“It’s going dark. What is it? A solar eclipse? Is that why they’re afraid?”
“It could be. I don’t know this moon well enough.” Kelskar scanned the sky. Not an eclipse, a rolling shadow darkening the pink, blue hue. Like the wings of a creature so large it blotted out the sun itself.
“Don’t look, Janie.” He pressed her head into his side, ignoring her stifled protest. She didn’t need to see this.
“I can’t breathe.” She broke free of his hold. “What is it, what don’t you want me to see?”
The fleeing males ran at gaps in the trees only to have the camera swoop in front of them, somehow blocking their flight. An energy charge? A force field? Was this how they captured prey for the prime time showdowns?
How they meant to take Janie from him?
“Let’s go. Now, while the camera’s occupied.” Kelskar tugged on Janie’s arm. She didn’t move. The day had been still, now a breeze ruffled her jacket, the hair feathering her face. He felt it too, a wave of air and a rhythmic sound, like the wheezy beat of a giant heart getting louder and louder.
“Oh shit. Kelskar. What’s that?”
They both stared in horrified fascination at the beast filling the sky, the heat of its breath searing their cheeks. For a long moment it hovered, like a swimmer treading water, glowing eyes like two beacons of fire in the sky.
And then it dived and the world turned red.
“Move. But stay just behind the tree line. If that thing turns on the forest, the trees will go up in flames and we’ll be trapped. Go, Janie. Go.”
“Not without you.” She grasped his coat sleeve, tugging lightly. Face tinged red from the shadow of the inferno on the beach. “We go together”
“You go. I’ll follow. I want to watch that camera. Learn how it operates.” She wouldn’t go, not without him. A new plume of fire-lit breath spewed from the swooping wyvern’s open mouth. The beach filled with screams.
“It won’t let them escape. Oh God, it’s herding them together for that thing.”
Three of the beings lay in a charred heap by the remains of the campfire. The others ran circles in a desperate huddle, arms raised and beating at some invisible wall preventing their flight. Not that they would ever outrun such a beast. The camera rose from the inferno, unscathed. Immune to fire, then.
“It’s filming, Kelskar said grimly. “Prime time, remember?” Immediately he regretted the blunt words. “Janie, run. Please run.”
She shook her head, unable to look away from the grisly spectacle. “We run together, we die together. I don’t want to be out there without you.”
“I’ll be right behind you. You won’t be alone.”
“Is that one of the wyverns?” she whispered. “It’s horrible and it’s going to kill them all.”
Lines of sweat slithered a trail down her cheeks. Heat plastered the tunic collar to his neck. So hot the hairs on Kelskar’s arms threatened to catch fire.
“It’s a wyvern, yes. They work for the Corporation as enforcers, attacking on demand. Could be for entertainment. Could be an execution. Let’s go.”
The creature stretched its neck, a sinuous unfurling of thick-ridged scales painted in the dark browns and greens of the leaves rotting on the forest floor. Spirals of rising smoke poured from its nostrils. A terrible thing of legend, killing for spectacle and sport.
“Dailam told me about them. What can we do?”
“Nothing.” Out there in space on planets sector-wide, view screens hummed with images of fire and the hideous screams of these burning beings. While paying viewers gawked and laughed and revelled in their pain. And they could do nothing.
The frightened huddle became a pillar of screaming fire. The camera, a greedy voyeur. A stark reminder of why he and Janie’s hearts still beat and the reason they were not publicly executed for the Grand Pakma’s murder. The Corporation had use for them. It owned them all.
And he and Janie hadn’t come anywhere near to paying off their debt.
The wyvern hooked a burning carcass on its spiked bottom teeth, its long neck undulating through the drifting smoke. Swinging its head around, it eyed the camera, eyes glowing through yellow and dark reds. With a rumbling roar the beast opened its jaws and sent tongues of flame racing along the sand.
“Go. I don’t intend for us to be second dish.”
For a heartbeat, the dark shape of a man stood in the footprint of the wyvern. Facing the camera, it bowed, mouth stretched in a hideous grin. Kelskar blinked and the wyvern and man became one. He’d seen enough.
He pushed Janie to her feet, leaping up with her. The forest sprung to life in a cacophony of fleeing beasts. Flanking them and running in their wake, a herd of wiry, tusked creatures crashed through the undergrowth in a dash for safety. Birds exploded from trees and undergrowth, rising in a panic of squawking colour and flapping wings.
The stench of burning flesh billowed behind, filling their nostrils, clogging their throats. Freed from the horrified thrall, Janie ran like a woman pursued by demons. Knife sharp pain stabbed his chest. He’d torn open the wound wrenching Janie after him.
Ignore the pain. Deal with it later.
“Watch out.” A black box dipped low into their path. Kelskar dived to the left, tugging Janie with him. Keeping her upright in a tight hold, he shoved her sideways into the thick of the trees. Were he and Janie to be the next sacrifice for the decadents? They spun around to another black box, one of the smaller, satellite cameras, lights flashing in frantic delight.
“They’re boxing us in. Which way?” Janie sucked in a rasping breath, shoved wild hair from her face. Her chest rose and fell. Somewhere in the flight, she’d pulled her sword and still she looked so small and defenceless against the heartless technology that defied the wyvern’s breath.
“That way. We’ve only seen a fraction of what those boxes are capable of.” They could only twist deeper into the forest. The camera swivelled abruptly, a single light flashing like a beady, watchful eye tracking every move, every beat of their feet on the damp leafy soil. Like a predator toying with its prey, the camera waited, lending false hope to their escape. Adding drama to the chase.
No doubting their debt to prime time had come. Kelskar slammed them both behind a tree and caught his breath.
“You’re bleeding.” Janie touched his wrist, staining her fingers with the blood seeping into his coat cuff. “Oh God, Kelskar, you’re bleeding.”
“It’s nothing. Janie, listen to me. The camera’s haven’t only been following us, they’re been learning us. How we move, how we react. By now they will be able to anticipate every twist and turn. Do you understand?”
“You mean we can’t outrun it?”
“We can try, but we’re up against something far more sophisticated than flesh and blood. Dailam said they’re vulnerable. What else did he tell you?” Kelskar risked another look. The camera kept its distance, dragging out the moment for the viewing public.
“Only that he used a slingshot and knew where to aim.” She was pressed so closely into his side she might have been a second skin. Kelskar held her to him, reaching up to draw the long sword sheathed crosswise at his back. Where she trembled, he felt only the numbing euphoria of battle calm seeping into sinew and bone, removing pain and doubt as his body readied for attack.
One last flight. Then no option but to stand and fight.
“If there’s a way, I’ll find it. Let’s go.”
“It’s not following. I think we’re losing it.” They splashed through a shallow stream, the slurping mud sucking at their boots.
“There’s another. We can’t outpace them.” Kelskar sheathed the gladius. Raising the greatsword, he touched the flat side of the blade to his forehead in the gladiator salute. Their moment had come.
“What are you doing?” Janie crouched low, instinctively angling away from the long blade. Ahead of them, the camera whined, a rare sound from the normally silent boxes.
“I’m taking the fight to them. T
hey know about the chip in my head. They’ll exploit that and I can’t let them. I need you to run and hide while I keep it busy. I’ll find you.”
“I can’t leave you. What can I do to help?”
“You can run and leave me to fight. Go.” She wouldn’t, he already knew from the stubborn steel in her reckless declaration. This time wasted in arguing might only get them both killed.
“Tell me what I can do to help?” Janie scooped up a fist sized rock. Flung it at the black box. It plunged to the ground so far short, the box took no evasive action. Janie found another, grunting with the effort of the throw. Kelskar imagined the viewing public splitting guts with laughter at her puny attempts to take it down.
That single thought enraged him to boiling point. Fuck them. This valiant woman was worth more than all of those decadents combined. He lifted a heavier rock. Flung his arm forward and back in an arcing throw. The camera waited until the rock almost grazed the interface before rising in a sharp upwards swerve. In the name of the dark gods, how did they get anywhere near these things?
“They’ve come for us, haven’t they?” Janie’s fingers bled white grasping a sharp, flat rock for their desperate last stand. The second camera box, a tall rectangle twice the size of a large man crept up behind, flashing a sequence of blue red and yellow lights. The camera fronting them blinked in return, moving with definite purpose now, sliding in for a close-up.
Janie coughed. The taint of burning flesh hung in the air and here the boggy ground stank of gagging sulphur and rotting leaves. Closing one eye, Kelskar sighted and threw, scoring a square hit. A crunching crack and the rock fell to the ground, leaving the interface intact. Too high to reach with the sword, he scanned the box for weakness. Dailam said they had a weakness.
“We fight, Janie. Now we fight.” No use ordering her away. The cameras would find her, scared and alone. He weighed the chances of winning this encounter, finding the odds sorely lacking. Fighting risked injury and injured they’d be taken regardless.
“I’m with you.” Janie stood beside him, a rock in one hand the short sword in the other. Her beautiful, familiar face set in grim determination and his heart swelled with pride, with the need to protect her.
“I heard you, Janie.” He marvelled at the catch in his voice. Knew the cameras listened in but if they were to die here, this should be said. “In my half-sleep I heard your declaration. Undeserving as I am, know that I feel the same for you.”
“You love me?” The catch mirrored in her own voice, with an added dose of incredulity. How could she doubt herself worth of love?
“My heart is yours, sweet girl. It will beat its last for you.”
“Don’t say that. I love you but don’t go making grand gestures for me. Think of that waterfall, the two of us naked and wet. I’ll make you cupcakes, here on this prison moon. Fight for that.”
“Janie, I don’t need a cock stand right now.”
“It’s exactly what you need.” Grabbing his coat lapel, she pulled him down for a kiss. “Fight for us, for our future.”
Too brief, the touch of her lips to his. The taste of her. This could be their last moment together, but still an indulgence they couldn’t afford. He twisted them both away, angling his vulnerable back away from the camera’s prying eye. “I’ll fight with everything I have. If they make me fight the chip too, don’t let me forget who I am.”
“I won’t. Let’s run. If we weave through the trees we can outrun them.”
“They move too fast.” As swiftly as the thought formed, both cameras regrouped, changing position to block a retreat through the trees. Dailam had time to learn their movements, their vulnerabilities. He and Janie had not been on the moon long enough for that luxury. One camera box they might outwit. Two moving in perfect harmony? When he lunged sideways, the camera moved faster than his eye could process, appearing before him as if by magic.
“They’re playing with us.” Kelskar roared out his frustration. Leaped at the nearest camera in a slashing thrust. No armour to protect him, his chest and skull bones barely healed. He could only shield Janie with his body and pray his gods granted a noble death, not one felled running from the cameras while viewers pissed themselves laughing.
“I always wanted to be brave.” Janie slipped a shaking hand in his, holding tight. “Now I get the chance.” Her heartbreaking smile, the escaped strand of dark hair caressing her cheek, nearly undid him. On this planet, brutalised for its treasure he’d found treasure of his own in this woman’s love.
“You are brave. I love you for it.” They stood together, facing the Corporation’s might. The second chance at love for both of them came too late. Yet all that mattered was that it came. He cared not for the eager, ogling public devouring their intimate moment. He cared only for her.
“Don’t tell me to run.” Janie fixed her eyes on the hovering box. “I won’t die like a coward.”
“I don’t think they mean to kill us. They...oh gods...” He jerked and then flew backwards, caught in a charge of white hot light to slam into a twisted tree trunk. Sparks ignited in his brain, searing the barely healed bones of his fragile skull.
“Kelskar?” Janie ran to him, dropping to her knees. “What are they doing to you? What are they doing to the chip?”
“Fuck, they downloaded an update. No.” He ducked under the next pulsing charge, dragging Janie with him. It dissipated in a hiss of white light into the forest floor. Blinding light, the third charge filled his vision, sending new energy to the defunct chip in his head. Uploading data, stealing his will.
“Oh no.” Janie flung herself at him, cupping his cheeks, desperately scanning his face. She let out a yell of pain, her hands jerked away.
“Don’t touch me. Heat. Will hurt you.” A dim, dark tunnel sucked him in. Every nerve, every cell hummed with energy. Like a monstrous wave, it swept him from her, from the sounds and scents of the forest and bore him away towards oblivion.
Fight it. On his hands and knees, sparks bouncing around his brain in a crazy dance, the chip initialised and ran the start sequence that would end with a message announcing, update complete. Restarting now. While it sequenced and reset, his motor skills were shot.
“Listen to me. While I’m still with you,” he said, using every last scrap of will to punch through the engulfing fog. Janie’s face wavered like a half-formed ghost, eyes glistening like jewels with unshed tears. She’d given in so little to tears during her ordeal. A brave woman, his Janie.
“They’ll make me forget what you mean to me. Like they did with my family. It’s taking me, as a river would in full flow. I’ll fight it, Janie, but it won’t be enough.” He grasped her fingers, the swelling pressure in his brain threatening to blow it apart. Fuck. Fuck.
“Fight it. Please fight it. I need you.”
“Don’t touch me. Not while I’m live.”
“Oh hell, what can I do?” She ghosted his face, not quite touching his tingling skin. Information shifted and sorted, doors in his mind opened and closed.
“Janie, the Corporation were always going to exploit the chip. Run away now while they’re focussed on me. Take your chances out there. Look for Dailam, he’ll protect you.”
“I’ll never find him or outrun them. I’m not leaving you. Do you still know me? Know who you are?”
“Yes. Janie Roberts. I’m... ” Dark gods, what was his given name? An empty space opened up where before memories of his past, of the man he was before slavery resided.
“You’re Kelskar Vespasian. You’re a good man and I need you. Stay with me. Kelskar.”
A woman’s voice. Calling him back. Vaguely familiar, the soft lilt sharpened by desperation. Kelskar studied her face, imprinting the rare green eyes, the silver scar at the corner of her jawbone. Long hair, black as the darkest night scraped into a braid.
“Madame Lakmi?” Supposed to meet her somewhere? After the betrayal, he was to meet her. What was she doing here?
“I’m Janie Roberts. Remember me.�
�� The woman shook him, uncaring that the charge ran hot over his skin. “I’m not her.”
“Janie.” Janie? Dark gods, her image slipped through his mind, swallowed by the gathering fog. Barely holding on to the free man, Kelskar braced for another charge to complete the return journey to oblivion. None came. The camera box stayed low, recording the small drama. Near enough to slash with the long sword, if only he had the will to defy it.
“Move,” he said to the distraught woman who seemed to care so much for his welfare. “Another charge will hurt you. You must move away.”
“You are Kelskar Vespasian. My name is Janie Roberts. You know me. You know me.”
“I know you?” He whacked the side of his head with a flat palm, splattering droplets of blood. He did know this woman. Details, names, places lurked in the dark recesses of his mind. Janie Roberts, the woman with Madame Lakmi’s face. The innocent he helped to betray.
“I’m sorry.” He watched her snatch up the long sword. Put out a hand to stop her. Found his hand hadn’t moved at all. Stuck in place on this bed of mouldering leaves, like the rest of him while his brain shuffled and sorted and his thoughts whirled in confusion.
“You can’t fight it.” The sword sat clumsy in her hands, like the inexperienced females thrown together into the arena for a few moments of amusement in between the more serious bloodletting events. He heard her grunt, spew out a string of obscenity. Saw the long plait fly through the air when she jumped at the evasive black box.
Blood pumped through his veins, returning feeling and motion. His vision sharpened, eyes gleamed, bringing the smallest detail into minute focus.
Flexing his fingers, Kelskar rose and watched Janie Roberts flail and tire and throw down the sword on a frustrated sob. A feisty little thing with enough spirit to gain her notice from the wealthier masters. Had he the means, he would put his own coin into training her as a gladiatora. He assessed her potential with an expert eye.
“Don’t just stand there.” She whirled on him, two spots of blazing colour lighting her cheeks. “Fight it, dammit. Look at me and tell me who I am.”
Prison Moon - Ice Heart: An Alien abduction Sci Fi Romance Page 21