter with you? Claustrophobia is fucking you up.”

  “Well, up yours! What, do you have a problem with claustrophobia…?”

  “Stop it, you two! We’ve got better things to do than listen to you quarrel. Let’s go!”

  When they had all rallied at the door on the other side of the passage, Henry typed in the codes and prepared to fight. On the other side of the door a layer of dust as thick as a finger lay along the whole corridor, and when he stepped in it, a cloud of dust covered his boots. In the end, the corridor forked into two parts, left and right, but there was no one there. He pointed to Mark and Vandor to take their positions at his sides.

  “It’s too quiet. Be ready to open fire!”

  Henry had hardly said it when a door halfway down the left corridor began to open slowly. They stopped at once and aimed towards it, but nothing moved. He stopped Mark with his hand, took his place against the wall and indicated to Vandor to follow him on the opposite side. Mark took Henry place in the middle, adjusted the ultrasonic cannon for a narrower blow and followed them closely. Vallery and the others were protecting them in case something attacked them from the right-ha
nd corridor.

  Henry approached the door slowly and leaned on the wall; Vandor followed him on the other side, aiming the barrels of the Khak at the door. He was the first one to see the interior, but he didn’t notice any movement, so he moved a couple of meters forward to protect Henry. When he had taken the position, Henry moved to the door and shot a glance inside.

  He escaped the Hulari’s attack by a hair; it’s spiked claws scratched his visor. Luckily Vandor was ready and opened fire at once. The Hulari was stopped in its flight and thrown back into the room. Soon two more attackers jumped forward, but they had no chance and were chopped to pieces by the Khak. From the opposite side of the corridor, ten Hularis rushed towards them and Henry had to throw himself onto the floor before he began to shoot. Mark, an experienced fighter, knelt and fired. He didn’t even blink, even though all around him, energy blows whistled, and Vallery and the others were shooting over his head. Vandor quickly joined them, and soon heaps of chopped up Hularis were lying on the floor.

  Henry loudly shouted, raising my fist, “Hold fire!”

  When the fighting had died, he got up and reloaded. Vallery joined them with her crew, and they waited while he reconnoitered the room.

  “On this level, there are eight rooms,” Henry told the others, hastily glancing into the room at his back. “We have cleared this one, but there are seven more. I want all of them completely cleared like this one! Mark and Vandor, come with me. Vallery, you take the right corridor with Endy, Beny, and Lara. Kir, you come with us and Keniko, Miura and Karl down the left one.”

  Henry took out the plate from my breast pocket and waved to Vallery and Kir to join me. “I almost forgot…” he handed the plate to Vallery, “…these are the codes for all the doors. See to it not to make any mistakes when you type, or you’ll be burnt like Wilburn. Kir, when Vallery has copied down the codes you…”

  She interrupted him before he could finish the sentence. “I won’t need them.”

  “Ok.” He laughed and shook his head. “When all is cleared away we’ll meet back here!”

  Vallery promptly gave him back the plate, and he kept moving down the left tunnel. Somewhere in the middle, the corridor forked again. Again there was nobody. He left Kir and her group to watch the corridor while he closely examined a large room at one end. The door was half open, but luckily there were no attackers behind it, only parts for different robots. On the desks, we found some skeletons. In their hands, they had the tools they used to repair the robots. Death had found them quickly as well.

  They went back to Kir and checked the other rooms. Within half an hour the level was clear, and they all met back at the place they had agreed. Vallery informed him that they had destroyed two Hularis, and that was it. They were eager to realize the plan they had prepared. Henry switched on the 3D plan of the level and called Vallery and Endy over. He asked Endy where he should descend to reach the lowest level, where Neekulba and his security guard were situated. “Where’s the best place to place the mines, and where can we take shelter ourselves?”

  Endy ran his eyes over the map and concluded, pointing with his finger, “Nothing will be against us if we lay them in these places. Here on the floor and there on the walls and everything should be covered. Nobody will escape from that trap.”

  “How much time do I need to get from the entrance,” Henry ran his hand across the map, “up to this place?”

  After thinking for a short while, Endy concluded, “From the activation of the first one you’ve got exactly fourteen seconds till all the mines explode.”

  “When I run past the first one that will activate the timer?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s a very short fuse if I have to run about 180 meters.”

  “I reckon you’ll have to be very quick.” He gazed at him. “If I give you a longer period of activation they might get through to us and the explosion won’t have any effect.”

  “That’s true. Good, Endy, go and lays the mines!”

  While he was leaving Henry looked at Vallery and, pointing to the map, gave the command. “At this place open a hole on the wall, one meter by one meter and take care that the area is clear. I will probably jump on head first.”

  “That will be settled.”

  “Then let’s start the work! I’ll help Endy.”

  The Last Line

  XIV

  Henry drew a deep breath, took the safety off the Hydra and slowly typed the codes into the wall panel. While the door was gliding slowly into its slender grooves, he waited and aimed. A Kazmarazat activated some ten meters from the entrance and began moving towards him. At once, he fired the rockets.

  While the six rockets raced through the stale air, Henry threw off the rocket launcher and ran away as fast as he could. At the same time the Kazmarazat at which he had launched the rockets opened fire, destroying the wall of which he had just been standing. Hydra rockets hit him with all their force, ruining his massive armored body with their six potent explosions.

  The first mine activated with a short metallic click as he ran swiftly past it. Henry heard heavy treads and metal scratching on the floor behind him, which was shaking as if there were an earthquake. The Kazmarazats were running after him; there was no time to give up.

  Henry glanced at his watch, which was ticking away the seconds relentlessly, and he gathered all his energy and flew through the short corridor. Though he didn’t look back, he had the feeling that his pursuers were extremely close; their metallic noises were getting louder and louder. At the end of his frenzied run down the corridor, his cybernetic implements did their part, and Henry didn’t crash into the far wall; he took advantage of his momentum and, pushing strongly with his hands, he flew round the corner. Not even one second passed before the wall from Henry had pushed exploded into a thousand pieces under the impact of Kazmarazats plasma guns. Sweat was dripping off his face, but in the suit, Henry could not wipe his eyes and everything around him there was in a haze.

  Henry spotted Vallery, who was standing at the end of the corridor where a hole had been blown in the wall and giving him signals to dive onto the floor, and then she fired the rockets from her Hydra. There were only a couple of feet between Henry and the hole in the wall, and now six deadly rockets were flying towards him. Hi threw himself down at the last moment, a hundredth of a second before the rockets rushed above his head.

  Henry slid over the slippery, dusty floor and hit his shoulder with full force against the brim of the hole. The pain was unbearable, and he almost lost consciousness, his eyes full of tears, but then somebody firmly caught his hand and pulled him through the hole into the room behind. Just at that moment, the mines activated and a formidable explosion echoed in the corridor. Flames licked a couple of inches from his boots. Henry swiftly drew his legs into the room and right then he heard Endy’s voice.

  “I thought you’d need my help.”

  Henry sat up; sweat trickled down his forehead and stung his eyes, but he couldn’t raise the visor although he anxious wants to make. He was irritated because he could not wipe away the sweat and because almost nothing he has not seen. “I really needed it. Thank you, Endy!”

  “No problem, you’re welcome, anytime.”

  Endy gave him his hand to get up. When he was again on his feet Henry tried to move his arm at the shoulder. It hurt him like the Devil himself, but nothing was broken, which was a good sign. While he was doing that, Vallery ran up to him with panic in her face. “Are you all right? I had to fire… They were right behind…”

  Henry interrupted her. “Vallery, don’t worry, it’s all right! I would have reacted like you.”

  “Well, I tho… I thought that we had lost you.”

  At the moment Endy hit him on his back with his large palm. “Even these robots can’t kill him, let alone the cannons from a cruiser!”

  Henry shook his head and looked at him. “If it wasn’t for you a flame might have caught me or something worse
.”

  Endy with a serious expression on his face said, “Commander, it was my duty. I proposed this plan, and I wouldn’t like to have you on my conscience.” Then he began to laugh. “If anybody in Hades had told me that I would end up saving you, I’d have roared with laughter.”

  Henry was relieved when the suit activated collector moisture, and he soon could see Endy. He then patted him on the shoulder and thanked, “Nevertheless, I’m glad that you’ve changed your attitude after a beating in prison.”

  “Well, I’ve never lost consciousness after a single blow before! But I didn’t like being in Hades, and you were my card for escaping. How can I allow you to burn? Eh, I couldn’t let that happen.”

  Henry laughed loudly. “Your reason doesn’t matter; I’m just glad you were in the right place at the right time.”

  “Me too, Commander,” responded Endy, tapping his large hand on his shoulder.

  “I know, but I’d appreciate it if you took that forceful hand of yours off my painful shoulder.”

  Endy grinned innocently and said, “I take a little enjoyment in your pain.”

  “Be off with you before you feel pain like you did in Hades.”

  “Yes, Sir!”

  He saluted and moved back towards the rooms what they had previously cleared. Henry watched him as he left; he was committed to him, no matter what he had done before going to Hades. From outside he looked like a thug, but inside he had a kind heart. When he had gone, I turned to Vallery. “What are the conditions like in the corridor?”

  “I hit the first one behind you and the explosions of the mines tore apart all the others which were following you.”

  “I hope all of them followed me! We’ll we have to check when the dust settles!”

  *

  For an hour they waited eagerly for the dust to settle so they could see the effects of the mines. But before they could enter into the corridor Neekulba materialized above the fragments of the Kazmarazats. Endy, who was on guard duty while other people rested, ran up to Henry and said, “The Being has appeared!”