by C. W Tickner
Troy was staring at the puddle as well, the ripples spreading as the ground shook underfoot.
‘Aylen?’ Troy asked, looking up.
Harl climbed the nearest tree and heaved himself up into the tangle of branches using the jagged brown limbs to gain height. Nothing was coming between the buildings. But, as the branches vibrated and the thumping grew louder, an Aylen darted across a gap between the buildings as it followed the road they’d seen from above. It thundered into view, passing behind one building and then on to the next.
‘What was it?’ Troy asked, as Harl jumped the last pace back to the ground.
‘An Aylen,’ Harl said. His mind reeled from the sight. ‘A metal Aylen.’
‘Metal?’
‘It was wearing a suit,’ Harl said.
‘Like armour?’ Troy asked.
‘A frame,’ Harl said. ‘It was wearing a metal frame.’
‘We’d better get back to the others,’ Troy said,
‘I’ll try explaining it to Kane or Tess.’
‘She’s probably too busy repainting her nails,’ Troy said.
The tangle of branches above them rocked and the huge leaves fluttered.
Harl scanned above the limbs as they both aimed their guns at the sky, searching for the cause, but nothing was visible among the green foliage.
The ground at the base of the tree churned as something dug it’s way up through the roots and wet soil. A mound of bulky fur burrowed out and two beady red eyes gleamed as a huge rat-like beast sniffed at them. The claws on the creature’s four fleshy feet contracted as it made ready to spring at them.
Troy fired wildly, forcing the creature to action. Its claws hooked into the ground and the furry mass bounded towards them.
‘Back to the ship!’ Harl shouted, as Troy’s shots singed its fur. The shots didn’t seem to mark it, as if the fur had somehow absorbed the impact.
Harl fired then turned to run. He felt a huge weight smash into his back, throwing him forward into wet dirt as a claw raked the soil beside him. The smell of damp fur engulfed him. He lashed a foot out, catching flesh and forcing the animal to flinch backwards.
Troy blasted the side of its face. It squealed a hideous piercing noise, and sprung off Harl, twisting to take on the new threat. Harl tried to stand, but slipped in the soggy mud and watched in horror as Troy was knocked onto his back and smothered by the creature’s hairy face.
Snarling, the creature shoved its snout down on Troy, its bared teeth glistening with saliva. Troy held his gun up, forcing it sideways into the putrid mouth so that he could stop its jaws from closing and crushing him.
A cloaked figure leapt from the nearest grass stalks and landed on the creature. Dana gripped clumps of its spindly black fur and used them to pull herself up onto its back. She steadied herself, drew a knife in either hand, and dropped to both knees to plunge them down into the vulnerable flesh beneath the fur.
The beast bucked and snapped its jaws closed on Troy’s rifle as it backed away, but the fool didn’t let go and was hauled him up until he was dangling above the ground, his feet flailing in mid-air as the creature’s froth and drool sprayed down around him. Troy had enough sense to let go and fell to the mud as Dana was flung off the creature’s back. The giant rat rolled and squirmed in pain.
Dana was on her feet in a heartbeat and ran for the ship with Troy stumbling along behind her.
Harl scrambled up and sprinted after them as the rat righted itself, snuffling the ground before giving chase. Harl weaved between the giant grass stalks, dodging back and forth in the hope that it would slow the rat. Instead of hindering the monster, it thundered over them, bending the grass double in its relentless pursuit.
They broke from the foliage to find the ship a short distance ahead and leapt over the furrows left by the crash as they scrambled towards it. Dana dodged, mid-run, as the monster lunged at her. It missed her and tumbled into the furrow in a storm of matted fur and flying earth as it scrabbled at the ground.
Harl’s foot clipped a half-buried rock, throwing him to the floor as the beast sprang from the trench and honed in on him.
‘Fire!’ Damen yelled over the snorts of the rat as its beady eyes locked on to Harl. It snapped its razor teeth just behind him and opened its mouth for the final bite.
A booming explosion thundered over Harl and ripped the bestial head apart, showering Harl in bloody scraps of fur and flesh. He was blasted into the mud by the explosion and lay on the ground as the creature’s blood grew cold against on his back. Cheers rose from the ship at the creature’s death.
Harl stood and wiped the gore from his face as Damen poked his head up from the belly of one of the tanks, a huge smile plastered across his face. He’d driven it out from the back of the dropship and it sat, rumbling, a few metres away.
Harl strode over to the metal vehicle, its barrel still smoking. ‘Good shooting, Damen. Any lower and you’d have hit me.’
‘Been practising,’ he said.
Troy and Dana had both been blown back in the blast and they trudged over the rough ground towards Harl and Damen.
‘Thanks for back there,’ Troy said to Dana. ‘If you hadn’t-’
‘I did nothing,’ she said, cutting him off. She bent over to retrieve one of her knives from a heap of the creature’s guts.
Troy picked up a second knife that had been half buried in the mud and held it out to her. She snatched the blade without a word and began cleaning it with her cloak.
‘What was that thing? Harl asked as Tess crawled out from under the ramp that led up into the ship.
She was waggling a finger around in one ear.
‘Are they always so loud?’ she asked, looking at the tank.
‘Unfortunately, yes,’ Kane said as he inspected the tank barrel. He turned away and looked at the creature’s remains scattered around them. They looked like little more than chunks of meat. ‘As for that, I have never seen one before. It’s not a species we recorded near Delta.’
‘A mammal of some sort,’ Tess said.
‘Where are the rest of them?’ Damen asked, scanning the grass line. He twitched the tank around on its tracks, making Kane jump back to avoid being crushed under the heavy steel belt.
‘How’s the ship?’ Harl asked.
‘She’s seen worse,’ Kane said.
‘Who?’ Troy asked, giving up on Dana and looking around.
Tess rolled her eyes. Kane ignored him.
‘Mostly when we were fixing it up,’ Kane went on. ‘The reactor is still running and Tess managed to scan the area around us. So we know where we’re going. I think that once I repair the flux capacitor and reconnect the-’
‘How long?’ Harl asked.
‘Two days,’ Kane said.
‘Have you told Orbital?’
‘Er, about that,’ Kane said, glancing over at a split piece of curved metal plate fifty metres away in the mud. ‘The new radio dish, erm, fell off on impact.’
‘Then we’d better find the water and get back up,’ Harl said. ‘If they think we’re dead up there, then our trouble will be little in comparison.’
‘I ran a ground scan from the ship,’ Tess said, ‘There’s an opening in the side of this structure. A door or Aylen window a thousand meters that way.’
‘Let’s move out then and find these Alpha humans,’ Damen said. He rolled the tank forward and his men drove two more of the trundling tanks out behind him to form a convoy. ‘Hop on. No need to be walking with these.’
‘I’ll be here when you get back,’ Kane said, ‘I’ll start the repairs immediately.’ He gave Damen a sly grin, then looked at the tank.‘And if you find any Aylen, remember your manners.’
Chapter 13
Above my clearance level? I had just informed the bridge about the missing crew members only to be told that such affairs were not in line with my duties as Delta section’s chief scientist. Absurd!
They clambered aboard the three tanks and crushed a neat line th
rough the grass stalks and broad leaved undergrowth as they moved along. Every time the lead tank rolled over a stalk, Damen would whoop and laugh. The power in the machines pulsed through Harl and he understood how Damen must feel at the controls of one. The raw power felt almost invincible. Was this what it was like to be an Aylen?
Damen was testing out the tank’s capabilities by taking the path of most destruction. He aimed for a log that was almost as high as the top of the tank and, as the wood crumpled underneath the tank’s tracks, a scuttler burst out, its armour-plated body weaving atop a hundred legs as it sought refuge. Damen’s tank jerked right, catching the long body under a track. Its armour cracked as the monster shrieked and writhed in agony, before Harl’s tank rolled over, finishing its death throws.
‘Good fun, eh?’ Troy said.
He had turned to look at the scuttler’s body when it emerged from below the tank, but his gaze drifted up to stare at the tank behind. Dana was crouched on its frame, sweeping the forest around them with her constant scowl. She spotted Troy looking at her and her hand shifted to the knives strapped on her thigh. He flicked his gaze to the front again, muttering something about ‘the witch’ as the tank bumped over a rock, nearly throwing him from the vehicle. Harl was sure he heard Dana giggle, even above the roaring engine as Troy’s face flushed pink.
The landscape was a tangle of branches and leaves. Branches would bend away as the tanks forced their way through, only to snap back into place or break away completely when the strain became to much and they could bend no further. Harl caught glimpses of what lay beyond them, but it was mostly more of the same. But then a large branch broke off and crashed down beneath the tank to reveal an enormous door frame in the distance where a smooth wall towered against the treeline. Damen weaved his tank around a particularly jagged boulder and they found themselves at the edge of a huge clearing, the door rising up on their right.
Aylen wreckage sprawled across the leafless landscape. At first glance Harl had no idea what the items were, but as Dana leapt down to investigate one, he zoomed out in his mind to picture the scene from an Aylen’s perspective. He studied the first item. It was the size of a hut, but in his mind’s eye he could see that it was an Aylen helmet or metal hat lying on its side in the mud. Then he recognised some crudely shaped tools, one of which was a thirty metre long hammer, the head half buried in the ground as if dropped from a great height.
‘I’m not sure we should be going in,’ Tess said staring up at the door.
Harl followed her gaze, taking in the crooked dents and scrapes where the door had been pummelled in an apparent attempt to force entry. Harl put the hammer and the dents together as if he was back in his own workshop and then noticed that the door was slightly ajar.
He hopped down and ran to Damen on the lead tank which was slowly creeping forward.
‘Stop, Damen. Stop!’
Damen turned at the sound and seeing Harl waving, he stopped the tank and cut the engine.
‘What is it?’ Damen asked.
‘The door’s open,’ Harl said.
‘Let’s get in there then,’ Damen said, throttling the engine into life again as he ignored Harl’s shouts, apparently caught up in the moment.
‘Idiot!’ Harl said, coughing as a hot belch of fumes burst from the tank’s exhaust.
His eye was drawn to Dana who had stopped investigating the helmet while he’d been talking to Damen and had run across to the gap under the door. She held her staff out in front as if ready to stab whatever waited on the other side of the dark strip. All three tanks were trundling towards her across the clearing as she bent over and peered under the gap at the base. She dropped her staff, spun, and bolted like a startled deer away from the door.
‘Dana?’ Tess shouted as the Hoarder sprinted straight towards the tanks. She looked around in panic, but tripped and tumbled to the floor.
Harl watched as both Tess and Troy jumped down and ran forward to help her, but Dana scrambled up and fled past the tanks as the titanic door to the building swung open and an Aylen strode out.
It was clear now why the area was devoid of foliage. It was the swing zone for the door. Damen must have seen it as well as he threw the tank into full reverse, smashing into Harl’s tank, almost throwing him off the top.
Damen waved both arms outwards and the tanks spread out, staggering a crude line.
Tess and Troy looked over at them and Harl beckoned them, but instead of risking the run to the tanks, they ducked inside the Aylen helmet out of sight.
‘Hold on, sir,’ the driver called to Harl from inside the tank. The turret cranked around to point up at the giant.
‘Where’s the signal?’ a soldier beside Harl asked as he slammed a clip into his rifle.
‘Patience, Dom. He’ll give it,’ another man said, kneeling on the carriage and pointing his rifle up at the titanic Aylen.
It was three hundred strides high and towered over them. Even after seeing them so many times Harl was still awed by the immense scale of the Aylens. A single finger was three times larger than a man and, if he had the mind, he could have crawled inside an ear like some burrowing insect.
Harl had seen them up close before and the horror he’d experienced then had disappeared. It had been replaced with a strange respect for something so huge, but twisted by a deep loathing at how the Aylen treated humans.
A thought came to Harl about the radio message Screw had mentioned originating from the planet. If this was the Aylen that had been helping the humans in its care, then they were about to attack it.’
Damen’s hand waved a signal from the tank ahead. Harl felt adrenaline pump through him in expectation as the dread at shooting a potential ally clouded his mind.
‘Fire!’ a man shouted.
The tank rocked back as three deafening booms blasted up in unison. The soldiers with rifles fired near vertically up at the target as Damen roared in triumph from the lead tank. The shots tore into the Aylen, gouging wounds through its dull metallic clothing. They were like a child’s bite to a full grown man, small but clearly painful. The wounds dripped yellow ichor, staining the shiny material as the giant used its hands to instinctively shield itself.
As soon as it glanced down at the three tanks, it was over. The Aylen’s closest foot swept Damen’s tank aside like a stone, sending it tumbling into the nearest thicket of bushes. It then leant over as the other two tanks fired again, raising its arm to absorb the damage. It grabbed the second metal machine and threw it at the wall. Harl watched it crumple and fall as he screamed at his men to get out and then jumped down and sprinted for the nearest patch of undergrowth. He slid under a broad leafed plant and tugged the wide leaf down over him as the ground tremored with the Aylen’s booming tread. Peering out, he saw the third tank as it was crushed under the Aylen’s heavy angular shoe. When it lifted, the solid steel had been squashed into the mud, the bodies thankfully buried.
‘Damn you!’ Damen’s voice roared from the bush his tank had been kicked into. Blue shots soared up at the Aylen’s face as it stomped on a helpless man running away from the wreckage.
Harl scrambled up from under the leaf and ran towards the source of the blue streaks. He found Damen covered in mud and blood, and firing his rifle up at the giant. Harl slammed into him and threw him to the floor just as the Aylen stomped over, its face peering down as though it was unable to pick them out among the foliage.
Damen struggled under Harl as he sought to get free.
‘Shh,’ Harl hissed, and Damen went silent as he stared up at the Aylen.
The Aylen’s heavy breathing was the only sound in the clearing, then it growled in pain or anger – Harl didn’t know which – and rumbled above them, before the ground shook as it stomped away.
Harl breathed a sigh of relief as he rolled off Damen. Damen scrambled up and limped towards the edge of the clearing before Harl could catch his breath. When Harl joined him, the Aylen was striding back inside, the door left open.
&
nbsp; ‘Twenty good men,’ Damen said. He spat on the ground and balled his fists up until the calloused knuckles turned white.
Harl looked at a nearby leaf. Its broad expanse was coated with yellow blood.
‘You hurt it though,’ he said, hoping it might raise his friend’s morale.
‘Not enough,’ Damen said, throwing his empty rifle down into the slick mud.
Harl spun and pulled out his pistol as a crashing came through the dense forest towards them. He knelt and Damen tugged his short sword out, ready for action, his chest heaving as if readying himself.
A cloaked figure darted from a nearby bush and hopped over a tangle of branches into the clearing. It was Dana. She stopped when she saw them.
Harl was glad she had made it.
‘Have you seen any others?’ he asked.
She shook her head and Harl thought she looked guilty, as if running away had shamed her. Harl smiled at her and nodded. He was just glad she was alive. Anyone who stuck around when an Aylen was about was a fool.
She jabbed a finger out towards the clearing where the Aylen helmet lay. Troy crept out from it on his hands and knees. He looked a bit green about the gills and stopped halfway out as the ground rumbled and the Aylen lumbered out again.
A second Aylen stomped out behind the first. Troy scampered back into the helmet as the first giant bent down and picked it up. Harl’s heart almost leapt into his mouth as the helmet rose into the air. He had expected to see Troy and Tess visible on the ground where they had been hiding under the helmet, a nice easy target for a quick stomp by an Aylen boot. But, to his surprise, neither of them were standing out in the open.
And then he caught a glimpse of them as the Aylen held the helmet casually by its side. They were both holding on for dear life to the padded interior as the giant swung the helmet back and forth while chatting to the other. The Aylen voices were deep, harsh and guttural, as if the conversation was an argument.
Harl was terrified that the Aylen would put the helmet on and crush them against its high cranium. Instead, it gestured to the ground and picked up one of the tanks to show the other, clearly describing the battle. An almost human expression of disbelief that crossed the other Aylen’s face as the first one spoke, before the speaker tugged up its sleeve to reveal the wounds.