by Tim Sullivan
John came to the lowest row of seats and jumped over the wall into the arena.
The thing was turned away from him, focusing its attention on the woman, whom the injured man was now untying. But when it heard the sound of John dropping into the arena, it spun to face him.
It was a monster part reptile and part human. The reptile part was bad enough, but the human part bore a strange resemblance to Billy, just as John had feared when he caught his first glimpse of it.
Now the monster stood appraising him, its black eyes somehow the eyes of his brother, its movements a grotesque parody of Billy's.
"What have they done to you?" John said. "What in the name of God have they done to you?"
The thing didn't speak. John realized that it probably couldn't, but he spoke to it again, regardless of the silence his words met.
"Billy, do you know me?" he asked. "I'm your brother, John."
The monster cocked its head uncertainly. Did it understand what he was saying to it?
"Tiger!" a voice rose over the shouting and the gunshots. "Get away from it!"
John was vaguely aware of the voice as Ham Tyler's, but he paid it no heed. He stepped closer to the nightmare thing that was so like his brother.
"You're my brother, Billy," John said. "My brother."
He was within two paces of the thing now. He stopped, hearing a low rumble. Was it some alien machine? No, it was an organic sound, and it came from the throat of the thing he faced.
"It's not your brother!" a woman's voice cried. "They made it from some of his genetic material, but it's not him."
The rumbling grew louder. What was the woman saying? J hat it wasn't Billy? John couldn't believe that, not while he looked into those eyes. This was his brother, whom John had brought up himself when their parents died. How could he not know the kid when he'd brought him up himself?
The thing that looked like Billy snarled, its tail flexed behind it like a question mark and then straightened. It charged straight at John.
At that moment John realized that this creature, if it had ever been Billy, was somthing else now. He knew he should raise his revolver and fire at it, but it even ran like his brother.
"Shoot!" Jack Stern shouted. "Shoot for the eyes! It's the only chance you've got!"
He couldn't do it. He just couldn't kill this thing, whatever it was. It was too much like Billy. He could only stand and wait for it to pound him into the ground like a tent peg.
A flash of blinding blue light, and the Billy thing wailed in pain as it went down, its legs cut out from underneath it by a laser.
It came toward John like a felled cypress, its scaly arms extended.
One claw on either side of him, John looked into the angry, frightened face of the Billy thing. He was so close he could smell its fetid breath as it thudded into the dust on its chin. Another laser burst hit its misshapen skull.
The thing's body quaked spasmodically for a few seconds, and then it groaned and was still.
John stood staring at the Billy thing's corpse until a Visitor fell from the wall and landed dead a few feet away. He looked up and saw the bearded old swamp rat trying to load his rifle, a Visitor pointing a laser at him, about to fire.
John leveled his revolver at the alien and pumped all six rounds into his chest. As it gasped and writhed its last, the old man looked down at him and held up his thumb in salute.
Jack had finally loosened the taut red cords binding Sabrina. With only one hand, it hadn't been easy, but he had managed. Thank God Ham had been there to lase the reptile-man. He pulled the last cord loose and hugged Sabrina to his chest.
Ham and Chris were firing at a group of sentries on the far wall. The sentries were shooting back, the darkness accentuating their blue laser beams. People were falling all around the two CIA men.
"Come on," Ham yelled at Jack and Sabrina.
Sabrina was having trouble jack up He was very
weak and unsteady. John Tiger went to their aid, and the two of them managed to get him to the nearest wall.
"Johnny!"
He looked up to see Marie sling a rifle over her shoulder and lump into the arena. She ran to join them.
"You should have stayed up there," John castigated her. "Look at that."
He pointed at the entrances in the stands, from which dozens of armed Visitor guards and sentries emerged. The laser fire was so thick now that it resembled a solid wall of blue light. Ham and the others were falling back, starting to climb over Ihe wall to leave the compound, the tractor beam pushing at them.
"We're cornered," John said. "But why aren't they shooting at us?"
"They probably intend to capture us once the others have been driven back," Sabrina said. "There's no hurry about us— we're stuck here."
"Maybe not," Jack said. He reached into his pocket and withdrew the crystal key. They helped him to the door behind them, and he inserted it in a slot in the wall next to it.
The door slid open.
The four of them rushed through it into the darkness beyond. They tried to help Jack, but he brushed off their hands.
"I'm okay," he said. "Now, let's find our way out of this slaughterhouse."
Guns at the ready, they ran down a long corridor. They came to its end and turned the corner to see twenty armed Visitors charging straight at them.
"I'll dispatch a Mother Ship immediately," Medea said. "How long do you think you can hold them off?"
"We could hold this rabble off forever," replied Dr. Morrow. "But they must have sent for reinforcements by now. Even with their primitive weapons, a show of sheer numbers will ultimately overpower us."
"Do what you have to until the ship arrives," Medea said, her image winking out.
Dr. Morrow silently cursed her as the transmission ended. She should have sent a ship the first time he asked her. Now they would have to fight for their lives, and perhaps all of his work would be lost.
He stalked out of the room. Bursting through the door, he bellowed for technicians and workers to begin loading everything into the three skyfighters.
Sentry number one was still holding the serrated blade. The guard who had been watching him had been called forth to fight the attacking humans, and he was making his way to Dr.
Morrow's quarters with the intention of killing the one responsible for his friend's death.
Knowing a shortcut from one main corridor to the next, he took it. He was less likely to be seen, and it would save time.
At the end of the narrow passageway, he heard the clatter of a group of soldiers. He clung to the wall, waiting for them to pass.
One of them shouted. Had they spotted him? No, they stopped not five paces in front of him and stared at something in front of them. Their captain ordered them to aim their weapons and fire.
"Wait!" sentry number one cried.
It was over. Jack was sure of it. There was nowhere to run to get out of the line of fire. The guards were aiming their lasers at them. He hugged Sabrina hard and closed his eyes.
Suddenly a voice barked out something in the alien tongue.
A Visitor emerged from the shadows, holding one claw behind his back as if hiding something. The captain, who was about to signal those behind him to fire, hesitated.
The newcomer stepped forward, speaking softly. The captain leaned forward, straining to hear what he was saying. Suddenly the arm came out from behind the newcomer's back and struck down the captain with a blow of a serrated blade. Holding onto his neck and screaming in pain, the captain sank to the floor.
Leaping over the captain's body, the assailant chopped away at those guards nearest him. For a few seconds, they were so shocked they didn't know what to do. Four of them joined their captain before they began to fire, and three others were wounded or dead before a beam struck the attacker.
By that time, Jack and the others were on them, scooping up the lasers of fallen guards as they waded into the melee. The odds were only twelve to four now—five, counting the sentry
, who was still hacking away while holding on to his wound.
Jack crouched and squeezed the trigger. A burst of blue light shot out and pierced the chest of the nearest Visitor. Marie dispatched another. Down to ten, two to one odds.
John Tiger charged headfirst at one who was leveling his weapon at Sabrina, knocking him to the floor and punching his face in. Two more came after him, and Sabrina fired at the nearest. The laser beam burned through him and struck the one behind him as well, bringing them both down.
"There's only seven of 'em left," Jack shouted, landing a well-placed kick in a Visitor's teeth. "We've got 'em outnumbered."
Sabrina and Marie shot two Visitors as they tried to get Jack in their sights. He was simply never in one place long enough for them to draw a bead on.
The sentry cut another one down, the victim of his blade screaming until his death throes ended seconds later.
The three remaining guards were firing wildly. A laser nicked John's ear, but the Visitor who fired it was dead in an instant.
The last two remaining soldiers tried to run, but now they had nowhere to go to get out of the line of fire.
Four laser beams fired almost at the same moment. It was impossible to tell who scored the last two shots of the skirmish.
The Visitor who had saved them with his surpise attack threw down his blade and sagged against a bulkhead. It was only then that Jack recognized him as the survivor of this evening's gladiatorial combat.
"Go now," the alien rasped. "I will die here."
"No, we can't leave you," said Jack. "Not after you helped us."
Through his pain, the alien stared at him quizzically. "You are a curious race," he said.
"Why?" Jack asked. "Because we help those who help us?"
"I did not do it for you, Terran. Dr. Morrow forced me to kill my friend, and I wish to avenge him. It was foolish of me to help you, but I thought you too would wish to kill Dr Morrow. . . ."
The sentry quaked in Jack's arms, and then his body relaxed. Jack laid his body carefully on the floor. "You'll have your vengeance," he said softly.
"Where are you, Donovan?" Ham Tyler said, looking up at the stars. His people were setting up makeshift barricades around him to protect themselves not only from laser fire, but also from tractor beams and a device that put people to sleep.
"Don't worry," Chris said. "He'll be here soon."
"Don't worry?" Ham glared at him in annoyance. "Stern and his girl friend are trapped in there, and so are Tiger and Marie."
"Getting kind of attached to that girl, Ham?"
"It doesn't matter how I feel. They're all crucial to this mission—if they're still alive."
"They're alive," Chris said, "to be used as bargaining chips."
"I hope you're right."
"Course I'm right, boss, and Mike Donovan will be here soon. I know you two don't always get along, considering how he blew the whistle on us in Central America, but you've got to admit he's always come through for us."
"Yeah." Ham looked up at the pristine white walls rising out of the mud. Occasionally a burst of laser fire would sear blue across the few hundred yards that separated the two forces. "What the hell are they doing in there, though? You'd think they would attack rather than let us dig in."
"They must have something up their sleeves besides scaly arms," Chris said.
"That's what I'm afraid of."
Their backs to the wall, the four fugitives crept through the alien compound. They came to a silent, deserted area that ended in a wall with a single door in its center.
"Let's try going in here," Jack said. He inserted the key and the door opened.
It was dark inside. Jack closed the door behind them and moved cautiously forward. Dim lights came on to guide his way, the others following close behind him.
It was a vast chamber. Their footsteps echoed as they examined huge vats and machines that looked like enormous meat grinders.
"What's this?" John asked.
"A meat-processing plant," Sabrina said. "This is where their victims were taken after they removed tissue samples."
"How do you know?" John didn't want to believe it.
"One of the scientists working here, Dr. Thorkel, told me about this place. He only found out about it recently himself."
"Billy ..." Marie whispered. It was too horrible to think
of.
John put his arm around her and led her away from the alien abattoir. Marie wept freely, but John found that the tears would not come, at least not until he had his revenge.
"I'm sorry," Sabrina said. "I didn't know."
Jack put a restraining hand on her arm. "Let them have a moment or two."
She nodded. It occurred to her that they might never find their way out of this maze without help. Dr. Thorkel had enjoyed considerable freedom until the past couple of days. He might know how to get out. Besides, she couldn't very well leave him here after he had tried to help her.
"Jack, I think I might know someone who can help us get
out of here."
"Dr. Thorkel?"
"And they said you were just a big, dumb jock." She hugged him. "His quarters should be quite near this place."
At the far end of the abattoir, Jack inserted his crystal key in the wall. A door slid open and they found themselves looking out on a corridor with a row of doors facing them.
"That one down there on the end should be his," Sabrina said.
Jack beckoned for Marie and John to follow, and the four of tliern made their way to Dr. Thorkel's door. Their stealth paid off; they saw no sign of any Visitors.
Jack inserted the key. The opening door revealed a balding, middle-aged man wearing heavy spectacles, sitting at a desk.
The four fugitives slipped inside his room, and the door shut behind them.
"Dr. Thorkel," Sabrina said.
The man at the desk turned. All at once, Sabrina sensed there was something wrong. Dr. Thorkel's face looked at her, and yet . . .
"I knew you would come here," a rasping voice said, coming from Thorkel's mouth.
Panels opened on either side of them, and four red-clad Visitors sprang out, weapons pointed at them.
"Once a traitor . . . Jack said.
"On the contrary, Mr. Stern." Dr. Thorkel raised a hand and began to peel away his face. A few seconds later Dr. Morrow was revealed. "Dr. Thorkel turned out to be too courageous for his own good. I'm sure such stern stuff will make a delicious meal, if prepared properly."
"Then you've killed him," Sabrina said angrily.
"Crudely put, but accurate."
"You'll pay, you know," John Tiger said. "Help is on the
way."
"You'll never get out of this swamp," Marie said with grim satisfaction.
"On the contrary, my dear woman." He flipped a switch on Dr. Thorkel's desk console, and a viewscreen lit up.
"This landing area is behind the inner wall of the experimental combat zone." Visitors were loading three sky fighters with scientific equipment. "Medea has sent a Mother Ship, which should be entering Earth's atmosphere very soon." Dr. Morrow clucked in satisfaction. "Any minute now, in fact. And you, Dr. Fontaine, will be accompanying me on the short journey to that Mother Ship."
"There won't be much room for these boys," Jack observed, nodding at the guards holding weapons on them. "Only a select few get to go, is that it, Dr. Morrow?"
Dr. Morrow's long tongue snaked nervously in and out of his mouth. "We will take as many as possible, and the skyfighters will return for those left behind."
"Those left behind will be dead," Jack said.
"They have the weapons to hold off the attack until the sky-fighters return."
"Bull! There's another attack squadron on the way, led by experienced resistance fighters," John Tiger said. "And they're armed with lasers."
"Nonsense." Morrow's yellow, reptilian eyes glanced at his guards. "Surely you can see what they're doing. Trying to turn you against me."
Jack noted that there were only four guards. If they turned on Dr. Morrow, all well and good, and if they didn't, they still might be confused enough to lose a fight.
One of the guards said something in the alien tongue, and Dr. Morrow responded in kind. His angry response seemed to quell the guards' rebelliousness.
It's now or nevei; Jack thought.
The guards weren't looking at their prisoners. They were watching the confrontation between their master and their compatriot. The lasers were leveled at the four humans, but it would take an instant for the inattentive aliens to react. Jack dove into the nearest. The Visitor crumpled and collided with the one behind him.
John Tiger sprang into action, delivering a roundhouse punch to the jaw of the third guard.
The remaining guard began to fire wildly. Marie and Sabrina were both on him, and he toppled under their weight. His laser flew from his grasp, clattering on the plastic floor.
A moment later the four guards were disarmed. John held a laser on them while Jack and Marie searched them to make sure they didn't have any other weapons.
"That's enough!" Dr. Morrow hissed. "Stand over there."
Jack spun on his heels to see Sabrina with Dr. Morrow's scaly arm around her throat. His claw held a laser against her head.
"Did you think I was totally without defenses?" he sneered. "You and your friends underestimate me, Mr. Stern."
Jack lowered his laser pistol.
"Shoot him, Jack!" Sabrina cried.
"Go ahead," Dr. Morrow said. "See if you can kill me before I kill her."
"Come on, now," John said. "It's a standoff. Let her go."
"She will die before I let her go," Dr. Morrow rasped. "As that man has just said, it's a standoff. Go, and I will spare her life."
Jack moved a fraction of an inch toward them, and Dr. Morrow jammed the laser against Sabrina's temple. "Go!"
"Do as he says, man," John said. "At least we'll all be alive."
"But you don't understand," Jack said, never taking his eyes off Dr. Morrow and Sabrina. "You don't know what he wants to do to her."
John put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "I lost a brother to this creep," he said. "But I don't want to see this girl die, as much as I'd love to blast him right now."