Iástron

by James C. Dunn

  As the outlines moved along they quickly became grander, taller, and a great deal more alien. Dark beings, horned from head to toe, stood above the beasts, as though to command them, in bizarrely-rendered movements, cruel and otherworldly.

  ‘Well . . . that’s new. Those beasts came from these . . . these taller beings.’

  Ferranti took his arm tight. ‘We don’t have time to stop.’

  Justus consented, and they moved on. Any fire they’d held inside quickly waned and the reality of their situation set in. How were they going to find Anna amid a maze of black? Would they be able to get back up if they were to find her? The crushing weight of the labyrinth, the icy sensation in his injured arm, and the burden of guilt ate away at what little strength he had left.

  The two stumbled down another embankment, bordered by yet more carvings of beasts and masters, until only a barely-visible crest mired their way. Over the ethereal edge they gazed, and down into a field of black; the red and white light shone down just enough for the two to make out what lay below. Justus almost dropped the coil and beside him Ferranti threw his hands over his mouth in shock as they stared down upon a graveyard of black bone. Moving black bone. Stirring in the presence of a frailer and altogether more fearful species, the beings below gazed up at the two captains. And then, the echo as of vast, countless serpents circled through the chamber; the ground rose up and thousands upon thousands of horned beasts of bone scaled the black rock towards them.

  Without having to look to one another, they ran. Racing back the way they had wandered Justus wildly fired the coil at the hissing beasts now tearing through the tunnel in pursuit. Two or three were knocked back, but the army they had awoken no bolt, blaster, or battalion could break. Ferranti shone the beam down another tunnel before taking Justus by the scruff of the neck and dragging him down. A beast surfaced before them, wedging itself into the gap. Justus fired and a burning bolt of blood hit it dead on. They ran left, and down a steep verge.

  Another bounded in their way. Justus fired the coil and yanked his counterpart down another passage leading away. A sheer drop followed, and at the bottom the two found their feet, fortunately unscathed, before sliding through a small gap, only just accessible through their leaner-than-most builds. The life-suits remained intact.

  The beasts behind hissed and shrieked, trapped on the other side, unable to fit through.

  Ferranti swore. ‘I need a drink!’

  ‘You and me both!’

  ‘When—’

  ‘Wait!’ He held his coil up. ‘You hear it?’

  ‘Where are they?’

  ‘I don’t know!’

  ‘Behind us.’

  Another hissing broke out around them, and though they took off down another tunnel, they were once again pursued. But this time there was no way out. A deep fracture in the rock met them; a cliff across which they had no hope of leaping. Behind them shapes advanced.

  ‘We can’t jump across!’ Ferranti said. ‘Our only chance is to jump down. But we’re dead either way!’

  ‘Okay then,’ Justus said. ‘We jump.’

  ‘Are you mad?!’

  ‘Most definitely!’

  ‘We can’t!’

  Something old but familiar bubbled up within Justus at that moment; and with a broad smile on his sweating face he looked at the captain beside him, and then to the mass of black behind. He closed his eyes, took Ferranti’s arm, and said, ‘Goodbye chaps!’

  They jumped.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT

  ARAMAN ALWAR HELD his hands behind his back, fingers unfeeling, as he shivered in the cold expanse of the dock, gazing out of the hangar casement at Tempest-Beta below. He had stood at this point and looked out at the glowing sphere many times during his stay. Even now it grasped his mind with a deadly, alluring beauty.

  With the lights behind him dimming he was soon able to see waves of light appear in the upper atmosphere of the world as flashing forks streaked across the raging anvil and traces of charged particles rose up above the glowing cloud line. The electrostatic energy emitted and gathered in the magnetosphere of the planet was in fact what powered Erebus station. The close, synchronous orbit of the asteroid allowed for energy to be harvested. Araman had been involved with improving the original model for this. It was the very reason Constantine Lesper had invited him here in the first place.

  Upon arrival all that time ago—that is to say ten years, two months, and thirteen days—he had never imagined this would be his fate. He had thought at first that his time here would go so fast, among all the strange and unimaginable things he would be seeing and doing; but in reality every day had passed with the momentum of a decade. It was as though he had been here forever.

  Lifting the hood of his jacket above his head he attempted to prevent the numbness now deadening his ears. His mind had already dulled, his attention focused on one thing and one thing alone: helping Antal Justus from within the Labyrinth. As he stood gazing out, the sound of racing footsteps came charging behind him. Private Riess appeared at the same window. He had expected it to be Ketrass, and wondered how things with her and Kramer could have gone. Riess cleared his throat.

  ‘What have you found out?’ Araman asked calmly.

  ‘Everyone I’ve s . . . spoken to is loyal t . . . t . . . to Kramer,’ Riess stuttered. ‘He’s got them all eating out of his h . . . hand.’

  ‘They’re scared,’ he said, now shivering too. ‘Kramer can offer them a way out. They’ll do anything he wants to get away from here. We can’t fight that.’

  Riess yawned. His eyes were blood-shot, as exhausted as it was possible to be; his breath drifted before him for several seconds.

  ‘They’re shutting everything down,’ Araman said. ‘The temperature’s plummeted. Lights are just about gone. Gravity and oxygen ducts are all that’s left.’

  ‘And what about those people, t . . . trapped down there?’ the private asked. ‘I guess there’s no hope for them now.’

  Araman turned his head. ‘Don’t say that, Riess. There’s always a little hope, even if it only belongs to one of us.’

  ‘Well . . . what do you think we should do?’

  He moved closer and whispered, ‘The barricade starting from the mess hall in Section Five runs right down into Section Six. From what I’ve heard, the fortified levels are staggered, meaning there is a chance, if you can get through the greatest concentration in the mess hall. We have to find a way to tear it down, and quick. If they make it, the Captain and the others will try to come up that way.’

  ‘I’ll try and do what I can.’

  ‘Don’t try,’ Araman said. ‘We have to do it or they die. And so do we. Go now.’

  Riess nodded. ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘We need all the soldiers up here so that you’re free to break through,’ he said. ‘I’ll ensure you have some time, and aren’t interrupted.’

  ‘Yes, s . . . sir.’ The private marched away with no haste to spare. Araman turned to look back out at the storm-filled world. What would become of them all by morning, he could not imagine.

  Within minutes, just as he had expected, though it had taken longer than he had hoped, Avéne Ketrass entered the hangar and marched right up to him. He turned to her. Her eyes were red and she looked stern and unforgiving. Araman reached out a hand to her, but she pulled away.

  ‘You were going to just let me kill him!’ she snapped.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You had no intention of doing it yourself!’

  ‘I would if I could,’ he retorted. ‘He surrounded himself with a personal guard. You know you were the only one that could get close!’

  ‘Oh, I got close,’ she said. ‘Close enough to see that he’s right.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘There’s something down there . . . on the planet. It got Lesper, and Kramer plans on going down to find it, just as soon as the craft’s ready.’ She nodded over to the other end of the platform, where a dozen
of Kramer’s men were rushing into position around the craft, stopping anyone from boarding. The exterior panels that had been removed were already being placed back on.

  ‘They’re ready,’ he said.

  ‘Kramer’s preparing the girl at this moment.’ She took his hand and whispered, ‘Araman, we have to work with him.’

  He shook his head.

  ‘It’s the only way.’

  ‘You know I can’t do that.’

  ‘Then you’ve chosen the wrong side.’

  ‘It is not I that has chosen,’ he said. ‘You turned your back on common sense and morality the moment you allied yourself with that madman.’ He lowered his voice. ‘You’ll kill us all!’

  Her hand connected with his face; in the cold it coursed through him like scalding water. ‘I am doing what is best for everyone!’ she cried. ‘The evil beneath us will spread and consume everything else unless we deal with it here and now! It’s too late to run away.’

  ‘No,’ he said, grasping her hand. ‘It’s not too late. There’s nothing you can do. We have to run.’

  ‘You spineless thing! How about thinking of someone else?’

  ‘That’s exactly what I am doing!’

  ‘You’re only thinking about yourself!’

  ‘That’s not true. None of us ever wanted this. And what Xerin Kramer is doing to that girl—’

  ‘That girl is pregnant!’ she hissed.

  Silence lingered between them. Only the nearby clamour of heavy boots and clinking metal could be heard.

  After a time Ketrass sighed. ‘Kramer has collated most of the data and research that has taken place here over the years. He’s not giving up on it all so easily. He is going to resume the testing he and Lesper started, aided by my research of the rock and its properties, using the girl.’

  And the baby?

  Araman closed his eyes and reached into his pocket. ‘I can’t let that happen.’ And before he realised what he was doing, he had taken her arm, twisted her round, and thrust the tip of the blaster into her back. She stiffened up in shock and slowly he pushed past the workers, moving through towards Section Five.

  She went to speak, but he cut her off. ‘One word about Justus or the Labyrinth and you’ll wish you didn’t,’ he said. ‘You’ve chosen what is important to you. So have I.’

  She said nothing.

  Kramer’s door opened swiftly and Araman forced Ketrass to enter first. Kramer, who had been sat alone at his desk, stood rapidly and as Ketrass landed on her knees he aimed the blaster, took a shot at the professor, but missed his neck by inches. The screen behind him shattered in a crackling flash.

  ‘Araman, no!’ Ketrass cried.

  Kramer raised a pistol of his own. Araman took another shot, missed, and Kramer fell back, dropping the firearm. He had to do this. He had to delay them enough so that Antal could get out. He picked up Kramer’s dropped pistol and spun, jamming the door behind him, before proceeding to move rapidly around the room, exploring the corners for hidden scientists or soldiers. Satisfied they were alone, he forced the two into the far corner and he sat down himself. Ketrass shivered but Kramer merely breathed out, indifferent and cold.

  ‘Avéne didn’t kill me, and neither will you, boy.’

  ‘Be quiet,’ he told him, directing the blaster at the two whilst checking the Driad girl’s vital signs. From what he could tell she seemed all right; she was breathing normally, at least, merely sedated for the time being. ‘What have you done to her?’

  ‘Why, nothing.’ Kramer smirked. ‘And now I doubt we’ll get the chance. Well done, Alwar. You’re single-handedly ruining any prospect of understanding those creatures we’d have had.’

  ‘By injecting the unborn foetus of a teenage girl?’ Araman cried.

  Ketrass gasped. ‘Is that what you planned to do?’

  ‘Nobody chooses the circumstances,’ Kramer said.

  ‘Yes, they do. I do,’ he said. ‘I won’t let you.’

  A loud thumping came from the other side of the door, coupled with the muffled-but-noticeably-tense cries of soldiers. Kramer took a comm device from his coat pocket and looked to Araman. ‘May I?’ he asked.

  Araman nodded.

  ‘This is Professor Kramer,’ he declared. ‘There is a malfunction with the hatch, almost certainly due to the fluctuating power reserves. Nothing to worry about. It’s being handled from inside here.’

  ‘No!’ Araman panicked. The soldiers had to keep their attention up here. Riess couldn’t have anyone running round in the mess hall. He strode across the room, snatched the comm from Kramer, and shouted, ‘Stay away from the door! It’s set to explode, and I doubt you’ll need any more delays if you want to escape before the beasts come back!’ And with that he slammed the comm into the table, where it fractured into pieces.

  Kramer put his hands together and applauded. ‘I didn’t know you had it in you, Alwar,’ he said. ‘But I do have one question.’

  ‘And that is?’

  ‘What now?’

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE

  ‘WAKE UP, ANNA. Wake up, my baby.’

  Anna rolled over and breathed out. Her head lolled back, though the muddle of numbness and agony threw her head spinning. For a long time she lay still, curled up tightly. When she listened, the slightest movement or whisper warning her eardrums like an intimate echo, there was no silence; there was no deep dark or mysterious tremor beneath her feet. She was alone, and no one was coming for her. Eventually she realised she had no choice but to move; and so she opened her eyes, breathed in deeply, and looked up.

  Something gazed down at her. It was faceless. It watched. It was dark, and yet it burned. The dark grew into a brightness too intense. Her ears popped. The white flame above grew until it scalded her mind. It looked within her, and it knew her, and it stepped into her soul. At once she felt strong and powerful and angry, no longer tainted by horror or despair. But as she stood and looked up, a low roar and a howling wind encircled her. The black ground below trembled, shadows reached up to grasp her ankles, and an echoing voice, dark and deep and horrifying, spoke:

  ‘YOU WISH FOR YOUR SISTER,’ it said, and she fell to her knees as it echoed through her. ‘THAT SHE MAY BE SAFE—THAT HE WHO TOOK HER TO DIE!’

  She did not reply, and the voice spoke again. ‘YOU KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING TO HER UP THERE. YOU KNOW HE WILL HURT HER. YOU KNOW HERE IN YOUR SOUL YOU WILL NOT SEE HER AGAIN UNLESS YOU DESTROY HIM!’

  ‘I can’t!’

  ‘YES, YOU CAN! YOU WANT TO TAKE HIS HEART IN YOUR HAND, AND SQUEEZE THE LIFE FROM HIS BODY!’

  Yes, she thought. That’s exactly what I want to do!

  ‘YOU HAVE THAT POWER. DO IT.’

  Take a life?

  ‘IT IS EASY . . . YOU CAN DO IT, ANNA BERENGUER. GO. NOW.’

  But then, from the corner of her mind, another voice spoke. ‘No, my baby. Stay where you are. Listen to me . . .’ Anna turned. Veiled in the white flame, still and calm, stood a woman; she was blonde, beautiful, and fair.

  ‘Mother?’

  ‘DO NOT LISTEN TO HER!’ the voice uttered, and the room shook. ‘YOU CANNOT TRUST HER. SHE IS ONLY AN IMPRESSION IN YOUR MIND. A MEMORY OF WHAT YOU WERE . . .’

  ‘Listen to me, Anna,’ her mother said. ‘Get out of here. Find your sister and get away!’

  ‘QUIET, BITCH! SHE KNOWS HER MIND—IT IS ALREADY MADE!’

  Anna reached out for her mother. She had seen her in her dreams forever, it seemed; now she had come back for her. ‘Mum, I’m here. Mum!’ But as soon as they touched, the white flame of the orb broke above, and the same horrific shrieks of anguish filled the space. ‘Mother, no!’

  ‘YOU ARE ALONE, AND YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO.’

  ‘NO! Gílana!’ she cried, and the light retreated from inside her. ‘Leave me!’ she screamed. Her mother disappeared and she fell to her knees.

  As she did, the breaking orb up high blistered black once more. Anna fell to the ground. Whatever it was, she could not look at
it again. After several moments everything went dark, all but a delicate glow from the orb. It looked just like it did in her dreams.

  A stinging sensation shot through her hand. She lifted it and saw blood seep through the glove from a deep cut in which was buried a shard of broken armour. She pulled it out. It was only then that she questioned where the sharp piece had come from. The life-suit! Anna clawed desperately at her visor, only to find that there was nothing between her and the seemingly alien air. Awestruck, she took the helmet slowly from her head, to find that she could breathe.

  She looked around the chamber, situated below the ominous orb. Though the fire burned black above her once more, it was as though the white flame of the sphere had remained behind her eyes. She gazed at the black rock and saw through it; the Black Labyrinth was no longer a maze but a clear network of organised tunnels. And the higher she looked, the more she realised that she would never find the others and get to her sister as well.

  She stood. ‘How? How did I even survive the fall, never mind find myself able to see where I am?’

  As though in answer to her question, which itself resonated throughout the underpinning chamber and the surrounding tunnels, she realised the answer. The black bracelet she had found up above before her fall seemed almost burned into her arm. It would not move. It was fixed. It did not hurt and she felt neither cold nor heat.

  ‘The bracelet,’ she said to herself. ‘I put it on and touched the orb. And then it tried to pull me in. Failing that I fell down here.’ She looked up. ‘You looked into me, didn’t you? You saw the darkness and the light. And I saw your evil. I don’t want it!’

  Silence.

  All she had ever wanted was to experience life outside of her home on Titan. It had seemed such a cage, but now all she wanted to do was be back there, to sit with her uncle and her sister. She cried at the thought of Gílana, alone and frightened, with that old man doing things she did not want to imagine. ‘I will get you back, sis. I’m coming for you.’

  She wiped away her tears and held herself firm; she had to focus. Losing hope would not help to get her sister back. It was best that she was angry and determined than afraid and distracted. That’s what her uncle had taught her. She knew what he would tell her to do right now were he here. Ferranti and Justus were still out there. She had to get to them. Gílana needed her.