by Terry Reid
“I’m going to try Rufus’s old address again. I doubt he’ll be there but it’s a good place to start, right?”
“Yeah.”
Abandoning her work, Terry said: “I’ll be back shortly.”
“Don’t be too long. If you’re not back within two hours I’m going to come looking.”
Terry smiled at him as she stood in the door. “Now you’re sounding like my father.”
He winked at her and she departed.
******
Terry dropped over the fence without making a sound. Crouching, she quickly took in her surroundings. Seeing no signs of danger she relaxed, standing and making her way across the garden. The grass drew her attention – it had not been cut in weeks.
Reaching the back door to his sprawling home, Terry took one last look around before summoning a blade to pick the lock; the door opened with little persuasion. She stepped inside, quietly shutting it behind her. The kitchen counters were bare; another poor omen that no-one had lived in the property for some time. Terry moved through the house, making a quick sweep of every floor.
By the time she reached Rufus’s study her suspicions had been fully realised and she was concerned. It was not like him to be away for home so long. She may not have spoken to him in years, but she had remembered him well enough from when she was a teenager to know that this was out of character. What was even more disturbing was how orderly she had found his house in. Rufus was never tidy; someone else had been there.
Sitting behind his desk, she pulled opened a drawer. There was nothing in it save a bundle of blank paper and pens and pencil. In another, she discovered a cache of opened letters, but nothing of any significance. Slamming the draw shut, Terry drummed her fingers against the desk in though. Rufus also never kept a tidy desk. And where were his books with the language of his people? His desk used to be littered with them when she was a teenager.
A thought struck her. Something she had forgotten when she had first entered the room. She stood up, staring at a depression in the ceiling as she crossed to the centre of the room. The depression was circular, lined with row after row of decorative features. Directly beneath it, the carpet dipped ever so slightly, concealing another one. This was not merely poor architecture, but rather, a hidden piece of technology created by an alien race.
Waving her hand between the two points in a particular fashion, the room suddenly transformed. The decorations, the carpet and the magnolia wallpaper seemed to melt away, revealing a black room. The depression in the ceiling and the floor also took on a new form, that of two circular blue discs. Another world of technology surrounded her. Only the desk and large bookcase at the end of the room remained the same as before the illusion ended.
Between the panels on the ceiling and the ground a flickering field of static appeared. “Hello?” Terry called, staring into it. There was no reply. “Hello?” she said again. She heard a noise, but couldn’t tell if it was a muffled response or just interference. There was a buzz, and a hiss. Then silence.
“Hello?” replied a voice, the image remaining grainy.
“Rufus? Is that you?” she asked, stepping closer to the hologram.
The picture suddenly cleared and Terry could see his startled face. “Terry!” he exclaimed, pulling the microphone on the headset closer to his mouth. He laughed and she could see the tears in his eyes. “You’re a sight for sore eyes. I didn’t think I’d get to speak to anyone ever again.”
“What’s going on? Where are you?”
He shook his head, relief etched across his unshaven face. “It’s a very long story. But put it this way, it didn’t work out well and they’re not letting me go.”
“Who isn’t?”
“My would-be investors, we struck up a partnership and I was meant to be working with them on a project.” He shook his head. “But they twisted my research and when I complained, they locked me in here.”
“How come I can talk to you?”
He smirked, gesturing the headphone. “When they came to my house I still had this in my pocket. It was still connected to the server. They never checked me.”
“How long have you been there?”
“Five weeks.”
“Jesus, where are you?” she asked, scared.
“I’m not exactly sure.” He said looking about but Terry could not see anything beyond his own face. “Do you still know how to use the interface on the computer?”
Terry pressed a combination of buttons on the floating holographic screen that had appeared beside her when she had turned on the blue discs. The screen spun several times before turning into a map. A white dot started flashing at its centre, trailed by co-ordinates.
“I have you. According to this you’re in south Wales.” She pressed a button and the image zoomed in. “It looks like you’re in an old mine or something.”
“Shit.”
“What?” she asked, looking back.
He shook his head. “I should have realised they would have bought me here.” He peered back at her. “We’re mining for a rare metal here.” He hesitated. “One I was using in my research.”
“The research they’ve stolen?”
“Yeah...”
“Hold on, we’re coming to get you.”
“Who’s we?”
She shrugged. “All of us hopefully. Connor, Faye and my uncle are all back at the mansion in Edinburgh. Something has happened back home and we need your help.”
He nodded. “If you get me out of this I’ll do anything you want.”
“I can’t have you and Lyle fighting though, I don’t have time for it.” She warned, pointing a finger at him.
“After the last few weeks Terry I think I’ve learned what the important things in life are.” He said, fighting back tears. “Besides...after what I’ve done I will have no right to ever take dispute with your uncle again.”
“Hold on, I’m coming to get you.” She said, making to leave.
“Terry, before you go, there’s something you should know.”
“What?”
He shook his head, unable to look her in the eye. “I’ve done something terrible. The metal we’re mining...it’s the same one you’re made of.”
Terry’s eyes widened. “That’s impossible...it doesn’t exist on Earth.”
“It does Terry, but it’s extremely rare.” He said, swallowing hard. Tears streamed down his face. “And it can do the same things that the metal in your blood does. It can take on different shapes. I was trying to make it into a type of armour for the military. Then the wrong people came along...” he shook his head.
“What have they done?” she asked, dreading the answer.
“Terry...” he cried, shaking his head. “They’ve created monsters.”
******
Lyle slammed his fists into the workshop table. “He will die with those bastards!” He spat, his face contorting with rage.
Terry flinched back from his sudden outburst. “No! You’re not going to do anything to him.”
His eyes narrowed, but Terry stood her ground. “Don’t make me have to order you again.” She threatened.
Lyle drew a deep breath, keeping him temper in check. In brittle tones he said, “Princess, he has helped create abominations!”
“He’s been locked in a small room for several weeks. He wanted to make new armour for the army; he didn’t help them do this. It isn’t what he wanted.”
Lyle’s gaze grew even darker. “That isn’t the point. He still started experimenting with our metal!” his fist came down again. “He knows full well what it is capable of and took the risk anyway!”
Terry raised her hands to him. “He made a mistake!”
“Another big one it seems! It doesn’t tally well against my existing feelings for the man, does it?” He pointed an accusing finger at her. “If you’re father was here, he would have hunted him down and killed him!”
“Well my father isn’t here, so I’m the highest authority there is. And
I’m not going to kill him and neither are you!” She sighed, feeling her colour rising. “That really is your and his answer to everything isn’t it? You can’t just go around killing everyone!”
“Stop talking like you are one of them!” he spat, sweeping his arm around. “You are not a human!”
Terry felt the ancient monster within her stir, her raw rage battering against the mental chains she had built to hold it. Let go. “Don’t talk to me like a child general.” Let go.
Lyle’s resolve suddenly faltered; a look of fear on his face. It passed in an instant and his manner grew defiant once more – but it was there and Terry had seen it. “We will do as you see fit then.” He spat. But it was still a submission, no matter how he said it.
“Good.” Terry turned away and stomped up the staircase carved into the stone wall of the underground caverns. “I’m going to find the others.” She shouted back to him, but her mind was on other things. Suddenly she was scared. Terry did not know what she had done but somehow, somehow some lost part of her had come through and it had frightened her uncle; and it terrified her not knowing what it had been.
Chapter 20
Rescue
Two miners made their way down the long mineshaft. They chatted idly, unfazed by the murky gloom that surrounded them. The only light to accompany them on their descent were the ones attached to their helmets. There where light dotted every one hundred yards or so along the left wall, but they offered poor illumination and only seemed to heighten the darkness between them where none of their shine reached at all. One of the miners reached around and wiped the back of his neck as a freezing drip landed on him. “Fuck! I hate it when it gets down your neck!” He cursed, wiping it away.
“I’ve had it go right down my spine a couple of times.” His companion said.
“That’s even bloody worse.” Agreed the first miner as his boots squelched through a muddy puddle in the dark, damp hole in the Earth they found themselves descending into.
But not every path of water trickling down the walls was benign. Once they were gone, several started flowing against the pull of gravity and pooled into one spot on the floor, before taking the shape of Faye. She looked up and down the shaft cautiously to make sure no-one was around. Spying not a single soul she pushed away from the wall and headed after the miners, careful to not stray from the shadows lest she be seen.
Above ground, Terry laid waste to the mine workers. A straggler ran this way and that, screaming. She was on in him moments, sinking her long fangs and serrated mandibles through his spine and belly. With a snap of his back and a thrash of the head he was silenced.
She let the fat sack of meat fall to the ground before picking it up again from a better angle. Tipping her long neck back, she forced it down her throat whole. Around her the bodies of two dozen men and women littered the muddy entrance.
“Terry.” Lyle called, as he rounded the back of a truck. He stood mutely when he laid eyes upon the carnage. She ignored him. A long, sticky tongue shot from her mouth, wrapping round the legs of one of the bodies several feet away. With a flick of her head, the corpse shot into her mouth. Throwing her head back again, her mandibles forced it down. The tips of her armour flexed slightly in a ripple that passed through her body.
“So much for doing it quietly then?” he asked angrily, stomping through the puddles of mud and blood that ran together.
Terry twisted her long neck around and hissed at him through barred teeth.
Lyle staggered back, shocked. “What is wrong with you? We don’t have time for this, we need to get inside.”
She shrieked at him, turning her large frame completely around to face him.
Realising something was wrong he raised his hands and slowly backed off. “Terry? What’s the matter?”
Her pupils suddenly widened and she straightened her neck, her hackles dropping. She looked about, puzzled.
“Are you ok?”
Terry grunted and shook her head, blinking as if she was dizzy.
Lyle knew what had caused the strange behaviour but did not give voice to it. Now was not the time. “Come on.” He said, heading away from the entrance.
Several minutes later the Alchemists had rendezvoused with Connor, who had stayed out of sight while they had taken care of the workers. He knew better than to get in the way when Alchemists went on a killing spree.
“Is this it?” Connor asked, as they met at the yawning entrance to the mine. They were dwarfed by the concrete mouth that stood before them and the straight muddy track that ran inside. It had been carved out to be used for large trucks and other equipment; a testament to the major mining operation that was taking place within.
“What do you mean?” Terry asked, as she began walking.
“I thought there would be giant doors or something but this is wide open.”
She gave him a funny look. “This isn’t Goldeneye.”
“Yeah, I know, but considering what Rufus said they were getting up to down there, I thought it would have been a lot more security.”
“This is just the entrance. Wherever they are doing the experiments is where we’ll find the security.” Lyle said.
“What’s the plan then?”
Terry looked at him, her metal-clad feet squelching with each step. “You’re going to burn the place down.”
Rufus leapt to his feet as a waterfall started cascading down from ceiling vent. He had never been so relieved when it turned out to be his rescuer.
“Faye!” he exclaimed, running to her.
She flung her arms round him as they embraced. “Rufus!”
Stepping back, he took her hands and looked her up and down in marvel. “You’re even more radiant than I remember.”
She smiled. “You certainly haven’t lost your charm. It is great to see you, especially after all that’s happened.”
His expression grew sombre. “Terry told me, I am sorry.”
She lowered her gaze and nodded. “Thank you.” She wiped the corner of her eye and forced a smile.
“We’ll get him, don’t worry.”
She looked around. “I know, but first we have to get out of here.”
The place Rufus had been locked was little more than a large storage room. Dirty shovels and drills took up nearly half the space, although it was clear that his captors had cleared some of the floor space for his occupancy. A crumpled sleeping bag and a dirty pillow was the only charity she saw. She could see Rufus had fashioned a desk out of the chassis of an old digger and an old tyre to sit on. His would-be desk was cluttered with scraps of paper and an empty plate and cup.
“What have you been designing?” she asked, picking up a drawing.
“Nothing, I dare not. It would look very suspicious.” He sighed and she could see regret in his eyes. “Besides, my works have already done enough damage without me giving them anymore. So I just draw to pass the time.”
“It’s pretty.” Faye said, admiring the detail in the sketch. It was a pencil drawing of an orchid.
He smiled. “Thank you. Pen and paper are the only things they’ve given me to pass the time.”
Sitting the drawing down, Faye headed toward the double metal doors at the front of the storage room. “Is there anyone guarding the other side?” she asked.
“I think so. I’ve seen people a few times when they’ve bought me my food and they’re always armed.”
“Then I will just have to stay fluid.” She said, eyeing up the doors. She looked back at him. “Where is your real body?”
“Still at home, fortunately. They don’t know.”
“Good. Stay here.” She said. Returning to liquid state, Faye rushed the gap between the two doors. It took some effort, but her fluid form managed to force its way through.
Rufus heard shouting and gunshots. But it was the muffled sound of choking that made him wince. A couple of minutes crept passed in silence and then the doors suddenly opened. Faye took her hand off the control panel.
�
�Are you okay?” Rufus asked, as he hurried out.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go.”
Rufus hesitated as he saw the body of one of the guards. The man was pale and soaked, as if he had drowned. His features were fixed in an expression of horror. Rufus could not tear his gaze away from the man; his glassy stare sent a chill down his spine. He must have been terrified, he thought, feeling a great swell of pity for the man – despite imprisoning him.
“Rufus.” Faye called, snapping him out of his reverie.
He looked at her, distant for a moment. “Sorry, I...” he hurried over to her. “I’ve been in this body for too long. Their sentiments are starting to get to me...”
A screaming miner fled, his running footsteps ringing loudly through the tunnel, his scream echoing off the dark, wet, walls. Terry ran him down easily, despite the narrow, twisting terrain. In fact, she found this environment the easiest to negotiate. Her ancestors came from the soil and they had lived beneath it for millions of years. The miner did not stand a chance.
As she homed in, she felt the adrenaline pumping through her veins and the saliva building in her mouth. Despite her upbringing among men and her constant battle to control her instincts over the years, secretly she had missed it all and now she chose to no longer fight her primeval urges to hunt, kill and feed; regardless of the prey.
Picking up the pace, she ran up an outcrop of rock and leapt, landing squarely on the man’s back. He screamed as he hit the ground. Crouching, she plunged a two foot blade into the miner, ending his life. She looked back up the tunnel, calling to her uncle in her native tongue. The plate on her forearm withdrew to its natural position. Her uncle’s reply came as she checked up and down the tunnel. She allowed her tentacles to feast on the body. They ripped through flesh and bone in moments and devoured it just as quick. By the time Lyle and Connor caught up with her, the last of her tentacles had retreated inside her body.
“There’s always one that slips through your fingers.” She said, discarding the man’s helmet into a nearby crevice.
“You caught him, that’s all that matters.” Lyle said looking passed her down the tunnel. “How much further do you think it goes?”