The Lost Voyager: A Space Opera Novel

by A. C. Hadfield

Lassea patted Tulula’s hand in a silent gesture of thanks. A lump rose in her throat and she just nodded, knowing that what she heard was the truth, but not feeling any better for it.

  “Failure gives more growth than success,” Tulula added, leaving Lassea to remain at her station while the vestan headed back to her own. “You’re a good pilot and crew member. You’re going to experience a lot more death yet; it’s the nature of reality. Don’t let it get into your heart.”

  Lassea wiped a rogue tear from her eye and thanked Tulula for the support.

  Despite their continued awkwardness around each other and Felix’s likely death at the hands of the phane, Lassea felt that she and Tulula had done the right thing, but the day wasn’t over. Regardless of Felix’s fate, there was still the issue of the bomb and the fate of the Salus Sphere to consider.

  “What now, Babcock? Over,” Lassea said over the comm channel.

  The old scientist’s words were somber as he replied, “You two ladies did good, and you’ve given Felix a fighting chance. We can only hope for him now—and for the others. Stay alert, and get Tulula to ensure the fusion crystals are fully operational. The very second we get word from Mach that the bomb is armed; we’re going to need to be ready to get off the planet. We’ll likely have to L-jump before we’re out of the atmosphere; there’s a large contingent of EM disturbance beyond the mountain. Over.”

  “What does that mean? Over.”

  “It means we’ll have to fly like the wind and pray to whatever deity will listen that we make it off the planet in time. Over.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Mach raised his Stinger, activated his helmet light, and headed for a battered white security booth inside the OreCorp constructed shaft. Both smoothly drilled walls had dark natural fissures and caves at uneven intervals. Adira walked by his side with her lasers extended, Sanchez brought up the rear.

  Rusty pieces of twisted metal scattered around the ground. Groans echoed in the distance. Mach crouched by the booth’s shattered window, grabbed a transceiver from his thigh compartment, and dropped it inside.

  “Babs, are you there?” Mach said through the comm.

  “Still here. We’ve lost a fighter drone but don’t worry about that. Keep placing the transceivers and send back what data you can.”

  “Any news on Felix?”

  “We lost visual after assisting him with the drone. He’s not responding but Sereva says it’s not unusual.”

  Mach half-smiled, imagining the ex-security officer blasting the laser and taking control of the Scimitar’s machine guns. “Keep me updated if the situation changes on the ground. Out.”

  Adira peered at her smart-screen. “There’s a network of tunnels and chambers that’ll lead us straight to western end. Follow me.”

  She advanced into the gloom and headed right through a wide cave. The solid ground underneath turned to damp dirt and the cave thinned to a two-meter-wide tunnel.

  Trickles of water, running down the side of the walls, glinted when Mach’s light flashed across them. He placed a transceiver on small dry ledge. The numbers of phane on the ground outside sent a chill down his spine. Taking on that many in these confines would be almost impossible, but they had to proceed.

  “You’re feed’s cutting out,” Babcock said through the comm. “If you can find their frequency jammers—”

  “It’s not our priority,” Mach replied. “We’ll keep trying to lay a network, but we’re going for the bomb.”

  “I hear you, Carson, but more data on the phane might be useful if they’re on other planets.”

  “We’ll do what we can,” Adira said. “Keep

  Sanchez gasped. Mach turned to see the big hunter on one knee. He grabbed the wall and hauled himself back to his feet.

  “Are you okay?” Mach asked.

  “Far from okay, but good enough to see this thing through. Get your fat ass moving.”

  Mach’s increasing concern over his friend’s illness blocked any temptation to give a light-hearted response. Usually in tense situations, he and Sanchez would use gallows humor to ease the atmosphere. Seeing the big man falter under the strain of a terminal disease put a stop to that.

  Adira crouched at the end of the tunnel and peered into a wider space. She encouraged Mach forward with her gloved hand. He crept to her side, treading softly to avoid his boots squelching in the mud, and looked around a large cavernous chamber.

  Just as Felix said, luminous stalactites hung from the ceiling, shaped like large medieval lances that ancient people on Earth used to joust on horseback. The thought of the ancient sport had seemed ridiculous to Mach, until he drank one too many cocktails during the Earth festival on Fides Prime and fought a fidesian on the back of mechanical stallion.

  The chamber’s glistening ground riddled with activity. Ten four-legged black creatures with upright bodies and bulbous heads, stood at the left side of a large translucent mound in the opposite corner of the cavern. They took turns pumping slime from their short spiked tails, coating a protruding human arm until it was completely covered.

  Sanchez shuffled to Mach’s side and let out a deep breath. Mach couldn’t decide if it was the big man’s reaction to the scene in front of them or his illness.

  Six caterpillar shaped white aliens crawled across to the mound from a cave and attached themselves to the right side of it. Each sucked a thin channel from mound’s red center through the clearer outer layer until their bodies changed to a dark purple color. As they crawled back to their cave, another six creatures headed in the opposite direction.

  “That’s quite a digestive process,” Mach said. He raised his smart-screen and recorded the activity.

  “I’d call it disgusting,” Adira replied. “But it gives me a good idea of their plans for us if they reach the Sphere.”

  “We’ll end up as spider shit,” Sanchez said.

  Adira rolled her eyes. “Thanks for that, detective. We need to head to our right.”

  “Fine by me. Say the word and I’ll kill every last one of them.”

  Mach grabbed Sanchez’s barrel and lowered it. “We try stealth first. I don’t want any unwanted attention for their bigger brothers.”

  Sanchez shrugged. “Don’t say I told you so.”

  “That wouldn’t be like you,” Adira replied.

  She aimed both lasers forward and stepped inside the cavern. Mach and Sanchez followed, keeping their backs against the wall, and edged thirty meters across to another dark entrance while keeping a careful eye on the preoccupied aliens around the mound.

  Adira picked up her pace when they entered a wider tunnel with a dry dirt floor. Circular dents of phane footprints almost blotted out old vehicle tracks. Two dusty green cables sagged from the left wall.

  Caves along the right side led to a gently lit parallel tunnel. The ones on the left were shrouded in darkness. Mach’s suspicions about their direction of travel were confirmed when they Adira turned left through a thin gap in the wall. He reached forward and tapped her shoulder. “Are you sure this is the easiest way?”

  “Felix dropped us here. I’m guessing he didn’t want go to the western entrance.”

  “Fair point,” Mach said, remembering the location of the phane mothership on the other side of mountain. “It’s confusing—”

  A loud screech echoed in the distance. Adira froze. Mach recognized it as similar to the one he heard just before the arachnids attacked the Scimitar. He held his breath and peered into the darkness ahead.

  Sanchez leaned with his back against the rock and lazily swept around his rifle in a one handed grip. Mach knew it was too late to send him back, but the big hunters seemed to be getting weaker by the minute.

  The team waited silently for minute before Adira rose from one knee and proceeded forward. Mach checked his smart-screen map to try and work out where the hell they were going.

  ***

  Sanchez’s boots felt heavier by the minute. He gritted his teeth and continued to
follow Mach and Adira long the tunnel, refusing to let the symbiosite defeat him before he could complete his final job.

  His symptoms had doubled in severity since they entered the mine. The hallucinations were getting worse. When he tried to aim through his sights at the creatures in the previous cavern, he saw his mother and father stuck to the side of the mound, smiling and beckoning him forward.

  They were both killed near the start of the century war after the horans struck his village on Fides Gamma. He often wondered if he would’ve been a respectable officer in the CWDF had it not happened, not that he regretted his subsequent career as a gunrunner, hunter and freelancer with Carson Mach.

  Adira picked up her pace. Sanchez strained to keep with Her and Mach as they both advanced along the dark tunnel. He couldn’t reveal the effort it took just to maintain a fast walk. The last thing he wanted to do was compromise the mission, but he would have to tell them soon. It couldn’t get to a situation where him covering the illness risked all of their lives.

  Images of Sanchez’s own organs flashed through his mind, with a thin white creature wrapped around them. The symbiosite constantly let him know exactly who was in control of both of their lives right to the bitter end. This had happened every day for the last two years. Day by day the damned thing increased its grip on him as it tangled inside his torso.

  A sudden splitting pain filled the hunter’s head. He propped his hand against the rock and held his breath, waiting for it to subside. Lights flashed in front of his eyes and his pulse pounded in both ears. Even the stims had little effect in blocking the migraines and stomach cramps.

  Sanchez composed himself and staggered forward. He wasn’t sure how much further he could go without collapsing in a heap. He thought about not having the chance to say goodbye Tulula and vowed he wouldn’t give in. The vestan engineer had melted his heart with her no-nonsense approach and technical abilities. She was the last face he wanted to see before shuffling off this mortal coil.

  Mach said something through the comm but Sanchez didn’t understand a word. He nodded and forced up a thumb.

  Adira and Mach rounded a corner. Sanchez hunched over and took the opportunity to take a few deep breaths. They’d wait for him. He’d say he heard something and was covering their rear. All he needed was a bit of recovery time.

  The tunnel brightened and changed to the Nebula Bar on Feronia Prime. A place Sanchez had traded weapons and carried out a mission with Mach. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.

  “Stop doing this to me,” he said. “Just give me this last chance.”

  Darkness surrounded him once again. Sanchez looked in both directions. He couldn’t remember if Mach and Adira had gone left or right. He attempted to speak into the comm but only produced shallow breath.

  It was a fifty-fifty gamble, but Sanchez needed to find them and rest before his energy was completely sapped. He turned and stumbled along the tunnel, crashing into both sides of the wall. He came out in their previous location.

  Figures moved in the dark around him. Sanchez raised his rifle but something ripped it free from his grip. He swung his right fist through the darkness. His own momentum spun him around and he collapsed to the ground with a twist.

  Thick black legs surrounded Sanchez. He couldn’t believe his fate was to be turned into phane food. He attempted to raise himself but didn’t have the strength and flopped back to the dirt.

  A purple robe brushed past his visor. Something chattered and hummed above him. Two large pincers slid underneath his body and lifted him into the air.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Shit, where’s Sanchez?” Mach said, suddenly realizing that his friend was no longer bringing up the rear. “How could he have just gone?” Sweat started to pool under his arms, making his ribs sticky and damp. The heat of the underground mining shafts combined with the suspense of finding the weapon.

  Adira spun round, bathing the narrow, rough-hewn tunnel with a wash of blue visor light. She turned her head frantically, trying to find any sign of him, but Sanchez was gone. “Wait, there,” she said, pointing to the ground.

  A pair of footsteps led away in the dirt back the way they had come. Mach sent a ping to Sanchez’s smart-screen via the transceiver network they had been setting up along their travels.

  A split-second later a red dot blipped on Mach’s holo-display. It appeared it hadn’t got very far, maybe a few hundred meters down one of the side tunnels that led to one of the secondary mining locations.

  “We need to go back, quickly,” Mach said, dragging Adira by the arm until they were both running through the narrow tunnels toward the junction they had passed a moment ago.

  When they reached it, they stepped through a low opening, forcing them to have to crouch. The tunnel ahead was completely pitch black, swallowing their visor lights as though they were nothing but a single candle flame.

  The temperature was rising as they followed after Sanchez. All the while, Mach was trying to communicate with him, but received no response. Mach sent a report back to Babcock and Lassea to keep them up to speed. Babcock would get some of the data back from their smart-screens via their transceiver network, and Mach hoped he would be able to contact Sanchez.

  They travelled through the tunnel for another fifty meters or so, the ceiling gradually getting higher so they were able to stand and increase their pace. Adira was placing transceivers on the wall to extend their network so they could continue to communicate with Babcock.

  “Can you see him?” Mach said through his comm unit.

  “He’s moving fast,” Babcock responded. “Faster than he really ought to be able to in his condition—of which I have some more information for you when you find him. I think I might have found a way we can help him.”

  “That’s if the phane don’t get him first,” Mach said.

  He checked his smart-screen when he and Adira came to a junction with three possible exits. The red dot was moving incredibly fast now, way faster than a human, even in the open, could sprint.

  “You thinking what I’m thinking?” Adira said, her eyes narrowing as she looked into the gloom of the east exit.

  “What’s that?”

  “That he’s not the one moving.”

  “What do you mean?” Before she could answer, the dot stopped. Mach oriented himself based on the directions given to him by Babcock. “We take the west exit. He’s down there.”

  The two followed the tunnel, sprinting in the larger shaft, their feet running across the smooth surface of a disused Maglev mining track. “I meant,” Adira added, pointing to larger prints in the dust on either side of the track, “that he was probably carried away by something.”

  “That’s not a helpful thought,” Mach said as he pulled his Stinger over his shoulder and made sure he had a fresh mag installed. “Whatever it is, it’s gonna die pretty fucking quickly if it’s got Sanchez.”

  The sweat continued to pour out of Mach as he pushed himself faster and faster, checking his positioning against the updated instructions on his smart-screen, provided by Babcock.

  “Turn left at the end of the tunnel,” Babcock said. “But be careful, it looks like a dug-out cavern, not natural to the mining system according to Felix. It’s new.”

  “That’s just great,” Adira said. “Let me guess, another disgusting feeding frenzy.”

  It didn’t take a genius to guess, and Adira was right. She and Mach followed the directions and did indeed come to another feeding room. This one was larger than the Intrepid’s docking bay and had stone steps descending into a pit cut from the planet’s core. The gloom was punctured by a series of dark orange lamps, set up in a matrix to provide warm light for the thick, writhing larvae that chewed on varied organic matter, both alive and dead.

  “Don’t vomit in your helmet,” Adira said.

  “Thanks for that great advice. How about we concentrate on finding a way across.” He patched through to Babcock. “Babs, is this the only way? We’v
e come to a feeding pit. I see an exit on the other side, but I’d rather avoid going down there if there’s another route around.”

  “Let me check.” A few seconds later Babcock delivered the news that, no, there was not, in fact, another route.

  “Lock and load, love,” Mach said, raising his Stinger rifle and stepping to the makeshift staircase, “We’re going down there. Shoot anything that moves, and if you have any rounds left, anything that doesn’t. I’ll take point.”

  “Not this time, lover boy.” Adira was quicker than Mach and flew down the steps with the speed and grace of a jaguar, showing up Mach as if he were a lumbering ox. They reached the bottom of the staircase, descending some thirty or more meters to the orange-lit pit.

  Mach stopped at the threshold, back against the wall. He grabbed Adira’s arm and pulled her back so they were both clothed in shadow. “Wait,” he said through the comm, making sure their external speakers were only set to receive. “There’s one soldier over there by the exit. I can’t see anything else beyond those grub-like larvae things. If we move around the perimeter, they’ll leave us alone and we’ll likely get the jump on the soldier. Aim for the head and empty all you got. Ready?”

  “Always.”

  “Babs, you seeing all this?”

  “I sure am, Mach. Sanchez’s location is just a few meters beyond the exit you’re looking at.”

  “We’re on it.”

  Mach double-checked his Stinger and chambered a round. Adira followed suit and they made their way slowly around the stone pit, the viscera of untold animals and other organic matter sloshing beneath their feet. Occasionally one of the grubs stirred and writhed in their direction before stopping to wallow in more filth. The soldier was pacing back and forth in front of the exit, turning its head one way then the other. The dark carapace on its forehead glowed with the dull orange lights. It had a set of antennae twitching and swirling in the air.

  They got around the edge of the pit so that they were now facing the soldier phane head-on, the rough walls pressing against their left side. The beast’s head swung their way. Its red eyes glinted before a pair of inner lids slipped down over the eyes like the sharks on Earth. Its clawed legs skittered on the floor before it launched itself with a screech toward Mach and Adira.