by SD Tanner
“Where are they going?” Lexie asked.
He didn’t know, but he wasn’t sure he cared. The endless tunnels and chambers were hypnotizing, almost making him forget where he was and why. “I dunno,” he replied vaguely.
“We must be near the bottom,” Jonesy said confidently.
For a man who was about to die, Jonesy was remarkably calm, earning the name Stax had given him as the Knight. “Why do you think that?”
“I’ve been counting the levels. We’re up to sixty tunnels and twenty-one chambers.”
Curious to understand how knowing that would help them, he asked, “Your point?”
“Well, if each chamber is twenty feet in height and the tunnels are twelve feet, then we must have travelled at least a quarter of a mile underground.”
“Don’t say that?” Lexie replied in horror. “We’ve literally buried ourselves alive and that’s creepy.”
Jonesy gave a sharp laugh. “Oh, but the oversized spiders are passé.”
“I’m used to them,” she grumbled.
Jonesy was proven right when they landed inside of a large chamber containing the creature he’d only ever seen on a screen. It was at least twenty times the size of a normal critter and its surface was bumpy and uneven. Ordering his computer to give him an outside channel, the sound of whispering voices filled his ears.
They were standing side by side, staring at the creature in disbelief. It was one thing to see the images on a screen and altogether another to be confronted with the thing that had destroyed their world. No matter what happened now, they were all going to die killing it. The game was over and they’d won. All that was needed was to take the killing blow.
“Who’s talking?” Lexie whispered hoarsely.
“I think it’s the people it absorbed.”
Sliding his feet along the floor, he slowly edged towards the hulking beast, and the faces attached to its side became clearer. With only the surface of their features showing, all of their mouths were moving and some of them had their eyes open. There were at least fifty people that he could see and he suspected there were more on the other side of the creature. It had captured and absorbed over a hundred people and that had clearly been the source of its knowledge about their defenses.
With the speaker on his helmet open, he heard a voice calling his name. “Ark! Ark!”
The sound seemed to echo around the chamber and he moved closer to the creature, standing between two of the enormous legs that ended with clawed feet. “Where are you?”
“Look straight ahead.”
When he did, he finally saw Boris’s craggy features plastered on the side of the creature, and he stepped forward until he was only a few feet away. “Colonel?”
The flattened face broke into a wide grin, showing that he still had white teeth and a tongue. “Welcome to hell.” He could hardly ask how he was doing, and unsure what to say next, his mouth dropped open in surprise. Sounding amused, Boris said, “I know, I know. I’ve put on some weight, right?”
Boris’s bad joke broke through his shock. “Nah, but you’re carrying a bit more baggage than usual.”
Chuckling, Boris asked, “So, it worked?”
“What worked?”
“The critters cleared off.”
“Did you do that?”
“Yeah, I spoke to Dunk. We sent them to Alaska to dig up the Doomsday Machine.”
Lexie was standing back from the critter’s clawed foot and she called, “There’s a Doomsday Machine? Why didn’t we just use that?”
Waving his hand at her to lower her voice, he replied, “No, hon, he’s kidding.”
“No, I’m not,” Boris said cheerfully. “We really did tell Steve there’s a Doomsday Machine, and like the stupid sonofabitch he really is, he fell for it.”
There was a lot Boris had just said that didn’t make any sense. “We? Who’s Steve?”
“This lardass was called Steve until he was transformed. He killed his wife. And there’s over a hundred of us inside of him, except for Cassie. She’s only partially transformed so Steve can talk to her, which means we can too.”
Slowly beginning to put the pieces of the story together, he said, “So, Dunk talked to Cassie and she passed the message onto you.”
“Yep, Dunk said you needed us to lie to Steve so he would send the critters away.”
“That’s why they’ve been leaving,” he said in what could only be described as an “ah ha” moment.
“I take it you’ve brought a fucking big bomb.”
“Yep,” Jonesy replied as he joined him to stand next to Boris’s face.
“Good. I’m sick of not having a body. I’ve met a nice lady inside of here and it’s…disappointing.”
Considering his situation, Boris appeared to be in excellent spirits, making him wonder how he’d adapted to being absorbed. “Does it hurt?”
Boris’s mouth split into another wide grin. “Winning never hurts, soldier.”
“Have we won?”
“Not yet, but we’re gonna once you detonate that bomb.” His face grew somber again. “We’re a…breeding colony. I think they seeded our DNA hundreds of thousands of years ago and those of us with more of their genes can be changed.”
“What? We’re not all the same?”
“No. Some of us have more of their genes than others, which is why some of us changed and some didn’t. Not all of us can be used.”
“Used for what?”
“Some are used for the harvest and others are taken back as newborns.”
“Newborns?”
“Yeah, that’s why the planet was seeded. We’re how they breed, but something went wrong. There’s too many of us, which is why Steve was using the critters to trim the fat.”
It was Jonesy who asked the question that immediately came to his mind. “What went wrong?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but we’re not what Steve was expecting. I think we’re supposed to be docile…unaware and we’re not. He was supposed to dominate the planet and then harvest it.”
“That’s what the ships are for,” he replied in awe. “They’re harvesting the best of their genes.”
“Exactly. Anything they didn’t want would have been left and they would have seeded the planet again for another harvest.”
In CaliTech, they had two of the people that would have been taken to a ship, but it had never occurred to him that they were the young of another species. All of the people inside of the ship they’d brought down were effectively the children of their enemy, and if the aliens were anything like themselves then there wasn’t much they wouldn’t do to save their young.
“Err, does that mean we’ve just killed their babies?” He asked.
Widening his eyes, Boris said conspiratorially, “Now you’re getting it.”
Still standing behind him and away from the large claws on either side of her, Lexie asked, “Getting what?”
“They won’t leave it alone, hon. We just killed their kids. Worse than that, some of us are their kids.”
“It’s even worse than that,” Boris said dourly. “Steve’s just a dumb combine harvester. We haven’t even see their army yet.”
“Aww, crap,” he muttered as the full implication of their situation sunk in.
The creatures and their slave critters weren’t even the main problem. Somewhere in the universe, there was another species that believed that their planet belonged to them. To the aliens, mankind was an error and an offensive one at that.
“Do you know where they are?”
“Afraid not. Steve only knows what he needs to know to harvest the planet. He’s not exactly well informed. He’s not even alive.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look, these guys have a knack for transforming cells and they don’t grow anything like we do. Reusing cells is how they make stuff. Steve was once another species and they repurposed him, so now he’s a machine, just as the critters are. He doesn’t have a brain, he’s just a co
llection of simple orders and he follows them. That’s why we’ve been able to lie to him. Steve doesn’t think for himself. He takes everything at face value. He doesn’t have a memory to learn anything other than what he needs to know to harvest the planet.”
Everything Boris said matched his own experience with their enemy, but it also meant the real one remained unknown. Unsure how they could prepare to fight something they’d never seen, he sighed deeply. “We’re screwed.”
“Why do you say that?” Lexie asked in surprise. “Kill this asshole and we’re done.”
“For now, hon, but the aliens will come for their young and we don’t know anything about them to defend ourselves.”
“We didn’t know anything about the critters before they turned up and look how that worked out for them.”
Jonesy patted his shoulder. “You should go.”
Turning to him in surprise, he asked, “Why?”
“Boris and I have got this.”
With a loud laugh, Boris said cheerfully, “We’ll give you a head start, but you dogfaces are flatfooted.”
He looked back at Jonesy. “What? You think we should just leave you?”
It was Boris who answered. “Yeah, you and the other nav should go. I didn’t always agree with you, Ark, but between us we were right.”
Pulling him away from Boris’s face, Jonesy pushed him towards Lexie. “Go. Go fast. I’ll give you as long as I can, but go fast.”
Not caring as much for his own life, he figured if he left now Lexie might get to live and he wanted that for her. Giving Boris and Jonesy one final look, he simply nodded and swept Lexie into one arm as he walked away. For Boris and Jonesy, it was the end, but he owed Lexie any chance she had to live.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: Knight fall (Jonesy)
Lexie was standing on Ark’s shoulders and leaping at the hole in the ceiling. With her hydraulics she could easily jump through it, but making sure she didn’t fall back down demanded her skills. Seeing her disappear and not return immediately, he assumed she had succeeded. Her head popped down again and Ark leapt towards her, letting her catch his arms to pull him through the hole.
Returning his attention to Boris, he flipped his visor up. “How long can we give them?”
“I don’t know, but the nests are falling.”
“Can you see that?”
“Yeah. Steve’s busy trying to work out why. The moment he twigs we need to end this.”
Feeling a twinge of pride, he asked, “So, they’re bringing down the nests?”
Boris gave him maniacal grin, making him wonder if being stuck on the side of Steve had sent him a little crazy. “Hell yeah. Those navs are a force to be reckoned with. I wish I’d lived long enough to see them made into an army.”
“They’re an army now, so you kinda did.”
“I was wrong about bombing the cities and Ark was right. That kid’s gotta a hell of future ahead of him.”
Smiling at Boris’s frank admission, he pulled the large pack from his shoulder, dropping to his knees as he studied its contents. Pulling out two large metal canisters that were taped together, he straightened the detonating cord, and clutching the igniters he climbed back onto his feet. It was a simple bomb that would send such a strong blast through the nest it would probably collapse on itself.
“Whatcha got there?” Boris asked.
“Two forty pound cratering charges primed with four blocks of C4.”
Giving a low whistle and sounding respectful, Boris replied, “You guys don’t pull your punches.”
All he had to do was pull the ring on the igniter and the C4 would explode the eighty pounds of H6 in the cratering charges. Now he was ready to ignite the bomb, he looked Boris in the eye. “So, what’s it like in there?”
“Kinda odd. There’s a lotta people inside of here with me. Of course, some of them have gone a bit funny.”
“I think we all have.”
“Why are you doing this? I mean, you could probably detonate that bomb from the tunnel above this chamber.”
It was a good question, but he’d already thought about that option. “It probably wouldn’t help. The blast will bring the nest down and I’d never get out anyway.”
“It doesn’t sound to me like you want to.”
“I don’t. I’m kinda done with this shit. There comes a point when you see the world change and you just don’t wanna adapt to it anymore.”
“I guess so, but that doesn’t mean you have to kill yourself.”
Giving Boris another long stare, he shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t if all things were equal, but they’re not. I mean, I was supposed to retire with my wife Jenny, see my grandchildren born, and live an ordinary life. It just didn’t work out that way. They’re all dead and my future went with them.”
With a cynical laugh, Boris replied, “Yeah, well, I didn’t expect to get stuck on the side of an alien, but shit happens.”
For the first time in months, he thought about his home in Albuquerque. He’d travelled an unbelievable journey since then and even he struggled to believe what had happened. What amazed him even more was how the others were already adapting to their new world. Ark was planning to marry Lexie, Tank was chasing Ally, and even Leon was sleeping through the night again. Jo had formed a steady relationship with Bill, and the survivors were carving out a way of life outside of the walls of CaliTech. The human mind was adaptive and their spirit was undefeated. They would all go on to live a life filled with everything he’d once had. Seeing a warm and sunny future for everyone he would leave behind, his vision was suddenly clouded with another of the crashed spaceship, making him wonder how long it would last this time.
“Do you think they’ll come for us?”
Boris pursed his lips. “Steve doesn’t know, but if I were a betting man then I’d say yes.”
“Why?”
“Because in their minds this is their farm. Why would they abandon it just because some of the chimps got too big for their boots?”
“Is that what we are to them? Chimps?”
“We surely are. They’ve mastered technology we’ve never even thought was possible. They make our navs look primitive.”
“So, how are we gonna defend against that?”
“We’re not gonna do anything other than die,” Boris replied wryly. “But that’s why men like Ark are needed. That boy is resourceful and he doesn’t take no for an answer.”
“And there’s always Dunk.”
“I never really dealt with him much, but if the navs were his brainchild then the man has a brilliant mind.”
“True, even if he does have an unpleasant personality.”
“The way I figure it is, that there’s no such thing as a hero. Heroics are actually the effect of everybody pulling together. Providing you’re all going in the same direction, you don’t have to like one another or even always agree. For as long as you’re all going the same way then someone can achieve something great, even if it’s not you that gets the credit.” When he cocked his head curiously, Boris added, “Look at you and me. No one will remember us. I’m a face on a flank and everyone thinks you’re crazy, but here we are about to bring down the main guy. They’ll remember the troops, but no one will know who any of us were and it won’t matter that they don’t.”
He was told Boris had a huge ego, but listening to him now, the man had either learned a lot or people had completely misunderstood him. He was right. Providing they did what was needed, it didn’t matter whether anyone knew what was done or why.
Boris continued to talk. “I always thought that being a hero was about being powerful, but I was wrong. Every single one of the people in here with me are heroes. All they’d needed was a leader and a direction and they’ve lied their asses off to Steve. Because of them, the navs are making it into the nests and they’re falling. Survival of the fittest is about being smart and working together, that’s why we’ve always been dominant. No alien will take us down. It can kill almost all of us
, but the people left will pull together and take that fucker out.”
“So, you think we’re undefeatable.”
“As individuals we can be taken down, but as a species we kick ass. Always have and always will. It’s why we rule this planet. I pity the alien that thinks it can get one over on us.” Seeming to drift away, Boris’s expression hardened. “Steve has worked out the navs are taking down the nests. He’s ordering the critters back into them.”
It was what he’d been waiting to hear and he hoped Ark and Lexie had made it close enough to the surface to survive the explosion. Nodding to Boris, he said firmly, “It’s been a pleasure, Colonel, but I think it’s time to go.”
“You and I stand in the path of the enemy line.”
Giving Colonel Boris Meecham a slow salute, he used his other hand to detonate the bomb.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: Heaven sent (Ark)
“Go. Go. Go.”
Lexie was leaping at the next hole, bursting through the gooey surface and whilst still in mid-air, throwing herself to the left. It was the fastest way to make it from one level to the next and saved them from having to scramble to gain a handhold in the slippery goo. Made of an almost indestructible material, his critter lower legs were saving his life by allowing him to power from one level to the next without feeling any strain.
He didn’t know how long Jonesy could give them before he would have to blow the chamber, but when he did, the H6 and C4 would send such a fierce ball of fire through the levels it would tear the tunnels apart. He and Lexie were frantically trying to outrun the blast they knew was coming.
One level after another, they leapt through the holes that Lexie was finding before he’d even made it through the last one. “Keep going, hon, we’re gonna make it.”
Launching herself into the next hole above her, she grunted, “It won’t matter if we don’t.”
“How do you figure that?” He asked as he followed her.