Denzel nodded his head, turned and fired. The flamer bellowed in his hands, like some kind of ancient beast and unleashed a wave of incandescent fire into the breach. Once he had finished, Daniel watched as tendrils of acrid, dirty smoke rose from the scorched metal.
The silence was broken by the shrill computerised voice, “EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY. UNDER SCI-CORP DIRECTIVE ALPHA, ONE, CHARLIE, ALL EXPERIMANTAL AREAS HAVE BEEN SEALED. REACTOR MELTDOWN IN NINE MINUTES. ALL CREW MUST EVACUATE, REPEAT ALL CREW MUST EVACUATE.” It shrieked out of a cracked, broken speakers and only encouraged within Daniels mind the sense of being trapped in some kind of house of horrors.
“Captain we have to get off this ship,” Hollis roared a mix of terror and rage thick within his voice.
Daniel looked at each of his Marines, they were his family and he wasn’t going to let them die. Already the plot was taking shape, like a piece of clay, slowly being moulded.
His gaze found Kelly, “We need to bring up the layout.” His voice held no trace of panic or terror, they leaked just below the surface, “I need to know if any of the life pods are still active.”
Without reply Kelly shifted her attention to the tracker, her gloved fingers danced over the holographic keys.
“You think any of them will still be operational Lone Star?” Denzel asked sheepishly, as if part of him didn’t want to hear the answer.
Daniel nodded his head slightly, “It’s been two hundred years, but yeah I think so, the reactors would have been offline and so should still have a charge available. The question will be if we can find a path to reach them.”
Hollis shook his head angrily, “I don’t want to die on this ship, not on this fucking ship.”
Daniel grabbed his shoulders and shook him aggressively, “We’re not dying here Snowman, so hold your shit together.”
Hollis held his gaze. His voice quietened now, “Yes sir.”
“Good!” Daniel exclaimed, “We’re all going to make it, I’m not leaving anyone behind on this miserable tomb and I’m definitely not staying, ok?” He enquired. His own tone, more measured now.
Hollis answered with a nod and a thin, nervous smile.
“Lone star,” Kelly exclaimed, glancing up from her tracker. “I’ve got the layout, the nearest life pods, which should be active are just past the airlock, we have a bank of five and all we need is one.”
“See everything’s going to be fine,” Daniel said, an attempt at wit, which was greeted by awkward and hesitant chuckles.
“Yeah we don’t have any problems,” Denzel added, his face a deadpan front.
“Wait,” Kelly shouted, her gaze fixed back on the tracker. “Shit I’ve got movement here and its coming fast!”
Daniel could feel the very ground shake beneath his feet. His stomach was once again thick with primal terror, he felt like some kind of Neanderthal, attempting to flee from an ancient predator. “RUN!” he roared.
The wolf was at his side and they both set off down the grimy corridor. The animal was obviously far quicker and crested the top of the hallway in just a few seconds, it glanced back at him, eyes wide, nostrils flaring and fangs clear. It was then he felt the impact behind him as the pursuer hit the barricade. He could hear the groan and cracking, as if the metal itself was screaming out in anguished torment. He didn’t turn around, he didn’t need to. He knew what was following them, and that was death.
As he reached the turn into the main access corridor, he paused, “Geek you and Snowman keep going, Killer you’re with me we have to buy ourselves some time.”
“Sir!” the replies were broken, by heavy rasps of breath.
His eyes followed Kelly and Hollis as they set off, and then swung back to barrier. He watched in sheer wonderment as the steel, buckled and bent. The centre of the makeshift blockade, constructed as some kind of final defence against the darkness, became engorged and seemed to him like water caught behind a plastic sheet, attempting to break its way through.
Denzel shivered, “What the fuck is this thing?”
Daniel shrugged, “Its death!” Once more his voice contained no anger or vitriol, in fact he didn’t know where the answer had come from, yet it was the truth in its most simple form. There was no time now, for sugar coating or pleasantries. “Get ready to fire on my mark.”
He fixed his stare on the wolf who stood guardedly at his side, although he could see its muscles and body quiver, it stood firm. He stretched a gloved hand down and patted the animal’s head, “Time to go boy,” the wolf glanced up at him. “Go!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. The animal backed away reticently, peered back at him once sombrely, then lowered its head and ran off down the passageway.
Daniel shifted his gaze back to the cordon, the metal seemed to squawk in rage and then gushed open. He remembered seeing a film once, in which some sort of alien made its home in a human gut and when it was fully grown it burst through. That is what he saw again now, as the barrier split open and the bleakness began to pour through. It appeared at first like dirty flood water, escaping the confines of a riverbank, yet as it oozed through the rupture, its movement again shifted from random, to sure and defined.
As it entered the corridor, the wave seemed to shift and pitch. It spread out slowly until it neared the walls and ceiling, then it paused. For the briefest moment, Daniel thought he saw those eyes of white hot coals fix once more upon him. Within the gloom he caught sight of various shapes rippling, like fish swimming beneath the surface of a stream. They aligned themselves and then began to reach out through the murk, stretching its surface like a hand pushing out through a balloon.
Now he was so close, he realized he had seen this shade before, twenty years ago. It was the same entity that had ripped his sister from him and slaughtered his parents. It had taken everything he had cared about and loved. He roared in mingled frenzy and anger. His terror was excised from his soul and all that remained was the most primal and natural wrath.
The darkness seemed to pitch, pairs of blistering eyes sought him out and within his mind he heard a soft whisper. The voice was deep, primitive and filled with all-consuming fury. “You,” the gloom shifted slightly. “We have been waiting for you, for so long, it is time for you to join your sister.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
MARS, THE SOL SYSTEM
The vast Sci-Corp headquarters covered almost the entire surface of this world that had once been called the red planet. Long ago, huge cities populated by billions of people had been erected here. At first housed within mammoth habitation domes and then once the terra-forming technology had been developed fully, they had become obsolete and been removed. Now though most of the population had left and all that remained were the various Sci-corp facilities, which were dotted across the surface.
In some areas the traditional rusty dirt which had once covered its surface was still visible, but that was rare, the original planetary engineers has wished to create another Earth, another Eden. They had seeded the skies and created vast turquoise oceans. Some could still be seen today, although most had become so toxic that life was barely able to exist.
At the centre of what had been the Capital, Mars City, a vast glass tower stood, it had been the headquarters of the planets administrators, now it was the residence of the leader. Of course he never spent any time above ground, where he felt vulnerable and exposed. A myriad of people and organisation’s wanted him dead and they would risk almost anything to see him fall. So he had made his home within a secure bunker complex, that was buried, five hundred storeys below the ground, close in fact to the planets core.
As he stepped out of the stem cell bath, the leader tried to remember the last time he had actually seen the sky or the sun in fact. He gave up when he realized it had been certainly over two centuries. The name he had been given at birth was Samuel Follows, yet now he was referred to simply as Leader, or God by his more zealot followers.
He strode over to the mirror and surveyed himself, he traced his hand ov
er the soft acne scars that covered most of his slightly wrinkled face. He could have had them treated of course, but in some ways he liked them, they reminded him of the torment and bullying he had suffered. He sneered as he envisioned all those that had taunted him on the playground, as rotting piles of bones somewhere. He appeared outwardly like a man on the wrong side of middle age. Not as fit as he used to be certainly, yet still not too bad, perhaps like a boxer that had gone to fat. He glanced down and slapped his slight belly, transfixed for a moment as the fat rippled, like waves upon a calm sea.
“Not bad,” He smirked.
That was certainly true for someone who was over two hundred years old, he deactivated the bathing unit, one of the many devices that helped him to slow down the aging process. He would not be able to live forever, as that was still impossible, yet he could certainly prolong his life for perhaps another two or three centuries, certainly long enough for him to complete his great work. He placed on a simple white robe and stepped back into his bedchamber.
The immense room was appointed in only the most luxurious and decadent manner. The furniture and fittings, ripped out of the most famous and beloved historical houses from around Earth space. Most were hundreds, if not thousands of years old and were certainly priceless. It was such a marked difference from the true zealots that followed the full religious doctrine of the Sci-corp, which he had helped to write, who all lived in simple and basic dwellings, forgoing the luxuries and opulence that he took for granted.
The walls were lined with gold and marble. Hanging at brief intervals were original paintings, not this holo rubbish that was seen by most people. No these were the archetypes, many stolen from prestigious galleries or purchased upon the black market. Works by great artists of the ancient past, Turner, Van Gogh and Constable, to name but a few. The images themselves had an almost incalculable value and any one would have enabled you to buy at least a planet or two. Although to Samuel money, was an immaterial idea, the Sci-corp themselves, controlled almost three-quarters of all of the currency within known space after all.
At the very centre of the chamber a four poster bed sat, its sheets were usually made of pure silk, yet now they were covered in PVC, it was what he liked to do when he was entertaining guests.
His eyes fixed on the two bodies, each covered in various cuts and abrasions. Pools of scarlet and rose spread over pale almost grey flesh. They were whores, simple playthings to keep him amused, orphans probably. They had both been too scared to speak and that was how he liked them. His silent toys that allowed him to play out his most disgraceful and debauched fantasies. It was one of the many privileges that his office had afforded him. Of course many of those that served him, knew of his perversions, yet they cared little as long as their own wealth, and positions were unaffected.
Samuel had been married once long ago, before he had taken over the Sci-corp and like all the women he had known she had betrayed him. Anger flashed across his wrinkled features and once again he could see her snicker at him, her finger outstretched pointing out his limp, and flaccid flesh. His failure as even the most basic man.
He roared, as fury burnt within his dark soul, no woman would ever laugh at him again he had made sure of that.
He drew in a slow, lethargic mouthful of air, the sickly sweet reek of incense and death filled and excited his senses. He would have to get some of his servants to remove the lifeless frames later, after he had some more fun with them of course. He looked past the bed and caught sight of the cage, the tiny silhouettes inside barely visible in the gloom. A sick grin spread across his scarified countenance as he thought of all the enjoyment he would have from them as well later.
As he streaked across the room, holographic screens shimmered to life, he studied them briefly. They showed stock prices of the various private mega-corporations that they owned, as well as information about research and development projects. He fleetingly observed the various news feeds, the recession he had started several years ago, had now become a full-blown depression. In over two/thirds of Earth controlled space, riots, famine and suffering were continuing to worsen. In some places over seventy-five percent of the people were unemployed. He read a story of a family who were foraging for food in rubbish dumps and he chuckled scathingly.
It was all happening exactly as he had planned, the people were on their knees and soon they would be ready for the final conflict. Of course he could end the depression tomorrow if he had so wished, to simply flood the markets with money and set everything right. Yet that was not part of his master plan, he yearned to watch the galaxies burn and the sinners with them.
Samuel paused momentarily at one display, which simply replayed the video of last night’s depravity, he drew his fingers over young, terrified faces set in veneers of pain and torment. He was lost within his own degeneracy. As his own consciousness, recalled the memories of the suffering, and before him they merged together.
“My dear it looks like you have already had your fun,” A soft, girlish voice purred.
He swung around, as the very air seemed to flicker and a figure emerged into the chamber. She was perhaps the most beautiful creature he had ever laid his eyes on. He licked his lips as he leered over her perfectly formed frame, light brown skin appeared to shine and glimmer, while around her an air of majesty and power seemed to exude. Her name was Lust and she was how he was going to finally win this war, and set the universe aflame.
Lust danced across the room, her lissom body covered with nothing more than a thin silk dress, her eyes fixed on him, and she beamed. “Have you lost your tongue my love?” She teased him gently.
He shook his head, “Of course not my dear, I am just shocked to see you that is all.” He became lost within her eyes, they seemed to transition between blue, hazel and finally red. He could look upon her for hours and when she was around he found that even his most dark fantasies seemed to leave him, if only for a short while.
She blew him a kiss, “I couldn’t keep away my love, you know me.” Her attention drifted to the holo screens, “And of course today is such an important time, I wouldn’t miss out on seeing your great plan finally come together.”
“Really so it’s my plan that you’re interested in?” He lumbered towards her, wrapping his arms around her warm form, he breathed in her scent and was once again became lost.
“Of course not my love, but it is so important.” Her hands slithered back and slowly she ran her nails over his exposed skin, “Has everything gone to plane, you have the Eclipse one and the colony has been seized?”
The feel of her flesh upon his was electric and it sent shivers up his spine, “Yes we will have them both very soon, my love.”
“Good!” Lust exclaimed, as she pushed away from him. She favoured him with a cheeky grin, “I am sorry my love but I am need elsewhere.” She glanced over at the children in cowering within the cage and for a second he thought he saw genuine shock transition across her face. “I think you have enough to keep you entertained here in my absence, so I will not be too upset.”
“You’re leaving so soon my love,” He sneered. “A lesser man, may take that as a slight,” he grappled to control the rage that bubbled up from his soul.
She tilted her head to one side, impishly. “Well it is good that you’re a great man my love, who knows all I have done for him.” Her eyes shuttered and she raised her hands.
Images exploded within his mind of all the times they had spent together, pure pleasure washed over his body and he wilted to the ground. When he finally opened his eyes, he found that he was alone, he smirked as he thought of Lust. He knew what she was, or at least to some extent, and he also knew that she meant to betray him.
He stood up and shrugged, he would need another bath now. He had much to organize this night, before the true confrontation was to start and the blaze would begin to burn away all the malefactors.
The part of his spirit that was still human, questioned whether he too would be consumed within the fir
e then. He smiled and roared, “How can you burn a God!”
Lust materialised within her bedchamber, War lay stretched out on the bed lazily, it was just the way she had left him and she was happy to see his body still gleamed with sweat.
He glanced at her and smiled, “How was your trip my love?”
She glared back at him and sneered. “How do you think love,” she spat, her anger barely under control. “I feel like I need a shower after every time he lays, his fat, sweaty paws on me.”
War pulled back the sheets and stepped from the comfort of the bed, “It is very simple,” his voice serene, and steady as it always was. “I could just kill him,” he smirked and marched closer to her. “It would take me perhaps two seconds, unless you wanted him to suffer, in which case I could prolong his misery for several days, or we could just bring him back here and throw him in one of the Mistress’s great feeding pits. I have heard it takes up to a year to fully die in one of those.”
She winced as he mentioned the feeding pits, it was an involuntary reaction that she had been having more and more recently. It used to be that nothing affected her, except her all-consuming hungers, yet gradually, a voice that had begun as a simple whisper within her mind, had now reached a crescendo. It whispered of human emotions and feelings. She had felt it when she had arrived in the Leaders room and seen the bodies of the women. Tiny frames cut and abused, and then the children, caged up like animals. She felt tears well in her eyes and her body shock.
“What is wrong?” War asked as he came and took her in his arms.
She leaned into his powerful chest and began to sob, warm tears rolled down her cheeks and she could taste them upon her lips. “I don’t know what is happening to me?” she cried.
War held her tightly and for once he didn’t speak or chide her, instead he reached his head down and kissed her forehead. Tenderly and gently unlike how he usually caressed her, which was so full of flaming passion. “It will be ok Lust.” He whispered.
The First Dawn (The Sci-Corp War Saga Book 1) Page 21