by Steve Perry
Scott was exhausted and he felt like shit. They had been stuck there for what felt like days. He wanted a shower, a steak, a few beers, and a soft bed. No way he was going out there to get it, but it helped to take his mind off of the situation at hand. Which looked like Armageddon. It was all so… unreal.
Tom groaned softly and shifted to sit on the dirty floor. He was sick, had been coughing and having cramps for over an hour, but he was trying to keep it to himself; the look on his face expressed enough. Scott looked at his friend, worried, then back out at the bloody combat.
Something screamed piercingly and then was silenced.
“Hang on, Tommy,” Scott whispered. “We’re going to be okay.”
Yeah. Maybe we’ll, sprout wings and, just fly back to Earth.
* * *
Noguchi jabbed her leg forward and up and pushed as hard as she could. The bug barely moved, but it was enough. Maybe.
She pulled the trigger four times, fast. The animal’s head exploded, sent a spray of deadly blood across the windshield and onto the console. The noise of the gun hit her ears like hard slaps. The plexi material began to smoke immediately and the small compartment filled with a foul and acrid stink.
Noguchi whipped her head around. Nothing else coming at the moment.
“You okay?”
Revna held up one shaky hand and nodded.
Noguchi took a deep breath and strapped herself into the chair. “Buckle up, Miriam.”
She ejected the spent shells and slammed another speedloader in before she looked down at the controls and took a deep breath.
“Let’s do it, Spanner. What’s first?”
* * *
The copter rose in a series of sharp jerks before Noguchi turned it toward the south end of the complex. Miriam still wasn’t sure what the plan was, but she was glad to get off of the ground.
She felt her injured leg carefully and winced. It was a bad wound. Each second that passed left her weaker, dizzier; she had lost a lot of blood, maybe too much—
Miriam applied pressure to the wound with part of her jacket and prayed silently that she and Kesar would be together soon.
* * *
Dachande ran through the oddly structured system of ooman buildings toward the sounds of battle. He ached all over and at least two of his ribs were broken, but he put the pain aside for now.
Shattered buildings and other rubble littered the grounds. Dachande hopped over the torso of a fallen drone; its life fluid still hissed on the soil.
He heard burners and screams in the distance, to the left. He cursed mentally and ran in that direction.
The s’yuit-de! They Hunted oomans, worse, they did so without proper surveillance. It was bad enough to have broken the law; to use poor strategy and tactics only compounded the error.
The other two Blooded must certainly be dead; they would not have allowed this. As sketchily trained as these yautja were, the bugs would be more than just a minor challenge. Armed oomans would be worse.
A small torrent of the Hard Meat appeared suddenly, leapt from the dark shadows to scream at him. Dachande pulled his burner. He was in too much of a hurry for prowess feats.
There were four. They circled him.
The first darted forward, teeth cluttering. The outer jaws spread wide, the smaller teeth on the inner rod gaped.
Dachande burned it, the hollow thump of the weapon exploding the drone’s gut into bloody bits. Without turning, Dachande took out the second and the third. He shot one, and used the spear in hiju position to disembowel the other.
The final drone screeched, turned, and ran. Unusual behavior, but they sometimes did that when there was a queen nearby. It was not fear, for they had none, but instinct to warn the nest.
Dachande sped on. Perhaps a few of the students would be salvageable. If not, he would have to kill them. Whatever they had stepped into on this world, they had sunk up to their necks in it and the stink was bad. Real bad.
* * *
Roth loaded food and water packs into the AVs with the others. With any luck they’d be back the next day, but they had taken almost everything. Most of the ranchers were seated and ready; just a final check and they could move.
Weaver had outlined Noguchi’s plan briefly; it was shaky, but there was a chance it could work. Only a few people had protested—Ackland’s voice above the rest, of course—but Weaver had shut them up with a few well-chosen words. Roth had liked “or we’ll kick your fucking ass” in particular.
Roth stood cover outside the east lock as Weaver directed the last few people to either an AV or a ship loader. The largest piece of machinery, one of the carts that had carried most of the building supplies for the shield wall, now held thirty-seven people. Most of the transmitting equipment was also loaded—they would continue the CDS from the desert.
If they got that far.
Creep whined softly at the sound of one of the children crying. He kept saying that it was too hot outside. Roth silently agreed; she was reminded of the thunderstorms in southern Texas, where she had grown up. The stifling summer air would get even hotter as the clouds pressed down; as a child, she had waited eagerly for the first drops to fall, filled with the joy of expectation. There was a wild feeling in the air that had always made her think of carnivals in the dark, although she didn’t know why. And then the rain, heavy and warm—
Weaver interrupted her thoughts. “We’re ready.”
Roth nodded and whistled for Creep to get on the bike. Cathie was watching some of the children in one of Harrison’s AV; they would hook up later.
A low rumble shook the ground with no warning and then grew louder. Roth hopped on a bike and started it up, the sound quickly lost in the rising tremors that beat through the soil. Goddamn if that didn’t sound like thunder; Roth hit the accelerator and headed east, the AVs and loaders behind.
* * *
Miriam opened her eyes and looked down when the noise rolled over them. There was an ocean of life directly below them; the entire compound was moving, undulating in a quake of heaving bodies and animal cries.
Noguchi had stampeded the rhynth.
23
Dachande heard the rumble and immediately ran for the nearest structure he could climb.
Directly after he had attained Leader, he had taken a group on a Hunt and he had heard the same rumble; it was the sound of many animals running in mindless gry’sui-bpe. The yautja had clambered onto a low rise and watched as a herd of four-legged hosts had stampeded past in front of them. Had they stayed on the low ground, they would have been trampled.
He spotted a ladder bolted to a tall structure and ran for it.
He had not found the students yet, but before he could do so, he needed to avoid being crushed by the stampede. He hoped the students would understand what the sound meant and seek high ground or protection.
He growled in irritation as he climbed the rungs of the ladder. If they paid attention to his lessons, maybe they wouldn’t die. If they had not listened, then they deserved to die. That was the way of it. His hope was not all that good.
Considering how well they’ve learned so far…
Dachande climbed as the rumble thickened into an all-encompassing roar.
* * *
Noguchi buzzed the pens as low as she dared and hoped the locks had opened according to the codes she’d set.
The rhynth had been in the hot sunlight all day without food and a minimum of water. The sound of the copter must have echoed loudly in the pens. It only took one spooked animal to get it going. And as soon as one rhynth jumped forward, the rest followed.
The animals tore through the doors she had unlocked.
Within a few seconds, all of the rhynth joined the stampede, headed straight through Prosperity Wells. Anything small enough to get in their way was trampled, crushed, kicked aside.
The searchlight on the copter illuminated the scene dimly. Noguchi only glanced at the panicked herds; she had her hands full piloting. Miriam Revna cried out in
delight.
“They just ran over about two dozen of the unclassifieds!” It was hard to hear over the clatter of hooves and the bellows of the frightened rhynth.
Noguchi smiled tightly and pulled up on the control stick. She wanted to check and see if the ranchers had gotten out—
She veered east. All she needed to see were the lights of the AVs—
Noguchi allowed herself a short rush of relief. The low red and white lights were visible. The ranchers and staff were headed away from town into open desert.
It was working! Her plan was working!
She circled the copter back toward The Lector to make another run on the animals. The colonists were headed to relative safety, and the rhynth were stomping everything in sight. Maybe she wouldn’t have to sacrifice anything else.
Of course, there were still the creatures on the ship to deal with—and it was probable that a few of the other kind had survived. But to take out the majority…
As they neared the transmitting tower, Miriam sat up straighter and pointed. Noguchi shot a sideways glance at what the doctor motioned at—it was one of the warriors. It had climbed the ladder and was almost to the top—and there were three or four of the huge black bugs clambering up after him.
* * *
Miriam saw the broken-tusked warrior nearing the top of the transmitter and pointed. He still wore the cast she had strapped him in for his damaged ribs.
“Machiko, look!”
“What?!” The stampede was deafening.
Miriam shouted louder. “It’s my patient! We have to save him!”
Noguchi whipped her head around. “No fucking way! Those things are the reason we’re in this mess!” She looked back at the controls.
Miriam chewed at her lip in frustration. How could she make Noguchi understand? It was important, the most important thing in the world right now. She could not have said why.
“He saved my life, Machiko!”
Noguchi opened her mouth and then closed it. “Look, I don’t—”
“Please! Machiko, he risked his life to save mine!”
The doctor looked at her patient, getting closer to the top now. The dark, segmented creatures were also getting closer.
“Please!”
Noguchi didn’t say anything. She veered toward the tower.
* * *
I must be out of my mind, that’s it, I finally went insane—
Noguchi steered the copter toward the tower in disbelief. What the hell was she thinking? Dr. Revna was a nice lady, ordinarily she wouldn’t mind doing her a favor, but this—?
She watched as Broken Tusk kicked at one of his pursuers and then stabbed the closest one; the bug screamed and fell. He refused to give up fighting, she’d credit him that much.
But she could barely fly! Even a trained pilot would have doubts about trying to hover next to a tower. And to save an alien that they knew almost nothing about.
Except it had saved Miriam’s life.
Right.
It would break every rule in her book, to risk their lives on this. And she had about a second to decide.
Below them, the rhynth ran on.
* * *
Dachande kicked at one of the drones and then used the spear to take out the gut of another. It fell, still kicking—but there were two others.
He heard a ship over the sound of the running hosts but he ignored it. He had enough to worry about. On the ground, the bugs were no match. But fighting while hanging one-handed and almost upside down—
The metal he gripped let out a high groan; he could feel the structure shift under the combined weight of himself and the drones.
Again the weak substance creaked—and started to separate from the building.
If he didn’t think of something, he would be on the ground in a few breaths.
Fighting the Hard Meat and in the path of the stampeding hosts.
The Black Warrior must wish for Dachande’s immediate company.
And the Black Warrior eventually won all battles.
* * *
Noguchi lowered the copter toward the tower. Which had started to quake dangerously. It was collapsing under all the weight.
“Shit—”
Miriam fumbled around the console for a second and then hit a button. Her next words blared incredibly loud.
“Grab the strut! We’ll take you to safety!”
Noguchi winced. The doctor had found the PA. She lowered the ship a little more. It was hard, but not as hard as she had expected. On the other hand, a series of red lights had lit up on the control panel. She was too intent on the task at hand to figure out what they meant, but she also didn’t want to find out the hard way.
“Grab on!”
Noguchi screamed to be heard. “I can’t do this forever, Miriam! He doesn’t understand—”
The copter dipped, and then pulled up again. He had grabbed on to the strut.
Noguchi let out a cry of disbelief. It had worked! Broken Tusk had jumped to the copter!
Now what the fuck are we going to do with him?
And then everything happened at once. A dark shape lunged at them. Noguchi just had time to register that it was one of the bugs before it landed on top of one of the compressors, on the same side as Broken Tusk. It scrabbled to hold on, screamed.
The copter tilted alarmingly and Noguchi jerked the controls instinctively upward—
—there was a rending screech of metal as the tower collapsed—
and everything turned the wrong way as—
—the copter went down.
24
They were both sleeping when the stampede hit.
Scott hadn’t thought it was possible for him to nod out, but he was exhausted, hung over, and probably coming down with whatever Tom had. There was still fighting outside, but the pen they had holed up in seemed safe. The sounds of battle had almost become a background drone, and had moved away after a while.
Scott had been dreaming that he and Tom were explaining what had happened to them to a doubtful audience of company people back on Earth. They were all sitting around a huge wooden table in a dim conference room. At first, the suits had seemed interested as Tom spoke. Except Tom kept saying all of the wrong things, and every time Scott opened his mouth, nothing would come out.
And all at once, the people started slamming their fists down on the table. One of them, a very tall man in a black shirt, kept yelling, “Liar! Liar!” And the sounds of their knuckles hitting wood get louder, more insistent, deafening.
Scott snapped awake as the table broke.
“Oh, shit—” Tom jumped up and lurched to the door. Even in the dark pen, Scott could see that Tom didn’t look too good, pale and strained.
Scott pulled his aching body off the floor and joined him. By now, the noise had drowned out all else. He looked out the crack in the door and felt his mouth gape.
The rhynth weren’t running past the pen, at least not the front. But they could see the dust kicked up by the animals to their right, maybe six or seven meters away. The whole building shook as the thick stream of animals tore past, headed north. Tom said something that Scott couldn’t catch.
“What?!” Scott couldn’t hear his own scream.
Tom shook his head and pointed.
At first, Scott wasn’t sure what he was looking for. Tom was motioning at a transmitting tower, two structures away.
Tom finally pointed straight up, and then back at the tower.
Scott looked at the top and felt his heart jump. A copter hovered there shakily. It was involved in some kind of rescue mission; there was a person trapped on the tower, being pursued by—
Scott peered closer. The alien creatures from The Lector.
They watched as the person on the tower—who seemed to be some kind of giant—reached for the strut of the copter and made it. Scott grinned widely as the stranded person made it to the copter in a breathtaking leap and looked at Tom. Tom laughed without sound and clapped Scott on the
back.
The excitement on Tom’s face melted suddenly into horror.
Scott looked back at the copter just in time to see it spin down toward the ground, toward them. Something had gone very wrong; one of the creatures had jumped on the roof of the copter and the pilot had panicked. They watched as the flyer spun out of control to crash, a few dozen meters past them to the left.
The explosion was loud enough to be audible above the stampede; it was getting quieter, the majority of the animals already gone.
By silent assent, he and Tom opened the door and ran toward the crash, the stench of burning fuel and cooked dirt heavy in the air.
The hot night had just gotten hotter.
* * *
Noguchi opened her eyes as the thunder fell to the sound and heat of a bonfire. Above her, the Ryushi night sparkled with stars. She had a sunburn and there was something wrong, she couldn’t move—
“Miriam?” Her voice was barely audible.
A face appeared over hers, familiar, bearded.
“Conover.”
“I should’ve guessed it’d be you!” The pilot had to shout to be heard over the final remnants of the stampede. “You’re lucky to be alive, lady!”
Noguchi remembered all of it at once as Conover unbelted her and half lifted her out of the wreckage.
Broken Tusk, the rhynth are stampeding and the people went to the desert and Miriam—
“Who the hell taught you to fly?” Behind Conover stood the other one, Strandberg. He looked sick.
“Nobody, yet,” Noguchi said. She sounded weak, hated that she did. All around them were bits of burning wreckage; the main part of the copter was behind them, still on fire. The flames crackled and danced.
She leaned heavily on the pilot as they stumbled away from the smashed cockpit.
“Where’s Miriam?” she said. The doctor hadn’t been next to her when she had come to. It was an effort to look around; her neck didn’t seem to want to hold her head up.
Strandberg stepped forward and grabbed her other arm.
“Listen, we gotta get out of here! The bugs will be back soon!”
On closer inspection, she could see that Strandberg was sick. He looked like she felt; shaky, pale, nauseous.