To The Stars (The Harry Irons Trilogy) (31 page)

Harry spoke to it, "Can you hear me?"

The monster remained mute and continued to hold the instrument.

"We are from a planet called Earth. Where are you from?"

No sound came from the creature other than a barely audible whine emitted from its servo motors. The longer Harry observed it, the more he began to believe that what he saw was an environment suit. An extremely elaborate environment suit. Maybe the creature sat inside the apparatus.

Sounding like a scene from an old video, Harry said, "We come in peace. We wish you no harm."

The creature showed no sign of understanding. But it made no hostile moves either. That was encouraging and Harry took a step forward. Now it was no more than seven feet away. Without warning, it lowered itself until it was no taller than Harry's six feet. It could have been a pose taken in response to Harry's movement, a defensive posture. It could also have been a posture designed to open communications.

The creature removed another instrument from its belt. Harry watched closely as it again pointed the instrument in his direction. It was a peculiar angled box with what appeared to be a crystal at the end. The crystal began to glow and hum. In a moment, a beam of light sprang forth and struck Harry in the forehead.

Harry was temporarily blinded. His head swam and images passed through his mind of alien landscapes and strange hulking shapes. The images were accompanied by sounds, utterly nonhuman sounds. He felt as though his head was about to split wide open. In his mind, an image of the Miaplacidus system formed. In the background, the image focused on another star, a red dwarf. As Harry fought the pain in his head, the image of the red dwarf suddenly exploded. And then the pain, the images, and the light stopped, and once again he stood before the alien.

The creature seemed to wait for a response.

Harry found his voice. "What is it you're trying to say?"

The creature raised the instrument. Harry braced himself as it began to glow. He wasn't sure if he could take more of the thought intrusion. The creature raised to its full height and took a step closer. Harry felt a tingling sensation on his scalp and then, quite unexpectedly, something flew over his right shoulder and struck the alien on the arm which held the offending instrument.

Harry at first thought that either Fagen or Parker had thrown something and struck the alien.

"No," Harry said and half-turned to the treeline where he knew his companions watched. From somewhere in the trees, another shaft came streaking down and struck the alien on an armor-covered flank.

Harry staggered backwards and the creature took another step forward. On the ground were what appeared to be two wooden javelins. The alien lowered itself and picked up one of the spears snapping it into two pieces as easily as one might a toothpick. It tossed the pieces aside and drew another instrument from its belt. This one looked suspiciously like a weapon.

Harry's training told him to remain where he was, but every instinct in his person told him otherwise. Common sense won out and he began a rapid retreat to the trees.

The alien fired a beam at Harry as he ducked under a low-hanging branch. It missed and burned through a thick root. A shotgun blast suddenly burst from the treeline.

Oh no, Harry thought. Not this way. Things were rapidly falling apart. He had wanted so badly to do his job, to establish a dialogue with the aliens. And now, what was happening was the worst thing he could imagine. Jumping behind the cover of a tree, he soon began to consider an even worse scenario.

Another shotgun blast rang out. Harry peeked around the trunk. He could clearly see Fagen and Parker, both squatting behind tree roots. The creature, however, was obstructed from his view. Fagen fired again and urged Parker to fire as well. Parker looked at the clearing and poked the barrel of his gun into the air. He fired and his shot went ineffectively upward ripping through the tree and causing a shower of pine needles and small branches to rain down over him.

Both Fagen and the doctor turned and ran toward Harry. Fagen paused just long enough to hand him his rifle and helmet.

"Let's go! Now!"

Harry didn't think twice. In a moment he was ahead of Fagen and straining with each breath. His body felt heavy and sluggish. Beside him, Fagen was equally suffering. Both men half-fell over a large root. Too winded to speak, Harry peeked over the root and was nearly decapitated by Parker, himself close on their heels and seeking shelter. The doctor pulled himself over the root and puffed to regain his wind.

"What now?" He managed.

"Stay together. We'll work our way back to the shuttle." Fagen peeked back in the direction he’d just come. "One of them's coming this way."

"One of them?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, when you made a run for it, another one came out of the building."

"What happened?"

"Something... up in the trees. I saw them," gasped Parker.

"No time to talk now." Fagen got to his feet and led the way. The three men ran to another tree where they again stopped to breath. This time there was no talk. Harry strained to control his racing heart. It pounded within his chest and he could hear his ears sing with his heightened blood pressure. Above the ringing in his ears came another, whining sound.

Peeking around the tree, Harry saw the creature with its legs neatly folded away, flying a few feet above the ground, headed directly for his spot.

Chapter 26

In juxtaposition with the action taking place on the surface of the planet, the Magellan sat quietly in its geosynchronous orbit. Earlier, Blane excused himself and wandered down to the lab. The two remaining crew members were bored. They'd watched the alien spaceship closely and, to their relief, there had been no further action. To give themselves something to do, Nadine and Bonner continued to sift through their data and monitor radiation levels.

"Why haven't they called?"

Bonner shrugged. "Try contacting them again." he suggested.

"I just did."

"Then wait a while longer. Heck, Nadine, I don't know."

Silence filled the cabin. Bonner tried to concentrate on the figures and graphs displayed before him.

Nadine checked her instrument readings. "Radiation levels still rising," she said. "Also, luminosity readings for the variable star are rising. Jesus, we're gonna get fried if we stay here."

Bonner checked his readings. "We're okay. The levels aren't anywhere near deadly."

"Yet," Nadine added. "But you know as well as I that we could be seeing the beginning of an event. A hot event for us. If that variable star goes nova, this entire system will be bathed in radiation."

"We don't know the star's about to explode."

"Well, it's getting hotter and brighter, those are pretty good signs."

Nadine's answer wasn't scientific, but it was on the mark. There was no denying that the danger from Gamma-2 was real and growing.

"Want some more coffee?" Nadine offered.

"No thanks, I'm about to float already."

Nadine stood and stretched her muscular body. "I guess I've had enough too. It just makes me more nervous. I wish Fagen would answer our calls."

The engineer nodded in agreement.

"Seems like years since we left Earth," she said. "When I get back, I'm going to throw the biggest party anybody has seen. You're invited, Mr. Bonner."

Bonner looked at the black woman sheepishly. "If we get back all right, I'll be there. Wouldn't miss it."

"It's that 'if' part that bothers me."

"Why? Want to live forever?"

"Maybe not forever, but the next fifty or sixty years would be nice." Nadine hesitated before speaking again. "How long do we wait?"

"For word from Fagen? As long as it takes."

The woman frowned. She didn't want to get into the same argument, so she decided on a different tactic.

"Aren't you getting tired of sitting here just waiting, staring at the data?"

"Yeah, I guess so," he replied. "But there's nothing else to do."

Nadine smiled coyly and leaned toward the engineer. "Oh, I can think of something."

*

Kretin and Arai padded silently along the tops of the large branches. Below them, the flying monsters floated after the strangers. They had tried to kill one with their spears, but their weapons only bounced off the hard skins. All the same, Kretin was determined to take his revenge. Just how he wasn't sure.

Kretin watched the three strangers rise from their hiding place and run to another spot where they again stopped. Kretin couldn't understand why they kept stopping. Perhaps they plotted an ambush for the creatures. They seemed to hate the monsters as much as he did. They made loud sounds with the sticks they carried, probably in an attempt to frighten the beasts, Kretin thought. It hadn't worked. The creatures were unaffected and relentlessly pursued them.

Arai whistled to his brother and motioned toward the tree where the strangers hid. The trunk of the tree had grown twisted and gnarled. It was the kind of place the Bedorans used to ambush their prey. There were plenty of places to hide among the branches and one place in particular was perfect for stringing a net.

Kretin nodded to his little brother and, unknown to the three men on the forest floor, the two natives silently crossed the branches until they reached the tree.

*

Parker turned to Fagen. Gasping, he said, "I don't think I can go much farther."

"We've got to," Fagen replied. "Either that or die here."

"Maybe we can disable the thing." Harry suggested.

Fagen shook his head. "I hit it square in the body three times. The shots bounced off. No effect at all."

"Well, what are we going to do?" Parker's eyes were wide with fright.

Fagen looked around the trunk and quickly pulled back. "Can't run. It's headed this way. Get ready." Fagen checked his firearm.

"I can't believe this is happening," said the doctor. "There's got to be something we can do!"

"Don't shoot the trees," Harry mumbled.

"Shut up!" snapped Parker.

The three men huddled and waited for the attack. They didn't have to wait long. There was a change in the air, a static buildup, then a high-pitched whine of airjets filled their ears. Fagen was the first to stand and fire. As he did so, a beam of white-hot light sliced the air over his head, missing him by inches.

Harry rolled away and into a position where he could get a shot. It was much closer than expected. It hovered above the ground with its legs drawn up underneath like an insect in flight. Harry sighted the high-powered rifle to a place just over where he imagined the face to be. He squeezed the trigger and the projectile flew from the barrel impacting and exploding right on target.

The creature wobbled in the air and floated backward, rolling with the blow. "It felt that!" Fagen shouted as he fired a burst from his own weapon.

The alien avoided Fagen's shot by floating behind the tree.

Fagen shot Parker a glance. "It's coming around to your side!"

The doctor cowered against the tree trunk, cradling the shotgun in his arms. "No," he said, "I can't... it isn't right..."

A look of astonishment and disgust passed over Fagen's face.

Harry turned his rifle sights to cover the area behind Parker while Fagen watched the other side. To their surprise, instead of coming around, the alien chose to attack from above, appearing at a giant crook in the tree trunk, some fifteen feet over their heads. The beam again shot down and cut a path between Parker and Fagen. The ground sizzled and burned wherever the beam touched.

Harry rolled onto his back and got off a shot. It ineffectively glanced off the rounded metallic surface resulting in the creature orienting itself in Harry's direction. Harry tried to shoot again but his gun jammed. He dropped it and rolled away just in time to avoid the path of the laser beam.

Backing against a fallen log, he watched as the beam swept toward him. Time slowed. Harry smelled the burning pine needles and saw the beam steadily advance.

Without warning, the laser shot off in another, cock-eyed direction, into the trees. Harry looked up at the alien.

Its spindly legs and robotic arms struggled within the constraints of a woven net. An attached rope went taut. Pulling at the end was an odd apelike creature. Fascinated, Harry watched.

The rope closed the loop and the alien became fully enclosed. It continued to fire its ray in an effort to burn its way free. To some extent, it worked, but not before the simian succeeded in destabilizing the thing's gyros. The alien finally turned over in mid-air and toppled to the ground, hitting and bouncing off a large branch in the process.

Upon impact, one arm snapped off. The sound of compressed air came from the hole. Parker jumped aside to avoid being crushed, but wasn’t fast enough. His foot was pierced through by one of the creature's three legs. The monster, still tangled in the net, rolled against the base of the tree. The one remaining arm flailed at the air.