Ghost of the Argus (Corrosive Knights Book 5)

by E. R. Torre

  The energy expended, however, proved too great. After a couple of attempts, the cloak remained off.

  B’taav kept the Xendos far from the Locust Plagues’ mother ship. He approached the metal tentacles, for to get to Earth he would have to pass through the empty spaces between them. Those spaces were sizeable, but B’taav worried there might be sensors that detected his movement.

  The tentacles stretched out and around the planet, black jagged metal with cruel, sharp spikes protruding from underneath. At regular intervals were hollow scoops designed to collect whatever the spikes ripped apart.

  The crafts fell further and further. Soon, they neared the first layer of these tentacles.

  Closer… closer…

  B’taav leaned back in his chair. The tentacles were scored with deep cuts. This equipment was well worn, having been used to murder countless worlds.

  The Xendos was parallel to them.

  The Xendos passed them.

  The interior of the craft was bathed in darkness.

  B’taav scanned the monitors, searching for any new threats.

  Abruptly, the darkness fell away.

  B’taav relaxed, if only a little.

  There was another layer of tentacles further below the one he just navigated through. Having successfully passed the first without incident, he was optimistic about passing the second.

  The ship shook.

  This is it, B’taav thought.

  The Xendos entered the Earth’s atmosphere.

  48

  The Xendos slowed as it dipped. B’taav flipped the ship around, using her upper body to protect the escape pod.

  The prolonged use of the gravity hook, especially while entering the atmosphere, worried B’taav. He shut down all unnecessary systems and re-directing energy to the engines. Thrusters lit up and attempted to further slow the ship’s speed. The crafts buckled.

  Light cascaded through the window of the escape pod and B’taav had the Xendos’ cameras peer inside her. Inquisitor Cer was in her seat, strapped down. Her hair was disheveled and there was an ugly cut on her forehead. She waved frantically at the window, trying to get B’taav’s attention. The Independent zoomed the camera on her lips.

  Let me go!

  B’taav didn’t want to. But with each shudder, with each energy fluctuation, he realized it was best to do so. The wear on the Xendos was great, especially since entering the atmosphere.

  You got her to Earth, which you had to do. Inquisitor Cer can land the escape pod far better on her own. For that matter, it’ll make it easier for you to do the same.

  B’taav shone a light on the pod, an acknowledgement of receiving Cer’s message.

  Cer lifted her hand and waved.

  Anytime you’re ready.

  B’taav pressed another button and drew a breath.

  Your Gods be with you, Cer.

  The gravity hook was off and the escape pod almost instantly was gone. The strain on the Xendos’ engines lifted.

  B’taav followed the escape pod through the ship’s cameras and calculated her landing site.

  She would drop within five miles of the signals sent by Paul Spradlin to the Thanatos and at the base of a series of jagged mountains.

  B’taav checked his remote unit and its timer. They had four hours and fifteen minutes to search for Spradlin before they needed to leave.

  The smaller craft slowed faster than the Xendos. B’taav had to keep his altitude and use the atmosphere to continue braking.

  Wait for me.

  Once down, all they had to do was investigate the source of Paul Spradlin’s transmissions, find the man –if he was still alive and in that place– and get the hell out of here.

  A simple enough task.

  B’taav looked at the second layer of tentacles. It had even more jagged claws extending throughout its underside.

  Four hours and fifteen minutes to find a man and get back to Jupiter sounded simple enough.

  In B’taav’s line of work, nothing was ever simple.

  In time, the Xendos slowed enough for B’taav to lower her closer to the second layer of tentacles.

  By then, Cer’s escape pod was well past them and long gone. B’taav looked for any reaction from the alien artifacts, but they remained still. There was no evidence their arrival was noticed.

  The Xendos lowered some more.

  Her cameras swung around and trained on the Locust Plague mother ship. As with the metallic mesh encircling the planet, it too appeared lifeless.

  B’taav relaxed.

  A couple dozen miles south of the mountains where Spradlin’s signal originated were the remains of a city. The city’s area rivaled the largest cities in the Empires, though what was left of her appeared to be no more than rubble.

  B’taav’s attention returned to Inquisitor Cer’s escape pod. It touched down on the desert floor before the dark mountains.

  The Independent activated the Xendos’ thrusters.

  In a little while, he would be back with Inquisitor Cer.

  No time to lose.

  49

  The Xendos moved across the Earth’s dingy gray sky.

  B’taav kept the craft steady despite the urge to hurry up and land.

  This is it.

  The second, and last, layer of tentacles was thinner than those orbiting outside the planet’s atmosphere. B’taav eased the Xendos past them. Their bodies were approximately a mile in width and, like the first layer of tentacles, their claws were pockmarked with scars.

  B’taav spotted gears at their connections. They were designed to loosen or tighten the tentacles. As they moved, so too did the entire wire-like lattice, until it reached the planet’s surface. At that point the tentacles and their jagged claws became a mesh garrote, digging into the ground and eviscerating it, exposing the ores, liquids, and elements that lay beneath a planet’s surface.

  Below the tentacles and on the Earth’s surface were thousands of miles of crisscrossing shadows. The shadows barely moved as the planet rotated. If there was any vegetation left, it would surely have been killed by their extended darkness.

  The fact that the tentacles were miles above the planet’s surface after all these years proved Spradlin’s plan worked. The aliens had not fed. Instead, their machinery waited. It remained waiting.

  B’taav fought back a chill.

  He was flying through the graveyard of hungry Gods and the last thing he wanted to do was make them stir.

  The radiation monitors clicked.

  There were areas he flew over that were heavily contaminated. Others, less so. As he approached the point from which Spradlin’s message originated, the counter dropped. This area proved to be one of the relatively few clean ones left on Earth.

  Of course, B’taav thought.

  The Independent applied the ship’s forward and lower thrusters, slowing and leveling the craft at twenty thousand feet. The Xendos turned ever so slightly, until she was in line with Cer’s landing site.

  B’taav flew over the mountain terrain and opposite the city remains.

  He skirted the mountain peaks, noting gray valleys that once held forests and streams. Nothing was left of either.

  B’taav pulled a readout of surface conditions.

  The Xendos detected no winds at all and an extremely dry, stagnant atmosphere. There was no evidence of any living things below.

  It was as if this world was preserved at the moment of her death.

  The Xendos flew past the mountain range and was over the coffee colored desert sands.

  The escape pod lay only a couple of miles away.

  Her side was marred with black streaks. The attack on the Thanatos’ shuttle craft and the atmospheric entry had almost taken her out.

  B’taav re-checked his monitors for signs of movement. None were detected. The hatch to the escape pod was open yet he could not see Inquisitor Cer. B’taav shook his head.

  Where are you?

  He slowed the ship until she hovered ove
r the pod. Cameras zoomed in and B’taav spotted footprints in the sand. They led away from the escape pod and toward the mountain range.

  Why didn’t you wait for me?

  B’taav had the ship touch down and jumped from the cockpit chair. He ran to the decompression chamber, removed his space suit and remote control unit, put on a jacket and snapped the control back on before activating the chamber’s doors. As the doors worked through their cycle, B’taav checked the remote unit and made sure it was properly linked to the Xendos. Satisfied it was, he grabbed a medi-kit and the fusion gun Desjardins gave him back at the Thanatos.

  Dry, dusty air filled the chamber as the outer door opened.

  B’taav left the ship.

  The Earth’s atmosphere was breathable, just as the Xendos’ instruments indicated, yet B’taav found it lacking.

  It was sterile and hot and, as the ship’s instruments noted, stagnant.

  Looming to the east was the mountain range Inquisitor Cer walked off toward.

  B’taav raced onto the desert sands, his feet sinking into the fine grains. He stopped momentarily beside the escape pod and looked inside. There were drops of dried blood on a panel but otherwise her interior was intact.

  B’taav left the pod and followed Inquisitor Cer’s path. He neared the edge of the mountain’s rocky terrain.

  “Cer?” he yelled out.

  His voice echoed.

  Where did you go? Why did you leave the ship? Especially if you knew I was right behind—

  There was a loud groan and B’taav spun around.

  The sand between the Xendos and the escape pod shifted. Something below the surface moved, drawing up closer to him. A few feet away another patch of sand stirred. Several feet from those disturbances came still more movement.

  Three dark figures rose from the sands. Their bodies were metal and their shapes roughly humanoid. Their movements were clumsy. They were made of metallic scraps cobbled together, it appeared, by a madman. The largest of the three was at least twice B’taav’s size while the smallest was just a little shorter than him.

  All three moved in the direction of the Xendos.

  B’taav pulled up his left arm and spoke into the remote control panel.

  “Liftoff,” he said.

  The Xendos’ engines fired and the ship rose. It continued rising. Too high.

  “Xendos, level o—”

  B’taav stopped in mid-command. Five dark forms appeared in the sky. They were attack drones similar to the ones he saw on his journey to Earth. They came from different directions and headed towards the Xendos.

  On the ground, the three robots stopped. With the Xendos out of their reach, their focus turned to B’taav.

  The Independent swore.

  Ambush.

  He drew his fusion gun before addressing the remote control panel. With the ship under attack and so far away, his instructions would be, to say the least, inadequate.

  If the Xendos was lost, there was no chance either he or Inquisitor Cer could leave this cursed Earth.

  The robots’ strides quickened. Each move was followed by a metallic groan. The smallest of them raised its arms. Something on it glowed an angry red.

  B’taav ducked and fired his fusion gun.

  He hit that robot dead center, the fusion blast punching through its chest and blowing a chuck of metal out of its back side.

  The creature didn’t slow.

  B’taav backed up. He fired again and again, aiming each time at his pursuer’s midsections. None of the shots significantly slowed them. B’taav stepped off the sands and was on the outer perimeter of the mountain range. He looked up in the sky and the flying forms converging on the Xendos.

  His ship remained still in the air, an easy target, and there was nothing B’taav could do about it.

  Nothing at all.

  50

  Things happened quickly.

  The Xendos faded, her dark grey colors changing to match the sandy brown sky. Without the strain of carrying the escape pod while attempting atmospheric entry, she had enough energy to hide herself. In moments, there was little left of her but a faint outline. Seconds after that, she was gone.

  The drones pursuing her slowed and circled the area. They were confused by her disappearance but continued their search.

  Surprised and pleased as B’taav was by this, his attention immediately switched to the approaching robots. Though the fusion blasts hadn’t slowed them, dark liquid spilled from their wounds and, after taking a dozen steps, the medium sized robot stumbled.

  I did some damage after all.

  B’taav skipped up the rocks and found cover. He took a quick peek at the sky but, like the drones, could no longer locate the Xendos. For their part, the drones’ moves grew more frantic. If their attention turned to B’taav…

  The sound of a fusion blast smashing against the rock he was hiding behind forced B’taav to crouch low. Dust and rock chips fell into his hiding place. That blast was followed by another coming from behind and somewhere above him. This one was directed at the robots.

  Is that you, Cer?

  B’taav peeked over the rock he was hidden behind. The right appendage of the largest member of the group of three robots fell to the ground. B’taav looked back, toward where the last fusion blast came from.

  “Cer?”

  “Up here!”

  Inquisitor Cer was hiding in an outcrop above the Independent.

  B’taav put away his fusion gun and climbed toward her while she covered him. Fusion blasts seared through the smallest robot’s legs, causing it to fall. It didn’t stop. It used its arms to propel itself forward.

  Inquisitor Cer kept firing as B’taav made his way closer to her position.

  The largest of the robots passed the others. Once on the rocks, it gained speed. It clanged closer and closer to the Independent. It reached out…

  Its claw-like hand nearly grabbed B’taav’s left leg. Metal slammed against rock, pulverizing it and sending dust into the air.

  B’taav twisted away.

  The robot was on the ground. Its head came up and red, shining eyes settled on the Independent. B’taav drew his fusion gun and fired. The blast blew out one of the robot’s eyes.

  The creature emitted an angry, explosive howl that forced B’taav to cover his ears.

  Move.

  He stumbled up, climbing as quickly as he could.

  The creature’s mouth closed and it moved on. Again it reached out, its jagged arm grasping at space only inches away from the Independent’s back.

  Another fusion blast from above, this one aimed at the ground below the robot, shattered the crumbly rock. The mighty creature stumbled backwards, sliding before falling on its back.

  The other two creatures passed their larger brother.

  “Hurry!” Inquisitor Cer yelled.

  B’taav climbed up, higher and higher. He looked back. On flat surfaces, the creatures moved swiftly but on inclines they slowed considerably and the Independent gained distance from them.

  Despite the good news, the Independent grimaced. The heat and exertion, coupled with his recent illness, had weakened him considerably. His energy waned until, after climbing one last pair of ledges, he had to stop and catch his breath.

  B’taav peered into the sky. The drones pursuing the Xendos were mostly gone. Those that remained zoomed around in ever widening circles.

  B’taav activated the remote control on his jacket sleeve.

  “Xendos, acknowledge,” he said.

  A short transmission confirmed the Xendos was still in one piece.

  “Maintain evasive maneuvers,” B’taav said.

  Despite everything, he laughed.

  The ship is doing a pretty good job without me.

  B’taav stared back down the rocky mountain trail.

  The three metal creatures pursuing him were also gone. Pieces of them lay on the rocky path. They scurried away, possibly tending to their wounds and readying for another at
tack.

  “Cer?” B’taav said.

  “Up here,” she said. “You see them?”

  “No.”

  “Come on.”

  B’taav climbed the remaining rocks. By then, his face was covered in sweat.

  “Inquisitor?” he called out.

  He heard the scraping of boots on rock. He couldn’t be sure –not entirely sure– if it was Cer who approached.

  He lifted his fusion gun.

  The noise grew. A pebble rolled away and fell over the edge of the outcrop. It clanged somewhere down below.

  Standing before him was Inquisitor Cer.

  The left side of her face was bloody from the cut on her forehead. The blood stained her jacket and her left eye was swollen. There was feral quality to her face, a mix of anger and determination.

  “You look like hell,” she said.

  “And you… you’ve never looked better,” B’taav countered.

  B’taav reached out.

  They hugged.

  They spent several minutes resting and recuperating.

  B’taav bandaged and dressed Cer’s wounds. Her left eye was fiery red but thanks to medication, the swelling was considerably reduced. Her vision, she said, was not affected. After putting the medi-kit away, they split a pair of Nutri-Sticks.

  To their west were miles of flat desert. Still further was a patch of darkness, a shadow from the metal tentacles surrounding the Earth. To their north and south were more rocks while to their east the mountain rose higher and higher.

  “And they called this place Eden,” B’taav said.

  The words were greeted with silence. After a while, Inquisitor Cer spoke.

  “Why did you come after me?” she asked. “Finding Paul Spradlin is a fool’s errand. Bad enough one fool goes, much less two.”

  “If this mission required a fool, then I should have been the one to go in the first place,” B’taav said and smiled.

  Inquisitor Cer did not react. The smile on the Independent’s face disappeared.

  “What happened after the Dakota?” B’taav asked.

  “I told you.”

  “What happened to you?”