Ice Rift (29 page)

The blade that swished through the air severed the leaping monster's claws at the wrists. It howled in pain and watched the blood pump from its wounds. The Mimic dodged to the side, and as the creature sailed past, she held a blade so the creature's momentum dragged its body along the tip. Its insides slurped out before it crashed to the ground. To avoid the two about to tackle her, she somersaulted into the air and stabbed the blades behind her. Both blades found their target. The wounded Hunters howled in pain and turned to face the Mimic for a second attack. The Mimic spun on landing and, in one fluid movement, stroked a blade across both their necks. Blood sprayed from the wounds. The Hunters clutched at their necks, fell to their knees and flopped to the ground. After a few spasms they were still.

After she had shaken the blood from the blades, they reformed into hands. The Mimic admired her handiwork and glanced at the door the humans hid behind. For the moment they were safe. She turned and walked away.

Jane had pressed the button to close the door each time a monster in the corridor had pressed one to open it. The door that juddered back and forth was constantly hammered upon, but suddenly, it all stopped. Jack voiced his confusion with a shrug. A few moments later they listened to the sounds reaching them through the door and wondered what was happening outside. Jack thought the monsters had turned on each other. When the fighting fell to silence, Jack waited a few moments and nodded to Jane to open the door.

With the ice axe raised for battle, Jack poked his head out and peered into the corridor. His eyes flicked over the bloody corpses before he stepped through the doorway. The others cautiously followed and took in the gruesome, but welcome sight.

“What in hell's name could have done this?” blurted Theo.

“Who cares,” said Richard. “I'm just glad they did.”

Jack thought it strange the killer or killers hadn't remained to feast on the dead. Whatever was responsible, they probably weren't far away. He glanced along the corridor partly lit by the flashing blue light. He fished the headlight from a pocket and switched it on. “If you have lights, switch them on,” he whispered.

In all the excitement in the cavern, the sudden appearance of the monsters and their rush to escape the falling ice, Jane and Theo had left their flashlights in the cavern. Richard though, still had his headlight. He slipped it over his head and switched it on.

“What's the plan now, Jack?” Jane asked softly.

“We still need to find Lucy. If she's still in the room where we left her, she'll be behind one of these doors.” He approached the nearest door and reached out for the door control, but halted when a door farther along the corridor rasped open. Jack raised the axe. Richard moved to the back of the group.

Lucy stepped into the corridor a little unsteadily with a hand clutched to her head. She staggered and fell against the control. The door slid shut.

“Lucy!” called out Jane. Relieved to see her friend alive, she rushed to help.

Lucy jumped at the voice and looked at the group groggily. “What happened?”

“You fell and struck your head and were knocked unconscious,” Jane explained.

“We couldn't carry you, so we hid you in that room so we could escape from the monsters,” Jack added.

Lucy looked at Theo and Richard. “Where are the others?”

Jane held her shoulder gently. “They're dead, the monsters got them.”

Lucy was shocked by the news. “That's horrible.” She glanced each way along the corridor. “We should get off this ship before we're all killed.”

“Yeah, I agree, but that's no longer an option,” said Richard. “We're stuck on this damn ship with the monsters now.”

Jane quickly explained about the collapsed ice blocking their only exit.

Lucy was devastated by the news.  “Then how will we escape?”

Jack gave Lucy a smile as reassuring as he could muster. “That's something we're still working on.”

A tremor swept through the ship with such force they had to place hands against the walls to steady themselves.

“Oh, yeah, another thing is that the ice we and this ship are entombed in is about to be set adrift,” said Richard.

“At least it can't get any worse,” said Theo, forcing a smile.

The door Jack had deactivated rasped open with an ominous squeal.

They turned to face the new threat.

Framed in the doorway was a small figure. Even though the bald, pale-skinned alien was only a yard tall, he had an aura of confidence normally attributed to a much larger and powerful being. A red cloak wrapped across a shoulder reached just below its waist. A brown jacket fashioned from an unknown animal and with extra flaps of black on the shoulders running down the arms to the elbow, stretched past the waist of the figure's brown trousers. A grey tunic of a softer material could be seen beneath the jacket. A black belt with a silver buckle held a holster that snugly fit the small, strange weapon whose handle could be seen protruding from it. One of its four-fingered hands gripped the larger rifle-like weapon of dark silver and black metal resting casually on its shoulder. Its large mouth, currently formed in an amused smile, revealed blunt, white teeth. Its brown eyes scrutinized humans that stared back.

The Web monster dropped from the vent and followed the strong scent of blood. Its hungry eyes swept over the corpses littering the corridor. It would eat well. Smoke tainted with the odour of burnt flesh curled from the neat round holes in some of bodies. The Web creature's eyes flicked to the small creature facing away from it. He might be the one responsible for the slaughter; he would have to be disposed of first. It would be an easy kill. It crept forward, screamed a blood-curdling shriek and sprung at the creature's back.

Without registering any fear or concern― or turning its head― the small alien fired the weapon slung over its shoulder. A ball of bright orange light shot out. When the light struck the Web creature, it screeched in pain, shot backward and slammed into a support strut before flopping to the floor with its neck bent at an odd angle.

The small alien spoke. “If you want to live, follow me.” He turned and walked away.

Jane, Lucy, Theo and Jack, looked at each other.

Richard glanced under his jacket, Lucifer's fur was orange, an indication the small alien probably wasn't a threat.

Theo waved a hand at the dead monsters. “Do you suppose Tiny was responsible for this carnage?”

“He speaks English, that's good enough for me,” said Richard.

“Jack, what do you think?” asked Jane.

The small alien reappeared in the doorway and sighed. “When I said follow me, I meant now!”

Jack shrugged. “What other option do we have?”

Richard crossed to the open doorway. The others followed.

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

THE TANTALIZING SCENT OF blood wafting through the ship had encouraged the Clickers to ignore their fear of the Hunters whose domain it led them through. The stronger the scent became the faster they moved through the corridors. When they rounded the corner and detected the many corpses on offer, they howled with pleasure and scrambled to be the first to reach them. There were so many Clickers that the first to arrive and rip off chunks of flesh were quickly pushed out of reach of the food. Worried the hastily grabbed feast might be stolen from them; they wandered along the corridor to find a private space to eat.

Footsteps moved away along a side corridor. One of the Clickers chewed the piece of flesh as it moved to stare after the fading footsteps. A small group of the human creatures disappeared around a corner. It soon finished the small scrap of flesh it had snatched and wanted more. It glanced back at the desperate shrieks of its kind fighting each other in their frantic haste to grab a morsel of flesh from the Hunter's corpses. There were so many fights breaking out, a second helping was unlikely. Hoping the owners of the footsteps would be more accommodating, the Clicker called out to its hungry brethren who had been pushed aside and the seven Clickers followed the humans' trail.

Though the short alien moved swiftly, his short legs made him easy to keep pace with as they all rushed along corridors, through doors and down staircases. Any creatures encountered were quickly dispatched with a blast from the unusual weapon the small alien seemed adept at using.

The Clickers moved faster and soon caught up with their fleeing feast.

The constant clicks accompanied their dash through the ship. When they'd descended a second staircase, the alien halted at the bottom and bade the others to stand aside. He turned a dial on the weapon and pointed it up the staircase.

The Clickers appeared at the top and rushed down.

The alien aimed and fired. A tiny ball of red light erupted from the end of the weapon and grew to a width of a hand. It struck the first Clicker's chest and burst straight through, leaving behind a neat hole with smoking edges. It continued on its path until it had passed through five of the seven clickers and struck the wall with a burst of red sparks. The small alien adjusted his aim and fired a second shot at the two fleeing Clickers. It passed through the nearest Clicker's head, but only grazed the second Clicker's shoulder when it dodged to the side out of its path. The light ball struck the wall and again a shower of sparks lit the gloom. The surviving Clicker reached the top and leapt behind the wall.

The small alien watched the dead Clickers slide and tumble down the staircase. When he was certain all were dead, he lowered the weapon.

“We could have done with one of them earlier,” said Theo, in awe of the weapon and the damage it had caused.

The alien turned away and led them on.

Richard stared at the weapon enviously. If it were possible for him to get his hands on it, or a similar one, he would do so. It would be worth a fortune.

The small alien halted at a door and turned to face his new found friends. All were out of breath from their run. “We are about to pass through a room filled with small dangerous creatures. We must move quietly. Our aim is to reach the door on the far side. If you are attacked there will be little I or anyone can do to help, so if that happens to one of you, you others must leave them or you will die also. Do you all understand?”

“Isn't there a less dangerous path we can take?” asked Richard, far from pleased with the dangerous route the small alien had chosen.

“There is not. Remember, move swiftly and whatever you see or hear in there, do not make a sound.” He opened the door.

Thick mist rushed out. They entered. The mist was so high only the head of the short alien was visible. They kept pace with his bobbing head when they moved across the room lit by a faint, green glow from above.

Jack glanced up. Bridges were set at intervals. He recognized their layout. Above them was the cathedral room with the three impossibly tall aliens in the transparent cylinders and where they'd been chased by the space rats and the vicious insects. The frightened expressions of those around him were evident they also recognized the danger. Jack remembered where the ferocious bugs had come from― down here. They were in the insects' nest. He glanced around anxiously. The patter of tiny feet drifted out of the mist and small-clawed feet were heard moving on the floor above.

The alien veered off to the right and all followed his lead. He led them between two metal pillars and beneath one of the walkways. The small insects that had successfully attacked the swamp rats covered the walls and the underside of the walkway.

Something scarpered along the floor by Theo's feet. He trod on something. The crunch of bone or hard shell sounded as loud as a gunshot in the quiet chamber. Around them the patter of thousands of tiny feet invaded the silence. Theo's face was etched with fear when he glanced behind at Jane and Jack. Jane pointed forward and mouthed, keep moving. Theo crashed into a pillar. A metallic boom echoed through the room. Theo dropped to the floor and was swallowed by the mist.

The small alien heard the sound, but kept moving.

Richard, who was directly behind the alien, also heard and ignored it; he'd faced the insects once and had no wish to do so again.

Lucy glanced back at the sound. She saw no sign of those who'd been following her. The insects were on the move. Jane, Theo and Jack wouldn't stand a chance.

Jane dropped to a crouch and felt in the mist. She found Theo and turned to Jack. “He's here, knocked unconscious.”

The insects knew they were here now so keeping quiet wouldn't save them now.

Jack knew they should heed the alien's warning. What they were doing was foolhardy and would likely get them all killed, but like Jane, he couldn't leave Theo, not when there was a chance to save him. He helped Jane pull Theo upright. They slung the unconscious man's arms around their shoulders and dragged him in the direction the small alien had taken.

The insects moved in on them from all directions.

Because the mist hid the insects, both Jack and Jane found it unnerving and would have preferred to see them coming. At least then they could kick and stamp at them. Hidden from view like they were, they'd no way of defending themselves.

Jane remembered the egg-laden insects and imagined the tiny creatures burrowing into her flesh and eating her alive from the inside. She shivered.

Jack called halt. They stopped. Insects flowed down the wall in the thousands. Though they became lost from sight when they entered the low mist, their tiny feet clacked on the metal floor and revealed the direction they headed― straight for Jane, Jack and Theo.

Jack turned and searched for an escape route; there was none. They were surrounded. He looked at Jane. “If I had a gun, I'd shoot you.”

Jane forced a nervous smile. “I bet you say that to all your dates.”

The insects grew closer.

Jack would've laughed if their situation wasn't so dire. “I wasn't aware this was a date.”

Jane shrugged. “We'll not get another, so let's pretend it is. That way we won't have to die alone.”

Jack nodded at Theo. “We could drop this rather large gooseberry and kiss.”

“And they say romance is dead.” Jane looked at the floor filled with the patter of clawed feet. They were out of time.

Suddenly, a bright light lit up the scene. The insects surrounding Jane, Theo and Jack were interspersed with the egg-laden females. The bright ball of light shot over their heads. An explosion followed. Glass tinkled to the floor above them. Jane screamed when the females fired their eggs. Green liquid poured over the edge of the floor and washed over them, sweeping the insects aside. One of the tall aliens flopped to the ground before them.

“Now would be a good time to move.”

They looked at the voice. The small alien stood across the room looking at them. He lowered the recently fired weapon.

Drenched with the green liquid, Jack and Jane dragged Theo over the tall alien and across the room. They followed the small alien to a door in the far wall that slid open with barely a sound. As soon as they were through, the alien closed the door.

The alien glanced at his breathless followers and smiled. “Now, that wasn't so bad, was it? You can relax now. From here on, there's nothing to harm you.” He turned a dial on the gun and its lights faded. “We can rest here for a few moments if you like?”

Jack and Jane rested Theo on the floor with his back against the wall.

Jack held out a hand toward the alien. “Thanks, you saved our lives.”

The alien looked at his hand, puzzled.

“You hold it and shake,” Jack explained. He grabbed the small hand and shook. “It's a human custom.”

“Your thanks are in part, misplaced.” He nodded at Lucy. “She persuaded me to come to your rescue. I would have left you there. I warned you not to stop.”

“Humans, as a rule,” Jack shot a glance at Richard, who smiled, unconcerned, “don't abandon their friends.”

Theo moaned.

Jane knelt beside him. He had a nasty lump on his head. “Are you okay, Theo?”

Theo put a hand to his head and winced. He glanced around. The last thing he remembered was the insects. “What happened? How did I get here?”

“I'll tell you about that later.” Jane helped him stand and then turned to look at the alien. “Whatever the reason, you did save our lives. Thanks for that, but who are you and how did you get here, on this spaceship?”

The alien smiled. “I am Haax and I've always been here. I worked on this ship. When the crew evacuated, I was left aboard and have been here ever since.”

“But that was thousands of years ago,” said Jack. “How could you survive for so long?”

“I wasn't always active. Most of my time was spent in what you call hyper sleep. I programmed the computer to alert me if certain changes occurred, such as any strange life-forms coming aboard, which is what happened when you humans arrived. Once I had recovered from my long sleep, I came looking for you. I saw the monsters around the door fighting each other and guessed you were on the other side, so I killed them.”

“But how can you speak our language?” asked Theo.

“When the main computer linked with one of you, the data was stored. I accessed that data. Now, we should move on. We have much to do if we are to survive when the ice breaks away.”

“You know about that?” asked Jack.

“I know everything you know― well more actually, much more. Follow me.”

They followed.

A corridor brought them to a cargo hold. A huge space filled with neatly stacked storage containers secured in place with metal bands. Haax led them along pathways between the crates.

“What's in the boxes?” Richard asked.

Haax glanced at a stack they passed. “Everything the crew needed to start a new life when they found a suitable planet to inhabit. This spaceship, as you call it, was one of a fleet of fifty. When they evacuated their home world they set off into space in different directions. The first ship to discover a habitable planet was to send out a message to the other ships with the coordinates so they could regroup.”

“Do you know if they found one?” asked Lucy.

“They hadn't when we crashed on this planet.” Haax halted at a huge door reinforced with thick metal struts and pressed the control to open it. Another identical door stood twenty yards away.

Theo noticed the door was a foot thick. “It's an air lock.”

Once they were all inside, Haax closed the door and crossed to the other side. When the red door control light turned from red to green, he pressed the button. The two large door sections slid apart to reveal another huge space, but there were no crates in this one. They stepped out of the airlock and gazed at the smaller spaceships positioned around the edges of the room.

“Shuttlecraft!” stated Theo, excitedly.

“Correct,” said Haax. He pointed at the larger box-shaped ships. “They are for transporting crew and cargo to and from the planet surface.” He directed his arm at two smaller crafts at the far side of the room. “Those two are scout ships that were used to visit any suitable planets to check the climate, soil and indigenous life-forms for compatibility.” He led them across the large hangar bay to one of the scout ships.