It activated the comm implant, and patched into the pinnace computers. It took only a few moments to take over the remote control, and give the pinnace a new heading and destination. The creature laughed silently, and crawled slowly over to the nearest wall. It took some time to draw the disrupter from its holster and aim it at the wall. It took even longer before it found a way to press the stud with what was left of its fingers, but eventually the energy beam tore a hole through the tower wall, and the creature could look out at the darkness. Out in the night, a bright star grew slowly larger as the pinnace headed for the copper tower.
The aliens pressed close around the embattled Squad, driving forward from both ends of the alley at once. Hunter and Krystel fought side by side, striking down things that had no place in the waking world. The two marines fought together with bitter competence. They were both experienced enough fighters to know that this was one battle they couldn’t win. The aliens could be hurt and damaged and even thrown back temporarily, but their wounds healed in seconds, and they could not die. They still fought and tore at each other, but now it was in eagerness to get at the Squad.
Hunter saw the disrupter blast that tore a hole through the side of the copper tower, and thought for a moment the explosives had gone off early. It took only a quick glance to see that the damage was merely superficial. He wondered what the hell the esper thought she was doing, but the aliens pushed forward again, and for a while he lost himself in the press of battle. He was slowing down as his muscles cramped, fatigue hanging like lead weights on his arms, and even his force shield couldn’t protect him from every attack. And then a low, continuous roar made itself heard above the sound of battle, and Hunter risked a hopeful glance up at the night sky. The pinnace came sweeping over the city from the east, its engines thundering on the night, its hull shining bright with navigation lights.
Hunter’s heart surged with hope, and he fought with a new ferocity.
What remained of Megan DeChance watched the pinnace soar across the city, and tried to laugh. It was the creature’s last act of defiance against the thing that was destroying it, and it was a good one. It cried, and its tears dug furrows in its face, like acid. The pinnace thundered across the city, heading straight for the copper tower. The creature gave one last command through its comm implant, and laughed silently as its form finally collapsed. The pinnace’s engines roared as they moved to full power, and the ship leaped forward to slam into the copper tower at full speed. The great device screamed through the throats of the undying aliens as the pinnace’s engines exploded, shattering the copper tower and tearing apart the insane mechanism that had made the city a living hell. The explosion seemed to echo endlessly on the night, and when it finally died away, the city was still and silent, save for the flickering flames around the base of the broken copper tower.
CHAPTER EIGHT
* * *
Aftermath
Hunter awoke in a sea of grey jelly. It clung stickily to him as he sat up, and fell reluctantly away from his uniform. The stuff even coated his hands, and he shook it off with a moue of distaste. His head ached, his joints were stiff, and all in all he hadn’t felt this tired since Basic Training. He looked slowly around him in the early morning light, and wondered fleetingly how long he’d been unconscious. And then the previous night came flooding back, and he scrambled to his feet. He looked wildly around him, and only then realised there was no sign anywhere of the army of monstrosities he’d been fighting.
He was standing in the middle of what was left of the narrow alleyway, and all around him lay great pools and streamers of the thick grey jelly. It looked to be two or three inches deep in places, and it smelled awful. Not far away, Corbie and Lindholm were sitting with their backs to the wall, talking softly. They looked bruised and bloodied, but pretty much intact. They saw Hunter looking at them, and managed something like a salute. Hunter nodded briefly, and looked at what was left of the alley walls. The copper tower had contained most of its own explosion, and the high walls on either side of the alleyway had soaked up the rest of the blast.
How about that? thought Hunter. We finally had some good luck.
The Investigator was standing at the entrance to the alleyway, staring out at the city. Hunter made his way over to her, treading carefully so as not to slip in the jelly. Krystel heard him coming, and looked back over her shoulder.
“Good morning, Captain. Welcome back to the living. I think you’d better come and take a look at this. It’s really very interesting.”
Hunter felt a brief stab of foreboding. The Investigator usually found things interesting only if they involved violence or imminent sudden death. He moved forward to join her, frowning slightly as he took in Krystel’s blood-soaked uniform. It wasn’t until he’d come to a halt beside her that he realised most of the blood and gore wasn’t hers. I should have known, he thought wryly. She’s an Investigator. And then he frowned again, and looked more closely as he took in the traces of grey jelly on her uniform. Krystel smiled.
“Not very pleasant stuff, is it? You’ll find most of it brushes off.”
“How did it get on our uniforms?” said Hunter, brushing determinedly at his sleeves.
“I think we spent most of the night sleeping in it, Captain. The destruction of the device in the copper tower apparently knocked us out for some time. As to where the jelly came from … take a look at the city.”
Hunter looked, and his tiredness suddenly fell away as his adrenaline kicked in. There was no sign of any of the aliens, living or dead, but the grey jelly was everywhere. The vile-smelling stuff carpeted the streets, and spattered the sides of buildings. It hung in syrupy streamers from windows and bridges, and flapped loosely on the breeze. Hunter heard the two marines come up behind him, but he didn’t look round.
“Now that really is disgusting,” said Corbie. “What the hell is this stuff?”
“Take a good look,” said Krystel. “I think this slime is all that’s left of the aliens.”
Hunter looked at her blankly for a moment, and then nodded slowly as he made the connection. “Of course; when the forest was attacked, it lost its shape and melted into jelly. So did those plant creatures we met before the forest. The esper said all along that only the great device was keeping the aliens alive, and that’s gone now.” He looked across at the fire-blackened ruins of the copper tower. “The device had to weaken their physical bonds to make shape-changing possible, but it weakened their bodies so much that in the end only the device was holding them together. When the pinnace destroyed the tower, the aliens just fell apart, collapsing back into the simple primordial jelly from which all life begins. The aliens are gone, all of them. And they won’t be coming back.”
The Squad stood in silence for a while, staring out over the silent city.
“I wonder what went wrong with the esper,” said Lindholm finally. “Why didn’t she set off the explosives?”
Hunter shrugged. “I don’t suppose we’ll ever know. Perhaps the device rendered the explosives useless in some way. Without them, all she had left was her comm link with the pinnace, and her own determination. She was a very brave woman, at the end.”
“Fine,” said Corbie. “We’ll build her a statue. Look, far be it from me to sound ungrateful, but what about us? How are we supposed to survive without the equipment in the pinnace? We can’t even call for help with our main comm system destroyed!”
“Relax, Corbie,” said Hunter calmly. “When I first reestablished contact with the pinnace, I took the opportunity to order the computers to pass on a summary of everything we’d found. And since the Empire’s always interested in new alien civilisations, I think we can expect a fully equipped starship any time in the next few weeks. We should be able to survive that long on our own. In fact, with the aliens and their device gone, this could turn out to be quite a pleasant little world.”
“Pleasant, but boring,” said Krystel, lighting up her carefully hoarded last cigar.
“I
can live with boring,” said Corbie. “There’s a lot to be said for boring as a way of life.”
“You should know,” said Lindholm.
“And there’s always the city,” said Hunter. “There’s enough mysteries and new technologies here to keep us busy for years. We won’t have any problems attracting colonists for Wolf IV; scientists and their families will be fighting tooth and nail for the chance to examine this city. After all, there’s one very important question still to be answered.”
He waited, smiling, and eventually Corbie sighed heavily.
“All right, Captain, I’ll bite. What very important question?”
“According to the pinnace computers,” said Hunter, “this is the only city on the planet. Which implies the aliens didn’t originate here. They came to Wolf IV the same way we did; as colonists. But if that’s true, where is the aliens’ home planet, and why didn’t they come back to check up on their colony? I’m sure the Empire will want to know. After all, a species sufficiently advanced to build something like the great device could end up as the Empire’s first real rival.”
Captain Hunter smiled. “I don’t think we’ll find life here too boring, people. There are enough mysteries here to keep us busy for the rest of our lives.”
Table of Contents
Cover
Other Books By This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter One - Broken Men
Chapter Two - In the Forest of the Night
Chapter Three - The City
Chapter Four - The Alien
Chapter Five - The Prey
Chapter Six - The Hunt
Chapter Seven - The Sleep of Reason
Chapter Eight - Aftermath
Simon R. Green, Hellworld (Deathstalker Prelude)
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