by Stan Butler
Chapter 7
The group sat around a table in the living area.
It had taken around a minute for the group to gather in the kitchen after the scream, Davrid charging in, gun raised.
They had finished cleaning up the bodies and were now talking about what they should do.
They had also decided to call the creature a wraith.
The fusion core sat on the table and Nathan pored over it.
“Seemingly in shape but the automatic shutdown has been activated, it shouldn’t take me too long to reactivate then I can begin ferrying you to the relay two at a time.”
“Why only two at a time?” asked Helena.
“Three is the max weight for the submersible; any more would just increase the risk of colliding with the ice spires and rupturing the skin.”
“Can’t we use the sled then?” asked Hannah.
“All sleds have had the skins ruptured, and if we were wearing enviro-suits we couldn’t pilot the sled.”
The group were unhappy at the reasoning but agreed to the terms.
Odis spoke up with another verse.
“Only six will leave this metal tomb
The rest will fall to deathly doom
Two more to foe, one to flames
And three to one’s traitorous games.”
The group ignored him except for Nathan who looked at him out of the corner of his eye, Odis smiled.
“We need to gather supplies and get them to the submarine pen.” said Davrid, taking command again. “There are only twelve of us left so we work in groups of two, one to keep an eye out and the other to carry the supplies. Lara and Mia, you worked well together to find the core, keep up the good work. The rest, pair up and get going.” the group split and headed for the labs to gather up the food bars, packing them in boxes and rushing them to the submarine pen.
Tiresias was boasting.
When scared he became like this, unable to admit that he was scared so boasting about how he could take on a thousand of these wraiths as the group had deemed them with his bare hands. He talked about how he knew their weak points and had fought them before, he told Helena that he could see past their invisibility and could deflect their heat sink back at them with his mind.
They got in the lift to travel down to the pen, Tiresias continuing to boast and Helena ignoring him.
She stepped from the lift and his monologue cut off.
Tiresias had bumped into something in the lift, something that he couldn’t see.
He did not know why the creature hadn’t attacked but he kept quiet in order not to spook it.
He moved to follow Helena from the lift but felt a hand on his shoulder holding him back; He began to shake with fright and tried to find a way out, finding none he sprinted forwards, hoping to take the wraith by surprise, and failing. His legs collapsed beneath him, unresponsive and blood began to pool out from a wound in his back, he opened his mouth to scream but his head was pulled back and a warm tide began to flow over his body from his neck.
He tried to pull himself up just as Helena turned around to see what was holding him up.
Helena saw him covered in blood pulsing from a gaping wound in his throat like a second mouth, another wound in his back looked as if his spine had been torn forcefully from his body leaving a mess of lacerated flesh and jagged shards of bone.
He was suddenly lifted off the floor by something and she turned and ran.
The air began to get cold so she didn’t stop, not even looking as the wraith executed Tiresias, there was a flash behind her, followed by a tinkling sound of ice on steel and she began screaming again.
Davrid came round the corner and caught her, Sakara followed, joined by Hannah, and cursed; Nathan stared wide eyed at the lift.
The corridor outside was covered in ice, the body of Tiresias was in fragments on the floor in a pool of crimson ice and a figure revealed in the mist turned towards them.
Nathan ran.
He dived into the submersible pen and grabbed the core, fuck safety measures; he had to get out now.
His hands fumbled the core but he managed to wire it into the harness and slammed the hatch down.
“Nathan!” shouted Sakara, entering the pen and sprinting towards the submersible.
Nathan raised the nail gun he always carried with him and fired at the young man before jumping into the cabin and locking the hatch closed, they would understand when he saved them.
Sakara cursed and rose from where he had taken cover, sprinting towards the craft.
Davrid and Helena entered, seeing what Sakara had seen and running forwards.
Nathan wondered whether that prophet was right, that three would die to traitorous actions.
He started the submersible up ignoring the warning that the core was shut down and reactivated it. He needed to get out of this station and to safety; he could still save the others if they just hid in a room until he could return with military assistance.
Sakara reached the submersible and slammed his fist on the glass.
He saw Nathan shake his head in sadness and pity and saw him activate a switch.
The pressure doors at the other end of the pen began to open, the life form safety system overridden from within the submersible.
“Run!” Sakara screamed and sprinted back across the hangar.
Davrid saw it as well and charged back towards the quickly closing doors, diving under with inches to spare.
Neither Helena norSakara reached the door before the door closed.
They looked at each other and then at the others who had gathered on the other side of the glass whilst this was happening.
The pressure door opened to a crack and water began pouring through, faster and faster as the doors opened further.
The group on the other side of the glass was frantically trying to stop the doors opening but the terminal had been forcefully deactivated by the wraith.
Then Lara saw what Sakara was still wearing and motioned putting something on his head.
Sakara raised his hands to his neck and found that he was still wearing his spacesuit, a helmet of which was bobbing a few metres away.
He looked at Helena who smiled and nodded.
“I’ve lived my life, now you have a chance to live yours.”
The kind elderly face smiled once more and Sakara locked the helmet into place on his head.
He picked up a vibro cutter floating in the water and slogged towards the submersible.
Nathan saw him approaching and put the turbines on full blast, throwing the boy backwards with the backwash.
The doors were almost far enough open to allow him to leave and the woman was already having trouble staying afloat.
“Guess you were wrong Odis, only two will die.” he thought out loud and deactivated the docking clamps, powering the submarine out of the hangar, pulling Sakara with him due to the turbulence created.
He smiled, he was free and no-one could stop him now.
The craft moved perfectly and he activated the sonar to allow him to pilot to the relay station.
A red light began to flash on the board.
He ignored it, it would be nothing major.
More warning lights began to flash.
He ignored them; once he reached the relay he wouldn’t need this sub any longer.
The warning klaxon sounded and a pre-recorded voice filled the cabin.
“Core critical, automatic shutdownoverridden,supernovic detonation imminent.”
He cursed, diving for the control panel and furiously typing in commands.
Just within sight, Sakara floated in the water and watched the submarine disappear into the distance. He cursed the aerospace engineer with every rude word he knew but then his eyes widened in surprise as the yellow submarine exploded with a massive detonation that turned the water around the submarine, for one hundred meters, into a plasma sphere. The shockwave shattered the ice formations as it hurtled towards Sakara. He raised his arms in
a futile effort to protect himself and the world went black.
Helena floated in the darkness of the ocean; she had managed to hold her breath for this long and was spending her last moments admiring the beauty of this hidden world.
As her vision dimmed she thought she saw a dark shape moving in the water but then the shockwave hit her.
Lara and Mia looked out into the icy depths.
“I didn’t even know him.” she said.
“None of us did.” replied Lara.
Davrid backed out of the doorway leaving the two girls alone, he wondered whether he should call this in to his superiors but after checking a tablet readout he sighed in relief and sat down in a chair.
“Damn this test.” he whispered to himself, falling silent as Mia entered and looked confusedly at him.
Some secrets must never be told.
Part 2
A foe of shadows shall herald the end
A power infinite it’s mission to rend
Thirteen shall come and ten shall die
One shall live while another shall fly