by Isaac Hooke
Sliding the strap over his shoulder and keeping the rifle at the ready, he made his way into the basement corridor. The red and blue emergency lights were present even down here, and the siren continued to whine in the background.
“Mom. Dad. Come in?” No answer. “Ralph, are you up?” Nothing.
He wanted to make his way to the exit and escape as far away from the farm as possible, but he had to get to his parents. He couldn’t leave them here for the aliens to capture or kill. According to his overhead map, the last known position of his parents was the twentieth floor, in their bedroom. That was before the map data had stopped updating, of course. They could be anywhere in the farm.
Well, he’d start at their bedroom and if they weren’t there he’d work his way outward.
He patted his rifle. He had a helping hand, now.
He returned to the lift, slung his rifle over his shoulder by the strap, and entered the maintenance tunnel. Previously he had taken the tunnel mostly because of the speed with which he could descend the ladder. But he had decided this was the best way to make his way upstairs without encountering more of the aliens—he suspected they couldn’t fit, not while inside those bulky battle suits.
And so he slowly made his way up in the dark, counting the outlines of the access panels until he reached the twentieth floor. He carefully opened the panel there, trying to make as little noise as possible. He slid the metal barrier aside and set it quietly down on the floor beyond.
He slid his head forward a smidgen and gazed out. The coast seemed clear.
Tane pulled himself into the corridor, slung his rifle down, and cautiously made his way forward. He reached an intersection, and he carefully peered past both sides before confirming the side passageways were clear. Then he continued forward.
He noted that he was remaining relatively calm. His heart rate and breathing were elevated, but only as much as demanded by the physical activity.
Fake it till you make it.
He supposed it helped that he was properly armed now.
Sealed doors occasionally led off on either side, to the different storage rooms, research facilities, and domes on this floor, but he didn’t bother opening them. He wanted to get to his parents’ room as quickly as possible, and since these doors would have to be manually pumped open, it would take too long to check the chambers beyond.
He rounded the final bend and spotted one of the suited creatures standing in front of his parents’ quarters.
That got his heart pumping.
Its back was toward him, and it had its large energy launcher pointed at the door, whose metal glowed white hot. Obviously the alien had already unleashed a few shots, and was prepping to fire again.
“Oh no you don’t,” Tane said quietly.
He aimed his rifle squarely at the glass helmet and squeezed the trigger. He held the trigger down to release the full ten round burst.
The plasma shots instantly closed the distance, striking in rapid succession. But each shot dispersed a half meter behind the helmet, the energy spreading outward in a circular pattern before fading away entirely. It was like watching ten fast moving drops of water send ripples across the surface of a lake.
The alien was shielded.
If the energy screen worked anything like TSN technology, then the protection levels diminished with each impact received. Those levels would slowly creep back to maximum as the shield recharged, but if Tane fired again before the levels were too high, he could penetrate.
He would just have to hope that the recharge rate of the alien’s shield was less than that of his own weapon. Given the surface area the shield had to cover, there was a good chance that it was.
The creature’s attention was successfully diverted from the door and it spun toward him, pointing the energy launcher his way.
Tane ducked behind the bend. He had used all ten rounds, meaning he had thirty seconds to wait until he could fire again.
He was expecting the alien’s launcher to light up the wall beside him, but instead only clicks and clacks floated to him from down the corridor. Was the alien trying to communicate with him?
He heard soft clangs. Footfalls. Growing in volume.
The creature was retreating from the door.
Coming closer to him.
And then someone spoke.
“Tane, what’s going on down there?”
It was his dad’s voice.
For a moment Tane almost fell for it. But then he realized it was an exact recording of the words his father had transmitted earlier when the dome was first breached.
Tane glanced at the weapon recharge timer on his HUD. Twenty seconds until he could fire a full ten round burst again.
A computerized voice came from around the bend next.
“I am Crag. Crag friend. Put weapon down.” Each word seemed taken from a different human speaker, the sentences a patchwork of various audio clips. “Friend.”
“What do you want!” Tane shouted. “Go away!”
“Crag friend!” the alien said. The words sounded closer. “Only want talk. Graaz’dhen come. Then talk.”
“Huh?” Tane said. “I don’t speak alien.”
“Only want talk,” the alien repeated. It sounded like it was just around the bend.
Tane retreated from the edge.
Five seconds.
He aimed his rifle at the bend. “All right, little bitch, let’s talk.”
“Good, you man,” the voice said. “Good. We talk. Friend.”
The lumbering form of the alien appeared, armored tentacles leading the way.
As soon as the glass helmet emerged, Tane squeezed the trigger. He unleashed another full ten shot burst.
The first eight bolts were absorbed by the energy shield, but the final two got through. The shots dissolved a small, perfectly circular hole into the helmet dome, and the yellow liquid composing the pressurized inner atmosphere gushed out. The fluid evaporated into a thick mist immediately upon exposure to air.
The creature dropped the energy launcher and those crab-like legs stepped back and forth wildly. Then the thing collapsed, its carapace tilting to one side. Liquid continued to ooze out and evaporate from the opening. Inside, that Tholan fly trap of a head had caved sickeningly to one side.
Tane approached, keeping his rifle aimed at the creature. When the thirty second mark passed, he fired another tentative shot into the head, creating another hole in the glass dome. This time, all ten shots got through, and that plant-like head exploded entirely, covering the insides of the dome in blue goo.
Shriveling his nose in disgust, Tane picked his way over the corpse. He paused when he passed over the energy launcher protruding from under the body. He almost left it, but the greedy part of his mind took over.
That has to be worth something.
He went to the bend and peered back down the corridor to confirm no more aliens were coming, then he slid the plasma rifle over his shoulder and pried the energy launcher out from underneath the corpse. The weapon was surprisingly light for its size. The ID screen came up:
Weapon: Unknown.
Item type: Unknown.
Additional damage: Unknown.
Additional effects: Unknown.
Class: Unknown.
It figured.
The weapon had two grips, one near the front, the other the rear. There was no apparent trigger. Wait, there was an embossed button on the side, next to the rear grip. He aimed the launcher down the corridor he had come, away from his parents’ quarters, and pressed the button. The weapon didn’t fire. Probably bio-encoded to the alien owner. Even so, something like this had to be worth a fortune on the black market. It was alien tech, after all.
He glanced at the door to his parents’ room. The white hot color had faded. The metal had good heat dispersion properties, apparently. Though he had no idea if his parents were still inside.
Well, he was about to find out. The alien had been trying to get in there for a reason, af
ter all.
Holding the unwieldy energy launcher with both hands against his chest, he hurried to the door. He was about to kick it, but then realized he wasn’t wearing his shoes anymore and would probably stub his toe. So he turned around and knocked three times with his heel.
“Dad open up!” Tane said. “Dad!”
He cringed at how loud his voice sounded. He rested the launcher against the wall and slid the C2 rifle down, turning around to guard the approach to the room with his rifle.
He waited a few moments but no response came from within.
“Dad!” Tane tried again. “Mom! Are you guys in there?”
Finally he heard what sounded like someone fumbling with the access panel inside, and then the door began to open in slow jerks. A pumping noise issued from the wall.
When a substantial crack had appeared, he heard his mom’s voice.
“Tane, is it really you?” she said.
Tane peered through the crack and saw her. “It’s me!”
“They were using your voice,” she said. “Trying to trick us into opening the door.”
“They did the same with you,” Tane said. “Or Dad, anyway. Is he there?”
“I’m here,” Dad said from somewhere close inside. “Working this damn door.”
The pumping sound started up again and the door began jerking open once more.
When it was wide enough to squeeze through, Tane shoved the energy launcher inside along the floor, and then afterwords forced himself through the crack.
He promptly hugged Mom, then Dad.
A single white emergency light illuminated their chamber, giving Tane’s eyes a rest from the alternating red and blue beacons in the corridors outside. And the klaxon was muted here.
“What is that?” His dad nodded toward the energy launcher on the floor while he worked the pump to close the door.
“One of their weapons,” Tane said. “The creature I caught outside almost fried your door with it. What the hell were those things anyway?”
Dad shook his head. “Dwellers.”
“Dwellers?” Tane said. “I thought those aliens were only a myth?”
“No, they’re real,” Dad said. “They were banished from our universe. But they’ve returned apparently.”
“I tried to reach you,” Tane said.
“I know,” Dad told him. “They took out our mixnet and then our power core. I managed to get out an SOS, though. The cops are on their way. I hope.”
A black tentacle abruptly thrust through the crack in the door and its clawed tip latched onto Tane’s shoulder.
4
Before Tane could react, the limb yanked him backward, slamming him into the wall right next to the door.
He twisted sideways and used his body weight to squirm free, and his shirt tore as he broke away. He stumbled forward, lost his balance, and landed on his back. Lying there on the rug, he directed his plasma rifle toward the crack in the door, aligned his sights over the now familiar glass dome, and squeezed the trigger, letting off a full ten round burst.
The creature backed away as its shield lit up, and it immediately slithered to the side, hiding from view beyond the edge of the crack.
Tane kept his rifle trained on the door as his dad continued pumping the manual closing latch.
“Mom, get behind me.” Tane scrambled upright and backed toward the far side of the room, upturned the sofa, and took cover behind it. Mom was just behind him.
Dad finished sealing the door and ducked behind a side counter.
Tane kept his C2 rifle aimed at the door. Several tense seconds passed. He realized the attacker was waiting for its protective energy field to reach full charge before attacking again, which would prevent Tane from penetrating and scoring a killing blow like he had with the previous alien.
“Is it gone?” Mom asked.
“No,” Tane told her. He glanced at Dad. “We have to get out of here.”
Dad’s eyes drifted upward.
Tane followed his gaze to the ceiling and spotted a vent overhead. “The ventilation duct?”
“It’s our only chance,” Dad said.
Mom shook her head fervently. “I can’t do it. I’m claustrophobic.”
“No he’s right, we have to,” Tane said.
“You go,” Mom said. “I’ll stay here and distract it for you.”
“No Mom,” Tane said.
“I can’t do it!” Mom said.
Tane took a deep breath. “Mom. If you stay, you’ll die.”
“Then I’ll die protecting you,” Mom said.
Tane held his ground. “You’re coming.” He glanced at Dad. “I could use some help here.”
“He’s right,” Dad told her. “We’re not leaving you. I’ll help you up get inside the duct. We’ll be right behind you.”
Mom hesitated.
“If you don’t do this, we all die,” Tane said. “Because we’re not leaving you.”
Those words seemed to finally get through to her, because Mom stiffened her back. “I’m not going to let my husband and son die.”
She bravely clambered onto the upturned couch and reached for the vent. Her hands were shaking.
“The screws are secured fairly tight,” she said.
“Get down for a second,” Tane told her.
When she did so, he aimed up at the vent, switched his rifle to single shot mode, and targeted the four screws in rapid succession.
Mom clambered back onto the couch, reached up, and easily removed the vent from the melted attachments. She let it drop to the floor. Dad joined her on the upturned couch and gave her a boost; she crawled into the overhead space. Her feet were trembling so bad that one of her ankles audible knocked against the duct frame.
Meanwhile the alien opened fire: the entrance door turned white hot at the center, and the incandescence soon expanded to fill the entire surface. The metal would dissolve very soon now.
“Hurry, Dad,” Tane said.
“You first,” Dad said.
“No,” Tane said. “I’m covering you.”
For a moment Dad seemed like he was about to physical haul Tane into the vent, but then he shrugged, leaped toward the vent, and pulled himself inside. Then he turned around and held down an open hand.
Tane glanced at the door. “Just a second.”
He retreated into the room, making for the alien energy launcher.
“Forget the weapon!” Dad said.
Letting the rifle hang from the strap on his shoulder, Tane grabbed the launcher and leaped onto the upturned couch. He slid the alien weapon into the vent, and then hauled himself up into the crawlspace.
Dad and Mom had retreated to make room for him, and when Tane was inside they proceeded into the duct on their hands and knees in single file. Tane dragged along the energy launcher with his left hand, the C2 with his right.
The white emergency light from the room only penetrated so far into the crawlspace, and the trio quickly found themselves immersed in darkness. Before she vanished into the murk, Tane saw that Mom was still shaking from obvious fear, but she forced herself courageously onward.
Tane pumped up his ISO settings but it didn’t help. He’d have to feel his way forward from here on out. He considered activating the weapon light on the rifle. It had two modes: visible light and infrared. He decided to keep it off for now, because he was worried about light leakage into the chambers and corridors below, something that would give them away. Then again, if they made noise, that would give them away just as well.
He tried to set down his arms and legs as softly as possible, and he noticed his parents were doing the same thing. He cringed whenever the metal creaked underneath any of them. He hoped the muted klaxon that continued screeching in the background would cover any noises they made.
He pulled up his overhead map. At least his location was still updating, and it showed how far he had moved from the room. Thankfully those blueprints included all the different ducts and crawlspaces.
> Distracted by the map he bumped into Dad’s boot with his hand. Dad kicked back slightly, digging his boot into Tane’s knuckles.
“Gah!” Tane exclaimed.
“Sorry,” Dad said, sliding his boot forward.
Tane heard a crunch coming from behind him, and realized the alien had broken through the door.
“Quiet,” Tane whispered.
The trio continued moving forward in single file, slowing slightly to make as little noise as possible. According to the map, Tane and his parents were just crossing over the neighboring compartment.
White light suddenly shone from behind him. Glancing back, he saw rents forming in the crawlspace as the alien unleashed its energy launcher into the ceiling. The illumination from the emergency light flooded inside.
Ahead, the crawlspace formed a T intersection, with a branch to the right. Mom and Dad immediately took the branch and Tane quickly followed after them, bringing the weapons with them. He paused there, past the bend, and peered back the way he had come.
He saw a glass dome rising through the rents torn into the crawlspace.
Tane quickly ducked, holding his breath. He considered firing on that dome, but he wouldn’t penetrate the fully charged shield, and the blow would serve only to give away his position. Then again, maybe the alien had deactivated its shield to peer inside—in theory, the energy field would prevent its body from getting too close to duct.
Before he could make up his mind, he heard the sound of shuffling feet, a sound that grew fainter by the second. He waited until the noise faded completely, and then peered past the edge.
The dweller had departed. Only the rent in the crawlspace remained, the light pouring inside from the room.
“We have to stay here,” Tane said, ducking back behind the bend. “Until they’re gone. They won’t find us. Check the map. There’s no access to the compartment underneath us. It’s dead space.”
He glanced at Mom. She seemed very pale under the emergency lighting that leaked up here from the room. She had managed to get her trembling under control, probably via her chip. The last thing they needed was the sound of knocking ankles and chattering teeth to give them away. Then again, he had just spoken several words. If anyone had given them away in that moment, it would be he.