The Planetsider Trilogy

by G J Ogden

  Yuna and Gaia, on the other hand, had hardly noticed the extra cargo on account of being too distracted by the views out of the windows as the crawler rumbled along the shore of the great lake, which was bordered on all sides by rolling, rocky green hills. There were pockets that had clearly been scarred by the toxic debris that had rained down after the destruction of the orbital refinery generations ago, but this long lake, guarded on all sides by mountains, had escaped remarkably unscathed. As a result, it was an almost idyllic setting, certainly compared to the wastelands that occupied much of the rest of the region. In contrast to these, the lakeside oasis contained a wide variety of flora, and there was more wildlife concentrated around the shore of the beautiful, glassy lake than Ethan had seen across more than a hundred miles of woodlands around Forest Gate.

  “Why are there no roamers or maddened creatures out here?” said Ethan, asking the question that had bothered him since arriving. The hermit opened his eyes; he had seemingly been napping, lulled by the gentle rocking of the crawler as it bumped and swayed over the rough terrain.

  “I’m sorry, lad, what was the question again?” he said, managing to fit the entire sentence into the same breath as a yawn. Summer glanced over at the old man and smiled; an unexpected reaction which momentarily stunned Ethan into a confused silence, before he repeated his question.

  “I used to spend a lot of time wondering about that myself, when I was a younger man,” answered the hermit, rubbing his craggy face. “By my reckoning, it’s because this place escaped the bombardment, for the most part anyway.”

  “But why would that matter?” said Summer, engaging with the conversation amicably, again to Ethan’s surprise.

  “My observation, young Summer, is that these creatures tend to congregate where the radiation fallout is highest; it’s like they are drawn to it, like metal to magnets,” said the hermit, in a wise-sounding voice. “That’s why you mostly find them in the cities. Or, at least they were, until that hunk of space station sent them spilling out like a river that’s burst its banks. They follow the waterways, you see, so we should watch our step, once we finally get off this infernal contraption.”

  Ethan glanced ahead and saw a long, two-storey building in the far distance, which looked like it was partly overlapping the shoreline of the river, with the far wall vanishing below the waterline. “Is that the place, up ahead?” he said, pointing off into the distance.

  The hermit shuffled to his knees and squinted off in the direction of the lake. “Aye, that’s the place.”

  Ethan carefully moved up to the cabin and tapped on the rear glass. Gaia looked back at him, quizzically, and Ethan motioned to the building up ahead. Gaia appeared to understand and communicated the message to Yuna, and moments later the crawler slowed and started to arc in the direction of the laboratory. Ethan stood up, grabbing hold of the railings above the cabin and studied their destination. As the hermit had indicated, the building was completely intact, but it was also shrouded in more than a century’s worth of weeds and overgrown trees and bushes, and the road down to it was impassible, even for the crawler. Yuna also appeared to have noticed this, and had eased the armored transport to a stop about a hundred meters away. The door hatches on both sides hissed open and Gaia and Yuna stepped out. Reaching into the rear cabin, Gaia then removed a bulky-looking backpack and pulled it on, and though it looked unwieldly, it did not appear to be encumbering her.

  “This is as close as I can get,” said Yuna. “We’ll have to cover the rest of the distance on foot.”

  Remembering what the hermit had said about the possibility of enemies close to the shore line, Ethan grabbed a bolt-thrower from the stow in the rear compartment, and lowered it towards Yuna.

  “The hermit said there could be unwanted guests up ahead, so you’d better take this.”

  Yuna anxiously looked around her and then quickly took the weapon, arming it immediately. “Thanks for the heads up, but I hope we don’t need these.”

  The hermit jumped down in another demonstration of his unfeasibly adept agility, and grabbed his stick from the rear seat of the cabin. He gripped the old wooden cane tightly and then turned to Ethan, looking suddenly troubled.

  “I don’t have a good feeling about this place, lad,” he said, solemnly. “We should get inside as soon as possible.”

  Ethan wasn’t used to seeing the hermit so ill at ease and it put his senses on edge. He grabbed the second bolt-thrower and loaded it, then looked at Summer, who read his expression, picked up her bow and drew an arrow.

  “Let’s try to find a way through that less dense patch of trees over there,” said Ethan, indicating just off to the right of the building. “Move quickly, but everyone stay alert.”

  Summer took the lead with Yuna and Ethan brought up the rear, carefully watching the hermit, who seemed to be growing increasingly anxious. The route through the trees wasn’t easy, and Ethan wondered whether approaching more directly along the shore-line would have got them closer. He decided that turning back would be equally as challenging as moving forward, so he pressed ahead.

  Summer stepped on a branch and the sharp crack sent a small flock of birds into the sky. Everyone stopped to watch, transfixed by the sight of so many living birds, which were as rare as pearls in oysters. Then there was another sound of wood snapping underfoot and Ethan felt a chill trickle down his spine; none of their group had yet to take another step forward. He spun around to cover the rear, peering through the undergrowth, trying to spot whatever could have made the sound, but saw nothing. Summer let out a muted but sharp whistle, and Ethan turned back to face her.

  “Up ahead,” she whispered, bow string pulled taught. “A hundred meters, maybe less. We must get out of these trees.”

  Ethan nodded and waved her on, then tapped Gaia on the shoulder. She was standing close beside the hermit.

  “Gaia, we need to move fast, but don’t lose the group. If we stop, you stop, understood?”

  Gaia nodded in short hurried bursts and then followed close behind Ethan, with the hermit at her side.

  Summer replaced the arrow in her quiver and slung the bow over her shoulder; the trees had become too tightly packed to make archery an effective form of attack. Instead, she drew her ranger’s short-staff and bounded through the trees, keeping several meters ahead of Yuna. Soon she had reached the edge of the narrow woodland, and had a clear view of the laboratory building ahead; the terrain between them and the building was relatively flat, but the long, wiry grasses would make running arduous, even for the sprightly hermit.

  Summer smashed through a web of overgrown branches and weeds using the short staff and broke through into the grasslands. She turned back to check on the others, but then caught sight of a figure out of the corner of her eye, crouched low and waiting, a thick, gnarled tree branch clutched between its blackened fingers. She had only a fraction of a second to react before the roamer darted forwards and swung the crude club at her head, but it was a wild and ungainly attack, which Summer parried with relative ease. She backed away from the roamer and shouted a warning towards the others, while keeping her eyes firmly locked onto her attacker. The figure was still recognizably a woman, but its weathered and torn clothes and the pale, oily skin that clung to its gaunt face was indicative of a roamer in the advanced stages of the Maddening. It lunged again, but Summer dodged and brought the short-staff swiftly down across the roamer’s face, feeling the cheek bones collapse from the impact with a nauseating crunch. Yuna rushed out in time to see the roamer fall, but then a second raced towards them both from out of the tree line several meters further back from where the first had been hiding. Yuna fired a single, expertly-aimed bolt into its chest, which stopped the roamer mid-charge, as if it had run into an invisible barrier. It toppled forward and lay on the grass, quivering.

  Gaia and the hermit emerged next and Ethan steered them behind Yuna. The hermit no longer looked anxious; instead his face wore a mask of gritty determination.

  �
��That won’t be the last of them, lad,” the hermit announced, fixing Ethan with a funereal stare. “Check along the river bank. We must move quickly; more will come.”

  Ethan glanced at Summer, who immediately ran ahead onto a low knoll to get a better vantage down towards the river bank, spotting six more roamers stalking towards their position. She stowed the short-staff and unhooked the bow from around her neck.

  “Ethan, get them into the building,” Summer said, her tone confident and assured. “Yuna and I will hold them off.”

  Ethan recognized the determination in her voice and the matching fire burning in her eyes and, despite the impending danger, he smiled. This was the Summer of old; the fearless force of nature that stood before the storm and beckoned it on. He called to Gaia and the hermit to run for the laboratory as fast as they could, and then he followed behind, staying alert to any other threats.

  Summer planted her feet firmly into the soft earth of the knoll and nocked an arrow. Yuna appeared by her side and raised the bolt-thrower.

  “Save that until they get closer,” said Summer, while keeping her eyes fixed on the approaching roamers.

  “Are you sure?” Yuna said, suddenly aware of how exposed they were, and how they were also outnumbered by at least three to one.

  Summer didn’t answer, but raised the bow, took a breath and held it, then let the arrow fly. Yuna watched as it sailed through the air in a shallow arc and thudded into the eye socket of the nearest roamer. Yuna lowered her bolt-thrower and watched in amazement as Summer drew again and impaled an arrow into the next roamer’s chest, and then shot for a third time in rapid succession, piercing the arrow into the following roamer’s abdomen.

  “I can leave some for you, if you want?” said Summer, glancing down at Yuna with a wry smile.

  “No, no, just keep doing what you’re doing!” said Yuna, as Summer fired again, this time impaling the roamer through the throat. Yuna winced and grimaced as it fell, spurting blood like a leaking water skin. Then the smile fell from Summer’s face.

  “What is it?” asked Yuna gravely.

  “We need to go, now!” cried Summer, running down off the mound. Yuna darted across to where Summer had been standing and peered towards the shore; instead of the two roamers she had expected to see, there were now at least a dozen, all charging towards her. She stood, dumbstruck, rooted to the spot by fear.

  “Yuna!”

  The cry brought her to her senses, and she stumbled off the mound, nearly falling, and then fled for her life, her heart pounding in her chest like a beating drum. Ahead of her, less than twenty meters from the laboratory building, Summer slid to a stop and spun around, drawing another arrow. Yuna hesitated and slowed, wondering if she should also turn and face their attackers, but Summer dispelled her doubt.

  “No, keep going, go!” Summer screamed before launching the arrow into the gut of a roamer that had broken over the crest of the knoll. Yuna continued on, but then glanced back nervously, knowing that Summer couldn’t possibly face them all alone.

  “Get to the building!” shouted Summer, nocking another arrow and leading the target. “Cover me when you get there!”

  Yuna glanced in the direction that Summer was aiming and saw two more roamers, closing fast; faster than she could possibly run, but she ran anyway and didn’t look back.

  Summer let the arrow fly, striking the first of their two pursuers in the leg; it fell and tumbled, but then continued to drag itself forward. She drew another arrow, but the frightening pace of the second enemy meant it was already almost on top of her, and there was neither the time nor range to fire. Instead, she pressed her heels into the dirt and let the roamer charge, thrusting the blade of the arrow through its esophagus like a spear. Summer didn’t even have time to blink before the dying creature collided with her, and she was flung backwards. She tumbled head over feet for several meters, but the dense, sinewy grasses cushioned her fall so that it was no more painful then rolling in hay.

  She rose up, grabbed the bow which had landed by her side, hooking it over her shoulder, and sprinted for the laboratory building, where Yuna and Ethan stood waiting beside an open doorway, frantically waving her on. She saw Yuna raise the bolt-thrower as if aiming directly at her, and jinked to the side to get out of the line of fire. The pneumatic thud of the weapon rang and she heard the garbled, guttural growls of impaled roamers falling at her flanks.

  “Look out!” Yuna cried, and Summer spun around to see a figure lunging towards her, hands outstretched to her throat. She caught the creature’s wrists and wrestled it to the ground, feeling its thorny fingers scrape against her face and head. Shifting her weight forward, she pressed her knee into its neck, drew her knife and sunk the blade into its chest, pulling down savagely to slice through its gray flesh.

  Leaving the creature prone, she sprang back to her feet and turned as yet another advanced, but this was less warped and maddened than the others. It crept forward, peering at Summer with the semi-human intelligence still contained within its addled brain. Summer backed away, glancing sharply behind to get her bearings to the door.

  “Summer, hurry!” she heard someone shout, and the roamer darted forward, but Summer slashed the blade across its forearm, forcing it back, howling with fury. She backpedaled faster and felt her boots land on the solid, manufactured paths surrounding the laboratory building. She chanced another look behind to make sure she was still on course and saw Ethan holding the door open, his eyes fretful. The momentary distraction gave the roamer another opening and it struck Summer across the face, scraping a bloody smear across her cheek. Summer roared, but with rage not pain, and then caught her assailant’s arm, twisting it to add pressure to the shoulder and elbow, leaving its chest and throat exposed. It scowled and tried unsuccessfully to break free, growling with an animalistic savagery, but the eyes staring back at it possessed a matching ferocity. Summer drove her dagger into its throat and pushed until the blade was fully submerged into its flesh, all the time screaming at the top of her lungs. If Ethan had not seen it with his own eyes and heard it with his own ears, he would have assumed it to be the cry of one of the maddened.

  Summer kicked the body away contemptuously, leaving the knife in its throat, and peered back towards the knoll. Yet more roamers broke over the crest and began charging towards her, and even in Summer’s rage-fueled frenzy, her instincts told her that the odds were too great. She turned and sprinted for the door with the enemies gaining rapidly, and then cannoned off the metal frame and landed heavily inside the threshold as Ethan hauled the slab of metal shut. Yuna dashed forward and activated the lock using a data pad jacked into the door controls and a second later the bodies of their pursuers crashed into the other side and began to pummel against the thick metal in a futile attempt to break in. Everyone backed away from the door, while Summer picked herself up off the floor and smacked the dust from her clothes, her eyes still burning brightly.

  “Remind me never to pick a fight with you, young Summer!” said the hermit, cheerfully. And despite the rage still burning in her gut, Summer laughed.

  Chapter 25

  Summer massaged her bruised shoulder, which was smarting from the impact with the door, and nonchalantly wiped the bloody smear from her face with the sleeve of her tunic, adding another dark red stain to the already sizable collection that blotted her ranger’s clothing.

  “That was a close one!” the hermit said, beaming. “And from someone who has had some pretty close shaves, that’s saying something!”

  Summer smiled, “I’m glad you’re amused, old man.”

  “You have to laugh, young Summer, otherwise you’d go mad.” Then he winked at her. “Some say I already have…”

  “If I might be the voice of reason…” Gaia interjected. “This corridor seems damp, as if there has been water ingress, perhaps even recently.”

  “Water in-what?” said the hermit, cocking an eyebrow.

  Ethan nodded to Gaia. “She means that if water can get in
here, then maybe those things can too.”

  “Or perhaps they already have,” added Gaia, somberly. “I share your relief at us making it this far, but I suggest we remain vigilant.”

  Gaia’s warning had the desired effect of clearing everyone’s heads and concentrating minds back on the task at hand. Ethan drew his knife, flipped it so that the handle was facing outwards and offered it to Summer.

  “Here, I think you lost yours somewhere inside that last roamer’s throat.”

  Summer took it, inspected it as a connoisseur might inspect a priceless work of art, and then held it at her side. “Thanks, I always did like this.”

  “I’ve retrieved that knife from things far viler than your disgusting friend out there,” said Ethan, “and I expect you to do the same, should you decide to impale anything else.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t lose it,” said Summer, in the resigned tone of someone being nagged, and then with an almost imperceptible smirk, added, “but I might not give it back to you, either.”

  Ethan rolled his eyes and then lifted the bolt-thrower to a low ready position.

  “I suggest I take the lead, with Yuna covering the rear. Gaia, I don’t suppose you can suggest where in this place we might find the equipment you need?”

  Gaia appeared to be squinting, as if concentrating on a faraway object.

  “I’d say we should follow this corridor and take the next right, and then we go left and up to the first floor. Head along the corridor and take the second right, and we reach the genomic medicine laboratory. I should be able to find what I need in there.”

  Everyone looked suitably astounded, besides the hermit, who simply appeared curious. “And how exactly do you know that, lass? I thought I was the ancient one, but it sounds to me like you used to work here!”

  Gaia smiled and pointed to an illustration on the wall. “I just looked at the map.”