The Archer's Paradox - The Travis Fletcher Chronicles (32 page)

Travis dragged himself out of his funk and looked up at Xnuk Ek’. “Where?”

She pointed to the side of the hangar where the exits were. Large doors for moving cargo to the main ship and smaller ones for personnel lined the wall. The cargo doors were all shut, as were most of the personnel doors, but one remained open about fifty yards away. “There. We must get into the ship. We will be safe there.” she finished decisively.

Travis could not for the life of him understand how that would save them from the wrath of a dozen murderous and angry soldiers.

His reticence was obvious to Xnuk Ek’. “We must go, now!” she insisted and pointed to the soldier she had injured who was reaching for his gun, while nursing what looked like a broken arm and screaming orders to ‘kill the Otoch woman’ and ‘maim The Original’. Warriors were emerging from their killing spree on the shuttle and looking round for them.

Travis pulled his shattered wits together. “Let’s go!” he shouted, pushing Xnuk Ek’ ahead of him. She had the longer stride and was probably much fitter than he was so could cover the ground quicker. Plus, they still wanted him alive, he hoped.

“No,” Xnuk Ek’ countered, “you go ahead and I will create a shield to protect us.”

Travis had seen mental shields used before to protect from weapon’s fire but that was by trained guards. Did she have that skill? There was no more time to argue so he set off at full tilt towards the door.

About fifty yards.
He thought to himself.
About thirty strides, I’ve run further.
He reasoned, trying to keep his fear from getting the better of him.
Five, ten.
He counted as his feet pounded on the hard surface of the hangar. Crack! The firing started and a beam passed through his peripheral vision. Then another and another. He felt Xnuk Ek’ wince as the shots started to impact her shield, each one more painful than the last.
Fifteen. Packing crates ahead. Jump. Half way there.
Sweat beaded on his brow from the effort and fear. He could see the door looming ahead. Sanctuary, if Star was to be believed. He had no choice but to believe. The intensity of fire increased and he sensed Xnuk Ek’’s pain increasing as her shield weakened.
Twenty. More packing crates. Jump! Nearly there!
Crack! That one sounded louder than the rest. Regret and an apology brushed his mind a moment before Xnuk Ek’’s body crashed into him, knocking him off his feet. She hit the deck like a rag doll, struck her head on a packing crate and lay still, an ugly wound in the small of her back, to the left of her spine, still smouldering.

Travis scuttled over to where she lay whilst keeping low behind the crates they had just hurdled. Blood seeped out of a gash across her temple, framing her head like a dark liquid halo and the wound in her back, about the size of his fist, oozed sticky red goo. The material of her jumpsuit was fused to her flesh around the hole by the heat of the beam. Inside the wound looked, to Travis, like hot raspberry jam where the disruption charge had scrambled muscle, sinew and internal organs. He could see her spine under the goo and she was not moving.

“No no no no no no.” he moaned, stroking her hair gently. “Not you too.” he bent down and gently kissed her head.

The firing had stopped. “Show yourself and we will not harm you!” he recognised the voice of the officer who had hit him. “There is nowhere for you to run!” he finished, stating the obvious.

Travis saw the faces of the passengers on the shuttle: Xnuk Ek’’s lover, Jagā No Ashi's father and the rest he was never introduced to but who had all volunteered to take him home before even meeting him. Some of them looked so young, like the couple who were shot as they opened the door after the crash. And now Xnuk Ek’; a beautiful star had been snuffed out by this band of arrogant barbarians, just as he was getting to know this beautiful, complex person. A red mist of fury descended over his eyes, banishing all rational thought and reason as he stood and faced his attackers. Synapses and pathways in his brain that had lain dormant in all humans were suddenly snapped open. Blind fury forced energy and messages through these unused paths as his genes remembered their ancestry and heritage, resulting in a crackling ball of energy in the palm of his hand. He looked at the white, pulsating ball for a moment before hurling it in the general direction of the officer who was shouting orders at him. Not being a natural sportsman, the shot was not particularly accurate but as the ball hit a nearby crate, it exploded in a shower of hot metal. It was enough to send all the attackers leaping for cover. Still in the grip of his berserk rage, a second ball formed itself. He hurled it with a deal more accuracy and the crate shielding the commanding officer shattered, blowing him onto his back.

Travis began to feel groggy from the effort but he pushed it down. “Back off fuck-wits, or I’ll kill the lot of you!” Travis screamed, hurling a third to emphasise the point, but it was a step too far as he sagged to the floor, a wave of exhaustion and nausea washing over him, but it was enough to make the attacking soldiers pause for a moment.

A low moan caught his attention. He looked over at Xnuk Ek’’s body and saw it move. Not dead! He crawled to her side and turned her over, cradling her head in his arms. Her eyes opened. Travis’ heart leapt with joy and he forgot his weariness.

Her eyes were dull, her lips pale and her face creased in pain. “You must go.” she whispered, a tickle of blood bubbled from the corner of her mouth.

“Not without you.” he replied, gently.

“I am dying.” her voice was edged in pain. “I have failed you. Please go.” she pleaded.

“Not without you.” Travis repeated. “I can’t do this without you.”

“Give up and show yourself!” Obviously the commanding officer had recovered from Travis’ attack.

“Fuck off!” Travis shouted back from behind his bunker of crates. “Anyone showing their face gets it melted off.” But it was all bravado. Not only did he not have enough energy left to create another ball but his rage had subsided and his body had forgotten how to, but no one called his bluff.

“We can wait!” came the reply, but the impatience in the voice belied the statement.

Travis slumped forward, tears welling up behind his eyes. “Too many people have died because of me.” he said, stroking her hair. “The boy looking after me, the guards who tried to protect the doctor, all those people on the shuttle.” he paused a moment. “All because of me.”

“I am sorry, Travis Fletcher.” Xnuk Ek’ said, resigned to her fate.

“Well, no more!” he replied, heaving Xnuk Ek’ onto his shoulder.
Only a few more yards.
He reasoned to himself as he struggled to his feet.
But to what?
He took his first faltering step and nearly buckled under the weight of the woman over his shoulder. Travis never was much of a weightlifter, even without having all his energy sapped. He could feel the soldiers getting up from behind their barricades and levelling their weapons at them, preparing for the final volley. It seemed that they were no longer prepared to take him alive. The first shot cracked past his face so close he felt his cheek go numb and he braced himself for the next to strike him down. A sudden surge of energy that was not his own coursed through his body as he took his next step, then another and another as he powered from one leg to the other, his legs pumping like pistons on a steam engine. Deadly beams cracked around his head spurring him on.

The pair tumbled through the door that promised safety just as Travis’ last reserves of borrowed energy dissipated and he crumpled to the floor. Xnuk Ek’’s body rolled off him and lay still. Travis heaved himself onto one knee. They were in the anteroom between that hangar and the main ship, with hermetically sealed doors on both walls. When all the doors were locked, the hangar could be ejected, along with the other three nacelles as escape pods. Beyond the doors was an anteroom where passages through the stubby struts connecting the hangar to the main ship and bounce tubes to take people up to the ships in the gantries. Travis remembered a similar arrangement to get into the gaming centre.

Travis gently rolled Xnuk Ek’ over. She was still breathing, but it was laboured and shallow. She was unconscious, her skin was clammy and cold and blood still trickled from her nose and the corner of her mouth, showing the extent of her internal injuries. “Oh what have you done to yourself, you stupid bitch.” he chided the prostrate body gently. He cast around for somewhere to hide but the anteroom was just one huge empty space. “But I’m still not leaving you.” he grabbed the collar of her jump suit and started to drag her through the joining corridor of the strut, but her body had become a lead weight since he was no longer being augmented by Xnuk Ek’’s last remaining strength.

He had got no more than ten feet when the first soldier appeared, followed by another and another. This was it, game over. He had nothing more to give. He just hoped it would be quick, but he was determined not to go out with a whimper. He lay Xnuk Ek’’s head gently on the ground and straddled her prostrate form protectively. At least she would never know how completely he had failed her.

The officer in charge shouldered his way through and sneered. He was nursing what looked like a broken arm. “Shoot his legs off to stop him running.” he ordered one of his men.

“What about the woman?” Someone asked.

He looked at the pathetic form at Travis’ feet. “She’s dead already,” he replied, “she just does not know it yet, but finish her anyway.”

The soldiers raised their guns and Travis raised a two finger salute as a final act of defiance. He was about to add a suitable curse when a white ball sizzled over his head and buried itself into the chest of the closest soldier, who fell to the floor with a grunt and a startled look on his face. The other soldiers immediately sprang to readiness and swept the area looking for the sniper, but there was nowhere to hide in the connecting corridor. Another bolt sizzled over Travis’ head and ended the life of another attacker, then a third, then a veritable cascade, like a miniature meteor shower. Whoever was shooting had unerringly perfect aim and the whole thing was over in a matter of seconds without the Éðel soldiers being given a chance to return fire. Then silence. Travis, who had remained as still as a
statue, turned round to face his saviour but the corridor behind him was empty. He thought he heard a faint whirring above him and looked up just in time to see a dome, about the size of a large dessert plate rotating to cover two stubby barrels. Automated defences? Travis thought to himself. She knew. That’s what she meant about being safe. The ship was supposed to be empty, other than them, so Travis discounted a human marksman.

“Why couldn’t you be out there?” he cursed at the ceiling. “You could have stopped all this!”

He looked down at Xnuk Ek’, still unconscious at his feet. Now what? He knelt down beside her and stroked her cheek. She was still breathing but her complexion was the colour of porridge and her skin was cold and clammy. He had to get her medical attention as soon as possible. The vague remembrance of Xnuk Ek’ relocating him to his cabin after he had been prematurely released from the White Room came to Travis. “Time to return the favour.” he smiled gently at her. He got up and stepped over and round the bodies on the floor. He felt as though he should be horrified but he felt nothing, only a notion that there was not enough bodies.

Pausing briefly, he considered picking up one of the discarded weapons but decided against it. He had no idea if the automated defences could tell the difference between him and him with a gun, not that he knew how to use it anyway. At the door to the main hangar he peered round. He was right. Over by the crashed ships he could see two more soldiers randomly breaking open crates and tossing the contents over the floor like a gang of looters with no idea what they had stolen.

“In for a penny.” he grimaced to himself. Taking a deep breath, he moved out and stood foursquare in the doorway with his hands on his hips, trying to look unconcerned but every sinew prepared for flight. “Oi! Fuckwits! I’ve just seen off your whole mob, including your commander and you’re next.” That got their attention and they drew their guns and started converging on him. “Come and get me, if you think you’re hard enough!” he dived back inside just as two shots whipped though the space he had just vacated. Travis rushed back to where Xnuk Ek’ lay and gently repositioned her so the wound in her back was clearly visible to anyone entering the strut and took up his protective stance over her again.

He did not have long to wait. Having entered the cavernous anteroom, the two soldiers could see the pile of bodies in black uniforms beyond the adjoining doors. They approached carefully to see The Original standing over the body of his Otoch minder. His stance and expression exuded bravado but fear oozed from every pore of his body. They levelled their weapons at him and one of them opened his mouth to speak. Whirr, zap, zap, whirr. Two more bodies lay on the floor.

Travis stepped over them and spat on them as he passed. “Fuckwits! Idiots!” he snarled.

Out in the hangar he found what he was looking for. The cargo mover was a flat plate, about nine feet long and five feet wide with a control stick at one end. Gripping the stick activated it and the plate rose a few inches off the ground. Travis manoeuvred it to beside Xnuk Ek’ and gingerly lay her on it. Once in place, Travis was able to push her forward effortlessly and covered the hundred feet or so to the main body of the ship in moments.