The Splitting (The Matsumoto Trilogy Book 2)

by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  My words cut off as the shadows rushed towards us.

  “Inside!” I yelled, dragging Ian with me. Driscoll grabbed his other arm, and we fled into the colony, Kitsano and Michael following us and Ch’ng activating the close function almost before we were all through the doors.

  Ch’ng was flushed and only inches away. “What was that?!”

  “We spilled blood,” I whispered, as the blood drained from my face.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “What do you mean?” Ch’ng said.

  “The truce was for as long as we didn’t spill blood. We spilled blood.”

  He gaped like he was going to launch into me and split my lip with his fist, but there was no time for that. I was still holding Ian’s warm, dead body. For some unfathomable reason he’d given his life to save me. I didn’t agree with his choice, but I’d damn well honor it.

  “What is this?” I asked, pointing at the smoke and flames, and distracting him from his frustration.

  “We fought the marines,” Ch’ng said. His voice was hollow, like he couldn’t decide what emotion dominated him just yet. “Ian led us. He found a weakness, and he exploited it. The fighting was intense, but we won. We were just about to deal with the fire when you called at the gate. Ian said we’d get you first. You could help fight the fire.”

  “Ok,” I said, deep in assessment mode. “Kitsano, go with Ch’ng and sort out the fire. Michael, you’ll guide me to the satellite terminal.” I looked at Ch’ng, fixing him with my eyes, “We have a limited time to communicate with a starship and get all of our reeking bodies off this planet, are you in?”

  “Yes,” he said, his eyes fixed on Ian’s corpse.

  “Then go with Kitsano and don’t give her flack for being an ex-marine.”

  “What about for being only half here?” he asked bitterly, pointing at her half-translucent body.

  “Or that. We need her.” I shifted my focus, “Take Ian, Driscoll. Put him somewhere respectful. Then meet us at the terminal.”

  An electric sound startled us all.

  “That’s the Javierians trying to breach the electric fence on the wall,” Kitsano said.

  My lips thinned.

  “When you’re done with Ian get eyes on the wall, Patrick,” I said. His eyes had that stupid glow thing going on again. I ignored it and turned to Michael, “Lead on, Michael. We’re running low on time.”

  He started to scuttle to the right but a yell from Driscoll kept me from following.

  “They’re coming over the wall!” he yelled.

  I swivelled and looked. Somehow, against all reason, the shadows had formed some sort of ghastly human pyramid like something out of a team training event gone wrong. They were towering beside the wall, flinging their own to the other side. Some were damaged from the fall, but others were already picking themselves up and rushing towards us.

  “Leave Ian and get to us!” I called to Driscoll. He didn’t need orders. He was already sprinting in our direction, the shadows hot on his heels.

  I raised the gun and booted the fighting program, spraying the shadows on either side of Driscoll with nettles but careful to keep clear of him. My heart hurt as their massed bodies covered Ian’s fallen form. Once again I had left a friend to suffer indignity after death. Would it ever end? I bit the inside of my lip and tasted blood.

  “What now?” Driscoll asked, ducking into the outdoor hallway we were in.

  “Michael leads. You follow. I have the rear,” I said, still firing into the shadows.

  We headed off at a quick trot. Michael was leading, but as was typical for him he barely noticed the shadows, leaving Driscoll and I to deal with them. Maybe it was because he was half-shadow himself, but I suspected it was more likely just his temperament.

  We eeled through the sandy corridors between buildings until Michael indicated the one we needed. Smoke rose ominously from the back of the building.

  “It’s this one,” he said.

  “It appears to be on fire,” Driscoll muttered.

  “Yeah,” Michael said, as if he’d just realized that could be a problem.

  “We’ll see how bad it is, but we can’t afford to get trapped in there without an exit if it really is in flames. You’ll need to cover the door, Driscoll.”

  He nodded and took up a position at the door as Michael and I entered. The room wasn’t on fire yet, the smoke was there, but not overpowering. I tried not to breathe too much. I wished I’d had that breathing apparatus from the first leg of the journey. It would be helpful now.

  “It’s through here,” Michael said, laser-focused on finding the terminal. He led us through into an inner hallway, lit by emergency lights, then into a large auditorium and further back into another hall. The smoke was gathering, and we were already further from Driscoll than I would have liked.

  “Is it much further I asked?”

  “No,” he said, and there was something weird about how he said it. He seemed tense. Maybe it was just because we were going deeper and deeper into a burning building. That should make anyone nervous.

  Finally, we pushed our way into a command room. It was eerily similar to the one Driscoll and I had been held in. It was possible that without the smoke I would recognize it as being that exact room. He led the way to the slaved terminal and sat down at it. I used my implant.

  Establish link to terminal 8CR5349058. I read the terminal number off of the ID tag.

  Establishing link...Link established.

  Connect to satellite.

  Connection made.

  Michael was still booting up the terminal.

  Name of starship approaching Baldric?

  Starship ID is Cardinal’s Blood, a ship of Blackwatch. She is commanded by Captain Lewis Sato.

  Establish communication link via satellite with Cardinal’s Blood and download any recent colony records that you can access.

  “Got it!” Michael said, finally tapping into the console’s connection to the satellite’s communications just as Driscoll burst through the door behind us, firing behind him.

  “Time’s up. It’s leave now or be eaten by shadows,” he said.

  The fire must have changed somehow between when he entered and when we did. When he opened the door, the other door at the opposite side of the room exploded open. Flames burst out of that door and licked at the walls and ceiling. The edges of the nearest flame engulfed Michael, seated at the console.

  He leapt to his feet, screaming, and pin-wheeling through the room. I froze. There was nothing near to put out the fire. His screams were haunting.

  A burst of nettles ripped out from beside me and Michael dropped silently to the ground. I gasped and looked at Driscoll. His lips thinned, but he didn’t bother to explain himself. I guess when you’re a terrorist killing people quickly is something you do with regularity

  “We need to go,” I said, making for the door.

  Driscoll hadn’t been lying. The hall beyond was packed with shadows. We fired into them, but with the flames at our backs, and no other entrances or windows there was only one way out – through the press of shadows.

  I roared a battle cry, kicked my fighting program into overdrive and launched myself into the fray.

  Connection established, two records downloaded.

  I fired and two shadows burst apart. I followed up close on the heels of my nettles, my right leg sweeping out as I ducked low under the attacks of my opponents. I fired into their knees, pushed hard to stand upright again and then there was no more room to use the gun. It was all kicking, elbowing, and smashing with the barrel and stock of the nettlegun. I could sense and hear Driscoll tucked in behind me defending my back. He seemed to be angry about something.

  Captain Sato of the Cardinal’s Blood, this is an emergency communique from the colony on Baldric. Our colony has been overrun by hostiles. Request emergency assistance and lift out from the colony.

  It wasn’t the best wording, but I didn’t want to give my name, and it’s
tough to compose formal notes while you’re literally biting a shadow’s arm with your teeth and jamming your gun barrel into his guts and firing. If these things were made of flesh we’d be slipping on blood by now.

  Request name and ID number for confirmation that this communique is authentic.

  The response sounded automated. Someone up there wasn’t doing her job well if she was letting the machine get it.

  Repeat, this is an emergency communique from the colonists on Baldric. Our colony has been overrun by hostiles. Please send emergency assistance!

  I really hoped a human got it this time because there was no guarantee that the slaved terminal was going to last much longer in those flames. As if triggered my negative thoughts the implant popped up a message.

  Connection lost...

  Great. Just flipping great.

  “It’s getting worse back here,” Driscoll said, his tone a warning.

  “Because it’s all roses up here,” I grunted, flipping forward to land on the shoulders of a particularly tall indigenous shadow and using the height to fire down on the ranks below me.

  We were close to the gate, although I didn’t see how that would help. To my left there was some sort of enclosure and inside...Rhinric! I sent a mental blast towards her, willing her to come to me and she crashed against the haphazard enclosure. It was worth a shot.

  I was thrown from the shadow’s shoulders, but I twisted to land on my feet and socked him in the eye with the stock of my gun. I glanced at the telltale. Ammunition was at 10%. Pretty soon it would all be hand to hand. I felt a surge in the wave of their cacophonic communication that sent me reeling. Maybe it was their communications, or maybe it was that oxygen toxicity again, but my head spun for long enough that I was swept off my feet by a shadow and thrown through the air. I hit the ground hard, curling reflexively to protect my vitals. A large shadow blocked the sun, and I forced my head up to look at my enemy.

  It was Rhinric. She was standing above me, fending off my attackers with her horn. I hauled myself to my feet and up her back, grasping her heavy mane and urging her towards where Driscoll was down, swamped in shadows.

  “Patrick!” I yelled.

  My hand stretched towards his. He managed to grab it through the press of bodies and we both pulled with all our strength. I felt the resistance as hands tried to pull him back, but it only made me grit my teeth and pull harder. I was done taking losses. Now, I wanted to inflict some.

  “Matsumoto!” a cry rang out from behind me.

  I urged Rhinric around to look. It was Ch’ng. Somehow, unbelievably, he, Kitsano and two others were opening the gate, huddled around the controls. I opened my mouth to warn them, but I was already too late.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The moment the doors started to open the shadows squeezed through, surrounding Ch’ng and the others and spilling into the corridor between us. I had thought the press of bodies before had filled our path, but now two more shadows were pressing in for every one that had been there before. Their ranks made visibility difficult. If it hadn’t been for Rhinric it would be impossible to see.

  I steered towards Ch’ng and the exit. The buildings behind us were engulfed in flames and the heat was growing too intense to be near. Beads of sweat formed on my skin and my clothing felt too hot. Rhinric struggled to move forward, her efforts impeded by the press of shadows. I willed her to walk up and over them, wincing inside as she complied, lifting her front legs and slamming down only to do it again and again like a dog through deep snow. The puffs of bursting shadows were like inkblots all around us, hanging in the air for only a moment before falling or fading from existence.

  I wanted to think that the shadows weren’t people and that they just re-formed when they burst apart. It was possibly true, since we’d witnessed them re-forming, but it was possible that it wasn’t true and I was willfully trampling a humanoid species to death. The thought gave me chills. It was necessary for my survival, but maybe that’s what my family thought when they committed this genocide.

  Despite trampling dozens of shadows already, we were progressing more slowly than continental drift. The press of bodies, if that was what they really were, was just too strong. Their mental noise was wearing steadily on me. I was having trouble thinking beyond the moment. I thought that perhaps I could use my implant to help us out, but I lost the thread of that thought almost as soon as I embraced it. Any other strategic planning was shoved forcefully out of my mind by the incessant drone and shriek of angry aliens filling my mind. I thought about shutting the implant off, but it controlled the programs for fighting. I needed those.

  Out where Ch’ng and his allies stood, Kitsano seemed to be struggling as much as I was. Her hands were clamped over her face and she was sunk down on her heels in a squat, unable or unwilling to move. Ch’ng prodded her from time to time, but he and the others were being overrun. One of his people was snatched from his perch and moments later a green translucent fungi sprang up like a flag behind them.

  Shut down exterior communications coming in, I ordered my implant, hoping to stem the tide of alien communication.

  A moment of pure relief washed over me as the river of thought abated for a moment, only to return again in full force. The implant command must not have worked – or maybe I was hearing their voices now without the aid of the implant.

  We were close to Kitsano and Ch’ng, but still too far away to do much beyond fire into the shadow ranks. Moments later my nettlegun stopped responding. A brief look at the readout showed I was out of ammunition. Driscoll’s gun also stuttered to a stop.

  Here we were, overrun and outnumbered. In a moment we’d be dragged from our high ground and planted in the ground to grow a fungi garden. It had all come to nothing. All the struggle. All the hopes.

  I gave a mental yell of frustration, projecting it in all my fury at the shadows. My eyes clenched shut as I released all my emotional frustration in the wordless – soundless scream. I finished and drew a deep breath, opening my eyes to receive my death.

  Before me, shadows were strewn motionless across the ground. The others were pushed back against burning walls. I glanced back at Driscoll. He was stunned and blinking at me, but otherwise fine. His eyes were glowing again.

  “Don’t stop! Keep going!” he said.

  I spurred Rhinric forward and we angled in to where the last living humans stood. One glance at the compound confirmed that no living person could survive in that inferno. Ch’ng lifted Kitsano up to us and I slung her limp form on Rhinric in front of me. Driscoll was already helping Ch’ng and the other colonist up onto the back of Rhinric. I didn’t know his name. At this point, it hardly mattered. If any of us lived to see the end of this journey we could deal with introductions then.

  As soon as they were settled I spurred Rhinric through the gates. We rode out at full speed, scattering shadows as they were rising from the ground and thundering across the open terrain. Where to go? Where to go?

  I could see the crashed El Dorado on my map program, and there was the Baldric Three’s little base, but that wouldn’t be enough to defend us now that the shadows were rampaging. Where else was there? A tiny red inverted caret indicated two somethings at our original crash site. I consulted my implant. Their transponders were Blackwatch marine assault shuttle codes. The ship must have sent someone after all – only to the wrong location.

  How far could Rhinric run with us on his back? Five people were a lot for even a giant shadow rhino to carry. I angled us into the trees towards the bridge, south of the colony. I noticed, for the first time, that the original party had crossed three bridges when they made their way to the colony. There must be other buildings or compounds out there if there were bridges. Maybe they were observation posts like the one we had spent the night in. Retracing their steps made more sense, and would be more direct, than retracing ours. That first bridge wasn’t far. I remembered that much from our original journey. I hoped I’d chosen well.

  Alrea
dy, in the trees, shadows were amassing again. How long until they pressed their attack once more? Worse, how long until their leader arrived? ‘She’ sounded worrisome.

  “What happened?” Kitsano said, waking enough to pull herself into a seated position.

  “We got out. We’re riding this near-rhino towards our original crash site.”

  “Why there?” Driscoll asked, “Why not the cliffs?”

  “The ship sent two marine assault shuttles to the crash site. I hope we can get there before they leave again.”

  “Do you still have a way to communicate with the ship?” he asked.

  “No,” I said.

  “But you did get an emergency signal to them before we were overrun?”

  “For all the good it did, since they sent the shuttles to the wrong location,” I grumbled, trying to focus on the map in my sights. We had six more hours until dark. Was there anywhere we could go along that route to shelter during the long Baldric night?

  “How do you know that they sent them to the wrong place?” Driscoll asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious by now?” Ch’ng said, surprising everyone but me. He sounded almost as tired as I was, and definitely just as resigned. “She has an implanted computer chip in her skull. It’s a super powerful one. It’s how she can fight without training, how she knows where we are all the time, and how she can tell us all this stuff she shouldn’t know.”

  Driscoll must have already known after the incident underground. Besides, if Roman’s experience was true then Driscoll’s Own was injecting computer chips into civilians in other parts of the Empire. He still nodded in a way that said the wheels in his head were turning.

  “But that’s illegal,” the other colonist said. He was a small, wiry man and his eyes drifted as he spoke as if he was so tired he couldn’t keep them in one place.

  “And top secret,” I added, with minor irritation.

  “Everything with the Matsumotos is illegal and top secret,” Driscoll said, as predictably as snow in winter.