Glitch made better progress and reached the holes first. He paused, looking back to watch Fido struggle up the slope.
Fido seemed to relax a little when he saw the holes. He could form his hands into narrow rods and push them into the openings to get some leverage.
Glitch offered a few words of encouragement then reached toward the next hole. As he did, a jet of hot steam burst out of it. More steam sprayed out of another hole to his left and then again from one near his right knee. He heard Fido moan and looked back to see a jet of blisteringly hot water hit Fido in the face. Fido grimaced and shook his head but otherwise seemed unhurt. Glitch scrambled up the slope as quickly as he could, dodging left and right to avoid the increasingly frequent jets of steam.
Glitch heard a muffled roar to his right. Without thinking, he flung himself left, away from the steadily growing noise. Blue fire appeared out of a nearby opening. It seemed almost shy at first, just peeking over the edge, but it quickly spread across the rock until it became a roiling blue carpet. Within seconds, the rock beneath the fire began to blister and burn. Glitch saw it liquefying beneath the strange flames. Heart hammering, he threw himself up the rest of the slope.
As Glitch looked back down the hill, more fire flooded out of the holes. The carpet of flame spread down the slope, steadily gaining speed and rushing toward Fido. Fido let out a terrified screech.
“Run!” screamed Glitch.
Anderson and the doctor turned and stared in horror at the scene playing out on the slope beneath them.
“Go!” shouted the doctor, waving her arms wildly. “Go!”
Fido let out another cry, his face contorted in terror as the fire rushed toward him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Blue Death
Glitch, Anderson, and Zheng discover that the planet they are trapped on appears to be orbiting Earth. They climb out of a cave to investigate, but Fido struggles to cross the cave’s glass-like floor. Glitch returns to help him, but as they make their way up the slope, a lethal blue fire erupts from the ground. Glitch manages to get to safety, but Fido is trapped.
Blue fire poured out of the holes, feeding the carpet of flames rolling down the slope, steadily increasing speed. It rushed over the ground toward Fido. He let out a terrified screech.
“Run!” screamed Glitch.
“Go!” shouted the doctor, waving her arms wildly. “Go!”
Fido let out another cry, his face twisted in terror as the fire rushed toward him. He turned and launched himself down the slope. His feet slipped and skidded sideways, sending him crashing onto his face. He slid forward for a moment then got his legs beneath him and pushed, trying to get upright again. He half ran, half fell about twenty feet before the fire caught him.
It wrapped around his ankles, flaring brighter as it found fresh fuel. Fido screamed, tipping his head back in agony. In desperation, he launched himself forward. He crashed into the ground, shards of rock breaking from his body and skittering down the slope. Glitch could see the damage the fire had done in the brief time it had touched Fido. His feet had become two misshapen lumps of charred, blackened rock. Fine wisps of smoke rose steadily from his ankles.
Fido kicked out, desperately trying to find purchase on the slick rock around him. As his right foot hit the ground, it shattered into a dozen pieces. Fido screamed again, a pitiful wailing that tore at Glitch’s heart.
Fido rolled onto his back as the fire reached him. The flames flared brighter as they wrapped over his body, engulfing him. Kicking and flailing, he opened his mouth and screamed one last time. The sound cut off as the blue fire rushed into his mouth. He twitched for a few moments, then that too stopped. A few seconds later, as though it realized its work was complete, the blue fire receded. It dispersed slowly, retreating until all that remained was a handful of flickering blue flames hovering above the openings in the rock. Eventually, those too vanished.
Glitch stared down the slope toward the uneven mound of rock where Fido had fallen and cried. He didn’t notice Anderson until she placed her hand on his shoulder. He wiped at his face and looked at her.
Her eyes were wet, her jaw clenched tight. “We should go.”
Glitch nodded and took one last look down the slope. He’d barely known Fido, didn’t even know what sort of creature he was, but he felt his loss as keenly as he had his grandfather’s. Whether it was the creature’s childlike innocence and playfulness or Glitch’s gratitude or just guilt over cultivating a relationship that ultimately led to Fido’s death, he wasn’t sure. Whatever it was, it made him painfully aware that this wasn’t a video game. People could die here. Probably would. Wearily, he turned away and walked with Anderson to the ledge.
Doctor Zheng was waiting for them, and she put her hand on Glitch’s shoulder. She seemed uncomfortable with the gesture and opened her mouth to say something, then thought better of it. Glitch nodded, and she removed her hand.
“Do you know where we are? What planet this is?” said Glitch.
The doctor shook her head. “If I wasn’t seeing this with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it. If that’s Earth, and there’s no evidence to suggest it isn’t, we’re orbiting at a similar distance to the moon—but on a planet that’s approximately four times the size of that moon. Quite apart from the obvious question of why no one has ever seen this planet before, an object this size, this close to Earth would have a dramatic impact on the tides and weather. It’s quite impossible to believe that we would not have noticed its existence.”
“Unless it’s only just arrived,” said Anderson.
“I considered that. We have only been here a day, at most, which would imply it somehow moved into orbit within that time frame. That doesn’t seem likely either.”
“What if it was teleported in?” said Glitch. “Through one of the gateways the Invisitude use.”
The doctor raised an eyebrow. “This isn’t some ridiculous television show. It would require immense amounts of energy to move a planet, even a relatively small one like this.”
“Energy like the Invisitude have? They’re literally holding this planet together,” said Anderson.
“Barely. I don’t think they have the ability to generate that much power.”
“So what’s your theory?” said Glitch with an edge of frustration in his voice.
“I don’t have one,” said the doctor simply. “Or at least, not one that makes any more sense than your planet-sized teleportation device.”
“Whether we have an explanation or not,” said Captain Anderson, “it’s pretty clear that the Invisitude are a threat to Earth.” The doctor opened her mouth to protest, but Anderson raised her hand. “At least some of them are. We don’t know how many people agree with Kurtz, and we don’t know what they’re capable of. Their technology is far more advanced technology than ours, and we should assume that includes more powerful weapons. We need to get back to Earth.”
Glitch looked across the plain toward the Invisitude city. It looked four or five hours away on foot. The ground seemed pretty flat, although the dusty landscape looked far from hospitable. But it did look walkable.
“You’re right,” said the doctor, standing. “We should go.”
Without saying another word, the doctor walked past Glitch and headed down the slope toward the plain. Glitch looked at Anderson and raised his eyebrows.
“Come on,” she said.
The path was steep and peppered with rocks, but its uniform width and angle suggested it was artificial. It took them half an hour to reach the bottom of the slope, and the descent was steep enough that they were tired by the time they got to the plain.
They stood for a while, recovering their breath and taking in the view. They were at the base of a huge cliff that stretched as far as they could see in either direction and rose hundreds of feet above them. The plain lay ahead, a broad expanse of flat, red dirt dotted with scrubby trees.
Glitch walked up to one of the trees, a sickly-looking thing about six feet h
igh. It reminded him of a cross between a scrawny, leafless tree and a cactus. Its slender trunk was twisted and bent, leaning so far to the right that it looked ready to collapse. Four withered branches grew from the left-hand side of the trunk, and hanging along their length was a series of green ovoid sacks. Each one was covered with a dozen or so porcupine-like spines and was spattered with a series of charcoal-gray smudges. Glitch tried not to think about how much being speared by one of the spines would hurt.
Doctor Zheng stood by another tree, peering at one of the green cactus-like sacks. “That must be a water store to get them through the dry spells.”
“Sort of a horticultural camel,” said Glitch.
Glitch was gratified to see the doctor smile. It was slight, but it was definitely a smile.
“Yes, that would be an appropriate description,” she said.
Careful to avoid the lethal-looking spines, Glitch pressed a fingertip against one of the green sacks. The skin was soft. It reminded him of the play putty he’d had as a kid and as a student. He pulled his finger away, leaving a gradually fading fingerprint on the surface. A few seconds later, three new spines broke through the surface of the sack where Glitch’s finger had been. They grew steadily until they were about three inches long. A pale yellow liquid seeped from the tip of each spine.
“That’s incredible,” said the doctor. “That’s a very rapid defense system.”
“I would suggest we all keep clear of the trees and any other plants or animals we see,” said Anderson.
“Hmmm,” said the doctor absentmindedly. She was peering at the tip of one of the spines. If she got much closer, she’d impale her own eyeball.
“Doctor…” said Anderson.
“Yes, yes.” The doctor backed away and, suddenly disinterested in the trees, looked across the plain, searching for the city. When she’d located it, she looked at Captain Anderson. “Shall we carry on, then?”
Anderson nodded, and the doctor turned on her heels and began striding across the plain toward the city. They walked in almost complete silence, the only sound Doctor Zheng’s excited oohs and ahhs when they came across an unusual rock or a scraggy piece of plant life they hadn’t seen before. More interested in not getting eaten by some sort of alien creature, Glitch kept a wary eye on the desert, searching for signs of life. Every few minutes, the ground rumbled as another earthquake struck. They were less violent here than in the caves but no less disturbing.
Above them, the sky was clear. The relentless sun made sweat run down their backs in uncomfortable rivulets, but Glitch saw a dark patch of cloud forming in the distance, near the horizon.
He was about to point it out to Anderson when something else caught his eye—a flash of silver off to their right. “Captain, there’s something over there.”
The doctor immediately veered toward the object, once again leading them off across the dusty plain. The trees were thicker here, slowing their progress as they picked their way between them. Even Doctor Zheng was careful to steer well clear of the green sacks. As they walked, Glitch kept an eye on the dark clouds to their right. Whatever it was, it was coming in quickly, the dark-gray mass spreading across the horizon.
The silver object was a rectangular metal box the size of a large truck. Its surface was pitted and scarred. The metal had rotted away completely in places, leaving ragged holes. The front of the box was buckled and half embedded in the dusty ground. Four short cones protruded from its back, a deep gouge stretching out behind it like a tail. A metal cylinder hung from the roof, half torn from its moorings.
“It looks like some sort of vehicle,” said Glitch. “It must have crashed here.”
Anderson pointed toward the cones. “An aircraft, maybe? Looks like that’s the engine.”
She tapped her fist against the metal. There was a hollow echoing sound. A door in the side of the aircraft was cracked open enough to create a narrow vertical gap a few inches wide. Glitch went to the opening and peered inside, but it was too dark to see anything. He grabbed the edge of the door.
“Be careful,” said Anderson.
Glitch pulled. The door slid backward with a tortured screech. A piece of metal clattered to the ground from somewhere inside, and Glitch jumped. The opening let just enough light into the interior to make out the inside.
Most of the craft was devoted to an open area that contained three empty cages. They were large, big enough to hold four or five people with room to move. Two of them were intact, but the bars of the third were bent outward. Cloth webbing hung from the wall behind the cages, the fabric blackened and rotting. As far as Glitch could tell, the rest of the space was empty.
Glitch turned away from the vehicle, looking back over the plain. “Captain, Doctor—that doesn’t look good.”
What had started as a strip of dark clouds somewhere near the horizon had quickly grown into a roiling mass of ominous blackness that filled half the sky and blocked out the sun. Dark curtains hung beneath the clouds, and here and there, lightning flickered across its surface. The storm was moving toward them so quickly, they could see its progress. Within a few minutes, it would reach them.
“That’s one hell of a storm,” said Anderson.
Jagged lightning split the sky in half, and the world flashed blue-white. A few seconds later, thunder reverberated around them, making the ground shake. The hairs on Glitch’s neck stood up, the air filled with electricity.
“We should get under cover,” said Anderson.
Doctor Zheng pointed across the landscape. “My God, look at the trees.”
The rain was clearly visible, a wall of dark gray rushing toward them. And where the rain hit the trees, thick streams of smoke rose into the air.
“Get inside,” shouted Anderson. “Quickly.”
The world flashed white again, and another wave of thunder pounded their senses. Half blinded by the glare of the lightning, Glitch ducked into the crashed aircraft. He helped the captain inside, but Zheng seemed entranced by the approaching rain.
“Doctor,” shouted Anderson.
Doctor Zheng frowned and ignored Anderson for a few seconds. Then she snapped back to reality and sprinted to the opening. Anderson and Glitch helped her inside just as the wall of rain reached them. It pounded against the aircraft, chattering like hail on a tin roof. Lightning flashed again, and with an ear-splitting crack, a nearby tree exploded. Glitch tried desperately to remember the attributes of a Faraday cage in the hope they might be sheltering in one.
The rain grew louder. A thick smell, like burning rubber or plastic, filled the air. Glitch brushed his hand against a fine thread, like spider’s silk, hanging from the ceiling. He cursed and rubbed at his hand, hissing. A red line appeared across its back where the thread had grazed him. A few seconds later, a tiny hole opened in the middle of the roof. Another thread dropped into the vehicle. Glitch stepped back as more holes opened, and a cluster of the acidic silk dropped to the floor next to him, hissing and spitting as it hit the metal.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Acid Onslaught
Unable to escape the onslaught of the deadly blue fire, Fido is killed. Glitch, Captain Anderson, and Doctor Zheng leave the cave system and begin crossing a vast desert toward a cluster of structures they believe is the Invisitude city. On the way, they discover an aircraft, but their investigation is cut short when a deadly storm arrives.
The rain hammered the roof, and the air was filled with the smell of burning rubber or plastic. Glitch flinched, cursing, when he brushed his hand against a fine thread hanging from the ceiling. He rubbed at a red line that appeared across the back of his hand. A tiny hole opened up in the middle of the ceiling, and another thread dropped through it. As soon as the thread hit the floor of the vehicle, the metal hissed and spat. Glitch dodged backward as another hole opened and a cluster of threads dropped into the aircraft.
“Look out, Captain,” said Glitch as a hole opened up just above Captain Anderson.
She dived to her right,
the threads just missing her. Something touched Glitch’s ear, and a burning sensation ran down the side of his face. Without thinking, he slapped at his ear, brushing his hand against the thread and burning his fingers, too.
“Move to the back,” shouted Anderson.
Glitch wasn’t sure how that would help, but he did it anyway. He pushed himself against the metal wall, trying to make himself as small as possible. Someone pressed against him—Anderson, maybe. It was impossible to tell in the gloom. The burning smell was getting stronger, the bitter tang catching in his throat. More and more holes opened in the roof, letting in more of the deadly threads.
Outside, lightning flashed again. Glitch counted off the seconds. One… two… three… four. Thunder shook the aircraft, dislodging more of the silk. The storm was receding. It certainly seemed as though the rain was easing up, but it was hard to tell whether that was reality or Glitch’s overactive—and overoptimistic—imagination. If they could hang on, they might make it through this after all.
The three of them sat there, crammed as far back into the aircraft as they could manage, willing the rain to pass. Holes were still opening up in the roof here and there, but they were smaller and there were fewer of them. Gradually the rain—the acid or whatever it was—slowed then stopped. The doctor started to move forward, but Anderson stopped her and pointed.
With the storm clouds moving away, the sky was growing light again, and Glitch saw how lucky they’d been. A dozen or so threads hung from the ceiling. They were thick and silver, and they glistened like Christmas tree ornaments in the light filtering into the aircraft.
Anderson tucked her hand inside the arm of her Air Force jacket. Tentatively, she touched one of the threads. Glitch expected it to burn through her sleeve, but instead, it shattered, drifting slowly to the floor in a cloud of shimmering dust. Anderson tried another of the threads with the same result. She made light work of the rest. They appeared to be harmless now, inert, but she wasn’t taking any chances. She worked through the cabin, methodically knocking each of the threads to the floor. Once the room was clear, they made their way back outside.
Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet Page 10