The Prize: Book One

by Rob Buckman

  "What did you mean when you said you didn't want me to get killed?” She asked after what seemed like an eternity. Ellis felt shocked. It was the last thing she ever thought she'd say to him, but something compelled her. Maybe the oxygen content in the air was making her high.

  "Nothing." Penn answered, evasively.

  "Come on Penn, spit it out!” She knew she was pushing him, but for once, he had nowhere to go, literally.

  "Just what I said.” Penn tried to flatten himself against the wall.

  "Why don't you want me to get killed?” She held her breath, unconsciously moving closer. Penn breathed deeply, drawing in her lilac scent, unable to think of an answer that didn't make him look and feel like a fool.

  "Because…” he stammered, feeling himself blushing, “…because, Sub-Major Ellis, I have the hots for you.” He whispered at last, his yellow eyes locked on her gray ones.

  “You just want to fuck me.” She snapped, biting her lower lip.

  This was crazy. She knew asking that question would just complicate an already screwed up mission, but suddenly, for some reason she couldn't name she didn't care anymore. She in turn breathed in his scent, spicy cinnamon, suddenly wanting this man as she'd never wanted anyone in her life, but she was afraid. Penn looked at her, knowing the consequences. He'd trusted… no, loved a woman once, and it had almost cost him his life. Was he stupid enough to do it again? He fought a silent battle with himself as he looked deep into her eyes, feeling something inside him melt, maybe the ice around his heart, he didn't know, just that he felt compelled to speak.

  "No, damn it! I don't want to get into your pants!” He snapped at last. His angry words rocking Ellis back on her heels. It wasn't the answer she expected, biting back a small sob. Penn took a deep breath.

  “I don't want to just get into your pants, Sub-Major Ellis, I want to roll over every damn morning for the rest of my life, and kiss you.” Saying it, felt as if someone had lifted a enormous weight off his shoulders he didn't know he was carrying.

  That she hadn't expected. It felt as if Penn had just reached into her chest and squeezed her heart. She could hardly breathe, and for a moment, she wanted to smash him, and throw the words back in his face for the lies she knew they were, but she couldn't. Ellis jerked her head away as Penn lifted his hand, half-fearful he'd hit her. She raised her arm to fend his hand away, but her heart wasn't in it. The back of his fingers stroked her cheek, gently, caressing, a lover's touch. She closed her eyes and let out a soft sob.

  “You rotten lying bastard.”

  This was Penn, she thought. He hates me... he's nothing but a cold-blooded, ruthless killer… he had no more interest in me than he has in a cheap Portside hooker… a quick fuck… Her mind came up with a dozen reasons why she shouldn't believe him, but it didn't matter. She wanted him, wanted to believe his lies. For reasons she didn't want to explore, Ellis tended toward the submissive side sexually, and she gave in to Penn now. Penn sighed into her open mouth as their lips finally came together. The space restricted them, but their hands were free to explore each other's body. Fingers caressed cheeks, shoulders, arms, and hair. How long they stood there, God only knew, but at last, the door opened, yet neither made any effort to stop what they were doing. Feeling safe and comfortable in the confines of the elevator.

  “You think we should go have a look?” Penn asked at last.

  "Do we have to?” she asked, eyes bight and alive.

  "Not really. I don't give a damn about this mission. I have my prize. What else do I need?” They kissed again, oblivious to the world outside this small space.

  "What about the others?” Penn asked when they broke once more. His scent overwhelmed her senses, making it almost impossible to think, but in the end Ellis dropped her head onto his shoulder in defeat.

  "You're right. We're screwed.” She sighed in frustration. Duty was a bitch.

  The moment they exited, the door closed, and they stood in silence, holding hands while they waited for the others to arrive. Time passed, but the elevator never came back. Penn checked his crono. An hour had passed. He let go of her hand, and started checking the passageways leading off the room. To his surprise, the floors and walls were transparent, and he looked out into a giant lighted cavern. Transparent passageways crisscrossed the open area above and below them at random, with no discernible pattern. Some seemed to go up, others down, and it was almost impossible to get his bearings.

  "Major! Where are you?” the faint sound of Sergeant Jaxx's voice calling seemed to echo from several different directions at once. Another immediately followed.

  "Sergeant! Where the hell are you?” Captain Carras called out.

  "Squad Leader Dana and I are... well I'm not sure where we are.”

  "I can see them. They're one floor… well down a level from us,” Penn announced as he walked out where they could see him. “Up here, Captain.”

  "Right! I see you," Carras yelled, waving to him.

  "See if you can find a stairway up here.”

  "Hey, Major. Squad Leader Gemma, with Trooper Zinary over here.” Another voice called, muffled and distant. Looking through the transparent walls, they could see two more troopers about two hundred yards away and three floors down.

  ”How did you get over there?"

  "This is where the elevator dumped us out, Ma'am, and I mean dumped. We didn't want to get out, but the fracking elevator shocked us, and we had to.”

  "Shit! Why couldn't it be just an ordinary kind of elevator that goes up and down where you expect it to?” Ellis hissed.

  "Nothing in this place is what you expect.” Penn gave her a wry grin.

  "Tell me about it. Now what?”

  "We'll have to find a way to get everyone back together.”

  "Is that possible?"

  "Who knows?”

  Penn should have known things were just started go wrong. At several points, they saw the other pairs walking in every direction, some upside down, on what should be the ceiling. At one point, no more than a transparent wall separated them from Squad Leader Gemma, with Trooper Zinary, but they couldn't find a way through the barrier, nor around it. No matter how hard they pounded on the walls with the hilt of their knives, they couldn't even scratch the surface, let alone break it. Passageways started and ended in blank walls, yet when they turned back, a different passageway opened up. The light level also seemed to vary, depending on where they were. Sometimes it blazed as bright as day, at others, so dim that darkness shrouded the far wall of the room or cavern. Trusting to luck, Penn walked in a straight line wherever possible until he encountered something. One space they entered looked and smelled like a misty swamp, full of shifting green light, sucking mud, and nasty looking creatures that snapped and hissed at them as they passed. The place stank of death and decay, conjuring up images of rotting corpse with grinning skulls with empty eye sockets, and rats, maggots and worms feeding on the putrid flesh.

  Penn opted to use flares to protect them from the creatures, and to see where they were stepping. He tied the blindingly white flare to the end of a branch, and held it overhead, and it did keep the nasty critter at bay. Picking a line of march, and with some trepidation, they waded into the putrid muck. Ellis holding the flare stick, and her nose while Penn probed ahead with another branch for unseen holes in the squelchy bottom. Occasionally, some unseen creature brush their legs as it swam passed, but nothing actually attacked them. Hour after hour, they made their way through the ground fog with no end in sight, hoping it was the right way, as it was impossible to tell if they were going in the right direction or not. At last, Penn called a halt on a small island as they both needed to take a break. Ellis stuck the pole into the mud as they squatted, and pulled field rations out of their packs. The actinic white light bathed the island in its glare as they wolfed down the food, trying to look in every direction at once. When trouble came, it arrived from an unexpected quarter as the mud off to one side began to undulate toward them.

&nbs
p; “Oh shit!” Penn muttered as a worm-like body lifted it head out of the muck, swinging back and forth as if searching for a meal.

  “Just what I fucking well needed right now!” He swore as he pulled the short sword from behind his back.

  “What the hell is that thing!” Ellis stuttered.

  “How the hell should I know?” Penn shot back. ”You think I'm the fucking zoo keeper around here?” Just then, another sinewy head lifted out of the ooze.

  “Penn! I think we should get the hell out of here.” Ellis shuddered in disgust.

  Penn looked around, wondering if there were more of the strange worms, or if it was possible to go anywhere right now. The sightless head waved back and forth as if testing the air. Penn didn't know how, but something was attracting them. The huge oval mouth opened and closed, and they saw barbed hooks inside, plus shorter ones lining the throat. Anything that entered that mouth had one way to go, down into the gut to end up as a pile of worm shit.

  “God! That is so fucking ugly.” Penn snarled as the head dropped toward him. He ducked, slashing with the razor sharp blade.

  The knife opened the creature's skin and it started leaking stinking, yellow puss as it thrashed around. Ellis quickly popped another flare as the worm came back with its mouth open, she threw it down the creature's throat. The mouth closed over the flare, and this time the creature seemed to do a back flip, flailing around as the flare burning into the worm's soft interior flesh.

  “Shit! We can't keep doing that, or we won't have any flares left.”

  “Then think of something else damn it!” In a half crouch Penn looked away into the distance, trying to see something that he could turn into a weapon, or a place to retreat to, but there was nothing around them.

  ELLIS!” Penn jumped back, pushing Ellis to one side as another large creature lunged toward her.

  “FUCK!” He managed to say just before the mouth swallow him. The last thing he heard before the barbed teeth dug into his flesh was Ellis screaming his name. Then the mouth closed, engulfing him in stinking darkness.

  “PENN!”

  CHAPTER - TWENTY TWO: Grumbling from on high

  “So,” Captain Var Sarnoff Melche commented dryly. “At least your ground party has reached the structure.” He sipped his wine, savoring the taste.

  “Thankfully, yes, and about time,” General Tandy growled, taking a large mouthful of the flavored water the Captain was passing off on his guest as a wine.

  ”Before it crashed, the last high altitude probe spotted them moving through the doorway, or portal.”

  “It appears to me they took their time about getting there.” General Tandy eyed the Captain to see if he was joking. He wasn't, despite the sneering smile on his face.

  General Tandy wondered if he was so stupid, he didn't understand what traveling through thick jungle was like. Probably not. The look he saw on the rest of the Captain's table guests mirrored their Captain's look of disdain.

  “I'd say they made remarkable time.” Tandy hated to say it, as his hatred for humans was all-encompassing. On the other hand, he had to give the devil his due and protect the honor of IMPSEC.

  “Really?” Captain Melche raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes.” Tandy felt his jaw clenching, and push his anger back down. ”Their progress was probably due to the human. He grew up in a place like that.”

  “With one hundred miles between them, and the structure, ten miles a day seems totally inadequate,” Captain Melche sniffed disdainfully, cutting into his roasted meat with the care of a surgeon.

  “Being a Naval man, I can understand why you would think that.” General Tandy sat back, and signaled as he held up his glass. ”Put something in there that's drinkable,” he said as steward came up. More than one of the junior officer around the table looked up at the overhead as if to say, ‘what can you expect from a mud soldier’. By the time Tandy turned back to face them, their faces had the same look of bland disinterest as before.

  “And what did your ground party report on the inside of the structure?”

  “Nothing.” Tandy got out after a quick gulp of some fiery liquor he couldn't identify, not that he cared. ”The moment they entered, we lost all communications.”

  “Interesting,” Captain Melche murmured, “it would also explain why we have been unable to take any reading of the inside.” General Tandy was unaware they'd been trying to. Nosy Naval Captains had the habit of contracting lead poisoning or drowning in their own bath tubs

  “So, now all we can do is sit and wait.” Tandy grumbled, wishing in one way he was down there to keep them moving.

  The sooner they reached the control room, and switched off whatever was causing this effect, the sooner he'd be in control. Of course, Captain Melche and his senior officers would have to go. Maybe a shuttle accident when they came down to see his prize. If he could control the effect, it would be a simple matter to switch it back on at the appropriate moment. His hand-picked troopers could take over the ship and land it close to the pyramid, and once under its protection when the Director arrived with a second fleet it would be a simple matter to bring his fleet down. It was a comforting dream, and the one dream better than that, would be to see the expression on Director Markoff's face when his ship took its death plunge to the surface.

  “It appears they are in no hurry to accomplish their mission.” Lieutenant Hotath, the Captain's operations officer remarked.

  “Why do you say that, lieutenant?”

  “What is so hard about stumbling around inside a thousand year old building looking for an off switch?” He laughed. Eliciting condescending chuckles from the rest of the table.

  “Knowing soldiers,” his eyes swept around the table, “they are probably indulging in other 'activities', seeing you sent female troopers on this mission,” he tittered rather than let out a real laugh.

  General Tandy swept his eyes around the table, seeing sly smiles and knowing looks, as if they shared a secret. Tandy glowered at them, but refrained from voicing his thought that the effeminate Lieutenant Hotath would be more likely to engage in 'bunk buddy' activities than his combat team. And probable not with a member of the opposite sex either. Yet, he had to wonder what was taking Sub Major Ellis so long to reach the objective. What could possibility go wrong now they'd reached the building?

  CHAPTER - TWENTY THREE: Two for Dinner

  Penn managed to take one last deep breath before a jelly like mass coved his face. Almost immediately, it began to irritate his skin, then burn slightly. Stomach acid! Panic started to overwhelm him as the wall muscles of the creatures contracted, the throat barbs bit into his legs and back, pushing him deeper inside. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he forced his panic down; flashing back to the day he'd plunged through the pantana into the black sinking mud below. Much like this. He could hardly move in the glutinous mass, but thankfully, it wasn't deep and he could feel the root mass above him and managed to hack a way through, and stick his head out so he could breath. After that, his friends pulled him out, laughing themselves silly. The thought calmed him a little and, with an effort, he gripped the knives in each hand and stabbed sideways. Not unexpectedly, the points bounced off the tough skin of the throat. Penn contracted his stomach muscles, and stabbed again, stars starting to pinwheel behind his eye from lack of oxygen as his muscles went into overdrive. Again and again, he stabbed until at last one knife point found its way between the muscle and through the outer skin.

  Almost sobbing in relief, he jerked the knife upwards just as the walls contracted again. The movement aided the blade to slice a long gash through the tough skin. Turning the blade, he sawed sideways through muscle and soft cartilage of the creature's ribs. The worm thrashed, throwing him from side to side, as he redoubled his desperate bid for escape. Another contraction, but this time it moved him to a position where he could move his legs. He wiggled and kicked until he had his legs free in the opening, but barbs dug into his back, holding him in place, unable to free
upper body. As the black spots in his eye turned to star bursts, he felt something grab the back of his pants, jerking him backward, the barbs tearing his skin. For a panicky moment he thought another worm had latching onto him, until he realized Ellis was trying to pull him out. At last, the creature's muscles relaxed, and, like a pit in a squeezed orange, he popped out into the welcoming mud. Penn gasped for air as he used the scum leaden water to wash the burning goo off his face.

  “Penn! Will you get your ass up here and help!” Ellis yelling in panic as she slashed at another worm. Penn groaned and shook his head.

  “Don't get your freaking panties in a knot.” He snarled, struggling to his feet.

  Worms of all sizes surrounded them. Penn began to think the girl raped to death by the plant had gotten off way too easy. By the look of it, they were going to end up as a pile of worm shit. Penn stumbled his way back onto the islet, chopping and slashing as he went. For a while, they stood back to back, desperately fighting for their lives. Worm after worm attacked Ellis as he fought to protect her until he realized the worms weren't going after him. It took a moment to understand why. He was now covered in worm blood. Seeing a small worm coming toward them, Penn waited to strike, slicing cleanly through the whole body just behind the head as the worm moved passed him. The moment he did, he grabbed the thrashing body and covered Ellis with the stinking yellowy blood spurting from the severed arteries. Ellis squealed in protest as she wiped the filthy stuff out of her eyes, spitting and gagging from the blood that entered her mouth.