Deep Space Intelligence : Complete Series

by Gary Weston

  Through the vent he crawled, and he came to the safety mesh that prevented the pollinating insects escaping. This was easier to part and he did that. He looked around him, saw nothing. To one side he could see the trees. He would find food there and he could rest before killing the visitors. He climbed out, pulling the mesh back in place. He hurried in the shadows to the shelter of the trees.

  Chapter 35

  Vorlin Cole had never seen anything like it. Before him a complete city. Buildings made of the grey rock spread out on one side of the river, fields and trees covered the rest. Ahead was the “sun” that lit up the city, providing light and heat, and letting the crops grow.

  He could see the monsters, the first he had seen. They were dark blue and much larger than people. He watched the creatures as they toiled in the fields below. He would find a place to hide where he could fire the rifle, killing as many as he could.

  Vorlin started down the path, the noise of the waterfall making it impossible to hear anything. He did not hear the three Korvalians, the family of Regnad HoL’tor, out searching for the wayward child. As he rounded a bend, they were there, huge and blue with claws on their hands. Vorlin froze to the spot at the nightmare in front of him. Then he remembered the rifle in his hands. He shook violently as he tried to aim at one of the creatures, and he fired the weapon. Such was his shaking, his shot hardly grazed one of them.

  A voice yelled behind him. ‘Vorlin.’

  The boy turned to see four men standing behind him, armed with lasers, but he was in their way of taking a clean shot.

  ‘Hit the floor, kid,’ yelled Charlie Norton, trying to make himself heard above the noise of the waterfall.

  Before Vorlin could react, the nearest monster grabbed him, the vicious claws at his neck.

  Chapter 36

  Regnad needed to rest. More importantly, he needed to eat. His eyes adjusted to the low night lighting. He wasn’t thinking straight. His mother always told him, when he was hungry, half his brain seemed to shut down. He knew that wasn’t actually true, but he did find concentrating difficult and he needed a clear mind to do what he had to do. He was surrounded by fruit trees, none he recognised. These were fruits brought by the visitors from some other world. He picked an apple from a tree, sniffed it, licked it, then put the whole thing in his mouth. It was the strangest thing he’d ever tasted in his life.

  He wasn’t sure if he liked the taste or not. He found a peach tree. He was too clumsy picking it and it crushed between his fingers. He threw the pulp away, sniffed and licked the juice off his fingers. This was better. Not great, but better. He picked more of these, carefully this time, finding the large stone inside and spitting it out. He moved amongst the trees and came to a banana tree. He pulled down a whole bunch of these. More sniffing and licking. Still attached to the bunch, Regnad bit into them, skin and all. This was more like it. He ate the whole bunch before moving on.

  The lemon tree was next. With his thumbs he broke it open. A sniff and a lick. Not so good. He discovered orange trees and found those good. The best so far. Squeezing one, the juice ran through his fingers. That tasted good. He picked and squeezed more of these into his mouth, drinking the juice down. Finally, he was full. He would find a place to sit and think how to kill the visitors.

  Chapter 37

  It was a stand off. Vorlin Cole was being held by a large Korvalian, the claw ready to slash his throat. The men knew that even if they got in a decent shot, the creatures were hard to kill and the boy would die. The three Korvalians spoke to each other, and even to the Humans, it was a difference of opinion as to what to do next. The one with Vorlin stepped aside, still holding the boy. Another Korvalian stepped forward and Charlie Norton raised his rifle to fire.

  Raven pushed the barrel of the gun away. ‘You’re determined to get us all killed, aren’t you, Norton.’

  The Korvalian was well aware what the weapon could do. He also realised that holding the young one was the reason for not being shot. They could use that advantage. He pointed to the rifle and then the ground.

  ‘Like I’m going to do that,’ growled Norton.

  ‘That’s exactly what you’re going to do,’ said Raven, placing his own gun on the ground.

  Norton gasped in disbelief. ‘Are you crazy?’

  ‘Maybe. But if there’s any way we’re getting out alive, this is it.’

  Miller and Hanson knew that to be true and lay down their weapons.

  Norton roared, ‘Is that it? We hand ourselves over on a plate?’

  Miller said, ‘If you don’t put the damn gun down, Norton, I’ll kill you myself.’

  The look in Miller’s eyes told Norton he was serious. The Korvalian growled something, pointed at the gun, then the ground, then the boy. Norton put the gun down on the ground. The Korvalian picked up the four rifles. The men waited for death. It didn’t come. The Korvalian with the gun snarled at the one with the boy who snarled back. More heated discussion followed, then Vorlin was let free. He ran to Raven.

  Norton said, ‘Well done, kid. You just got us all killed.’

  Hanson said, ‘So why haven’t they killed us, Norton. There’s nothing stopping them, that’s for sure.’

  The one with the rifles went up to Norton and sniffed him. He didn’t like him much, especially when Norton urinated in fear. He growled and went behind the small creatures and pushed them, and then they all started down the path that led to the city.

  Chapter 38

  John Nightly was off to his office early that morning. Normally he enjoyed the walk down the central path from his rooms, forgoing the monorail, enjoying the scents from the jungle, admiring the flowering trees, even stopping to sample a piece of fruit. He had too much on his mind for that and was eager to find out if there was news of Raven and the team, even though he was sure he’d have been called in if there was news.

  Few people were about that morning, and those that were, scarcely acknowledged each other, such was the depressing mood. He was halfway to the offices when he heard a scream behind him that stopped him in his tracks. He turned and almost screamed himself. About twenty yards away was the woman who had screamed. Twenty more yards and there was the monster who caused the woman to scream.

  The woman stepped backwards away from the creature, screaming loud enough to get people heading her way. Some ran as soon as they saw the huge blue beast, as it lumbered towards the lone woman. The warning sirens soon drowned out the screams, but the woman lost her balance and fell backwards onto the path.

  Nightly hurried to the woman, helping her to her feet as the monster walked slowly towards them, roaring, its arms flailing the air, the wicked claws showing clearly. The woman had hurt her back and couldn’t run, her arm draped about Nightly’s shoulders. He was neither a big nor strong man, and he could tell the woman was too large for him to gather up in his arms and carry. A lesser man may have run away, trying to save himself from something that looked as if it had escaped from Satan’s nightmare.

  Two men came armed with simple gardening tools on long handles, and they bravely poked at the monster who swiped the implements away with its arms. But it gave Nightly enough time to help the woman put a few more yards between her and the beast.

  As the woman limped away with the help of her rescuer, the big blue creature reared up and roared louder than even the sirens set off by an onlooker. The men with poles decided it was time to get away while they could, dropped the tools and between them they grabbed the woman, one her legs and the other under her arms and they did their best to hurry her away. Nightly saw his chance to get to safety, but the monster charged at him, and the claws caught his arm, gashing it open, then the massive hands grabbed Nightly and the beast toppled on top of him. Unable to move, Nightly closed his eyes and knew it was all over.

  Chapter 39

  At the bottom of the path leading to the city, others saw the strange sight and surrounded them. For many it was their first close up view of the visitors. An infant, no taller than
four feet, broke away from his mother and ran at the Humans, stopping just a yard away, pawing the air harmlessly with his undeveloped claws. His mother grabbed her child, snarled something unfriendly at the Humans, then hurried away.

  Norton said, ‘Still fancy our chances of getting out of this alive, Raven? We could at least have taken a few with us if we still had our guns.’

  Raven didn’t respond. He was looking at the crowd around them and the city itself. He couldn’t help thinking Humans weren’t so different from these large blue beings that looked as if they’d been covered in glue and small feathers stuck over every inch of their bodies. As he thought that, it didn’t bring him much comfort or hope. If Humans had captured a couple of these beings, their life expectancy would undoubtedly be severely cut short. He hated to admit it, but he had a sneaky feeling that Norton was right. Maybe they should have risked shooting the one who had held the boy, then blasted the crap out of all of them. Suddenly, they stopped. The crowd parted and one lone figure approached them.

  Principal Reskun LaH’vot said, ‘What has happened here?’

  Tycter HoL’tor answered. ‘We were searching for my nephew, Regnad. We searched the city, then we tried the tunnels. These visitors came with weapons to kill us.’

  ‘Five of them? Against all of us?’ said LaH’vot. ‘A little over confident of them to say the least. And where is Regnad?’

  Tycter said, ‘I think the visitors killed him with their weapons.’

  ‘You saw a body?’

  The one with the guns said, ‘They did not come with flowers, Principal LaH’vot. They have killed our people before with weapons like these. Our Migoka. Regnad had vowed to take revenge for her.’

  ‘Then he was foolish to do so. As you say. Perhaps he is dead somewhere. We will try to find him. Take these to the council chambers and secure them. Guard them well. We’ll decide their fate later. All you others. Return to your work. Food does not gather itself.’

  Chapter 40

  ‘Just get the damn thing off me. I can hardly breathe under here.’

  Vickers gently prodded the creature that had collapsed on top of Nightly with his foot. The monster stirred slightly, groaned and vomited all over Nightly’s back.

  ‘This thing is sick,’ said Vickers.

  ‘No shit,’ said Nightly, feeling something warm and sticky soak through to his skin. ‘Move it in case it has diarrhoea as well.’

  ‘Ok. Keep your shirt on. Well, perhaps not all day. Right. You. You, you and you. Grab…something and roll this thing off Nightly. Oh, don’t just stand there like a bunch of clowns. I need help with this. Ok. On the count of three. One, two, and pull.’

  They rolled it off Nightly and Base doctor, Jack Hammerwick helped the man to his feet.

  ‘We need to get that arm dealt with,’ said Hammerwick.

  ‘Yeah. It isn’t too deep,’ said Nightly. ‘Jeez. Is that thing dying?’

  ‘If it is, I’m not offering to give it the kiss of life,’ said Hammerwick. ‘This is where some bright spark suggests taking it to the sick bay. Don’t even think about it.’

  Vickers glared at the doctor. ‘You lot. Get it over to the sick bay.’

  ‘Oh, thanks a bunch,’ moaned Hammerwick. ‘And I do what with it, exactly?’

  Vickers snapped, ‘Read it bloody nursery rhymes for all I care. You got stuff. Keep it sedated.’

  Nightly said, ‘Why don’t we just shoot the thing and put it out of its misery?’

  ‘All our guns are down there, remember,’ said Vickers, pointing at the ground. ‘Ok. We have some chains somewhere, don’t we?’

  ‘In the engineering stores,’ said a man. ‘Yeah, I know. Go get the chains.’

  ‘Right,’ said Vickers. ‘Get this thing secured with chains. Get it to the recovery ward. Doc. Take care of Nightly. Then you keep an eye on this thing and inform me of any changes in its condition.’

  ‘This is ridiculous,’ said Hammerwick. ‘It belongs in a zoo, not a hospital.’

  Vickers had heard enough. ‘Fine. As soon as we have a zoo, this will be the first exhibit,’ he said as he stormed off.

  Chapter 41

  ‘So. How’s your day been so far?’ said Ralph Miller with a grin.

  Raven said, ‘I woke up and it was all downhill after that. I don’t like the way that one keeps staring at me.’

  ‘Maybe you have an admirer,’ said Hanson, trying to loosen the ropes. ‘Are you ok, kid?’

  ‘My name’s Vorlin,’ said Vorlin. ‘I’m not a kid. I’m sixteen.’

  Miller laughed. ‘Yeah, in another year or so. I dropped in on your last birthday, remember? Look, Vorlin. Your father and I were great pals. Since before you were born. I feel the same as you do about him being killed. But that wasn’t too bright coming down here on your own.’

  ‘Nobody was going to do anything,’ said Vorlin. ‘I didn’t want you to follow me.’

  Norton said, ‘I’m beginning to wish I never did, you idiot.’

  ‘Cut it out, Norton,’ snapped Raven. ‘We’ll get out of this.’

  Norton laughed. ‘Your name Houdini now, is it?’

  ‘You know something, Norton?’ said Raven. ‘I’ll get out of this if only to remove a few of your teeth. Do not piss me off more than you already have.’

  Miller said, ‘And when you finish with him, I’ll start. What do you suppose is going on with these critters?’

  Hanson said, ‘Bet you there’s some bureaucrats having a meeting about us.’

  ‘Yeah?’ said Miller. ‘Damn. We’ll be here for a year then.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Vorlin.

  ‘Don’t be,’ said Raven. ‘This situation had to blow up eventually. I’m amazed we haven’t been throwing rocks at each other before now.’

  ‘Oh, oh,’ said Miller. ‘Looks like the bureaucrats have made a decision.’

  Six Korvalians marched in. Principal Reskun LaH’vot spoke. ‘Get them to their feet.’ The Humans were pulled roughly to their feet, and dragged outside. ‘Now untie them.’

  Miller flinched back as the huge creature approached him, the clawed hands reaching out to him. He remembered to breathe when the fingers, surprisingly nimble, undid the knots. Each in turn they were unbound.

  Council Member Ginkolo ChuN’res clearly did not approve. ‘This is your doing, LaH’vot. We should just kill them.’

  ‘You stated your case, Ginkolo. You didn’t have the numbers.’ LaH’vot went to one of the larger Humans. ‘We do not speak the same way, but I shall try to make you understand. You are not to die. Not today, at least. You are free to go. But first, you must see something. Follow me.’

  The Humans had no idea what was said, but thought they found a shred of hope in the strange words. Raven rubbed his arms where the ropes had bit into his skin. The “follow me” gesture was easily understood. So, follow LaH’vot they did.

  Chapter 42

  ‘If you want to take it home with you, be my guest,’ said Doctor Hammerwick. ‘Revolting creature.’

  Joy Dainty wondered if her mothering instincts were coming to the surface. For some incomprehensible reason, the sight of the creature in chains made her sad. Try as she might, she could not equate this creature with the one that had killed Cole so brutally.

  ‘This is just a child,’ she said. ‘The ones we saw below were much larger.’

  Hammerwick found that hard to believe. ‘This thing must weigh a good three hundred pounds. It took six big men to get it here.’

  Joy said, ‘Doctor Hammerwick. This is not an animal. His kind built a city underground. They knew about helium three power thousands of years before we did.’

  ‘Fascinating. But you called it he. You can tell?’

  ‘Gut feeling,’ said Joy. ‘He’s coming round.’

  Hammerwick stepped back towards the door. ‘Maybe time to get out of here.’

  ‘Oh, Doctor. The poor thing can hardly move. Bring him some water.’

  ‘What?’

  Joy shook
her head and sighed. ‘I’ll do it. You…go and cure something.’

  ‘If you take my advice, you’ll stay well clear of it…him.’

  Joy said, ‘For a doctor, you have little compassion.’

  ‘I reserve it for Human patients. Just you be careful.’ With a shudder, Hammerwick walked out.

  Joy got a beaker of water and knelt down by the creature’s side. It was hard to offer a drink to something with no discernible face. Roughly where a head should be, was a large lump. The feather-like skin covered every inch of him. Joy took a closer look. The head started to make sense. The very dark blue may have covered all of him, but in narrow bands she could make out four even darker features.

  ‘You aren’t Human, but a guy your size has to eat, right? You have to see, ok?’

  In the top two bands, almost black, something was shining back at her.

  ‘Eyes. I see two eyes. Let’s take a guess. This middle one is your nose? Or mouth, possibly. I have water. Shall we give this a go? Work with me, ok?’

  She moved the water closer to the face. The “head” moved slightly, the centre black band parted and Joy offered the water to the “boy”. The water was drunk and Joy got more. Regnad drank that, too. The black bands above his mouth widened, and Joy saw a depth to them she had seldom seen in Human eyes. They were certainly studying her. Regnad raised his arms, rattled the chains.

  ‘Hey. We just got acquainted. For all I know, my man has been killed by your kind. I don’t know why, maybe wishful thinking, but I think he’s ok. Dunno. Jeez. What do we do with you?’

  Regnad watched this strange creature. It hadn’t hurt him. It had given him water. It reminded him of his mother. Perhaps it was a female. He thought so. He hoped so. He did not want to hurt her.