Children of Darkness

by James E. Wisher

  Hell with it. Marcus cranked the shields to full power and opened up with every canon on the ship. The doors melted, warped, and finally blasted out into space. He followed them out at full speed.

  Five seconds later they shot into hyperspace. “Where are we headed?” Marcus asked.

  “Nowhere in particular. I just set a short jump to put some distance between us and them.”

  “I can program the jump coordinates to Alpha 114,” Iaka said. “We need to find a native and bring it back to the council.”

  The intercom on Adam’s wall beeped. A moment later the captain said, “We’re approaching the planet, sir.”

  Thank god. The churning in Adam’s stomach settled at the mere mention of landing. He crawled out of his bunk and shambled over to the intercom. “Very good, Captain. I’m on my way.”

  Adam took a few breaths to try and steady himself. It wouldn’t help his image with the crew if he looked like he might puke at any moment. When he could stand up straight and see clearly he left his room and went to the bridge.

  The crew didn’t bother to rise, which spared him the need to wave them back to their seats. Captain Wen stood by the tactical station and Adam went to join him. “Has ground control made contact yet?”

  “No, sir, but we should be within range soon.”

  A few seconds later the comm station came to life. “Unidentified ship, you have entered space owned by Omni Corp. Please identify yourself and your purpose.”

  The communications officer transmitted the requested information and a moment later a live voice came on. “Welcome to Alpha 114. If we’d known you were coming we’d have prepared a proper greeting.”

  Adam frowned and walked over to the comm station. He waved the tech aside. “We were told Omni headquarters would let you know of our arrival.”

  “They may have tried, but our hyperspace relay has been on the fritz.”

  Adam scrubbed a hand over his face. “Just give us the landing coordinates and I’ll talk to whoever’s in charge.”

  “Roger, transmitting now.”

  “Coordinates received, sir,” the helmsman said.

  Adam nodded to the captain.

  “Take us down,” Captain Wen said.

  The transport ship shook as they passed through the upper atmosphere. The Omni camp amounted to little more than a large clearing in the jungle, filled with a variety of temporary buildings. Patrolling the perimeter Adam spotted a pair of mark-six light-duty combat mechs.

  Their transport landed at the far edge of the camp. The ship barely settled on its landing gear when Adam opened the ramp and stepped outside, and took a deep breath of the hot, humid air.

  How long since he’d breathed fresh air? He spent most of his time in ships or domes. The air always tasted stale. Here the air seemed alive. He could smell flowers and decay.

  Adam sighed and shook his head. He could enjoy the flowers later. A whip-thin man in a lab coat emerged from the largest building and stalked toward him, eyes narrowed, and jaw clenched. Adam met him halfway. The scientist, at least Adam assumed the man was a scientist, had a stooped posture and sunken, hawkish face. What Adam wanted to know was how he managed to have such pale, pasty skin on a hot, sunny world like this.

  “Good day, Agent…?”

  “Adam Wright.” They shook hands. “This is a beautiful planet.”

  “Yes.” The scientist frowned and flicked a bug off his hand. “You aren’t the first to say so. It’s a bit humid for my taste, but I’ve worked in worse places. I’m Dr. Miles O’Hare, Omni’s chief xenobiologist, and I’m in charge of this facility.”

  Adam glanced at the collection of tents and modular buildings. Maybe facility was a little generous. The doctor was going to get angry enough when he heard what Adam had to say so no need to argue the point.

  “We need to talk, Doctor.”

  “Certainly, my tent is this way.”

  Dr. O’Hara led him past a collection of modular units gathered in a circle and connected by enclosed walkways. He must have noticed Adam’s interest. “That’s the lab. I can show you around later if you’d like.”

  Adam nodded. He wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

  Dr. O’Hara led him to a small round tent with a flap for a front door. Not what Adam expected for the leader of this operation. He pushed through the flap and the hairs on his arm stood up.

  The inside reminded Adam of his dorm room in college minus the mess: an air mattress, two folding chairs, a chest for clothes, nothing extra, everything spotless.

  “Have a seat,” Dr. O’Hare said. “I’d offer you a drink, but I don’t keep anything here.”

  “Where are the bugs?” Adam asked. He hadn’t noticed one since they passed through the tent flap.

  “The tent gives off a mild static field. Enough to keep away insects, but barely noticeable to humans. Agent Wright, I hardly think you came all this way to enjoy the view or discuss how to keep vermin out of a tent.”

  “No.” Adam decided to cut straight to the point. “We’re shutting you down. The camp needs to be broken down and out of here in three days. We’ll seal the caves where you found the natives. No trace must remain to indicate we were ever here.”

  “I’m afraid that’s impossible. In another six months, perhaps a year, we’ll have the cure.”

  Adam shook his head. “No six months, and certainly no year. Three days, maybe four, and you need to be gone. Those are my orders. You’d best tell your people.”

  “No. The soldiers here are under my command and I doubt you have enough fire power in that transport to force the issue. We’re staying and we’re finishing the work we began.”

  Adam rubbed the bridge of his nose. Why did everything have to be so hard? The doctor had a point. There was only the shuttle crew and him, certainly not enough to fight the Omni mercenaries. “Listen, in a few days a group of heavily armed and antisocial men will arrive. Their job is to make sure nothing remains to link Earth Force to this planet. Their preferred method to accomplish this is flame throwers and carpet bombing. If you and your people are still here they’ll kill you all.”

  Dr. O’Hare jumped up, his chair falling to the tent floor. “I didn’t invest half a decade on this project just to quit when I’m so close. Your orders be damned, we are staying.”

  Adam shrugged. “Suit yourself. I tried to warn you.”

  “Your concern is noted and appreciated. Now, do you still wish to see the lab?”

  Adam blinked, not entirely sure he heard right. Did Dr. O’Hare still want to show off his lab after what Adam told him?

  “Well?”

  It seemed he did. Might as well have a look. He didn’t have anything better to do. “Sure, why not?”

  “Come along.”

  They crossed the clearing to the modular units. They were constructed of metal and had round doors that made an air-tight seal like the airlock on a ship. The outer door had a number pad mounted next to it. Dr. O’Hare punched in a five-digit code and the door dilated open. They stepped in and the door sealed behind them. A pale blue mist began to fill the room.

  “What’s going on?” Adam reached for the sidearm he’d left on the transport.

  “Relax. It’s just a simple decontaminating mist. It won’t harm you in the least.”

  Adam’s pulse slowed. “You might have warned me.”

  Dr. O’Hare shrugged. “I come in here so often I didn’t even think about it.”

  The hint of a smile creased the scientist’s face. Prick. The mist receded and the inner door opened. Adam followed the doctor through.

  “The tunnel goes all the way around the lab so you’ll only need to get decontaminated once.”

  “Lucky me.”

  The first lab held several tables covered with a variety of bubbling beakers and a centrifuge. There were many other items Adam had never seen before. Two white-coated scientists stood around one table stirring a steaming mixture and taking notes.

  “This is the ch
emistry lab,” Dr. O’Hare said. “Those two are studying the properties of various native plants. We’ll be filing several patents in the next month.”

  They left the chemistry lab and continued down the tunnel bearing right. The next room held six cylinders filled with liquid, each cylinder holding a small, wrinkled, hairy humanoid. If Adam hadn’t seen their chests moving he would have assumed they’d died and begun to decay.

  They must be the planet’s native species. Not exactly what he expected. “What’s wrong with them?”

  “These specimens have been infected with the Vencar wasting disease. They’re each at a different stage and will be injected with our latest serum. They don’t last long in captivity so the life support tanks are necessary. Even so this batch will expire in another week, so we won’t see the full effects of the serum. If they show some improvement before death we’ll know we’re moving in the correct direction.”

  Adam stared at the man. He considered himself fairly cold, but the casual way Dr. O’Hare described the slow death of what Adam had been told were sentient beings stunned him. What were the requirements for winning a humanitarian award anyway?

  “This way.” Dr. O’Hare led him to a connected room. If the doctor noticed Adam’s reaction it didn’t show. The next room held a pair of steel tables. One held the dissected corpse of one of the aliens and the other surgical equipment.

  “Why did you skin it?” Adam asked.

  “Ah, very observant,” Dr. O’Hare said. Adam felt like a student again, Unethical Biochemistry 101. “We remove the skin to study their muscle tissue. One of the symptoms of the disease is a breakdown of muscle mass. Our recent effort has greatly reduced this problem in the voluntary muscle groups. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help with the involuntary muscles.”

  Adam looked away from the mangled corpse. “Can we move on?”

  “Certainly, this way.” Dr. O’Hare led him back to the tunnel and then outside. “The rest of the lab is entirely devoted to working on the cure.”

  “It’s an impressive setup, Doctor.” Horrible, but impressive. “It’s a shame you have to dismantle it.”

  Dr. O’Hare frowned. “I have thirty mercenaries that say otherwise. Return to your ship and stay there. I don’t wish to see you again.”

  Adam started back to the ship. He needed to update the director.

  Chapter 15

  “I hate this planet,” Marcus said.

  In the viewscreen Alpha 114 resembled a small, green marble. They’d emerged from hyperspace one hundred thousand miles out. Iaka assured him the scanners in use at the Omni camp couldn’t reach that far.

  “So what now?” Iaka asked.

  “Now you give us the camp coordinates and we come in on the opposite side.”

  “There’s a problem,” Solomon said.

  “Of course there is.” Marcus scratched his stubble. “What is it?”

  “I’m picking up another ship. Ten thousand miles from the surface and going in fast.”

  “Magnify.”

  A glowing speck on the screen expanded to fill it. At a quick glance Marcus picked out fourteen heavy laser cannons. Corvette class he guessed. Probably a troop transport.

  “Earth Force?” Iaka asked.

  “No insignia, and it’s running without a transponder,” Solomon said.

  “It’s Earth Force,” Marcus said. “Off the books black ops.”

  “Cleaners. They’re going to eliminate all traces of the camp. They’ll probably try and collapse the natives’ tunnels as well.”

  “We should hurry,” Marcus said.

  He pushed the thrusters to full power and the Star screamed towards the planet. Marcus kept his distance from where the corvette had gone in. The ship rattled through the atmosphere then smoothed out as he leveled off and skimmed the tops of some huge, dinosaur-looking trees.

  “Which way to the camp?” Marcus asked.

  Iaka studied the readouts on the control panel. “Northeast, maybe fifteen hundred miles.”

  Marcus adjusted their heading and powered down to half thrust. They were still at hypersonic speed and it only took minutes to cover most of the distance. “Keep an eye out for a landing place. I don’t want to get much closer.”

  “I’ve got a clearing on the scanners about ten miles on your right,” Solomon said.

  “I see it,” Marcus said. He brought the ship to a stop, hovering over the clearing, remnants of charred trees sticking up here and there, short grass growing up through the blackened soil. “Are you picking up any seismic activity?”

  Solomon tapped a few keys. “Not at the moment.”

  “All right, I’m bringing her in.” Marcus lowered the landing gear and eased the ship down. When he felt them hit the ground he killed the antigravity generator.

  The Star lurched right.

  “Damn it!”

  Iaka tumbled against the wall. Solomon braced himself between the control panel and his seat. Marcus switched the antigravity back on, leveling the ship out just above the ground.

  “I think the hydraulic cylinder gave out,” Solomon said.

  Marcus glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. “You think?”

  He set the autopilot and the three of them went back to the cargo hold and down the ramp. Marcus surveyed the damage. The hydraulic cylinder had snapped off at the upper connector and bent the piston. None of the surrounding parts looked damaged.

  “You shouldn’t have any trouble fixing this,” Marcus said.

  Solomon stared at him. “Wait, I do software, not hardware. This is your area of expertise.”

  “Relax, there’s four bolts. Take the old one out, put the new one in. Easy.”

  Solomon kept looking at the damaged cylinder and back at Marcus. He chewed his lip.

  “You could take the armor, find the aliens, and fight any Earth Force black ops that get in the way,” Marcus said. “I can stay and fix the cylinder.”

  Solomon shook his head. “I’ll manage.”

  “That’s the spirit.” Marcus tossed him the command gauntlet. “Here, you can get Herc to handle the heavy lifting.”

  Solomon slipped the gauntlet on. He still chewed his lip but now he studied the broken part like it was a puzzle piece instead of something that wanted to hurt him. Marcus couldn’t ask for more.

  He turned to Iaka. “We’d best get going.”

  He went back up the ramp and opened the storage cylinder. Iaka whistled.

  “That’s some heavy duty hardware,” she said. “Very illegal in civilian hands.”

  Marcus held a finger to his lips. “Don’t tell anybody. Black Dragon, configure for atmospheric operation.”

  The computer started to hum as it made the necessary changes to the operating system.

  “Where’d you get that?” Iaka asked.

  “One of the Warlords of Corrin paid me to smuggle it to him past the government blockade. Once I got it through he tried to pay me half the price we agreed on. He held a blaster on me at the time so I agreed. I didn’t mention that I’d set up the security system and synced it to my DNA. When he tried it on the armor fried him to a crisp. I never did get paid, but I kept the armor and it’s saved my life more than once.”

  The computer beeped, the update complete. “Black Dragon, armor up.”

  He stepped into the armor and it wrapped around him. Marcus backed carefully out of the storage cylinder and looked down at Iaka through the helmet. “Ready?”

  “I don’t see a passenger seat. Where am I supposed to ride?”

  Marcus scooped her up. She felt like a cloth doll in his armor-enhanced arms. He clanked to the end of the ramp. Solomon glanced at him and Marcus nodded.

  He activated the armor’s antigravity generator then hit the thrusters. Iaka yelped as they blasted into the sky.

  “Which way?” he asked.

  She pointed toward the mountains to the east. He angled that way, hoping they wouldn’t have too much trouble finding the aliens.

  Adam’s tra
nsport shuddered as a missile exploded a little too close for comfort. He waited near the boarding ramp. Captain Wen monitored the battle from the bridge. He had orders to let Adam know when the worst of the fighting died down.

  The commander of the cleaners contacted him when their transport emerged from hyperspace. They had a simple enough job, eliminate the mercenaries protecting the clearing while Adam retrieved the cure research. The director wanted it in the hopes that something might get salvaged from this mess.

  “Sir, the second Omni mech has been destroyed,” Captain Wen spoke through the small com in Adam’s ear.

  Adam hit the open switch and the ramp lowered. “I’m heading out.”

  Darting down the ramp, blaster in hand, he activated an Earth Force frequency transmitter so the cleaners wouldn’t target him. Smoke filled the clearing and blasts from plasma cannons rang out. Despite the loss of their mechs the Omni mercenaries still fought, brave, but stupid.

  Adam dashed through the clearing toward Dr. O’Hare’s tent. He didn’t expect to find anything valuable but better safe than sorry. He found the charred corpse of a mercenary a few paces from the tent, smoke still rising from the blackened flesh. Ignoring the body, Adam raised his blaster.

  He ducked through the flap, weapon ready. The inside looked the same as the last time he visited. Adam holstered his weapon and started tearing the place apart. He pocketed a diary but left the rest scattered around the floor.

  The tent didn’t amount to much so Adam ran to the lab. He didn’t know the access code so he blasted a hole in the side of the tunnel. Adam went in, coming to the chemistry lab first, no tests running, no one visible. He moved deeper into the lab. A pair of technicians cowering in the far corner, the same two he’d seen before, stared at him, eyes wide. Did the doctor lock them in here?

  One of the techs raised his hands. “Please.”

  Adam shot him in the face.

  The second one screamed and Adam turned the gun on her. “Shut up.”

  She stopped screaming and just whimpered.

  “Where’s Dr. O’Hare?”

  She pointed at the wall that separated the chem. lab from the testing room. Of course, he was with his precious experiments.