One of them grew bolder and splashed into the shallow water at the shoreline, one giant paw swinging out toward the driftwood to bat it aside and attack. Evelyn jerked back out of reach, pulled the driftwood into her side as the paw swiped past and then lunged forward and drove the damp tissue straight into the predator’s face.
The thick, slimy tentacles draped themselves briefly across the animal’s nostrils and eyes, and a primal fear bolted through Evelyn’s guts as the creature let out a horrendous roar and jerked its thickly maned head away. The animal staggered onto the beach, driving its face into the sand and twisting its body in agony as it smashed one paw against its snout in an attempt to relieve itself from its pain.
Evelyn turned to the remaining three animals, none of which had fled despite the effect of the weapon on their companion. Their sandy–coloured flanks were lean and Evelyn could see the shape of bones beneath the muscles and skin. The animals were hungry and Evelyn was too tempting a morsel to abandon so easily.
They stayed away from the tip of the driftwood, pacing back and forth before the shoreline. Evelyn staggered against the strength of the rollers, and with a start she realised that she was much closer to the dunes than she had been a few hours before. The tide was coming in, much as it had done on Caneeron as the gravity of its moons pulled at the world’s oceans. She looked up and glimpsed the small moon in the blue sky now almost overhead and the sun much lower in the sky, and cursed.
The dunes and bluff were only a few dozen cubits away, at which point she would have no choice but to return to dry land or drown in the churning ocean. Her legs were already numb with cold and before long her skin would start to blister and tear against the rocks and stones embedded in the sand beneath her feet.
Evelyn looked at the predators. She knew that many of the largest land carnivores on Caneeron, especially the Shrey’k, could be warded off both by fire and by the understanding that for whatever reason a prey was sufficiently dangerous to be avoided rather than hunted. Although not especially intelligent the Shrey’k had become conditioned to avoiding humans because they were so difficult to hunt and able to defend themselves. The only ones that veered from this general rule were the starving, the injured, those protecting young and those that had never before encountered a human.
Evelyn could see no young animals watching the hunt, no injuries and only hunger in the animal’s eyes, not life–threatening starvation. In contrast, the animal that she had wounded was now far away down the beach and still thrashing at itself.
Evelyn steeled herself and advanced, moving to the right of the three animals with the driftwood held before her as she rushed out of the deeper water and charged one of the smaller animals.
The creature snarled and hissed as it leaped back out of range, one paw swiping at the driftwood. Evelyn lowered it and the animal’s paw whipped over the top as she then lunged again and jammed the poisonous tissue into the animal’s side.
Another roar of agony pierced the air and the predator darted away, smashing into one of its companions in its haste and knocking it over. Evelyn charged further, ramming the driftwood directly into the creature’s hind quarters. The animal shrieked in agony and leaped away from her in a run that swiftly faltered as its hind legs gave way and it dragged itself across the sand with its fore legs, howling in pain.
Evelyn searched for the remaining beast, and her heart sank and her legs bowed with fear as she realised that it had slunk between her and the water’s edge. It prowled through the churning foam, its head low and its fangs bared as it turned toward her. Evelyn whipped the driftwood around and pointed it at the creature, and with a guttural cry she did the only thing that she could think of and charged toward it.
The animal snarled in surprise as it jerked back and away from Evelyn and plunged into the deeper water. Evelyn lunged forward and smashed the driftwood against the creature’s exposed flank. It screamed a high–pitched howl of pain as it crashed into the waves and tried to swim away.
Evelyn took her chance and turned as she crashed out of the water and ran in a low, weary gait up the beach. She reached the bluff and scrambled back up it, then turned back breathlessly to look down at the water’s edge.
The creature in the water was thrashing at its flank, claws and fangs tearing at the flesh as it tried to attack its own pain. Two other animals were further down the beach, one of them laying motionless on the sand and the other sniffing at it while swiping occasionally at its own head. Much farther away, the body of the biggest animal lay on its side, twitching sporadically.
Evelyn reached down and grabbed huge handfuls of the damp green foliage and hauled them across her body. Despite the cold she knew that once out in the deserts her greatest threat would be the heat. Then she turned and struck out, her body drenched and the air noticeably cooler that before. As she walked, trying to put as much distance between herself and her tormentors as possible in case they recovered from the poison, she saw ahead the pillar of smoke and flame striking up into the hard blue sky.
She shielded her eyes against the flare of the desert sand and sun as she walked, and for a moment she watched the rippling light casting its brilliant beam of energy.
Evelyn gasped as she realised what she was seeing: the fusion core, exposed and blazing like a beacon. If the Atlantia could see the core, and the captain had control, he would almost certainly send a shuttle down to retrieve it.
New hope surged adrenaline through Evelyn’s veins and she strode faster, careful not to touch the poisonous tissue dangling from the driftwood as she held it upright and used it as a staff.
Alone, she vanished into the trembling heat haze rippling across the horizon.
***
XXVII
‘Captain on the bridge!’
Bra’hiv’s deeply bellowed command announced Hevel’s arrival. The new captain strode to sit in his chair and surveyed the crew as he scanned the various screens set into his chair.
‘Is the ship ready?’ he demanded.
‘Things are underway sir,’ Bra’hiv replied. ‘Repairs are being made and I’ll begin preparing the men for battle and to repel boarders, or whatever else comes our way.’
Hevel nodded. ‘What of Idris Sansin?’
‘He and the command crew remain in custody sir,’ Bra’hiv replied. ‘They have made no complaints or demands.’
‘That’s not like him,’ Hevel said thoughtfully. ‘It likely means that he’s up to something.’
‘He can hardly do much,’ Bra’hiv replied. ‘He’s locked in the holding cells with C’rairn and the others.’
‘And you have no problem with C’rairn allying himself with the captain?’ Hevel asked. ‘He is one of your marines, after all.’
‘I command the marines,’ Bra’hiv replied, ‘but their loyalty to the captain is strong.’
‘He has loyalty outside of the bridge too,’ Dhalere pointed out as she joined them. ‘The civilians are restless. They don’t understand what’s happening here. They think that we’re committing suicide, and until we make our stand they won’t realise what we’re capable of.’
‘What are we capable of?’ Bra’hiv asked her.
Hevel’s head swivelled to peer at him. ‘Whatever we put our minds to, Bra’hiv. Agreed?’
Hevel turned and looked at the screens.
‘What do we know about the planet down there?’ he asked.
‘Nothing more than before,’ Dhalere replied. ‘No advanced technology, no industry, certainly no craft of any kind but plenty of life.’
Hevel nodded.
‘Any survivors would be unlikely to survive long,’ he murmured. ‘But perhaps we should ensure that the planet remains pristine, uncontaminated by human presence’
Bra’hiv frowned. ‘Why would we need to do that?’
‘Because I said so,’ Hevel growled back.
‘Hard to tell from orbit but I’m not seeing any survivors,’ Dhalere said.
Hevel stroked his chin with one hand.<
br />
‘Take a lower orbital altitude and get some readings, just to be sure.’
‘Aye sir,’ the helmsman replied.
Bra’hiv spoke up.
‘Captain, I need to organise some training for the marines. With everything that’s been happening they’re a little short on preparations. I’d like to practice repelling boarders from the launch and landing bays: it’s the most likely point of entry for an enemy. I’ll need to evacuate personnel from the bays for a short time.’
‘Is that normal?’ Hevel asked.
‘Standard procedure,’ Bra’hiv replied. ‘My men will be wearing environmental suits, but groundcrews won’t. They’ll be exposed to space if we don’t pull them out.’
Hevel nodded and waved airily. ‘Whatever you need, general although I…’
The relative calm of the bridge was shattered by a single voice. ‘Contact!’
Keyen almost jumped out of his seat as he called out across the bridge, his eyes fixed upon a tactical display linked to the ship’s passive detectors arrayed along each side of the massive hull.
‘Where away?’ Bra’hiv demanded as he glanced at the senior tactical officer, Mikhain, who had quietly distanced himself from his own station for some reason and was now standing close to Lael.
Keyen struggled to determine the source of the contact.
‘Orientation three–five degrees, sub–level forty–eight degrees starboard,’ he replied. ‘Off the bow.’
‘Get it up on a screen,’ Bra’hiv snapped. ‘Now!’
Keyen relayed his display onto the bridge’s main screen, and the image of the peaceful looking planet far below was replaced with that of a pixelated speck moving against a background of distant stars.
‘Size?’ Hevel demanded.
‘Avenger class sir,’ came Bra’hiv’s response, his experienced eye fixed upon the pixelated image of the vessel, ‘twice our mass and moving fast.’
‘Estimated time of arrival at our location?’ Hevel asked Aranna.
‘Maybe we should take this opportunity to leave.’ Aranna uttered. ‘We don’t have time for…’
‘Now!’ Hevel roared.
‘Less than two days!’ Aranna replied. ‘It’s at the edge of the system, moving our way.’
Bra’hiv sighed as he felt his guts twist uncomfortably inside him. A stellar class vessel, moving at that speed, could only mean one thing. The Word had found them and was closing in for the kill. He turned to Hevel.
‘They’re here,’ Bra’hiv said. ‘We cannot run now if we wanted to.’
Hevel stood and looked at his men.
‘This is it, then. It is now or never. We shall make our stand here and will achieve our finest hour.’
Hevel turned to Bra’hiv. ‘You have the bridge.’
Hevel made his way quickly to the captain’s ready room, located barely twenty seconds’ walk from the bridge. He entered the quarters and ensured that the door was sealed and locked behind him and then hurried through into a small bathroom.
A polished steel mirror adorned one wall in the bleak little room, which was fashioned in a typically military style in dull greys and whites. Hevel moved in front of the mirror, turned on the light, and stared at his reflection.
He leaned closer to the mirror and reached up to his face. With the index finger of one hand he pulled at the skin on his cheek, stretching his lower eyelid down to expose his eyeball and the inside of his eyelid.
His guts churned as he stared at the exposed flesh.
Inside, buried beneath the skin, dull flecks of metal caught the light from the bathroom, and as he watched several of the flecks reacted to the light and turned to face it.
Hevel switched off the light, and in the darkness he could see in the reflection of the mirror that his eyes were glowing with a faint red light.
*
Bra’hiv moved as fast but as unobtrusively as he could.
As soon as Hevel had marched off the bridge he made his way up onto the tactical platform and crossed to where Mikhain was working. A former fighter pilot, Mikhain was one of the captain’s most trusted long–service officers and a man Bra’hiv himself considered a friend.
‘General,’ Mikhain said without looking up from his console, his expression like stone.
‘I know how it looks.’
‘All I’m interested in is what it is,’ Mikhain replied, still focused on his displays. ‘Have you sold out?’
‘No,’ Bra’hiv replied, gesturing to one of Mikhain’s screens as though he were discussing a tactical manoeuvre. Dhalere was taking no notice as she hovered near the command platform, awaiting her councillor’s return. ‘The captain is locked down but I’m still able to move freely. As long as Hevel thinks I’m on side with him, I should be okay.’
‘To do what?’
‘Can you launch a shuttle from here without anybody knowing about it?’
Mikhain nodded, gesturing to the same display as Bra’hiv as he replied quietly.
‘I can over ride the security and safety measures from here, but you’d have to evacuate the personnel from the launch bays or they’d be dragged out of the ship when the doors open. Hard to cover the alarms that would sound on the bridge when the bays open.’
‘Training sortie for my men, just like I told Hevel,’ Bra’hiv replied. ‘Repelling boarders in a zero–atmosphere environment. Next hour or so, agreed?’
‘Agreed,’ Mikhain said. ‘But even if you get off the ship, there’s no way I can conceal your return.’
‘I’ll deal with that when the time comes,’ Bra’hiv replied, and then louder. ‘You have the bridge, Mikhain.’
Bra’hiv turned and headed for the elevator banks, careful not to let Dhalere notice any haste in his movement. Once out of sight he dashed to the elevators and took the first one available down to the holding cells. He marched down between them until he found the captain.
Idris Sansin caught Bra’hiv’s expression as he arrived.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
Bra’hiv stood to attention, more to calm his own nerves than anything else.
‘The Word,’ he said. ‘It’s here.’
The captain’s face fell and his shoulders seemed to slump. ‘Already?’ he whispered. ‘How long?’
‘Less than two days,’ Bra’hiv replied, and relayed what he knew about the incoming vessel. ‘We’ll be crushed sir,’ he added. ‘Hevel has no idea about how to command this ship and his bridge crew are useless – only Mikhain, Lael and Aranna have any proper training. They’ll panic as soon as the first shot is fired.’
‘We need to get the hell out of here,’ the captain said. ‘We can storm the War Room and regain control of the Atlantia from there.’
Bra’hiv knew that the War Room was used to control the ship in time of intense crisis or damage, a heavily armoured replica of the bridge deep inside the Atlantia’s hull.
‘If I spring you, sir’ Bra’hiv cautioned, ‘it could cause a riot and perhaps even fatalities. Even my own men are not sure on whose side they should be standing, and Hevel is likely to have placed loyal and armed men near the War Room just in case we try anything. Not something we need to happen right now.’
‘We need to do something,’ Idris snapped. ‘We can’t just sit here.’
‘Which is why C’rairn will be coming with me to the surface,’ Bra’hiv said as he opened the cell door.
C’rairn moved to the cell doors as they opened and stepped out. ‘What would you have me do?’
Bra’hiv shut the cell door again.
‘Hevel won’t notice one man missing,’ he replied. ‘You can come with me to the surface and locate Andaim and anybody else that might have survived down there. We bring them back and surprise Hevel’s people, having hopefully doubled our numbers. I’ll then take my marines to the War Room and seize control. Until then, Hevel’s men won’t suspect me of treachery.’
‘That’s thin,’ Meyanna Sansin said. ‘Hevel might have them shoot you on sight bef
ore you can land back aboard.’
‘That’s a chance we’ll have to take, ma’am. Mikhain and Lael are both aware of what I’m attempting and will do their best to cover for us.’
The captain frowned.
‘The convicts?’ he asked. ‘Why would they help us? They think we sent them to their deaths.’
‘When they find out it was Hevel who murdered their cell mates they’ll be more than keen to help us,’ Bra’hiv said, ‘because I’ll extend the amnesty to all of them.’
A ripple of gasps fluttered between the cells.
‘That’s a mistake,’ Meyanna insisted. ‘They cannot be trusted – Hevel is right about that if nothing else.’
‘Sir,’ Bra’hiv said to the captain, ‘right now we’re the last remaining human beings that we know of. You said yourself that if we don’t organise ourselves into a cohesive force and start working together, in a few days we’ll be nothing but a memory to that monstrous thing that’s hunting us down. Those prisoners down there represent a fighting force that we can’t ignore, and with them we can remove Hevel from play and give ourselves at least a chance of survival. Without them…’
Bra’hiv let the question hang in the air for a long beat. The captain sighed and nodded.
‘Very well,’ he replied. ‘Do it, as fast as you can.’
***
XXVIII
Captain Idris Sansin watched Bra’hiv march away with C’rairn as he sat upon a hard bench in the holding cell, surrounded by his bridge crew, all of whom were watching him intently.
‘What?’
They stared at him for a long time, as though having finally had the courage to broach the matter they could not now fathom a suitable question with which to begin.
‘Is that planet down there habitable?’ Meyanna asked finally. ‘Somewhere we could live, like Ethera?’
‘It’s not quite like Ethera,’ the captain replied as he realised what his bridge crew were thinking.
‘But it’s damned close enough, isn’t it?’ Meyanna said.
Atlantia Series 1: Survivor Page 18