The Planetsider Trilogy

by G J Ogden

  “We don’t have time; we have to act now. Maria is dying, and so is this planet,” said Page, gravely.

  “What do you mean by that?” Summer shot back, and if words had arrowheads, her question would have impaled Page to the wall.

  “It means we were also able to monitor the spread of the maddened as we descended through the atmosphere.” The words were spoken by Ashley, who had considered it the right time to inject herself into the discussion, now that the sensitive topic of Summer and Maria had been dealt with. “As I’m sure you already know, most of your settlements are at risk of being overrun, and it looks like a number of them are already on the verge of falling. If we don’t find a solution quickly, there may be no-one planetside left to save.”

  “Then the situation is graver than even we thought,” said Gaia, sagging into a chair. She looked tired and the vibrancy and musicality that usually accompanied her words and movements was missing.

  “There is still hope,” added Ashley, and her words were still bright and confident. “The moon base can produce the serum.” Her statement cut through the gloomy tension in the lab. “The base has facilities ideally suited to producing chemical compounds in volume.”

  “But then what?” said Summer, dismissively. “It’s no help to us on the moon.”

  Yuna dashed forward to join the group, as if electrified by the current of excitement that Ashley had generated.

  “What about distributing it in the atmosphere? We could modify an airborne compound, and perhaps even find a way to attach it to the moisture in the air.”

  Yuna looked at Gaia for confirmation, in case her idea was unworkable, but her mother simply raised her eyebrows and pressed her lips together, as if literally chewing over the different possibilities.

  “It could work, but again, we have no definitive way to know for sure, at least not in the time we have available.”

  “It’ll work.” Everyone looked around at the hermit; he had been so quiet that he’d become almost invisible. He smiled and repeated his statement, with similar gusto. “It’ll work, lass, I know it will.”

  “How can you?” asked Summer, with her usual tact.

  “Because it was death raining from the skies that created this damned mess in the first place, so it will it be the sky that brings us life again.”

  Summer scoffed. “Poetic nonsense.”

  The hermit just smiled at her, undeterred.

  “I wish I had your certainty,” said Gaia with a kind smile.

  “Ah, it’s not about what’s certain, it’s about what you believe,” said the hermit.

  Then he pressed his calloused hands snugly into the small of his back and appeared to melt into his own thoughts.

  “I often talk of hope, but the truth is I considered this world to be lost to the sickness a long time ago, and I never imagined it could be any different. For what it is worth, all of you have made a believer out of me.”

  Chapter 27

  Ethan woke with a start and instinctively reached for his short-staff, which he had placed close by his side before settling down to rest. He hadn’t actually expected to fall asleep, but Gaia had suggested that he and the others at least try while they finished synthesizing the samples of the serum. Exhaustion combined with mental and physical weariness had meant that sleep had come quickly and deeply.

  Disorientated, he gripped the short-staff in one hand while rubbing his blurry eyes with the other, and sat up. There was the sound of banging coming from somewhere, but he couldn’t place it. Summer and the hermit, who had been resting nearby, had also roused, and were both sat upright, straining to hear the noise. A second later it came again, and this time Ethan could distinguish different sounds, some duller and some sharp and vibrant, like smashing glass. He saw Page squeeze through the partition, appearing flustered and anxious. He and Ashley had been on the roof working on running repairs to the increasingly worn and damaged shuttle, using whatever they could find on the shelves.

  “We have a problem,” said Page, addressing the room as a whole. “A large group has broken into the building on the lower level. They’re not the creatures we fought in the underground city, but I wouldn’t call them normal either.”

  “Roamers,” said Ethan, stoically. He climbed groggily to his feet and looked at Yuna. “With the backup generator running, will the walls be strong enough to hold them out?”

  Ethan had barely finished the sentence when the lights in the room flickered and several of the consoles turned off and then back on again, starting up a sequence of flashes and beeps that filled the room. Yuna’s face went white, and she dashed from her workstation, which had remained online despite the blip to the power supply, and slid to her knees in front of the backup generator, frantically checking its controls. The lights flickered again and the reinforced opaque wall separating them from the internal corridors suddenly turned to a smoky translucent black, before again going completely opaque. Yuna continued to work the generator controls, clicking buttons and tapping at the panel so quickly that her fingers were a blur. A few seconds later the generator gave off a low-pitched whirring noise, which rose to a low hum, and then the power stabilized.

  “You just had to open your big mouth,” said Summer, after several seconds had elapsed without any further power fluctuations.

  Ethan was about to protest, but Summer had moved away to collect her bow and quiver. Slinging both over her shoulder she turned to Yuna. “Tell it to us straight, Yuna, what are the odds of that power thing failing completely?”

  “It’s bound to be a bit glitchy, it hasn’t been used for a long time,” Yuna answered, but then Summer cut across her with clinical sharpness.

  “I don’t want optimistic guesses or wishful thinking. Worst case scenario, yes or no, will it hold?”

  Yuna stared back down at the backup generator’s control panel, and then back to Summer. She sucked in her lips to wet them and then swallowed hard.

  “No, it will not.”

  Yuna’s answer seem to spark a fire in Summer and accelerate her thoughts and actions, while Ethan was still wiping sleep from his eyes. First, she turned to Gaia.

  “How much of the serum have you managed to make?”

  “Three samples. The fourth will be some minutes more.”

  “Three will have to do. Give one to Page now; we may not have the opportunity later.”

  There were more thuds and crashes, and Ethan ran to the door, peering through the small porthole window to check outside, catching glimpses of shapes moving and shadows flickering in the darkness.

  “They’re inside the building. It won’t be long until they find us in here.”

  Gaia grabbed a vial of the serum and slipped it into a protective metal canister. She ran this over to Page and handed it to him.

  “Guard that with your life, young man.” Gaia fixed him with a penetrating stare.

  Page slipped the canister into his webbing pouch and clipped it shut. “You can count on it.”

  He turned to leave, but Gaia suddenly grabbed him by his shirt cuff, “Wait! I forgot something. Come with me, quickly!” She dragged him over to the workstation and took hold of his left forearm. “I need to upload the formula to your data device. Please, connect your terminal here, it will be simpler to upload it manually.”

  Page did as Gaia instructed and waited as she operated the console and initiated the transfer. There was a heavy thud at the door and shouts from outside; nothing that was recognizable as words, but they were the utterances of beings that were still at least partly-human.

  “Yuna, go with the hermit and get onto the roof. Go!” Summer called out and Yuna nodded and ran, though the hermit was already waiting for her. The old man ushered her through the partition first and then slipped in to the darkness after her.

  Ethan and Summer backed away from the door, Summer drawing an arrow and nocking it in readiness. The lights flickered and the protective wall shimmered, alternating between translucent and opaque, at first too quick
ly to distinguish the two states as anything more than a blur, but then the transitions slowed, allowing a clear view to the corridor on the other side. Figures pressed their bodies to the glass, hammering with their fists. Ethan counted them… three, five… seven, before the lights stopped flickering and the wall again became opaque.

  “How long, Gaia?” Summer shouted, as she reached the narrow opening in the partition with Ethan by her side.

  “Done!” Gaia shouted, and then Page yanked the jacking cable out from the console and let it automatically whip back into its compartment on his PVSM, before drawing his sidearm, chambering a round and clicking off the safety. Gaia placed the other two samples in metal canisters matching the one she had given Page, slipped them into her black medical satchel and ran for the opening.

  “Page, go with her,” Summer called out.

  “But what about those things?”

  “You need to get that serum back to your base, that’s all that matters now. Leave the roamers to us.”

  Page vacillated, gritting his teeth, but then ran for the opening and slipped through.

  The ceiling lights flickered and shut off; then the consoles shut down accompanied by a low, descending whine. What light remained was filtered through the outer window, blanketing the room in a cool, blue sheen. With the power gone the reinforcement to the wall that separated the lab from the corridor had failed and the hammering fists of the roamers outside suddenly became vibrant and distinct.

  “Get ready!” Summer shouted then the glass shattered into thousands of tiny fragments and the roamers bolted inside.

  Summer’s first arrow had sunk into a roamer’s chest even before the glass had hit the floor, and she had reloaded and shot again within seconds. But though Ethan had counted seven when he had glimpsed through the window earlier, there were now too many to count.

  “We have to leave!” Ethan shouted as Summer sank another arrow into the face of a third roamer, and followed it a second later with an arrow deep into the throat of a fourth as it clambered over a desk towards them

  “Summer, now!”

  This time Summer did move, and Ethan followed grabbing the handle and heaving the sliding door shut, screaming at the top of his lungs as his muscles burned with the effort, but oily hands slipped through the gap, jamming it open. Ethan heard bone crunching as the door crushed into them, but dozens of bloodied fingers bent around the edge and pulled back, overpowering Ethan. He let go and ran, darting through the maze of right-angled passageways as the partition crashed open again behind him.

  “Push them over!” he heard Summer shouting. “The racks, we have to collapse them!”

  Ethan caught up with Summer and found her pushing against one of the tall metal shelving systems.

  “I can’t move it, help me!” Summer yelled at him, her face red and knuckles white. Ethan could hear the roamers closing in, and reached up, placing his hands beside Summer’s.

  “Push!” he cried.

  Together, their combined strength began to overwhelm the fastenings that held the racking units in place. Screaming and roaring they pushed harder and then the rack gave way, tumbling forward and smashing into the next, causing a domino effect that sent the whole lot crashing down. Caught in the middle, they could hear the frenzied shouts of the roamers as the metal framework pressed down around them like a cage.

  “It won’t hold them for long,” wheezed Ethan, breathing heavily and shaking his throbbing fingers, which felt like they were on fire.

  “It will have to do. Come on!”

  Ethan followed Summer around the final two bends and then up the mesh stairwell and through the door to the roof. Ethan slammed the solid metal door shut behind him.

  “It bolts from the inside; how do we close it?!”

  There was a rush of sound, and Ethan turned around to see Page, holding an object that appeared to be glowing with the heat of the sun.

  “Get back, I’ll seal the door!”

  Ethan and Summer backed away and let Page forward. Slowly and methodically, and with a hand that was far steadier than Ethan’s own at that point, Page used the device to melt together the seams of the door, turning it effectively into a single, solid sheet of metal. When he had finished, he shut off the device and backed away, breathing heavily, sweat dripping from his brow.

  “It’s a rough seal, but it will at least buy you some time.”

  The reactor of the UEC shuttle droned into life, building in volume and pitch as the power levels built up. Ashley jumped out of the hatch and ran to join them.

  “The reactor is hot; we’re ready,” said Ashley.

  From their vantage point on the roof, Page could see all around the rectangular laboratory building, and despite the darkening twilit sky, he could see shapes moving through the trees and along the shoreline. Then he spotted the crawler that Ethan and the others had arrived in, still parked beyond the overgrown woodland area bordering the shoreline; a woodland that seemed to be alive with movement.

  “You should all come back with us,” said Page, realizing at that moment just how desperate the situation was for anyone who remained.

  The hermit huffed. “Not likely lad, a trip in that crawler contraption was bad enough.”

  “But there are too many of them out there!” Page protested. “It’s too dangerous for you to stay here.”

  Ashley shook her head. “Karl, we’re low on fuel; we barely have enough power to break us two back into orbit, let alone with any passengers.” Then she looked at Gaia and Yuna and each of the planetsiders in turn. “Besides, you can see it on their faces; they don’t want to leave.”

  The hermit nodded. “This is our home, and its where we all belong. No damned monsters are going to chase us away.”

  Page scowled and pulled Ethan off to one side. “Ethan, think about it. Kurren’s regime is gone, but so is a lot of our leadership. We could really use dependable, strong people like you. People of good conscience.”

  Ethan considered his time on the moon base; in many ways it felt like a dream, but one that was so vivid and real that sometimes he could close his eyes and imagine himself back there. He envied how that small pocket of the pre-Fall civilization had a chance to start again, and part of him would have loved to help it grow and flourish into something better; but it was not his world.

  “Thank you, Karl, but as the hermit said, our place is here,” said Ethan, placing a hand on Page’s shoulder, which already seemed to be weighed down by invisible forces. “Besides, if it’s dependable, strong people you want then you only need to look in a mirror.”

  Page smiled and nodded, and then stretched out his hand; Ethan took it and they shook hands warmly.

  “As you wish, Ethan. Stay safe, and good luck. I’ll try to bring the healing rain as soon as I can.”

  “Same to you, Karl.” He released Page’s hand and half-turned to re-join the others, but he knew he’d left something unsaid, and had a nagging urge to speak his mind, in case there was not another opportunity.

  “Tell Maria she did good,” Ethan said, keeping his voice hushed so only Page could hear. “Tell her to forgive herself, you know? I’m not really great with words for things like this.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll tell her,” said Page.

  “And tell her I’ll be thinking about her, when I look up at the sky.”

  Page’s eyes widened. “Sounds a little cheesy, but okay.” Both of them laughed.

  “I’ll let you phrase it better then!” said Ethan, realizing it did sound corny. “But I think she’ll know what I mean.”

  “Karl, we need to go… Reactor’s hot,” interrupted Ashley, with a restrained urgency.

  The two men exchanged a final, respectful look and then Page ran back over to the UEC shuttle. Ethan looked the vessel over, and couldn’t help but notice the dents and scorch marks and scars that littered its wedge-like exterior. Ashley climbed back into the cockpit and, through the glass, Ethan could see her flipping switches and pressing panels, p
reparing the battle-worn vessel for another trip to the moon.

  Page re-emerged from the hatch holding two small devices that were about the same size as knife handles. Ethan ran over to him, wondering what had brought him back outside.

  “Karl, come on!” Ashley called out from inside the cockpit, but Page ignored her

  “Quickly, take these,” said Page, handing the devices to Ethan. “They’re grenades; explosives. Last resort stuff, you understand?” Ethan nodded. “To arm them, you twist this ring and depress this plunger.” Ethan tried to follow Page’s hurried actions, but didn’t fully catch his instructions. “Then, you have five seconds to get the hell away from them, before they detonate, got it?”

  Ethan nodded, despite not really understanding; there wasn’t time for a detailed lesson. Page drew his sidearm and offered it to him.

  “Here, take this too. You need it more than I do now. I hope, anyway!”

  Ethan shook his head and pushed the weapon back towards Page. “As Maria will tell you, I’m more of a danger than a help with one of these things.”

  Page laughed. “Fair enough, have it your way, planetsider.” The roar of the engines rose to a level that made it difficult to hear. He looked back and saw Ashley urgently waving at him through the cockpit glass.

  “I hope we meet again, Ethan,” Page yelled over the increasing roar of the shuttle’s engines.

  Ethan nodded. “Me too. Now get the hell out of here, before she leaves without you!”

  Page smiled and then ran back to the ship and disappeared through the hatch, which instantly hissed shut behind him.

  The roar of the engines rose to a peak and Ethan and the others backed away to give the shuttle clearance to move off, but despite the added distance the resulting blast of pressurized air as the shuttle’s thrusters fired almost knocked him flat. He stumbled back and was caught by Summer; he glanced at her briefly, holding the two grenades gingerly as if they were fragile artifacts, and then watched as the shuttle climbed higher in a straight vertical ascent, before it roared forward and then almost immediately angled its nose towards the sky and accelerated rapidly. Within seconds it had all but vanished, taking on the appearance of the mysterious lights he used to watch from underneath his tree on the mound outside Forest Gate, except instead of falling towards the horizon, it streaked upwards to the stars.