Alpha 9
Page 15
“And what if they are in the ship above?” Kilo asked.
“Then we find a way into the ship,” Alpha replied, flatly. “Move out.”
They gave a curt nod and did as they were told. Alpha and Kilo shot across the tiled floor towards the tented dark blue section on the right.
The Annoronians had hung the sheeting from the metal curved rafters to create zones. Each of them fed by large purple tubes that hung straight down from the ship above. All zones had tunnels that led into the central corridor section.
Small clear windows offered a peek inside and Alpha crept up to one. His hands sweated as his heart pounded in his chest. His body’s natural mechanisms taking over, it steadied the beat and dried off his skin in only a moment. But the effect remained. Alpha wasn’t ready for what he saw inside the enclosure and no amount of enhanced mechanics could hold back the bile that rose in his throat.
Kilo pulled him away from the window and around the side of the section as something passed by, pushing another trolley. Alpha knelt with both hands over his mouth, trying to suppress the urge to vomit.
“What was it?” Kilo asked, before checking that the coast was clear and they could step out again. “What did you see?”
Alpha shook his head and swallowed hard. “There was a girl in there…what was left of her.”
“What do you mean?” Kilo went to look through the window for himself but Alpha pulled him back, hard, and they nearly fell into the central sheeted corridor.
“Don’t!” Alpha said, looking Kilo dead in the eyes and shaking him by his shoulders. “Don’t. we have to find Bravo Two, we can’t let that happen to her.”
“What did you see?”
“The end of humanity,” Alpha replied, then quickly moved back to shield them in the shadow of the structure as another trolley passed.
When the light from the tube hit this one the woman inside could be seen more clearly. Her swollen belly squirmed and the woman’s hand shot to the side of the dome, slapping against the shell of her confines, her fingers curled as they tried to grip the smooth surface. He couldn’t make out her face, but the faintest of cries pained his ears and the bile rose again.
Alpha turned away, crouching by the tube that led from the blue sheeted section to the middle corridor. He looked up to follow the tubes that snaked their way from each area, up the arched supports of the ceiling and through the broken skylight to the ship above. All the tubes pulsed with light away from the Station and towards the ship. A shadow passed by the central passage and Alpha crept back a few steps.
“We have to find them,” Alpha whispered to Kilo and after checking the way was clear they stepped out and moved around the section and up to the end of the central hall. Peeking through the corridor it looked empty, but a beam of light shot down and a male figure appeared pushing another domed trolley. This one was perfectly clear, open and empty.
They tore towards one of the Station’s columns at the side to hide and watched as the thing pushed the trolley to the opposite side of the main walkway.
Alpha motioned to Kilo that they would follow and quietly they crept a few steps behind it. When they rounded the corner, they stopped. Alpha’s eyes tracked from the floor up an enormous wall of orange cubes. The fronts of frosted glass were hit by the hands of the people contained inside. Only the faintest of squeals could be heard though Alpha was certain every person in those thousand cubes would be screaming.
They kept to the shadows, as the thing pushed the trolley to a vacant square in the center of the wall. The dome clicked into place and then the Alien or Drone, whichever he was, moved to the side. He slid his hand down a row of multicoloured lights along the right edge of the vacant square, stopping about half way down, he then pressed a pink light and quickly stepped back to the front of the trolley.
The wall of cubes moved, shuffled upwards and sideways until one of the cubes moved into the vacant square and popped out slightly. A click echoed out across the room as the base inside the square released from the wall and slid into the dome. The woman inside thrashed at the side of her confines. Then she locked eyes with Alpha and stopped.
Without thinking Alpha rushed forwards, grateful for his silent steps his approach went unnoticed by her captor. He leapt the last two meters and kicked it square in the chest. He shot away from the dome and slid on his back across the smooth tile. Kilo flew past Alpha and landed on top of it, his knife in hand he sliced the thing’s neck, green oozed out of the wound, and only a slight gurgle came from the creature as it died. Kilo looked at Alpha eyes wide.
“What the hell was that?” he asked in a hushed tone as he climbed off the Annoronian. “You could have blown the whole mission.”
“She is the mission,” he said, grabbing the top of the dome and pulling the top back. She brought herself up and threw her arms around Alpha.
“Thank you,” she said into his ear. Alpha pulled her back.
“Who are you?” Kilo asked as he dragged the creature’s body over to the dome.
Alpha stared at her blankly as she climbed over the edge, the sheer slip she wore tearing at the side as she did.
“How long have you been here?” Kilo continued.
“My name is Bray, and I was captured four days ago by the Annoronians.”
Alpha grabbed her arms and turned her to face him.
“What is his problem?” she spat trying to yank free.
“I thought,” Alpha began as she wriggled out of his hold.
“What is it, Alpha?” Kilo asked, lifting the creature up and dumping him into the Dome. “What’s wrong?”
“I thought she was Bravo Two,” he confided, scanning the wall of people. “She has to be here, let’s get them all out, how does this thing work?” he asked, running his hand down the lights as the Annoronian had done. Nothing moved. Alpha grabbed the arm of the creature and used his hand. Running his fingers over the lights and pressing wildly at every section. The wall hummed and sparks flew from the top.
“Careful,” Kilo said. “They will come looking and we can’t kill them all.”
“We will if we have to,” Alpha said as he continued to puppet the alien’s hand over the controls. A bright red light flashed and Alpha pressed at it. The wall went dark.
“What did you do?” Bray asked, stepping backwards. The wall hissed and clicked and the doors to each of the cubes slid open, and the women inside climbed out. The ones higher up careful to climb down the face of the wall to the bottom.
Alpha scanned their faces looking for his team. He spotted a Juliette and headed towards her. Her eyes went wide when she saw him.
“Alpha,” Kilo drew his attention. “Why aren’t the Aliens coming? You would think the failure of their containment would sound an alarm or something.”
As Kilo said it the siren sounded. It blasted its horrible high pitch out from the base of the ship, the purple tubes turned orange and pulsed brighter and faster.
“They are coming,” Bray called out.
“Over here,” Sky shouted from one of the archways. “This way, let’s go.”
“Sky get them out,” Alpha called back. “I am going to look for the Bravos.”
“Over here,” the Juliette called as she and one of the Bravos jogged towards him.
“Report,” Alpha shot at them as they approached.
“Juliette Eight reporting.”
“Bravo Seven reporting,” they each sounded off.
“Are the others here?” Alpha asked, looking from one to the other. “What happened, are you all okay?”
“They threw us in these things after they beamed us up. I was at the bottom for most of the time and watched them taking them away one by one,” Juliette replied.
“Where did they take them?” Alpha asked, as he continued to scan the growing group of women.
“I don’t know, but none came back.”
Alpha looked past them to the crowd of rushing women. “Bravo Two and Four? Do you know where they are?”
The image of Bravo shot flooded his mind and he shook his head to disperse the image.
“Bravo Two?” Alpha pressed. “What of Bravo Two?”
“She was taken,” Juliette said. “At least I think it was her, but I couldn’t be sure, it all happened so fast. They took her that way,” she continued as she pointed down towards the end of the Station where the cube wall ended and another sparkly blue tube glistened in light. The tube brightened and something materialised inside.
“RUN!” Alpha called to the women as he and Kilo headed for the tube. “Get to the hospital, Sky and the others will lead you all.”
The Annoronian stepped out brandishing a gun of some kind as another materialised in the tube behind him. They continued to come one after the other, but they didn’t fire on the crowd.
“They don’t want to hit them,” Kilo said as they ran harder. They ducked between the women, using them as shields to get closer to the growing number of Annoronians.
When they burst through the last of the escaping women they ducked and slid towards them, pulling their knives free in a fluid movement and bringing them up into the chests of the nearest creatures.
Turning on their sides their moves mirrored each other’s.
They rolled onto their backs and flung themselves up to a stand whilst pelting one of their knives towards another two of the Annoronians. Both blades hit their targets square between the eyes, a green spurt of their blood fountaining from the wounds before the creatures fell to the ground.
Victor and Zulu appeared behind the swarm of Annoronians being supplied by the tube. They joined in the fight as Alpha neared.
Alpha took out another Alien, his blade slicing through its face with ease. The green goop of its blood splattered upwards and over Alpha’s arm.
“Keep the Station secure,” Alpha called to Victor and Zulu as they continued to combat the Annoronians. Alpha ran full speed at the blue tube, twisting to slice another alien across her middle.
“Don’t do it!’ Kilo yelled as he too dispatched another, his second blade slicing through the creature’s back with ease.
But Alpha’s mind was made.
He leapt towards the last Annoronian standing between him and the tube. He wrapped his arms around its neck and twisted quickly. The creature’s eyes went black and Alpha dropped it to the ground, then stepped into the shimmery blue light of the tube. Kilo watched as he dematerialised before his eyes.
***
“We are so going to die,” Kilo said as he pulled his blade from the head of one of the creature’s, sliced it across the neck of another, then spun to thrust it up and into the ribs of a third.
“Do as he said,” Kilo called to Victor and Zulu.
“What are you going to do?”
Kilo spun his knife in his hand and smiled before he too stepped into the blue light.
***
When Alpha rematerialised he was surrounded. The Annoronians held weapons much like guns towards him but didn’t fire. He stepped out of the tube hands raised. Kilo materialised behind him.
“Crap, see I told you this was a bad idea,” he spat at Alpha as he too raised his hands and stepped out of the tube towards their captors.
“Wait!” came the cry of a far too familiar voice.
“Bravo Two?” Alpha asked as he watched her step around the armed men and towards him.
“Yes, please wait,” she said, laying her hand on one of the creature’s arms and moving their weapon down.
“Wait for what?” Kilo spat. “They stole you guys and attacked us.”
“That is not Bravo Two,” Alpha said not taking his eyes from her.
“I promise you it is me,” she said, moving closer. Her sweet scent engulfing him in a daze. “Doctor M took me, yes, but they are not like her. You have to wait; we have to help them.”
“Help them, are you insane?!” Kilo yelled, stepping to stand beside Alpha who still hadn’t unlocked his gaze from her. “These things have all but wiped out mankind and you want to help them?”
“You don’t understand, she made them do those things. Most of them are simply trying to survive, like us. After we won the war…”
“Wait,” Alpha interrupted shaking his head clear of her intoxication. “Have you not seen outside? We lost, they won.”
“This was only the battle,” she said as the armed group parted and a monitor behind them came into sight.
“What am I looking at?” Alpha asked, chancing a step closer to see it more clearly.
The images flashed from one to the next, but all of them showed what looked like happy people living happy lives, collecting fruits from trees, children playing in fields, it all looked perfect.
“We all have these memories of the earth before the war, before the fighting and death that those things brought with them,” Alpha said, waving off the images and scanning the room for an exit. There was only the blue tube they had come from and several Annoronians stood in his way.
“These pictures are not of Earth,” Bravo Two said, coming forwards and taking his hand in hers. It felt as warm as he remembered and his stomach turned. “These are humans, but it is not Earth.”
“What?” Kilo asked, moving towards them, still very aware of the guns at his back.
“While the battle went on over here, they sent those like us over there. We took their world.”
“And what, they took ours by default?” Alpha asked, pulling his hand from hers and turning to survey the enemy around him.
“It is not like that.” Her eyes begged him to understand.
“What about kidnapping all those women?” Kilo asked. “What is that about then, if they are not the bad guys?”
“They don’t want to, the Doctor, she has many of them convinced it is the only way that they can survive. She wants to get back to their world and is trying to grow an army to do it.”
“But our woman can’t survive the birth.”
“She is trying to find one that can, she has someone in the underground that has been supplying her with women, but today...”
“Today what?” Alpha asked, a horrible thought crossing his mind.
“When they were testing me,” she said, rubbing a round bruise on the inside of her wrist with the fingers from her other hand. “Before she had my results, Doctor M received a message on her monitor and took off. They said they had found what she was after.”
“And what was that?” Kilo asked before Alpha could.
“A way into our facility.”
Alpha felt a chill run over his body.
“They are going to attack our lab?” Alpha asked through pursed lips.
“No,” Bravo Two said, nodding to the Annoronian next to her. He pressed a few keys and the happy images changed to one of bodies laid out in the sun, red blood seeping over green grass. “They already have.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“You can’t be believing this, it is insane,” Kilo said as he followed Alpha and Bravo Two along the length of the alien ship. “And what about the women we set free? If the traps don’t get them Doctor M will have them collected or killed in no time.”
“Yes,” Alpha replied, not bothering to turn to look at him.
“Wait,” Kilo grabbed Alpha’s arm and forced him to look at him. “What made the Annoronians trust Bravo Two? Why, after Doctor M left, did they decide now was the time to stand against her, don’t you think it is a little convenient?”
“Why did they choose now?” Alpha asked, turning his head slowly towards Bravo Two. She rubbed at the bruise on her wrist again. “What was it?”
“They were always against her,” Bravo Two said, not meeting his stare and continuing her walk along the grated walkway.
“But something had to make them let you go, to trust you to stand with them, what was it?�
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She looked away to the end of the corridor. It was wide enough for the three of them to walk comfortably. Its floor was grated metal and many tubes and wires ran beneath it, most of them pulsing with varying lights. The walls curved out before rising but then curved inward again to meet where a strip of white light ran the length of the hall.
Bravo Two paused, stopped rubbing her wrist and held her hand out palm up, showing Alpha and Kilo the imprint on her skin she had been trying to rub away.
“All the labs like ours were destroyed. There was a self-destruct that the head Doctors were supposed to activate before getting on their transport ships and joining the others on their new world,” she said, not taking her eyes off her own hand. “The Annoronian scientists could only create copies for so long. They needed a new way to survive, so they assimilated to the environment. They made themselves look human and then set out to blend with the humans and duplicates left behind.”
“But they would still die out, is that why Doctor M was trying to find human surrogates?” Kilo asked, trying to decipher the odd mark on Bravo Two’s wrist. It looked like one hundred tiny dots spiraling into an eye shape in the middle.
“No, she was trying to find one that could create a hybrid species.”
“But in all her tests the mothers died,” Alpha said, flatly.
“Not only the mothers, the infants died, too. Neither could survive the birth.”
“Why keep trying then? Why was she still taking women?” Alpha asked, as he reached out to touch her arm. He pulled away before their skin could connect.
Bravo Two stepped closer to them and peeked over Kilo’s shoulder as she spoke.
“They were looking for us,” she said, leaning closer still. “They were looking for me.”
“For you?” Kilo asked.
“The mark,” Alpha said, taking her hand and turning it over in his to see it up close. “She didn’t see the results of the test before she left, did she?” Alpha asked, looking up and into her sparkling eyes. “But they did, that is why they support you now, you’re the key to their survival.”