by Ste Sharp
Further down the cave, the rough edges were replaced by smooth walls.
‘They look machine-drilled,’ Rar-kin said.
Crossley coughed and said, ‘It seems old.’
‘And they went this way,’ Yam-mit said, pointing right before anyone asked.
‘But there was light down the other tunnel,’ John said, squinting at what he was sure was the exit.
‘This way!’ Samas ordered.
John sighed and followed as their tunnel descended to a set of neatly cut steps and, at their base, a metal-lined room.
‘What on Earth?’ John said, staring in wonder.
It reminded him of the buildings in the dome cap, but much smaller, with five doors, giving each soldier a thick window to peer through.
Crossley was coughing.
‘What do you see?’ Samas asked.
‘The rooms on the other side are metal boxes,’ Crossley replied, ‘completely encased in the living rock.’
‘Your thoughts, Rar-kin?’ Samas asked.
‘A place of safety,’ Rar-kin replied.
‘And we can’t get in,’ Crossley said.
John saw a flash of brown scales through his window and gasped, ‘They’re in here!’
He pressed buttons on the door but they flashed impotently and set off new lights on the other side of the door.
‘Give me a go,’ Crossley said, pushing in.
A crackle came from the ceiling, then a voice spoke.
‘I’m not sure how you survived… any of you, but it’s too late.’ It was Das.
Crossley stopped what he was doing.
‘The units are all occupied,’ Das continued. ‘So if you want to live I suggest you find one of the sample ships and strap in.’
John could hear Pod chatting in the background. ‘We’re finally getting off this place,’ he said. ‘Come on, brother!’
‘Good luck,’ Das said and the voice cut out.
‘That’s it?’ Crossley said and thumped the window. ‘That’s all you’ve got, you pair of bloody armadillos? Seriously?’
‘Maybe they’re correct?’ Rar-kin said.
‘We should find shelter,’ Yam-mit said.
‘And water,’ Samas said and led them back out.
‘But we need to protect the tower!’ John shouted, from the back of the group.
‘Listen,’ Crossley stopped and spoke softly, ‘if those guys are sitting in a bunker, something big is about to happen, right?’
‘Yes, but…’ John looked away. They had to do something other than run.
‘Let’s just get somewhere safe,’ Crossley said as another tremor shook the cave.
John wanted to say how they could fight together – how they were stronger together – but he saved his breath as they toured back up through the caves to the branching tunnel where John had seen the light. The air felt fresh as they climbed back up towards the sound of battle.
‘We’re nearly there!’ Samas shouted as they scrambled up.
John saw orange lights ahead as the tunnel narrowed and twisted until they squeezed into a small room that felt like a tiny church.
‘I’ll have these!’ Crossley said, grabbing weapons from an altar-like rock.
John stared at a sculpture of Das and Pod, with the sign ‘Revere the Firstborn’ carved above it, and shook his head.
‘Come on!’ Samas shouted, beckoning from some steps, where he barged a metal door open with his shoulder, flooding the room with light.
Pistol gripped in his metal hand, John held his good arm over his eyes as they crept forward, until his eyes adjusted to a view he recognised instantly.
‘We’re in no-man’s-land,’ he said, remembering the shock he’d received when he was rejected by the lock in the tower.
‘And we aren’t the only ones,’ Crossley said.
Three huge, octopus-like creatures pulsed with colours as they pummelled and squeezed the tower base, surrounded by a white glow which shimmered with explosions from missiles attacking them from the other side of the tower. Something about how they moved reminded John of a species he’d seen before but he couldn’t place it.
‘These are a new enemy. Not the Ascent,’ Yam-mit said.
John shook his head. ‘Are they who Das and Pod called the Tathon?’
‘Wait,’ Crossley said, ‘weren’t they the guys who were brought into our dome when we were in the cap? Delta-Six did something, didn’t he?’
John remembered the aliens on the live video screens and Delta-Six cutting the mission short, the panic in his eyes.
‘That arrogant bastard created these monsters?’ Crossley asked.
‘It’s not possible,’ Samas said. ‘These,’ he pointed at the immense blobs of fading and pulsating colour, ‘were created by whoever brought us here, not by us.’
John nodded and watched the group of Platae, who were working at twice the rate he’d seen when he was at the lock, and the nearest Tathon, whose probing tentacles scoured the glass tower, leaving liquid trails in its wake.
‘Look!’ Crossley shouted.
John turned to the city and caught a glimpse of green on a rooftop. Mata, swollen and covered in thick bark, ran and jumped at the Tathon.
‘We should stop him!’ Rar-kin said, taking a step forward. ‘The odds are–’
‘I don’t care what the odds are,’ Crossley replied. ‘Nobody’s stopping him.’
The five stood and watched in awe as Mata leaped at the Tathon farthest from them. His leaves and branches fluttered as he glided through the air and smashed straight into one of the Tathon leaders.
‘Woah!’ Crossley shouted as Mata sunk straight into the Tathon’s body.
Spikes struck out from Mata’s body, holding him in the centre of the jellied mass, and vines lashed out from his back, tearing at the tentacles, cutting them or prising them off the tower.
‘He won’t survive,’ Rar-kin said.
‘He has to,’ Samas replied. ‘And we must help him.’
‘How?’ Crossley replied.
‘Follow me,’ Samas said and jogged out into no-man’s-land.
John ran, watching the ground for pitfalls, and spotted a shape on the ground, twenty steps ahead. A broken human body. The shade of grey of the suit told him all he needed to know.
‘Delta-Six?’ he whispered.
Samas rushed to their fallen comrade’s body and checked him for signs of life. John kept back, staring at the broken body in disbelief, until Samas looked up and shook his head.
‘He’s dead.’
‘Must have taken a few enemy with him,’ John said, staring at his scorched suit.
‘I take back what I said,’ Crossley said, laying a hand on Delta-Six’s shoulder. ‘You were a mean bastard, my friend.’
Rar-kin said, ‘We need to attack now.’
Samas picked up Delta-Six’s rifle and shouted, ‘With me!’
He fired at the Tathon struggling with Mata, and John joined in, firing his brown laser pistol. Pulses of energy peppered and cut the Tathon. Yam-mit sent a ball of energy at the nearest tentacle, shocking it and loosening its grip. Then an earthquake shook, sending foot-wide cracks splintering out from the tower’s base.
‘Keep firing!’ John shouted.
‘If this tower collapses, we need to get clear,’ Samas shouted over the weapon fire.
‘You think?’ Crossley stared at the Babylonian. ‘If that thing falls we need to be twenty clicks away!’
‘I calculate fourteen of your Earth miles would be sufficient,’ Rar-kin said, before firing its weapon with a look of manic glee.
Crossley laughed and ruffled the Sorean’s shoulder hair.
John fired again, picking off the tentacles that were bending back to attack Mata. He imagined the corkscrew bullets he used to fire with his gun-arm and the blunt-headed smashers. He missed having that connection with his weapon.
With a piercing scream, the Tathon slowly peeled off the tower and fell to the ground, smothering Mata, who fou
ght on with wild vines and roots that drained the Tathon of liquid.
‘Now we need shelter,’ Samas said, scouring the nearest buildings.
‘Over there,’ Yam-mit said, pointing to the Lutamek compound.
John saw the line of Lutamek soldiers facing off against a horde of giant shellfish and the rest of the Tathon’s army. Behind the robots, a swathe of warriors milled about, some on tocka.
‘Are the Lutamek protecting them?’ John asked.
‘I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them,’ Crossley said.
‘But it’s safer than being here,’ Samas said.
‘We have little choice,’ Yam-mit added.
Crossley was coughing and turning circles. Finally he looked up and said, ‘Listen, guys, I think we need to move. I’m seeing some strange stuff down there.’
Another tremor backed him up.
‘Let’s go,’ Samas said, leading them away from the tower.
‘Better the devil you know, hey?’ Crossley said.
John gave a nod and looked back to where the dead jellied mass of the Tathon leader sat, with Mata crouched in the centre. The Maori stood up, liquid pouring off his trunk and branches as he bellowed a primal victory roar.
*
‘And what of our adaptations?’ Gal-qadan asked the Lutamek. ‘Were they natural?’
He didn’t really want to know, but wanted to distract the metal giants. Unlike the rest of the human army, he had nothing against them – it was Das and Pod who had betrayed him.
‘No, not natural,’ the Lutamek replied. ‘From what One-eight-seven tells us of the dome cap, the Synchronisers created a genetic malleability in each of us, so adaptations would arise when stimulated, whereas the Tathon are able to choose the physical change required.’
Gal-qadan sneered and looked back to where the Lutamek’s stash of starships sat in neat rows, then at the Lutamek. Both were similar – empty metal hulks that could help him escape this hellhole.
‘We could defeat them,’ Olan said to Ten-ten, ‘now Panzicosta won’t fight.’
‘But the tiny Tathon still hold the line,’ Millok, the Brakari, said.
Gal-qadan eyed the shelled beasts and the two large alien warriors behind them. From what Isao had said, they were free of their Tathon masters and weighing up their revenge, but Gal-qadan knew it was too late for that. Proving him right, another tremor shook the world, sending the immense tower swaying and forming hairline fractures in the rocky ground.
Gal-qadan made his mind up: it was time to leave.
‘Stay where you are!’ Ten-ten yelled as Gal-qadan walked over to Panzicosta.
‘Hey, old Brakari!’ Gal-qadan yelled. ‘Our time here is limited.’
Panzicosta and the serpentine warrior swished round to face him.
‘Just enough time for one last fight,’ Gal-qadan continued. ‘To prove your worth.’
‘You come to fight us, human?’ Panzicosta growled. ‘Because Praahs would swallow you whole, you metal mouthful, and shit you out the other end.’
‘My teeth are stronger than you think,’ Praahs replied, revealing several rows of knife-like incisors.
Gal-qadan felt the ground shake beneath his feet again and kept his eyes fixed on the alien warriors. The shelled creatures in between them were brainless foot soldiers, but he didn’t want to get too close.
‘I have come with an offer,’ Gal-qadan replied, lowering his voice. ‘I will let you join me.’
‘Ha!’ Panzicosta replied and his red shell pieces clacked like thunder. ‘Your army must be weak if this is all you can offer us.’
‘No,’ Gal-qadan replied, ‘I speak for myself. You and your companion can join me.’
‘Why would we do that?’ Praahs replied.
Gal-qadan nodded towards the starships the Lutamek had hidden away.
‘Do we not have a debt to settle first?’ Panzicosta said and started to turn.
‘Not today,’ Gal-qadan replied. ‘Today we survive. Then we form a new army – one which will spring from the ashes of this world.’
He pointed to where Mata stood in the destroyed body of the Tathon leader. ‘Victory will come.’
‘To those who are patient,’ Praahs added.
The creature’s response surprised Gal-qadan and an equally shocking idea came to him. Strange, he thought, but these two could be his equals. Combined, they could achieve great things.
‘Shall we fight or will you walk away now?’ Panzicosta asked. ‘Your noise is getting annoying.’
Gal-qadan laughed and glanced back at the Lutamek, then checked the starships in the distance. Praahs was on his side and Panzicosta would follow, but first Gal-qadan needed one more thing.
*
‘The disc has started to break apart,’ Isao told the group of leaders, who stood in a circle outside the doors to the Lutamek laboratory and prison.
John wondered what had happened to the samurai to give him such amazing powers and stared at his glowing body, floating several feet off the ground.
‘And the disc’s gravity?’ a Lutamek asked.
‘It is reducing,’ Isao replied. ‘The shadow matter is leaking through the disc’s underside into the vacuum beyond, dissipating its power.’
‘How do you even know that, I mean–’ Crossley was stopped by a flash of white light from Isao’s fingertips. He looked down and coughed, then stumbled back. ‘Woah, the whole structure is crumbling.’
‘It reminds me of what Li told me of my country’s future,’ Samas said. ‘Of the Macedonian, Alexander, and how he solved the riddle of the Gordian Knot of Phrygia.’
‘We all know that story,’ Crossley said. ‘But what’s that got to do with giant aliens destroying a whole world?’
John touched the American’s shoulder to quieten him. ‘Go on,’ he said to Samas.
‘This tower,’ Samas continued, ‘this land,’ he stretched an arm out, ‘is the knot. Whoever works out the solution has the power to rule, like Alexander did.’
‘And the answer,’ Ten-ten asked, ‘to how this Alexander untied the knot?’
‘He chopped it in half,’ Crossley said with a smirk.
Samas nodded. ‘Rather than solve the problem, he destroyed it.’
‘If this world is destroyed what becomes of us?’ Lavalle asked, with a glance at Euryleia.
‘We have ships,’ Ten-ten said. ‘Recovered from the nearest domes and adapted for our use.’
‘You were planning on leaving?’ Samas asked.
‘Not before we discovered a way to breach the security system which keeps the circling ships from entering.’
John looked into the clear sky and saw one of the lights he’d often spotted zipping across.
‘But just in case, hey?’ Crossley said.
Ten-ten ignored him. ‘Each ship requires a Lutamek pilot.’
‘Convenient,’ Crossley said, raising an eyebrow at John.
‘The ships have integrated communications systems and can be loaded with food for each species,’ Ten-ten said as three Lutamek strode off, following an unheard order.
John saw other Lutamek inside their compound, disconnecting devices and packing large metal crates with bottles and boxes.
‘Then we should make good our escape,’ Samas said.
John tiptoed to get a better view of the distant grey hulks and could see humanoid shapes already at the ships, along with a small Lutamek and two large creatures he recognised instantly.
‘Shit! Panzicosta!’ he shouted. ‘Look – they’re stealing a ship.’
Seeing the Brakari who had tortured and fought him sent panic rising in John’s chest.
‘They won’t get far without a Lutamek,’ Lavalle replied.
‘One-eight-seven is with them,’ Sancha said, ‘and a host of other soldiers.’
John was shocked. How had Gal-qadan managed to get One-eight-seven on his side?
‘Not the shelled guard though,’ Euryleia said and John turned to where the line of smal
ler Tathon still held strong.
‘It is inconsequential,’ Ten-ten said. ‘There are plenty of ships remaining.’
A deep, booming sound like a distant barrage of artillery made John turn to the tower in time to see a giant crack split the rock it was imbedded in. White lines cracked across the glass of the tower, like shattered ice. Everyone backed away and some were already running for the ships.
‘Split into groups!’ Samas shouted.
John looked for Crossley and they jogged away together.
‘Those bastards on the tocka will get there first,’ Crossley said.
‘We’ve just got to get somewhere safe,’ John said. ‘Get into the sky and away from the tower.’
‘Sure,’ Crossley replied. ‘But I still don’t trust the Lutamek. Where’s Isao?’
John searched for the samurai and found his glowing colour, floating away from the ships. ‘He’s with the two young Lutamek.’
‘Okay,’ Crossley said, ‘we need a robot, so our best bet is that new one – Alpha. Hopefully they’ve set a ship up for it to fly.’
‘Right,’ John replied, searching for the smaller Lutamek, but all he could see was the mob of panicking warriors racing to get to the ships.
Those reaching them first were fighting to get in, waiting for the assigned Lutamek to open the rear doors. Lutamek voices bellowed and laser shots ricocheted as tempers rose. Meanwhile, the world was crumbling around them, great cracks opening up in the dry ground.
A boom sounded, followed by a cloud of dust that covered the ships, as Panzicosta and Gal-qadan’s vessel took off, sending the nearest soldiers running for shelter.
John spotted Alpha, and they skirted the nearest ships where Lavalle and Euryleia were coaxing their tocka on-board. John’s lungs burned as he jogged, but he kept going, past a host of Korax climbing aboard another ship, one that he hoped Yam-mit had made it to okay.
‘Alpha!’ Crossley shouted but the robot didn’t turn.
John and Crossley stumbled as another tremor shook the ground. The earthquakes were coming faster now and John didn’t want to look back to see what was happening to the tower. Alpha was standing at an open panel by the back door of a ship, staring at the buttons and screen. As they reached it and caught their breath, they were joined by Samas, Rar-kin and a number of other stragglers.