Gyaros Book One: The Mice Eat Iron (YA 17+ Sci Fi Adventure) (35 page)

The climb to the tower's peak continued as many more thrashwings attempted to break through the outer covering and into the elevator shaft, only a few of them successfully made it inside however and those that did were
swiftly dispatched by Maxen's cannon. They soon learned their lesson and retreated back into the skies to watch their prey from a distance. This made the ascent relatively peaceful but Miles and Maxen stayed on their toes, the thrashwings appeared to be fast learners and if they had the brains to retreat, how long would it be before they came up with a more effective approach? Mile’s body ached from the climb, his arms and legs felt like they were on fire. But it was too late to turn back, he had to push on. No matter how much his tired lungs wanted to quit he just couldn’t give up. A look of steely determination was plastered across his sweat covered face. ‘For Lucy…’

Another two hours passed as Miles took
the final drink from his canteen, draining it completely. He felt like collapsing from exhaustion but they had almost made it, and seeing the end of the shaft only meters above gave Miles the burst of energy he needed to complete the journey.

“Okay,” miles panted, retrieving his grappling hook for the final time
, “ready?” Maxen nodded, looking nearly as beat as Miles. They threw their hooks as hard as they could and used the last of their energy to make it to the peak.

They had only climbed for another five minutes when Maxen stopped and turned to Miles.

“Hey...” he said curiously, “notice anything different?” Miles was confused for a few seconds before he realized what Maxen was talking about. Now that he thought about it, for the past few minutes the only sound he heard had been the rattling of himself and Maxen climbing the rickety elevator shaft, the monstrous cries of the thrashwings had disappeared. Miles searched the sky for any sign of the flying beasts but they were gone, his heart began to race once again.

“What the fu...where did they go?!”
quivered Miles.

“They saw what we did to 'em, probably gave up...right?”
replied Maxen with a hint of fear.

“No,” said Miles, still out of breath
, “they wouldn't give up their nest that easily would they?” As Miles spoke, the radio on his hip began to crackle before Adam's voice came through the speaker.

“Miles!”
he shouted, “listen to me, the thrashwings have retreated into the trees! That means-” Adam's voice was cut off by a deafening roar from above which penetrated Miles' very soul. He looked over at Maxen, both of them confused and terrified as the whole tower began to tremble. Another horrifying cry shot through the skies as the tower shook frighteningly, feeling to Miles and Maxen like something gigantic had leapt off the top of the station. Miles looked around frantically before finally catching a glimpse of what caused the commotion. An abnormally large flying creature, double the size of the largest ordinary thrashwing ripped through the air as it began to circle the tower. 'The queen...' Miles thought to himself, recalling the last thing Adam told him before they began their ascent. ‘She must be sixty fucking feet across!’ Without any verbal communication, Miles and Maxen both climbed as fast as they could, scrambling desperately to reach the peak of the tower before the giant beast attacked. It flew closer to the tower, the wind from its enormous wings rattling the elevator shaft each time it soared by. As the two men approached the end of the shaft, the exit was blocked by a rough, light brown, waxy substance, presumably part of the thrashwing nest. Maxen quickly charged his cannon and fired a shot at the blockage creating an opening big enough for himself and Miles to fit through.

They were
finally inside the large dome at the peak of the Wilhelm station's tower. The room was virtually empty other than the large mechanism that required repairs, more of the strange substance that the thrashwings created, as well as the various bones and carcasses of past meals, all of which resulted in a heavy, pungent stench that made Miles’ nose curl in disgust. But there was no time to think about the malfunctioning expulsion system or the horrible odour with the thrashwing queen awake, angry and hunting them down. Miles and Maxen rushed, instinctively, out of the covered dome onto a narrow, steel catwalk which surrounded the peak structure, to see the monster screeching and flapping wildly above them, her sickly green scales glistening in the harsh late afternoon sunlight.

“I got this,
Miles!” said Maxen. Pointing his cannon at the beast he launched a projectile in the direction of the giant thrashwing but the queen skilfully evaded the attack and sped menacingly towards the tower.

“Shit!” Maxen exclaimed as he
prepared for another shot. The weapon fired again, sending another ball of energy at the thrashwing's head which was the size of an entire human's body. The queen attempted to dodge once again, quickly dashing to the side but the projectile struck its left wing, it cried out in pain and was sent into an uncontrolled downward spiral.

“We got it!” Miles shouted
throwing his fist in the air in celebration. His whole body shook with adrenaline as he looked over to Maxen who was still standing with his arm cannon pointed at where the thrashwing queen had been a few moments ago, panting, sweat dripping from his face. But suddenly the tower shook violently once again, Miles and Maxen stumbled and looked down through the mesh of the walkway in horror to see the wounded queen furiously charging up the outside of the elevator shaft, blood spraying spectacularly from her injured wing. 

“Sh-Shoot it Maxen!”
screamed Miles terrified.

“I can't get a shot at it without blowin' a hole right at our feet!” Maxen replied, now equally as panicked while the
colossal beast continued to ferociously scale the tower.

“Fuck it!”
Without thinking twice, Maxen threw himself over the steel railing that lined the catwalk, hanging on tight with his left hand, an almost five hundred meter drop beneath him. Miles looked on, frozen and barely able to watch.

“Maxen! What the fuck?!” Maxen aimed his right arm at the
green queen thrashwing once more, now with a clear shot beneath the metallic walkway. The vicious creature marched mercilessly toward the peak. It opened its jaws displaying rows of knife-like teeth and roared with such force that Miles could feel his clothes being pressed against his skin. Maxen took aim, his canon fully charged.

“Eat this you scaly green asshole!” As the queen lunged to attack Maxen he
fired off one final shot hitting the queen in her gigantic, open mouth resulting in a stunning display of bright blue light and dark red blood, bringing a swift death to the horrifying creature. The headless body began to fall, this time completely motionless as blood spewed from its severed neck. Miles stood on the catwalk in total shock, he wanted to help Maxen back up but it was unnecessary as the seemingly fearless man used his remaining strength to pull himself back over the railing, joining Miles on the walkway before collapsing to his knees and coughing in exhaustion. The last of the thrashwings emerged from the thick jungle and began flying east, the death of their queen enough for them to abandon the station and surrounding area.

Miles and Maxen sat on the walkway for a few more minutes, neither of them saying a word until Adam's voice hissed through the radio
.

“Miles? Maxen? Are you alright?!” Miles took the radio from his hip, bringing it to his mouth and clicking the button on the side
.

“Yeah,” he replied as he slowly stood up
, “we're fine.”

“Thank G
od! Alright, it's time to repair this thing Miles.” Miles walked wearily over to the damaged mechanism in the centre of the structure and began unpacking the tools from his bag.

“I'm at the expulsion mechanism now
,” he told Adam over the radio.

“Okay, good. Now tell me what you can see.”

Adam spent the next half hour talking Miles through the complex repairs while Maxen admired the view. The station randomly decided to bless Maxen with a spectacular sunset, causing beautiful reds, oranges and purples to paint the light, wispy clouds about the vast green jungle and endless savannah below. Maxen watched a flock of exotic birds coast gracefully in the sky like a shoal of fish, and saw a herd of roaming wild, horned beasts stampede across the plains. He enjoyed every minute of the rare peace as he recovered his strength from the treacherous climb and the battle with the queen thrashwing.

“Alright, I think that's it!”
said Miles excitedly as the station clunked and whirred into action, the sky changing a little as it resumed its correct cycles.

“Yep, you got it, everythi
ng looks good from down here,” replied Adam, “we'll need to hurry home though, the station seems to be back to its regular cycles and that means it'll be gettin' dark soon. You still got those 'chutes I gave you?” he asked. Miles looked through the backpack for the two metal boxes that Adam had assured them were fully working parachutes.

“Yeah, they're right here
,” he confirmed.

“Good,” said Adam
, “remember, they'll activate automatically once they detect that you're movin' fast enough.” Miles didn't have much choice other than to take Adam's word for it. If they were to try to descend via rope, which was all but impossible due to their exhaustion, it would take hours and none of them wanted to walk back through that jungle in pitch black conditions. He handed one of the parachutes to Maxen and begun fastening his own.

“You really think these things'll work?” Maxen asked sceptically.

“I...I’m sure they will. Adam's kind of a genius when it comes to this sort of stuff, right?”

“Whatever you say, man...” Miles and Maxen looked down over the railing once again as they ti
ghtened the last straps of the bizarre looking metal boxes containing their parachutes. Miles slowly and carefully climbed over the railing to stand on the opposite side, the high altitude winds blew Miles’ white shirt into his face as he looked down at the tiny trees and animals below. Miles clung tightly to the top of the railing as he tried to prepare himself for the jump. No matter how much they trusted Adam, jumping from an almost five hundred meter high tower is no easy task. After stalling several seconds, Miles turned to Maxen and nodded. ‘You always said I should take more risks and try new things Hellen. Well, here goes…’ He closed his eyes and jumped forward off the railing, Maxen followed a few seconds later. Wind whipped at Miles furiously as he plummeted, terrified, towards the distant ground. He screamed uncontrollably, praying that Adam’s chute would work. Then suddenly the box on his back began beeping loudly before spraying some kind of clear gel into the air. Miles watched above his head as the gel began to thicken into a strong rubbery substance, creating a large blanket above him and slowing his descent. He breathed a strong sigh of relief as the gelatinous parachute brought him slowly towards the ground. He even took a moment to enjoy the view and the unique sensation.

“Whooooo! This is fun!” Maxen shouted at the top of his voice as he drifted down just above Miles.

They both landed safely at the base of the Wilhelm station to be greeted by Adam who congratulated the men on a job well done and led them back through the jungle to the small house where Miriam and Lucy were waiting.

They had cleared out the thrashwing nest, repaired the Wilhelm station and paid for Lucy's new arm
in advance. Despite the trials they faced over the past number of hours Miles felt genuinely happy for the first time in a long time as he walked back with Maxen and Adam. He was incredibly sore, exhausted beyond belief but satisfied, it was all for a good cause. On Carthage, Miles had forgotten what was important to him. Working for The Energy Department for five years drained him of his life force. Sure it was safe and it was stable but that’s just the problem. It was mediocrity, there was no sense of accomplishment, no feeling of actually improving peoples’ lives, of making a difference. As a child and all the way through college Miles had always dreamed big. He was smart and it showed in his grades. His life’s goal was to find and harness efficient and natural sources of energy to improve the lives of the inhabitants of Carthage. At the age of thirteen he modified a remote controlled Enforcer Patrol Vehicle toy to run off naturally occurring atmospheric electricity in the global atmospheric electrical circuit instead of batteries. His good grades and experiments with electricity and energy which continued throughout high school and college landed him the job with The Elissa Energy Department. This seemed like the perfect fit, a few years in The Energy Department and then he could move into The High Level Energy Systems Development Department. But as often happens in life the stepping stone became the destination. Miles married and had a son and suddenly it just seemed easier to stay where he was. Hellen encouraged him to forget about The Energy Systems Development Department and continue to provide for his family through The Energy Department which offered more regular hours and pay. The Development Department paid big bonuses for patents and breakthroughs but the average wage was slightly lower than The Energy Department, and the hours changed from week to week.

A tired smile spread across Miles’ face, he hadn’t felt this satisfied at a job well done for at least five years
. He chuckled to himself at the irony, in the place that people are sent to suffer and die Miles felt more fulfilled and alive than he had for many years on Carthage. Since meeting the likes of Adara, Galand, Adam and Miriam, Miles’ opinion of Gyaros had begun to shift. Although he still yearned deeply to be with his wife and son, to sleep in his own bed, to see the warm and familiar faces of his old friends Clark and Candice, he acknowledged that he had developed an affection for many of the characters on Gyaros. These were not the blood thirsty monsters he’d read about on Carthage, these were ordinary human beings simply doing what they had to in order to protect themselves and their loved ones. Gyaros had its share of nasty characters, Miles knew that better than anyone, but it was not the hell he was lead to believe it was. There was great kindness and laughter amongst the pain and suffering.