Incursio (Oolite Saga Part 3)

by Drew Wagar

  ‘Then…’

  ‘You need to get some independent data my friend. Something written by those who don’t need to maintain the Status Quo.’

  ‘You sound like you know the very place.’

  ‘Ever heard of the Ordimean library?’

  Jim shook his head.

  ‘Hardly any humans have. Not on your official reading list so to speak. Gasazck will tell you, it’s his planet. You’ll find some alternative histories there. Behave yourself and you might get an audience with the great bird himself. He’ll set you straight…’

  Udian watched the events unfold with amused detachment. The woman was singularly stupid. She’d missed the obvious solution and was now on the wrong side of the lab. The portable shield generator was confounding the Thargoid for the time being but clearly it couldn’t do so for ever. Having lost her weapon the woman had simply panicked and run for the doors, hoping for rescue. Useless. He’d have to intervene to ensure the desired outcome.

  He flicked on the intercom.

  ‘Rebecca!’

  He saw her face turn in surprise and relief on the monitor.

  ‘Udian! Open the damn doors!’

  ‘I can’t,’ he lied calmly. ‘They’re jammed. The Thargoids have injected some kind of modular virus. I’m working on it. Just kill it.’

  ‘How?’ she yelled back, her face etched with fear. Udian could see the Thargoid advancing towards her again.

  ‘The packs, woman! Use one of the bio weapons…’

  Rebecca whirled. The Thargoid was between her and the anti-grav chamber.

  Frak! Stupid girl! Why didn’t I think of that?

  The Thargoid came on, marching on its hind legs, more circumspect now. It cautiously approached her, still making its horrendous clicking noise. She backed away towards the side, hoping to circle around it. The Thargoid clearly sensed she was trying to out manoeuvre it and moved to cut her off.

  That’s not going to work.

  Rebecca looked around her, her eyes casting around for anything she could use as a weapon. There was nothing but the simple tools and utensils on the work surfaces. Styluses, pads, note takers. She grabbed them all and began hurling them at the Thargoid. They bounced off its hard exterior and it swatted them aside. It shook its head and advanced on her.

  ‘Come on you stinking insect! Come get me!’ she yelled, grabbing more equipment and throwing it at the enraged creature.

  The Thargoid charged at her, its limbs swinging, outstretched. Again, Rebecca underestimated the speed it could move at and was knocked to the floor as it cannoned into her, bouncing off her shield and being thrown again the far wall.

  She got to her knees and scuttled away as fast as she could. The Thargoid sprang after her. Rebecca abruptly dived under one of the work surfaces, a space too small for the Thargoid to follow her. Confounded, it retreated and proceeded to climb over to attack her from the other side. It was unable to get to her and paced around the outside, scratching at the surface impotently. It was trying to work out how to get in at her, forcing its claws into the confined space, ripping and bashing with fearsome strength. It was only a matter of time before it managed to get hold of her.

  In that brief moment of respite Rebecca noticed an orange glow around her. Looking around she could see it emanated from her belt. The small shield generator device had illuminated a small indicator light marked ‘Power’.

  Oh no…

  She looked around her, hunting for anything she could use as a weapon. There was nothing to hand. She was going to have to get to the chamber somehow.

  A Thargoid limb punched through the side of the work surface, catching in the panel gap. Rebecca saw the creature had got itself stuck as a result. She rolled out of the other side. The Thargoid looked up and tried to yank its limb back out, crashing and banging against the metallic panel in fury.

  Rebecca backed up quickly, managing to get to the chamber. She flipped it open and grabbed one of the bio-packs from inside. It was freezing cold, feeling slightly squishy in her hand.

  Next moment she found herself flying through the air. The Thargoid had arrived behind her, anchored itself again the wall and dealt her a fierce backhanded swipe. Braced, the Thargoid hadn’t received the impact. Rebecca’s shield prevented the blow from harming her but transferred the momentum to her, throwing her across the room.

  She landed on her back, the bio-pack still clutched in her hand.

  The Thargoid stomped towards her, before she could move out of the way its hind leg came down on her. For a moment her shield held and then it dissipated. The Thargoids foot came down on her chest, knocking the breath out of her and pinning her to the floor. Its claws dug through her blouse, shredding the thin material before cutting into her skin. She cried out in pain.

  The Thargoid bent closer, its mandibles quivering with anticipation and glee, pulling back a fore limb for a slicing strike across her neck. Rebecca tried to draw breath. She brought her own arm up, bashing the bio-pack against the Thargoid’s leg.

  The bio-pack stayed firm, unbroken. The Thargoid paused, emitting a strange sound, a mixture of clicks and groans. Its antennae vibrated rapidly, almost as if it was communicating with something.

  Rebecca hit it again, still the bio-pack refused to break. The Thargoid shifted position, dramatically increasing the pressure on her. She cried out involuntarily, feeling one rib crack and then another. She almost dropped the bio-pack as a burning pain suffused her chest.

  ‘RAAGAAZZZAA…’ the Thargoid hissed, in apparent surprise.

  The Thargoid suddenly backed off, releasing the pressure on her. Rebecca immediately brought her hand up again with the last of her strength, raking the bio-pack against the grain of the serrated edge of the Thargoid’s leg. The bio-pack popped, splashing the leg with chilling green goo. Some of it splashed across her hand. It was ice-cold to the touch.

  Harsh acrid smoke instantly began billowing from the Thargoid’s leg. The Thargoid howled and stepped back allowing Rebecca to breathe again.

  She rolled aside, looking back as the Thargoid collapsed, its leg already vaporised. The goo was rapidly disintegrating its body. It thrashed around in agony as it was eaten alive, emitting a horrid high pitched keening wail. Rebecca caught its stare as it looked at her in apoplexy. She quickly looked at the splash of goo on her hand. As she watched it bubbled, seeped into her skin and disappeared.

  It’s gone!

  ‘RAAGAAZZZAAAA!’ The Thargoid screeched, writhing in agony, interrupting her thoughts.

  Abruptly it shifted again, aiming a blow at her face. Rebecca flinched to one side and then screamed as fresh pain burnt into her. The Thargoid’s front claw had impaled her, just below her right collar-bone, pinning her to the wall behind her.

  She desperately tried to pull away as the goo made short work of the rest of the creature. Bracing herself, she yanked the claw out of her shoulder with a sharp cry and managed to kick the remnants away in horror.

  Within seconds it dissolved into vapour, leaving nothing but an acrid stench.

  Rebecca collapsed on her side, gasping for breath, her heart hammering. Pain was burning through her chest where the Thargoid had stood on her, blood flowing from the wound in her shoulder. She tried to get to her feet but tears came to her eyes as the shock, fear and pain overwhelmed her. Her sobs were short lived; a green mist obscured her vision and she passed out, lying prone on the floor.

  Chapter 7

  The doors to the lab rolled back immediately and Udian strode purposefully into the room, surveying the damage to the lab. He ignored the unconscious woman on the floor and examined the anti-grav chamber. Nineteen of the bio-packs remained. That would be sufficient. He sealed the chamber and secured it behind him, only then turning his attention to Rebecca.

  A quick scan with his inbuilt medical sensors indicated the woman had not suffered excessive injury. It also showed him a number of other positive readings from her bio-scan.

  Excellent. Just as Garew requ
ested…

  With another manipulator he hoisted Rebecca’s body aboard his carapace and proceeded out of the lab, activating his narrow-band transmitter.

  ‘Derik?’

  ‘Here. What’s taking so long?’ the lizard’s voice snapped back

  ‘Complications. There was a Thargoid in the lab. Rebecca’s down. We’re on our way back.’

  ‘Frak! We’re coming down…’

  ‘No. Stay where you are. They’ll want to cut us off from the ships. I’m moving now. Be prepared.’

  Coyote and Derik exchanged a grim look. Both of them adopted a ready stance, standing tensely in the hangar bay, weapons drawn, both continuing to scan the various doors, portals, hatchways and access grilles that opened into the bay.

  ‘See anything?’ Derik said, under his breath.

  ‘Nothing…’ Coyote replied, equally quietly.

  ‘You will tell me if you do see something?’ Derik fired back.

  ‘You’ll be the first to know, mi amiga,’ Coyote returned.

  Both of them heard the sounds of weapons fire at the same time. It was coming from the main airlock that led inside the Catechism, the direction from which they expected Rebecca and Udian to arrive.

  Udian had almost made it to the main airlock when he caught sight of infra-red heat signatures in the dim corridor ahead of him. He could distinguish several creatures, they were unmistakably Thargoids. He could hear their excited chittering as they detected his approach.

  His external sensors detected the faint electromagnetic signature of scanning beams.

  One of the Thargoids stepped forward, a limb outstretched. A short yelp of fear and surprise from behind him told him that Rebecca had regained consciousness.

  ‘Can you function?’ he inquired, lowering her to the floor.

  She managed to stay on her feet, steadying herself against the wall with her good arm, gasping for breath and trying cradling her chest with the other. Her right arm felt as if it was on fire, the pain was intense.

  ‘Not sure…’ she managed, weakly.

  ‘OOODDDEEEAANN SHHHUUULTH, NO KIILLLL EYE… ’ the Thargoid’s voice was deep, yet coarse, rough and haunting. ‘SHEEE ISSS RAAGAAAZZZAAA…’

  Rebecca looked up in astonishment, squinting into the gloom at the Thargoid.

  ‘What…?’ she rasped, stepping out from behind him.

  ‘Stay behind me!’ Udian roared.

  They really do want her! Why?

  ‘No wait…!’ Rebecca called.

  The Thargoid took another step forward on seeing her. ‘RAAGAAAZZAA…’

  Udian didn’t hesitate. The chain guns atop his carapace burst forth upon his mental command, shredding his interlocutor into oblivion. Thargoid warriors sprinted towards him and were cut down mercilessly, their bodies obliterated in the hail of bullets, their strangled screams drowned out by the fierce droning roar of the chain guns. The flicker of the muzzle-flashes lit up the corridor like a strobe light; a tangled mass of limbs, bodies and heads in a moving maelstrom of flash frozen frames and terrifying noise.

  Warning! Ammunition 25% depleted.

  Udian advanced, the Thargoids continuing their suicidal attack. One got close enough to take a swipe at him, a claw scratching his carapace. Rebecca desperately huddled behind his massive body, trying to wrap her good arm around her head to shield her ears from the overwhelming hammering violence. Spent shells showered around her like hot heavy rain.

  Warning! Ammunition 50% depleted.

  More Thargoids crowded the corridor ahead, trampling forward over the broken bodies of their companions, desperate to bring down the mechanical horror that advanced upon them. Once again they were cut down, ripped into pieces by the devastating firepower that poured down mercilessly on them.

  Warning! Ammunition 75% depleted.

  Udian stepped through the mangled remains of the first Thargoid warriors, the chain guns continuing to blaze away in the darkness. Uncounted Thargoids fell but still more continued to replace them, swarming in from either side. They were trying to block his route to the airlock by sheer force of numbers.

  Warning! Ammunition depleted!

  The roar of the chain guns ended abruptly. The spinning muzzles slowing and clicking to a halt. Udian hoisted the incendiary launchers in his forward manipulators as the Thargoids resumed their charge.

  Udian triggered the launchers without a pause. Twin charges shot forth, exploding a scarce twenty metres in front of him. Rebecca howled in pain as the deafening explosion blasted back down the corridor and blew her off her feet to lie stunned on the floor. Smoke billowed past. She heard ringing of tinnitus in her ears before she passed out again.

  The corridor was abruptly quiet. Udian waited as the clouds of heat slowly dissipated and his infra-red sensors became useful again. The route to the airlock door was clear. He stepped forward through the desiccated wreckage of the insectoid bodies…

  Wait…

  Bodies moved ahead of him.

  Still more?

  His receptors noticed a handful of heat signatures, rapidly joined by more. He switched back to his natural light sensors. The remaining Thargoids grouped together and regarded him for a moment before slowly advancing towards him through the smoke, the only sound the clicking of their mandibles in unison. There were still dozens of them between him and the airlock into the hangar. Slowly they raised their front limbs in anticipation of the coming kill.

  Udian clicked on the narrow-band comms.

  ‘Gentlemen, I regret to inform you I may have underestimated the numerical superiority of my opponents. I suggest you evacuate while you still can.’

  The Thargoids leapt.

  It had taken Jim half an hour to persuade the strange bird-like creature to even speak to him. Apparently the bird been most offended by Jim’s less than enthusiastic reaction to his soup. Jim hadn’t realised that Gasazck was the cook aboard the Dubious Profit. He’d eventually managed to corral D’Vlin into helping him. The necessary formal apology had taken another half an hour; a ridiculous series of bows, turns and gestures guided by an insect who didn’t have the faintest appreciation of the nuances of human speech for the benefit of a bird who didn’t appear to speak the language at all.

  Jim had eventually managed to convey that he was interested in the Ordimean library, whereupon Gasazck became much more animated and friendly.

  ‘You want to go Ordima?’ Hesperus growled. ‘It’s not really on our itinerary. A long way off in point of fact. We’d have to re-plot our course, take on extra fuel, not to mention the dangerous systems we’d have to traverse.’

  Jim nodded patiently. Ordima was virtually on the same route to Ermaso. In fact, only the final jump from the original course was required. Clearly the unscrupulous feline was hedging for more cash. Jim really didn’t care.

  ‘I appreciate the difficulty,’ Jim said, playing along. ‘Quite unreasonable of me. Nevertheless…’

  The grey haired feline regarded him with a huff. ‘Another five thousand credits.’

  ‘I can offer you two.’

  ‘Four.’

  ‘Three’.

  ‘Done. Why do you want to go there anyway? It’s a bit of dump. Low tech level and more of…’ Hesperus began whispering under his breath and nodded towards Gasazck. ‘…his type. Utterly bonkers, the lot of them. Mark my words.’

  ‘I need to check something out,’ Jim acknowledged.

  I hope I’m not being led up a fake witch-space tunnel though!

  ‘Screw you Udian! We’re coming!’ Derik snapped back into the intercom, there was nothing but static by return. Coyote and he raced across the bay to the airlock door.

  ‘On three…’ Coyote said as Derik readied his weapon.

  ‘Just open the damn door!’ Derik snapped. Coyote hit the opening circuit and the airlock door slid back with a high-speed whoosh.

  For a moment both of the combateers stared in dismay. Immediately in front of them was a phalanx of huge insectoid warriors…
r />   …with their backs turned!

  ‘Surprise!’ Derik yelled, before letting loose indiscriminately with his twin-bore rifle. The rearmost Thargoids turned just as they were cut down. He fired again, killing a couple of Thargoids and wounding others. The exploding shells were particularly effective, shredding the Thargoids instantly and splashing their innards up and into the corridor behind.

  Coyote had stepped back as the door snapped back, taking a moment to assess the situation before choosing his target. At least thirty of the creatures, stalking into the corridor, backs turned.

  Aim for the thorax, not the head…

  He fired, scoring precision hits, reloading and moving to the next target in a formulaic methodical manner. Each shot brought down a Thargoid.

  The Thargoids turned, the unexpected assault catching them off-guard. But the element of surprise didn’t last long. The Thargoids flooded back into the bay in an angry swarm.

  Coyote backed up quickly, continuing to fire, still bringing down a Thargoid with every shot but there always seemed to be another to take its place. One got close enough to swipe at him with an outstretched claw. He parried the blow with his shotgun, impressed and dismayed at the creature’s strength. He managed to push the Thargoid aside and shot it before the next one came at him. A vicious looking limb swung at him. He dodged but pain in his side told him he hadn’t gotten away with the move completely.

  Reload…

  Derik had surrounded himself with the twitching corpses of tens of the warriors but had already run out of ammunition. He turned to using his twin-bore rifle as a cudgel, his draconoid strength overpowering the Thargoids. He was alternatively braining and decapitating them as they came at him with huge powerful sweeps of his arms but suffering cuts and slashes from their outstretched claws and barbs. He too was forced to back up as the Thargoids pushed on against them.

  More shots rang out. More Thargoids fell.