Authors: Ronan Frost
Dropping it aside he proceeded to put on his black
hard toed boots. Ashian was looking at Shaun quizzically, making
twittering noises and gesturing incomprehension. To Shaun it
sounded totally unpronounceable, mid-syllables containing odd
fluttering noises, a clicking of the tongue making a regular
appearance. Shaun made a pantomime of showing that he could not
understand them, either. He tried to explain why but he was unable,
for the natives seemed to have no concept of a translator bug.
Ashian shouted something to his comrades in sudden understanding
and ran off to the nearby lockers.
Bemused, Shaun watched as the queer little native
scampered off. He turned, trying to place himself, working out
where they lay on the Urisa, when the native returned with the
translator bug between pinched fingers as if he had a rat by the
tail.
"You found it!" marvelled Shaun, taking the small
device.
They all froze as a deep thumping reverberated about
the room, the air suddenly filled with tension. Shaun shoved the
bug absently into a side pocket of the helicasuit - it could wait.
He paced the room, searching for a way out. The duct through which
the natives had come was way too small for his girth, and the door
was only other exit. He moved to clear the debris that was stacked
in front of it.
He froze as Myshia's hand brushed his shoulder, the
touch seeming to cause a spark between them. In that insane moment
a crystal clear voice spoke through his head.
Block the door. The Sunlords approach.
Shaun darted around, wondering how the trick had been
played on him. Was it a hidden speaker embedded in the walls? He
tried to push the small female native away, but she held
tenaciously; her lips did not move but her large gem-like eyes
glowed compulsively, seeming to catch Shaun's gaze and hold it. Her
mind was speaking inside his head.
Shaun was taken aback. Telepathy was no totally
unheard of, some primitive alien races having the ability to share
thoughts with each other like bees sharing the same hive, but never
had one been known to communicate with a human!
Shaun had no time to contemplate and shook away with
a feeling of dread, grimacing at the odd sensation. It was like
Myshia's finger had for that brief moment passed through his
thoughts as if they were seaweed; disturbing because he knew that
had she wanted too Myshia could have closed her 'fist' and yanked,
pulling away his sanity.
Pulling away from Myshia's grasp the feeling of a
second presence in his mind immediately vanished, as if a radio had
been switched off. Snapping out of his reverie he began to stack
all available machinery that wasn't bolted down in front of the
door, not doubting for a second that if he opened the door he'd
blasted into cinders before he'd taken a step.
Capac and Ashian lent a hand to jam the door. Capac
cut off a length of wire with his knife (only luck saving him from
being electrocuted) then wound it about the door catch. From there
he twisted the cable like a vine and tied it to the stout wall
framing.
Meanwhile Shaun cast about for something heavy and
club like, finding a metal framed medicine stand that would have to
do. He ripped a steel bar from the shelves, wielding it for a
second as he got a feel for its weight. He placed his feet then
swung the heavy bar into the door circuitry. He was rewarded with a
dull flash and puff of smoke as the lock was fused, effectively
sealing the door.
While doing this Shaun felt uneasy: what if they were
blocking their only exit?
Either way, they would have to withstand the siege
and the locked door may buy them some time. His thoughts derailed
as a terrible yowling echoed from the open air duct, splitting the
air in two with its bloodthirsty craving. The alien scream sounded
partly like a hyena's cackle but far slimier, more reptilian.
The natives, too, had frozen, the howl striking fear
into their hearts.
The Lectar were closing in. The dog like creatures
the Hartrias used had picked up their scent and had caught up with
them. Shaun could almost hear the scritching of their hard nails
against steel as they scrambled at a blinding pace towards
them.
Shaun broke the tension to slam himself up against
the wall nearest the small air duct opening. A split second later
the Lectar burst through as if propelled by a cannon, deadly teeth
flashing. Shaun whipped his pistol around, held at arm's length. A
blast of blue laser fire snapped the Lectar in two before it had
even hit the ground, pieces of the beast hitting the polished floor
and skidding in all directions, leaving an ugly comma shape smear
on the tiles.
Shaun heard another yowl and pivoted on his heel,
shoving the wide silver pistol down the air duct and letting off a
lasting blast of scorching blue heat. A deep thumping was heard
inside the ducts as another of the beasts was hit, its dismembered
black-scaled body forced back the way it had come.
Inspiration struck and Shaun gestured to Ashian
hurriedly, pointing to where he had left the Flailer cartridge.
Ashian ran to the medical bed, snatched up the small device and
cast it back. Shaun watched the silver gadget arc through the air,
reaching out and grabbing it deftly from its motion. Moving
quickly, he bared the two wires with his teeth and twisted one
about the metal plating around the lip of the duct and the other on
the grill that he had swung back into place. He made the connection
of wires and snatched away his hands as the grating now glowed with
electricity.
"That should hold them for a while," he muttered with
grim satisfaction as he heard another Lectar strike the plate. The
dark duct was lit for a brief moment with white light and a wild
yell of pain as the Lectar in the duct drew back unsteadily, its
black curved snout still tingling. Pacing like a caged beast it
searched for another way around.
Shaun threw open the sliding doors of the cabinets,
casting aside medical paraphernalia in search of some firearms.
With only a laser pistol he knew they were in desperate need of
greater firepower if they were to resist the imminent strike.
"Nothing," he cursed, scattering the last of the pill
bottles and DNA sample specimens with a brush of his hand. "Even
this helicasuit won't stand up to any flame." He spoke only partly
to the uncomprehending natives, mainly to himself to make thought
easier.
His roving eyes caught on the gas intake value for
the burners, used for heating samples and mixing medicines. He
snatched a cutting knife from a bench and he hacked away at the
steel reinforced cable. His motions were quick and economical, and
within the space of twenty seconds had a jagged end in his hand,
spewing invisible gas that made him retch. He doubled over the end
of the plastic tube and squeezed it tight to block the gas. The
pressure was great and he had to hold with all his might to avoid
the toxic gas spilling over the entire room. With Capac's aid he
overturned a table and lay it next to the door, ripping the gas
tube from its wall mountings as he went.
"Start looking for an exit," called Shaun over his
shoulder, using gestures to convey his wishes to the natives. His
mind was moving quickly now in the heat of the moment, his muscles
moving as if guided by another as he set himself up behind the
table with a portable burner in one hand. He flicked the trigger on
the hand held burner and a flame the width of his palm shot out the
narrowed end. Satisfied, he tucked it into the front pocket of the
blue helicasuit.
Capac had understood and cast about looking for a way
out. He climbed a steel cupboard and tested the ceiling. It was
firmly bolted down and did not even give way to his knife.
Meanwhile Ashian was kicking his bare foot at the walls, listening
carefully for any sound of hollowness. It seemed they were in a
solid metal tomb.
Myshia screamed as the fused door crashed open,
sparks flying and pieces of debris arcing away. The cord Capac had
tied snapped as easily as paper and cracked back like a whip,
missing Shaun's face by scant inches. A thick cloud of smoke boiled
in as the sliding automatic door slammed back into its mountings.
Almost immediately a demonic horde appeared in the doorway,
silhouetted in the dark smoke and flashing sparks.
A great whooshing of flame erupted as Shaun let the
end of the gas pipe go and held the burner an arm's length from the
opening. The gas ignited with a slamming of concussed air as the
pressure drove a cone of flame over the door in hot lashings of
fire.
The shadows fell back before the fury of the flames,
but Shaun knew it would not stop the war suits getting through, for
a small flame such as this would not stop them for long.
"Hurry it up!" bawled Shaun. "It's getting warm
here." As he spoke he let off another long blast of flame, the
metal framework twisting and cracking in its path.
Ashian kicked the wall harder, hardly believing his
luck. Putting his ear to the surface he heard, instead of the dull
thump of steel, a hollow echo.
"Capac, over here!"
Capac leapt down from ontop the cabinet where he had
been unsuccessfully working on screws fastening the ceiling cover.
He saw immediately what Ashian had discovered and quickly reached
for his belt. Stepping back a pace he brought his knife down hard
in a double-handed swing towards the wall. The knife simply skidded
over the hard smooth metallic surface, leaving only a scratch as
evidence of his efforts.
"Wait, let me try." Myshia brought a length of tubing
stabbing down at the wall in a fluid motion. The blow had gone
partway in cracking the strange polished surface. Using a length of
tubing Capac hammered at the weakened wall.
If only Huso was here now, he thought. One blow with
his axe and this wall would be history. He shook his head to blot
all such musing from his mind, working steadily at the wall that
was now starting to break apart. Looking through they saw dark
emptiness leading back.
Ashian called after Shaun in his own tongue. Even
though the language was foreign to him Shaun knew by the birdlike
bark that his native companions had found a way out.
"Give me a second," muttered Shaun to himself. He
cast aside the gas piping as the flame died on him - the Hartrias
were wise to his tricks and had shut down the main valves. His
pistol was in his hand; small defence against the battle clad
warriors that pushed through the door. He tried to hold them back
as long as he was able, but they came to quickly and the blue
flashes of his laser seemed as useless as a flashlight against the
battle armour. Then suddenly the Hartrias soldiers came pouring
through the door like water breaking a dam wall.
Shaun blasted the sights off the helmet of the
nearest soldier and leapt away. The ground he had vacated scorched
with searing laser fire moments later, the thin red line following
his path like flame following a path of petrol. Shaun dived and
rolled in time to avoid the beam of deadly laser as it wreaked
havoc on the medical stands and cabinets - shattering plastiglass
as the apparatus fell.
"Mvorua!" Capac yelled. Spinning, Shaun knew the
meaning of the alien word instantly; it was 'catch!' Shaun snatched
the flare from the air, pausing just long enough to ignite the end
with his laser. He hauled it over his head and towards the bath of
fire and destruction at the door.
The sizzling arc landed at the Hartrias' feet,
covering them immediately in thick dense smoke that not even
infra-red could penetrate. Shaun knew he had little time to clear
the distance between him and the hole in the wall so moved quickly
and without looking back.
He made it under the cover of the impenetrable smoke.
The three natives had already disappeared through the jagged
opening in the wall hammered wide by Capac's blows.
Shaun found himself in darkness, his back bent low,
crouching and searching with his hands. He met with the sides of
the small cavity, and his head brushed the ceiling. He just hoped
it led somewhere - if it was a dead end they were as good as
dead.
He heard noises from the darkness and moved to meet
with them. He tried to understand the natives' quick language but
was unable. They seemed to be hitting against a wall, hammering
with furious intensity quickened by the rush of adrenalin.
"Is it a dead end?" asked Shaun, the blaster in his
hands and sighting back the way they had come. He could already see
the shadows of the Hartrias guards moving closer through the smoke.
Knowing their only hope was that this wall lead to another room,
Shaun aided the natives in their effort to punch their way through
the wall, adjusting his laser blaster down to a narrow blue beam
that cut a circular opening like a blow torch. A swift boot kick in
the enclosed space brought the cut plate falling from the wall,
opening them to light from another room.
The four scrambled out and into a surgery room not
unlike the one they had just left, although this one seemed to
contain more computer equipment and scanning devices. Shaun
stretched and arced his back, and noticed that the ceiling
consisted off a grating through with an assortment of cables snaked
down. He smiled to himself, blessing their good fortune.
"Follow me," he said as he pulled a computer cabinet
down upon its face. Using this he climbed closer to the roof and
effortlessly lifted the roof grate. He grabbed Ashian's light body
in his arms and propelled the small native up through the hole.
Ashian grabbed the lip of the hole and pulled himself the rest of
the way through.
He sat in a low cavity that ran in all directions.
The shadows were odd here, the light from the room below shafting
up between the grating, casting square criss-crossed shadows over
the mounds of cables of wires arranged in neat rows along the roof.
Nearly all the room was taken up by wires and pipes leading to
obscure destinations, leaving only a narrow pathway for the service
droids.