Planetfall infinitys end.., p.18
Planetfall (Infinity's End Book 6), page 18
Martial sighed. “My primary purpose has always been to monitor the captain. She doesn’t know it, but I’ve been watching her most of her life.”
“Why?” Cas asked. “Monitor for what?”
“It’s hard to explain. For signs of…disruption.”
Cas laughed, shaking his head. “You know, back there when I agreed not to shoot you? That was because you promised me answers, and yet here you are giving us cryptic half-truths and I have to tell you; my trigger finger is starting to get really itchy.” Martial indicated they take the left corridor.
“You don’t want that,” Box replied. “One time when he was really drunk, he complained I wouldn’t shut up about my then newest obsession: As the Station Turns. It was a quaint little tale of two families: Erustiaan and human involved in a bitter, centuries old feud. The main character was—”
“Box,” Cas snapped.
“The point is he shot me in the ass one night. Right here.” Box pointed to the rear plate where his lanky leg connected to his torso. “Blew the cover right off, exposing me. Can you believe that? Exposing me. And all because I was excited about a new show! So I can guarantee if he doesn’t like what he hears, he’ll shoot you in the ass too.”
“Thank you for the rousing cry of support.” Cas grimaced.
“You’re very welcome!” Box replied.
“Just tell us what’s going on, old man,” Jann said, startling Cas. She’d been silent since they’d entered the pyramid.
Martial stopped walking. “I wish I could say more, but I am bound by my oath. Here’s what I can tell you: there is a creature somewhere in this structure that is not native to this world but knows how to use its technology. It is a creature known as an Athru, what you call Andromeda. I believe it has taken the captain, and I fear its reasoning, though I don’t know its methods. It is a very dangerous creature, as you’ve seen. So, we must find the lieutenant and the captain, before either one of them are irreversibly injured.”
“What does that mean: irreversibly?” Cas asked.
“It means what the Athru intend to do to the captain may have long-term consequences from which she might not be able to recover. I only hope we’re not too late. Time is different in this place; can you feel it? It’s still, like the hands on a clock that have been frozen.”
“How do you know all this?” Cas asked.
Martial sucked his lips between his teeth, setting his gaze. “This is not my first visit to this planet. But when I saw it last, it was much different. Much, much different. Time has changed this place.”
“How could you have been to this planet before? We are years from Coalition space.” Cas stared the man down. As far as he knew, no human had ever been out this far before. At least, the exploratory missions that had left for this region of space had never returned. Had Martial been on one of those missions?
“And why didn’t you warn us about the dampening field,” Jann asked.
“I didn’t know about it. When I was here last, it didn’t exist,” he said. “But I figured the time dilation did.”
“Is that why you boarded the second wave of shuttles?” Cas asked.
Martial turned and continued walking, Box providing the light for the way. “I took the second wave to keep an eye on the captain. I knew if I took one of the others I might have been out of contact for weeks. Or maybe even years.”
“You could have warned us,” Jann said, anger in her voice. “We have good people who’ve died because you decided not to tell us they’d be stranded here for weeks at a time. And these, these bear-things. How were we supposed to defend ourselves against those?”
“Again,” Martial said. “Those didn’t exist the last time I was here. It’s been a very long time.”
“You’re not making any sense,” Cas said. “And frankly, I’m getting tired of it. Box, are you making a mental map of this place?”
“You know me, boss, always on the ball.”
“Yes or no?”
“Yes. From here on out.”
Cas sighed. “Good enough. Cause I’m still not sure he’s not trying to get us trapped down here. How do we even know we’re following Laura?”
“We don’t,” Martial replied. “We’re headed toward the center, where the captain will be if she’s here. Like I said, she’s my main priority.”
“So, we’re just supposed to leave Laura to wander these halls forever?” Jann said.
“Once we’ve determined the captain is safe we can find her,” Martial replied. Cas exchanged a glance with Jann. She nodded. There was no way they could trust this man. If he did lead them to Evie, they needed to get some real answers out of him. But Cas didn’t like what he’d said about the aliens permanently affecting her. They’d come all this way and searched this long only to lose Evie to the very creatures they sought? If something happened to her, he would be done. And there would be no coming back from it for him either.
30
Cas had no idea how long they’d been walking. Everything down here looked, smelled, and sounded the same. He couldn’t even be sure if Martial hadn’t taken them in one giant circle, to stall them. He’d given up asking the man questions. The main goal was to find Evie and Laura. And then get the hell out of this creepy place.
“Box, how far have we gone since I asked you to keep track?” Cas asked.
“One-thousand, six-hundred and forty-five meters. Forty-six meters. Forty-seven—”
“Thank you,” Cas replied. “Based on the distance we’ve traveled; can you extrapolate a rough shape of this thing we’re in?”
“We’ve been on a steady, if shallow decline,” Box replied. “And based on the turns we’ve made, averaging them out, I’d say the maze is built into the same pyramid shape we saw on the surface, except upside down. Though, it was straight for a while. Now we’re tapering.”
Cas turned to Jann. “That’s exactly like the one we saw at Omicron,” he said. “Remember? The cube with all the…uhhh—”
“Tetrahexahedron,” Jann replied. “Yeah. Kinda hard to forget a giant stone tetra in space. The pyramid on the surface must just be one side of it.”
“That’s pretty much it,” Martial said. “These structures are buried all over this planet. Each one has control over a different bubble of time.”
“Okay, see now that’s helpful,” Cas said. “Why couldn’t you have said that before?”
“Because, honestly, I don’t answer to you, Caspian. And I’m not afraid of you, or what you might do to me. Which in truth is very little. You may think you’ve got the upper hand here, but I can assure you, that’s not the case.”
Cas couldn’t help but ball his fists.
“Don’t let him get to you,” Jann whispered, leaning in close. “Let’s just figure this out.”
He took a breath. “So, if this pyramid controls its own time bubble—”
“—then it’s likely the other pyramid we saw controlled the other bubble. At the giant arch in space.”
“So the Athru built these structures for what? What purpose could be gained?”
Jann shrugged. “Camouflage for one. They could have hidden an entire navy in that system, and we wouldn’t have known it. But I don’t think that’s the end of it.”
“The Athru didn’t build these structures,” Martial said from in front of them. “They were already here when they arrived on this planet over two-thousand years ago. They don’t know who built them or where they came from.”
“It’s funny,” Cas said. “When I’m not asking questions, you seem to find a way to give us a lot of information. It’s only when I don’t—”
Martial put his finger to his lips, pointing with his other hand down the corridor. Cas glanced down to see a source of light coming from an adjacent hallway.
Is this it? He mouthed. Martial nodded. Cas turned to Jann who already had her weapon off her back and hot in her hands. He tapped Box on the shoulder. “Weapons?” he whispered.
“Just these,” Box said, making fists. “Shock and Awe.”
“You named your hands?” Cas asked, deadpan.
“Hey, these hands have kicked an insane amount of ass in the past season. So yes, they deserved names. Also, I have a pulse pistol stored in my side compartment.”
Great. Cas thought. The last time he’d been in a fight with Box had been back on the Achlys, in which he’d proceeded to throw things at their enemies. His primary method of fighting seemed to be throwing things; why would he want to use the pistol?
He nodded to Martial who indicated they should follow him. Creeping alongside the wall, they reached the hallway where light spilled in from an adjacent room. Cas peered around the corner to see the room beyond was empty, but with a large stone slab in the middle. It reminded him of an altar. He crouched low, coming out of cover and made his way along the short hallway, until he reached the opening. It was smooth, like it had been carved with no thought given to a door, and he remembered how the door outside had melted away. If every entrance was the same, then the team could get stuck inside…
Cas motioned for all of them to stay back. Martial moved to object but Cas flared his nostrils, his eyes intense. Martial stood his ground, but didn’t proceed any further. Looking into the room Cas didn’t see any trace of Evie, Laura or anyone else. It appeared completely empty. Warm light from the sun filtered down what looked to be a very high skylight above him. It probably reached all the way to the top of the pyramid. Then again there could be another time pocket at work here. The alien could have her trapped behind a second bubble, just out of phase with Cas, or held frozen in time forever. That was the problem with time travel, everything got all fucked up. Gritting his teeth, he made his decision. Waiting was no longer an option.
As he crept into the antechamber, he kept his eyes sharp for anything that might rush him from some dark corner. In the middle of the room was the stone slab and he approached it, placing his hand on top. It was cool to the touch, though it should be warm with the amount of sunlight coming down from above. Cas squinted as he looked up. It was the only light in this room. He strolled over to a row of what looked like stone tables, but they were arranged in a strange way. If he’d been back on the ship he would have said these looked like computer terminals, but there were no screens and no control panels. Just flat, gray stone.
“Ech la’t che, se mos alweik.”
Cas spun, his boomcannon out in front of him. On the other side of the room stood Evie, and beside her, a nearly two-meter tall dark gray alien. He’d never seen one before, but it was close enough to match what she’d described to him. It was one of them. The Andromeda. Or Athru. Or whatever, he didn’t care. All that mattered was she was still alive.
“Evie, step away from him,” Cas said.
“Lus chor ech, mal ca mal,” Evie spat, her face screwed up in fury and disgust.
“What the fuck?” Cas whispered, glancing between them and the door he’d come through. “Evie! Get away from it!”
She revealed a long metal pole in her hand. Cas couldn’t imagine how heavy it was, but she wielded it like it was a piece of bamboo. “Chor ech. Mos faleim halk.” She walked around the stone table, raising the pole above her head.
“Oh no you don’t,” Cas said, and he fired a shot at the alien, hitting it square in the chest. It winced, taking a step back, but then righted itself, a smile on its face. “That can’t be good.” He ducked to the side just as Evie brought the pole down right where he’d been standing. “A little help in here!”
Box came charging into the space, jumping over Evie and grabbing one end of the pole. Evie yanked it back, fighting with him. “She’s much stronger than a human should be!” Box yelled. Jann appeared in the opening, one rifle slung right on her hip and the other wrapped around her back.
“So, you’re who we’ve been looking for,” she said, opening fire on the alien. About half the shots hit him; he raised his hands to shield his eyes but didn’t fall as the blasts struck his body. Cas noticed each place they hit turned black, then morphed back to the gray again. He switched his boomcannon over to projectile and fired, the bullet clipping the arm of the creature. It screamed in response as red blood welled at the wound.
“Ha!” Cas yelled, scrambling up. “Box, grab Evie, we have to get her out of here.” As if in response, Box went flying past him, smashing into the far wall. Cas turned to see Evie breathing heavily, still holding the pole. She spun it once in her hand and approached him. Cas switched the boomcannon back to energy pulse mode and shot her leg. She faltered, using the pole to prop herself up, then stood again. “He’s got her under mind control. Kill him!”
“I can’t!” Jann yelled. “He’s kind of impervious to this weapon!” In response the creature roared and charged Jann, despite the volley of shots still striking him. She dodged to the side just as he jumped for her, barely missing. She turned and continued to suppress him with fire.
Cas turned just in time to see the pole coming down again and jumped to the right as it struck the ground, cracking the stone surface. “I’m really sorry, Evie,” he said, aiming the gun for her arm. “But I don’t have a choice.” He fired, and the blast struck true. She dropped the pole as she howled in pain.
“I’ve got her!” Box yelled, coming up behind her and wrapping her in a bear hug. “C’mon!”
“I could use some help over here!” Jann said. The creature had gotten back up and was charging her again, even though half her shots were hitting him in the head. Cas flipped the mode on his gun again and took four shots, only one of them grazing the creature, but it was enough that he stopped his pursuit and screamed at Cas.
“Makai lest ruchan!” Evie yelled and forced Box’s arms apart. Cas stared wide-eyed as he heard servos in Box’s structure snap from the strain. Evie dropped to the ground and grabbed the pipe again, swinging it around and connecting with Box’s head. He fell to the ground in a slump.
“Box!” Evie turned back to Cas, hatred in her eyes as she brought the pipe up again. Cas raised his weapon and shot, not thinking. The bullet went straight through her chest, blood blooming at the entry wound, and he heard it ricochet off the back wall. She stood, stunned for a moment, before dropping the pipe. It landed with a clang and she fell to her knees, looking down at the wound.
“No,” Cas whispered, looking at the weapon. He’d forgotten to switch it back over. “No, no, no.” From somewhere behind him Cas heard a shout and a rustle, but all he could do was look into Evie’s eyes as she touched the wound, the blood gushing over her hand. She fell to her side and Cas rushed over to her. “Evie! Evie, no, I…I didn’t—”
“Come on!” Martial yelled, grabbing him from behind.
“No!” Cas screamed, thrashing against him. In the background Jann continued to fire her weapon. “No!” he cried again and then he was in stronger, metal arms as he was dragged away from the scene. All he could see from this angle was her back, her dark brown hair splayed on the ground around her. Jann was still trying to fight off the creature; she turned the weapon up to the ceiling, blowing huge chunks off that rained down.
“We gotta go!” she yelled, retreating to the door they’d come through. Cas didn’t understand what was happening. None of that had just occurred. He’d dreamed it, because Box was carting him away and Box had been heavily damaged. But when he looked up, he saw two of Box’s primary neck servos had been destroyed and there was fluid all over his arms where they had popped. But he was still active.
Once all four of them were back in the hallway Jann fired at the ceiling again, until enough debris rained down to completely cover the entrance.
“C’mon,” Martial said. “We have other concerns.”
Cas barely heard him.
31
Laura shuffled through the dark corridors, Evie’s sword still strapped to her back and her light not providing much illumination in this maze. She shouldn’t have left the others back at the entrance, but they wouldn’t quit arguing. And whoever took Evie could be doing unspeakable things to her. She didn’t have time to waste waiting around for them. Of course, that was before she’d realized this place was a literal maze and she had no idea where she was going or how to find Evie. And when she’d backtracked, she’d obviously missed a turn; because she hadn’t ended back up at the entrance, instead finding herself in an unrecognizable corridor. Not that they looked any different, but they smelled different. At first they’d smelled stale but, considering how long she’d been down here, she’d gotten used to it. Each corridor had a slightly different scent, though that fact didn’t help her at all. She hadn’t wanted to think about it at first, but there was a good chance this might be the place she spent her final hours; lost in an underground tunnel system, hunted by aliens who want to destroy the Coalition. It was a sorry end to a short life. If she could just find Evie, maybe everything would be okay. She’d thought of little else for the past ten weeks.
She stopped, rubbed her hands over her eyes and pulled her hair back behind her. She didn’t like how long it had become, but haircuts were a luxury they couldn’t afford while those bear-things were after them all hours of the day. It seemed like they almost never slept, and with what seemed like unlimited stamina, it was only a matter of time before another one found them again. She’d done her best to protect as many of the crew as possible, but she hadn’t been able to save everyone. And those who had survived hadn’t done it without cost. There were some, like Rafnkell, who had just retreated into themselves, survival their only concern. Everything else fell to the wayside. Then there were those like herself who’d kept the hope they hadn’t been abandoned, because she knew Evie would never have done that. And she’d been right. They’d come for them. And now it was Laura’s turn to find her.
She thought she heard a shout and gunshots, but she couldn’t be sure. She turned toward the direction of the sounds, picking up the pace into a full-on run, hoping she was going the right way. The shouting and gunshots grew closer and she could even pick out one of the voices as Jann, but not the others. She wasn’t far, at least she didn’t think she was when the ground rumbled, and she stopped. The ceiling rumbled and specks of dust rained down on her. Laura refocused and took off running again, though there was nothing now but a few yells. She stopped, straining to make out the words, only for the ground to rumble again; but this time it was stronger. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but it gave her a direction to follow, and she broke into another sprint down an adjacent hallway. Her lungs burned and her feet hurt, but she didn’t stop; she had to be close. But when she slowed to listen, she didn’t hear anything else. No voices, no gunshots, nothing. She wanted to call out, but what if they were all dead? All she’d be doing would be revealing her position. But she was close. If she searched every adjacent corridor from here forward, she should be able to find out where all the commotion had come from. When she reached the first corner, she took the sword, slicing a small nick in the stone at the corner. She replaced the sword and began down the left corridor, alert and ready.
