Star Alliance (6 page)

There were tall trees ahead of him that reminded him of the trees he’d seen in the valley on Selebus. He spun around and looked up the way he’d come. High above him was a towering structure that loomed in the night sky. A metallic wall stretched away in either direction, but not so far that he couldn’t see where it curved around on itself. All the grogginess he had felt before his slide down the tube of horrors was gone. He wiped traces of mud and dirt from his mouth and face.
 

This must be the pit
, Zack thought.

He lifted his forearm and ran his fingers across the spot where the Xiiginns had injected him, feeling something hard beneath his skin. It itched, and Zack held his arm up into the moonlight to get a better look. There was a dark spot beneath his skin. He poked at it, and whatever it was delved deeper. Zack tried to squeeze it, but it burrowed away from him. It didn’t hurt, but he did feel a slight pressure.

Sounds of large footfalls stomping his way startled him, and Zack peered into the trees off to his right. He heard more stomping.

 
“Oh crap,” Zack whispered and started backing away.

Zack had taken several more steps when he heard yipping sounds coming from the area he was moving away from. Several shadows detached themselves from the tree line and shuffled over to where he’d been. The creatures were hunched over, with their heads extended toward the ground. Zack quickened his pace as quietly as he could, but one of the creatures screeched out to the others and started coming after him. Zack turned around and fled.
 

He tried to activate his implants to enhance his vision, but they wouldn’t respond. He glanced around him as he ran, looking for anything he could use as a weapon. Katie had drilled into him that even a simple stick could mean the difference between life and death. He wished she were here. Katie was among the strongest people he knew. He tried to think of what she’d do in a situation like this. Katie or Hicks, both in the military, would be able to handle the situation he was in.
 

Zack focused on where he was going, looking for higher ground to get a better vantage point, but the landscape was level in any direction he looked. He had eased his pace, trying to listen for sounds of pursuit, when another screech sounded into the night, but Zack knew he couldn’t keep running. He felt a tiredness deep in his bones, and running away wasn’t a long-term solution. He needed to get off the ground and hide, so Zack started looking for a tree he could climb. After a few minutes’ searching he found a tree with branches thick enough to hold his weight. He sprinted straight toward the trunk of the tree and leaped. Using his forward momentum, he pushed off the trunk and reached for the lowest branch, pulling himself up and grunting while swinging his legs up, then getting into a crouching position and reaching for the next branch. Zack repeated this until he had gone as high as he could go. The creatures that chased him raced past the tree he was in, and the breath caught in his throat as they immediately circled back. He hoped they couldn’t climb, but at least he’d have the high ground if they could.

It was difficult to see how big they were, but Zack guessed they were near the same size he was. They circled the tree he was in like a pack of hungry dogs. One of them let out a high-pitched growl and started to climb. The rest followed the first as they climbed straight up toward him, their claws biting into the tree.

Give me a break already,
Zack thought. He glanced at the nearest tree and thought about leaping over. Then an image of plunging down to the ground and the pack of creatures swarming him knocked that idea out of his mind. He needed to fight. He reached for one of the smaller branches above him, trying to break it off. The branch was a little more than an inch in diameter, but it didn’t break—just bent downward.
 

“Come on, damnit!” Zack shouted.

Sounds of the creatures’ claws scraping the tree as they climbed made Zack double his efforts. Swinging the branch back and forth, he created breaks in it. He worked it as fast as he could, and the branch finally gave way as one of the creatures reached him, and Zack saw its face. It was a Nershal. Its pale green skin was horribly deformed, and its eyes were nothing but milky white orbs. The Nershal’s nostrils flared, and it reached a clawed hand toward him. Zack swung his stick and hit the Nershal on the back. The creature howled in pain and lost its grip. Zack hit it again, and the Nershal crashed downward into another one, and they both went down. The Nershals landed roughly, and Zack could hear them crying out in pain.

More of the deformed Nershals were climbing up toward him. Zack climbed higher, trying to put more distance between himself and the mutant Nershals. He watched as they caught his scent and scrambled toward him. It was almost as if they came at him from instinct rather than a true intent to do him harm.
 

The next Nershal he hit with his stick was surprised by the blow.

“Stop!” Zack said. “Stay away.”

The mutant Nershals stopped. At least they could hear him, even if they couldn’t see him.

“I don’t want to hurt you. Stay away,” Zack said, and swung his stick so they could hear its sound.

The closest mutant Nershal cocked its head to the side and reached tentatively upward.

Zack swung the branch again and hit it against the side of the tree so hard that a large shaft broke off. The loud knock drew the mutant Nershal’s attention, and several others climbed down to investigate the part of the branch that had broken away. Zack grabbed the end of another branch and snapped it off, thankful it was an older branch that easily broke from the tree. He flung the second branch away, and the sounds of it crashing to the ground could be heard. The remaining mutant Nershals climbed down and gathered around the area where the branch had landed. Zack heard several low growls and screeches, and two of the mutants abruptly turned away from the tree, their heads lifted while they listened.
 

Zack crouched with his back against the tree and faced the same direction, but the sound of a deep snarl caused him to jump back up, slamming his head into the small branch above him. The mutant Nershals began to scramble away, but several gathered around the two Nershals Zack had caused to fall from the tree and helped them up. One of the injured mutant Nershals looked up at Zack and screeched pleadingly. Zack’s mouth hung open, but he had no idea what the creature was trying to tell him.

His internal HUD flickered to life.

Combat Mode Initiated.

He could see! The forest around him appeared in startling clarity as another deep snarl sounded, and Zack caught a glimpse of a massive creature as it pushed its way through the trees, heading straight for him. He squatted down and lowered himself to another branch, but his hands slipped and he tumbled toward the ground, banging into every branch on the way down. He felt as though the tree were beating him for daring to break off any of its limbs.
 

Finally, Zack crashed to the ground in a heap. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision while crawling away. A massive, clawed fist slammed the ground where he’d been just a moment before. Zack scrambled to his feet and stumbled around the tree. There was a loud whoosh and another massive fist slammed into the tree, causing some of its roots to snap as it grudgingly fell over. The creature roared, and just as its large head came around the bent tree, Zack’s HUD flickered off. Zack gasped and turned, running as fast as he could.
 

The glimpse he’d caught of it put the creature at around twenty feet tall. Zack ran as fast as he could, darting around the trees, trying to keep them between him and the giant mutant now chasing him. The cadence of the creature’s massive footfalls as it propelled itself forward reminded Zack of a gallop, and it was gaining on him. The mutant roared as it streaked out to the side, catching up to him. Zack changed course, and the terrain became rockier. The forest was thinning, with the gaps between the trees becoming more prevalent. He saw several large mounds and headed toward them. The giant mutant continued to gain on him, and Zack could hardly breathe. He couldn’t go any faster.
 

As he rounded some brush, something grabbed him. Zack fell to the ground and was pulled into the brush. Whatever had hold of him kept pulling him deeper, and Zach realized the brush had covered the opening to a small cave. Zack struggled against whatever was holding him, and a hand clamped over his mouth.

“Quiet, Human,” a voice said.

Sensing something familiar in the voice, Zack stopped struggling and tried to see who had spoken to him by the light of a wispy shaft of moonlight streaming into the cave from an opening above. He could still hear the large footfalls stomping around, and Zack tried to breathe as quietly as possible so he could listen. A loud roar seemed to rattle the stone walls around them. Zack couldn’t tell where the creature was, but after a few moments it stalked away from the cave.

“I should have realized that only one such as you could cause all this noise.”

Zack frowned. “Etanu?”

The Nershal stepped into the moonlight, stooping and favoring one side.

For a few moments the pain in his body was driven back. “How?” Zack gasped.

“They tossed me in here shortly after we arrived. I guess they figured I wasn’t worth much compared to you. I did manage to get this though,” Etanu said.

The Nershal withdrew Zack’s PDA and wristband from the tattered remains of his uniform. Zack reached out and took it.

“Thank you,” Zack said.

“I tried to get it to work, and it seemed to work for a few minutes, but then it just stopped,” Etanu said.

“So that’s why my HUD suddenly came on. Have you been able to contact the others? Is there a way out of here?” Zack asked.

Etanu sat down on a rock. “You saw the walls. This is a prison,” he said and winced.

“Are you hurt?”

“I had a run-in with the blind mutants my first night here,” Etanu said.

Zack took a good look at the Nershal. Etanu had been so strong, and he’d stayed with Zack on the Xiiginn cruiser and been captured. “Why didn’t you just fly out of here?” Zack asked.

“I tried, but one of the Enforcers shot me down,” Etanu said. “No lethal rounds.”

Zack frowned. “I thought Enforcers were Nershals. Are you saying they’re here too? I only saw Xiiginns up in the central building.”

“They were Nershals,” Etanu said, his orange eyes blazing with anger.

Zack didn’t know what to say. How did one respond to the knowledge that their own species was betraying itself? “I don’t know much about the Nershals. The only things I know, I learned from the ones I met on Selebus, but nothing I’ve seen so far would indicate that a Nershal would knowingly betray their own species.”

Etanu looked away and shook his head. “We are immune to the Xiiginn compulsion,” he said.

“They’re experimenting on you. Perhaps the Xiiginns found some other way,” Zack said.
 

His forearm itched, and he rubbed it.

“That’s a tracer. I think they tag everyone they send down here,” Etanu said.

The dryness in Zack’s mouth reminded him of how thirsty he was. He glanced around the cave but didn’t see anything in the way of supplies. Etanu followed his gaze.

“We’ll need to stay here for a while, make sure the mutant is gone, and then we can get out of here,” Etanu said.

“I don’t suppose you have any water?” Zack asked.

“No,” Etanu said. “There isn’t much to be found either. The Xiiginns make sure all the food and water come from them.”

“Do you know where we are?” Zack asked.

Etanu nodded. “We’re on Selebus. At first I thought they might have moved us, but the length of this night has proven otherwise. Selebus’s orbit around the gas giant gives it prolonged days and nights.”

Zack was quiet for a few moments. “Thank you for saving my life. I think we’re even now.”

Etanu had sworn to protect Zack with his own life in return for Zack saving his life during a Nershal rite. That crazy life-and-death run through the valley to the Skybowl with a poisonous alien creature on his wrist seemed like it was so long ago now.

The Nershal looked over at him, considering his words. “I’m not sure it counts. We still need to get free of this place.”

“Regardless, I appreciate it. That thing almost had me, and if you hadn’t stepped in I would likely be dead right now,” Zack said, his body shuddering at the realization of just how close he’d come to dying. How the hell were they going to get out of this place? Now that he wasn’t running for his life, he felt his shoulders sag with exhaustion.

“Go ahead and rest. I’ll keep watch,” Etanu said, and looked as if he were about to say more but didn’t.

“What is it?” Zack asked.

“I’ve explored some of the pit, but not all of it. This is the first time I’ve seen the large mutant hunt anything. I don’t know why it was drawn to you in the first place,” Etanu said.

“It wasn’t the only one. The blind mutants were chasing me before that. I thought they wanted to . . . I’m not sure what the hell they wanted. I knocked one out of the tree I was in, and it seemed surprised that I hit it,” Zack said.

“I was watching but wasn’t close enough to help,” Etanu said.

Zack settled down on the ground with his back against the cave wall. Every so often they heard the distant roar of the giant mutant. “I could be reading things into what the blind mutants were doing, but when that big mutant came, I would have sworn they were trying to get me to come with them.”

Etanu blew out a breath and shook his head. “Do you really think they cared about you? They likely didn’t even know what you were, let alone show concern that you would be killed by the giant mutant. They’re mindless.”

“They’re not. They communicate with one another,” Zack said.

“Fine, they communicate with one another,” Etanu said. “They came after me, too, when I first got here.”

“And?”

“And they left me alone after I killed a few of them,” Etanu said.