Authors: Ross H Henderson
Heath Chesterfield noticed a broken conduit and some exposed electrical wire. He chopped it cleanly with a nearby fire axe, and most of the lights in the room went out. Then he ripped the lower half from the wall, being careful to avoid the business end of the severed wire. He leaned the axe on the wall nearby and hid the cable behind his back as he waited for the Hive Queen. He was certain she would go after him. When able to choose, she always picked him over Nick. It was understandable that she would, even Heath had to admit. Nick was a trained killer, and a natural master of circumstance. He was unpredictable and resourceful. Earlier, she had watched helplessly as Nick had made her king’s throat and head explode, all while encased in a cocoon. The mutant Newton Paxon thought he had won, and five seconds later he was dead. He never even saw it coming. Yeah, she was probably smart to stay away from Nick Wolfe, but Heath wasn’t going to allow himself to be an easy win. This time he would have some surprises for her too. He was a long way from the football fields of his youth, but it was game-time once again.
He saw Nick hidden on the other side of the room, behind a tall booth-like structure that was hidden by a tarp. It looked to be about seven feet tall with a diameter of about four feet. He had his back against the wall and was pushing on the booth with both his legs. The noise or motion must have attracted Beckett, who focused on Nick Wolfe immediately upon entering the room. Nick inched up the wall to get better leverage on the booth. Heath guessed his plan was to crush the Hive Queen under the booth and attack her from there.
It looked like an act of desperation; the queen obviously knew what he was doing, but could he see her clearly? She got closer and he gave a final mighty push. The tarp, which was fixed to the wall, fell away, fully exposing the column-like cylinder full of pink liquid. She stepped aside and dodged it easily. The giant tube cracked slightly, leaving a small spark on the container at the point of impact. The glass was over an inch thick. In the meantime, Nick fell onto his back after pushing it over. She threw her head back and gave a loud piercing squeal. Nick and Heath instinctively covered their ears. It looked like she was laughing or maybe giving a final war cry before she finished the men off.
The frequency and sheer volume of the cry made the spark expand into a spider web, then it was wider and deeper into the glass, until the cylinder broke open completely, flooding the room with its contents until everyone was standing in at least a half-inch of the fluid.
Nick yelled with everything he had, “
NOW!
Put the cable in the water!” Heath couldn’t hear Nick, but he had never stopped watching him. At first he didn’t know what he was saying but the motion Nick made with his hand motioning down toward the floor with an invisible cable of his own, was unmistakable.
He jumped up on one of the restraining chairs and plunged the live end of the cable into the liquid. Nick had already scouted out a chair of his own, well in advance of the full execution of his plan, and was there before the sparks flew. He hadn’t counted on the glass being too thick to break, but Beckett’s hubris finished the job. This was life and death, and Nick Wolfe only cared about the results. To him, details were just that: details and nothing more.
The now-hiveless queen’s body locked up, unable to move except for some uncontrollable shaking. Her wings were of no use; she was paralyzed. The insect-woman fell over face-first, and started to smolder from the inside. A foul smell filled the room as the flames started to escape her body and consume her from the outside. It was hard to breathe and they needed to get out.
“Pull the cable out and be careful!” Nick ordered.
Heath pulled it out and secured it in a nearby control console.
Suddenly, the door exploded and the room was filled with daylight. Standing outside were Tristan Evans and a rescue team. Wolfe greeted the rescue party who would also act as his clean-up crew.
“Welckub to Kansas,” Nick said, trying to speak around his broken nose.
“We had to get here before you destroyed the whole ship,” replied Tristan Evans.
“You’re in luck. There’s still some left.”
Evans shook his head in resignation and ordered his science team in to collect samples of everything and everyone. He looked at the corpses of Newton Paxson and Beverly Beckett.
“Did you have to blow everyone up?”
“Not everyone. I’ve been in a pretty good mood,” deadpanned Wolfe. “There are whole bodies in the other room and down in the basement.”
“No survivors besides you and young Mr. Chesterfield?”
“Sorry. Their DNA was being manipulated by nanobots to match some ancient alien DNA. We couldn’t let them live.”
“I want a full briefing from both of you before you leave.”
“And I’d like some time off after that.”
“Understood, but I’m afraid we have another problem: the larger half of the Pangaea ship is coming back to Earth.”
“I know
it is, and I also know
you want to capture it, research it, exploit it for profit and for the good of humanity, but my advice is to send some nukes after it. Blow it away before it reaches orbit. It was all we could do to survive this with a handful of these mutant hybrids.
This other ship has Josh’s DNA, and probably access to his memories and training. Maybe classified info too. Who knows? The last thing we need is an army of these aliens with his training and knowledge.
I’m begging you, Tristan. Destroy it.”
Tristan motioned to one of his men who rushed over and produced a sat phone. He looked at Nick as if to ask if he were sure about what he just said.
“You have everything you need to study the aliens’ DNA and technology right here. It’s already yours. If you let that ship land you will lose it all. We all will lose everything.”
Tristan gave some confirmation codes and gave the order, and paused.
“It will take some time for the missiles to reach their target, but I will let you know as soon as they hit.”
“You’d better hope they do. I’m ready to talk to your people now, but first I want some coffee. Heath, are you coming?”
THE END
To get
Clean Slate
, a free short story,
tap here
.
Here is a list of all the
Nick Wolfe Adventures
.
ROSS H. HENDERSON
is the author of science fiction stories, including
The Eyes of Little Birds, Slaves of Pangaea
, and
The God Class
. He draws inspiration from classic writers of the genre Philip K. Dick and J.G. Ballard, placing his readers in strange and dangerous situations while asking questions about humanity, technology, and reality itself.
Before taking up writing, Ross was active in the Atlanta music scene, playing in various bands and producing albums. He has also booked and promoted events, including charity shows for Wounded Warrior Project.
Ross enjoys sci fi movies, art, history, and spending time with his family.