Earthfall (25 page)

‘Yeah, it’s quite something,’ Jack said. ‘This is just one of the Motherships, though. The TV reports when these things first arrived said they were showing up all over the planet. Just think how much hardware there must be on all of these things put together.’

‘It’s weird,’ Sam said to Jay as they were pushed across the hangar. ‘It’s like they were expecting a fight.’

‘What’s weird about that?’ Jay asked, wincing as the Hunters jarred his wrist again.

‘Well, the control signal is supposed to enslave everyone, right?’ Sam replied. ‘So, if they’re expecting little or no resistance, why bring an army?’

‘We’ll have to ask them when we meet them,’ Rachel said.

‘Assuming they’re not too busy with the whole dissection thing, that is,’ Kate said with a grim smile.

Fletcher walked several metres ahead of the Ops Team, with Stirling being pushed along beside him.

‘Are you starting to realise how pointless it’s been to oppose this?’ Fletcher asked. ‘How insignificant we are in comparison to them? You could have joined the Voidborn too, Iain, had a future among the stars. Instead you threw it all away in a pointless act of resistance.’

‘Jacob was right, Oliver. You’re a traitor to your species, to the whole planet,’ Stirling replied. ‘Have you stopped and looked at what’s happening down there? What they’re doing to humanity? How can you be a part of that?’

‘I’m afraid that humanity’s days are numbered, Iain, and I’ve never been one to back a loser.’

‘No, you’re much too clever for that, aren’t you?’

‘Oh, I think you’re the clever one, Iain, figuring out a way to block the control signal without using an implant we can detect,’ Fletcher said. ‘I’m going to enjoy working out how you did it once we’ve finished analysing these children’s corpses.’

‘I can’t decide whether you disgust me or if I pity you, Oliver,’ Stirling said, shaking his head.

‘Well, we’ll see if you still feel so superior after you’ve met the Voidborn face to face. I think you’re probably due a lesson in humility.’

They were all marched out of the hangar and down a long corridor that started to spiral slowly upwards, opening up on one side to reveal a stream of sparkling green energy encased in an enormous crystalline column that rose hundreds of metres above them. It emitted a low throbbing hum that echoed the pulsing of the waves of light through the black cubes on the wall. The more Sam saw of the interior of the Mothership, the more it felt like being inside a living, but non-organic creature. They continued the long walk upwards. Hunters floated past occasionally or could be seen with their tentacles embedded in the walls, patterns of green light dancing across their silver skins. As they neared the top of their climb, Sam finally saw what was at the top of the crystal column. In the centre of the ceiling at the top of the shaft that the corridor encircled was a giant black crystal, the size of a house. The energy stream from the column struck the crystal, creating a white-green light that was almost too intense to look at. The energy crackled across the surface of the crystal and then radiated outwards across the ceiling in all directions until it struck a glowing ring at the outermost edges. Despite the obvious danger they were in and everything that he had been through in the past couple of days, Sam found it strangely beautiful. They finally stopped at a huge black slab covered with elaborate carvings of sweeping elliptical patterns.

‘You are honoured,’ Fletcher said. ‘Very few humans have ever had the privilege to meet the Voidborn.’

Fletcher walked up to the slab and placed one hand on the warm surface, and fine lines of green light began to race along the engravings, converging beneath his hand in a glowing pool. A moment later the slab began to split apart, huge triangular sections receding into the walls and opening the way into a chamber beyond. The room was semicircular, with the curving wall and floor made up of transparent panels that offered a startling view of the darkened city beneath them. At the centre of the shadowy sprawl, far below, was the glowing shape of the Voidborn compound, slowly expanding, consuming the heart of the city. On the opposite wall of the chamber was a three-metre-tall black cylinder with thick bunches of glistening techno-organic cables sprouting from its base and trailing away into the darkness below. The pit beneath the cylinder appeared to be bottomless, only the occasional flashes of green light that ran up its walls giving any sense of how far down it went. Half a dozen Hunters floated in the air above the edge of the pit, standing silent guard. Sam noticed that they were different to the normal Hunters. They were significantly larger and their carapaces were jet-black. As the Hunters pushed them all towards the pit, a narrow walkway slid out with a hiss, extending from its edge towards the black column. Fletcher walked on to the walkway, approaching the cylinder.

‘These are the humans that were responsible for the attack on the facility last night,’ Fletcher said, apparently talking to the air. ‘As you requested, I present them to you for further examination.’

A moment later, the surface of the cylinder, which had seemed solid just a moment before, began to ripple and shift, almost like a liquid. As the Ops Team watched, the cylinder seemed to explode in a shower of dust, but the dust did not simply fly in all directions; it began to flow and coalesce into a distinct shape. As they watched, the swirling black cloud formed itself into a humanoid form – a woman with skin like highly polished black glass. Her eyes glowed with green light and wisps of black vapour, the remains of the dust cloud, trailed in her wake. Fletcher backed away from her as she made her way across the walkway towards the Ops Team. The Hunters forced Sam to his knees and he felt a strange sense of almost animal panic as the gleaming obsidian woman approached.

‘We are Voidborn,’ the woman said as she walked up to Stirling. ‘You are known to us. Human designate Stirling, traitor to our kind. We are pleased you have been found. You were dangerous to us perhaps, but no more.’

She walked past Stirling and towards Sam.

‘You are not known to us,’ the Voidborn said, ‘but we sense our technology within you. The technology was once part of Human designate Shaw, another we seek. We shall remove the technology and it will tell us his location; he shall not remain lost to us.’ She stopped for a moment and looked at Sam, as if examining him. Sam felt a sudden horrible sensation and somehow he instantly knew it was the Voidborn forcing her way inside his head, pushing into his mind, scratching at the inside of his skull.

‘You have a weapon,’ the Voidborn said, tipping her head to one side, her eyes narrowing. ‘No.’ She pointed at Stirling. ‘He has a weapon. Something that may harm us.’ She walked behind Stirling, who struggled fruitlessly against the Hunters restraining him. She stretched out the fingers of one hand and her fingertips extended, stretching into long curved blades. She raised her hand and slashed it downwards, tearing a jagged hole in the material of the pack on Stirling’s pack. She reached inside and pulled out the silver cylinder containing the weaponised nanites. The Voidborn examined the cylinder and frowned. ‘This device swarms with life, but it is not Voidborn, nor is it human.’ She walked round Stirling, turning to face him. ‘Tell me, human designate Stirling, what is this?’

‘Why don’t you open it and find out?’ Stirling said.

‘No, we shall analyse it remotely, safely. We were incorrect; you are still dangerous to us. The threat will be eliminated. Easier if you tell us the contents, explain the new life you have created; but you are known to us, you will resist. We also suspect that there are more of your young who are not controlled by us. We would know where they hide.’

‘I’ll tell you nothing,’ Stirling said defiantly.

‘Then perhaps I shall pluck the knowledge from this one’s head,’ the Voidborn said, pointing at Sam. The Voidborn handed the cylinder to one of the black Hunters before walking up to Sam and placing one cold glass hand on his cheek. ‘Let us see what else you can tell me.’ Again Sam felt the hideous sensation of the Voidborn’s mind slipping into his. He felt a moment of powerless despair and then suddenly it seemed as if something had exploded inside his head. It wasn’t painful, just overwhelming, like a rush of awareness or a moment of complete understanding. A single drop of blood trickled out of his nose. The Voidborn instantly recoiled from him as if she had been burnt, hissing with hate, her eyes narrowing.

‘What did they do to you?’ the Voidborn said angrily, staring at Sam with something that almost looked like fear. She strode over to Stirling and clamped one smooth hand round his throat. ‘What did you put inside the boy? There is something there that is not just Voidborn, not just Human . . . His blood contains a remnant of the cursed Illuminate. Where did you get it?’

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ Stirling gasped.

‘You lie,’ the Voidborn said. ‘Tell me where you found the Illuminate remnant.’

‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Stirling croaked, barely able to breathe.

‘You will tell us, or I shall tear your young apart in front of you until you do.’

Sam felt dizzy, disorientated; it was as if a thousand unintelligible alien voices were singing in his head. He felt wetness on his top lip and looked down at his knees as a drop of blood fell on to his thigh. He stared at his leg for a second, looking at the outline of the small cylinder in the bottom of the thigh pocket of his combat trousers. The Voidborn released her vice-like grip on Stirling’s throat and stepped back from him, regaining her composure. She stared at him for a moment and then walked back towards the Ops Team.

‘We have crossed the boundless emptiness of the void and you think you can stop us with your young,’ the Voidborn said as she inspected Sam and the others. ‘A foolish assumption. We would know how you have prevented them from becoming subject to us. Intriguing and yet troubling. Let us seek answers.’

The Voidborn stopped in front of Kate and smiled. The alien creature’s skin began to break apart as she appeared to crumble before their eyes back into a shapeless, whirling cloud of black dust. Kate barely had time to scream as the cloud swept over her impossibly quickly and swallowed her. A few seconds passed and the cloud’s violent whirling slowed as it coalesced back into its previous female form. There was no trace of Kate; it was as if she had never been there.

‘Fascinating,’ the Voidborn said. ‘Now we understand how you blocked our signal, but there was no trace of the Illuminate technology within her. We wonder if there are similar devices in all these young humans. Further testing is required to provide us with data for comparison.’ She walked down the line. ‘The other female. Is she implanted with a similar device? We shall see.’ The Voidborn stopped in front of Rachel and began to disintegrate back into its cloud form.

‘Get away from her,’ Jay yelled, struggling fiercely against the Hunters holding him.

‘Leave her alone,’ Jack shouted.

The Voidborn, now just a dark tornado of dust, advanced towards Rachel. Sam closed his eyes and mentally told the Hunter holding his right arm to loosen its grip, just a little. Suddenly, it was easy, as if he’d always been able to do it. He felt the Hunter’s grip slacken and he slid his arm out of the mass of tentacles wrapped round it. He reached down into the thigh pocket of his trousers and pulled out the small metal tube that he had put there several days ago and then promptly forgotten about. He popped the lid open with his thumb and pressed the button beneath. The response was instantaneous. Every one of the Hunters in the room tumbled to the floor, instantly cut off from the control signal that directed them. Sam dived forward and grabbed the silver cylinder containing the nanite weapon from the mass of twitching tentacles beneath the fallen black Hunter. He leapt back to his feet and spun round, twisting the release mechanism on the cylinder. He took two steps towards the Voidborn and without hesitation thrust the cylinder deep into the whirling cloud. Sam screamed in pain as his arm was shredded and a sudden burst of yellow light flared within the Voidborn. Instantly the cloud filled with dancing sparks of yellow light, and shot upwards towards the chamber ceiling. Sam fell to the floor, clutching his blackened arm.

‘Sam!’ Rachel yelled, running towards him with Jay and Jack right behind her.

Stirling disentangled himself from the tentacles of the two dead Hunters that had been holding him and ran towards Fletcher, planting a fierce right hook on his jaw. Fletcher took a step backwards, one hand clutching at his mouth, blood trickling down his chin. Above them the Voidborn writhed, coalescing into a multitude of bizarre shapes, its gleaming surface covered in points of bright yellow light. It swept down low over the heads of the Ops Team and they ducked as it flew towards the spot where they had first seen it in its dormant cylindrical form. It hovered over the platform for a moment and then flared a bright golden colour, sending torrents of yellow light cascading down the conduits beneath the pedestal and into the bottomless pit below. They all felt a shudder run through the Mothership and then the floor began to tilt beneath them. Fletcher grabbed at Stirling, but he was too slow and Stirling dodged away from him before punching him hard in the stomach. Fletcher staggered backwards and suddenly found himself standing on the very edge of the pit. The Mothership lurched again and terror filled Fletcher’s eyes as he fell, tumbling into the void with a strangled scream that quickly faded to nothing.

‘That’s for Jackson,’ Stirling said as he turned his back on the pit and hurried over to where the others were gathered around Sam. He lay on the floor with his head in Rachel’s lap. His right arm below the elbow was a twisted blackened stump.