by G J Ogden
Hallam shifted uncomfortably on the spot. “Are you sure I can withstand the radiation, Doc?” he asked. He’d forgotten the part about being exposed to a high dose of Randenite radiation.
“I suggest you limit your exposure to ten seconds or less,” said Dr. Rand matter-of-factly.
“Ten seconds?” said Hallam, raising a skeptical eyebrow at the scientist. “Doc, it sometimes takes me that long to unbuckle my damn flight harness.”
“I have previously extracted and worked on this component, so it will be simple to remove,” replied Dr. Rand, untroubled by Hallam’s protest. “Ten seconds should be more than enough time, Mr. Knight.”
Hallam blew out a rasping sigh. “I hope you’re right…”
Castell picked up the briefing again. “Once the raiding party has secured the component in the shielded case, you are to depart by the same route,” he said, returning the holo projection to the bird’s eye view of the complex.
“Whilst avoiding the flesh-eating spiders, of course…” Ruby added, with a twisted grin.
“Can everyone stop talking about flesh-eating spiders!” Hallam snapped. He was now unable to think about anything else.
“You brought it up,” said Dakota, also smirking.
The loud pop of Ruby’s gum bubble bursting drew the room’s attention back to her. “So the billion-dollar question is, which one of you two dummies gets to come with me on this insane mission that has a high probability of death?” she said, looking at Hallam then Dakota.
“No offense, Ruby, but stealth isn’t really your style,” said Dakota, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. “Nor, to be honest, is not blowing things up. And we need to retrieve the probe component from the complex intact.”
Ruby blew another bubble while watching Dakota over the top of it with narrowed eyes. She then turned her attention to Hallam. The tension in the room was growing as steadily as the gum bubble was. The bubble then popped and, much to Hallam’s surprise, the tension dissipated with it.
“Okay, so tanker man goes with the boss on this one,” said Ruby before folding her arms. “But I’m gonna be in my cockpit, fueled up and ready to haul your asses out of there if this goes belly up.” Ruby chewed her gum noisily for a couple more seconds before adding, “Again…”
“I’d expect nothing less,” said Dr. Rand, glancing across to Dakota, who nodded her approval.
“Fine with me, though I do have one last question,” said Hallam, addressing Dr. Rand.
“Go on, Mr. Knight,” said the scientist, raising a curious eyebrow.
“Can we be absolutely sure that this damn planet doesn’t have any flesh-eating spiders?” said Hallam. It wasn’t meant as a joke, however, Dr. Rand merely rolled her eyes at him then left the briefing room without saying another word.
5
The journey to reach Damien Doyle’s rogue world had been uneventful but tense. Even as they approached the foreboding planet, with its constant lightning storms, Hallam couldn’t shake the feeling that something dark lurked beneath the impenetrable cloud cover. His sense of trepidation hadn’t been improved by their hair-raising atmospheric entry. The ship had been buffeted so hard, Hallam felt like it would fall apart. He’d even resorted to patting Bob the bear on the head and asking the little wooly mascot to bring them luck. Normally, this would have amused Dakota, but on this occasion, all her attention was focused on ensuring they didn’t crash. There simply wasn’t time to poke fun at Hallam.
Once they had reached ground level, Dakota had cautiously maneuvered her renegade fighter through the dense tree canopy of the swampland region they had chosen for their landing site. It was about a kilometer outside the sensor perimeter of the secret Consortium complex, which was closer than Hallam had expected them to get. However, despite the challenges, Dakota’s piloting had been exceptional, and he was glad she was in the number one chair instead of him. The flight out to their not-so picturesque landing spot had required Dakota to hug the planet’s surface at dangerously low levels, while avoiding the jagged, rocky hills and mountains that protruded from the surface like cracked dragon teeth. On top of the constant driving rain and electrical storms, it had been a spine-tingling experience, only made worse by Dakota’s choice of an evil-looking swamp as their landing spot.
Dakota set the vessel down and shut off the vertical thrusters, causing the landing struts to partially sink into the sodden ground. Hallam had a strange sensation of falling over as the fighter lolled to one side, sinking unevenly into the bog they’d landed in. However, all told, given the traumatic nature of the journey, he was very glad to be on any kind of mostly solid ground again.
“Congratulations, Dak, I think you’ve discovered hell,” said Hallam as the ship continued to creak and groan, sinking a little more each second.
“Isn’t hell supposed to be all fire and brimstone?” Dakota replied, shutting down the main engines. She’d already initiated a full, shielded shut-down of the Shelby Drive after arriving in the secret star system, so as not to give off a tell-tale bridge drive signature. “This place is more rain and mud.”
Hallam unfastened his harness and peered up at the driving rain, which was still hammering down on the cockpit glass, despite their partially-sheltered swampland setting. Flashes lit up the sky, visible through the canopy of drooping branches and long-flat leaves that looked like wizened witches’ fingers. The flashes were closely followed by the raucous boom of thunder as the storm began to catch up with them. “I think they got it wrong. I’d take fire and brimstone over this desolate, miserable place any day.”
Dakota lowered the cargo pod that had been attached to the fighter’s underbelly in the renegade hideout and waited for it to squelch into the mire. “I’m more concerned that our little all-terrain vehicle won’t be able to handle this boggy landscape and just sink into a muddy oblivion,” said Dakota, spinning her seat around to face Hallam.
“You mean like we are now?” replied Hallam as the fighter slowly lolled to the other side, causing him to lose his balance again. “I just hope there’s still a ship here when we get back.”
Hallam followed Dakota into the rear section of the fighter to prepare their gear. Dakota quickly grabbed a coat and tossed it into Hallam’s face. “Just put this on and stop moaning, will you?” she said, pulling on a similar garment. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can leave.”
Hallam dragged the coat off his face and slipped it on as more bright flashes lit up the darkness surrounding them, followed almost instantly by another sonorous rumble of thunder.
“Trust Doyle to hide his super-secret base on the most oppressive, and intensely dislikable planet in the galaxy,” said Hallam, sliding on his backpack and clipping it securely across his chest. “I wonder what other dark secrets he’s hiding away?”
Dakota sighed, pressing her hands to her hips. “You know, I could easily murder you out here and leave you to sink into the mud instead of the ship,” she said as Hallam continued to grumble. “No one would ever know…”
“You’d miss my scintillating company, admit it,” said Hallam, pulling up the hood of the coat and opening the lower hatch. A biting, icy wind swept inside and Hallam shuddered, as much from revulsion as from the chill the wind had sent down his spine. “Did I mention that I hate being wet and cold?” Hallam added, climbing down the ladder.
“You might have hinted at it a few times…” said Dakota sarcastically.
Hallam’s boots squelched into the mud, though the terrain felt more solid than he was expecting, and shuffled out from underneath the ship. The belly of the large, two-man fighter was at least half a meter lower to the ground than it would usually have been, due to the partially-sunken landing struts. Dakota climbed down next, while thunder and lightning continued to crackle and rumble all around them. The thick cloud cover meant that the planet was cloaked in a perpetual gloom, but with the tree canopy blocking what little light the system’s sun could provide, it was darker than midnight in the swamp
.
Dakota set to work on the ATV, while Hallam stowed his gear in the rear compartment. Rain continued to belt down so hard that it felt like his hood was a copper cooking pot that an amateur drummer was using to practice on. Hallam finished stowing his gear and looked up at the long branches swaying in the wind before drawing his gaze back to ground level. Then his heart leapt in his chest as a shadowy shape appeared to creep past in the darkness.
“Did you see that?” said Hallam, squinting through the gloom, but the shape – if it had been a shape – had gone.
“I’m not falling for that, Hal,” said Dakota drolly. “You’re going to need to try harder.”
Hallam scowled at Dakota – their constant pranking of each other had meant that both were always skeptical and on their guard. He returned his gaze back into the darkness, trying to confirm his sighting and convince Dakota that he wasn’t playing the fool. However, he saw nothing but the chaotic swirl of the wind, toying with long grasses and dead leaves.
The whine of the ATV’s motor activating turned Hallam’s attention back toward his partner. Dakota was now inside the small buggy and had pulled on a helmet with a tactical visor drawn down over her eyes. The vehicle rolled out from underneath the fighter, its wide, fat tires coping well with the sticky ground, and pulled up next to Hallam.
“Take the wheel while I get the cutting gear ready,” said Dakota, tossing a second helmet at him, then shuffling into the passenger seat. “And don’t forget to activate Dr. Rand’s stealth tech.”
Hallam pushed his hood back, exposing his face to the full force of the inclement weather, and slipped the helmet on before jumping behind the wheel. He flipped a switch to enable Dr. Rand’s stealth field then adjusted his visor settings to enhance his view ahead. Suddenly, he saw something dart away into the undergrowth and sink into the swamp water.
“You must have seen it that time!” cried Hallam, pointing into the darkness.
“I told you, I’m not falling for it,” said Dakota dryly.
“I’m serious, Dak, there’s something out there,” insisted Hallam while continually adjusting his visor settings in order to get a cleaner view. However, the charged atmosphere and driving rain was fogging up the image.
“It’s just your imagination, Hal” said Dakota dismissively as she continued working to assemble the cutting gear. The tool would be needed to slice through the metal body of the outpost blocks, allowing them to enter and escape unseen. “Either that or it’s just your dumb idea of a joke…”
Hallam frowned and sat back in the seat. Once again, the shape had gone. Maybe it is just my imagination… he conceded. Everything about the planet gave him the creeps, so it stood to reason that he’d see monsters and ghouls in every dark corner.
Hallam edged the ATV forward, still keeping a wary eye on the murkier corners of the swampland. The swamp extended almost to the edge of the sensor perimeter that Doyle had set up around his secret installation. Within that two-kilometer radius, the trees had been largely cleared out, but the undulating rocky terrain and long trenches filled with foul smelling bog-water still remained. As such, there was ample cover to conceal their approach, especially under the veil of the planet’s near perpetual darkness. Hallam also trusted that Rand’s stealth tech would hide them from any sensors. However, if a Consortium heavy inside the complex decided to look out across the terrain at just the right moment, there was no way to hide from the most basic of sensor devices – the good old mark one eyeball.
Hallam pushed the ATV on, weaving a chaotic path through the swamp until they were almost at the perimeter. Taking his eyes off the swampy road for a second, he dimmed all the instrument panels in the ATV and made sure that any external lights were also disabled.
“Hal!”
Hallam’s head snapped back to the trail ahead and saw that something had blocked their path. He slammed on the brakes and sharply veered away, but he merely succeeded in pushing the ATV into a sideways slide toward the obstacle. The vehicle’s thick tires finally dug deep enough into the mud to counteract their momentum and they ground to a stop five meters from the obstacle. However, it merely appeared to be an indistinct black blob. Then there was a low, guttural growl, clearly different from the constant rumble of thunder, and the object inched forward. It caught a narrow beam of light that had managed to pierce the dense canopy overhead, which was enough to highlight two shimmering eyes and a drooling jaw filled with crooked teeth.
“Do you believe me now?” said Hallam, keeping his eyes fixed on the creature. He knew that it wasn’t the time for an “I told you so” comment, but he couldn’t help himself.
“Just don’t move…” said Dakota, her eyes also locked on to the six-foot reptilian-like creature, which continued to move past them.
“I wasn’t really planning to…” snapped Hallam, again marveling at Dakota’s mastery of stating the obvious.
The creature was covered in thick, mottled skin that looked like scales. It stood on two thick, stumpy rear legs, and had long, claw-tipped arms. Hallam thought it would have looked at home in a dinosaur museum, were it not for the fact this creature was most certainly not a fossil. Continuing to watch the beast closely, Hallam then slowly slid his weapon out of his holster.
“I’m not sure that shooting it is a great idea, Hal!” said Dakota as Hallam clicked off the safety.
“Would you prefer I let it eat us?” replied Hallam stiffly. Both were talking like bad ventriloquists, attempting to speak without moving their lips.
The creature let out another low growl, then edged closer toward the driver’s side of the ATV. Hallam felt his pulse race higher and he rested the barrel of his pistol across his left arm, ready to shoot if the creature got too close.
Thunderclaps chorused with the creature’s guttural growls, as one of its long, claw-tipped arms landed on the bonnet of the ATV, scraping a groove into the metal. It sounded like someone drawing their fingernails across a blackboard, except ten times louder and more painful to listen to. Hallam slid his finger onto the trigger and aimed at the creature’s head, but its eyes were not looking into his own.
“I take it back! Shoot it!” said Dakota with hushed urgency as the creature moved closer. Hallam could now see its thick skin in far more detail. It was comprised of hundreds of armor plates that moved and flexed as the creature did. He added pressure to the trigger but still held off, as the beast appeared to take no further interest in the vehicle.
“Hal, what the hell!” Dakota cried, her voice subdued but no less fearful.
Then the creature turned and dropped into the swamp water to the side of the ATV. Within seconds, it had disappeared into the thick cover of undergrowth, leaving only an undulating wave of murky bog-water behind to show that it had been there at all.
Hallam blew out a long breath and let the weapon drop to his lap. “That was far too close for comfort,” he said, keeping half an eye on the swamp.
“I take it back, this place is worse than hell,” said Dakota, her head pressed back and eyes closed, rainwater hammering onto the visor that covered her face.
“After we snatch this probe component, the last one back to the ship buys the drinks, agreed?” said Hallam, grabbing the wheel and slowly driving on.
“You’re on, but there’s not a chance in this hell or any other hell that I’m losing that bet,” said Dakota without even the faintest flicker of a smile.
They continued the rest of the journey through the swamp in silence, until the ATV finally burst through the undergrowth and into the two-kilometer-wide no-man’s land that separated them from Damien Doyle’s secret complex.
6
Once they were inside the two-kilometer sensor perimeter surrounding the Consortium outpost, Hallam had found the terrain to be considerably easier to navigate. This was thanks to the lack of trees, dense undergrowth, and six-foot reptilian monsters. However, it also meant they were now fully exposed to the storm’s elemental might. Under the protection of the tree canopy,
the rain had felt like a heavy summer downpour, but with that shield removed, it was now more akin to a tropical storm. However, the lack of autocannon emplacements targeting them, or lunatic Warbots advancing on their position, suggested that Dr. Rand’s sensor stealthing technology was working. As such, Hallam made solid progress toward the makeshift installation, which had been cobbled together from dozens of temporary outpost blocks.
Hallam slowed the ATV to a crawl as they closed to within three hundred meters of the complex. The terrain had gotten more difficult to navigate, and the level of cover for their ATV had also reduced, both of which had made it far more difficult to remain hidden.
“That place looks abandoned,” said Dakota as Hallam drove the ATV into a shallow gully, its wide tires cutting through several inches of murky grey-green bog water. “I don’t see any interior lights, or watchtowers, or any movement at all.”
Hallam stopped the ATV and peered out at the complex. It was raised up on six-foot-high stilts, which kept the outpost blocks from stewing in the vile swamp water that festered all around them.
“Maybe those creatures got inside and ate them all?” said Hallam, though he knew that this was more wishful thinking than a serious suggestion.
“What is it with you and flesh-eating monsters?” said Dakota, shooting Hallam a quizzical look.
“I just have a healthy aversion to being eaten, that’s all,” replied Hallam. “Or shot at, or chased after by some nutjob mercenary with a sword fetish for that matter. But yet here I am…”
Dakota let out a derisive snort, then a floodlight kicked into life on one of the complex’s outpost blocks and began probing the terrain.