Survivor (9 page)

Codon didn't take the time to look. He
climbed higher on some fallen shelves and hauled his body over the
door's edge. His feet dangled inside.

Nova didn't need to look to know that it was
as bad as she'd feared; his expression said it all.

"What? I-" Codon spluttered. "It's all
gone."

"Let me look."

Codon dropped into the ship without a word.
Nova stepped past and lifted herself into the doorway. Below the
dark blue sky was the desert, but the smooth sand of a few minutes
before was gone. In its place were jagged hills and deep chasms.
Raw earth was churned up as far as the eye could see.

The smaller ships were only just visible.
They had been sucked into the ground, hauled into chasms or tossed
about on rising ground. The entire landscape had been changed,
carved into a rough and harsh surface.

There was a smoky smell in the air. It
reeked of burning plastic, wood, and flesh. Her eyes stung and
tears dripped onto her cheeks.

Most disconcerting of all was the noise, or
rather, the lack of it. Before there had been the constant buzz of
the excavation, the murmur of voices and footsteps, now there was
nothing. A deathly silence had fallen over Archalon.

There was no sign of movement. Small shadows
lay about the base of Codon's ship. It was hard to tell from this
height, but she knew in her gut that they were bodies. The soldiers
who had escorted her here were now dead at her feet.

There was nothing left.

She dropped back inside the ship. Her heart
and mind raced. She'd known something like this was going to
happen. She had only two kinds of luck; the best and the worst. The
words at the entrance said it all. It was both a warning and a
promise. But now what? What had the Confederacy released?

"Yin? Trev? Get over here right now," Codon
said.

There was no reply.

Codon's face was red and sweat poured down
from his forehead. He breathed hard and leant against the wall.

"Yin. Trev. Do you copy?"

"I think they're all dead," Nova whispered.
She gazed off into the distance, not really seeing the broken
pieces of Codon's ship, but rather seeing the faces of all the
workers and soldiers outside.

"How is that possible?"

"Like I said, I'm sure we'll find out soon.
Whoever left that writing knew what was coming."

"But that's impossible. There have been no
signs of life on this planet for centuries. This was supposed to be
my big find, my break."

Codon let himself slide down the wall until
he sat in an unruly heap on the floor, or at least what was the
floor now but had once been wall. He blended in with the rest of
the rubble piled up all around him, just one more relic of a failed
mission.

"Listen!" Nova said.

Codon looked up at her and tilted his head
to the side.

Nova strained her ears. She didn't have to
wait long, a few moments later it came again, a dull thud which
shook the ship and sent vibrations through her body. She had the
sensation that the noise came from far away and dreaded the thought
of how powerful it would be, closer to the source.

"What is it?" Codon whispered.

"I think it's them."

They turned towards the door of the
ship.

It hung open, letting in the night air and
whatever else might chance upon them.

"The ship's cameras should still be
working," Codon said.

Nova nodded and let him lead the way. It was
a massive vessel. Rooms and corridors led off in all directions.
Passages disappeared beneath their feet, dropping into deep
chasms.

They had to step over multiple bodies on
their way. Each of the Confederacy workers was the same, blood
leaking from every orifice and their eyes wide open. Their blue
uniforms created a haunting pattern amongst the rubble.

It was a struggle to navigate their way to
the control room. Luckily, there were multiple ways to get there,
or Nova was sure they would never have made it.

Codon shouldered past the door. The massive
walls were covered with smaller boxes, showing images of both the
inside and outside of the ship. The pictures were crystal clear and
hid nothing.

"Some of the cameras are broken," Codon
said, pointing to four black squares.

"It was a pretty big shockwave," Nova said.
"Which makes me wonder, how did we survive?"

She turned to Codon with her hands on her
hips, conveniently close to her gun. It still bothered her, it was
almost as if Codon had known what was coming.

"I know what you're implying," Codon said.
"And no. My lab has the latest in shielding technology. The stuff
protecting it hasn't even been published yet. If anything was going
to shield us from some kind of shockwave, it was that shield."

"What about the rest of the ship?"

Codon shrugged. "The Confederacy hadn't
bought it yet. Mine was a prototype."

"This place is massive. It could have saved
everyone!"

She stepped towards the doctor with her
hands clenched into fists at her sides. Her vision flashed red. It
was typical Confederacy to hide technology from the rest of the
world. What if all of the ships had been equipped with this kind of
shield? What if the soldiers' armour had had it?

"Take your sanctimonious tones elsewhere,"
Codon said.

He stepped forward to meet Nova so that they
stood in front of each other, their noses almost touching.

Codon's warm breath wafted over Nova's face.
A blood vessel pulsed beneath the flesh of his right temple.

"I tried to warn you," she said.

"Yes I heard you the first time. Now, do you
want to get a look at these bastards or not?"

She took a deep breath and swallowed. She
forced her fists to uncurl, stepped away from Codon, and looked
back at the screens. It wouldn't do either of them any good to
argue now. They were the only two left on the planet, the only ones
who knew what was happening.

"Cal, send a transmission out to Aart and
Tanguin. They need to know what's happening and spread the word.
Hell, get them to tell the Confederacy. We need all the backup we
can get."

"I'm afraid I've already tried contacting
them," Cal said.

"And?" Nova said.

A cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

"Our transmissions can't get through.
They're being blocked by the same thing that's keeping us
grounded."

"Try again," she whispered.

"I've tried many times, I've got a
continuous loop going but it's not getting through. No one can hear
us."

"Grishnak!" she said and slammed her palm
down onto the metal bench.

"What?" Codon said.

"We can't communicate with the outside. We
may as well be in a black-hole, because nothing's getting out of
here."

"What the hell do they want with us?" Codon
said.

"I'd guess it's not to chat."

She lowered herself into a swivelling chair
and stared up at the screens. Her eyes were tired, as was the rest
of her body. There were so many different video feeds spread out
before her that she struggled to focus, to make sense of what was
going on.

"There!" Codon said. "Enlarge feed
forty-two."

In response to his command, the screen
expanded to fill the whole view. Trees blocked most of it.

"They're alive," Nova said.

"What do you mean?"

"The trees. My labourbot said that my plants
died, so I thought maybe the shockwave was meant to knock out
living things, but those are fine."

Codon grunted and continued to stare at the
video feed.

"What the hell is that?" Codon
whispered.

Nova stared with wide eyes at the screen
before her. The trees parted to reveal monstrous beasts that were
completely foreign and yet hauntingly familiar. They were humanoid
but made of metal. They had elongated heads of sleek black metal
which attached to smooth, reptilian bodies. Sharp blades ran along
the outer edges of their arms and their hands were tipped with
razor-sharp claws. Their tales whipped back and forth, ending in
four long barbs. They moved with unnerving speed and agility,
darting between the trees and across the sand.

"The Ancients," she said.

"What?"

"The ones who seeded Old-Earth."

Her mind raced over everything she had ever
read about the Ancients, some called them gods. There were so many
mentions of them throughout human history, and yet always they were
relegated to myth and legend. Well here they were, as real as
anything else.

"That's ridiculous," Codon said. "You sound
like a damned creationist."

"The evidence is right there," she said,
waving her hand towards the screen. "They use a language similar to
that of ancient Earth. Their basic body structure is humanoid but
they're far more advanced and much older than we are. It's the only
thing that makes sense."

Codon blinked at the screen but didn't
reply.

Nova's heart fluttered high in her chest.
She'd never believed the Ancients existed either, not until this
very moment. Her skin was cold and goose bumps covered her arms and
cheeks. Her neck tingled, whether from fear or excitement, she
couldn't say.

The creatures coming out of the trees became
more terrifying as they neared; there was no sign of eyes or other
features on their faces, just cold, black metal. They towered high
above the bodies of fallen workers; at least twice as tall as any
human. A few glanced down at the figures scattered before them, but
most walked straight past. They spoke in fluid tones, their voices
floating from the speakers.

"Is your translator working?" Nova said.

Codon frowned and cocked his head before
shaking it from side to side and glancing at her.

"Mine neither," she said. "Cal, what's going
on with the translation?"

"The translator patch doesn't work for the
verbal form," Cal said. "There is no reference for such a
language."

"But the written language is so familiar,"
she said.

"They're different; at least as far as the
reference databases are concerned."

Nova tapped the metal bench with her fingers
and stared at the creatures. They talked to each other, but there
was no way to understand what they said. The creatures cleared the
area around the forest. A group of four went to a fallen spaceship
and with a mighty heave, they sent it flying.

The aliens worked until there was a clear
circle extending at least fifty metres away from the trees. From
there, they dragged pieces of machinery out of the tomb and
scattered them across the ground. Small groups got together,
welding pieces of metal.

"They're building something," Codon
said.

"Ships," she said.

"We will have the power to rule the
universe," Codon whispered, reciting the words carved above the
entrance to the tomb.

"Exactly," Nova said. "I don't know if they
were sleeping or imprisoned down there. Either way, you let them
out."

"You can keep your righteous tones. I'm
getting off this planet, if it's the last thing I ever do."

"We can't leave. If we don't stop them
they'll enter the wider galaxies and destroy every human colony
there is."

"They won't find me or the Confederacy. Oh
no, we have measures in place to protect us from this sort of
thing."

"You did this. Now you have to stop it," she
said, placing a hand on Codon's shoulder.

Codon whipped around and knocked her arm
free with his forearm. He pushed forward with his shoulder. She
stumbled backwards. He pushed the advantage with kicks and
punches.

Nova wasn't ready for the attack. His sudden
outburst left her reeling and she was forced to back-pedal out of
the monitoring room and into the hallway beyond. Codon slammed
punches into her arms and shoulders before she regained her
composure. She pushed back at him with all her strength.

She shoved him and he stumbled
backwards.

Codon rounded on her. "Touch me again and
I'll break every one of your fingers."

"Wake up!" she yelled, her fists at the
ready. "We're the only ones left on this planet. If I wanted you
dead, you would be crushed under a couch right now."

"Don't give me your empty threats," Codon
said. His face was red and spittle flew out of his mouth, spraying
Nova and the hallway around her.

"I assure you, they're not empty," she said.
Her breathing returned to normal. She didn't doubt that Codon could
kill her. The fumbling scientist was a thin façade for the soldier
underneath. At least for the moment he was afraid of her.

"Get off my ship," Codon said.

"What?"

"I said get off my ship. If you so much as
think of coming back here, I will have the ship's automatic weapons
take you out."

"Look, we can't afford to fight. We're the
only ones left and that means we have to stick together, and find a
way to beat these things."

"I don't think so. I'm leaving this planet
and warning the Confederacy. That's my number one duty. You can do
whatever the hell you want, as long as you're not on my ship when
you do it."

"But—"

"Get off."

Codon marched towards her, fists clenched at
his sides.

Nova shrugged and backed away from the man.
He just needed time to cool down. A few hours completely alone on
the planet would see him begging for her to come back. In the
meantime, she had things to do.

She let herself be backed all the way
through the ship until they were in the entrance lounge. She
climbed over fallen furniture to the open door.

"Call my ship, Crusader, if you want to get
hold of me," she said.

"I won't."

Nova jumped up to the door and looked out.
It was much the same view as before except that now there was a
cleared area between the ships and the trees.