Almost immediately he grasped an identical feeling structure and with his eyes still closed he declared that he had found them.
“Exceptional!” he heard the man say. “Bring them back!”
Owen drew his hands back towards him, opening his eyes slowly. In his hands was what resembled two thick black ropes, with the same scaly surface as the tripod. At the ends of the ropes nearest him were two loops; the apertures of both appeared to be the same diameter as the spines atop the tripod.
The other ends of the rope were suspended in thin air at shoulder height. As Owen pulled, more of the ropes’ lengths appeared, but the ends where they were emerging were flickering almost unperceivably, a faint white glow about them.
By now the man was becoming agitated, moving impatiently around the tripod. “Hook them on, hook them on!” he commanded, dancing on the spot and pointing at the spines.
Owen took the loops and guided them over. The first one slipped on easily but he struggled with the other, the friction between the two surfaces making it impossible to get it more than half way.
“Turn it over, you fool!” the man scolded him.
Owen flipped the rope over and it passed onto it easily. The man pushed him roughly aside and stared at the ropes, the fingers in his free hand rubbing together excitedly. He tried to pull the ropes off of their mounts, but they appeared to be anchored securely.
“Is that it?” Owen asked. “Now can we help my dad?”
The man snorted with derision. Owen realised with horror that he had been tricked.
“There is no antidote, is there?” he said, fearful of the answer.
The man laughed bitterly. “Of course there is. Do you actually think I’d be foolish enough to walk around with this contraption in my pocket if there was no way of protecting myself if it went off?” He briefly waved the pistol in the air to indicate what he was referring to, and for a split second it wasn’t pointed at Owen.
Owen took his chance and launched himself at the man, knocking him to the floor, the pistol sliding out of reach. Just as Owen was about to land a punch on the man’s face, there was a loud rumble just to the side of them. Where the ropes were hanging in mid-air before, now a dark hole was appearing, still with the white light flickering at its edges.
Owen and the man were frozen still on the floor, their altercation momentarily forgotten.
It began as a small black dot, contrasted against the brilliant white of the tiles behind. Slowly it grew in size, the edges of it smooth, forming a roughly oval shape. It continued to grow until it was about three metres across.
Then it stopped. Owen stood up and backed away slowly. The man also rose to his feet, but he crept towards it until he was about a metre away, appearing to not want to get any closer. For a few moments it stood motionless, its bottom floating a few centimetres off the floor, its edges continuing to flicker.
The man shuffled closer still and stood about ten centimetres from it, examining every area of it slowly. He cocked his head and positioned it on the leftmost rope so that he could see along its length. He slowly brought his hand up to the rope as if he was going to grasp it. Before he could do so though, a black hand emerged suddenly, grasping onto the rope and narrowly avoided the man’s head. He jumped back in surprise, tripping over his own feet and landing on his back.
The emerging hand was covered in what appeared to be the same material as the tripod, each of the fingers also covered in small sections of the black armour. Another hand appeared holding onto the other rope, but this one emerged further so that the entire forearm was visible. The arm was also covered in the scaly black material, several large and vicious looking barbs protruding from it.
Finally there was a loud hiss and an evil head appeared; a head like nothing Owen had ever seen, nor anything quite as disturbing.
25
Maw
It had no visible mouth, just several sections of pointed black armour that formed ridges from the lower side of its head, each ending on either side with small barbed points. Above the mask were two eyes, black as the rest of the material, but translucent and shimmering, reminding Owen of pools of crude oil. They seemed to float above the material that covered the head beneath the armour, which resembled leather, and that hung loosely over the brow. No more of the creature’s body emerged from the darkness at this point, its head busily looking around the room.
Owen scrambled back and moved into a crouch position, a few metres away from both the creature and the man, who lay between Owen and the dropped pistol.
Sensing Owen’s movement, the creature’s head snapped in his direction, emitting a sound that sounded like teeth chattering. Its hands adjusted their grip on the ropes.
The man got to his feet, ignoring Owen. He raised his arms in a welcoming gesture towards the creature, which turned towards him, its head cocked. The man beckoned for it to come forward, as one might to a dog.
The chattering sound grew louder. The man repeated the gesture whilst walking towards the creature, which in turn backed away slightly. The man paused, holding his hands in the air.
The creature moved as if to re-enter the portal. The man seemed to panic, and darted forward, wildly gesturing at the creature to get its attention. The chattering sound intensified and the creature span around so that it was fully facing the man, who froze on the spot.
Then the creature pounced.
It leapt forward, swinging its arm around to grab the man by the wrist which it used to pull him into the air, his howls of pain filling the room. Now fully emerged, Owen could see that the creature was at least two metres tall, its torso covered in the same black armour as its lower face, which seemed to encase it like a shell. Limbs protruded from holes in the armour giving it the appearance of some hellish tortoise, and there was a brief area of the loose black leather-like skin visible between the sections of armour (if indeed it was skin, it may have been clothing for all Owen knew). As the creature turned slightly, Owen could see that the cowl extended down to the middle of its back, where it rested over a small hump, from which protruded a series of small spines.
Its legs and the upper parts of its arms were also encased in the armour, with leathery gaps in between each section. Its feet were covered in a similar way to its hands, and made a clicking sound on the floor as the creature moved. A small black bag hung from the creature’s hip.
For a few seconds it stared intently at the man as he struggled in the air, desperately trying to loosen the creatures grip as blood started to drip down his arm.
He turned to Owen. “Help me!” he pleaded.
Owen stared back, rooted to the spot in fear.
The creature made a low rumbling sound then swung the man in the air, then tossed him casually to its side, where he landed in a crumpled heap on the floor, whimpering.
The creature ignored the man, and went back to the black ropes. Grasping one of them, he gave it a sharp jolt. Owen heard another hiss, this time behind the creature. He wanted to risk a glance to see what had produced the sound, but now the creature was staring directly at him.
Owen slowly climbed to his feet. The creature studied him with the same intensity as he had done to the man. Owen started to back away from the creature which was now moving slowly towards him. Owen increased his pace, a move that caused another sequence of the chattering noise to be emitted.
Owen froze and the two of them stared at one another for a moment. Then the creature leant back and sprang. Instinctively Owen leapt in the air and reached out, grabbing onto rock and pulling himself up towards the lights, but not once taking his eyes of the creature.
The creature emitted a high pitched hiss and turned towards the space from which it had emerged. From the hole came another hand on the rope. The creature that followed was similar in appearance to the first one, but the formation of its armour was slightly different in places and didn’t have the spines on its back. In its hand it held a short barbed spear.
The two creatures stood sile
ntly looking at Owen, who had by now clambered onto the metal framework that supported the lights. Owen didn’t take his eyes off the two of them for a second.
In a flash the second creature hurled the spear at him. Owen moved to the left to avoid it, and it missed piercing the centre of his chest by millimetres. But as it passed him, one of the barbs on its tail end scratched the skin on his left wrist.
Owen felt his forearm arm go instantly numb, a sensation which continued up towards his shoulder. The creatures walked towards him, the click click click from their feet echoing around the room. They stood below Owen and gazed up at him expectantly.
Owen felt the numbness start to spread through his torso. His core muscles relaxed and he felt himself start to buckle. He quickly hooked both legs around a metal bar, and did the same with his right arm.
He lurched forward as he lost feeling in his legs, but he had twisted them sufficiently so that as he fell forward his torso wedged between two metal bars, preventing him from falling to the ground and the creatures waiting below.
The first creature’s hand went to the bag that hung from its waist, from which it produced a barb similar to the one that Owen’s father was shot with. It brought its hand back so as to throw it at Owen like a dart.
Just as it was about to release the barb its head jerked to the side towards the area where Owen and the man had first entered the room. Both creatures turned in the same direction and assumed a defensive posture, making the same chattering noise but in a way that was more intense and rapid, perhaps even alarmed and angry. Owen turned his head to see what had enraged them so much.
Positioned between the creatures and the door stood a figure wearing a long coat and a narrow brimmed hat.
Trilby.
26
Trilby
Trilby stood there motionless, the creatures doing the same. It looked as if they were going to try and stare each other out, but all of a sudden the second creature ran at Trilby, its feet slipping slightly on the smooth tiles. Trilby stood his ground, a white light emerging from his hands. The creature brought up its arms so that the long spikes on its forearms were pointing at Trilby.
The light from Trilby intensified as the creature got closer. It swung its arms back and went to bring them down on Trilby’s side. Just before they made contact, Trilby dropped on all fours and they swung over his head harmlessly. Trilby span around and grabbed at the creature as it passed, holding onto the gap in the armour at the top of its thighs. The first creature remained motionless below Owen, watching the fight intently.
As Trilby held onto its limbs, the light became more intense, and was transferring from his hands to the creature’s body. As it spread up below the creature’s armour, the hard surface seemed to quiver, emitting the same hissing sound that Owen had heard earlier.
The light was now escaping from beneath the leathery cowl. The creature started to shake on the spot, light escaping from hitherto unseen gaps in the armour on the front of its torso. As the gaps became wider the armour started to drop off the creature, the sections covering the legs and arms falling first, rattling on the floor as they landed. The entire shell covering the torso came off as one piece, and Owen noticed that it was held together between the gaps with numerous small fibres.
As it landed on the floor the plates that covered the limbs and head snapped inside the torso section, confounding the nightmarish version of a tortoise that had been suggested earlier. It lay on the floor, quivering slightly as if in pain.
The creature that had been encased within was still standing, and Owen now realised that the leathery substance that was swathed around the entirety of the creature’s body was another layer of clothing, and not its skin. The only exceptions were the two black eyes, which appeared to be separate from both the creature and its wrapping. These were now melting away, revealing two very human eyes, which stared at Trilby in what could have been fear, anger, or maybe both. The black coverings were trickling down the creature’s face, leaving thick tracks that made it appear like it was crying.
Trilby finally let go and the creature slumped to the ground, smoking slightly. Trilby turned and looked up at Owen.
Owen, who still had control over his neck and head, flinched slightly. This was enough to loosen his leg hold on the bars and he slipped sideways. The rest of his weight followed and he started to fall towards the ground.
The remaining creature’s head jerked up and he watched as Owen fell, the chattering sound resuming. Before he could hit the ground though, Trilby ran into view, pushing the distracted creature out of the way with little effort.
Trilby leapt up and caught Owen in mid-air and held him in his arms. The creature landed on its side and quickly stood up again. Trilby ran backwards away from the creature. Owen looked up at Trilby’s face and saw that it was wrapped in a similar material as the creatures. His eyes though were a startling bright blue; so bright that they made Owen shudder as if they were awaking a long forgotten memory.
The creature was stalking towards them. Trilby was backing away quickly, but Owen knew that he would soon run out of space as the wall with the large doors was closing in fast.
The creature paused, and leant back as if to pounce. Before it had chance though there was a loud crash behind them and something large knocked into the back of Trilby.
He fell forward and dropped Owen, who rolled helplessly away on the ground, coming to a stop a short distance from Trilby, who was trapped beneath one of the large metal doors that had just been blasted away from the wall.
Owen twisted his head and saw several figures come running through the dust that had been created when the door was knocked from its fixings. At the front of the group was Katie, flapping her right hand as if she had just hit something hard and was trying to shake away the pain.
“Owen!” she exclaimed, and ran towards him. Behind her entered Mrs Argyle and Fafnir, both of whom ran up to face off with the creature. Next entered the blonde man in the lab coat Owen had seen peering from the room adjacent to the one his father was lying unconscious in. Upon seeing Owen lying on the ground he ran towards him, something in his hand.
Katie slid to the floor beside Owen, and put one hand on his forehead, the other held his left hand. “Are you alright?” she asked.
“I’m numb,” he said feebly.
“Got something for that,” said the man. In his hand was a needle and syringe, and without asking for consent, he jabbed it into Owen’s thigh, depressing the plunger fully.
A sharp pain shot through Owen’s leg up to his torso, which sprang forward involuntary, sitting him bolt upright.
“What the bloody hell was that for?” Owen asked grabbing hold of the man’s collar, suddenly having the use of all his limbs once more.
“I think you mean: thank you Matt for saving my life”, the man corrected him, brushing away Owen’s hands.
“Matt?” Owen questioned him. “Do I know you?”
“We met briefly in London,” he replied, “at your friend Clive’s residence. I tried to introduce myself but your friend over there didn’t fancy a chat and blew me across the living room instead.”
“You’re the policeman!” Owen exclaimed, realising that he was the man who Mrs Argyle hadn’t allowed to proceed beyond announcing his rank. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ll explain later,” he said, nodding towards Mrs Argyle and Fafnir, who by now were face to face with the creature. He tucked the syringe back into his pocket.
“My dad!” Owen exclaimed, frantically trying to figure out how long it had been since he had been shot with the poisoned barb.
“I’m fine,” came a voice from the doorway, through which emerged his father and Ken.
“How heart-warming, a family reunion.” The man who had shot Owen’s father was standing next to the tripod, a safe distance from the creature and the new arrivals.
“Robert?” Mrs Argyle asked incredulously.
“Celia!” he said with mock affection. “S
o lovely to see you as always. Now if you wouldn’t mind, you are delaying our plans somewhat.”
“How can you still be alive?” Mrs Argyle queried.
“You are not the only one blessed with extended life, Celia. Some of us found ways to replicate the more desirable side effects of your condition.”
“How?” Mrs Argyle was staring at him with grave concern. “What have you done?”
“How do you think?” he said, smiling towards Owen, who by now had managed to get to his feet.
“Robert, you didn’t?!” Mrs Argyle said horrified. “You know the consequences of what you have done; you’ll never survive another procedure once you lose permanence.”
“I have survived multiple replenishments, my dear. Thanks to our new friends here, of course.” He gestured towards the creature.
“Friends?!” Owen laughed incredulously. “He damn near had your arm off! Not exactly a friendly handshake!”
Robert glared at Owen angrily. “That was down to you boy! If you had not eluded us for so long they would not have been kept waiting.”
“Why, Robert? Why bring them here?” Mrs Argyle was staring at the creature, trembling slightly.
“Why do you think? For an alliance!”
“You’re a fool if you think they will work for you,” Mrs Argyle spat. “Oh, and Robert: you’re dripping all over the floor.”
Robert looked at his arm and saw the large amount of blood that was leaking from beneath his shirt sleeve, at the spot where the creature had held him as it cast him aside.
The man laughed manically. “My wounds are of no consequence! We are at the dawn of a new age for our world; an end to suffering and famine, an end to over population, an end-”
His speech was cut short by the black barb that landed in his neck, fired by Owen’s dad from the very pistol that had been used on him. The man dropped to the ground instantly.
The Remarkables (The Remarkable Owen Johnson, part 1) Page 20