It gave her the creeps that aliens were so close by. They could have been watching them from the safety of the jungle all this time. Why hadn't they attacked? She thought about the drone ships. Now little robots. Obviously, these were a race not keen on getting blood on their hands. They preferred to use remote control ships and robots to do their dirty work for them. That told her a lot about them.
Matlock was one of the best warriors on any planet. He had enough experience for all of them. They would soon flush out the enemy.
Belle smiled at how so much had happened in the last few weeks. Being sent off on a mission to kill Davron, only to end up falling in love with him. She shocked herself with that admission. Was she really in love with Davron? Yeah, that would be right. Only she would fall for a man close to death. Surely life wasn't that cruel? But as well as anyone she knew it could be that cruel.
For some reason she remembered their first kiss. She had been his mysterious green lady. It was a kiss that was a passing of electrical energy that felt like no other kiss before or since. Even the kisses after he had shaved off his beard for her. That was so good, but still not like that kiss as the green lady. She smiled thinking that perhaps one day she would become the green lady again for him, to share a night of bizarre love making with him. That would be so weird.
It was thinking these thoughts that something was buzzing around in her mind. Something she thought was important, but couldn't grasp it. Burns. She hadn't thought of her general for awhile, but his deep, baritone voice filled her head. She could hear him speak, but couldn't understand his words. Then she had them and gasped.
'This I find hard to believe, but there is even anecdotal evidence that some people could even also heal himself and others through mental imagery or visualization. Now that I would love to see'.
Could that be the way?
Belle rushed to her room and opened the book Burns had ruined to hide the HATED. She had not touched it since they had abandoned the Venom and transferred everything they could onto the Romulus. Her hands were shaking as she held the HATED again. Her heart sank again as she realised it wasn't charged up. It would take two hours to charge up so she could use it. She went to the medical room and placed the device under the brightest lights in there.
She went to Davron. For a moment, she thought it had been too late. She felt for a pulse and found none, and he didn't seem to be breathing. Then she felt the faintest of pulses. Patrick Davron was still alive. Just. There was nothing she could do for nearly two hours until the HATED recharged.
Chapter 54
It was raining hard by the time they reached the edge of the jungle. They were alert to the slightest sounds and movement. Matlock was about to lead them into the jungle when a noise behind them had them spinning around, rifles ready to shoot.
“Damn it, Muffin,” said Danders. “Now you turn up. I nearly shot your damn head clean off.”
“Eehoohh eeheeh, Ooooh.”
“Apology accepted. No, Muffin. Get off me. Listen. Go to the ship. Patrick's been hurt. Go back to the ship.”
“Ooooh!”
Muffin flapped his wings and took off for the ship. Matlock, Akrins and Danders pushed their way into the jungle. They knew they were on the right track when they found a clue. It was one of the spheres. It had been damaged but had almost made it home.
There was a path of sorts, barely wide enough for a man to walk along. Light through the trees told Matlock a clearing lay just ahead. He turned and with hand signals, told the others to stay put and keep low, which they did. Leaving them there, he carefully picked his way through the last of the undergrowth until he was on the edge of the clearing. He ducked down below some bushes when he saw what lay ahead.
It was a ship. Damaged. Probably one that Davron had shot down during an attack. All in a neat line outside the ship were the remaining little robot spheres. Matlock counted eighteen. On a metal platform under a shelter from the rain were another three in pieces, obviously being repaired. The airlock was open and suddenly an alien walked out of it, going to the metal platform, and he picked some of the parts up to examine them. Then he looked around, directly at Matlock, hidden by the bushes. Matlock fingered the trigger of the rifle, ready to shoot, when out of the airlock came another alien. Aliens they may have been, but even Matlock could tell one was male and the other female.
They were both hairless, with mottled skin. They wore similar uniforms of plum red with gold trimmings. The bottom half of the uniforms were short, ending just above their knees. Their feet were almost bird-like, with three thick yellow claws. Their arms were short and skinny, hardly any muscle at all, with four long, bony fingers on each hand. Heads were three domes, two either side and one smaller at the back. Faces were the least human Matlock had seen in his life. Even Muffin was better looking, he decided. Their eyes were sunken deep inside hollows. He couldn't make out much of a nose, but the mouth was just a hole full of teeth.
The female went to the side of the male and they looked over the damaged robots together.
Matlock quietly turned around and made his way back to the others.
“There's a crashed ship down there,” he whispered. “I see two aliens. Ugly looking critters. Makes Akrins here, look positively handsome.”
“Yeah. Hilarious,” snapped Akrins. “What do we do?”
Danders said, “Can we just take them out?”
“We could,” said Matlock. “They're unarmed. I'd rather take them alive. Maybe we can learn something from them. We can surprise them and bag them before they know what's hit them.”
Danders was ready to go. “Let's do it.”
Matlock kept low, leading them to the clearing. He pulled up sharp. The aliens had gone, but the robots hadn't. They were already heading their way, the lasers blasting in their direction. Matlock had intended taking the aliens captive, but with eighteen laser firing spheres shooting at them, it could be the aliens capturing humans instead.
Chapter 55
Davron was fading fast. His already pale skin was a sickly alabaster white. His heartbeat was almost none existent and he was barely breathing.
“Don't you die on me, damn it,” Belle pleaded. The HATED was fully charged at last. This was it, her one shot at saving the man she loved. She was about to get on the spare bed to become the green lady, when suddenly above her head she heard a pounding.
“What the hell is that?”
Whatever it was, it wasn't going away. Belle knew she couldn't fall into the trance to become the green lady with that hammering on the top of the ship. If this was an alien, it was about to become a dead alien. She rushed to the airlock, grabbed a laser rifle and thumped the controls to open the ship. As the door opened, Belle jumped out and rolled onto the ground, ready to take out whatever was on the ship.
“Muffin! What the f...!”
Muffin glided down and kissed Belle.
“Nice. Muffin. Now is not a good time.” Then Belle remembered how much Muffin and Patrick meant to each other. “We have to hurry. Come on.”
Belle carried Muffin into the medical centre. The winged monkey sensed his beloved Patrick was not right. Belle let him down and Muffin jumped up on the bed, kissing Patrick's face.
Belle picked Muffin up. “Muffin You have to understand. I'm going to try to help Patrick.”
“Eeeohhoee.”
“I know. But I need you to just trust me and let me do this. Please. We have no time.” Belle sat Muffin down on a chair. “Please just be a good boy and stay quiet.”
Belle thought she saw understanding in the little guys' eyes. She lay on the bed with the Hated and let her mind slip into the state she needed it to be in. The room lit up into that familiar green. Muffin watched as Belle's inner-self left her physical body. He watched as it glided over to Davron's dying body. Belle floated above the prostrate body, then lowered down and The green lady became one with the body of Patrick Davron.
To Be Continued...
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