by Paul Teague
Mike was just opening up the next file when Magnus’s face appeared on the screen at his console. He was worried and not making much effort to hide it.
‘Mike, you need to come straight to the med lab. It’s not good news, I’m afraid. It’s Amy ...’
* * *
Identity
* * *
‘Nat,’ I whispered as loud as I dared, then remembered that I could try this telepathically now. Neither of us was used to communicating that way just yet, it was more instinctive to talk, but either way I got her attention.
She smiled when I showed her the comms tab. It hurt her though, her lip was cut and bleeding. Then I showed her the slip of paper. This got a much stronger reaction than the comms tab.
‘Where did you get that!’ she exploded.
I scrunched my face at her. Not quite telepathy, but a clear warning to keep her voice down. I’d never have placed myself in the position of wise and learned, but compared to Nat’s impetuosity I was the model of maturity and careful consideration.
‘We have a friend out there,’ I replied.
I went on to describe him as best I could.
‘It can’t be Dae-Ho. He died. I was there.’
‘You died and I was there!’ I reminded her.
‘Good point. If it is Dae-Ho, that’s incredible, Dan. He’s the one who helped me to escape from Pierce in the first place.’
Again, I got a glimpse of a story that still lay untold. Nat was away for three years – what had happened to her in that time? I’d been quick to condemn her rage and impatience, but I had no knowledge of what she’d been through since the day of the accident. Who was I to judge her?
‘We need to get Dae-Ho and his friends out of here with us,’ she resumed. ‘They’re being held against their will – their families have been threatened.’
I was getting a better sense of why Nat hated Pierce so much: everything he touched seemed to turn to something hateful or violent. I needed to get a message to Simon and I was also anxious to let Magnus know where we were. I was beginning to think better of sneaking off like that now – we should have told them where we were going. At least Mum knew what I was up to – sort of – she’d let everybody know when she got back to Quadrant 3. I had a pang of concern about Mum – was she okay? I’d barely had time to think about my family, things had been moving so fast.
We had to focus on what we knew and what we could control. That meant we had to get a message out before Pierce and his ugly alien pal discovered we had a comms tab. I decided to send a text to Magnus. He would be aware that something was happening with the Quadrants, but he’d have no idea about the existence of this place. How would he even find us up here in space?
Mum’s sym node had stopped working when I left her earlier. It was only Nat and me who could get us up here. Into space. Simon and Kate were our best chance of escape – and perhaps this man called Dae-Ho. I told Magnus that the Pierces were twins too. Just like me and Nat. That might be useful information for Xiang.
We were really short on time now, maybe half an hour left until the nanovirus got us. I felt a moment of despair, as if it was time to give up, then I quickly rallied. It wasn’t over yet – we would fight until our last breath. This wasn’t only about me and Nat, it was about Mum, Dad and everybody else on Earth too.
I remembered that the comms tab should be carrying Xiang’s data about the genetic destruction process that was going to kill Nat and me. When I saw the data projecting my remaining life expectancy, I caught myself tapping the comms tab. It had risen. I had longer to live. Some good news at last. According to the tab, I had a clear hour until the genetic breakdown process completed. Had I gained some time somewhere? I was nervous about these numbers, fearing they might be wrong because we were in space.
I looked up to see Henry Pierce and a group of troopers approaching us. This couldn’t be good. I slipped the comms tab into my pocket before the first trooper grabbed me. Next they got hold of Nat and finally two troopers seized Harold Pierce by the arms. He was barely conscious – if they kept beating him like that, he’d be no use to anybody. Ahead I could see another trooper forcibly escorting one of Dae-Ho’s friends along the corridor. Henry grabbed the terrified guy by his hair, threw him into the airlock and pressed the pad at the side of the door to close it. He keyed in a code and the far door of the airlock opened wide into space. Dae-Ho’s friend was ejected in an instant. One minute he was there pounding on the door, the next he was a distant dot, lost in infinity. I was breathless with shock. I couldn’t believe what he’d done.
Next it was my turn. Henry Pierce swung round to face me. He went straight for my pockets and pulled out the comms tab, then slammed my head against the wall. Jeez that hurt! My eyesight was blurred and my ears ringing from the force of the impact.
We were marched along the corridor and pushed into the centre of the ops area. It was still surrounded by the holographic faces on the small screens which lined the walls, but there was a larger panel too, a main screen on which we were looking at someone – or something – other worldly.
Zadra Nurmeen was chuckling to himself in the corner, they clearly had another bit of antagonism planned for us. I hadn’t had a chance to take a proper look at him yet – I daren’t take my eyes off Henry Pierce. I never knew when that man would strike next. Zadra Nurmeen had a human appearance overall, yet it was easy to tell he wasn’t human at all. The number of fingers on his hands gave it away, of course, but it was more than that. He was smaller than everybody else here, but still powerful and warrior-like. He looked like he meant business. I certainly wouldn’t pick an argument with him, that was for sure. His clothing was military, not like anything you’d ever see on Earth, and slung across his back he had a long, black sheath. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what he was concealing in there. Compared to Pierce, he was quiet and this made him immediately more threatening.
Pierce began to talk. I shifted my gaze to him.
‘I calculate that you have about twenty minutes left before the nanovirus process is complete. So I need to know. Will you help me or not?’
I heard a moan from the floor beside me. Harold Pierce was coming round. His attention was immediately drawn by what was on the main screen.
‘You have proven to me that the nanovirus process works well, but you twins are nothing to me now. I frankly don’t care if you live or die.’
I’d remember to thank him for his good wishes later. I didn’t like where this was heading.
‘I want you to go to Zatheon and infect the entire population. You two can help us to land an even bigger prize than Earth.’
‘Why would we want to do that?’ challenged Nat.
Did she never learn? She needed to keep her mouth shut a bit more often.
‘Because it’s the only way you’ll get to come out of this alive,’ he replied, ‘and meet your real mother.’
‘I don’t even believe that she’s alive!’ Nat shouted.
She started to run at him, only to be stopped by a trooper. She was pushed to the ground again, at the side of Harold Pierce who was now looking at the large screen. I followed his gaze. I wasn’t sure what I was looking at – it resembled Frankenstein’s monster. There was a woman’s face in there – it looked human, but she had no hair and her skin was pale white, almost translucent. She was attached to a panel which seemed to be a cross between a computer and a life-support system. She was muttering wildly. Her eyes were shut, but her eyelids constantly flickered. I didn’t know what I was looking at, but it was deeply distressing. Whoever that was on the screen seemed to be in a heightened state of wretchedness.
A tear dropped from Harold Pierce’s eye as his brother moved into the centre of the ops area and gestured towards the large screen we were now all looking at.
‘Twins, meet your mother!’
He laughed at us, like an evil magician who’d just pulled a dead rabbit out of a hat. ‘Or the Queen as we like to call her. This is Davran Saloor, th
e supposed saviour of planet Earth.’
Chapter Fourteen
Recovery
* * *
Amy sat up on the med lab bed, itching to get away and throw herself back into the business of helping Dan and Nat. She’d just been on the receiving end of the same amazing technology that had saved her life after Simon shot her earlier in order to maintain his cover. It had healed her cuts and bruises right in front of her, accelerating the natural regeneration process, and although she was still stiff and sore, she was ready for action. Again. Besides, she needed to get that backpack over to Magnus and Mike – the trooper’s helmet and the SD card might hold some crucial item of information.
Through the glass of her own cubicle, she could see the trooper who’d travelled with her in the transporter. She thought she’d been in a bad way after their altercation, but he was looking rough. He was restrained and under guard, but he was shaking and struggling. It looked to Amy like he was going cold turkey after an addiction – he seemed to be wrestling to get by without something that he was desperately craving. Amy wondered about the voices in the helmet, the ones that had been so meaningless and unbearable to her.
Her train of thought was broken as Mike burst through the med lab doors in a state of panic. He was immediately delighted and relieved to see his wife sitting up and quite clearly with her fire back.
‘What on earth have you been up to?’ he asked, rushing to hug her before breaking off to inspect her wounds. He was about to admonish her for running off like that into the heart of the trouble, but he stopped himself. They were all doing things that none of them would have dreamed possible only a week ago, himself included. And, although he was terrified for the lives of his family, if he was honest with himself, he loved the adrenalin rush of it all – it was an incredible, if terrible, experience.
He could see in Amy’s face that she felt the same. Of course these events were horrifying, but the heightened senses let loose as a result of being in the thick of something like this? Well, it beat humdrum day-to-day life, even if the stakes were so high.
They ditched the chit-chat. They knew time was precious.
‘How long do Dan and Nat have left?’ Amy asked.
‘We’re not sure. Xiang sent a text update telling us she’d come across an anomaly and that it had extended their life expectancy by thirty minutes or so.’
‘We must be on the last hour now ...’
That focused both of their minds once again. Forget the excitement, concentrate only on the problem.
‘Mike, look, there are some things in that bag over there that might be useful.’
Mike walked over to the bag which had been thrown to the side by the med lab team.
The first thing he pulled out was Amy’s laptop, he almost laughed.
‘I’m not sure what use this old thing will be. Have you seen the tech I’m using in the control room?’
‘Not the laptop,’ replied Amy, a little impatient with the attitude, ‘the helmet, take out the helmet.’
Mike struggled to get it out of the bag, but he immediately understood Amy’s urgency when he saw what it was. The helmet was alive with digital circuitry. He held it to his ear. He could hear the mess of voices very faintly without having to put it on his head.
‘This is out of my league, I need to pass this to Magnus.’
Amy got off the bed hesitantly – she wasn’t sure her legs would hold her. They did, and she grabbed the clothes she’d been wearing during the struggle. They’d been neatly folded and placed alongside her bag, ready for when she recovered enough to leave the med lab. She fumbled in the pocket. A moment of panic. She couldn’t find it. Another search. It was stuck in the corner of the pocket, only a small card, but still much larger than the micro SD cards most people had in their mobile phones. She handed it to Mike.
‘Take this. When I first came across Nat she was trying to get some information off this using my laptop.’
Amy tried to recall those hazy memories of her first encounter with Nat in the car park. She could remember snippets, but no details of conversations or feelings. They had been suppressed by the device in her neck, the one that was now powerless to control her. Thanks to James. She stopped for a moment and her sadness returned. In the heat of a fight it was all too easy to forget about the people who’d lost their lives. They’d remember James later, the time to mourn would come. For now, it had to be about saving lives. Including Dan and Nat’s.
Mike put the SD card in his pocket and picked up the laptop and helmet.
‘Okay, I’ll get on to this. You stay here and rest.’
He knew it was the wrong thing to say the minute the words left his mouth.
‘Like that’s going to happen!’
Amy was already activating the sym node on her hand.
‘Before you go anywhere with that helmet, Mike, you’re coming with me. I’m going to find Dan and Nat. And I’m not coming back again until I’ve got both of them ...’ She paused, her eyes grew moist, but she was not one to cry easily. ‘They’re coming back with me, dead or alive.’
* * *
Cluster
* * *
The Helyion ship concealed below the surface of Lake Karachay had been emitting a pulse for some time now. It was encrypted, undetected. No other O-Fed members would even suspect that the Helyions were capable of this yet.
The inhabitants of Helyios 4 had been deceptive. What was the phrase they used on Earth? The Helyions loved this one: ‘Never judge a book by its cover’. It didn’t really translate that well into Helyion, but the gist of it was exactly right. Never be deceived by external appearances. To other, more socially advanced species, the Helyions were brutes, charmless, without manners and ungracious. They had to be, their existence was mineral based. You get what you’re given when it comes to your home planet, and you have to make the best of it.
On Helyios 4 the rules were different – you can’t make judgements on another planet’s culture just because it doesn’t align with your own. It’s like the highly educated snobs who stick their noses up at the multi-millionaire who started life as a market stallholder. Never be deceived by origins. The Helyions were an extremely advanced race, in spite of appearances. They’d laughed at the hilarity of being spotted by other members of the Off World Federation who’d actually tracked an old trash disposal ship when they first believed the Helyions capable of space travel. They’d thought that was the Helyions’ first foray into space travel.
The truth was that the Helyions had been travelling in space for many, many years. Their cloaking was more advanced than anybody else presently had access to in the Off World Federation. It turned out that the market stallholder knew a few tricks that the snobby entrepreneurs didn’t.
So, when they were made members of O-Fed, as they’d shown themselves now capable of basic space travel, the whole thing had in fact been a big mistake. Or a terrible deception, it depended on how you looked at it. They’d based their entire judgement on spotting an old beat-up waste disposal ship. But it had offered the Helyions an excellent opportunity. They knew their planet was dying, that very fact was what had forced them out into space in the first place. The Off World Federation had brought to their attention a rather nice planet by the name of Earth. A planet that was also dying. A planet which could meet, largely speaking, all of the requirements of the Helyion population.
Here was a brilliant opportunity. Only, the Helyions had no intention of going to war with the Off World Federation. There was no chance they could win against eleven adversaries. Their planet was small, their population relatively low, they were in no fit state for an intergalactic battle. However, the man Pierce had given them an excellent chance to solve their planet’s problems. Zadra Nurmeen would goad this man’s sociopathic madness. He’d administer a drugs cocktail similar to the one used on him as a child, the very drugs which had created his severe psychotic problems in the first place. They’d let this mad, evil genius destroy his own planet. Then
they’d move in and take what was left, no warfare required.
The final tests had been done in Lake Karachay – this place was perfect for the cluster, a radioactive wasteland, part of the wonderful, mineral-rich land mass known as Russia to the humans. The first, cloaked ship was joined, one at a time, by other Helyion ships. There were twenty-nine of them in all, forming a sinister hub over the polluted lake. Nobody in the Off World Federation knew they were there. Neither did Henry Pierce have any knowledge of their presence. Who could tell what erratic actions he might have carried out if he’d seen that his only friend, Zadra Nurmeen, had been deceiving him – poisoning him – for all of those years?
There was one more ship to arrive. That final ship had an important job to do. It would be the cloaked ship that transported Zadra Nurmeen back to Earth after Pierce had set in motion the last, irreversible stage of the sabotaged terraforming process. This would be the final scorching of the Earth, Terra Level 3.
The Helyions were going to sit and wait until Pierce destroyed the planet. Then, under the terms of the Off World Federation Covenant, they were going to claim the wreckage as their own.
* * *
Break Out
* * *
Simon and Kate had left a tracker on the door of the simulation area. Their plan was to draw the battle away from Dan and Nat to a place where they had the tactical advantage. They’d also located some useful props from that room, namely a few smoke canisters and a remote activation key for the simulations console. Handy equipment to be carrying, bearing in mind what they now had planned.
They made their way through the corridors of the Nexus, dodging the troopers who seemed to be growing in numbers all the time. Kate was feeling increasingly uneasy. She shuddered to think they’d been under her sole command when this day had started, and a dull, sickening sensation in her stomach halted her progress for a few moments.