The Outer Worlds: Book One of the Epherian Chronicles (19 page)

Within seconds
they returned fire. Beams of plasma and charged particle beams tore
through the front wall of the house. Michael and Cynthia ducked for
cover as the house shook. For about a minute they lay low as the
front wall was ripped to pieces by the relentless barrage. The wall
was smoking. Suddenly the aliens ceased their attack. Cynthia
hadn’t been hit, but Acacius’s left arm was bleeding.

‘
What do we do now?’ whispered Michael.

‘
Wait,’ whispered Acacius. ‘They must think we are
dead.’

‘
We should be dead after that,’ whispered Michael, hardly
believing they had survived the onslaught.

‘
But we are not dead yet,’ said Acacius stoically.

Dog-Two came
out from behind a couch and snarled. A smoking grenade bounced
through the open front door. They watched in horror as the grenade
rolled along the floor. It stopped in the middle of the room and
green poisonous gas started leaking out.

‘
Hold your breath!’ said Acacius as he stepped toward the gas
grenade, but the gas started to burn his skin and he was forced to
retreat. Dog-Two, seeing the threat, leapt forward and picked up
the gas grenade in his mouth.
The poison had
no effect
on his synthetic flesh. He dashed through the front door and out
into the open, taking the smoking grenade with him.

Michael
watched from the window. The aliens were backing away as the
poisonous green gas drifted across the field. Dog-Two flung the
grenade away and charged for the nearest alien, pouncing on the
creature; he buried his fangs into the alien’s neck. Michael
slammed a new magazine into his rifle and fired several times. The
poisonous gas was filling the outside area and forcing the aliens
further back. Dog-Two dashed across Michael’s visual field with
incredible speed and ripped another alien to the ground. He then
turned back toward the house, bursting through the door.

‘
Well done, Dog-Two!’ yelled Michael. Dog-Two’s tail started
wagging and he yelped.

Michael and
Cynthia watched as the aliens began to reconfigure their attack
formation. A few moments later the gas grenade had completely
exhausted its toxic contents. The aliens brought their three hover
turret guns toward the front of their formation at the far side of
the paved area.

‘
This doesn’t look good,’ said Michael in a low voice. He took
aim with his hunting rifle and emptied the magazine. A massive
stream of plasma lit up the entire area and slammed into the front
door, causing a huge explosion. Acacius was thrown across the room
from the force of the impact. Half the front wall crumbled
away.

‘
Cynthia, Dog-Two; get back!’ yelled Michael.

They sprinted
toward the back of the house. Michael was not far behind them when
a second explosion rang out. The shockwave knocked him off his feet
and he fell heavily to the floor. The entire front section of the
house collapsed. Acacius was lying unconscious against the back
wall. Michael struggled to find his feet. He crept behind the couch
where Cynthia and Dog-Two were taking cover. She was gripping her
rifle and staring at him with wide eyes.

‘
Are you missing the space station yet?’ he whispered, managing
a smile.

‘
How will we get out of here?’ she whispered
anxiously.

‘
I don’t know,’ he said as he peered over the edge of the
couch.

The front of
the house was in ruin; all that was left was a pile of rubble. The
air was full of dust and some of the wooden debris was burning. The
aliens were advancing again.

Michael’s
wrist-com beeped. ‘…Captain, we found you, along with half the
alien infantry force…’ said Sara.

‘
Sara, can you get close enough?’ he whispered.

‘…
not with those three turret guns down there. The electronic
shield is at sixteen percent. One direct hit and you can say
goodbye to the Out Drifter. You need to get clear of that alien
army…’

‘
All right, don’t leave without us.’

‘…
What will you do?...’

‘
I’ll think of something.’

The aliens
were standing at the front of the rubble and talking in sharp tones
about what to do next. Their language was incomprehensible. To the
left there was a side door, which was hanging on one hinge. The
door led out to the rushing river.

‘
We will swim our way out of here,’ he whispered to Cynthia.
‘Dog-Two, I need you to jump into the water. Do you think you can
doggy paddle?’ Dog-Two snarled and bared his teeth. ‘I’ll take that
as a yes.’ He turned back to Cynthia. ‘Don’t hesitate when I say
run. It’s our only chance.’

‘
I can’t swim,’ she whispered.

‘
Just push the water in the direction you don’t want to go,’ he
replied.

Several aliens
started moving toward them through the ruined house. ‘Go now!’ he
yelled. Michael dashed back to where Acacius was lying. He grabbed
his arm and began dragging him toward the door. Within two seconds
the aliens began firing.

Cynthia kicked
the door open and sprinted to the edge of the surging white water.
She leapt forward and was taken away by the power of the river.
Michael dragged Acacius’s unconscious body toward the exit. Rays of
bright plasma smashed into the crumbling back wall beside him. His
total focus was on reaching the river. Dog-Two wouldn’t leave the
house without them and was growling and barking at the approaching
aliens.

Acacius began
to stir. His eyes slowly opened as Michael dragged him through the
doorway.

‘
What is happening?’ he asked in a weak voice.

‘
We are leaving!’ yelled Michael as he lunged from the bank,
dragging his teacher into the turbulent water. Michael felt the icy
water surge around his body. Acacius was fully awake by the time
the current was pushing him downstream. Michael was completely
submerged for several seconds; the powerful flow made it difficult
to swim or stay upright. Dog-Two’s head appeared above the surface.
He yelped before disappearing below again.

A group of the
aliens were standing on the riverbank and firing their plasma
weapons as they passed by, but within seconds the river took them
around a corner and away from the alien battalion. Cynthia was
ahead of them; she was struggling to keep her head above the water
and gasping for air. Michael could see they were approaching
rapids. The river cut directly through a crevice and then descended
at a blistering rate. It was impossible to swim against the
current; all he could do was try to stay upright.

He
somersaulted as the water carried his body through the rapids and
more than once he struck the rocks below. He caught sight of the
edge of a waterfall. The current dragged him over; a moment later
he was falling. Cynthia and Dog-Two were falling beside him. There
was a large pond below, and he turned his body in mid-air to lessen
the impact with the surface. His feet entered first, but his body
was on an angle and the impact was heavy; he descended into the
deep. A few seconds passed. He had lost all sense of direction and
was dazed; the force of the fall had nearly knocked him
unconscious. The surface was shimmering above. He had to force
himself to react.

He kicked his
legs, propelling his body upward and breaking the surface. Dog-Two
was already standing on the rocky edge of the pond, and Acacius was
crawling out of the water. He couldn’t see Cynthia anywhere. There
was hardly any current in the pond to pull her away, so he knew she
must have been knocked unconscious by the fall. He dived back into
the water and searched for her. The pond was deep and dark below.
It was hopeless; he couldn’t find her anywhere. He took another
breath and dived in again. He reached into the darkness and
desperately searched in every direction until he couldn’t hold his
breath any longer.

As he
resurfaced again he caught sight of Dog-Two drawing Cynthia’s limp
body to the edge of the water. Dog-Two was biting into her jacket
and dragging her up onto the bank. Michael swam to the edge of the
pond and quickly went to Cynthia’s side. Her skin was pale, and she
wasn’t breathing. Acacius watched on as Michael turned her on her
side and attempted to empty the water from her lungs.

‘
Come on, Cynthia, don’t die on me now!’

‘
She is close to death,’ said Acacius solemnly. ‘I don’t think
she will make it.’

Michael lifted
his wrist-com. ‘Sara, we are further down the river. We need you to
extract us now. Cynthia is dying. I need a medical kit. Hurry!’

‘…
On my way, Captain…’

Michael lifted
Cynthia in his arms and looked to the sky. The Out Drifter appeared
from behind a rocky hill adjacent to the waterfall. There wasn’t a
good place to land, so Sara brought the ship down to hover above
the pond. She aligned the exit door with the bank. Michael dashed
forward with Cynthia in his arms. He leapt through the door.
Dog-Two and Acacius followed.

Ivan was ready
with the medical kit. They lay Cynthia down on the floor of the
cargo bay. Ivan took a nervous system energizer from the kit, which
was a device that delivered a highly directed shockwave through the
entire nervous system to wake up the body and force it to respond.
The device was especially useful for critical patients who were
close to death. Ivan placed the device on her neck and within an
instant her whole body heaved. He then took a nano injector and
placed it on her wrist, injecting her with a full dose of medical
nano-bots.

‘
Her heart is beating, and she is breathing very shallowly,’
said Ivan. ‘The nano-bots will take some time to reconstitute her
damaged tissue. She needs to rest. We should place her in a
sleeping pod.’

They lifted
her into one of the sleeping pods, and Ivan sealed the pod. The
ship rattled and an explosion rang out. Michael rushed to the
control room.

‘
I don’t know what I’m doing! What does this thing do?’ asked
Ajax from the co-pilot seat.

‘
Surely you can’t be that stupid!’ yelled Sara. ‘Redirect
twenty percent of the reactor’s power to the weapon
batteries.’

‘
How do I do that? I’m not a pilot!’ growled Ajax as he fumbled
with the controls.

‘
Let’s swap,’ said Michael as he entered.

Ajax glanced
over his shoulder and smiled. ‘Cap, good to see you!’ he said as he
jumped out of the seat.

Michael sat
down and looked out through the viewing panel. Sara was flying out
of the atmosphere and manoeuvring to avoid a squadron of incoming
alien fighters. He redirected twenty percent of the reactor’s power
to the weapon systems. Meanwhile Sara brought the ship to full
speed and angled away from the main alien battleships, which was
hovering just outside Zeno Par orbit.

‘
The electronic shield is running on emergency power. We can’t
take another direct hit.’

‘
What about interstellar speed?’

‘
I’m working on it,’ she said hastily as she veered sideward to
avoid an alien squadron. ‘Ethan, what’s the situation in the engine
room?’

‘…
The valve casings are holding, but interstellar speed could
end it all. We could lose everything…’

‘
We have sixty five alien fighters chasing us. If we don’t get
out of here we will lose everything anyway!’ she yelled as the ship
pivoted on its axis to avoid several missiles.

‘
Do it. Take the risk,’ said Michael.

‘
This could be it, Captain,’ she said, biting her lower lip as
she reached for the switches.

Michael
nodded. He closed his eyes and waited. The ship suddenly
accelerated as the interstellar engine came online. A few long
moments passed before the artificial gravity adjusted to the new
speed. Michael held his breath as he waited. He opened his eyes.
The interstellar engine settled into a steady rhythm.

‘
We made it,’ she said, shaking her head. She took off the
combat visor and slumped back in her seat.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

Ajax looked
sternly down through the glass cover of the sleeping pod. Cynthia
was resting peacefully. He took a sip of his hip flask. The warm
taste of Halogen Hurricane warmed the back of his throat. Michael
entered the cargo bay.

‘
This young woman nearly got us all killed with her rescue
antics,’ grumbled Ajax. ‘I think we should leave her at the next
stop.’

Michael looked
down at Cynthia’s pale face and then glanced across at Ajax. ‘She
saved your life on Herman Beta.’

Ajax’s eyes
narrowed; he stared at Michael in disbelief. ‘You have to be
joking, Cap. Ivan said you saved me.’

‘
You weren’t going to make it out. You only had a minute or two
left. It was an impossible situation. There was no way we could
carry you; you would have been dead before we reached the outskirts
of the settlement. Cynthia refused to leave without you. She risked
her life to save you.’

‘
She wouldn’t leave without me,’ repeated Ajax in a whisper. He
stared at her without blinking and dropped the hip flask; the
liquor leaked out onto the floor.

‘
She’s a good young woman, Ajax,’ said Michael as he turned
away and walked toward the engine room.

Ajax stood in
that same spot for a long time and pondered Michael’s words.

**

The crew were
seated around the table in the living room. Acacius’s stern dark
eyes were staring across the table at Michael.