by C. W Tickner
Grakka, tried to edge around the fight but was intercepted by two of the females. He launched a ferocious attack to clear them from his path, using his bulk to beat them aside.
‘Damen,’ Harl called, trying to be heard over the crashing of the dead security Aylen as its mech hit the floor. ‘Get Grakka!’
Damen nodded and peering down into the little screen on his chest he walked around an invisible table on the platform. The mech mirrored him, stepping around and cutting the director off as he tried to slip between the females.
‘Kane bring us down,’ Harl said, pointing to the plates on their mech’s right shoulder.
Damen’s hand shot out and Harl leapt over the rail on the edge of the platform and dropped down to the armour plate on the extended arm.
It shifted under him as the mech’s hand mimicked Damen’s and clasped Grakka’s pudgy face.
With the armour slowing him down, Harl kept hold of his sword and tried not to fall as the mech’s arm rotated slightly with Damen’s struggle against Grakka. He ran like a man balancing along a steel log, jumping sections where the metal joints met huge hydrolic tubing. Grakka was snarling, trying to batter the mech’s arm away as the hand gripped his chin, the second planted behind the head to hold him firmly in place.
Sharpened teeth as big as a man awaited Harl at the end of the hand. He cursed Damen for his plan and skidded to a halt as one of Grakka’s hands beat the arm that was grabbing his face. Harl had to crouch to and lower his centre of gravity to keep from falling down with the vibrations.
Grakka spotted him as he reached the wrist. Twenty paces was all that separated them. Damen’s plan was stupid madness, utter stupid-’ he could feel the foul breath wash over him even through the slits in the helmet as Grakka’s eyes bored into him. Harl raised his sword as if to strike the pitted face.
Grakka opened his mouth, teeth bared in anticipation as Harl raced closer.
It would have been a matter of whether Harl could strike the face before Grakka could bite him in half, and as Grakka gnashed his teeth, Harl knew that was what he expected.
Feet pounding on the metal hand as he ran the last length of the finger, he realised he was in a nightmare, running towards an open Aylen mouth. Grakka’s teeth loomed like a company of white soldiers waiting to snap down on him. He pulled his sword to his chest and flicked every switch inside the gauntlets as he dived head first into Grakka’s gaping maw.
Chapter 49
K. Sims has died during the waking procedure I can only put it down to a medical condition that was not reported during the sign up when chosen to leave earth. I have tattooed my arm to match my future lifestyle.
The jaws shut and Harl expected to feel the inside of the armour fill with his warm blood as the teeth sheared the black plates and ground them to dust.
Through the narrow eye slits of his helmet all he could see was a dark grey tongue and flashes of silvery white teeth.
A sudden jolt shook the armour and like a cocooned creature, he rattled inside. The armour juddered a second time as Grakka tried to chew Harl alive. There was a moment when the ghastly mouth didn’t move and Harl knew Grakka would try to spit him out. He took the chance to unlock the armour and, as the teeth moved apart, he rolled onto the top of the grey tongue. He scrambled for the back of the mouth and the pale yellow oesophagus, leaping into the hole as the muscled walls contracted around him.
For a split second Harl was encased in the soft tissues and the creaking of his armour before he hit the switches and slid down the throat, feeling warm foul air blow in through the eye holes. He stifled a gag until he had to breathe in the putrid stench. A deep rumble and a series of jarring bumps rippled down the oesophagus. Grakka was choking on him. A flush of triumph washed over him and he let himself sink deeper and be swallowed as Grakka retched and coughed, deafening him with deep booming vibrations.
Darkness enveloped him as he was sucked down into a pulsating chasm. From the tight squeeze he dropped several metres, landing in a pit of moving balls. He expected a slosh of water like stomach acid but in the darkness he was unable do anything but try and dig himself out.
He hauled a leg out and stumbled over the top, forcing his way through the spheres until he bumped into a wall of stomach lining. He was unable to put his hands out in front of him as he was holding his sword in one hand while the other was gripping a crude bag. It contained a glow stick and a single grenade from Kane’s crate.
The stench was awful, and if he wasn’t in such a strange place it would have overwhelmed him. He focused on Damen’s plan and stabbed the sword into the jumble of balls then cracked the glowstick.
Green light flooded what looked like a living, breathing cavern as the fluids mixed in the tube. Pale grey walls bulged as the floor of yellow slime-coated balls undulated underneath him. The balls were like ground down pebbles at the shore of a slow stream.
The stench was awful and he had to struggle to not throw up as he scanned the uneven floor. He could make out the bodies of humans, half buried among the balls. It was as if the spheres were slowly consuming anything that fell from above.
He turned back to the gunk covered grey wall he’d found but as he did the glowstick slipped through his fingers and stuck upright between the hand sized pebbles. As he reached down to pick it up he noticed a faint popping noise above the gargle and slosh of the balls. Grabbing the stick he saw the bottom had been dissolved as if by acid and the liquid start to drain out.
Panic rose in him. The light began to fade as the liquid diluted over the spheres. The movements of Grakka shook the ground beneath him grinding the pebbles and he sunk to his knees in the digestive balls.
The walls of the stomach quivered. What was going on outside? The movement sucked him further down, the pebbles reaching his hips. Another shudder and he sunk deeper as the panic inside him rose.
If he didn’t act soon he’d be unable to move and eventually the acid would find its way in through the eye slits of the helmet. He stretched out a hand to grab his sword and activated the blade. Picking a spot on the fleshy wall in front of him he plunged the melting steel deep into the sticky lining. It took a while to melt through as if it was tougher than steel. The dank world shook and he managed to pull himself up and scramble over the pebbles, dragging the blade down the inside wall as a muted roar of pain vibrated the cavernous space.
The light dimmed and the last vestiges of the green liquid dissolved until only the foul smell and blackness remained. Harl gripped hard on the sword and worked the blade around to open a deep gash in the stomach lining.
The wall lurched and Harl imagined Grakka hitting his own belly to stop the searing pain that he hoped he was inflicting. He cut deep welts until yellow coated chunks slid out, sloping onto the pebbles. Finally he felt the blade puncture the outer layer of skin and he stumbled in an uneven run, trying to stay on top of the pebbles and dragged the blade sideways. He stumbled as far as he could to cause as much damage as possible. There was no doubt that he was the worst indigestion ever felt by an Aylen.
The scream from Grakka grew in intensity as the slit widened, letting the sound inside. Flashes of light joined the roaring as the wound opened and closed with the Aylen’s movements. Bright colour flickered and pulsed through the long slit, threatening to blind Harl and he realised it was the multi coloured suit the director wore.
He had to escape. The thought of being trapped inside waiting for the acid to finally dissolve his boots and eat into his skin was almost paralysing. A quick push and he pierced the fabric. Grakka’s hand was blotting out the light, trying to staunch the flow of pain and yellow ichor and Harl knew as soon as he felt him cutting his way out, he’d be pinched to death like a blood sucking tick. He’d have to jump.
An image sprung to mind of him descending down Grakka using the sword as he and Sonora had escaped from the tanks so long ago. The hand moved away and he used the sword to tear a larger hole in the fabric. He jabbed the sword deep into the writhing fles
h and leant out, ready to toss the grenade inside as he either slid or fell down. He doubted even the black armour could save him from such a drop.
With one hand on the sword he tried to pull the pin on the grenade. His fingers slipped against the remnants of gore that clung to the black metal and the grenade rolled from his hand. He tried to snatch it back but the sword shifted in the flesh and the grenade plummeted to the distant floor.
He cursed and looked up to where Damen was still using the mech to grapple Grakka’s head as the director tried to dodge the steel punches.
‘Harl!’ A voice drifted in through his helmet’s eye slots. Had someone followed him into the stomach of the director? He looked up from the explosion as the grenade hit the floor and saw Dana trying to get his attention as she flew towards him on her drone.
Troy wobbled on another flyer further back, trying to keep his balance and control on the drone. Dana drifted close to Harl, weaving back and forwards as Grakka struggled in Damen’s grip.
‘I got them,’ Troy yelled, shakily holding up a box and trying not to fall off.
Grakka gave a lurch and the sword slipped from Harl’s hand. His foot slid on the blood seeping from the wound and he tried frantically to grip the slimy flesh but the yellow blood was like melted lard. He couldn’t find a purchase on the edge of the cut and fell.
An arm curled around him and snatched him from the fall. He was pulled tight against a body. Dana had caught him but the sudden weight tilted the flyer and his feet slid off. A hand clasped his and he dangled over the immense drop, one arm held by Dana’s wiry strength as his feet kicked the air. She leant back to counter the awkward angle of the drone, panic on her usually cold features. She looked around at the familiar sound of the hover platform filling the air. Kane positioned the platform under both of them, and as he raised up to close the gap, Dana’s strength gave out. Harl’s hand slithered out from between hers and he dropped straight down to the platform’s storage area behind where Kane sat and landed on top of Damen.
Chapter 50
I have moved Sim’s frozen body to my Cryobed in the core. They should believe he died after making the paradise and with a little manifesto re-write I should be “part” of the original crew without suspicion.
Damen’s mech jolted in a spasm as Harl tumbled on top of him.
Damen roared and threw Harl off, caught up in the fight, seeming to think Grakka had shrunk to his size. Harl rolled to break the fall, catching a glimpse of Troy zooming past the cut in Grakka’s stomach as Dana wrestled to hold the wound open.
Harl realised Troy had been holding up Kane’s box of grenades. He tossed the entire box inside the bloody gap and swerved away. Dana tugged a pair of grenades from a belt on her armour, leaving the pins on the belt. She casually tossed them through the gaping wound and into Grakka’s belly.
Troy panicked and toppled off his flyer, landing beside Harl before Kane pulled away.
Damen had one arm out, gripping Grakka and was still beating the life from the director.
A dull boom and a shower of bright yellow gore cascaded over the platform, coating them in a sickening rain.
An ear splitting howl rent the air like thunder and Grakka toppled over, collapsing onto Damen’s mech.
They were still between the two mechs as they collided. The platform whined as Kane tried to fly them away.
Dana zipped out from between the falling titans but the platform was too sluggish and Grakka’s body was collapsing down on them.
Instinctively Harl shut his eyes in a childish way, hoping they could clear it but a final glimpse told him they wouldn’t make it.
A heart pumping moment passed, then another and Harl dared open his eyes.
Both Damen’s mech and the remaining female Aylen were holding up Grakka’s body while the platform escaped the drop zone.
‘Fat bugger,’ Damen said, looking like a mime holding up a falling tree, frozen in place.
When they were free, Damen let go of Grakka and thumped a single fist down on the top of his bald head.
The Aylen females crowded around the body for what seemed a brief moment of shared hatred.
‘Here,’ Kane passed them the translators and Harl clipped one behind his ear.
‘It is done,’ One of the females said with a sense of finality.
‘What’s your name?’ Harl asked.
‘Sine,’ she said.
‘It’s not done until we get the parts I need for my reactor,’ Kane said. ‘And theirs is destroyed.’
Sine shook her head. ‘Yes, you must destroy the reactor but you will not be able to take the parts you need home.’
‘Why not?’ Damen demanded, looking as if he suspected treachery from them.
‘The alarm has been triggered,’ Sine said, ‘and they will have evacuated the building. Security will be waiting.’
‘Security?’ Troy asked.
Sine put a hand under the platform, lifting it up and strode around the carnage in the room and through the archway to where the lift was. She took them to a window and held them up to the pane so they could see outside.
The horizon was full of Aylen. Some carrying strange weapons, others wearing mech suits. There must have been a hundred of them around the entire building. Tracked vehicles were lined up behind the soldiers and beyond the titanic machines artillery had been set up, the giant barrels pointing towards the building.
‘Shouldn’t be too much of a problem,’ Troy said, his face as white as the rest of theirs.
Damen grinned.
‘So much technology,’ Kane said.
‘So much fire power,’ Damen echoed.
Harl tried to fathom the scale of the forces arrayed outside but it was too much. All he knew for sure was they were outside because of them and they were waiting to strike them down. To think he had caused so much disruption gave him a strange sense of pride. They’d put humans on the map.
A faint boom sounded and a high whistle built in intensity as a line arced in the sky, tracing across the blue veneer above the sea of Aylen.
Sine gripped the platform tight and twisted as an explosion broke against the window. Its flash threatened to blind Harl and he instinctively shut his eyes as Sine’s body blocked the cracking window. She crouched, shielding the platform as she turned from the barrage and roared in agony. She stumbled deeper into the building as the thunderous sound of shells ceased.
The other Aylen came over to Sine, and studied her back.
‘Are you hurt?’ Harl asked.
‘I will live,’ Sine said, wincing as the other Aylen went to work on her.
‘Will they demolish the building?’ Harl asked.
‘No,’ she said. ‘They won’t risk damaging the reactor.’
‘The reactor,’ Kane said. He powered up the platform until Sine let go and raced towards the lift.
‘Back to Gold and Silver first,’ Harl said. ‘They need to know what happened and what awaits us outside.’
Kane slowed and changed direction heading for the arch again.
‘I’ll let you tell them the good news,’ Troy said, glancing back at the shattered window.
Sine and the other Aylen followed the platform to the battle table and as they neared, Harl wondered if anyone had survived the carnage Grakka had put them through.
Sine reached the battlefield first and as she leant over the side to peer down, a cloud of explosions broke the air in front of her face. She stepped back, using her arms to block the detonations.
‘They think she’s part of the company,’ Damen said.
Dana dropped her flyer and it bounced above the floor of the platform just before she jumped on and sped off towards the barrage of explosions.
‘Dana!’ Troy cried. He looked around for his flyer, grabbed it up and sped off after her.
‘Lovers,’ Harl said but bit his tongue when he realised the joke was in poor taste with only Damen listening. To his surprise the hunter smiled. The dark mood he’d adopted seemed to
be fading after one on one combat with Grakka. Either that or it was the prospect of the certain death waiting for them on the outside.
Even as Harl watched Troy and Dana sweep down to the table he felt a threat had been eliminated with Grakka’s death. The only problem was it had been replaced with an angry army of giants waiting to kill them as soon as they left. Maybe they could survive on the rations in the battle table and wait it out. Would the Aylen army give up? More likely they would smash the doors down and destroy everything in the building except the reactor.
The explosions ceased as Dana disappeared from view over the edge of the table with Troy speeding along in her wake.
Harl’s fears were confirmed when they crested the lip of the table and he saw the battlefield below.
The bronze army had won but the death and destruction below was evidence of an outright slaughter.
Huge craters had been pummelled into the dirt, where the Aylen fist had smashed down at the men. Puddles of blood had pooled among dozens of pulverised bodies at the bottom.
The bulbous bodies of scrabblers, the giant rats, littered the field with no chains anchoring them in place. There was more bloody lumps of furry gore than full dead bodies and Harl assumed the explosive collars had been put to good use, being launched at the creatures as well as the watchers. Rings of dead soldiers were surrounded by carcasses of hivers and scuttlers, where the men had fought back to back to fend of the attack from all sides.
The last remnants of the bronze army clustered together on one hilltop. Speaking to crowds and armies had honed Harl’s counting skills and at a glance he knew there was just under a thousand soldiers left.
As Kane landed, Silver and Gold, both coated in the blood and guts of their kills, came out of the crowd to meet them.
Both generals greeted Damen first.
‘You won?’ Damen said.
It was clear they had suffered horrendous casualties but Damen was composed as he scanned the survivors.