Planet of Graves

by Marc Everitt

  Eli replied, “It doesn’t like us much, it’s hunted us here.”

  “I think us being here is just a bonus for it,” Taylor corrected his friend, “I think it was coming here all along.”

  “Why?” the doctor seemed pleased by the new development.

  On the screen, Eli could see the creature inspecting the security door, no doubt trying to see the easiest way through it. Eli was not looking forward to what would happen if the Warrior got into the room, there was no other way out. He held Sara tight to him, trying to think how he could protect her.

  Taylor spoke with a knowledge Eli did not understand, “The Warrior was made to come here, now. It’s all part of a greater picture. All this, the tremors, the alien, the amazing fluid that can bring men back from the brink of death.”

  Eli could not comprehend how Taylor knew why the creature was here and said so.

  Taylor simply smiled. “Eli, that creature wanted me to know its purpose. It called to me in the passageway at the station. Spoke to me with its mind.”

  Chris laughed. “What a pile of crap!”

  Taylor was not distracted. “It’s here because this bunker is here. We are interfering with what’s going on here,” he gestured around the lab, “and it’s here to stop us.”

  ***

  Earth

  Rodriguez was particularly happy with himself at that moment. He had arranged for Mr Fixit to collect the merchandise, had scraped most of the identifying marks off of the goods and had killed the robot cat that had annoyed him so much. He paced the room, anxious for the contact to arrive and for the matter to be concluded.

  Wang sat relaxing in a comfortable chair patiently waiting for his pay off. Benny 4 observed all this from his position on the chair at the side of the room. His mangled body was still, but he was a resourceful operative. It had been a simple matter to attach himself to the rear of the taxi the two crooks had used to carry their ill-gotten gains back to their home. A slightly more difficult part of Benny 4’s elaborate plan had been the transference of his cognitive functions to the secondary processor located in his tail.

  It had been a gamble, but Benny 4 thought it likely that the crooks would strike at his head. He had been correct and knew that once the operation was successful the Company scientists would build him a nice new body to play in. Being located in the tail of the robotic body, Benny 4 had no way of accessing the smashed optical sensors in the mangled head he had once occupied. He could, however, hear what was going on around him as the ears on the head were only partially damaged.

  He was glad that Rodriguez had not decided to dispose of the body, as he then would not have been present to make the changes to the programming of the vid-com unit that he had. It had not been a difficult matter for Benny 4 to tap into the communication device and re-program the display to suggest a pseudonym to Rodriguez and redirect his call to another person altogether. His internal transponders and transmitters were still largely functional. As they were located on his back, he had been pleased to hear Rodriguez speaking to the man on the screen as if he were someone different.

  Now all Benny 4 had to do was wait for the two individuals involved in his plan to get together and then the sparks would really fly. He had thought of the idea whilst walking in the alleyway earlier that day, it seemed obvious he could use one of his problems to eliminate the other. It merely needed a little prompting. The Company would not have necessarily approved, he knew that. They preferred assignments to be dealt with in a more tidy fashion and certainly would not have sanctioned Benny 4 setting minor criminals up for a meeting with a dangerous individual such as the assassin threatening their Executive’s life.

  Benny 4 felt the plan had a certain elegance to it though. His target was under the impression he had been called by the unseen Executive who owed him money (a man the assassin had never met and whose name the vid-com, under Benny 4’s control, had suggested Rodriguez use) and was on his way to collect what he thought he was owed. The chance that he would use extreme violence to collect it was something Benny 4 was counting on.

  The two bungling thieves who had managed to rob Benny 4’s master’s apartment thought they were about to be visited by a fence who would buy their goods off them and had no idea what was about to happen to them. Benny 4 couldn’t wait for the fun to start, he knew he was being a little vindictive about the matter but then again he did have his head caved in by one of the men so perhaps he was entitled to feel like that. In any case, Benny 4 was very much looking forward to the arrival of Mr Rostock.

  Wang spoke suddenly and Benny 4 stopped his thinking to fully concentrate on what he could hear. “This man is on his way, yes?”

  Benny 4 heard Rodriguez answer, “Yes.”

  “Well, why did you call yourself Mr Depson when he called you back?”

  “The security function on the vid-com suggested I use that name instead of my own.”

  “We don’t have a security function on the vid-com.”

  “We have now, anyway what is the problem? Who cares what name I used? He was keen to come to us straight away. He said he would be here in about twenty minutes to get what he wanted.”

  “Hmm, I’m not sure about this….,” started Wang but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Benny 4 heard the footsteps as Rodriguez went to answer it and prepared himself for the action. As Rodriguez answered the door he was thrust to one side and a large, swarthy man burst into the room.

  Wang jumped up from his seat. “Hello,” he said feebly, there was something about this man he didn’t like, possibly the large knife he held in his hand and the guns he had thrust into the waist of his trousers.

  The man spoke slowly and definitely. “Which one of you is Executive Depson?”

  Wang looked at Rodriguez who replied, “I’m Depson.” He didn’t understand why he was being called an Executive but felt it best not to try and confuse the man.

  The big man approached Rodriguez, who gulped audibly, and spoke to the wiry villain again. “Where is it? Where is what I came for? What you promised me.”

  Wang called to the man, “Look, it’s all here,” and pointed to all the electrical goods in the corner of the room, “I think you’ll find it’s all good stuff.”

  Rostock walked over, his eyes wide with incredulity and grabbed Wang by the throat. “You expect me to accept this?”

  Wang struggled for breath and Rodriguez decided he would try and haggle. “It’s quality merchandise, is that. Can you dispose of it for us?”

  Rostock threw Wang to the floor and ran at Rodriguez, pinning him against the wall and holding his knife against the terrified crook’s throat. Wang looked on in disbelief, this fence was a hard character to deal with. Benny 4 listened with satisfaction as he heard Wang use the vid-com emergency button to call the police security services. This, Benny 4 thought, would work out just right. The police would come and arrest Rostock now they knew where he was and he might just cut the two crooks to pieces before they got there. Benny 4 was proud of the way he had flushed the assassin out with no risk to the real Executive Depson. He didn’t know if he would get a medal but he was sure he would get a robotic fish-flavoured treat and that would do for starters.

  Rostock breathed into Rodriguez’s face, “I do not dispose of things like that. I dispose of people as you well-know. You owe me for three jobs now so either pay up or I dispose of you as well. I want payment in credits not appliances. Are you trying to wind me up?”

  Rodriguez was ashamed as his control let go and he soiled himself. Wang ran up behind Rostock and swung a stool at the man’s back. It shattered into dozens of pieces but seemed to have no effect on the big assassin except to make him draw his gun and point it at Wang. “Do that again, and you’ll be wearing your fingers as an attractive ornament pinned to your chest.”

  Despite not turning away from Rodriguez for a second the man seemed to know exactly where Wang was and he stood frozen, not willing to find out whether the man could hit him without looking a
s well. “Now, I’ll tell you one more time. If you have got my money then I’ll kill you kindly and quickly. If you haven’t you’ll be begging me to do so.”

  Rodriguez cried openly, “I don’t know what you mean, I thought you were here to take the stolen goods off our hands. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rostock punched Rodriguez hard in the face and the wiry crook fell to the floor.

  The assassin turned on Wang who shook uncontrollably. “What is he talking about? Where is my money?”

  Before Wang could respond, the door burst open and Wang was relieved to see several heavily armed critical response police officers enter the room. The first officer shouted, “Drop the weapon, I’ll fire if you move a muscle.” Rostock looked at the police in disbelief, he had been avoiding the security forces for twenty years and had been cornered for the first time. He started to realise he had been set up and that he was not in the home of Executive Depson at all, he cursed himself for his stupidity. To think he had believed that an Executive would live in a hovel like this one. He looked at the petrified Wang with a new respect, he was obviously an agent of the Company acting as part of the lure to draw him out into the open.

  “Well done. You had me fooled. I don’t like Executives but you agents are brave men.” Wang smiled weakly, having no idea what the big man was talking about but glad he was not going to be killed by him.

  The police led Rostock away into a waiting police vehicle and one officer stayed in the room and spoke to Wang, “What were you people doing with this man?” The policeman had recognised Rostock as soon as they had burst into the room. The Company had distributed his description to every police force in the world on the off chance he had got careless and allowed himself to be seen. The officer knew he would be richly rewarded for bringing in such a dangerous criminal, although he had no clue who this man was or what he had done.

  The officer noted the stolen goods in the corner of the room and, to Wang’s dismay, walked over for a closer look. “Well, what are we doing with this? I think you and your friend had better come with me.” Wang and Rodriguez were restrained and bundled into the back of a transport car, with the scene photographed and sealed awaiting the arrival of crime scene officers.

  “We don’t know what you were up to, but it’s clear you’re all in it together. Some sort of stolen goods racket,” stated the officer as they were thrown into the dark depths of the transport car. Wang realised with horror that they were not alone. Rostock smiled, he may have been handcuffed but he could still cause a lot of damage to the two agents with his legs and feet. As the officer driving the transport pulled away to go back to the station, he thought he heard a scream over the loud noise of the engine, but dismissed it as his imagination.

  Benny 4 had been able to hear all of what had transpired and was very pleased with how things had turned out. He knew that when the crime scene officers studied the stolen goods they would find the codings that were still on some of them and return it to his master’s apartment. He activated his emergency signal that told the Company one of their agents needed a pick up and waited for the despatch team to recover the remains of his body. If he was lucky and they could repair him quickly enough, he might be able to get back to the apartment in time for his mid-afternoon nap.

  And that was how Benny 4, Company agent and robotic household pet, accomplished his eighteenth mission for his shadowy creators.

  ***

  Graves’ World

  Taylor was deep in conversation with Dr Skandia at the side of the lab, while the others were concerned only with the presence of the warrior outside the door. He, too, was worried about the alien and what it would do if, and when, it got into the room. “Doctor, what do you do to the fluid?” Taylor asked, pointing at the screen through which the fluid could be seen.

  The doctor did not see how this was relevant but did not need much of an excuse to discuss his work. He started to explain, “Well, we test it for organic….”

  “Yes, I know that, but how do you test it?” Taylor interrupted. The doctor explained the workings of the testing mechanisms to Taylor and the latter smiled as he listened.

  “What’s on your mind?” the doctor frowned.

  Taylor took him to one side and explained what he had in mind. After a couple of moments, the doctor understood what Taylor was getting at, and while he was not keen to damage his work or the process that was going on under the surface he agreed to help. This was mainly due to the assertion Taylor made that the warrior would make sure Taylor’s piece of vandalism did not lead to any serious damage. Taylor finished by saying, “Look, this could buy us the time we may need later. If we don’t need it, we’ve lost nothing.”

  “Are you sure what I’ve done will not stop….” the doctor could not think how to describe what he and Taylor both knew was going on under the surface.

  Taylor shook his head firmly, “Not a chance. That thing is here to fix any problems. We’re just giving it job satisfaction. Oh, by the way, you wouldn’t happen to have any dye lying around here would you?”

  Dr Skandia simply couldn’t keep up with the younger man’s train of thought, and even once he had an explanation as to why Taylor wanted it he marvelled at how many things Taylor could think about at the same time.

  “You, young man, should learn to relax. You can’t be in control of everything,” the old man warned.

  Taylor simply smiled, “I can. You watch.” With that, he walked back over to the others on the other side of the room. Eli was beginning to feel the tension rise. He could see Alan sweating and pacing nervously about the lab, getting in everyone’s way and not helping the general mood. He tried to calm him down.

  “Look, I’m sure Taylor has got something up his sleeve. We will get out of here,” he assured.

  Alan looked at him as if he were mad. “What? We have nowhere to run. It’ll kill us all.”

  Eli’s eyes were glued to the monitor showing the corridor outside the laboratory, where the alien warrior still stood as if biding its time. Eli wondered why it hadn’t attempted to use its formidable weapons to blast the door open, he tapped Taylor on the shoulder as his friend stood talking with Dr Skandia. “Why is it just standing there?”

  Taylor thought for a moment and replied to Eli as if confiding in him, “I don’t think it wants to force its way in.”

  “Why not? It didn’t seem to mind forcing its way into the surface base or through the guard security room here for that matter,” Eli argued. It made no sense to him. If the creature was after them, then why stop now and if it was here for another reason then why wait outside the door?

  Taylor could see he hadn’t properly explained what he knew about the warrior from his brief but in-depth communication with the creature. As he began to try to make things a little clearer, Sara came over to them, sick of the drunken company of Chris and the depressing company offered by Alan and Lana. She threw her arms around Eli while Taylor spoke, “Listen, I’ve seen inside this things head. It’s a kind of organic machine. It was made to do a job, to protect this place from intruders like us.”

  “What harm are we doing?” Eli sounded defensive.

  “On the surface, not a lot, except being here. But this bunker has been doing research into the fluid under the surface itself. That fluid is vital to Graves’ World. That creature out there is here to make sure we humans don’t ruin things with our poking around.”

  “I don’t understand what we are ruining. Have we caused the earthquakes?”

  “I don’t think so, I don’t think they’re earthquakes at all. If anything the research here has delayed the break-up of Graves’ World, wouldn’t you say doctor?”

  Skandia nodded his head. “It may well have done. We didn’t realise what was going on at the time. If that thing is here to punish us, then I am the one it wants. It’s my research.”

  Eli was still none the wiser and looked blankly from Skandia to Taylor. He could see that the two men had an understanding of what was going on t
hat he simply couldn’t fathom. He tried a different tack. “But you haven’t answered my question. Why is it just waiting in the corridor?”

  Taylor rolled his eyes. “If it wants to protect what is going on behind that screen then it’s hardly likely to come into the lab with all guns blazing. It’s probably trying to work out how to get in with less risk to that.” He pointed at the misty liquid behind the plexi-glass screen. Taylor left Eli thinking about what he had said and spoke privately to Dr Skandia.

  Eli held Sara close, feeling the irony that he had just managed to find someone to care for and the end of the world was just over an hour away. Eli saw Taylor and Skandia walk over, deep in conversation, to one of the banks of controls and switches that lined the far wall of the lab. He decided it was probably best not to worry too much about what they were saying to one another. He doubted he would understand it anyway.

  Besides, he had other things on his mind. He felt a burning need to speak to Sara about how he felt, even though (or, perhaps, especially because of the fact that) they would not be around for much longer. He had a certainty inside him that screamed at him not to worry about rejection, this was the one. He didn’t know how he could say it to her but he knew he needed to try. He pushed her away slightly and looked into her doting eyes, “Sara…. I…. wanted to tell you….”

  She silenced him by putting one finger to his lips and smiling. “I know Eli. You don’t have to say it.” She leaned in to kiss him, and he felt divided. Part of him wanted to just kiss her and leave the subject, but a larger part of him needed to let her know what he wanted to say, however superfluous it seemed to her. “I want to. It’s important. I’ve not met anyone like you. I think I….” She seemed pained. “Please, Eli, don’t say it. Not here. I couldn’t bear to hear you say it and not be able to look forward to being with you.”

  He suddenly felt selfish, and realised that maybe there were things in life that didn’t need to be articulated to be true. He kissed her and felt a thrill of joy as she held him close. He couldn’t hear the sarcastic comments of Chris, he couldn’t feel the fear all around him, and he didn’t care what the hell Taylor was talking about. For that moment Eli thought he was probably the happiest, most content man who had ever lived. It was a moment that had to end, no perfect moments could last forever, but it was a wrench for him when their lips finally parted and she drew away.