by J Battle
He'd barely gone two hundred meters before he came upon them; a great host of the creatures in their multitudinous forms; all variations on a theme.
They were moving slowly northwards; four or five abreast, in a column that stretched out of sight as the tunnel bent in the distance.
'Oh, Hi,' said Dan, feeling suddenly conspicuous.
They stopped moving and their silent consideration was a wall that threatened to crush him. Then a familiar formed slipped from the massed bodies.
'GREETINGS DANROBINSON. WE DID NOT EXPECT TO MEET ONCE MORE. BUT WE DO REMEMBER YOU AS A ONE TIME FRIEND. REGRET SHADES OUR MINDS AS WE SEE WHAT WILL BECOME.'
'Hello, Ardeenallwys. It's nice to meet again. What's going on here?'
'THE DECISION HAS BEEN CONSIDERED AND MADE. WE SEEK TO RID OUR WORLD OF UNTHINKING INVADERS. TO ENSURE THE HEALTH AND PURITY OF OUR HOME. WE WILL BE AS GENTLE AS THE SITUATION ALLOWS US TO BE, BUT WE WILL NOT BE DENIED.'
'I have to warn you; your world is about to be attacked again by a terrible force. You'll be helpless against them.'
'AND YET WE WILL WITHSTAND THIS TERRIBLE FORCE, FOR THE DECISION HAS BEEN MADE.'
'You don't understand, Ardeenallwys; I wish it was as simple as that. They'll have unimaginable weapons that they'll fire at you from the sky. And when they land, there'll be thousands of them. They'll overrun you and kill you all.'
'THANK YOU FOR YOUR WARNING DANROBINSON. YOU ARE NOW OUR TWO TIME FRIEND. WE CAN SEE THE CONCERN THAT WASHES THROUGH YOU, BUT THERE IS NO NEED. WE ARE SAFE UNDERGROUND FROM THEIR ATTACK FROM THE AIR AND WHEN THEY LAND AND ASSAIL US WITH THEIR FLESH, WE SHALL PREVAIL.'
'Ardeenallwys! You really do not understand what is coming.'
Dan tried to hold back on the desperation, lest the emotion cloud their perception of his words.
'You are gentle creatures; not made for war and killing. You must turn and run towards the south, as far as these tunnels go. If you are lucky, they may just attack our settlements in the north, but you must run and hide.'
'OUR HIDING TIME IS OVER, DANROBINSON. THE TIME NOW REQUIRES ACTION. ACTION WE HAVE ALREADY BEGUN.'
Dab glanced at the wall of glowing aliens. 'What do you mean? What action have you already taken?'
'THERE WAS A THREAT TO THE INTEGRITY OF OUR WORLD WHICH NO LONGER PERTAINS. IT HAS BEEN REMOVED.'
Dan felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. 'What threat?'
'YOUR BROTHER HUMANS HAVE BUILT MONSTROUS CONSTRUCTS NEAR THE CENTRE OF OUR WORLD. WE DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE FULL MEASURE OF THEIR EVIL PURPOSE BUT WE COULD SENSE THAT THEY WERE CREATING AN ABOMINATION. IT WAS REQUIRED THAT THEY BE STOPPED. THEY ARE NOW STOPPED.'
'What did you do?' Dan whispered hesitantly. He wasn't sure if he wanted an answer.
'WHERE POSSIBLE WE WERE GENTLE AS WE DID NOT WISH TO CAUSE UNNECESSARY DISTRESS. FOR MOST OF THEM, WE WERE ABLE TO ACT DURING THEIR PERIODS OF REDUCED CONSCIOUSNESS. BEFORE THEY COULD BECOME FULLY AWARE WE CAUSED A RESTRICTION IN THEIR INTAKE OF AIR WHICH QUICKLY CAUSED THEIR DEATH.'
'You killed them all?'
'THERE DID NOT APPEAR TO BE ANY ALTERNATIVE.'
'There is always an alternative to killing.'
'WILL THERE BE AN ALTERNATIVE WHEN THE NEW INVADERS ARRIVE?'
He had to accept her point.
‘What about Helen? Where is she?’ He couldn’t believe that he had not thought of her earlier.
‘SHE HAS GONE.’
‘What? Where?’
‘WE DID NOT WITNESS HER DEPARTURE. SHE DID SPEND TIME IN THE WATER.’
‘What? When was this?’
‘A SHORT PERIOD OF 24 HOURS BEFORE THIS PRESENT MOMENT, WE BELIEVE.’
‘But…’ Dan stopped. What was he to do now? He had to go after her; she was his responsibility.
'What are you going to do now?'
'WE TRAVEL NORTH TO REMOVE THE REST OF THE HUMAN INFESTATION.'
'There's no need for that; they're all leaving now; before the attack comes.'
'RELIEF SHADES OUR THOUGHTS AT THIS NEW KNOWLEDGE. WE WISH THEM HARMONY AND PEACE, AND A NEW HOME OF THEIR OWN.'
'What about me? Am I an infestation?'
'DANROBINSON. YOU ARE FRIEND. TWO TIME FRIEND. YOU BRING NO HARM TO OUR WORLD AND ARE OUR COUSIN; IN FLESH AND IN MIND. COME, WE MUST PREPARE FOR THE COMING DEFENSE, AND YOU MUST DIVULGE ALL YOU KNOW OF THIS NEW THREAT, TO SOW THE SEEDS OF THEIR DEFEAT.'
Dan felt warm at Ardeenallwys's words echoing in his mind.
'There's not much more I know. Except that you can't stand up against them. You'll have to hide and wait 'till the time is right.'
Even as he spoke he knew how stupid his words sounded. There was absolutely nothing they could do against the coming attack; that much was obvious, to him if not to them. If he couldn't stop them from sacrificing themselves, in their ignorance of the risks, then perhaps he could council caution and delay the inevitable.
It wasn't much, but perhaps he'd finally found something to live for, even if it did entail dying.
But first, before he could do anything for them, he had to find Helen.
**********
At standard G, she might have reached him before anyone could interfere. But under this draining gravity, she was so tired, and slow. Even the knife in her hand felt like a broadsword; it was so heavy.
When she'd dragged her body to the ship, there were two human males standing amongst the strange little green aliens. One was large and round, in a silvery body suit; the other tall and skinny, with a snazzy red jacket.
'Is this your ship?' she asked, making an attempt at a smile, but not getting very close.
'Yes, my dear. I'm happy to say that I'm the proud owner of this fine ship which will carry us all to safety. And I'm not even going to charge you for the fare.'
She was just a couple of paces from him now.
'Safety?' she asked.
'She's going to take us all...'
Knife-hand leading, she threw herself at him.
The skinny guy moved to stop her but, even though he was more used to the gravity, he was too far away; he wasn't going to reach her.
But somehow she ended up flat on her back, without the knife and fighting for her breath as Stave pressed her down, his enigmatic face inches from hers.
'No need for killing now. We are friends. All of us are friends; at least until our journey ends.'
There was something about his tone, or was it his eyes, that seemed to calm her; just a little.
'Let me go!' she hissed.
'Indeed I shall, when you agree that there will be no more violence.'
'He stole my dad's ship; he killed my dad. I've got a right to make him pay.'
'Young lady.' Andreas leaned over Stave's back, 'I assure you that I have not stolen this ship, and neither have I killed anyone. I am a simple business man and shun the world of violence and deceit.'
Stave moved smoothly to his feet. There was a lot more huffing and puffing as Moira forced herself upright.
'How did you end up with my dad's ship, then?' Even without the knife, Andreas could see that she posed a serious threat. He took half a step closer to Stave.
'Well, I bought it of course. That's what I do; I buy things and sell on at a modest profit.'
'Who did you buy it from? He must be the thief and murderer.'
Andreas glanced at Iron, his eyebrows raised.
'Well, if you must know, it was a gentleman named Dan Robinson, and I can hardly see him as a killer.'
'Where is he now? He's not getting away with this. The law counts, even out here.'
'You've just missed him young lady, and I'm afraid he may have put himself beyond the reach of the law.'
‘Nigel!’ She spun when she caught a glimpse of her brother.
‘Did you hear that? He’s gone, bro. He’s gone. We have to do something; we’ve come all this way.’
Nigel put one hand on her shoulder. ‘It’s over, sis. We’ve done all we can.’
‘We haven’t done anythin
g!’
He tried to pull her to him, to hug her, but she resisted, both hands against his chest.
‘I’m going after him!’ she snapped.
‘You can’t. How can you follow him? You don’t know where he is, and, look at you, you’re exhausted. You need to rest. Stave can take us home. It’s the only thing left for us now.’
‘But…’
‘He’s right Moira.’ Jimmy stepped closer, but not too close, in case she lashed out in anger. ’We have to go with Stave now; it’s our only chance to get home.
When he saw the tears in her eyes he wanted to hug her; to somehow make it better. But he just watched as Nigel put one arm across her shoulders and guided her towards the ship.
So, he thought as he followed a few steps behind, we’re going home. I wonder if Maggie has missed me.
Chapter 43
'I can't wait to go home, Dad.'
'You were born here, Son. This is your home.'
'Y'know what I mean, man. My real home. There'll be lots of new people and a stack of new things to do and see; and places to go.'
Andreas smiled at his son and resisted the temptation to burst his little bubble. 'And don't forget, we'll be rich when we get there.'
'Rich? How's that? We ain't rich now, are we?'
'Of course we'll be rich. We'll have the only ship in the whole of the Solar Union that can beat the speed of light; they'll be queuing up to pay us whatever we want, and we won't sell cheaply, I'll tell you that for nothing. We'll make enough to retire comfortably.'
'Gee, man. That's neat.'
Stave waved to them from the lower door of the ship.
'What's up?' asked Andreas, when he lumbered closer.
'It's time for us to prepare to leave. Can you get everyone on board by noon?'
'What's the rush, man?' Iron suddenly seemed to lose his enthusiasm for the whole game. 'I thought we had plenty of time, man.'
'Come inside, I'll show you something.' He backed into the engine room and then into the elevator.
When they were all three on the control deck, he called up a display of the night sky from the previous night.
'What's that?' asked Iron, trying to understand what he was looking at.
The boundary of the display showed the usual multitude of stars, twinkling enigmatically, but across the centre of the screen not a single star was visible. All they could see was a great arc of red, curved at its lower edge and serrated at the top, filling that part of the sky.
'That is the Battle Crest of the Hru-argh. I've never witnessed it before; not live. It is quite impressive, don't you think?'
Iron leant closer to the screen, his eyes held by the sight of their oncoming doom. His bowels suddenly felt a little looser than he was comfortable with in company and 'impressive' was not the word that sprang to mind.
'Are them spaceships and battleships and things?' He asked, quietly.
'Yes indeed, Iron. Now, we need to leave before nightfall so that the bulk of this planet will shield us from their view. It would be most helpful for us if they did not see us leave. We do not want to risk them sending any of their smart weapons to follow us.'
Andreas nodded; Iron just looked even more worried.
'There is one crucial piece of information that I still require.' Stave's voice was calm, but he stepped close to Andreas and took one of his wrists in his hand.
Andreas nodded again and moved a step back, removing his wrist from the alien’s grasp. He'd known that this was coming; that at some stage he'd have to put absolute trust in the veracity of the little blue fellow. He'd delayed for as long as he could; now he could refuse, and accept the consequences, or he could tell Stave what he needed to know, and shoulder the burden of responsibility for what followed.
There was really no choice.
He coughed and gave his instruction to the ship's AI. Then he turned and lumbered towards the elevator; Iron in tow.
Stave studied the display for a moment then remotely fed the co-ordinates for Earth's solar system in to the shift engine.
**********
Helen stopped; hot, dusty and breathless; her minding still spinning.
How long she’d run, she couldn’t say, but she’d reached her destination. Far below her, the plain stretched hundreds of kilometers to the south; dull, brown and featureless at this height.
Her feet were less than a meter from the edge and she sensed the stomach churning beginnings of vertigo.
She fought against it, lifting one foot and stretching it out before her. If she'd found this mountain immediately upon leaving the underground caverns, then she would have taking the step into the fall.
But something had changed during her run. She would never have been able to explain what happened; all she could say to herself was that she no longer wanted to die.
Maybe it was some insidious influence by the bands that covered her body, or perhaps the same instinct for survival that had caused her to drive the knife into Jake’s stomach.
Whatever it was, perhaps there was a chance that she’d find a place of calmness within her for the first time since that night.
It had seemed so simple, then. She was alone with the diamonds in the safe; her relationship with Jake was going nowhere, and she really wanted to get back to the Solar Union. He wouldn’t know that both she and the diamonds were gone until it was too late.
He was so stupid with numbers that he kept the combination hidden in his desk, but not so stupid as to forget to set the alarm on the safe.
He caught her in the act and his response was completely off the scale; coming at her with his knife over a handful of diamonds.
They’d struggled and somehow she’d ended up with the knife in her hand and its blade in his stomach.
**********
Finding a happy go lucky Hru-argh is less likely than polling a gaggle of politicians and happening upon one who answers your question in a concise, honest and pertinent manner. Even so, Essel-D was a particularly unhappy Hru-argh, squashed as he was inside the laughingly named passenger accommodation of the Spot or Die scout-ship. There was barely room to fit a sub-dub and he was sure that he'd only been given the dubious honor of taking part in this expedition because of his own small stature.
It wasn't just the cramped conditions that cast a shadow on his mood. There was also his current location; some 100,000 kilometers ahead of the Battle Crest and only a couple of hundred kilometers from the target planet. In the event of a shooting war starting any time soon, he was in a prime position to intercept any interesting munitions fired by either side.
He was part of the advance force ensuring that no surprises were coming the way of the main force. The Hru-argh fleet may be travelling slowly with a great display of their power and dismissal of their opponent, but they weren't stupid enough to allow themselves to be caught unawares.
When he first detected the ship, Essel-D's first impulse would have been to blast the thing out of its orbit and sit back and watch as the cloud of debris dispersed. That would have been his first choice if his tiny craft had had so much as a matter disruptor, or a disassembly cannon. Unfortunately, his ship was unarmed, so all he could do was report it in and watch Fragrance of a New Born Moon sail past in its oblivious orbit of the great tan planet.
He blessed his great good fortune when he received the expected instruction to move towards and investigate the silent ship. So now he had to put on his exo-suit and climb out of his ship and glide across the narrowing distance between the ships, expecting every precious moment to be his last.
Through some great stroke of luck, or lack of attention, he arrived at the ship with his body parts intact and lost no time in using his Omni key to open the external door. Whilst he waited for the airlock to equalize pressure, he checked his accessory belt for something that might pass in the right light as a weapon, without a great deal of success. There was the Omni key of course, and a pair of claw cutters, but nothing that would strike fear into the hostile occup
ants of the alien ship. Knowing that his every action would be transmitted back to his superiors, he tried to float as tall as possible, with his somewhat stubby tail erect and his claws extended.
Before we take our intrepid hero across the threshold of the ship we should consider for a brief moment Essel-D's lack of a sub-dub and the necessary consequences of that particular deficiency. Of course Essel-D was not a member of the SDS and did not have access to their hi-tech solution to the problem. The solution was much more basic and added to his lower than normal level of joy; he hadn't eaten for three days and was very likely to devour any alien he came across that did not possess a threatening size or aspect.
He was relieved to find the place empty, despite the resultant lack of an opportunity for a quick, impromptu meal.
Within only a few minutes he'd managed to complete an assessment of the technology on board the ship and he was hardly impressed. The place was packed with wires and actual circuit boards, with little in the way of miniaturization, and no weapons: its engines were not even FTL.
How could ships such as this one have destroyed the earlier Hru-argh force? It didn't seem possible. And where were they, anyway?
He called in the results of his investigation and began a desultory search for food. He wasn't fussy; he'd eat anything and not give a thought for the consequences for his digestive system.
He'd barely ripped open a tube of pale tan discs when he received his next instructions.
In a dazzling display of impertinence, he finished the contents of the tube before following those instructions. The ship's computer didn't want to play nice and there were one or two fairly basic security barriers to overcome, so it took him nearly five minutes to get the answers he was looking for.
'They call their home Earth,' he muttered to himself as he sent the co-ordinates to his superiors.