Orbital

by C. W Tickner

  Harl crashed through the soft embrace of a skin stretched between curved bones sinking into the sawdust floor underneath. The bones collapsed on him, sending burst of pain lancing through his body. The last bone toppled and cracked him neatly on the skull forcing him into sleep.

  He woke to red hair flashing over his face and the calm tones of a woman as she eased him in to a more comfortable position. Tess stared down at him smiling.

  ‘He’s awake,’ she said looking round as someone entered the dark space bringing light to the tent’s interior.

  ‘Harl?’ It was Troy standing over him wearing the same ragged clothing as Pale had been and holding a sputtering candle beside him. It gave off the smell of burning fat and Harl didn’t want to know how they’d made it. Relief rushed into him and a burden lifted. He’d found both of them, alive and well. He put his hand to his head feeling the hide bandage and the tender throb of bruising underneath.

  ‘We thought you’d gone back up,’ Troy said. He noticed Harl’s look of shock, ‘I wouldn’t have blamed you,’ he said, his cheeks blushing in the flickering light. But how in the world did you end up here?’

  ‘And how did you know to fall through the roof of my tent?’ Tess asked, smoothing a generous heap of furs piled on the floor and sitting down.

  Harl explained the strange series of events that had led him here, from meeting Vorock to his chanced fall into Tess’ tent.

  ‘We saw the Aylen above,’ Troy said, ‘and the commotion, but it happens so often, you just keep your head down.’

  Harl expected Tess to be fascinated by the thought of them encountering a talking Aylen, instead she asked, ‘Kane is with you? He is in here?’ She drew out her comb from the animal skin clothing and raked it through her hair.

  Harl laughed. ‘Yes he is here, alive and well, at least he was when I left them.’

  ‘We can find them when the light comes,’ Troy said. ‘Then find the Alphas and meet with this friendly Aylen.’ His head swivelled as screams punctuated the night and a cacophony of cries came from outside. Tess threw open the cloth door and the three of them stood up outside and watched in the gloom as the hands of an Aylen swept through the vast camp, destroying everything in its path.

  ‘It’s back,’ Tess said, ducking inside as wood shavings rained down on top of the tent. The hand plucked people from the panicking crowds and threw them into a large jar held above the tank.

  ‘We need to find Pale,’ Harl said, looking out as a fire spread from one of the corners of the tank and the Aylen hand pressed down on it in an attempt to stop the spread.

  ‘Who?’ Troy asked as he pulled a bone knife from under his shabby top.

  ‘He’s the leader,’ Harl said, ‘but we need to get to the centre of the tank. Come on!’ He pointed at the dead creature, as though they could not see the huge carcass. Ducking his head low and with Tess and Troy in tow, Harl scurried towards the carcass, trying desperately to remember where Pale’s tent had been.

  A man fell from above, slipping from the hand in his struggle and was impaled on a bone support for a tent. Tess tried to stop and tend the man but how she thought she could help him with a bone jutting through his chest, Harl didn’t know. He grabbed her hand and yanked her away as the Aylen plucked the dying man from the bone with a sucking noise and dropped him into the jar. The body plunged onto the heads of those inside, already crammed in too tight in a writhing mass of frightened people.

  Huge fingers pressed the sides of Harl’s shoulders and a tug hauled him backwards. He screamed as the Aylen hand dragged him away from Troy and Tess pulling him up from the ground. Troy roared and threw himself at the fingers holding Harl, digging the dagger hard into the leathery skin. The hand shook reflexively, flinging them both down into the shavings and splattering yellow blood on to Harl’s face. Harl rolled into an open tent hoping to avoid the creature’s gaze and turned to peer outside through the gap in the hanging skins. Troy and Tess were lying flat outside, half buried in the sawdust and the remains of broken tents.

  ‘Get in!’ Harl hissed.

  Fear clutched at him as he waited for them to move but both were staring up, unable to move in case the Aylen spotted the movement.

  Tess whimpered and they both shuffled instinctively under the tent skin beside them. They disappeared from sight just as the Aylen hand swept down and clawed the tent skin up into the air. It was followed by a roar of anger as though the Aylen had expected to find them underneath. A fist pounded down where the tent had been, shoving the shaving into a crater and revealing the sticky mulch from the bottom of the tank. The hand moved away and Harl crawled out unable to see Tess and Troy. Had it crushed them? He looked down into the crater uncaring of the screams of those being pulled from tents nearby. He’d failed them both and brought the others here to die at the hands of this monster. He looked up and rage filled him. There was nothing he could do now but find the others and hide. Without weapons they were unable to hurt such a big creature.

  Chapter 23

  We are heading to investigate the grey structure. From my initial measurements it must be at least four hundred metres high and several kilometres wide.

  A murmur, barely audible between the cries of people around Harl issued from the crater of wood chip. A hand poked up from the shavings, clawing the smoky air. He crawled to it and began to scoop the chunks of sawdust away. The hand was slowing, weakened by the effort. It wasn’t enough. He stood and braced himself, widening his stance. Gripping the hand, he pulled up, dragging Troy like a worm from the ground.

  As Troy cleared the wood, His other hand was still holding onto something buried beneath.

  ‘Pull!’ Troy yelled, spitting shavings. His feet raked the ground for purchase unwilling to let go of whatever he held. A second hand holding Troy’s burst from the wood and Tess’ red hair broke the surface. She sucked in air like a drowning swimmer then collapsed on the floor gasping in the smoky air.

  The fire was raging around them, consuming tents and anyone too slow to escaped the spread.

  The Aylen was no longer lifting victims. Instead it dowsed the tank with water in an effort to kill the fire that leapt from structure to structure, burning vast patches of sawdust as it spread.

  Harl grabbed both Tess and Troy, hauling them up. If Pale had survived this before then they needed to find him before the flames were quenched and the Aylen resumed its hunt. They had to get out.

  He led them on a winding path, passed broken bodies and hiding families. People lay burnt beside weeping relatives or hiding under whatever crude cover they could find among the smoking debris.

  When they reached the center, he risked climbing up onto the giant rat, using its hair as a hand hold and scanned the wreckage across the entire tank. Over half of the low structures were broken and the other at risk of fire. The giant hands battled the flames in one corner, staunching the spread and throwing wood shavings up into the air.

  ‘Harl!’ It was Damen’s voice calling from behind the flap of a tent closest to the dead animal.

  Harl leapt down. ‘This way,’ he said, leading Tess and Troy in Damen’s direction. He crouched to enter the hut where they were watching Pale dig a hole in the floor at one of the corners. He seemed to be pulling up shavings layer by layer.

  ‘Tess,’ Kane said, getting up and stooping across the tent to hug her. ‘I thought you were gone.’

  ‘But you didn’t give up,’ she said.

  ‘Great,’ Troy said, struggling to get inside the packed space. He stopped half in the tent. ‘Now we’ve all made up perhaps we can get on with-’ His eyes locked on to Dana and she smiled at him. Troy’s own stupid grin spread across his face in return. It was there for a fleeting moment then disappeared as Troy cried out and lurched backwards out the opening. His fingers clawed at the sides of the tent as his leg was jerked again and a look of horror crossed his features as another jolt scraped him out of the doorway.

  Dana shot passed Harl, drawing a knife as he tried to grab
Troy. She yelled and jumped from the entrance on to Troy’s back, springing off him and plunging her dagger with both hands into the fingers of the giant hand. The hand flicked her off, throwing her into the side of another tent as it let go of Troy as withdrew. Troy ran to her still form, uncaring of the Aylen overhead.

  ‘Put these on before you go outside,’ Pale said, throwing a layer of shavings at Harl. He caught it and realised it was a cloak with wood slithers sewn all over it. They would be invisible against the floor if they had the chance to stay still. Damen was struggling to put one on in the small confines of the tent as Tess helped Kane to do the same.

  ‘Get outside, run and hide,’ Pale said. ‘We’ll meet at the carcass when the big one has left. Go!’

  They poured out of the tent as the Aylen roared, its focus drawn away from Troy and Dana as it swiped at the runners. Damen dodged the hand as it closed around him, running a zigzag to avoid the deadly grip. Tess and Kane split in the opposite direction.

  Harl had snatched up an extra cloak and threw it over Troy who was shielding the unconscious Hoarder while wood lumps rained down on them.

  Harl dived into the sawdust nearby and spread the cloak over him.

  He waited, expecting those fingers to scoop him out from under the cloak as he listened intently to the sound of destruction. When it faded to silence, he peeked out from under the cloak seeing the Aylen nearby but no longer leering over the tank. He spotted the dead rat, half charred in the center of the tank and he crawled, keeping the cloak over him and the carcass in front.

  ‘Harl?’ Troy whispered.

  He had forgotten Troy and Dana were so close. Harl flung the cloak off and saw Troy beside a conscious Dana who was sharpening one of the her blades and scanning their surrounding as if waiting for a chance to use it.

  They headed for the carcass and found Kane, Tess and Damen waiting inside one of the few remaining tents. Damen was stuffing meat into a satchel, preparing to leave while Tess attempted to clean a graze on Kane’s face.

  Pale rounded a corner, ducking low, followed by a group of ragged survivors. A few men and women came out of hiding at the sight of Pale.

  ‘You’re ready then,’ he said looking around at the destruction fighting the tears in his eyes. ‘I can't bear to see this again.’

  ‘What’s the plan?’ Harl asked, but the old man was zoning out, staring at the broken huts. He shook Pale’s shoulder, snapping him back. ‘What’s your plan to get out, Pale?’

  ‘A ladder,’ Pale said.

  ‘A ladder?’ Troy said breaking out laughing. ‘Got one big enough to get over that wall tucked away inside your hut. Or maybe you stuck it up the rat’s-’

  ‘Enough,’ Damen said, stepping into the center of the group. ‘That thing will be back soon and I don’t want to be here waiting for it without decent weapons.’

  Pale turned towards the front of the tank. ‘Follow me.’

  He led them right up to the wall, midway along the tank and thrust a hand deep into the sawdust. He pulled up a section of bone made ladder with ten rungs. ‘There’s more, lining the length of the tank,’ he said.

  ‘You really have a ladder?’ Troy said in amazement.

  Pale drew up a coil of tendon woven rope and began lashing it to one end. ‘Overlap the struts and tie them together.’

  The group spread along the transparent wall, cautious of the nearby Aylen and hauled dozens of ladders up from the underneath. Some were burnt but most had survived the flames.

  ‘Tie ten and lean it up against the wall,’ Kane suggested, ‘we’ll have to build up from there. It won’t be possible to handle it at full size.’

  ‘Build two sections,’ Tess said, lean the first against it and pass the second up, then tie that one off.’ She smiled at Kane, who, for a heartbeat looked irritated then beamed back at her.

  Pale nodded, securing a tight knot as sweat dripped off his face. The triumph of being so close to his goal seemed to motivate him to work faster.

  When they had a large piece, Damen and the strongest men shuffled it towards the front left corner of the tank. They struggled with the weight, as it wobbled high overhead.

  ‘Hold it steady.’ Damen cried, his muscles bulging with effort. It began to angle away from the wall, and back into the tank. ‘Push!’ The group heaved together and the ladder hit the clear glass wall with a clatter. The bullet hole was to their left in the wall at the end of the counter that the tank sat on and Harl was still struggling with how to surmount the wall and reach the hole so high up.

  Troy was first up, a length of rope over one shoulder and he waited as Damen and the others took up positions down its length before the second section of ladder was passed up to them. They lashed it together and when it was completely tied, the end just peaked up over the edge.

  Pale dragged a huge pile of rope from another hidden cache with a bone-hook on one end. He handed it to Harl and he carried the hook up jamming it into place at the top of the ladder. He let the rope fall down over the edge before looking around at the room. To his left he could see the bullet hole nearly the same level as himself and in line with the top of the tank. Far to the right was the processor embedded in the furthest wall. Two Aylens were still forking bundles of plants into the machine, one of them was the Aylen who’d destroyed the tank.

  He had two options after lowering the rope. Hop off halfway down onto the table and make their way towards the wall with the bullet hole still out of reach. Or they could get to the floor and find another way out of the building towards the gaps where the plants were thrown in.

  He couldn’t admit he had no plan after promising Pale a way out if he helped them. In fact he realised Pale hadn’t helped him at all. He’d found Troy and Tess by himself and there was still no sign of the Alphas. The table was only the option, if they failed to find a way up to the hole they could still make the trek back to Vorock along the ground, although it would take days. His thoughts strayed to Sonora and a tear dropped from his face, falling hundreds of paces to the floor below. He had to get back to the problem at hand, he turned signalling to those below to begin their ascent and hauled himself over the side.

  Not waiting for the others to join him or for the Aylen to return, Harl slid his way down the smooth outside of the tank using his feet to steady himself. He’d had plenty of practise before and he landed deftly on the metal table top. There was a single pace gap from the tank’s side to the edge of the counter and he pressed up against the cold glass to avoid accidentally falling over the edge to the floor. He made his way left to the open flat of the counter top beside the tank and looked across the cluttered surface that backed into a corner of the room. It was laden with house sized boxes and strange instruments. He saw a row of single person containment boxes just big enough for a person to stand upright in, with two small cubes on either side, which he guessed were for water and food.

  Tess was first to join him. ‘You were really shot through that hole?’ she asked, staring up at the circular hollow and the marks where it had exited the thick wall fifty paces above the counter top.

  ‘It was a bit of a rough ride,’ he said, ‘but yes.’

  ‘How are we getting up to it?’

  He turned, meeting her gaze. ‘I’ve no idea,’ he said, But I’m open to suggestions.’

  She shrugged, ‘We might have to re-purpose the ladder or maybe Kane can think of a way.’

  Damen had snuck up on them silently and chuckled behind Tess making her twist around.

  ‘I knew it,’ Damen said, ‘you haven’t a clue how to get up there, I knew it when he first asked you. You’re a bad liar, Harl.’

  ‘If you’ve had so long to think about it,’ Harl said, feeling his face flush, ‘then perhaps your keen intellect has come up with something I couldn’t.’

  Damen bristled, clenching his fists and Harl wondered if he’d pushed the big man too far.

  ‘There will be a way,’ Tess said, attempting to cool the situation and squeezing betw
een them.

  ‘Help!’ someone shouted along the thin ledge. They spun and saw a heavy set man had slipped and was hanging by his fingertips over the edge. Dana came sliding down the rope and as she landed she wrapped the rope around her leg and jumped to catch the man as he lost his grip. Both her hands were outstretched and she slid across the smooth surface and dangled over the edge. She seized the man’s hands and the rope leading to the top of the tank tightened as it took both their weight. Harl reached her as Troy landed and together they grabbed a leg each, drawing both of them up to safety.

  The man stood with shaky hands and breathed hard as he backed against the glass. Dana untied the rope from her foot.

  After a moment the man composed himself and stepped in to hug Dana. ‘Thank you,’ he said. She stepped away from the embrace extending her hand awkwardly. The man gasped. His eyes flew open and he grabbed Dana’s wrist. She reflexively spun his large frame around, twisting him out to hang over the edge. She kept one hand tight on his leather coat the other ready with a blade. He pushed his hips forward attempting to keep his feet on solid ground as she growled at him.

  ‘Dana,’ Troy said, putting a hand on her extended arm, ‘you don’t need to kill him. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good rea-’

  ‘The bracelet,’ the man whimpered squeezing his eyes shut and opening one to look at the bracelet on Dana’s wrist.

  ‘What about it?’ Kane asked, finding space among them at the base of the rope.

  ‘I-I made it,’ the man said.

  Troy eased Dana’s grip from the man and gently pulled him back to solid ground.

  ‘Made it?’ Harl asked.

  ‘Y-yes,’ the man stammered.

  ‘Explain,’ Damen said.

  ‘Can we move away from this,’ he glanced over the edge and as Pale joined them, they escorted him to the side of the tank.

  ‘Explain it,’ Damen repeated.

  ‘Oi!’ a voice shouted. Three of the others they didn’t know, two men and a woman barged between them. ‘Leave Manny alone,’ a man said. ‘He ain’t done nothing to you.’