Chapter 24
The entrance to the alien ship had been open each time we passed by. Our chances for entry were good. We moved along near the belly for cover and watched cautiously for the gangway to come into view.
Our luck held. Looking up at the gangway, we could see Electra’s hatch still closed. It was unlikely any invisible predators were hanging around outside. We ascended together and came up next to the gangway on either side. The same golden light glowed from within their ship.
But something had changed. As I carefully maneuvered over the railing to see if the coast was clear, I felt something pulling me down. I pushed away and looked over at Perk. Through his visor, I could see his questioning stare.
Guardedly, I moved in again, with the same result. I dared a look into the ship. Deserted. With my right hand holding firmly to the railing I swung around in front of the door and landed down on the gangway.
It was gravity. There was now gravity coming from within their ship. I pulled myself forward toward the door and felt a slight tingling sensation around my helmet. Backing off, it cleared up. With one hand, I reached forward and got the same effect, and this time I could see a faint silver ring form around my glove.
A force field. I motioned at Perk and pushed myself inside. Almost normal gravity, slightly less. We hurriedly scanned the chamber. Everything was as it had been. We walked past the big, dark table with its suspended anode, to the small alcove behind the elevator and took a position where we couldn’t be seen.
I looked at my suit readouts and called up outside environment. To my surprise, it showed oxygen, pressure, and temperature. The pressure was low, about half Earth standard. I turned to Perk.
“We don’t need the suits."
“Are you sure?”
“We’d have a damn better chance without them.”
“All we have are the suit liners, but you’re right.”
I tapped in the shutdown command, felt the pressure come up a bit, and heard the helmet locks pop open. I twisted the helmet, lifted it off, and smelled the air. It was a bit foul like it had been re-circulated too many times. We unstrapped the weapons and pack, then helped each other open the suit backs. When they were off, we forced everything into a cubbyhole behind the base of the elevator. We made sure the pose suit-liner temperature control tubing and telemetry connectors were secure. I started to speak when Perk suddenly looked alarmed and held one finger against his mouth. He pushed himself in close and pulled me down as far as we could go, then pointed one finger toward the entrance.
Through the elevator’s semitransparent structure, we could see them. The hatch to Electra was now open. White light glowed within the airlock. They weren’t bothering to be invisible. For a split second, it gave me a rush of satisfaction. So confident. Please stay that way. Please think you have it all under control.
There were two of them. They were busily setting something up in the airlock. We couldn’t make it out. They were in the same dark, close-fitting suits the dead one had been wearing. Their movements seemed almost casual.
We waited and watched, squeezing ourselves into the best possible position to hide. After a few minutes, things began to happen. One of them backed out onto the gangway, holding to the handrail, pulling at something. As he emerged, it only took a second to recognize the object. It was a gelatin ball with an Electra crewman within. A second human ball was attached and followed after, then another, and another. It was a train of encased humans with one alien leading and a second holding to the end piece, guiding it along.
They crossed the gangway like parcel delivery men who were bored with their job. They had the disposition of people just going through the paces, not paying attention, perhaps deciding what they’d do for fun when quitting time came around. As they approached, the one in the lead looked up and pushed himself through the force field, dragging the first encased human on the floor as it sunk in gravity. He pulled at his cargo and had to make an extra effort to bring the other balls along.
His partner entered and together they worked on the first victim, detaching it from the train and lifting it like a medicine ball. Stunned, we watched the two of them coax it over to the big black table and dump it into the tabletop void. They worked methodically, one human ball at a time until all had been deposited. With that, one headed back out the hatchway toward Electra, and the other toward us.
We shrank down still further. The little man stepped into the lift, hit a button, and disappeared downward. Through the elevator tube, we watched the second one enter Electra’s airlock, leaving the outer door open. A minute or so later the elevator popped back up and the partner headed back out. We watched Electra’s airlock door pulled shut and sealed.
I stood up and massaged my aching left knee. “I only see one way out of this room.”
Perk looked around. “Down.”
“We’ll have to chance using the elevator. There’s no way around it, but we know there’s some doors on the next level. We need to find the right place, like the propulsion core or a critical Engineering point.”
“Yeah, it’d be a bitch if we came all this way and blew up their kitchen.”
We went to the elevator. I knew the correct button. I'd seen the little man use it. He wasn’t away long enough to have gone far.
“We jump off at the next level if it doesn’t stop.”
Perk held his weapon to his chest. “Cool.”
I tapped the button and down it went. Lucky again, we stopped at the next level. Perk was already off and to one side with his gun raised as it settled. “Nobody home.”
The room looked the same as it had on the first trip, except there was power. Strange, colored lights were moving around the room, reflecting off the silver walls and equipment. A low hum filled the air, punctuated by a tinny whine that rose and fell. The six triangular doors were still open and accessible, but within each, unidentifiable sounds came and went, along with the cycling of amber light and dark. The feeling of doom was worse than ever.
I peered into the center door we had looked in before. The dark walls of bio-like matter now had a steady yellow glow from within. They seemed to pulsate and move. I backed out and went to the next door It was another corridor that went a short distance and broke off into a Y. Perk had a look of bewilderment as though he couldn’t understand the morbid atmosphere of the place. He came up beside me, looked inside and gave me the hand signal for one of us to go left, one to go right. Five minutes in, then return to the Y.
We entered and I branched off to the right. The floor turned to grating. I kept thinking someone might be behind me. Dim light came from a room ahead. I reached it, looked cautiously inside, and entered. A countertop in the center had equipment stacked on it, cabinets and shelves lined the walls. One very big cable conduit ran along the wall near the low ceiling. I reached up and put my hand on it. It was warm and vibrating and looked important.
It was a good place for a charge. Nervously, I set my weapon on a shelf nearby and placed the satchel on the floor. I pulled out one of the small destruct charges, sticking the remote control in my suit’s only pocket. With the charge in my left hand, I straightened up, turned, and found myself standing a foot away from one of the little ugly men.
He gave me that sick, pointed, yellow-tooth smile. He was a large one, about five feet. He wore a dark, form-fitting bodysuit that seemed intended to show off his bony but muscular form. I guessed he was the weightlifter version of the ugly little men. On the turtle neck of his suit was a small round silver button, a communicator or panic button. His right hand moved to reach for it, but I was quicker. I grabbed it, tore it loose and slammed it on the floor where it bounced and skidded across the room.
He looked taken back but then gave me that sick smile again. I wondered why I wasn’t kicking his little ass. I had doubts. I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do. I could be hurt in the exchange. What if he was much more powerful tha
t expected? It might be better to run away. Surrender, that was it. No one would get hurt then. I wouldn’t have to do anything. They could be in charge. That might not be so bad.
Mind control. Somewhere in the back of my panic-filled thoughts, I realized he was using mind control. Just as quickly I felt power well up from my chest and fill my mind. Along with it came that same feeling I had when visiting the Emissary. I looked back at little man, shook my head, and thought, “Bad boy.”
He became startled. He stepped back two steps and reached behind, pulling out a cone-shaped weapon. As he attempted to raise it, I slapped it out of his hand. It ticked and spun across the metallic floor, bouncing off the side wall and coming to rest behind me.
Before he could react, I let him have it, one good, old-fashioned, straight punch to the solar plexus, followed by a quick faked left, and a hook to his sick little smile. He went head over heels backward, crashing to the floor face down. He looked up at me and appeared only slightly dazed. He also looked displeased. He rose to his feet, and as I approached for another round, grabbed another cone-shaped weapon from somewhere I hadn’t noticed.
I spun and dove across the floor for the weapon nearest me, the other cone-shaped device still lying on the floor. I grabbed it, rolled, aimed, and hit the little trigger on the device. Nothing happened. I hit it again, then again. Nothing.
The little man relaxed and again gave me his trademark ugly smile. He held his weapon well aimed and savored the moment. I raised my hands in surrender. He approached me guardedly and reached out for my weapon. I sheepishly handed it over and looked at him pleadingly. He stepped back away, several steps this time, having decided a brain stem human could be more of a threat than first thought. He smiled at me still again and held up his stun weapon to shoot. I nodded, gave him my best imitation of his smile, and held up the remote control detonator just retrieved from my breast pocket.
Perplexed, he paused for a moment and looked down at the weapon he'd taken from me, only to find it included a small explosive charge. As he stiffened, I hit the button.
Those little charges are very special. They don’t make the trademark bang you get with high-velocity explosives. They make a more ‘piff’ kind of sound with a thud behind it. It blew off his right arm while he was still looking at it.
Whatever force was keeping these creatures alive, I had apparently found its limit. He stood motionless for a second, absent a good portion of himself, and then ever so slowly fell forward onto what was left of his face.
I sat swaying on the floor, having been slammed back into the wall, my ears ringing loudly, my cranial functions stalled from concussion. By all rights I should have passed out but my psyche, aware that end-of-life conditions might be in play, refused to allow that.
A second later, Perk’s face was staring into my consciousness. “Holy shit, Adrian! Are you in there?”
“Mr. Tarn can’t come to the phone right now. Please try again when the bells stop ringing.”
“We got to get out of here. That was a pretty big boom. They’re bound to be coming. Where’s your pack? Oh, I see it. Come on, get up. Man, you got alien shit all over you.”
Perk pulled me to my feet, at which point the world began a slow spin to the left. I wanted to kick in opposite rudder, but that’s hard to do when you’re standing.
“Let me hang your weapon back on you. I got the satchel. Let’s go.” Come on. We’ll try this way.”
With one arm under my shoulder, he practically dragged me through a narrow opening. The passageway was shadowy dark and lined with more shelves, punctuated by cables and conduit running vertically. As we maneuvered our way along, I began to straighten up and get control. The world slowed and soon stopped spinning. I began grabbing on to things as we went, and finally broke away from Perk and followed under my own power.
The corridor continued to narrow until, to our dismay, a dead end wall blocked any further advance. We stood in the tight fit and looked at each other.
Perk sighed. “Only two choices.”
I shook my head. “Go back, or wait here forever.”
“Only one choice, really.”
I looked back to the darkness from where we had come.
“Are you up to speed, Adrian?”
I winced. “I’m motivated.”
“Guess we need to be weapons ready.”
I looked mine over. It was smeared with something but had five green bars and a full load.
Perk joked, “When we get there, it’ll be the colonial infantry method. You kneel, I’ll fire over your head.”
I nodded and pushed myself back through the cluttered path. Perk stayed close behind.
When the doorway ahead began to be visible, we slowed our pace. The same white light was escaping from the room beyond. We paused fearfully as we went, listening for the commotion of angry aliens, but heard nothing. Near the door, I signaled Perk to hold and eased my way up alongside. There were still no sounds. I peered for a split second around the corner and pulled back quickly. There had been nothing. I looked again, longer this time. There was no one. Stepping into the room, weapon poised, nothing had changed. Perk followed me and we stood in disbelief. The body lay in the same place on the floor. Damage was everywhere. The place was a mess, but no one had come. I wondered if it was the ultimate case of not-my-job. What could be so distracting that an onboard explosion had gone unnoticed? Or, was the crew compliment so small the splattered ugly little man had been the only one around?
We let it go and continued on. There were two more choices. A closed, waist-high hatchway on the wall, or back the way we had come. The hatchway looked like a service entrance. There were no door sensors visible. I began to signal Perk but saw him dragging what was left of the alien into the corridor from which we had come. He returned and shrugged, as though maybe the room would be less alarming with no dead body.
We tugged the hatch open and felt a rush of cool air. I stooped down and crawled in head first. Perk followed.
A ramp led down to a narrow passageway. The ceiling was a good twenty feet above us. Ahead, there were patches of grating covering the floor with light coming up through. The alien alley seemed to go on forever.
Quietly, we moved along until we reached one of the vents. We knelt and peered in. Below was a huge open chamber, two or three stories deep. It looked like an auditorium. What we saw there made us flush with anger.