by Doug Goodman
Cole could hear the business clip in her voice. Emily had shifted into problem-solver mode. She was collecting data to put together the Plan.
“The quake was a 5.8 on the Richter scale. That sounds high for what little damage we saw, but keep in mind the lack of effect of the planet’s low gravity.”
“And the epicenter?”
“Working on it, but I think... No.” He reviewed his data. “They came from the mountains.”
Emily looked up at the mountains. They were almost on top of them. “Okay, new plan. We’re going around the mountains.”
“But that will take hours,” Mathieu said. “The DSMUs can take it.”
“It’s too risky,” Emily said. “I’m calling it. JEVS, we are rerouting around the mountain range.” She reprogrammed their route.
“Yes, sir,” JEVS said.
“That’s a two-hour detour,” Mathieu complained.
“It’s worth it,” C.C. said. “We don’t know the power of the earthquake or its effect on the mountains. We could get halfway in and discover that the route’s destroyed.”
“But we have the most technologically advanced mech systems ever,” Mathieu said.
“We wouldn’t be the first humans to die because they thought they were stronger than what was below them. Remember the Titanic?”
“I just want to get back to the Hab already.”
“We all do,” Emily said.
The crew turned east. Before following the reroute with the others, Cole studied the mountain with the strange peaks. Maybe it was a trick of his mind, but he thought perhaps the peaks had shifted away from him, like they’d rolled backwards. His DSMU kneeled down and touched the ground. The rocks seemed to have folded in on themselves here. Had the ground sunk? If so, these mountains were more dangerous than Emily had predicted.
He ran after his crewmates.
Ten mountains separated the Hab from Ximortikrim. Each was a dramatic rise covered in dense alien jungle. Several posed high cliff faces that were instantly deemed insurmountable in the DSMUs.
As they made their way through dense jungle, the DSMUs switched out hands for machetes and saws that they used to cut through the vines and trees.
“These things are everywhere,” Mathieu said as he pushed a tree over.
“I don’t like this,” Anna said. “No me cae bien.”
“We knew we’d likely end up having to cross through thicket,” Emily said. “That’s why the DSMUs came like this.”
“I know, and I understand,” Anna said as she sawed through a particularly gnarly patch of vines. “I just don’t like it.”
The ground rumbled under their feet again.
“Everybody get low!” Emily commanded as the quake rippled through the forest. This one was much bigger and longer than the previous one. Rocks fell and trees toppled under. The rocks rose up under Cole and knocked his DSMU over.
“What the hell is happening?” Mathieu cried out.
The quake kept rolling. All the DSMUs were laid out. Rocks rolled past. Emily held her arm up to shield her from the boulders.
“Get behind me!” she shouted over the din.
While the other DSMUs scrambled to get behind her, she grabbed several boulders and positioned them as a makeshift shield against the mountain.
Cole tried reaching her, crawling across open ground while trees and dirt flew around him. He’d never experienced anything like this. He wasn’t sure anyone had.
As suddenly as it began, the quake stopped.
2
When the dust settled, Cole’s DSMU 5 was badly damaged. DSMU 5 limped back to the others. Emily saw her husband’s badly damaged DSMU in the rubble.
“Cole!”
A robotic hand pushed aside some boulders.
“I’m okay.”
DSMU 5 stood up, then limped back to the others. One of the sensors in DSMU 5 was broken. The right hand kept switching out the robotic hand and the machete.
Behind Cole, Emily saw the unbelievable. A line of light shone between the mountain and the ground beneath it. Giant roots as thick as pipelines stretched between the ground and the mountain.
“What do you see?” C.C. asked.
“I really don’t know. This doesn’t make sense,” Emily said. “I think the mountain rose up.”
C.C. pushed her aside and surveyed the damage.
“That’s impossible.”
“We need to get back to the city,” Emily said.
“No, the Hab. We will be better protected there,” C.C. countered.
“Those mountains are between us and the Hab.”
“We can still make it around them.”
“Do the math. That will take hours. We don’t have that kind of time. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We are returning to Ximortikrim. We will regroup there and analyze the situation. JEVS, the crew is repositioning to Ximortikrim. Seismic activity has caused unusual and dangerous deviations among the mountains. I am concerned for the crew’s safety, so I am moving them.”
“I am analyzing the data to determine the locus and cause of the seismic activity,” JEVS said.
C.C. wanted to protest, but another earthquake rumbled to life under their feet. The DSMUs stumbled as they retreated to Ximortikrim.
3
While they ran, Cole looked behind him. What he saw made him stop and made him want to run faster at the same time. Seeing his reaction, everyone else stopped, too.
They could not believe their eyes. Science had no answer to what they saw.
Two kilometers behind them, the mountain continued to rise, shaking dust and rocks and trees. Sections of rock broke free and stretched outward.
Like arms, Cole thought.
A sheer bluff face split open. Craggy teeth chomped at the air. Massive shoulders rolled back, exposing a thick, sharp head.
“That’s not real,” Anna said.
The quake stopped rumbling. The giant mountain monster put either hand on the peaks of the mountains beside it and roared. It sounded like wrenching metal and fingers being dragged down a blackboard. Cole cringed.
“What the hell is that?” C.C. asked.
Emily grabbed him by the shoulder. “We have to go.”
But they couldn’t leave. They were too much in awe of the giant monster. The creature turned to face them.
“We definitely have to go.”
This time, everybody followed.
Behind them, the massive creature pulled its arms back, like it was stretching its shoulders. As its arms moved, white and blue chain lightning erupted from its chest. The creature made a hissing sound as it moved its arms back and forth, growing the lightning seed in its chest. Electricity highlighted the creature’s crevices.
Suddenly, the DSMUs found themselves running through a forest of lightning. Bolts shrieked through the air and spiked into the ground. The astronauts did their best to dodge the electric icicles. C.C. took a bolt to the chest. It exploded in white and blue fire. When the forest of lightning stopped, so did C.C.’s DSMU. Emily ran back to him.
“I can’t move,” C.C. shouted.
The lights on DSMU 2 were out. The power was down in his DSMU. He tried hitting the backup power button. Nothing. His system was completely fried.
She motioned to the others. Mathieu helped her lift the frozen DSMU and carry it across the valley. The giant monster’s roars followed them through the gates of Ximortikrim.
Chapter Four: Rise of the Rentok
1
“Mathieu, get that DSMU working again. Anna and Cole, find us a good hiding place. JEVS, there is a giant…monster rising up. What we thought were mountains. We were wrong. I am broadcasting my live feed so that you can see it, too.”
“Emily,” Cole said.
“Hold on a second.” Emily opened her cockpit and stood up to see the giant monster better. The creature pumped its two legs, like it was stuck in quicksand.
Anna had already begun to search the military compound. Cole had his own idea of where they sho
uld go, but all he could think about was the inscription next to the soldier. “Between the nevers, the dead lie dreaming,” he said aloud.
“What was that?” Emily asked.
“Something I read. An inscription.” But now he was staring at something that made his skin crawl.
“Emily,” he said again. His tone was sharp and clipped.
“I’m filming the monster for Mission Data Collection and for analysis later. Have you found a safe place?”
“I have. I’ve found something else. First contact.”
“What?” she turned around. Cole’s DSMU stood frozen in place, staring back at the broken dome. This was the place she figured he meant for hiding. But about fifty meters in front of Cole stood another creature. It was a dust-covered homo-insectus, and it was definitely alive. It carried a spear in one hand as it sneered at the astronauts.
The homo-insectus shouted something angry in its bug language.
“What’d it say?” Emily asked.
“You’ve awakened the Rentok.”
The thing turned and ran back toward the dome, beating the end of his spear in the ground as he shouted over and over, “Krit! Krit! Krit!”
“Arise! Arise! Arise!”
“It’s heading to the dome. We’ve got to follow it,” Emily said. “Mathieu!”
“I’m almost done. I had to tether the two DSMUs together. The batteries are completely fried. We will both have less power, but the DSMUs will be able to move.”
“Good, cause that thing’s coming this way. We’ve got to get out of here.”
Indeed, the monster had finally freed itself of the ground and taken the first step toward Ximortikrim and the astronauts.
“Go! Go! Go!” she shouted to the other astronauts. Anna’s DSMU was running from the military compound. Cole waited for Emily, then ran to the dome. Mathieu and C.C. brought up the rear.
Cole saw the Jedik-ikik dodging around a corner and entering the dome. On the one hand, Cole was glad that he was no longer seeing things that weren’t there, but then again, he wished he’d never seen the four-armed man.
The dome was split asunder down the side, damage from a meteoroid hit. Three craters were still visible from satellite pictures of the city, and one meteor had hit close enough to destroy half of the dome. In the middle of the room was a large shaft built on a free-rotating ball. The shaft, which was covered in ancient hieroglyphics, reached from the floor to the cracked ceiling.
The DSMUs easily entered under its tall roof, which was held together by hexagonal beam support covered by the same black granite the aliens used for the rest of their architecture.
“Where did it go?” Cole asked as they entered the dome.
“There,” Emily said, pointing to a stairwell. To her, everything about the culture read “mud dauber.” Even something as simple as a stairwell was more like a tunnel stuck to the framework of the outside building. She was getting out of the DSMU to chase after the bug when they heard another clicking sound. The alien had stopped his angry shouting. Up in his room, he stuck his spear into a console and pulled the lever.
Outside of his wall, the hexagonal structure began swirling. Emily saw now that the beams weren’t just simple hexagons but had little gears at the corners so that the hexagons could spin. As the hexagons moved, so did the dome.
“What’s it doing?” C.C. asked. He was now out of his DSMU, too.
Before anyone could respond, a series of loud booms resonated like thunder through the room.
The monster was approaching.
From somewhere else came a groaning sound, like giant winches pushing against time and rust. Cole didn’t like the sound of them. They sounded like they were about to break.
“What do we do?” he asked his wife.
She pointed to the shaft, which was slowly rotating in their direction.
“Anyone else feel like they’re staring down a really big ass gun?” Mathieu asked.
The astronauts fled from the barrel just as a bright redness appeared deep inside.
Emily charged across the field of dead soldiers to the first pyramid. Ahead of them, the giant monster watched them run. It was a silhouette on the horizon, a tall mountain peak rising above all others.
Inside his DSMU, Cole was going through his words, trying to stay calm. “Mellifluous. Mellifluous. Tincture. Calm. Balanced.” The words came out as short gasps while he watched the mountain of a monster begin to pull its arms back. Its eyes were glowing like electric lightbulbs on a Christmas display.
“We’ve got about ten seconds before that thing recharges,” Emily shouted. “Move!”
We can make it, she thought to herself. It wasn’t just positive vibes. Her plan was to get to the far side of the pyramid, regroup, and find a path out of there that would not get the monster’s attention. The corner was not that far away. They could make it.
Mathieu dragged C.C. behind them. He was falling far behind the others.
“Emily!”
She turned and saw her two crewmen falling back. She ran back to get them. She lifted C.C.’s DSMU in her arms and began running. As she did, the tether between the two DSMUs popped. Mathieu surged forward with extra energy.
She could feel the electricity biting the air. She dared not look back.
DOOOM!
A loud noise boomed through Ximortikrim. The blast was so powerful, the mechs’ knee joints buckled. The DSMU’s sprawled out, knocked down.
Before they could get up, a cacophony of sound and rumbling waves pushed over the crew.
Behind them, the monster lay on the ground, his shoulder smoking and badly damaged. The electric charge burst around him. Lightning gouged through the earth and sky.
“What the hell just happened?”
Cole pointed to the dome and its smoking barrel. “The dome. It was their weapon against the monsters.”
“Well, now we have cover. Let’s get out of here.”
“There is no other way out of here,” Mathieu said. “We have to go through the main gate.”
“No, there is another gate. Right, Cole?”
“No, there isn’t. Ximortikrim has only the one serviceable entrance, and all outer walls are 30 meters tall.”
“Right, but the wall is not entirely up, remember? Come on.”
They ran after her, charging to the western outer wall.
“JEVS, do you read me?” Emily said into her com.
“Go ahead, Commander Musgrove.”
“Move the Anchor into orbit over Ximortikrim and the Hab. Be ready in case we need to evacuate.”
“Yes, sir.”
Cole called out to his wife. “Baby, the parts of the wall that were destroyed were near the entrance.”
Anna chimed in. “Does anybody else think this giant thing is the reason for all the damage to the city?”
“Way ahead of you there,” C.C. said. “While I’ve been down, I’ve been re-examining the topo maps.”
“Will you all shut up?” Cole shouted. “Emily, the wall! What are you talking about?”
“It’s what you were talking about, love. I remember about a month ago you were going over the maps. You were wondering what happened to the front gate that caused the damage. The going theory, if you remember, was war.”
Cole’s eyes lit up. “Of course!”
“Ja, I don’t understand,” Mathieu said.
“One of the reasons for the war theory was a false wall to the west. Almost invisible to the naked eye, but the gate was open. Several Jedi-ikik were found dead there, leading to the conclusion that this was a passage for escaping the city should it fall.”
“I think this counts as falling,” Anna said. “Let’s get out of here.”
2
The gate was open a crack. Dead (Or dreaming, Cole thought) homo-insectus lay scattered on both sides of the wall. One of them seemed strange to Cole. The home-insectus had some markings on its face that he did not comprehend. He had no time to collect data. They had to escape the c
ity before the giant monster entered it. Cole looked behind. They were shielded out of sight because of a rise of buildings. This, of course, was more evidence to support the hidden passage theory. Clearly, the Jedik-ikik did not want this passage seen from the front entrance.
“We need to head north,” C.C. said as they exited the city.
Emily was perplexed. “North? There’s nothing north of here.”
“A city. It is far to the north, but we can go there.”
“Like, a thousand kilometers to the north,” Cole said.
Emily said, “No, we need to return to the Hab. There, we have supplies, tools, food, and most importantly, the Ascent Vehicle. We don’t know what is out there.”
Cole added, “What is not out there is a monster the size of the Statue of Liberty. We can lose it in the jungles, and we can use the ascent capability in the DSMUs to return to orbit.”
“I like that idea,” Mathieu said.
“So do I,” Anna added. “But biologically speaking, the Hab’s our best chance of survival. We’re all beat up from yesterday’s descent, and now all this. We’re running on adrenaline and fumes, and once those give in, we won’t be capable of dealing with whatever we find in the unknown. We can’t count on ourselves right now, biologically speaking.”
“But,” C.C. started to say, but Emily cut him off.
“This isn’t a democracy. This isn’t Palo Duro, and we aren’t kids, C.C. I’m the commander. We all have a mission, and we are still on that mission, which means I’m still in charge. JEVS, relay this to Mission Data Collection: the crew has fled the city after the appearance of a giant stone monster. We will rendezvous with the Hab for observation and ascent, if need be.”
The astronauts cut vines and foliage to camouflage their DSMUs. They then crouched low to the ground and made their way slowly along the wall. Above them, the giant monster towered. It was searching for them near the city wall.
A giant chunk of the monster’s shoulder was missing. A small patch, the center of the impact, was more badly damaged than the others. Here, they saw a chink in the monster’s armor. A small patch of green skin shined through. The monster did not move its broken arm as it searched for the astronauts.