“Damn you, Ben!” Echo returned to the veranda and dragged the corpse into the room. Across by the gate the remaining guards still looked towards the town, but from another building two figures were running to the lab. Echo guessed them to be the other scientists: each man, or alien, runs to protect his own domain.
Without hesitation she stepped back inside and away from the door, pistol in hand. As the Tolleani burst through the doorway, she fired, cutting them down before they progressed more than a metre or two into the room. Hauling the corpses clear she slammed the door shut.
“Pretty handy with that thing, aren't you, beautiful,” Ben turned his attention to the interior of the open safe, retrieving a grey object the size and shape of a book. “Here ... this is what we want.”
“What is it?”
“A computer memory block. Those guys store it here every night when they finish their work. I'm guessing it contains their research.”
“Okay, so now we go?”
“Not yet,” Ben said. “I need to fix something first.” He waved a hand towards the bulky object in the center of the lab. “Got any mines left?”
“Yes, eight.”
“Give those to me, and the rifle, then nip outside and make sure our way is clear. How did you plan we should leave, gorgeous?”
“I thought we might fly. You did say you could operate those little aircraft?”
“Heh, heh. Yeah, I think so. You better check the veranda ... and there's a guard by the top gate.”
“No, there isn't. Not any more!” Ben grinned as Echo headed for the door, then began setting explosives around the room.
Outside, Echo crouched and searched for the remaining guards. Two were already down, and four remained by the entrance. Three of them stood in the drizzle next to the gate, but of the last, there was no sign.
Several large vehicles restricted her line of sight, so she stepped down to manoeuvre for a better view. Without warning, something connected hard with the back of her head. Daylight turned to darkness as she collapsed face down on the muddy concourse.
Chapter 14
Captain Brask congratulated himself. It was the little one, with the long hair. That might be a problem, he thought. He had reported her dead!
Earlier, he had seen two of the boffins run across to the laboratory. Seconds later, two flashes of light came from inside, and the door slammed shut. Laser fire, he thought, leaving his post.
The door had opened again as he approached the building, so he ducked around a corner, ready to attack whoever came out. Standing over the prostrate form he applauded himself for making a successful capture while his idiot coordinator wasted time down in the town.
Leaping up to the lab door, he made a quick inspection of the interior. Four corpses lay on the floor inside: three scientists and one of the guards. Presumably, the animal had killed them all. No one else was present, and besides the bodies, nothing looked disturbed. The fact the cage should contain a prisoner eluded him in the heat of the moment. He did not stay long enough to detect Ben crouching behind the experimental bomb, having planted the last three mines inside the object's casing.
Back beside Echo's unconscious form, Brask picked up the crossbow and examined it for a moment, turning it in his hands. The device appeared to be some kind of primitive weapon, but nothing with which he was familiar. He cast it aside and returned his attention to the main prize.
The pistol in the creature's hand was something he could recognise. He threw it on the veranda, together with a bag of short wooden shafts; those must be something to do with the other thing, whatever it was, he decided.
Grabbing the animal's feet, he dragged it along the concourse to the coordinator's office. This should be worth a promotion, but he supposed Koll would claim the credit, as usual. At the very least, it should appease the coordinator for the failure to kill this human in the canyon.
How long she remained unconscious, Echo could not tell. When awareness returned she found herself on the floor of a small, dim room, hands secured behind her back and feet tied with duct tape. A dull light bulb glowed behind a grill in the ceiling. High in the wall was a single, small window. It was dark outside, so still night.
This room was familiar, Echo thought. She had seen it before. It was the storeroom in her father’s old office. Her mind flashed back to the times he brought her here as a treat when she was a child. On one occasion, he left her to her own devices, ordering her to stay put while he dealt with a minor emergency at the mine entrance. Boredom soon set in and she had begun to explore, peeking around doors and into unseen places. This was one of those rooms, now her prison.
The alien commandant used this building as a residence. The room was chill, the air dry and foul smelling, conditioned as a refuge for the Tolleani against the outside environment.
Echo lay motionless and fought to compose herself, wondering what had happened. The missing guard from the gate was most likely responsible, bashing her on the back of the head with something hard. She cursed herself for being so stupid as to not check before stepping out of the laboratory. She wondered about Ben. Did they catch him as well? Was he dead? Perhaps he got away!
Her thoughts in turmoil, she wondered why she came here at all. This was not exactly staying low until rescue, and now she was a captive. If Ben was dead, no one remained to liberate her. Why did I have to get involved in this?
As she thought of her man, the obsession with being safe no longer seemed to matter. The first person in her life for four years, he was also her first real lover. As such, he was a big part of her now, and she would have come to his rescue no matter the consequences. So be it!
Determined not to go quietly, she shuffled across the floor and pounded at the door with her bound feet. Like everything else at the mine site, the door was a cheap 'prefab', and she fully intended to break through if necessary.
“Let me out of here, you bastards,” she shouted as loud as her lungs would allow. “Let me out now. What did you do with Ben?” Repeatedly she screamed her challenge, smashing at the door until the thin panelling dented and fractured. Finally exhausted, she slumped back, too winded to continue.
Footsteps sounded from beyond the room. A flash of red light flared through the crack under the door, and a key turned in the lock. The door opened and her man stood over her, smiling down with a twinkle in his eyes.
“Ben!”
“You finished loafing around? Or should I close the door again and let you sleep?”
“Damn you!” Echo spat. “Cut me loose.” Her rescuer vanished into the outer room, returned with a knife and sliced through the tape around her ankles.
“Ok,” let's get out of here.” Quickly he removed the ties from her wrists and helped her to her feet.
“How did you find me?”
“The noise you were making, Santa Clause could find you.”
“Santa Clause?”
“Old legend ... never mind. Watch out for the body.” In the office, Echo stepped over the inert form of her captor, aware now of the significance of the bright flash under the door.
“How long was I in there?”
“Only about ten minutes. I followed you straight over here, waited until our friend was distracted by your yelling, and took him out.” He handed her the crossbow and quiver the alien had discarded outside the laboratory.
“Oh Gods, thank you.” The loss of the bow had not entered her mind, but it felt good to have it in her hands once again. Without hesitation, she fitted a bolt. “I thought you were caught, or killed.”
“When this moron stuck his head into the lab I was behind the bomb casing. Didn’t spot me, but I saw him.” Ben let out a little cackle. “I love these guys. They’re so convinced of their superiority over us, yet they don’t take anything near the level of care we would, in the same circumstances. Without their superior technology we would be walking all over them by now.”
“Yeah, don’t get too comfortable with that thought.” Echo glanced at th
e door. “Can we leave please? The monsters will be back soon. It won't take long for them to figure out there are no invaders down there.”
“I think they're already on their way. Vehicle lights pulled out of the town as I came over here. Five minutes ... tops!”
From the front of the commandant's residence, the airstrip was visible beyond the gateway. A number of dim figures stood in the darkness by the crew barracks with weapons in hand, looking down towards the camp. The spacecraft navigation lights were on.
“Standing orders, I expect,” Ben said. “They must be able to see us, but they won't interfere in anything happening down here, and they'll protect their boat at all costs. The ship always comes first. The other crewmembers will be preparing to lift off if necessary.”
“They might be in for a shock,” Echo muttered under her breath.
“You mined that as well? Brilliant!” Ben's eyes shone with admiration as he kissed her on the lips. “I love you more every minute.”
“We can't go that way,” she said. “I didn't plan for them to be standing there.”
Careful to stay out of sight of the guards at the front gate, they crept across the town to the trench where the pipes led under the fence, and made their way to the top of the earth barrier between the pumping pond and the airstrip. The mound gave a clear view of both the compound and the landing field. Echo removed the trigger device from her pocket.
Ben crawled up beside her. “You set the mines on radio control? The ones in the lab are on timers. I didn't know what you were doing.”
“Radio ... yes. I want them to go off at the right time. How long before the laboratory goes up?”
“Not until we are well away from here, I hope. I'm not sure what their bomb does, but I don't want to be anywhere near it when those charges go up. We need to be well away first.”
“Oh, I think we can do that.”
Ben rolled over and flashed a grin. “So, we steal a scout ship?”
“Are you positive you can operate them?”
“Yeah, I think so. When the guards captured me, they had them waiting beyond the town. The bastards flew in and used one of our own vehicles to approach the base, so we wouldn't hear them coming. I watched them working the scout’s controls on the way back, and I'm pretty sure I can fly it.”
“Good, so we go back to our ship. It's ready to take off ... I think.”
Ben stretched across and kissed her again before turning his attention back to the compound. Inside the main gate, the truck drew to a halt on the concourse. Guards spilled from the rear tailgate as the commandant stalked across to his office.
“The dear boy is going to be pissed when he finds his crony dead on the floor. When are you planning to blow the place?”
“Any minute ...” Echo turned the dial on the radio control to frequency three. Seconds later, a load roar of anger arose from the camp, and guards started running towards the commandant's residence. A siren began to shriek in the night.
“And ... now!”
Echo closed the switch and the night erupted, blooming into the closest thing to hell so fast it was barely possible to comprehend. The barracks disintegrated in a fountain of blue green flame, sections of the roof flying into the air to come crashing down on the surrounding buildings. On the forward side, the wall blew out, enveloping the truck and several of the alien guards in flames.
“The armoury, I'll bet,” Ben said. “You probably put your mines right under it.”
Closer to their observation point, the office erupted, its flimsy structure shattered to incandescent matchwood. The canteen and the antennae shed also exploded, sending clouds of flame, smoke and splinters flying skyward. The ordinance store vanished in a fireball covering the whole of the apron area outside the entrance to the mine itself. Of the major structures, only the laboratory remained intact, its roof littered with pieces of burning debris.
“That will go off in about a half hour if the fires don't reach it first,” Ben explained.
“What if they find the charges?”
“They won't be looking. I put some inside the bomb casing, and stowed the rest in dark corners under the benches and in cupboards. Only the guard that captured you knew we were inside, and he's dead. Look over there.” He motioned towards the spacecraft not far away on the tarmac. No longer standing near the gate watching, the remaining crew were climbing into the ship as quickly as possible. A solitary figure exited the barracks and dashed to the main building, weapon in hand.
“I think I miscounted,” Echo muttered as the alien disappeared. “Doesn't matter.” She turned the dial on the radio control to the first frequency and prepared to activate the next set of charges.
“Wait,” Ben placed a hand over hers. “Where exactly on that thing did you put the mines?”
“On the landing gear, beneath the wings.”
“Shit! Don't hit the trigger yet. Those fins have massive built in fuel tanks; when they go up, they’ll blow everything here to kingdom come, including the scout cars. Escape first, big bang later.”
Beyond the earth embankment, the ship's engines started to wind up. Of the figure seen entering the office there was no sign.
“ Let's go.” Ben jumped to his feet, grabbed Echo by the hand and ran down the slope with her close behind. The scout machine resembled a hover car, with a huge bubble dome at the front and four small jet engines set on pivots two to a side, each one pointed at the ground. Echo climbed in the passenger side as Ben fumbled around beside his seat. Seconds later, he pulled a key from a small pocket and held it up, grinning.
“No different than us really. Keep your eyes open until we are away.” The small craft roared to life as he pressed the ignition.
Immediately a figure appeared at the administration-building doorway with his rifle in hand. In the dim light, he seemed unsure of who had started the engines of the scout car; with no idea what was happening, he withheld fire.
Pulling back on the control stick, Ben launched the car into the air. Echo grasped the seat frame; the sides of the cockpit were open, and she had never been in any kind of aircraft before, much less one where nothing stood between her and a long fall. For a brief moment, she remained frozen, until the little craft began to move forward.
“You okay?” Ben asked, manoeuvring across the stream towards the forest.
“Yeah ... Fine.”
“Good! You can hit that switch anytime now, but put your seat belt on first.”
Seconds later the airfield erupted as both spacecraft and administration buildings lifted skyward. Propelled by the violent eruption of the fuel tanks, the doomed ship flipped and dropped back to the airstrip in an intense fireball.
Chapter 15
Koll stared in horror towards the airstrip, now lit by the flames from the burning ship and buildings. A wave of fury surged through his gut – this should not be happening. His base was under assault from an unknown force, and nobody had any idea who the attackers were.
Except him!
The escape from the office explosion had been the closest of his life. On returning from the town, Brask’s body confronted him on the floor of the office. Without hesitation, he had triggered the general alarm and called the guards. A solid hammer-blow knocked him to the ground as he stepped back outside, the building exploding along with several others. Stunned but uninjured, he dragged himself to his feet and staggered to the center of the concourse.
Up at the landing field, two small figures ran towards the surveillance scouts. Although they were only just visible from the light of the burning compound, Koll did not doubt their identity. One scout craft lifted off, followed seconds later by the disintegration of the airfield buildings as the destroyer rose into the air on a column of red and black flames.
Many of the structures about the compound lay in ruins, but with the guards at the truck and the gates, only a handful were lost. Koll expected the casualties to include the scientists, who spent all their off-work hours lounging around in the con
ditioned comfort of the now destroyed barracks.
A soldier ran towards him from the laboratory, the only major building left unscathed. The guard jumped to attention. “Four dead in there, Coordinator, the three boffins and one rating.”
“The prisoner?”
“Gone, Sir.”
Koll refrained from tearing strips of the guard, turning his gaze back to the airstrip. The animals could only be going to one place, and they would pay for this atrocity. “Follow me ... now!” With a quick check that his pistol was still in its holster, he started at a jog towards the sentry post.
There was little to console him as he ran through the unguarded gateway, finding nothing but devastation. This meant the end of his career, he realised; he would be lucky to avoid the slave markets unless he could find a way to divert the blame elsewhere. How could this happen? You idiot, Brask!
On the field ahead, the remaining scout car lay at an angle, toppled on its starboard engine pods by the force of the exploding spacecraft. Plated with heavy armour to withstand ground attack, the craft had suffered little damage. “Get that thing upright,” he ordered as the guards rushed up behind. “I want it flying as soon as possible.”
Hands firmly grasping the seat, Echo fought to keep calm as the scout flew higher over the mountain ranges. Only inches from a sheer drop of several hundred metres, her stomach churned in threatened rebellion. Eyes closed, she battled to regain control.
With the ordeal almost over and with shock settling in, she felt sickened by her actions. The creature she had become was loathsome to her. Only a few years ago she had been a naive teenager trying to find her way in the only life available to her. Now, after years of surviving alone, she was an adult with a man she loved, but for his sake she had become a killer responsible for the Gods knew how many deaths. The thought horrified her, despite Ben's advice not to think that way.
As he glanced across to her, Ben knew instinctively what was troubling her. He had felt the same way following his first military engagement. “Look at them the way you do the animals you killed to survive.”
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