by S D Tanner
Worried they might turn on them, he used the barrel of his gun to point toward the gap in the wall. “Enemy!”
A scaly alien with thick limbs stood to its full height of seven feet, and after looking down at him, it grunted and then turned. Half a dozen reptilian aliens followed it barging through the gap. Gunfire erupted from the next room, and a spray of blood burst from the first reptilian alien’s head. Losing their leader only seemed to anger the other reptiles and more ran through the gap. Eager to join the fight, the elongated aliens were scuttling across the ceiling. Their gray bodies slid around the corner of the gap, and more gunfire erupted from the next room.
“Move forward!”
Using the aliens as a diversion, first Rok and then he went through the gap. There were at least ten Defensors in the next room, each one crouching and firing at the aliens. Some targeted the ceiling while others fired at the reptiles running across the room. As he went through the gap, several turned their guns toward him. He fired past the reptilian aliens, aiming for the Defensor’s helmets. Defensors didn’t die easy, not like the enemy aliens. Providing they were caught unprepared, a single bullet to the head could take them down, but Defensors were built tough. His bullets weren’t enough to stop them firing back at him.
“Rok!”
“On it!”
They were taking fire and, although none was penetrating their armor, if the Defensor’s had KLAWs then they would be out of luck. The reptilian aliens weren’t standing down for anyone, not even armed Defensors. Surging forward, their thick bodies swamped the soldiers, and they used their broad fists to hammer them into the ground. Enemy aliens and Defensors might not bleed, but the reptiles were turning the floor red. Even leaking blood from a dozen bullet wounds, the reptiles were still able to beat at the Defensors with their meaty fists. Every blow was delivered with grunting and roaring from the angry reptiles. If he could find more of them, then they would make a worthy army.
He could stay and help, but he viewed the fight as only a skirmish. His mission was to free Jessica, which relied on Lolo doing what she promised.
“Rok, lead us outta here.”
“But…”
“Not our fight.”
The corner of the room had turned into a tiny battlefield. Elongated aliens were dropping from the ceiling and landing on the downed Defensors. Reptilian aliens were using their impressive body weight to keep the Defensors on the floor while the elongated aliens tore off their helmets. Chattering like angry monkeys, the tiny aliens ripped at the Defensors, gouging out their eyes and tearing the flesh from their faces. The soldiers should have been bleeding, but the wounds leaked no more blood than a scratch would.
Striding past the reptilian and elongated aliens, Rok was almost at the next gap in the wall. “You’re a pain in my ass, Tag.”
He understood how Rok felt. It didn’t seem right to leave their alien allies to die, or even their brother Defensors, but if he wanted to make a definitive strike against the blue-clad aliens, then he’d need to win more than just a skirmish. Before passing through the gap in the wall, he turned and fired at the pens holding the aliens like Beanie. Glass shattered and delighted to be free, the furry creatures launched across the room toward the fight in the corner. The Beanie lookalikes were flat-faced, fluffy toys until they opened their mouths widely. Beneath the fur covered faces with innocent, round golden eyes, were two rows of sharpened incisors. The soft covered paws concealed razor sharp claws, which they used to tear at the Defensor’s armor. He doubted they’d get through the tough material, but their gleeful screeching merged with the roaring grunts of the other aliens.
Rok was already in the next room and he followed him through the gap. Where moments earlier the room had been empty, now Defensors were running inside from the wall opposite them.
“Rok!”
“On it!”
“Ash! Move forward. Judge! Cover our six.”
With two KLAWs continuously firing, the Defensors were barely able to get off a shot in their direction before they fell to the floor. Stepping over their bodies, Rok and Ash led them into the next room.
“Pick up the tempo!”
Breaking into a trot, they burst through the next gap in the wall. Blue-clad aliens were running from the room, clearly aware they were losing the fight. Raising his gun, he took aim at one of them. A single shot was enough to stop the alien, and it flattened to the ground.
“Watch your ammo!”
Judge called, “Frag out!”
The blast told him Judge was clearing the room behind them while they advanced to the next. Smoke and heat was making the walls and ceiling bulge. A trembling ripple passed across the walls around them, convincing him the city was alive. Glistening in a way they hadn’t earlier, the walls appeared to leak a clear fluid that pooled onto the floor. Barely visible against the white, he couldn’t help wondering if the city was bleeding.
Through the gap in the next wall, more Defensors were headed toward them. This time some of them were carrying KLAWs, and the sound of heavy gunfire hammered through the gap. Rok and Ash couldn’t enter the next room without being cut down. The squad needed to retreat, but the way back would only lead them to Jessica, and he didn’t want a gunfight anywhere near her.
“Rok. Ash. Hold the gap!”
“On it!”
Rok and Ash stood on either side of the gap firing into the next room. They were caught in a gunfight with only a leaking, white wall between them. He couldn’t go forward and he didn’t want to go back, but if they tried to shoot it out they’d run out of ammunition. The room was filling with heat and smoke from the KLAWs firing from both sides of the wall. Every bullet hammering into the wall was absorbed, leaving no sign of damage, but a clear fluid bled from where each one had hit. It was as if the walls were made of rubber, able to absorb the power of heavy weapons fire, only it came at a price. The walls around them continued to shudder and tremble while the floor became slippery with a wetness he couldn’t see.
“Defensors, stand down!”
The order came from the room next to theirs, and it could only be heard in the brief gaps in gunfire, but Rok wasn’t in an obedient mood. “Frag out!”
Once Rok stepped back behind the wall, it bulged inward as the frag exploded inside the next room. Almost seeming offended by the undulating wall, Rok pulled away from it. “What the…?”
“Defensors, stand down!”
“Shut the fuck up,” Ash shouted, unleashing rounds from his KLAW.
The barrage of gunfire was returned by the Defensors on the other side of the wall. All he had was what he’d brought with him, whereas the Defensors had an unlimited supply of soldiers, weapons and ammunition. Caught between an army on one side, and not wanting to retreat to the room with Jessica, he was running out of options. It would only be a matter of time before they’d be out of ammunition and then it would be game over.
Judge was standing by the door to the room they’d just left, watching the fight between the aliens and the Defensors. “What’s the plan, Tag?”
Looking around the room, desperate to find another way out, he felt the floor shifting beneath his feet. First his left foot sunk deeply and then his right until he slithered through a hole that hadn’t been there a moment earlier. Dropping through the floor, he landed on his feet and instantly toppled forward. He was inside another white room with odd-shaped lumps that could have been chairs. Judge landed next to him followed by Rok and then Ash.
“What the hell?” Rok asked, sounding stunned.
Looking up at the ceiling, there was no hole or even a hint that the floor had opened beneath his feet. Either they’d just had the best luck since they’d woken or something was on their side. The problem with slaves was they were never truly loyal to their masters. He suspected the city was alive, and it didn’t like the aliens any more than he did.
“We have allies.”
The wall in front of him began trembling,
building in energy until it shuddered and split apart. He pointed at the narrow gap. “Rok!”
“On it.”
As they ran through the gap in the wall, beyond the narrow entrance, there were more Defensors moving toward them. Just as Rok aimed his KLAW at them, the wall shuddered and the gap closed. On the other side of the room, the wall trembled and split apart. One moment they were about to be shot at, and in the next there was only a blank wall, but another doorway had opened. Beyond the entrance was another room, and it appeared to be empty.
Although the city couldn’t talk, its actions spoke louder than words and, hoping it could understand him, he shouted, “Lead us to the sky!”
The walls around them shook and reconfigured. Entrances sealed and new ones opened until there was only a snaking corridor ahead of them. “Rok!”
“On it!”
Running along the narrow corridor, he finally saw blue sky ahead. He silently thanked the city for leading them to freedom. “Hawk! Flak!”
“We have your in our sights,” Hawk replied steadily.
The shuttle was hovering at the end of the corridor. Its rear door was down and he could see Hawk and Flak in the cockpit. Running along the corridor, Rok and Ash were the first to jump onto the angled platform. He followed them with Judge hard on his heels. Even before the rear door closed, the shuttle pulled away from the city.
“Man, what a rush!” Rok shouted gleefully.
“I wouldn’t get happy,” Hawk replied calmly. “We have company.”
He pushed past Rok in the narrow walkway on the shuttle and leaned into the gap between Hawk and Flak. Maybe the aliens hadn’t been concerned about seeing the Extrema, or even a shuttle in their airspace, but their free ride was over. Headed toward them were half a dozen of the round beacons they’d seen orbiting Earth and, just as Jessica had speculated, they were armed. Explosions surrounded them, making the shuttle jolt haphazardly in the air. The balls were spinning madly, firing what he assumed were missiles, but Flak and Hawk were making them a tough target by throwing the shuttle left and right.
“We need to land,” Hawk said, his teeth gritted as he fought to keep control of the shuttle.
“They’ll shoot us out of the air,” Flak agreed.
“Take us down!” Judge shouted.
He agreed with Judge’s order, but he didn’t want to land just anywhere. “Head to the arks. Cogless has the coordinates.”
The shuttle jerked sharply to the left and Hawk grunted in disgust. “Don’t want much, do ya?”
Hanging onto the backs of the pilot’s chairs, he watched another explosion in front of them. “Can you do it?”
“This is my airspace,” Hawk replied angrily. “No one shoots my bird outta the sky, not while I’m at the helm.”
He would have patted Hawk’s shoulder, but the shuttle jolted sharply again, and he clung to the back of the cockpit. “Attaboy! Get us down and safe.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Five-fingered Lift Off
Hawk and Flak might have stopped them from being shot out of the sky, but their landing at the arks left a lot to be desired. The three arks still formed a rough triangle, and the battle for the pods raged around them. Thousands of Defensors circled the arks, mostly standing back from the barrier, and only stepping forward to allow a winner through. Milling in the center of the arks were the survivors of the battle. Most were bleeding, and some had to be helped by others as they made their way to their chosen ark.
The shuttle was dropping like a stone, attracting the attention of the fighters and Defensors. People were shielding their eyes from the sun as the shuttle plummeted toward the ground between the arks. Realizing the shuttle was out of control, people began running toward the arks. It was a good plan, they either got out of the way or they would be crushed. The shuttle landed with a whump between the three arks. Sand flew into the air and he couldn’t see anything through the wide window, not that it mattered. The hard landing had thrown him into the ceiling on the shuttle. With nothing to hold onto, he slammed down hard onto Flak, pushing him forward into the window.
“Shit, Tag, get off me.”
Flak’s helmet had caught him squarely in the gut, pushing the air from his lungs. If he could have, he would have told Flak he only had himself to blame, but instead he did as he was told. Catching his breath, he said, “Rok…open the door.”
Usually Rok would give him a confident, “On it,” but this time he sounded irritable. “Rok, do this. Rok, do that. I’m always saving your dumb ass…”
“Focus!” Judge roared. “Enemy territory!” Bodily dragging him from the cockpit, Judge pushed him toward Rok and Ash. “What’s the plan, Tag?”
“Gonna get us another ark.”
Judge was pushing him out of the shuttle. “Sounds fun, but how are we going to fly it?”
Before he could reply, two of the beacons were spinning toward the crashed shuttle. People who had won a pod were running toward the arks as if their lives depended on it and they weren’t wrong. Defensors were standing around the three arks, looking up at the incoming beacons as if they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
“Hawk! Flak! Abandon ship!”
Rok and Ash were holding onto their KLAWs as they ran across the sand toward the ark closest to their position. The Defensors didn’t seem to know what to make of them, and they stepped aside assuming they belonged to the same army. Glancing over his shoulder, Flak and Hawk were half running and stumbling as they ran from the shuttle. Missiles flew from the beacons, blowing the shuttle apart so pieces of it flew into the air. A metal sheet at least three feet wide spun past his head, slicing through a man at the top of the stairs on the ark closest to him. The man’s blood sprayed the white panels and stairs red, then the two halves of his body fell on either side of the steps.
He stopped and grabbed Flak and Hawk as they caught up to him. Pushing them toward the now bloodied stairs, he shouted, “Go! Go! Go! Get to the Bridge.”
Judge was at the top of the steps leading into the docking area on the ark, and he waved Hawk and Flak ahead of him. “Get in here!”
Several Defensors stood at the bottom of the steps looking up at Judge. One hesitantly raised his gun, but then lowered it again. It would only take one Defensor to open fire and he’d be forced into a fight he couldn’t win. Losing control of the mission wasn’t an option, Jessica needed him to save her, and he had to get the ark moving before they were captured.
Elbowing past the Defensors, he ordered, “Defensors, stand down.” His sharp order only seemed to confuse them further, and he pressed his advantage. “Defensors, return to the barrier.”
Reaching the top of the steps, he barely noticed the bloodied intestines hanging from the entrance, and waving at Judge, he ordered, “Head for the Bridge.”
They ran across the docking bay toward the corridor where Flak and Hawk were already disappearing through the door after Ash and Rok.
“What about Lolo?” Judge asked.
“She’s our ace in the hole.”
Pushing aside the confused survivors, Judge began jogging along the corridor. “You left her to die, asshole.”
Although he had no loyalty toward Lolo, the same could not be said of how he felt about Judge. He hadn’t needed to explain why he killed the hybrid at the cabin, but he did have to justify why he’d abandoned Lolo inside the city. “She chose to stay.”
Judge had his hand in the center of his back and was pushing him up a flight of stairs. “You gave her no choice.”
Yanking open a door, he saw Flak and Hawk ahead of him. “I didn’t tell her to stay.”
Although Judge was helping him reach the Bridge, his voice was thick with resentment. “She thought you would kill her.”
Reaching the wide arterial corridor on the ark, he stopped and turned to face Judge. “I wouldn’t have killed her. She’s with you and I’m your friend first and commander second.”
“She didn’t know t
hat.”
“Yeah, she did. She wants to help us and the best way she can do that is by being what she is.” When Judge’s shoulders slumped inside his armor, he patted his back. “She can do us more good where she is.”
Pushing through the large double doors that would lead them to the Bridge, Judge asked, “How do you know that?”
He hoped Judge was right about Lolo and that she was more human than she was alien. Maybe she could work for them on the inside, helping them learn more about the aliens, but if Judge was wrong he’d just compromised Jessica. It was why he’d wanted to kill Lolo from the get go. They were keeping the enemy way too close for his liking, but he also trusted Judge and the man was no fool. Leaving Lolo alive inside the city was a gamble and if he was wrong, then Jessica would die and they would lose the Extrema.
The engines on the ark were firing up, sending vibrations across the floor under his feet. If Lolo couldn’t lead them to the Dead Force, then he didn’t know where they would go instead. He already had one ark full of half a million sleepers he didn’t know what to do with. How would having another ark help solve that problem? The entire future of humans hinged on the loyalty of a hybrid to a dead man. Glancing at Judge, he hoped the man was good at his job, or Jessica and every human was dead.
Another robot Jessica turned to look at them as they entered the Bridge. “Welcome to ark Animax, Commander Tag.”
The arks weren’t unique and each bore only one of three names. Other than their own arks, they hadn’t seen any others in space, which made him wonder if they really left Earth. If they didn’t then he had no idea where they went with the sleepers. The robot Jessica was identical to the one on the ark Extrema, giving him an instant confidence that he hoped would not be misplaced.