by Drew Wagar
‘I’ll ensure she is protected,’ Udian rumbled.
‘I feel so reassured,’ Rebecca said. ‘Don’t worry about me. Makes sense to cover our escape route and no Thargoid is gonna take me alive.’
She hoisted her rifle. It looked far too big for her petite frame.
‘Let’s get this over with.’
The four combateers had retraced their steps back to the junction. When they arrived they paused. Udian stomped off in one direction, heading deeper into the Catechism.
‘Watch your back,’ Coyote advised. Rebecca nodded and headed after the hulking machine. Coyote and Derik headed back towards the launch bay.
Rebecca’s light footsteps counterpointed the hum of Udian's corridor spanning frame as they made their way cautiously along.
‘If they are still aboard how are we going to know?’ Rebecca whispered.
‘Assume they are and be prepared,’ Udian replied, softly. ‘We have the visual advantage. Thargoids have compound eyes, they’re not as sensitive as ours. My own optics have infrared receptors. We’ll know.’
Udian’s ocular sensors turned and scanned behind them and then returned to face forwards once more.
‘You’ve fought the bugs before,’ Rebecca commented.
‘For longer than you’ve been alive little woman,’ Udian replied dismissively. ‘They have been a thorn in my side for many decades.’
‘Did they do this to you?’ Rebecca tapped the metal casing that formed the exterior of his body.
‘Indirectly. A battle over Tibecia, 3146. A significant altercation in many ways.’
‘Didn’t one of the stations get boarded and destroyed?’ Rebecca said, remembering the incident and how it had been reported on the Chronicle.
‘Yes. A link in a long chain.’
‘And you’re still fighting them,’ Rebecca said shrewdly.
Udian paused and looked at her. ‘My family is owed a debt by these creatures. By destroying my cherished creations the Thargoids have made themselves my enemy. They have made me their Nemesis.’
‘So all that stuff about sterilising planets in the war zones is true? You’ve got quite a rep.’
Udian regarded the woman closely, contemptuous of her relative youth and apparent naivety. He slowed to a stop.
‘Little woman,’ he said disparagingly. ‘I have been personally responsible for the deaths of millions of their warriors. I’ve destroyed their abominable hatcheries, the birthing pods they infect attacked worlds with. I’ve watched as their larvae were extinguished in their billions in the righteous glare of detonation. My body has been slick with their eviscerated gore, I have waded knee deep in their collective blood. I’ve seen the way they infect the charts, always taking what they deem is them without thought of consequence. They are vermin and I aim to eradicate them. I am a mass-murderer. I have committed atrocities and I intend to continue.’
Rebecca swallowed. ‘I’ve killed a few people in my time. I’ll be Elite one day.’
Udian chuckled. ‘Elite? Shooting down your foes at range in a ship? That’s just a game, little woman. A kill count and a Right On, Commander? You know nothing of death.’
‘I’ve killed up close,’ Rebecca said defensively.
‘Did you enjoy it?’
Rebecca unconsciously rubbed her free hand against her clothes, her mind casting back to a furious face glaring at her; a hand wrenching her ankle; a knife in her hand. A sharp impact, contact with flesh, hot blood splashing up her outstretched arm, across her face.
Rot in hell!
An expression of surprise, dismay and fear as the light faded from the eyes… death she had dealt.
Udian straightened, satisfied with her subdued expression. ‘That’s the difference. You’re a killer by necessity. I kill them because I enjoy it. They deserve death. Before this is over, you may share that view.’
Rebecca looked at him uncertainly. ‘I doubt it.’
‘We’ll see. Keep moving,’ Udian instructed, proceeding down the corridor again. ‘Time is tight.’
Rebecca hurried to keep up. They reached a set of double doors which barred their way. Rebecca could see they were secured with retinal sensors and preceded by laser scanners. The doors themselves were blast-proofed. Typically the sort of strength you’d find on the outside of a space faring vessel, rather than the inside. The doors were discoloured by obvious attempts to force an entry, the marks of incendiaries and lasers. Little real damage had been suffered though.
‘You took your security seriously,’ Rebecca acknowledged. ‘No wonder they couldn’t get in.’
‘This laboratory is a facility within a facility,’ Udian replied. ‘Even if the external facility was destroyed, the laboratory is capable of functioning on its own. I ensured complete redundancy in its design.’
He moved forward. The laser scanners instantly detected his presence and flashed across his form.
‘Shulth, Udian Foraga.’
‘Identity confirmed,’ a disembodied female voice replied.
‘Additional security,’ Udian entoned. ‘Scan my companion and add their profile to the data-set. One time access to the laboratory.’
The lasers flashed across Rebecca.
‘Subject: Human Female. Age: 39 standard years. Articulate identity for vocal confirmation.’
Rebecca looked at Udian. He inclined his torso slightly.
‘Rebecca Weston,’ she said, uncertainly.
‘Voice print confirmed. Access granted.’
The doors to the laboratory slid open with a powerful whirr.
Udian looked down at Rebecca.
‘Now, this is where you come in. The bio-samples are located in a sealed genetic hazard isolation core at the far end of the lab marked ‘Gen-X’. Access is rather restricted, so your stunted stature will serve us well.’
‘Tough being a ghoul in a jar, is it?’ she shot back.
Udian ignored her. ‘The samples are contained within sealed cryogenic lockers. You’ll be able to locate them by their code labels; 0608/2309. We need sixteen of them but bring some spares just in case. You need to extract them and place them in a portable coolant chamber.’
‘Where’s the chamber?’ Rebecca said, looking into the dimly lit lab.
‘There are several,’ Udian said. ‘You’ll find them next to the lockers.’
Rebecca hoisted her weapon. ‘And what are you going to be doing?’
‘I’ll guard the entrance,’ Udian said. The intimidating chain guns emerged again as parts of his carapace folded back. He hoisted the two incendiary launchers in two of his manipulators. ‘If the Thargoids are out there, this is the only way in.’
‘You really think there are some aboard?’
‘Yes. I really think there are some aboard. Activate your shield as a precaution. Now go. I’ll inform the others.’
Rebecca did as she was told and moved swiftly into the lab. Udian stood in the entrance, weapons ready, facing back into the corridor, his infra-red vision continuing to scan for anything that moved.
The lab was huge. Rebecca could see a vast array of complex research machinery; gamma-ray microscopes, witch-space particulate confiners, high speed genetic re-sequencers. There were far more that she didn’t recognise. Clearly money was no object for Shulth Industries. Everything was lit by a dim sterile-blue glow. The walls were fitted with compartment after compartment. Some were obviously sample containers with racks of small flasks and jars, others had frosted glass, their contents obscured.
In between her and the core were a series of desks and workstations. She negotiated her way around them and arrived at set of transparent panels with a number of ‘bio-hazard’ labels. At her touch the panels slid aside with a faint hiss, allowing access down a narrow tube into the core of the lab. She crouched down and crawled through, pushing her rifle ahead of her, emerging into the core.
It was a simple curved room lined with lockers. There was only one way in or out, the way she had entered. Rebecca scanned the l
ockers, looking for the markers Udian had indicated.
She found the ‘Gen-X’ moniker half along the row and prodded the touch sensitive controls after placing her rifle on the floor nearby. The locker door folded back on itself and a cloud of cold condensation drifted out.
‘Access granted, Rebecca Weston,’ the female voice said gently from the locker cabinet.
Inside were cubed pouches of neatly stacked dark green material about ten centimetres on a side. Rebecca peered at them inquisitively for a moment.
Doesn’t look like much…
She grabbed a pair of gloves from the locker and located one of the cooling chambers, activating it. Instantly the interior was cooled and the chamber bobbed up on antigravity balancers. Rebecca carefully pulled a pouch out of the locker and placed it in the chamber, checking the numerical code label as she did so.
0608/2309. Easy enough…
She continued loading the samples. She counted twenty of them, carefully placing them in the cooling chamber.
At the entrance, Udian engaged his narrowband proximity transmitter.
‘Coyote, Derik?’
‘We’re here,’ the lizard’s voice came back. ‘All quiet. You?’
‘We’re into the lab. No interference so far. Will advise when we’re on our way back. If they’re going to strike – that will be the time.’
‘Copy that.’
Udian closed down the communication. His ocular sensors spun around one hundred and eighty degrees. He could see Rebecca had loaded the samples and was pushing the chamber back through the narrow tube from the isolation core. It was time.
Time to provision Garew’s Plan ‘B’.
‘Computer,’ he intoned. ‘Release locks on compartment fourteen.’
The female voice replied immediately. ‘Compartment fourteen contains a live specimen of species 9583. Please confirm.’
‘Confirmed,’ Udian said, emotionlessly. ‘Seal the lab doors.’
Rebecca emerged from the core and the transparent panels clicked into place behind her. Relieved at being able to stand up again, she took a moment to look around at the core behind her.
There were hundreds of different samples in there. They couldn’t have all been for Thargoid bio-weapons… I wonder what else he’s got in there… probably better not to think about it.
She turned her attention to the chamber. Despite the anti-gravity facility it was still difficult to move around; it was heavy and unwieldy. She placed her rifle on a nearby work surface and proceeded to push the chamber towards the exit.
She heard a hiss. She turned to see one of the lab’s compartments across from her start unsealing itself. It looked like some kind of suspended animation device. The stench of ammonia vapour reached her nose. Lights within the compartment flickered from the dim blue to a bright green. The door cracked open and more gas vapour flooded out, covering the floor in a heavy rolling mist.
Something inside the compartment moved. Rebecca could make out a dim shadowy shape; skeletal, tall. Not human.
‘Frak!’
She grabbed the cooling chamber and began to pull it towards the lab entrance. She looked up just in time to see the external lab doors slide together with a resounding clang.
Udian activated the wall monitor and surveyed the interior of the lab. Much of the view was obscured by the cloud of evaporating ammonia but he could see enough for his purposes. The little woman had sprinted towards the lab doors, only to find them closed. She was now retreating back towards the rear of the lab, to where she’d stupidly left her weapon.
Oh dear. It appears a Thargoid has got loose in the laboratory. How unfortunate.
Rebecca had no idea why the lab doors had suddenly closed. She hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to make a dash for the intercom at the door or retreat back for her weapon which was lying on the work-surface near the entrance to the core. After a moment she decided to head back towards her weapon.
The ammonia mist began to lift, the shadow grew in definition, darkening and solidifying. Rebecca gasped in fear as she saw a dark green oblong head emerge from the cloud. She just had time to recognise two short antennae and dimly glowing compound eyes before the creature launched itself towards her with inhuman speed.
She threw herself to one side as the creature came past, a blur of green body and outstretched limbs. She caught sight of razor sharp serrated barbs on the backside of its arms and legs as it came past, twisting in the air, a claw attempting to impale her. It missed by centimetres.
Rebecca ran.
She jumped onto the work-surface, grabbed the assault rifle, trying to bring it to bear. She’d underestimated the slippery surface of the worktop, slipped and fell heavily in a heap on the other side. She looked up to see the creature’s head appear on the other side of the worktop.
A chill ran through her as the Thargoid slowly rose up in front of her. It was almost motionless, its body slowly tensing, its first set of limbs adopting a formidable praying position as it leant across. Its head was immobile, the eyes vacant as it regarded her. The antennae were still, only the pair of mandibles twitched involuntarily. Rebecca’s eyes took in the sharp claws, barbs and sheen of the dark green chitin that composed its exoskeleton. The dim light of the lab flickered across it menacingly.
What the Thargoid saw as it looked at her she didn’t know but it paused for a brief moment. Rebecca swept the rifle around and fired.
The noise in the confined space was terrifyingly loud. Explosive gases vented from the casing as bullets flashed out of the muzzle. The recoil almost pulled the rifle out of her hands. She’d never fired such a brutal weapon before, she screamed in surprise and horror. Her aim was useless.
The Thargoid moved instinctively, quicker than Rebecca could see. The shots went wide, blasting small holes in the lab walls, showering them both in sparks. Next moment, the rifle was wrenched painfully from her hands and crushed in a vice-like grip. Then a Thargoid claw was jammed towards her face. She flinched but the blow didn’t land.
The Thargoid emitted a strange clicking sound and tried again; swinging a second and third limb towards her, in a swift and surgical slicing action. Both were stopped just short of her.
My shield…
The Thargoid was clearly bemused, unable to understand how it couldn’t reach her. It went wild with fury, raining a blizzard of blows in her direction. It achieved nothing but a reverse reaction, knocking itself back over the work-surface. Rebecca backed up quickly, running for the lab doors.
She punched the intercom.
‘Udian, help! Open the frakkin’ doors!’
There was no response. She turned to see the Thargoid recovering on the far side of the room. She looked down at her belt. She had no real idea how Zerz’ shield generator worked or how long it would last under such conditions. It stood to reason it had a limited power supply. She’d never had cause to use it for prolonged periods of time.
The Thargoid stood up and began stalking towards her.
Rebecca’s message came in. Jim scanned it briefly, before pocketing the comm-tab again. He had nothing to update her about either.
She’s saying nothing. Guess that’s all I deserve.
Jim emerged from his quarters, only to see the big lizard marching down the corridor. Jim managed to intercept him, catching his arm. The lizard ignored him and attempted to walk past down the narrow hexagonal corridor, pulling away.
‘Hey. I need to talk to you,’ Jim demanded.
The lizard kept walking. ‘I’m busy.’
Jim turned and followed him, narrowly avoiding braining himself on an exposed power conduit. ‘I checked out what you said, I get it now. I need to ask you something.’
Rus glared at him. ‘No you don’t. You’re the prof, you know everything.’
Jim held up his hands. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend.’
‘Not very open to new data are you? Aren’t you scientists supposed to be all objective, without colouring your conclusio
ns with presuppositions based on a faulty premise?’
Jim blinked in surprise at the lizard’s sudden loquaciousness.
Rus growled. ‘Humans. All the same, you think because you were first with the opposable thumbs that makes you the masters of the universe.’
Jim took a breath. ‘The Thargoids are only attacking Galcop registered vessels, aren’t they?’
‘Top of the class. Almost exclusively crewed by you simians.’
‘Why?’
‘Why?’ Rus cackled. ‘You figure it out, prof!’
‘They perceive humans as a threat? They object to human political structures? They don’t like mammals? Could be anything. They’ve been attacking us for centuries.’
‘You buddy,’ Rus said. ‘Not us. Thargoids have no beef with the rest of the galaxy. Now what would make humans the only species to be singled out for that special honour? Tell me that.’
Jim frowned. ‘You’re implying humanity is to blame for this?’
Rus rolled his eyes. ‘Wow, you’re pretty quick for a monkey.’
‘But they’re the aggressors!’
Rus regarded him for a moment. ‘You sure? Humans are pretty good at picking fights with people in my experience.’
‘All the historical information going back centuries indicates…’
‘Which is written by whom?’ Rus interrupted.
Jim stopped short. ‘Well. The Galactic Co-operative principally but it’s been edited by thousands of different individuals…’
‘And you trust Galcop do you? Never been stitched up by them? Never been twisted around and bent out of shape? Government bond holder perhaps? Hmmm?’
Jim stopped, Rebecca’s image coming into his head. The Q-Bomb, Raxxla…
Rus grinned. ‘Just seen beyond the end of your useless little snub nose, eh?’
‘Let’s just say you’ve got my attention.’
‘Listen human. What you think you know about history was written by humans for humans. If you want to find out what really happened you need to go to someone else.’
‘What did happen?’
‘Don’t look at me, I’m no histo-buff. I’m in this for the money. I don’t care one way or the other as long as I’m kept in slugs and evil-juice.’