Through Glass Darkly: Episode Three

by Knyte,Peter

  ‘Captain Hughes, I’m not much of an aviation man. Can you explain what you’re doing, and how this will help us against the creature?’

  ‘Certainly General,’ the Captain replied. ‘I’m increasing our altitude in order to confuse the creature into thinking we want to be above it.

  ‘Right now it’s adopted a dominant high position while it thinks about what to do next. Well that’s a predators position, and we’ve taken that position on two occasions previously before attacking it, once in the railyard and once just now in the cemetery, so by increasing our altitude I’m trying to make it feel like we’re hunting it again.’

  ‘And you’re thinking this will make it feel uncomfortable, so it will move on?’ the General asked.

  ‘No sir,’ the Captain replied. ‘I’m hoping it’s going to feel threatened and will compensate by trying to and beat us to the high ground.’

  The penny dropped. The creature was faster and more agile, but its speed and strength wouldn’t help it in a race to the high atmosphere, and the higher it got, the harder it would have to work, while the ship could stay there for months if needed.

  We were still closing with the creature, but as Bradbury engaged the rarefied helium generators to increase our lift we started to soar upward faster than we were moving forward, and as I watched I saw the creature had noticed.

  As I watched from my lofty perch on top of the ship, I saw the creature stop its scrutiny of the thronging masses on the streets below, and instead fix a steady gaze upon the climbing form of the ship as we soared upward.

  The smouldering coals of anger within me flickered with a lazy tongue of flame as if in response to that gaze, burning a little brighter still a moment later when the creature launched itself from the top of the Chrysler building and started beating its powerful wings to take it up into the heavens.

  I almost laughed with the cunning of our Captain, but I contented myself with delivering a report to the ship.

  ‘The creature has launched itself from the top of the Chrysler building and appears to be trying to gain a high altitude,’ I replied as impartially as I could.

  ‘Thank you Mr Hall, that’s good news,’ the Captain replied with equal neutrality.

  CHAPTER 43 – AD ASTRA

  The creature was fast, powerful and within minutes it had equalled our height so was beginning to gain the upper hand, but the Goose was built for high altitude, so the real test would come as the air began to thin, which after a couple of minutes of steady climbing with our generators constantly droning away in the background it had started to do.

  It had gained at least a thousand feet over us by this point, its great leathery wings flapping strongly, but if the Captain was right, it didn’t just want to climb faster than we could, it wanted to be higher than we could go so that it could look down upon us rather than the other way around.

  Still we climbed, higher and higher, the Khan relentless in its ascent, the creature still higher than us but struggling to increase its advantage any further.

  I had no altimeter, but the Captain had left the intercom open and Zimmerman read out our altitude as we ascended. Thirty thousand feet, forty thousand, on we went, and now the creature was struggling, and screamed in fury that we were gaining on it, but in its anger it also didn’t realise that it was also drawing closer and closer to us. Four kilometres, three kilometres, two kilometres, a kilometre and half and in this rarefied atmosphere our weapons might just reach it.

  I updated the Captain every thirty seconds with our progress.

  ‘The creature continues to climb, but is evidently struggling to maintain its advantage. It is now approximately four hundred feet above us and a kilometre away. We might be able to reach it with either the cannons or the light machine guns. Do we have permission to fire?’

  ‘Thank you Mr Hall. Negative, you do not have permission to fire. Allow the creature to come closer.’

  ‘Yes sir, understood, holding fire.’

  ‘The creature continues to climb, but is now only one hundred feet above us and at eight hundred meters range.’

  ‘Hold fire Lieutenant Commander.’

  ‘We have it Captain. The creature is now level with the Khan and has closed to six hundred meters. Permission to fire?’

  ‘Negative Lieutenant Commander, let it come closer still.’

  It was then that I saw it. My visor had been cycling through the usual frequencies, and as I watched the creature struggling to keep up with the still rising airship, I saw behind and above it the first signs of a rip opening up in the fabric of space. Something from the Expanse was trying to get through.

  I was so shocked I froze for a heartbeat before my battlefield reflexes kicked in.

  ‘Attention to the bridge, miasmic rip forming starboard amidships, azimuth seventy five, altitude one thousand feet relative.’

  ‘This is Fraser, I can confirm . . . something on my upper right as I face toward the front of the ship.’

  ‘Miasmic incursion confirmed,’ the Captain reported. ‘Has the creature seen it yet?’

  ‘ . . . Yes Captain, the creature is attempting to close with the incursion.’

  ‘Open fire all weapons.’ The Captain ordered. ‘Repeat. Open fire all weapons.’

  I didn’t need telling twice, but with the creature now aiming for the rip that was forming it was deliberately heading away from us, and the ship would have to turn toward it in order to close the distance, but for the moment I could see from my rangefinder readout that it was now pulling away from us.

  The Bren’s had the best chance, so I raised them both, took aim and began firing. The range would normally have been extreme but with the air being so thin there was little to slow the bullets down and I saw shot after shot hit the beast hard, but at that range the bullets no longer had the power to penetrate the creatures hard carapace.

  The wings though were a different matter, and while the bullets did little damage individually, by the dozen they were beginning to take their effect on the creatures ability to continue gaining altitude.

  At the same time Fraser fired his Arc Canon, but at our incredibly high altitude the canon suffered because of the same thing that made the Bren’s more effective. With a thinner atmosphere there was less matter to conduct the lightening and as a consequence the incredible power of the weapon spread and dispersed sooner, falling short of its target time and again.

  But the bullets were taking their toll, if only I’d had a few hundred more, but even taking my time to aim there were still dozens that hit the body of the creature or missed the energetically flapping wings altogether.

  The ship was turning toward the rip now so the distance between us and the creature wasn’t growing as quickly, but I was almost out of bullets and the creature was practically at the rip.

  I punched another few dozen holes through the creatures wings before my ammunition in one gun and then the other ran out. It reached the rip, and with a last desperate effort it began tearing at the invisible material that separated this world from the Expanse with its claws and teeth, rending and shredding for all it was worth, no longer needing its wings to stay aloft.

  Fraser continued to fire, but the range was still too great, which meant my own mini Arc Canon would stand no chance.

  The only thing I had left that stood any chance was the mortar. It could easily reach the distance but it was like any other mortar, it was intended to lob explosive rounds at a general area, or at large creatures, and with only half a dozen rounds the odds were slim I could even hit the thing, and if I hit the wing the round would probably go straight through without exploding, but there was nothing else for it, with another minute of the creature on this side and the creatures on the other side tearing at the same area they couldn’t help but break through.

  The rangefinder on the visor switched to its mortar setting which helped get me in the general area. But I fired one shot and then another without any trace of contact. The third hit and penetrated through
the creatures left wing, but aside from ripping a large hole in the leathery fabric it did nothing. My fourth shot missed and I was down to two mortar shells.

  The fifth hit the creatures left wing and exploded, destroying almost half the wing and nearly dislodging the creature from the rip. It still had one claw buried in the fabric of the rip, but then as it tried to bury another claw in the same area it dislodged its hold and started to fall. A desperate flap of its good wing and the half destroyed wing were almost enough, but the exertion broke something else in the already damaged wing close to the body and the creature screeched in agony desperately clawing at the area of the rip, but missing.

  It fell, tumbling through the thin air like a stone, no hope of even gliding down to the ground let alone flying back up to the rip.

  But the creatures misfortune on this side did nothing to slow the frenzied activity of its brethren in the Expanse from trying to rip through from their side.

  ‘Congratulations Lieutenant Commander,’ the Captain’s voice came over the intercom. ‘That’s nice shooting with whatever you hit it with. I’m charging the capacitors in order to suture the rip before it opens any further, you need to get inside the hull quickly to prevent being exposed to the Arc energies.’

  ‘Yes Captain,’ I replied, without moving before speaking again. As the creature dropped out of sight below us I felt the old anger that had been smouldering and flickering away within me begin to rise again, and I knew I couldn’t just retreat back into the ship.

  ‘Captain, permission to pursue the creature to the ground.’ I finally said, with a voice that was far too calm for what I was proposing.

  ‘Mr Hall, the marine suits were never intended to be used from anything like this altitude.’

  ‘I’m aware of that sir, but if that creature survives the descent to the ground, even to the water it could still be incredibly dangerous, and might well be able to hide from us again while it heals.’

  There was nothing but silence for a moment on the other end of the intercom, before the Captain replied.

  ‘Permission granted, good hunting Mr Hall, but bring that suit back to me in one piece!’

  ‘Thank you sir, Hall out.’

  I felt the glowing coals of anger rejoice with a frenzy of fresh flame as I walked steadily back along the bowsprit, before turning, and with a few quick steps diving head first over the tip of the slender platform and past the nose of the ship.

  I could’ve looked back through the bridge windows at the Captain, Hughes and Zimmerman still at their posts as I fell head first past them, but I had eyes only for the creature, and as my body accelerated to the speed of a bullet I scanned and re-scanned the sky below for any sign of it.

  Even with just one functional wing it would still be able to slow itself down considerably, so after a few seconds of not finding it I spread my arms to increase my drag. The strength of the suit made holding this cruciform position practically effortless, and with the increased resistance on my upper body, my position gradually changed so that I was practically standing upright in the air as I fell, scanning the atmosphere around me for the creature.

  We had almost reached ninety thousand feet before beginning our fall, and the creature had had a short head start, but I saw it now falling a few thousand feet ahead of me, flapping its good wing every now and again as it went to little effect, attempting to hold out the remains of its damaged wing to help balance itself but then screeching its pain to the heavens after a moment or two, before tumbling uncontrollably again.

  I fell after it, both of us dropping at high speed toward the ground. I was slowly catching the thing, as even with my arms out to increase wind resistance I was more streamlined than the creature, and I considered allowing myself to drop even faster in order to try and get off a shot with my Arc Cannon or with my one remaining mortar, but just moving an arm to aim sent my body spinning uncontrollably. I could try to close the distance in order to finish the thing with my bayonet or mace, but again the smallest mistake could see me miss it altogether and then once alerted to my presence it might be able to half glide away from me. I had no choice but to bide my time, follow it to the ground and finish it there.

  And so we fell. Every time I started to get too close I activated the suits jump jets in order to slow myself down and stay above it, watching and waiting for the ground.

  It seemed an age before we’d lost enough altitude for the city to begin to close more quickly, I saw the southern end of Manhattan and the Western end of Long Island below, and the creature saw them too, and inch by inch it used its broken wing to steer itself toward the East River and a softer landing.

  But the river was my weak point. The suit would sink if I landed in the river and while I had more than enough air in my breather system it would take too long to walk back out onto dry land, time in which the creature could make its escape.

  Only the mini Arc cannon that I stood any real chance of hitting it, so as we drifted over the Brooklyn Bridge and the creature spread its wings to try and glide away over the water, I activated the suit’s landing jets to try and stabilise myself and then quickly brought the cannon around and fired.

  I got the shot off, but the act of firing sent me tumbling uncontrollably, which it took a few seconds to recover from, but when I did, I saw I must’ve clipped the creature. The lightening had burned it badly down its uninjured side, charring its undamaged wing and had sent the thing tumbling in a ball toward the bridge.

  We were close enough now for my rangefinder to tell me we were seven thousand feet from the ground. Desperately the creature tried to correct itself, but onward it fell, through six thousand and five thousand, four thousand. At two thousand feet it somehow righted itself, and with all the energy it had it tried to glide, first one wing then the other giving way, but each holding just long enough to slow it a little.

  I started to fire my jets to gradually slow me down, but the compressed air they used was limited and only recharged very slowly, so I had to be careful. And then I saw it, the creature couldn’t get clear of the bridge, it was going to hit at speed. Frantically it attempted to use its injured wings and miraculously it managed to flap them enough to slow itself down considerably before it hit the first suspension line on the inside of the bridge on the south side, bouncing off the vertical cables and severing its burnt wing close to the tip on one of them before crashing to the roadway below. But I had my own landing to worry about and I was still going far too fast for the suit to protect me. One of the bridge pillars looked like a possible landing site, so using my arms for balance I fired the jets for all they were worth, slowing myself hugely, and then deliberately relaxing my legs to let the suit take the impact as I hit.

  Even with the strength and protection of the suit it was a hard landing, and I felt the sudden deceleration almost crush me into the top of the pillar, but the suit did its job, and a moment later I was able to straighten myself up and look down from the pillar to the road surface below, where I saw the now heavily injured creature slowly pulling itself toward the edge of the bridge, still trying to get away.

  My jets were almost exhausted, but I was sure I had enough in them to cope with another few hundred feet, so I again stepped over the edge and dropped to the road surface below, firing the jets in time to give me a softer landing this time.

  The road was quiet at this time of night, but there were still a couple of cars that had pulled up a few yards away from where the creature was pulling itself along. As chance would have it one of the Police radio cars must’ve been in the vicinity and that too arrived just before I dropped to the road surface with a thud that must’ve sent shivers along the bridge.

  If the Police officers recognised me they didn’t give any indication of it as I walked over to the creature, triggering the suit to deploy the broad bladed bayonet as I did so.

  The creature was done, it looked as though at least one of its legs had been shattered in the landing, along with large sections of the chitinous
plate that covered its sides, back and belly, but still it fought to survive.

  A fire raged within me as I walked around the charred and broken wings to face the thing that was still trying to get away, pulling itself along with its long and muscular neck, but as I approached, it raised its head to scream its defiance in my face. Defiance that I cut dead with my bayonet, severing the neck with a single powerful stroke that embedded my bayonet in the road surface.

  Finally the creature quivered and died, its blood quelling the rage that pulsed through my veins.

  I freed and then re-holstered my blade, and was tempted to incinerate the carcass for good measure with my Arc Canon, but that would’ve also damaged the bridge, so I relented and instead settled for standing guard over the fallen beast until the Captain or someone else turned up to claim it.

  CHAPTER 44 – RESTORATION

  It was another half hour before the ship dropped down out of the heavens to find me sitting at the side of the bridge enjoying a cup of coffee from a flask which one of the Police officers in the radio car had brought with him.

  The creature remained dead, so its body was piled into one of the cradles to be transported elsewhere, and after returning my coffee cup I too was winched back up in one of the ships cradles. Only then was I finally able to divest myself of the marine suit for what I hoped would be quite some time.

  The miasmic rip had been sealed by the Captain before it had been able to open properly, though without the creature assisting on this side the Captain was unsure whether the creatures would’ve made it through.

  With the Wyvern finally dead, I half expected life aboard ship to finally slow down enough to allow me to explore this most bustling of cities, but in addition to dealing with the creature’s carcass and discovering a multitude of egg shaped creations in the crypt that the thing had been hiding in, we also discovered the rendered corpses of over twenty unidentified people, as well as countless dogs, cats and rats, all of which had to be analysed and dealt with.