Deathstalker d-1

by Simon R. Green

  Finding the Hadenman was easier than finding the others; he was still where Owen had last seen him, sitting wedged in his corner. Owen tried to pick him up and was startled at the man's weight. He could barely move him. Augmentations, no doubt. He tried again, and still couldn't lift him. Owen struggled with the unmoving form and cursed it between coughs. Air was getting scarce, but he hadn't come this far to leave the Hadenman behind and run for the door. He boosted, and new strength flooded through his muscles. He pulled Moon to his feet, draped an arm over his shoulder and headed to where he thought the far door was. The smoke was everywhere now, thick and smothering. It was like walking at the bottom of a great gray sea. He could feel the heat of flames on both sides of him. And then Hazel was suddenly there with him, adding her strength to his, and between them they got the Hadenman out the far door and down the narrow corridor beyond, and finally out into the clearer air of the main airlock. The door slammed shut behind them.

  Owen leaned back against it as he dropped out of boost, and the last of the strength went out of his legs. He dumped Moon unceremoniously on the floor and sat there beside him tor a while, coughing foul stuff up out of his lungs. After a while he felt strong enough to raise his head and look around, and wasn't surprised to find Hazel sitting next to him, looking almost as bad as he felt. Ruby Journey and Jack Random were sitting together, a little way apart. They had their guns in their hands, and although they both looked a bit pale, they were keeping a watchful eye on the outer hatch. Tobias Moon lay flat on his back, eyes closed, breathing steadily. Owen sniffed.

  "Nice landing. Moon. Sure you couldn't have shaken us about a bit more?"

  He stopped talking as he realized how harsh his voice sounded. His throat felt as though someone had scoured it out with wire wool. Hazel looked at him sardonically.

  "We're down and we're still alive. Anything else is a bonus. Any idea why Moon is still out? He doesn't seem injured."

  "Beats me," said Owen. "I can't get any response out of Oz, either. Maybe they were both knocked out when the computer systems finally crashed."

  "Actually, I'm conserving power," said the AI through Owen's comm implant. "Moon pretty much drained the ship's batteries getting us down. I'm going to have to go offline for a while, Owen. The ship's a mess and so am I. Short of a complete refit and rebuilding, this ship's not going anywhere, and neither are we. Unless you've fallen in love with this planet and decided to settle down here, you'd better pray that someone at the Last Standing is feeling hospitable."

  "How badly are you damaged?" said Owen.

  "Don't ask. You don't want to know. You're not far from the Standing. About half a mile, north northwest. Walking distance under normal circumstances, which these aren't. In case you hadn't noticed, it's an oven out there, and it's just going to get hotter as the day goes on."

  "What about the air?" said Hazel.

  "Your lungs are about to go slumming, but it won't kill you. There are a lot of other things out there that'll take care of that. For the moment, the local wildlife is giving you plenty of room, but there's no telling how long that'll last. I'm getting readings on lifeforms everywhere, from very small to extremely large and everything in between. Can't give you any details; the sensors took a real battering."

  "Any recommendations?" said Random.

  "Yes. Shoot yourselves now and get it over with. From what I can make out, everything out there that moves is attacking everything else, whether it moves or not, and eating it. Damn place is a slaughterhouse. No signs of intelligence or cooperation, just if it moves, jump it. Reminds me of Imperial politics on a larger than usual scale."

  "Nice place you've brought us to, Deathstalker," said Ruby.

  Owen thought hard. There was only one course of action that made any sense, but he couldn't help hoping he could come up with something less obviously suicidal. Unfortunately, he seemed to have backed himself into a corner, tactically speaking. He looked round at his companions and wondered if his face was as grim as theirs.

  "We can't stay here," he said bluntly. "Sunstrider is falling apart at the seams, and I think it would be in all our best interests to be a long way from here when it finally goes critical. Given the unfriendly and downright homicidal nature of the local wildlife, I think our best bet is to make a run for the Last Standing and hope we can find some sanctuary there."

  "Let me see if I've got this right," said Ruby in her cold, even voice. "We're going to fight our way through half a mile of alien carnage and slaughter in order to reach some ruin that's been deserted for hundreds of years? If it's there at all? That's our plan?"

  "Got it in one," said Owen.

  "All right," said Ruby. "I'm up for it. I could use a little exercise."

  Owen gave her a hard look, but she didn't seem to be joking. "It may not be all bad news. According to Family legend, the Last Standing is supposed to be a massive structure with considerable technological defenses. Assuming we can get past those defenses, we should find my ancestor still there, held in stasis. If we can wake him, I'm sure he'll help."

  "There's a lot of it's and maybes in all that," said Hazel. "I don't have much faith in legends anymore. The last time we went looking for one, we found him." She looked severely at Jack Random, who glared right back at her. Hazel sniffed and turned back to Owen. "Come on, Owen, what are our chances, really?"

  "Not good," Owen admitted. "But all the alternatives are worse."

  "I seem to be hearing that a lot just recently," said Hazel. "Ever since I joined up with you, in fact. I should have stayed at home and become an accountant, like mother wanted. There's always work for an accountant, and people very rarely shoot at them. Or maroon them on savage planets with no table manners."

  "Oh, I don't know," said Random. "I can think of quite a few accountants I'd have cheerfully dumped somewhere unpleasant. Right next to the lawyers."

  Owen looked across at Tobias Moon, who was still lying flat on his back, dead to the world. "He'd better wake up soon," Owen said flatly, "because I'm damned if I'm carrying a great lump like him through half a mile of homicidal jungle."

  "We could always use him as a shield," said Ruby. "Or a battering ram."

  "If I didn't have such a good nature, I'd stay unconscious and let you carry me," said Tobias Moon, without lifting his head.

  Owen looked at him severely. "Eavesdroppers rarely hear well of themselves."

  "I believe that's the point." Moon sat up slowly. "Everything seems to be functioning again. Hopefully we can find some energy crystals at the Last Standing. I used up most of my reserves getting us down in one piece. Not a bad landing, if I say so myself."

  "I'd hate to be on one of your bad ones," said Random.

  "You're alive, aren't you?" said Moon.

  "Enough chat and friendly banter," said Owen. "It's time we were moving. Oz, how long have we got before the Sunstrider goes into meltdown?"

  "I should leave right now," said the AI. "I'm going to have to shut down, Owen. You'll have to struggle on without me. If you find compatible hardware at the Standing, download me into that. Otherwise, you're on your own. Try not to get yourself killed."

  "I'll do my best," said Owen. He wanted to say something more, but the words wouldn't come. Ozymandius had been with him since he was a child. He'd never had to cope without the AI before. "I'll be back for you, Oz. One way or another, I'll be back."

  "If we've finished with the tender goodbyes, perhaps we could get a move on," said Ruby. "You're the one who said the ship is going to blow."

  Owen nodded curtly and moved over to the outer hatch. "Oz, anything nasty out there?" There was no reply. Owen bit his lower lip. He really was on his own now. He drew his gun and put his ear to the metal of the hatch. It was uncomfortably warm to the touch, suggesting the onboard fires were getting closer. He couldn't hear a thing. The metal was too thick. A passing Investigator could have been slaughtering a brass band out there, and he wouldn't have heard anything. He looked back at the others. "Stand
ready. Hazel, get over here by the manual release. When I give you the nod, open the hatch."

  Hazel moved over to the controls, and everyone drew a gun or a blade, according to their nature. They looked tired and tense, but prepared. Owen wished he'd had some armor and heavy-duty weaponry put on board at some point, but he'd never seen the need in a pleasure yacht. Assuming he got out of this mess alive and reasonably intact, it was a mistake he wouldn't make again. The universe was not a friendly place. He hefted the disrupter in his hand and looked back at the others.

  "Everybody ready? Right. Remember, no rushing outside the moment the hatch opens. We're going to take this slow and steady and very carefully, until we know the lay of the land."

  "Is he always like this?" Ruby said to Hazel.

  "Mostly," said Hazel. "He used to be a lord. I think he inherited the pompousness along with the big ears."

  Owen decided he hadn't heard that. "Hazel, open the hatch."

  There was a worryingly long grinding noise, and then the hutch slid open. Bright crimson light spilled into the airlock, along with the heavy humid air of the jungle. It smelled of rotting meat. And then everything in the world tried to get through the hatch at once. There were huge ferocious shapes with teeth and claws and glaring eyes, fighting each other for the chance to get in. There were smaller things that seemed to be all teeth and claws pouring over the lower edge of the airlock in waves. There were flying things and lashing tendrils of vegetation with vicious spines and barbs, and it all wanted to get in. There were screams and roars and ululating howls, echoing deafeningly in the confined space of the airlock.

  A long tentacled thing surged toward Owen, and he shot it automatically. The energy blast hit the beast at point-blank range, and its head exploded, showering him with foul-smelling blood. Something with huge clawed hands and a mouth bigger than Owen's head hauled the tentacled body out of the way and hurled itself at Owen. He met it with his sword, and more blood spurted as he cut deep into the leathery flesh.

  "Shut the hatch!" he screamed. "Shut the bloody hatch!"

  Everyone was firing their guns at once, but the creatures kept coming, slavering in their eagerness to get at new prey. The airlock was full of awful life, and swords swung viciously. Hazel fought to get back to the control panels. A long tentacle whipped through the air, snatched up Moon, and hauled him bodily out the hatch and into the surging chaos outside.

  "Don't shut the hatch!" yelled Owen. "They've got Moon! Somebody help him!"

  "Somebody else help him," snapped Random, cutting doggedly at a slimy creature that was apparently too stupid to know it should have been dead by now. "I've got my own problems."

  Hazel managed to hit the control button with her elbow, and the hatch began to close. The heavy steel weight moved remorselessly forward, cutting slowly but firmly through everything that got in its way. Gradually the hatchway grew smaller, and the larger creatures were forced outside. The hatch finally slammed shut, and the remaining smaller creatures were trapped in the airlock. Owen and Random fought back to back, cutting down the vicious alien life as it struggled to get at them. Random fought well, Owen thought, for an old man. Hazel and Ruby were also fighting back-to-back, and making a bloody mess of anything that came within reach. The horrors fell, one after the other, large and small, until finally it was over. Owen slowly lowered his sword and leaned against the bulkhead wall, panting for breath. It seemed very quiet in the airlock now, though the air was thick with the stench of blood and death. There were bodies everywhere, and blood dripped from every surface. Behind Owen, Random was coughing up something large and juicy. Hazel and Ruby were leaning on each other for support and glaring about them, swords still at the ready.

  "Moon," Owen said harshly. "He's still out there."

  "Then he's dead," said Hazel. "And so would we be, if we were stupid enough to go out after him."

  "Not necessarily," said Ruby. "He is a Hadenman, after all."

  They all looked up sharply as the sound of energy guns firing came dimly to them from somewhere close at hand.

  "Could the Empire have found us already?" said Hazel.

  "It's not the Empire," said Owen. "Oz said we were alone down here. I think those are our guns; Sunstrider's guns. That's why we can hear them, even with the hatch closed."

  "But who's firing them?" said Random. "Your computer is supposed to be shut down. Have you been keeping something from us, Deathstalker?"

  "Oz, is that you?" Owen waited, but there was no reply. The guns suddenly stopped firing, and it was very quiet in the airlock. "I'm going to look outside," said Owen.

  "Is this wise?" said Hazel. "After what happened the last time I opened the hatch?"

  "The guns should have cleared some space around the ship," said Owen.

  "And if they haven't?"

  "I don't give a damn. Moon's out there. A Deathstalker doesn't abandon his people."

  He hit the hatch controls before anyone could raise further objections, and they all turned their guns on the opening hatch. Crimson light spilled into the airlock again, along with the channel stench of the jungle. Even the light's the color of blood, thought Owen. What kind of place have I brought us to?

  Everyone braced themselves against another invasion of bloodthirsty creatures, but all was still and quiet. The hatch ground to a halt at its furthest extension, and Owen peered wearily out. There were dead aliens everywhere, torn and tattered and piled up around the ship, but no signs of life or movement anywhere. The surrounding jungle was a mass of conflicting vibrant colors, predominately scarlet. The sky was mostly hidden by a thick canopy of branches overhead. There were huge towering trees and gushing vegetable shapes everywhere, all spines and barbs and overripe flowers. And then something moved among the heaps of the dead, and Owen snapped his gun to bear before he recognized who it was. It was Moon, standing at the side of the ship, hip deep in carnage, covered with alien blood and looking inordinately pleased with himself.

  Owen jumped down from the airlock and made his way toward the Hadenman, clambering awkwardly over the heaps of bodies. The creatures ranged in size from gossamer insects the size of his hand to huge forms easily twenty feet long. None of them looked in very good shape. The ship's energy guns had torn them literally limb from limb. At such close range they never stood a chance, but Owen couldn't bring himself to feel any sympathy. The smell was appalling, and he did his best to breathe through his mouth. He reached the Hadenman, and Moon nodded to him calmly.

  "About time I had a decent workout. I think I'm going to like it here."

  "All right," said Owen. "What the hell happened out here?"

  "I tapped into the ship's systems through my commlink, overrode the computers and took control of the fire systems. Then I had them blast everything that moved, while I sheltered among the bodies. Quite simple, really."

  Owen looked at him. "That shouldn't have been possible. Even with Oz off-line, the security codes should have kept you out of the systems."

  "I overrode them," said Moon. "It wasn't difficult. I'm a Hadenman."

  "I didn't know you could do things like that."

  "There are lots of things about me you don't know."

  Owen didn't have any answer to that, so he turned and gestured for the others to come and join him. They made slow progress through the heaps of the dead, keeping a constant wary eye on the surrounding jungle. Owen didn't blame them. He could feel the pressure of uncounted unseen eyes following his every move. The ship's guns had taught the creatures caution, but there was no telling how long that would last.

  "What did you say this hellhole was called?" said Hazel.

  "Shandrakor," Owen said absently, still looking around him. "This is where my ancestor fled when the Empire turned on him and sent the Shadow Men after him."

  "Who were they?" said Random, still trying to get his breath back after clambering over the bodies.

  "No one knows anymore," said Owen. "People apparently didn't talk about them much back then
, if they knew what was good for them. The Shadow Men were the Emperor's hounds: unstoppable, quite deadly and never once defeated. Basically, pretty nasty and proud of it. They tracked my ancestor here, to the very edge of the Empire, and then nothing more was heard of them or him. No one ever came back from Shandrakor, no matter how large a force the Emperor sent. Eventually he turned his face away from the planet, and Shandrakor was not spoken of by anyone. Its coordinates became lost, its nature forgotten, and the name Shandrakor only survived as the battlecry of my Clan. Even then, we walked our own path. For a long time now, Shandrakor has been nothing but a legend, hidden away out here on the very edge of the Rim. Forgotten by everyone save obsessive historians like myself. We're about as far from the Empire now as you can get without passing into the Darkvoid."

  "Once I would have found that comforting," said Hazel, "but not anymore. This is a vicious place you've brought us to, Deathstalker. Humans don't belong here."

  "I like it," said Ruby. "It's got style."

  "We should head for the Standing while things are still quiet," said Random. "Do you have any force shields aboard, Owen?"

  "Just a portable screen. It's got enough range to cover us all while we walk, but as I recall the power cells are pretty depleted."

  "You're just full of good news, aren't you?" said Ruby. "Will it last long enough for us to reach the Standing?"

  Owen shrugged unhappily. "Unknown. It's only half a mile, but who knows how long that'll take through this jungle. It might last, or it might cut out at any time."

  Moon smiled. "Good. More exercise."

  Owen gave him a hard look. He had an unnerving feeling the Hadenman meant it. What with him and Ruby Journey, Owen was beginning to feel decidedly outclassed. He was also beginning to feel like the only sane person in the group. "I'll get the screen, and then we'd better make a start. This ship is still going to explode eventually, and on top of that, we don't know how long the days are here. I have a strong feeling it would be a really bad idea for us to be lost in the jungle when darkness falls. I hate to think what kind of creatures go on the prowl during the night."