Planet of Graves

by Marc Everitt

  The nearer relation to the sun would account for the sudden rise in temperature and the tidal movements created by the fragment would almost certainly have caused devastation on a scale impossible for us to imagine. Any closer and the Earth would almost certainly have been destroyed, as it was the passing of the fragment left the Earth in turmoil. The floods of ancient legend would have swept the Earth devastating all in their path. Certainly, these forces would have ravaged a civilisation - its cities, culture, people and way of life.

  An ancient Maori text speaks cryptically of waves 1600 miles high. This is an exaggeration at best, but the clues are there for us to find. Man had dragged himself up from the primitive savage he had once been and had developed sophisticated civilisations. All this had been done 50000 years ago. Were these societies to have remained and developed further in a linear fashion between then and now we would certainly be much further advanced then we are.

  The total devastation suffered by Man in these ancient times pulled us right back to the stone age and there orthodox historical theory joins us and brings us up to date through the civilisations of the ancient world that we are all familiar with. To find a reference to such a cataclysmic event as the flood in virtually all the remaining texts of the period leads us to believe that the event is more historical then religious. It is likely the people who survived the flood were living in remote highlands and if not living at a more primitive level before the flood certainly were after it.

  Who the ancient people were and how they lived in the time before the passage of the Stellar fragment we shall probably never know. However, an interesting aside as to the origin of the fragment may be found in the recent archaeological work taking place on planets in the far reaches of our colonies. The remains of the ancient T’suk empire that experts believe stretched for hundreds of light years in that part of space shows that they would have been vastly developed and certainly space faring at the time of the explosion. The location of the probable explosion, according to our best efforts at charting the path of the fragment which certainly destroyed the planet between Mars and Jupiter, we can only hope it was uninhabited at the time, would be within the known borders of the ancient T’suk empire. Could the devastation wreaked on our world in those distant days of the ancient past have been the result of a war fought by the warlike T’suk?

  The archaeological evidence unearthed on such worlds as Alpha Prime suggests that the species were definitely aggressive as well as obsessive about their borders. We have no real evidence that the T’suk empire had the firepower to cause the destruction necessary to send a large fragment our way, but it is highly probable. If they did it would not have been intentional. We were as far below them in evolutionary terms as we would consider ourselves above the alien creatures so far discovered in our galaxy. We seem, if this line of thought is to be followed to its logical conclusion, to have been a casualty of someone else’s war. Caught in the line of fire on a cosmic scale.

  The fact that the T’suk are now extinct means we will probably never know.

  Chapter Nine

  In Deeper

  The Warrior did not get confused very often, it was a purposeful being and such emotions distracted it from its purpose. It knew that it should have eliminated the human it found near to the non-human, but it could not seem to do it. It sat in its ship, looking for the entire world as if it had a frown on its fearsome visage. In the background the ship’s computer tried to attract its attention, but it was having no success. The Warrior was puzzled, and suffering from two conflicting in-built sets of conditioning. On the one hand its mission was clear, it was to destroy all life forms in the area before they could interfere with the project.

  This clearly included the human it had found on the surface. I had been unable to do that, however, as it also had a deeply implanted safeguard programmed into its brain pathways that it could take no action against any of its creators. This was an obvious enough safeguard for its long dead creators to cover themselves with, but it couldn’t understand why that particular safeguard had kicked in when it had approached the human. There was something about the mid-section of the human that had caused it to detect slight traces of its masters. Trace amounts only, that was true, and the Warrior could think of no reason why the human should have such traces.

  The safeguard was there nevertheless and the Warrior was powerless to countermand such a deep-rooted directive. It rose from its position on its haunches and used the computer’s sophisticated equipment to try to reconcile what it had detected itself. It inputted the time of its encounter with the human and called up the readings from that timeframe. The computer whirred quietly as it processed the request before returning a verdict. “The human has traces of what could be T’suk DNA on one section of its body. This could be due to interference with the project. Certainty in this matter is impossible. It is possible there is a subsection to the project you have not been made aware of. Until confirmation can be ascertained, this human must be spared. You are required to continue with your function, until all other life-forms on, and under the surface are eliminated.”

  The Warrior felt better now it had instructions and re-armed itself with its weapons, waited for its in-built energy to reach a fully charged and primed state and then made its way to the hatch of the ship. This time it would not return to the vessel until it had completed the job, and there was no more unauthorised life on the planet. The desolate plains of Graves’ World were a match for the void it had in its personality programming here most beings had compassion and mercy.

  It paced its way out of the ship and the hatchway closed automatically behind it. It was beginning to get dark as the evening began to give way to twilight. It knew that it could achieve its mission in any conditions but preferred the option of a night assault. It calculated that it would be dark in approximately forty minutes and decided to hold off its assault until then. It walked towards the small research station; it was in no hurry. It knew it would be there in plenty of time. There was nowhere for the life forms to run to. As it continued to approach the station it detected a nearby metallic object which could supply an escape route for its targets, and made a slight detour to see if it could eliminate that particular option. The small, disguised craft was easily disabled. It saw no sense in destroying it. It could prove to be a lure if any of the life forms managed to escape its on-coming wrath.

  At least the Warrior would have a good idea where they would run to, and how it could keep them there until it arrived. A few minor adjustments to the mechanisms of the craft and its contingency plans were ready. It proceeded on its path to the still distant compound, its bare, but well-armoured feet eating up the distance quickly and silently. Once in the vicinity of the base, it found a hollow that it used to hide itself so it could wait for nightfall, then the fun would really begin.

  ***

  The Warrior was not only one making a journey back to the research station, Taylor West was trying desperately to reach the relative safety of the base. He had left Dr Skandia in the lab and had donned the lab coat hanging outside the door. He thought that there must be around fifty people working in the underground base, if he was lucky he could get most of the way to the outer hatch before it was realised that he was no lab technician. He hoped the Doctor would not get into too much trouble for allowing him to escape. He suspected that, if the Doctor was right, it wouldn’t matter too much soon anyway. He had to get back to Eli and the others to warn them. For one thing the planet didn’t have long left, not to mention the strange being he had met in the desert. He felt sure that the creature would make its deadly presence felt again. This was not a dumb animal that had been planted to act as a tool by a murderous individual. This was an intelligent alien that had come here of its own accord, and surely it had a purpose in its visit. The timing was certainly close to the recent developments on the planet.

  Mankind had no recorded face-to-face contact with intelligent alien species as far as Taylor was aware, and now he h
ad practically rubbed noses with one. It seemed to be too much of a coincidence that t should arrive just when the end of the world could be imminent. As he walked through the station, trying not to look hurried while trying to cover as much ground as he could before it was noticed that he wasn’t in the lab with the Doctor anymore, he wondered if the alien creature had any connection with the events on the world.

  He could see none, but there were so many things that he didn’t understand, so he decided to put that on the pile with the others for a time when he wasn’t quite so busy. He turned a corner and his luck ran out. He walked straight into Executive Carlton and two security guards, who stood blocking his path. He smiled broadly and thought he would try his luck. “The Doctor said I should come and find you, he wants to see you straight away in the lab.” The three people facing him were unimpressed by this and the slight woman shook her head slowly, “I don’t think he does Mr West, but…..”

  “Taylor,” he interrupted as he prepared to spring at the security guards, keeping a careful eye on the weapons that they held. He was glad to note that they had not raised them yet, and rated his chances as somewhere around 40/60. Not ideal but they would have to do. His interruption had the desired effect on the Executive, he always did know how to speak to Executives, and she lost her composure and stepped towards him.

  Her guards were slow to react and before they knew it she was out of their reach and protection. “That does it, you are history….,” she hissed but got no further through the sentence as Taylor grabbed her by the arm and drew her to him, spinning her round to face the security guards.

  “Yeah, well you’re double geography,” he joked, whilst wrapping his arms around her tightly. The guards looked stunned. The whole motion was so swift that they had barely had time to raise their weapons by the time Taylor had his forearm locked around the woman’s head and had twisted it to one side.

  “I don’t think so, gentlemen. Unless you want your Executive to suffer a little neck breaking accident,” he warned and twisted the woman’s head slightly further. She yelled out in pain and he eased back slightly. The guards looked from one to the other, each waiting for the other to come up with a plan of action, but neither wanting to be responsible for a dead Executive. They could certainly overpower the stranger after he had killed their employer but the punishments metered out by the Company for failure to protect an Executive were severe. The woman tried to kick Taylor in fury, but he had wisely opted to keep as much of his body as possible out of reach and she kicked only air. “Now perhaps you will lead me to the exit. My meter’s running,” Taylor asked sweetly.

  Executive Carlton barked in response. “If you men allow this man to escape I will supervise your trial myself. Call for more guards, you imbeciles.” She stopped as Taylor gave her neck a small amount of pressure to try and silence her. He really didn’t want to hurt her, but he couldn’t afford to spend the time being held in the base while the Executive decided how he should be killed. He thought that, after this, she would be very likely to make it a slow death. He heard the approach of more security guards and realised that while he held the woman he was not likely to be attacked, but he would also get no nearer to the exit.

  And time was of the essence. He didn’t even want to think what would have happened at the other base if the alien creature he had met had decided to pay them a visit. Murderers, swamp creatures, mystery aliens, secret bases, being killed, being brought back from the dead by strange liquid goo, being told the world was about to end; he had had a busy day and really didn’t feel like carrying on this stalemate any longer.

  He slowly lowered his left arm to his pocket while the right arm held the woman firmly. The guards noted his movements but were at a loss as to how to prevent them. They were then joined by three more guards who quickly assessed the situation. Taylor knew that Company security guards were not particularly well trained or fearsome but five against one was still a problem. He calculated his chances had dropped to 20/80. From his pocket he withdrew the snub nosed laser pistol he had taken from Maystone’s camp and hid it under his jacket where it could not be seen but could be easily accessed. He realised that he could not hope to win a shoot-out against five security guards and looked around to try and find a better use for his weapon.

  The Executive wriggled in his grasp and cursed him loudly, but he didn’t mind that. It caused a distraction and kept the guards occupied while he looked for a way out of the deadlock. The guard were unwilling to come closer for fear of what he would do to their employer. They were wily enough to realise, though, that he could not stay there forever and, as long as they kept him where he was, he would tire eventually.

  Taylor was not willing to play that game any longer and whipped his pistol out quickly and fired at a circuit board on the adjoining wall. It exploded loudly and the guards flinched, their attention diverted. Steam and smoke began to pour out of the damaged panel and Taylor quickly fell to the floor, as the corridor filled with smoke the Executive barked orders to her men, “Shoot him, you idiots!”

  In the smoke-filled corridor, the firing started. Taylor held his hand over the Executives mouth and lay low under the layer of blinding smoke that was rapidly causing the guards to cough and splutter. He heard the firing over his head and played along with the pretence that he was still stood where they had last seen him, by holding his arm up as far as he could reach and firing in their direction. It was time to put his captive to bed, he thought, and knocked her hard on the back of the head.

  She slumped to the ground, unconscious and Taylor hoped that by the time she awoke he would be safely back at the other station. He heard one of his random shots hit and stun a guard who grunted and slid down to the floor. As the unconscious guard fell he entered the clear air that hugged the floor and Taylor could only see four pairs of legs approaching his position. He pushed himself to the wall, and tried to make himself as flat as possible, thinking that is he was lucky they would walk right past him in the chaos and he could escape down the corridor.

  He was not lucky. The last pair of legs brushed against him as they passed and he heard the man yell to his fellow guards. “He’s back here. On the floor!” Taylor leapt to his feet and ran as fast as he could, firing behind him all the time to try and keep the guards from being able to get close enough to get a clear shot in.

  As he ran the corridor began to clear of smoke and he knew the guards would soon be able to pick him off with a single well placed shot. Just then the internal alarm began to ring out loudly and he guessed one of the guards must have activated it. This would alert all the other staff in the base to his presence and he desperately tried to think how he could buy more time. The alarm was interrupted over the general address communication network and Taylor could hear Dr Skandia’s voice blaring through the station. ‘Mmmm,’ thought Taylor in spite of the dramatic situation, ‘I could do with some late night tunes.’

  “Attention. We have an intruder in the laboratory, all available men please attend the Lab at once.” Taylor sighed in relief. The Doctor knew full well that Taylor was nowhere near the Laboratory by this time and was obviously trying to divert the security forces away from him. That meant he now owed two debts to the old man, he just hoped he would have a chance to repay him. He neared the front of the Company bunker and knew he was a few hundred metres from the main hatchway. He knew that would be guarded and had no idea how he was going to avoid the pursuing guards and deal with those at the doorway.

  It amazed him that a research bunker should have so many guards, but he supposed a top-secret installation would have to justify its enormous budget somehow. He felt a laser blast whistle past his head and realised he had to do something to shake off those behind him before he reached the main door and got himself caught in a crossfire. He set the pistol to a steady stream of fire and aimed it behind him as he ran. It slowly began to overheat, as he knew it would. He held it as long as he could and then dropped it behind him. He picked up his pace to try and escape
before the gun could explode and was satisfied to hear the mingling of the explosion with the collapse of the corridor walls.

  He had no time to stop and see whether any of the guards had been unfortunate enough to be buried by the falling metal and cables that his small explosion had caused. He could hear some voices behind him, receding as he ran on, and that was enough to tell him that some of them had survived. It would take the sometime to clear the corridor and be able to follow him, but he knew that the explosion would alert others to his real location and when they did get through the wreckage in the corridor, there would be a lot more of them. He had no idea how he was going to fight the guards at the door with no weapon, but he knew he would not have long to wait to find out.

  When Taylor finally reached the final corner in the main corridor and poked his head around, he was delighted to see that one man, sitting on a chair and listening intently to his personal com-unit was all there was guarding the main doorway. Taylor could hear the man talking to guards all over the station. “Well what’s going on?” the man seemed excited by the action that the watching Taylor represented. He could hear the response from the com-unit very clearly from his close position. “The man has blown the corridor. We are picking through the wreckage now. Keep your eyes peeled, this man is very cunning.” Taylor liked to be described a cunning but he felt it vain to hang around listening to reports about himself while he had still to get out of the bunker. They would certainly kill him if they caught him now.

  He noted with satisfaction that the sole guard at the main door had not even removed his gun from its holster, so caught up was he in the excitement. He spoke into the com-unit again. “Well, I’m looking forward to meeting him,” the man smirked with attitude at the thought of being the one to stop the intruder who had managed to elude half the security team. He thought that he would probably get a commendation; instead he got a swift jab to the solar plexus and, as he bent over trying to get air into his lungs, a chop to the base of the neck. He had not noticed the intruder approach and as he passed out he had just enough time to think that a commendation would have been nicer.