Mission: Lights of Langrenus

by V. A. Jeffrey

  “What were you doing out there?” she shrugged.

  “Just wanted to see the mountains.”

  “You're a spy, then.” I said and I admit it sounded accusatory.

  “We should go,” she said coldly. I turned to Will, immediately feeling a growing discomfort with this alien woman, but there was no time to question her further and she might be of some use in getting us out of here.

  “Will. We aren't getting through those doors anytime soon, are we?”

  “No, Bob.” I looked around the room while the security mechs were banging on the doors outside, and high up in the wall I saw our escape, the way we originally got in. A vent.

  12

  We had gone so deeply into the complex above the mines that I was lost. And now we had two extra people with us. Justin was barely able to walk and he hobbled along frantically, with me helping to bear him up. The Glia woman, her name was Liatel, brought up our rear. We had a big problem. We needed to outfit everyone with space suits, helmets, and weapons to make it out of here alive with a fighting chance. We needed this before we could even consider finding our way back from where we came from. Thankfully Will's GPS system was in ticking, good order.

  “It will take me awhile Bob, but I can trace our steps back from where we came in.” The other problem was that now security was alerted to the fact that there were intruders loose in the complex.

  We came upon a long corridor with several ventilation doors and far down there was a fan with blades as big as air taxis. I could detect an oddly metallic, smoky smell and it was noticeably hotter in this area. We had been climbing upward, following the recorder mech, searching for a supply room.

  “We're getting close,” whispered Liatel.

  “Close to what?”

  “Close to a supply room. We need to make a move now. Security mechs will be swarming all over the place soon.”

  “Well, we still have the element of surprise and they aren't outfitted with top security personnel around here,” I said. I'd noted that they were kind of lax, which was probably why I wasn't dead yet.

  “Perhaps, but we don't have the option of simply calling the police to our rescue out this far. And our advantage of surprise is dwindling fast,” she said dryly.

  "Okay, so where's this supply room?"

  “The supply room, I believe, is behind this panel here,” she said, pointing to a panel door. I set Justin down and he crumpled to the ground, moaning. He was in terrible shape. Honestly, I didn't feel that much better. Adrenaline and fear kept me going.

  “She's right, Bob. We can get most of what we need in here before we leave.” Will bobbed up and down before us.

  “There!” I pointed to the holes in the vent. “Someone is there. Security mechs,” I whispered. We watched as the security mechs checked the room and then passed down the hall. After they'd passed, quietly, I pushed open the panel door and climbed down.

  Breathing quietly, I grabbed two suits and threw a couple of helmets and some gravity boots back into the ventilation opening, hoping they would fit the two of them.

  “I'm going to look for some guns,” I whispered. Unfortunately, that plan immediately ended when a security mech suddenly came back into the room. Wasting no time I fired but this mech was quicker than most and avoided my laser fire at the last second. I ducked and rolled behind a cabinet just as laser fire from its lasergun exploded into the top of the cabinet, searing it off. I peeked out from my hiding place only to be forced back from another stream of blasts from the security mech's lasergun. It was slowly making its way toward me, searing off and destroying furniture and tables where I was hiding, systematically getting rid of any decent hiding place I might have. I wasn't able to get a good bead on it. Suddenly, there was a lasergun blast that exploded in the back of the mech's head which was seared off and fell to the floor. Another blast put a hole through its chest as it still fired wildly into the air. I rose from my hiding place and finished it off. From the vent space I saw Liatel duck her head down. She had my extra lasgun in her hand.

  “I needed a gun and thought it would come in handy. Sorry for stealing it,” she said.

  “Well, you saved my bacon down here!”

  “Come on! Hurry up!” She urged. The alarms in the complex were getting louder. I ran and jumped up into the vent and we all continued on our way. But down the corridor that continued upward, the massive ventilation fan started to crank up and turn. Air currents were quickly picking up speed into a strong gale and soon we felt an inexorable pull upward toward the humongous blades.

  “Well who the hell turned that on?” I cried.

  “The complex gets overheated frequently. Those are there to help with the problem. Not very efficient but that's what they're there for!” I could feel the force of the winds becoming stronger. I grabbed hold of Justin's arm and put it over my shoulder to bolster him up again.

  “What is that?” He asked.

  “The ventilation system! We need to go a different way or we'll end up ground meat!” I said.

  “This way! Come on!” Shouted Will hovering down a dark and narrow tunnel that descended down a steep incline. Lasergun fire came through the panel door opening. We all slid down, the steep incline. Liatel came rolling down on top of us as we landed in yet another corridor as we followed the recorder mech through the maze of ventilation corridors.

  “I hope you know where you're going, Will!” Justin was doing his best to run with gravity boots on. Alarms were now going off everywhere in the complex. Shouts of confusion could be heard and armed security mechs were on the move. They had detected that we were in the ventilation system.

  “Liatel! Can you fly Justin out of here?”

  “Not without room. There's hardly any room to take off in here!” She gave me what seemed like a scathing look.

  “Then we all run like hell!” And that's exactly what we did as laser fire tore into the ventilation system from beneath us. As the little recording mech whirled around the corridors with us fast behind it, I got the distinct feeling that we would not escape unscathed from this, if at all.

  “We're almost there!” Said Will. There was a huge crash and we all fell through the vent floor and into what looked like a large, holding room. There was a giant floor to ceiling window looking out on the eastern wall of the crater. I heard raging screams from somewhere in the complex. It was her.

  “Where are we, Will?” I asked getting up from the tangle of limbs.

  “We are in the room right above the back entrance that we came in through.”

  “Well that's good!” I said.

  “But the place is on lockdown.”

  “Well that's bad!” I put the helmet on. It wasn't the one I came in with, but it fit the suit. This was the only time I was glad to be wearing an inexpensive factory made space suit, which were made to fit a variety of helmets. Liatel did the same and so did Justin. I turned on my space suit. At first I had red visual warning alarms flash across my face plate but then the suit's systems calibrated themselves to fit my body and body temperature. I saw atmospheric levels, air pressure, breathing apparatus systems and other system controls display themselves, racing across the faceplate screen. We listened quietly at all the alarms in other parts of the complex. Will had zeroed in on the lock to the doors on the other end of the room, hacking the key code for them while we waited for the other doors to open, guns ready.

  “Justin, stay by the recorder mech there in case he gets the door opened quickly,” I said. He nodded weakly and limped over to the other end of the room while Liatel and I waited behind the wall by the other doors. I felt sweat coursing down my body under my suit as I heard voices and footsteps coming closer. Closer.

  Finally, Will got these last doors open but they shut immediately again. He opened them again and this time they opened just partially. Justin leaped in between the doors.

  “Hurry!” He strained, trying to hold them open. We ran through the doors which closed shut again with thundering finalit
y.

  “Good! My rider should be just outside!”

  We came to a ledge.

  “Someone's coming,” whispered Liatel. I crouched down to survey the scene below. I could still detect the footprints in the dust I'd made on the way in on the path below. We were outside in the small cave. The lunar lights were going crazy, lurid with color. The drop wasn't too far, maybe twenty feet down.

  “They must really be working them overtime today,” murmured Justin, looking fearfully at the lights. I glanced at him.

  "What do you mean?"

  "The colors. Mandatory overtime," he said.

  "That comes from crews working overtime?” I asked. He nodded.

  “Stirs up whatever gases lie below the surface of the moon. It's a sign of overworked crews. Not unusual at Hussa. So, what about that drop down?” He asked.

  “We can adjust the levels on our boots to soften our landings, maybe,” I said.

  “These boots, like everything else around here, are too cheap for that,” Liatel said in disgust.

  “Well, we'll have to drop down. There's no way around it. Maybe on that side down there, where we can climb down at least half the way. Once I get down I'll pull some of those rocks over there and build stair-steps up to the cave opening.” I pointed up ahead.

  “Where is your rider parked, exactly?” She asked. My mind went to full alert. It was a perfectly reasonable question. And it bothered me. I had no time to ponder on it but it got my hackles even further up about her and it brought to my memory the fact that she'd taken my gun without my knowing it.

  “Just outside. You'll see,” I said simply and hopped down against the rock wall of the cave. I slid part of the way before jumping down the rest of the way and then scampered under the walkway ledge the other two were still standing on. I went to the rocks by the opening and piled them up together as best I could. Will simply lowered himself and hovered by me. Liatel, far more limber that I'd suspected, slid part of the way down the wall and then leapt down the rest of the way, landing lightly, even in her gravity boots.

  Justin's descent was difficult. He climbed down gingerly and then slipped. I could hear the inhuman screams of that Fiorjah creature getting louder.

  “What is that sound?” Liatel whispered quietly. I looked at her strangely.

  “You mean you don't know?”

  “Should I?” There was a sudden alert beeping from the recorder mech. I turned around and Justin, struggling to get down fell backward the rest of the way.

  “Uggh!” He yelled.

  “What happened, Will?” I asked.

  “We don't have time! We must go now!” Urged Liatel. I frowned at her but was spurred on.

  “This way!” I said and I took hold of Justin's arm and bounded several times upward until I reached the cave opening. I extended my legs outward until my feet touched the opening and then I used the force of my body to fly through before we landed on the ground just outside. Liatel ran down the path and jumped out of the cave with the grace of a cheetah, just in time for us to hear laser blasts raining down from above inside. Finally out of the cave, I led them to the moon buggy. As I hopped in I looked back to see the Glia woman raise the lasgun at me and power it up. Will's little alarm went off like a shrieking siren and all this while we were still being hunted. I ducked down just in time to avoid the blast of laser fire. I aimed with my vambraser and let loose a stream of laser fire but my aim was off and she was quick. She leaped out of the vehicle and away from the line of fire, ducked beneath the vehicle and then rose up, reaching over quick like a snake, and grabbed my arm, nearly tearing me from the seat. I had no idea how strong alien females were but at this rate she would rip my spacesuit right off me if I didn't so something fast.

  “Thanks for the help, human trash! To have my own precious genetic material taken from me and used for creatures nearly as low as beasts! A curse on you all! Scum!” Her wide mouth curled into an ugly snarl as she raised the gun to fire again. The owl mech came rushing in only to be batted away by a swing of her arm which sent it sailing through the air and crashing against a rock. Justin, with a sudden and surprising burst of energy, struck her with a rod he'd unhooked from the back of the vehicle. She turned on him and shot him. He fell back and out of the vehicle, his helmet hitting the dust.

  “We're coming to take your precious Earth and there's nothing you can do to stop us!” Her gloating enraged me and it gave me just enough time to recover and fire. This time, I met my mark and hit her right in the chest, twice. She went sailing back and floated slightly in the air. I got out of the vehicle, scrambled over to the drifting body and grabbed the lasgun. I started up the vehicle, pulling Justin over back inside with one arm. Driving with a half shot off steering wheel with the other arm, I made a difficult ascent up the side of the crater wall. Will, half smashed and malfunctioning but able to move finally came and attached to the vehicle support column on Justin's side, but it looked that I would get no more audio help or communication from that front. I felt strange vibrations under me as if the moon was quaking.

  They're coming! And indeed they were, with frightening insectoid-looking vehicles, things out of a nightmare. As we were coming out of the crater on to the plain, I saw them from far off across the lunar desert coming from around the front entrance of the mine. In the air, I saw a large work-carrier outfitted with lasers under it. Justin was losing air, even with the suit's automatic repair mechanism kicking in and he was slowly losing blood. I could see globules of it floating around behind his faceplate. At this rate, he would either die of asphyxiation or choke on his own blood. Damn these cheap Hussa suits! The owners of these companies that did business with each other should be drawn and quartered.

  “Hang in there Justin! Here, take this laser gun!” I took the second lasgun and pushed it into his hands and roared the buggy to more vigorous life and we made it just over the rim of the crater. I saw a rock formation about a mile off with scarce hiding room, but it was better than nothing. I drove toward it like a madman, lunar dust flying behind in my wake. Swerving around a jagged pillar and under the natural arch formation, I barely avoided the firepower of the carrier coming up behind me. The buggy lurched and rocked and we nearly fell out as I circled around a huge meteor, dragging it in a tight circle back under our scant hiding place. Laser fire blasted holes into the rock beside us and a small avalanche of rocks toppled down from above. I floored the pedal and raced out from under the archway right before the carrier ship fired upon it again. This time, it came crashing down in a cloud of dust. I raced the buggy across the desert, desperate for another hiding place. I perceived a bright cascade of light folding around me and I wheeled the buggy around ready to make a last stand defense. Raising my vambraser, I looked in shock as the Mother Fiorjah ascended from the carrier. She looked like a bright star but in her eyes was hot, white rage. She grew what looked like wings of light and raced toward me. In an aura of bright light, I could see her form inside what looked like a biological suit that moved like the liquid she was once encased in. I fired, missing the first few times but hitting her the third time and the fourth. With each hit, she turned either blue, green or violet, seemingly consuming the power from the lasers. Finally, I turned the power up and blasted her again and she shrieked and howled, grew to fearful size and rose up and away. Even through the tinny sounds of the audio in my helmet it was frightening.

  “My God, my God! What is that?” asked Justin weakly. I could hear him panting through the audible intercom system in my helmet. I felt a rumbling beneath me as the carrier backed away. I could clearly see the security mechs commanding the carrier, deliberating on whether to fire on me or not. Why don't they fire already? Soon I had my answer. A huge black shadow was cast over the area and I looked up to see another ship approaching from the south. The carrier then fired on this new ship. A thin shield was activated on the second ship and it fired back. Under the fight of these two large ships, the Mother Fiorjah seemed to eat away the laser fire from the
new ship growing even larger and then she turned and fled across the lunar desert. A smaller, fierce looking fighter ship descended from the loading bay of the second ship and chased after her.

  “I will find you, interloper! You have taken my divinity and you are not worthy of it! I will destroy you and devour your entire race!” She screamed as she fled across the desert and toward the mountains. Just as crazy as Dr. Dorn. I thought. As the carrier turned to flee as well the second ship fired an unrelenting volley of laser fire and the carrier was seared nearly in half, then exploded. I felt movement beside me and saw that Justin was struggling with breathing, his skin turning blue. He was slowly dying of asphyxiation.

  I waved wildly at the second ship half in hope they would notice and not accidentally fire on us.

  “Help! Help! Help us!” I cried. The second ship turned toward us and slowly settled down over us. It's walkway was lowered from the bay and finally I saw Magnum descend through the exhaust mists.

  “Thank God!” I cried. I drove the buggy up the ship's broad walkway.

  “I see you have actually found something for The Boss on your mission out here. That alien creature, for instance.”

  “That creature is called a Fiorjah.”

  “Interesting detail. I've heard a little about them.”

  “You've heard about them?” I exclaimed in shock.

  “I have. The Boss knows more about aliens than you think, Robert. I've sent one of my assistant mechs after it. If we can capture it, perhaps it will be a key to unraveling some mysteries we've found on Earth.”

  “But she's very dangerous! And insane!” I protested.

  “No doubt. But having her in captivity or dead is better than having her free and roaming about the solar system. Who is this?” Asked Magnum, pointing to Justin.

  “One of those important details. He's choking for lack of air. He needs medical attention right now.” Justin's face had nearly turned blue with the merciless cold air of space that had seeped into his failing suit and the slow bleed of breathable air from it.