Solitude's End

by Michael Waller

  Movement appeared on the far side of the airstrip. From behind the administration block, three monsters stepped into the pool of light beneath a window, stood in a cluster and talked, Echo presumed, amongst themselves.

  At first she wondered what they were saying, then realised while she could see them from her higher vantage point, Ben could not. She prayed they would stay near the barracks.

  The Tolleani did not move. Ben stepped away into shadow, reappearing soon after by the nose wheel. A sudden chill ran down Echo’s spine. At the back of the hangar, a door opened, visible only by the dim light leaking out onto the ground. A bulky shape appeared and moved around the outside of the building.

  A monster had been inside all along, and was now sneaking out through a rear door. Ben was unaware he was being stalked from behind. Echo hoped the alien was acting alone, and had not raised the alarm in some way.

  A whimper escaped her lips as she realised her prediction would come true unless she did something to prevent it. She could not abandon Ben. It was more than getting off this planet; she liked this beautiful man who had walked unannounced into her life. Losing him was something she dreaded, and she would have to act, despite her better judgement, if she wanted to keep him. Bow in hand she slipped over the rocks towards the streambed.

  Chapter 09

  From behind the landing skid, Ben looked across to the administration block. Something moved, but he could not be sure. So far, no sound had come from the workshop, the worker in the back presumably still unaware of his intrusion.

  A deep, guttural voice shattered the silence. Ben spun to see a Tolleani run from the corner of the hangar. The alien, barely visible in the night, lumbered towards the space plane.

  Ben moved to put the skid between him and the new arrival. With an object that looked like a plasma-pulse rifle in hand the guard posed an immediate threat. A blinding blue-green beam lashed out, confirming that assumption as it slammed into the strut above Ben’s head.

  Time paused. A creaking sound came from overhead, followed by a long, drawn out rending as the gear, glowing hot from the blast, began to fail. Without hesitation, Ben launched himself beneath the hull and out under the opposite side.

  As an engineer, he understood exactly what effect the plasma burst had on the ship, and what would follow. The strut, normally protected within the shell of the vessel whilst in space, was not armoured of itself. Within seconds, the metal reached the limits of its heat-weakened state and buckled. The hull lurched to one side, the port structure splitting as it thudded down with a sickening crunch.

  Picking himself up from the ground, Ben stared at the wreck of his beloved spacecraft. The far side of the fuselage was not visible from where he stood, but it did not need to be. The scream of tortured titanium said everything. Its skin breached, the spacecraft would not fly again without major repairs. The only ticket off this accursed planet was gone.

  Another growl reached him from the rear of the stricken vessel. The alien, having rushed forward during the collapse, now stood near the stern, weapon raised and aimed.

  A faint bell sounded: the crash had triggered an alarm. Across the tarmac, three Tolleani ran around the end of the administration building as a door opened at the front and two more figures emerged. Not good, Ben thought. Capture had always been a possibility, but not so easily, or quickly. He had been stupid; the girl had figured it right.

  Unsure where to go, he turned his attention back to his attacker. The alien stood with feet apart, arms outstretched. He now held not the plasma rifle but a smaller laser pistol, the rifle on the ground beside him. Just as well, Ben thought. There was no way a human body could survive a plasma bolt hit. Nevertheless, it seemed impossible to Ben that he could evade the laser shot!

  He lurched to one side as the guard fired, a sharp pain ripping through his leg as the beam grazed his flesh. From a distance at which he personally would never have missed a target, the alien had done exactly that.

  The tollean stood motionless, then stiffened. The weapon slipped from his hand as his arms dropped to his side. Body buckling, he slumped to his knees and fell forward, face down. In the dim light, a short, thin shaft protruded from his back.

  “Run!” a familiar voice yelled. Echo sprinted from behind the wreck, crossbow in hand. She ran to her victim and kicked away his rifle, then sprinted towards her man. “They're coming, behind you,” she screamed as she grasped his hand and tried to drag him away.

  A hundred meters distant, five soldiers loped across the field. Alerted by the alarm, they saw their comrade fall and the two humans bolt into the shadows before disappearing into the darkness by the hangar.

  One arm under Ben's, Echo supported him as they ran past the Quonset, through the machinery graveyard at the rear, and into the streambed. The dense under-brush on the far bank swallowed them as they vanished headlong into the surrounding trees.

  Not until a significant stretch of forest lay between themselves and the airfield did they stop to check if the aliens had followed. Minutes later, both collapsed on the outcrop from where they had earlier reconnoitred the compound.

  “How can you be so stupid!” Echo spat.

  “Yes, you're right.” Ben gasped, sucking air into his tortured lungs. “I wasn't as prepared as I thought.”

  In the distance the airfield lights now blazed, the strip alive with soldiers. One group stood at the edge of the water, looking across to the place where their quarry had vanished. Behind them, two more figures walked around the hangar. The guards snapped to attention as they approached.

  “Our beloved commandant.” Ben said.

  “They didn't come after us!”

  “No. I guess you were right there too. They don't like to go into the forest; they won't do that at night.”

  “They're not going to chase us?”

  “I'm sure they will, but not now. Maybe they won’t leave the compound after dark under any circumstances, but in the morning... We should hide!”

  Back beneath the tree canopy, Echo attempted to examine Ben's leg in the darkness, feeling a slick wetness. The left side of his flight suit felt charred, with blood soaked right through the cloth below the knee. “You're hurt.”

  “Yeah ... not too bad, I think. That's not the worst, though.”

  “What?”

  “The bastard you shot wrecked my ship. It was our only way off this planet!”

  Barbus Koll stood on the earth bank separating the edge of the airstrip from the perimeter stream, and glared into the forest opposite. He did not intend to send his men into that hellhole at night, but tomorrow would be a different matter.

  Until now, the escaped human had not concerned him: It was one less animal to worry about, and he had doubted its ability to survive for long. The situation had now changed.

  Two animals ran from the scene, indicating the prisoner and the creature from the hillside were together and confirming the report from the soldier in the town. The airfield guards also claimed the one with long hair, the smaller one, killed his best mechanic. This time the little animal had taken a step too far.

  Koll jumped down from the bank, determined to track the human down and destroy both her and her new friend. Directing his men to recover the corpse of the rating, he walked back towards the compound.

  Command would insist on an accounting, a detailed description of this disaster including any consequent actions taken. Koll had already reported the escapee dead, so this could not be blamed on him. It would be better to accuse the fool mechanic of destroying the ship and killing himself while testing a poorly repaired plasma weapon. The guards had found the discarded rifle lying on the ground near the body; indications were it had burned out after a single shot. He could blame the whole incident on shoddy workmanship.

  With no other official vessels due for weeks, the corpse could be disposed of in the base furnace. Blame the mechanic, destroy the evidence and deal with the problem of the humans separately, and quietly.

  As he pas
sed, he glanced across to the wreck and the body. It was as well the idiot was dead. It served him right for damaging the space-plane. Until the coordinator of the command ship had informed him otherwise, Koll had wanted the vessel for himself as a spoil of war. Such a beautiful machine, if only he could get inside. It was damaged now, but still electrified.

  Back at his office, he cursed Command for lumbering him with the most incompetent, inept guards imaginable.

  The journey back to the canyon took twice as long as normal; Ben needed constant support while scrambling along the stream bank. The laser slash on his calf bled a little, but the muscle and bone had escaped serious damage, with the wound mostly sealed by the heat of the beam. Echo wrapped it with a strip of cotton cloth torn from the bottom of her shirt. When they reached the cabin, both collapsed on the mattress.

  “Now maybe you will listen more to me,” Echo said.

  “I'm sorry, okay? I won't make that mistake again.”

  Echo lay back and stared up into the ceiling. “Alright, my shining knight. What’s your next great plan?”

  Ben ignored the sarcasm. “We can't stay here. The bastards will come for us first thing in the morning.”

  “This hut is hidden under the trees. They won't find us.”

  “Yes, they will! Those scout cars use heat seekers. The only reason they didn't come after you before is you weren’t a problem for them. You shot a guard. With the one I killed while escaping, that makes two; the commandant is not going to take that sitting down!”

  “Oh, Gods!” Echo held a hand to her mouth. “I did, didn't I? I never killed anyone before. But I had to, or you’d be a prisoner now.”

  “No, I would be dead now, and I’m forever grateful to you for preventing that. That guard only missed because you shot him the instant he hit the trigger.”

  Ben leaned over and kissed her on her cheek. Without doubt, what had occurred distressed her, but he was sure she would cope. She was a strong woman, despite her misgivings. “Think of it as killing an animal ... a monster, as you call them. Just like hunting, yes?”

  “Yes, of course, but...” Echo breathed in and then let out a deep breath. “I guess so.” She lay back on the mattress, her mind in confusion. Angry with Ben for his carelessness, she was also furious at herself for being so stupid as to get into this predicament.

  It was impossible to go down to the town again – the Tolleani would be watching. They would also find this cabin with little difficulty, so she and Ben needed to hide. Despite the consequences, acting as she had was not optional. This man was too important to her now, and they were in this together, whatever the outcome.

  “They regard us as animals,” he said. “Consider them the same way. They show no compunction whatever about killing us!”

  “They caught you quickly enough. I thought you were supposed to be a warrior.”

  “Granted, but I'm a spacer and engineer, not a soldier. This is not my element. I fly ships. I don't fight in ground combat. That little effort was stupid, I admit, and I'm sorry.” Ben lifted a hand and stroked Echo’s hair. “The good thing for us is they don't like ground battles much either. They attack only when conditions suit them, and with superior force. If things aren't right, the bastards wait until they are, so we won't see them until daylight.”

  For a few minutes, they lay in silence, and then Ben sat up and wrapped his arms around his knees, withdrawn into his own thoughts.

  “We have to leave here,” Echo said.

  “And go where? I relied on being able to steal my boat back. That's not possible now. The shell split when the wing hit the ground. She isn't space-worthy anymore, so we can't use her. Besides, I still need to find my crew.”

  “The spaceship took them. Face it!”

  “Most likely, yes, but I have to make sure. I can't abandon them without at least checking.”

  “Can the monster's heat thingy read through solid rock?”

  “No. the sensors have limitations.”

  “Then we can hide in the tunnels.”

  “What?”

  “The ridge behind us contains an extensive cave system, and a mine shaft behind this hut leads into it. It's an old exploratory dig, the reason they built this cabin here in the first place. The miners abandoned the workings when they broke through into the cave network. I set up an emergency refuge in there, in case.”

  “When the Tolleani discover us they'll find the tunnel, won't they?”

  “Not likely. The entrance disappeared under a cliff collapse decades ago. My dad used to prospect here on his days off, and he dug a secondary passage back inside. It’s well hidden; you can only find your way in if you know where to look.”

  “Perfect. We need to go now. Heat seekers won't be able to locate us under solid rock.”

  “In the morning. You said they won't start before then, and it will take them time to find this place. You need to rest.”

  “Yes, but ...” Now that Ben had stopped running, his body refused to obey further. Exhausted from the pain of his wound and by the gravity, he was in no condition to argue. “Alright, first light then. We'll hear them coming, so we should be safe enough. Can't hide in the caves forever, but they'll do for now.”

  “Then we can go to one of the other towns. The monsters don’t go there.”

  For a moment, Ben sat staring at the floor. “The settlement on the other side of these mountains ... I saw a military airbase there. We flew over it before those bastards brought our ship down.”

  “Yes, I've been there.”

  “Several space planes are sitting on the tarmac, but all damaged.”

  “I know. After the attack I went there for help. There's nobody left ... all dead. I searched the whole place.”

  “How long will it take to go there on foot?”

  “By road? About two days hard walking ... four, with your leg.”

  “No, we can't follow the road. They'll be looking for us. Can we go over the mountains?”

  “No. These hills are all ridges and gorges, impossible in your condition.” Ben did not reply, instead lowering his head deep in thought.

  Later, as Ben slept, Echo remained wide-awake, too wound up to sleep. For the last few hours, she had felt strangely exhilarated, and it troubled her. Despite revulsion at all she had done, the realisation dawned that she had enjoyed the excitement. After years of boredom, life was exploding around her, and as loath as she was to admit it, it excited her.

  Leaning across Ben's body, she checked to see if he was still awake - a loud snore sent her rolling back to the other side of the mattress.

  The next morning, they woke to the sun streaming through the trees outside the cabin window. A loud whine filled the air.

  “Shit!” Ben stumbling to his feet. “A scout! They'll find us soon, if they haven't already. We need to get out now!”

  Chapter 10

  Above the forest canopy, one of the smaller scout cars from the airfield hovered, the crew's eyes glued to the screen of a thermal scanner. Below, in the bottom of a ravine they had followed from the lower valley-floor, a mountain stream cut a swath through the unbroken vegetation. It was the third gorge they had explored since dawn.

  On either side of the waterway pinpoints of heat moved beneath the trees, marking the locations of small native animals as they scurried away from the noise and downdraft. Farther back by the canyon wall, two larger signatures appeared side-by-side.

  Under-Leader Brask barked orders at his pilot, confident he had found his target. “Good guess,” he said. “Any animal needs water to survive, so they had to be hiding along one of these watercourses.”

  From the veranda, Ben looked up through the trees as the aircraft hovered above. “Come on. The scout's moving back to make an attack. It's going to fire on us!”

  At the back of the cabin, Echo grabbed what little she could and stuffed it into her satchel. “No, through here ... hurry,” she yelled. Shoving the mattress aside, she exposed a large, square trapdoor. Ben curse
d beneath his breath as he dashed back inside, slamming the door behind him.

  The target pinpointed, the scout hovered motionless, its nose facing the direction of the sensor contacts. Missiles streaked from its side pods, sending a rolling, orange and black ball of fire across the cliff face as they impacted the cabin. No sooner had they hit than another pair followed, and again, until the forest in all directions vanished in a hellish conflagration of licking flames and roiling black smoke.

  For twenty minutes, the crew of the alien craft waited as the fire raged across the floor of the gorge. The sensors were useless now, showing nothing but blanketing heat, but instinct told Brask the projectiles had hit their mark.

  Two targets were in the impact zone when the missiles launched, and had no time to escape. Nothing could survive the firestorm! Satisfied he could report success to the Coordinator, or at least be able to avoid his wrath, Brask flung another order at the pilot. The small ship turned and roared down the valley towards the sea.

  From a small, almost invisible opening high on the gorge wall, Echo looked out over the inferno, struggling to catch her breath in the smoky air and thanking the Gods her father had closed the shaft years ago to keep other explorers away.

  From the cabin, he had dug a deep trench to the cliff face and into the old mineshaft, covered it with timber and earth, and allowed the vegetation to grow back. The only way from the canyon floor into the diggings and the caves beyond, was through the entrance beneath the mattress.

  When Echo realized the scout’s intentions, she had grabbed her crossbow and bag, and made a dive for safety. By the time the missiles slammed into the hut, both she and Ben were safe, protected by a meter of logs and soil. The shock wave hammering through the tunnel as the trap door imploded knocked them flat, but thanks to the cabin end of the structure collapsing under the force, the heat and flames did not reach them.