by Ronan Frost
The natives had saved his life, for his body desperately needed rest after the crash landing. Once over this major hurdle his body readjusted and had begun the healing process.
Perhaps if the situation was different the natives may have been permitted access to the High Council Federation, as had many other primitive cultures of alien worlds. Unfortunately this was not to be the case, for the Hartrias warship had found them first. Shaun knew that this planet would be thoroughly mined and ravaged of its minerals before the Royal Hartrias Fleet starship departed.
He checked the beacon one final time before rising to greet his small companions.
"Have we lost them?" barked the native who had introduced himself as Capac Fletfod. He gestured abruptly back the way they had came. From their vantage point they could see the full spread of the jungle around them, the night shadows deep. The large moon shone from between thunderclouds overhead, illuminating the majestic landscape in a pale milky light. No lights or signs of pursuit were in sight.
"I'm not picking them up on the scope," replied Shaun. "But you can be sure that they are not behind. We have gained a little time but that is all."
Capac grumbled. "My friends are exhausted and cannot continue much further."
Shaun nodded in understanding - his own wounds were being to tear under the strain, the only thing keeping him going the Hartrias injection pack. "We shall keep walking to the summit of this hill, then we will make camp. We should be reasonably safe on this rocky ground if we careful with our tracks."
"Have no fear of that," returned Capac. "I have made sure we leave no evidence of our passing."
"Great," Shaun said absently, his concentration elsewhere. "Come on, we've not far to go now."
Shaun would not permit any fire incase it gave away their position to their trackers. They chewed sullenly at cold smoked meats, distributed from the fur-lined bags of the pale faced native Ashian. A little water was scooped from small pools of the rocks to quench their thirst after the long hike. Shaun had found a small hollow between towering rocks, and, deeming it a safe refuge, declared camp. As they ate a billowing wind arisen, chill and deathlike as it carried the first specks of snow in its wake.
Ashian drew his cloak tighter about his form and regarded Shaun in the faint moonlight.
"Tell us about yourself," he began. "You said earlier you were an enemy of the Sunlords?"
Shaun nodded, settling back into a resting position. Luckily the rock outcropping shielding them from the wind and he could rest in relative comfort. He settled himself in, knowing that these inquisitive natives would not let him rest until they knew all about him.
Shaun was content to answer all their questions, respecting their right to be curious. Half an hour later they knew most of his life history, for Shaun could see no sense in holding any secrets.
The natives quietly listened to his sombre monologue as he told of his capture into the Sunlord starship and his two long years of imprisonment.
"How did you survive that long?" questioned Ashian. "Surely, if an enemy of the Sunlords, you would be quickly disposed of."
Shaun shook his head. "In those years I was interrogated and tortured." He rolled the sleeve of his helicasuit, revealing a narrow mass of scars running the length of his inner arm. "The Hartrias, or the Sunlords in your tongue, hoped to get information out of me on the whereabouts of the Federation command liner. Fortunately they learned nothing, and a few weeks later I was taken down to their genetic research labs."
"So you didn't relinquish to the torture?" The Currach's eyes were wide with admiration.
Shaun laughed good-naturedly. "No, nothing so heroic. It was simply because very few Federation members know themselves where the command liner is. It's location is a tightly kept secret, and I, being only a starfighter pilot, knew not where it lay."
Capac's large emerald eyes narrowed. "How did you escape?"
"It's a long story. Eventually I reverted to the tunnels and air ducts to escape my pursuers. But I was lucky, and would not like to try it again."
"Air ducts," mused Capac. "I have journeyed through the caves and shafts of this very hillside, and I believe can handle it very well." The seasoned hunter turned to Ashian. "That may be our way in."
Shaun interceded. "Not so fast. The Sunlords have a powerful beast at their side called the Lectar, and it is deadly in the tunnels. Now that I have alerted them of their weakness I'm sure the Admiral will order the ducts be regularly controlled. The Lectar are a fearsome beast in an enclosed space, and unless you have a powerful weapon at your side you may as well pack it in."
Capac's eyes were steely. "We will never 'pack it in'."
Shaun paused. "You're deadly serious about this crazy task of boarding the Sunlord ship aren't you?"
Ashian spoke for them all. "We cannot sit by as watch our people die. It is my duty as a high official to see the city is safe and Abas' rule is obeyed. My friends here have a vendetta against the raiding Lords of the Sun who have decimated many of their number."
"You realise your deaths will be futile as you come against the brunt of the Sunlords' fire, don't you? I've been thinking that maybe you can tag along with me to the next jump position back to the Federation. I owe you a returned favour, and it would be no skin off my back to take you to the Council Chambers."
Capac Fletfod shook his head. "We cannot run from our country. We are going to defeat the Sunlords, with or without your help."
Shaun spread his hands in defeat.
"Very well then, have it your own way. I will assist you in getting aboard the Urisa, suicide though it may be. I'm not sure you will be able to breathe the gasses aboard the ship. It would be most unfortunate if you simply fell stiffly to the floor as soon as you put a foot in the corridors."
"If that is so, how were you able to manage?"
"Nearly every starpilot's genes are developed enough to survive on most types of air," replied Shaun. "Like the Sunlords, we humans have evolved our bodies to be able to adapt to changing gasses in the atmosphere. That's not to say I can breathe anything, far from it. It just means my lungs can pluck all the oxygen I need out of the air."
Sudden thought struck Ashian. "I survived aboard the Sunlord's ship! I recall a faint muskiness to the air, but I remained conscious."
Noting Shaun's bemused expression, Ashian told of his ordeal involving his confrontation with the Admiral and all that had transpired. He told of the Admiral's demands and of the strange creatures he had met.
Shaun sat back in thought, silently considering the merit of the native's tale. "This may be true. The Sunlords may have changed the air in that particular room to suit you, but I find that highly unlikely. You could be fortunate, my native friends, in that you can survive on the Sunlord's foul brew. But what I find curious is that fact that the Admiral even bothered to warn you. If this was any other planet no regard would be held for you."
Ashian shrugged. "Maybe they hold an interest in this planet."
Shaun nodded uneasily. There was something wrong with the whole way the Hartrias army was approaching this planet. It was a grating feeling, but he just couldn't put his finger on the problem. Eventually he shrugged it off and turned his attention back to his surroundings.
"What weapons do you have?" Shaun asked. He indicated to Capac's rifle. "May I have a look at that?"
The Eloprin hunter was immediately suspicious. He eyed Shaun inquisitively for a moment, torn in indecision.
"How do I know you won't turn it against me?"
Shaun laughed, a mirthful companionable laugh.
"If I had wanted to do that, I would have done it long ago. Come on, forest man, let me see it. After all, don't you want me to tell you how to operate it properly? I noticed by the way you handle it you could use a few tips."
Ashian prodded Capac gently in the ribs.
Capac reluctantly passed over the rifle. Shaun took it, and slumped back into his position against the rock face. His quick fingers slid a small to
rch from the pocket of his helicasuit and he studied the weapon with the narrow beam.
"An Auras rifle," he mused, turning the weapon over in his hands. "I don't know where you got this from, but you have a powerful weapon here." A new light of respect shone in Shaun's eyes, awed at how these primitives had got their hands on the Hartrias' weapon. "This gun is a real killing machine. Mass produced, and the sighting is not as great as some of the Federation sniper lasers. But this thing packs plenty of punch. Explosive tipped high velocity armour piercing .52 calibre bullets. Rips the living shit out of anything you'd care to mention."
Ashian looked at the squat black weapon. Its barrel was stocky and worn with use, designed to fit into the holder's shoulder, just long enough for both hands to hold. Curling out the bottom was a
magazine, the LCD dial showing 19 rounds remaining.
Shaun held the Auras' muzzle to the night sky, the butt in the crook of his elbow. He grunted. "God knows what we are going to do with only nineteen rounds. What else have you got?" He passed the rifle back to Capac and accepted the rifle that Myshia handed him.
"Where did you get this ancient relic!" exclaimed Shaun in mock disbelief. "If I'm not mistaken, it's an old Scavala 750. It's an old style automatic, used by exploration teams incase of an emergency. Still, in the right hands it may be a formidable weapon. In the morning I shall instruct you of its use."
Ashian suddenly remembered the device he had grabbed back at the deserted Sunlord camp. It all seemed like many years ago; the run back to the tribe, the devastation, the killing. But throughout it all the small thing which he had grabbed at random had defied gravity and had remained in his pocket.
"I don't know what it is," said Ashian. "I barely had any time so I took what caught my eye. This thing got my attention." He handed it over, and Shaun took it.
The latter studied the small cylindrical object with his torch. He suddenly laughed as recognition dawned. "You have a knack of picking up the oddest things. You must have raided a rubbish heap of departed Sunlords. This thing has been broken from some sort of measuring device or tripod." Shaun was about to explain that without the computer system, it was useless. Then a thought struck him. He reached into his red prison helicasuit and withdrew a narrow blade from one of the many hidden pockets. He worked at the eyepiece, removing all the circuitry and shrouding. All that was left was the tube which contained the focusing lens. Shaun peered through it, noting with the yellow tinge it gave everything that the night vision scope was still operational. He turned a lever that had once been connected to another part of the tripod. As he turned it two lens inside switched and Shaun found himself looking through an infra-red sight.
He handed the crude telescope to Ashian and instructed him on how to use it.
"If you look through this end, it will automatically focus..."
Ashian gasped as the mountains on the horizon suddenly came up to his nose, bathed in a bright yellow light. He hastily pulled the telescope from his eye, relieved to find the mountain back in its place in the deep midnight shadows. Its bulk was dark in the distance, yet through the telescope he had seen it as if in day.
Shaun laughed. "It may come in handy, especially at night."
"At night?"
"Yes, the night vision means it amplified any light, meaning you will be able to see for miles. But there's more - if you twist this dial you can alternate to infrared."
Again Ashian laughed in surprise as he saw his friends standing out as bright yellow and red spots against a blue background. "Fantastic," he muttered.
Shaun shrugged. "Nothing special about that technology. I'd say it's standard issue to the Sunlord rifles."
Ashian's brows furrowed as he contemplated the telescope, marvelling at its magical powers.
Capac had pulled his hunters knife from his sheath and sat back, sharpening it absently against a strip of leather from his belt.
"Tell me more of the Sunlords," he said.
Shaun hesitated, not sure where to begin. "You want an entire history?"
"We need to know our enemy," returned Capac. "We need to know its weaknesses."
"Weaknesses?" laughed Shaun. "No, the Sunlords are without physical defections. All faulty genes have been weeded out over the generations, the scientists altering muscular and nervous system makeup so that nothing is exposed. I'm afraid the only way to hit them is to blast them into a lot of pieces, the more the better."
"Are they skilled in hand-to-hand combat?" asked Myshia.
"Oh yes. Even without armour or weapons they are deadly beasts. You see, their race has developed over thousands of years from lizard-like origins, not unlike the dinosaur."
"-dinosaur?-" put in Ashian.
Shaun explained. "Creatures that roamed Earth about ten million years before mammals emerged. They died out on Earth because giant meteorite struck the planet, blocking the sun with soot from the burning trees. The impact of the meteorite burnt nearly ninety percent of all the trees and vaporised rock at temperatures of over one thousand degrees."
Capac whistled softly in awe. Ashian spoke.
"Your science confirms this?"
Nodding, Shaun continued. "The dinosaurs could not survive this hellfire, because reptiles undergoing increased temperature results in babies of only one sex. Mammals took the position vacated by the dinosaurs and quickly evolved into what we are now. But this was not the case for Halaris, the home world of the Sunlords. Dinosaur-like reptiles dominated, developing skilled hands and eventually fashioning tools. Millions of years past, and some reptiles developed large brains, and began to stand upright."
Ashian was speechless. "Fascinating...but how can a soul come from an animal? How can you say that your race came from mammals? I don't see you scratching fleas and bounding from one tree to another."
"Remind me to explain the theory of evolution to you sometime," said Shaun.
But Ashian's curiosity was stirred, and he could not let the matter rest. "What you say goes against the teaching of Abas, for He sculptured us from His own flesh."
Shaun looked the native up and down, studying him. "I'd say you evolved from some sort of half-insect, half-mammal animal. From what I have seen of this planet, there are very few reptiles, so I would guess that in prehistoric times you little guys had no real competition."
Capac was taken aback. "Insects? Why you - "
Shaun made apologetic motions, grinning at the same time. "I mean no offence." He grunted. "It's funny - three races evolving through totally different paths meeting upon the one planet. Anyway, I said you may have evolved from insects, not are insects."
Ashian looked down upon his own hands and flexed his many jointed fingers. He raised his glinting emerald eyes and fixed them upon Shaun. "You've got some weird ideas."
Capac was more serious. "There are more important matters to be dealt with. For one, you were telling us about the Sunlords."
Shaun mused in silent thought. "Avoid them in close combat, for when they close their fists a claw extends from the back of their hand - a claw that can tear you open from throat to arsehole if you're not careful. Their hearing and sight is far superior to my own, not to mention their sense of smell. So like I said before, shoot them to hell before they get wind of you...or you've had it."
Sleep gradually descended upon the camp as the storm overhead picked up in ferocity. In the sheltered rock hollow the small band of dwellers settled in, huddled tight to conserve warmth.
Despite his weariness Ashian could not rest. His mind seemed to be working overtime and despite all efforts he could not relax. The Currach rolled and stared up into the moonlit clouds that blew overhead, and watched as the first few specks of snow began to fall. He caught a glimpse of narrow fire high in the sky not unlike a shooting star, and his mind wandered back to the Sunlords. From here their ship was invisible against the interstellar backdrop, but their presence could be felt. The Currach knew that even now the Sunlords raided his precious world, their huge machines rumbling
and spitting out dust as they mined for minerals.
Ashian swivelled his head in the darkness and studied the vague outline of Shaun Lowry. His thick helicasuit flickered and snapped loosely as the wind pulled at the durable material. Ashian found himself wondering if they could trust such an alien...
The screaming stopped abruptly, only to be picked up immediately by a mournful wailing. Myshia was startled to realise that the noise was emanating from her own throat, her chest heaving with wrenching sobs.
Myshia saw her child's limp form impaled upon the gleaming wooden stakes moments before the raging fire licked over its newborn flesh.
There was another form upon the burning bonfire, its dark outline fading slowly into the flame. As a log crumbled the body twisted and fell deeper into the red hot ashes, and as it did so Myshia saw it was Huso. The stout Eloprin hunter's shadow flaked into dust and was gone.
A group of ten or more men clothed in bizarre clothing danced about the ring of the fire. The insidious creatures wore carved masks in the likeness of wolves and falcons, red and yellow saps and resins painted glaringly over the surface.
A knife flashed in the firelight, and with a strange sense of certainty Myshia knew it was the same knife her own mother had toyed with. The image of the knife flashed again, and Myshia knew the full story even though the Elder had never told her. She knew now that her own mother had almost attempted to abort her pregnancy with cold steel to avoid the abomination she foresaw. The child, of course, had been Myshia.
Myshia drew further back into the limbs of the ancient tree, hiding herself from the unearthly precession below. Her mind quivering with shock she seemed to float backwards and away from the horrible scene.
The Eloprin female looked up as the dark heavens cleared suddenly, a humanoid form drifting down from the blazing white light of the moon.