Moon Dust (Alien Disaster Trilogy, Book 2)

by Rob May

  The dark shape on the screen was suddenly lit up by a powerful searchlight. The Apache was close enough now so that one red eye almost filled the screen. Kat saw the pupil, a large dark disc, contract to an evil slit as the light hit it. But it was only when the eyelid slid down into view that she gasped: the flesh of the thanamorph prime was a living, twisting mass of individual smaller thanamorphs: sharks and squids, elephants and alligators; all wrapped up in each other and melted together as if they were lathered in sauce and cooking in a pot.

  Two Hellfire missiles streaked towards the monster’s head. The Thanamorph Prime shut its eye and the screen turned red and yellow with flames.

  ‘Oh my god,’ the voice of the pilot came over the speaker system. ‘It didn’t make a scratch. Now it’s turned towards us … oh shi—argh!’

  Now the screen was filled with the immense fist of the Thanamorph Prime. Talons as long as cars swatted the Apache out of the sky, and after a moment of chaotic disorientation, the screen went black.

  Stormkopf swore, and looked to the President. ‘Are we staying and fighting, or leaving this planet?’ she asked her Commander in Chief.

  The President turned to Brandon. ‘The superluminal drive?’ he urged gently.

  ‘Let him have it, Bran,’ Gem said. ‘This is our last chance to save humanity, to get out of here and start somewhere new.’

  ‘Humanity’s doomed,’ Saoirse countered, ‘whether they come with us or not. We should just get to Discord and leave right now!’

  Brandon seemed frozen in place, wracked with indecision or some other dilemma. Kat looked at the map at her feet; the Prime was approaching the Bronx via the Long Island Sound. She ran to the north windows—if it wasn’t for the damn dust, she was sure she’d be able to see it.

  Jason came to look too. ‘I’m with the general: fight or flight, not just stand around like a lemon! Can’t you hurry your boyfriend up a bit?’

  I wish! she thought. Then she had a sudden thought. She ran back to the others. ‘Can’t we decide about the superluminal drive later? Let’s get to the Majestic and blast off from Earth for a start! We can just drop into orbit and then decide what to do next!’

  The President gave her a nod as if to say good call. But he turned to the scientists among the Twelve for validation.

  ‘LOX and NTO supplies limit the number of manoeuvres we can make,’ a young woman in a white coat and black specs said. ‘And finite provisions mean that without a destination the clock is ticking on our survival the minute we leave Earth.’

  ‘But we can do it?’ the President pressed. ‘Are we ready to go?’

  The scientists nodded and murmured affirmatives. Even as they gave their accent, the room trembled as the ground shook outside. Kat heard some distant thunderous rumbles that could only be buildings toppling. It was coming! She ran to the elevator. Gem and Jason made to follow.

  ‘Where are you all going?’ the President asked.

  ‘We’ve got to get to the Majestic, right?’ Kat said. ‘Get everyone on board.’

  Despite the situation, the President smiled his easy, charming smile. ‘Everyone is on board already.’

  The cinema screen turned into a systems readout and countdown. ‘Initialising launch sequence,’ Morse announced from the control console.

  Kat was confused? ‘Everyone is on board? Wait—you mean the top of the Chrysler Building is the Majestic?’

  ‘Not quite,’ the President said.

  By Kat’s side, Gem gave a sudden abrupt laugh. ‘It’s not just the top that’s the spaceship … the entire Chrysler Building is one enormous rocket!’

  ‘T-Minus nine minutes and counting,’ Morse announced from the control console.

  Stormkopf was yelling orders into her radio. The rest of the Twelve fell to whatever tasks and functions they specialised in, most of them tapping away on iPads or similar. While everyone else had jumped into either action or panic stations, only Brandon remained calm. He had drifted over to the north window and was looking out across the dark, dusty city. Kat went to his side. What was he thinking about?

  ‘Nine minutes, huh?’ she said to him. ‘I hope we can get clear in time!’

  ‘I can kill it, Kat.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I can kill it,’ Brandon said. ‘The Thanamorph Prime … I think …’

  ‘How?’ Kat said. ‘Surely it’s bionoid-proof, like all the other ones.’

  Brandon suddenly sprung into life. ‘I know a way!’ he said. ‘I just worked it out! I can kill it … but I’ve got to get close to it, and I’ve got to be quick! I’ll explain later!’ He ran to the elevator.

  Kat caught up with him at the elevator doors. ‘I’ll come with you!’ she said, holding the doors open.

  Brandon tried to push her away. ‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s far too dangerous. I’ll get Tank and Lucky to fly me in Discord—at least it’s their job to risk their lives.’ He flipped something towards her. ‘Here, keep this safe … just in case!’

  Kat instinctively clapped her hands together to catch whatever it was he had thrown, and the elevator doors slid shut in her face. Well shoot! Not even a goodbye! She opened her palm and found that she was holding the casino chip containing the superluminal drive. Brandon could have flown away with it, but he wanted them to have the chance to escape if he didn’t return. What in the world was he planning?

  ‘T-Minus seven minutes,’ Morse announced. ‘Starting auxiliary power units.’ The ground tremors were getting louder and louder as the Prime approached.

  ‘Turn the floodlights on at street level and get me a visual from the other bird!’ Stormkopf snapped at Morse. ‘We don’t need to see and hear your damn countdown!’

  Morse looked flustered, but managed to find the other Apache’s video feed. It was circling the Chrysler Building, keeping its distance from the approaching giant beast. When the floodlights went on and lit up the surrounding blocks, they could finally all see the Prime on the big screen.

  It was standing just two blocks north of the Chrysler Building, framed by the canyon of Lexington Avenue, and taller than the buildings on either side of it. Kat had expected to see a Godzilla-type lizard or dinosaur creature, but the Thanamorph Prime was horribly humanoid and heavily muscled: a naked ape-like silver body-builder standing almost three hundred metres high. It didn’t roar, or throw its arms out in a frightening pose: it just stood there at the edge of the light, an impassive colossus contemplating a puzzle: how to reach and infect the last bastion of human life on the planet.

  ‘Wow!’ Jason breathed. ‘Look at the definition on that dude’s abs!’

  Saoirse sidled up as they all stared at the screen in awe. ‘Kat … where’s Brandon?’ she whispered.

  ‘Dunno,’ Kat shrugged. He’s going out there, with that thing!

  The Prime took a step forward and levelled its gaze upon the top of the Chrysler Building.

  ‘T-Minus five minutes. Main engine gimbal testing …’

  ‘Shutters,’ the President said, almost to himself. Then he spoke up: ‘Get the armoured shutters down on the windows. That thing can see us in here!’

  ‘We haven’t got to that stage of the launch procedure yet,’ Morse mumbled, busy at the console.

  ‘Get the shutters down!’ the President shouted at him. ‘Now!’

  The shutters started to descend, but it was too late: the Prime raised its right arm and jabbed its clawed fingers directly at the windows. Two of the windows smashed inwards; two digits, each as long as a Cadillac, burst into the room. Everyone flung themselves to one side. A scientist—the girl with the glasses—wasn’t so quick, and a claw raked down her body, from her nape right down to her backside. She screamed as a fountain of blood sprayed up.

  The giant fingers retreated, but not before pulling one last trick: several smaller thanamorphs fell away from the twisted, fused flesh of the Prime. When the claws vanished and the shutters finally came down, the top chamber of the Chrysler Building was full of aliens. One of
them—a thanamorph born from a giant dog or wolf—fell on another of the Twelve, a man in a pastor’s dog collar. It had sunk its venomous incisors into his leg before Lieutenant Hewson had a chance to get close enough to put a bullet through the alien’s head.

  He fired another shot into the pastor’s brain too, to put him out of his misery. Then he turned and lobbed his gun to Jason, who caught it by the handle and shot down what looked like two thanachickens that were hopping over to where he and Gem were.

  ‘T-Minus three minutes. Transferring to internal power.’

  Kat and Saoirse were crouched at the perimeter of the room. The alien girl had her laser pistol and was taking careful aim and picking off thanamorphs as they skittered around the surface of the digital map. ‘See! This is why we should have left the planet immediately,’ she said between shots. ‘We’re all going to get killed here. Where is Brandon?’

  Kat looked up at the big screen, and Saoirse followed her gaze. From the point of view of the surviving Apache, which was hovering high and out of reach of the Thanamorph Prime, they could see Discord circling the monster’s head, while the Prime tried to swat the ship away as if it was a troublesome wasp.

  ‘Oh no!’ Saoirse groaned. ‘What does that idiot think he’s doing?’

  Kat thought she knew, but she had no time to explain. There were still thanamorphs running riot in the Chrysler control room, and there were too few firearms between too many humans. General Stormkopf was toting a giant Magnum-style revolver, and blowing the heads off thanamorphs left, right and centre. But in her bloodlust, she had forgotten about her Supreme Commander: the President was alone and unarmed, facing-off against the largest thanamorph in the room, a massive brute spawned from a lion or a tiger. The creature towered over the President, rearing up on its hind legs, and the President was only staying alive by his quickness of foot: he was hopping back and forth, jab-stepping as if he was on a basketball court, trying to confuse his opponent.

  Kat slipped her Bowie knife out of its sheath and threw it to the floor. It skimmed across the hard glass surface of the map, spinning as it went. The President ducked to grab it, then flexed his leg muscles and leaped up, momentarily looming higher than the thanamorph before him. As he came down, he slammed the blade of the knife straight through the top of the alien’s skull, bringing it crashing down to the ground.

  ‘Slam dunk!’ he exclaimed. ‘Can we fight off aliens in one-on-one combat? Yes we can!’

  ‘T-Minus two minutes.’

  That was almost the last of the thanamorphs. Jason and Saoirse picked off the rest. Finally, the Majestic was secure and ready for take-off, but Brandon was still out there provoking the Prime. Kat and the rest of the survivors gathered beneath the big screen, and what they saw made them all shout, scream and moan in horror …

  The Prime had caught Discord in its hand and was crushing it like it was a can of Coke. Whatever Brandon had planned, it was as good as over …

  Unless … unless this was exactly what he had planned.

  Just above the giant curved claw of the Prime’s thumb, the hatch at the side of Discord opened, and Brandon appeared in the opening. His face was pale and full of fear, but even so he had the presence of mind to look up and into the camera of the Apache and give a thumbs-up.

  ‘Bran!’ Kat shouted, even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. She sent word to him via her thoughts instead: Be careful!

  ‘T-Minus one minute.’

  Brandon’s voice sounded loud and clear in Kat’s head: Everything's going to work out fine. Then he stepped out of the hatch and fell upon the claw of the Thanamorph Prime.

  The vicious spike pierced his belly and emerged from the back of his T-shirt.

  23—SACRIFICE

  The world seemed to stop and freeze as Brandon hung in the air, impaled on the Thanamorph Prime’s talon. Kat held her breath. Everyone in the Chrysler control room was silent, staring up at the drama unfolding on the big screen. Even the colossal Prime itself seemed to pause, seemingly aware that it had caught a victim. It raised the hand that was wrapped around Discord, and tilted its head to get a better look.

  And then Brandon slid back off the Prime’s claw.

  In fact, he was pulled off. There was a cable tied around his waist that ran back up into Discord’s hatch. Tank had appeared at the opening and was hauling Brandon back inside. Once Brandon was clear, Discord’s thrusters fired and, with Lucky at the controls, the ship shot from the Prime’s grasp and fell out of view, heading for the tunnels that led back to the hangar.

  Gem spoke first: ‘Oh my God! Brandon just killed himself!’

  ‘He’ll be fine,’ Kat said, calmly. ‘He can use the bionoids to heal himself.’

  Jason’s face was a picture of puzzlement. ‘But then why …’

  ‘He just injected himself with a massive shot of the Prime’s venom,’ Saoirse said. ‘That’s just crazy!’

  Jason’s expression hadn’t changed. ‘But … but … why?’

  ‘I know why,’ Kat said. ‘I’ll explain later, but come on! Let’s go and meet him in the hangar and make sure he’s okay!’

  ‘T-Minus ten seconds,’ Morse announced from behind the control console. ‘Nine.’

  Kat, Gem, Saoirse and Jason all bundled into the elevator. As the doors closed, the last thing they saw on the big screen was the Prime looking directly up at the camera. The Apache helicopter kept circling and filming the monster. Then the Prime bent its enormous legs and sprang into the air. It wrapped its legs and left arm around the top half of the Chrysler Building, and swatted upwards with its right arm, knocking the Apache out of the sky. The screen went blank, and General Stormkopf turned the air blue with expletives.

  ‘Eight.’

  Then the elevator was descending. All around, the building shook, both from the thrusters and the giant alien hanging on outside.

  ‘Seven.’

  ‘You know,’ Jason said, ‘we should have taken the stairs. They say you should never use a lift when a building is freaking taking off into space!’

  ‘Six.’

  Saoirse gave a wry smile, but Kat noticed Gem’s face was pale and her expression bleak.

  ‘Five.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Gem,’ Kat assured her. ‘He’ll be okay. Bran will—’

  ‘Four.’

  ‘—heal the wound, I know,’ Gem said. ‘But the poison. The bionoids can’t stop the thanamorph poison. Monitoring that crazy Captain on the Proteus didn’t work out, remember. Brandon can’t stop the thanamorph DNA from taking over his body.’

  ‘Three.’

  ‘That’s it!’ Saoirse said suddenly. ‘That’s his plan. He’s going to monitor the effects of the Prime’s venom on his own body, in order to configure the bionoids. Then at the last possible moment, he’ll reverse the transformation!’

  ‘Two.’

  ‘Holy hell,’ Jason said. ‘If he misses that exact moment, he’s a goner. It’s a crazy plan.’

  ‘One!’ Morse’s excited voice was coming over the elevator speakers. ‘Rocket boosters ignited: hang on, folks!’

  The elevator stopped dead as a safety override kicked in. The shaking got so extreme that everyone had to sit down on the floor before they fell onto it. Then the g-force kicked in and pulled them all further down, until they were sprawled on the floor unable to raise a head or a hand.

  Kat found herself flat on her back with Saoirse lying on top of her at right angles. ‘I’m sorry!’ the alien girl shouted over the noise of the take-off. ‘Let me just … try and …’

  ‘You’re heavier than you look!’ Kat grunted. Saoirse eventually dragged herself clear. Kat managed to turn her head to see that her brother and Gem were on their sides locked in an embrace. ‘I can’t move, Gem!’ Jason was shouting. ‘I’m trying, but the gees … they’re too strong!’

  ‘How …’ Gem gasped, ‘did you … manage to get your hands trapped … inside my sweater?’

  Then the shaking and the g-force let up, the safe
ty mechanism disengaged, and the elevator resumed its descent. They barely had time to catch their breath before the ride ended and they arrived at the hangar.

  The wide open space was empty of troops and of the two Apache helicopters they had seen on the way in. There was just a pair of tanks parked in one corner, and Discord lying on its belly, apparently having entered in such a hurry that it didn’t have time to lower its landing struts. A long scraped scar on the hangar floor leading from the airlock confirmed this.

  The hatch was open, and Lucky and Tank were helping Brandon down the ramp: He hung between their shoulders; his T-shirt had been ripped off, and the lower half of his pale, slim torso was stained red with blood. But he seemed conscious, and there was no more sign of the terrible wound the Prime’s claw must have caused.

  Kat and the others ran to meet them. There was some kind of artificial gravity in place now, and the atmosphere felt strange, as if everything was slightly out of sync; they were moving a fraction slower, but could step a fraction further. At the spot where they all met, they laid Brandon down on the cold hangar floor. Tank and Lucky went back to their posts guarding Discord. Kat, Gem, Jason and Saoirse crowded round Brandon. His eyes flicked open and closed, but he managed to speak: ‘Are we … in space? Did we … get away?’

  ‘We’re in space!’ Kat confirmed. ‘But the big thanamorph decided to hitch a ride too … so we need you to stay alive and help us, Bran!’

  As if to emphasise her point, the Majestic groaned and shuddered as the Thanamorph Prime hanging on outside shifted position.

  Gem was examining her brother. ‘He needs our help first,’ she said. ‘We need to get him to a medical bay. The Majestic Twelve must have a doctor among them.’

  ‘No,’ Brandon said. ‘Just let me lie here. I’m … my own personal hospital, remember. It won’t be long … ten minutes, maybe, and then I’ll have the bionoids ready to get the Prime off our backs … and maybe even make Earth safe again.’