Far Space (38 page)

Quade was yelling and cursing as he cradled his wounded arm. The alien projectile had torn a wicked gash in the man’s forearm.

Mason looked on the change of fate with wide eyes.

Thuros muttered, “Will you look at that.”

Tom twisted to look past Jennifer’s prone form into the pool.

Ian and Ghost moved for Quade’s dropped gun at once. This proved fortunate as a half dozen Soosuri spears shot through the chamber. Ian dropped to his stomach and hoped the aliens somehow realized he and Ghost were not with Tom and his buddy.

Tom managed to avoid the first volley, squeezing off two, three-round bursts from his rifle into the pool. As he lined up another shot at one end of the pool, a Soosuri broke the surface from the opposite side and launched a spear with his well-muscled arms.

The barbed shaft easily sliced through Tom’s wetsuit and buried itself deep into the man’s thigh. Screaming, Tom dropped gun and staggered to the side until he hit a pile of packing crates. The crates scattered and Tom hit the ground.

Ian let Ghost have the pistol Quade had dropped and scuttled over to Tom. Ian grabbed Tom’s gun and brought to bear on the redhead while he was still struggling to get up.

Tom managed to pull himself up against the wall. He paused when he found Ian pointing a gun in his face.

Ian was shocked momentarily when Tom launched himself from the wall straight at him. Ian stepped aside and clocked the man in the head with a vicious jab from his elbow.

Tom fell to the ground, landing on the spear shaft embedded in his leg. He screamed as the shaft bent then broke near the entry wound on his thigh.

Ian lowered his weapon. Ghost had Quade covered. He was not sure what made him pause, would never know. But he watched silently as Tom pulled himself up again and staggered toward a side cave. Quade followed him.

Ghost covered their exit every step of the way. “Sir…”

“There’s another pool…” Jennifer breathed.

Ian forgot about the two fleeing men and hurried to kneel beside Jennifer. As he pulled her face mask off, Ian heard two splashes.

Mason and Thuros rushed after the renegades.

“They got the spare rebreathers!” Mason shouted back.

Ian really didn’t care. Jennifer was alive.

Tears filled his eyes as he drank in the details of Jennifer’s face. He choked, “Jennifer. Thank you, God, thank you…”

Distantly, he heard Ghost calling back to the Reaper, “Robin, we got a couple nut jobs running around, seal the hatches and don’t let anyone on board unless the Captain or I are with them.”

Robin’s response was cut off as Ian pulled off his faceplate and hood. If the air here was good enough for Jennifer, it was good enough for him.

Jennifer looked up into Ian’s eyes and smiled. “Am I dead?”

“Nope,” Ian said, returning the smile as he smoothed her damp hair.

“You must be a hallucination then.”

“Not the last time I checked,” Ian said. He bent down and proved it by kissing his wife gently on the forehead.

Jennifer coughed violently and curled up as much as the pain in her side would allow.

Ian pulled her close and held her as tight as he dared given her obvious injuries. He looked down at her bandages. He had no idea what to do.

Ghost interrupted Ian’s First Aid and Buddy Care memory freeze. “Sir, should I go after them?”

“Will not get far.”

The voice had come from the pool.

Ian looked up, surprised to find several Soosuri with their heads above the water. The one closest to him had spoken. He realized a moment later the words had come from a water-proof data pad.

Ian started to answer when Jennifer grabbed his arm.

“No,” Jennifer breathed. “Don’t go in the water…” She coughed again. “They were both bleeding.” Emphasizing her words, Jennifer repeated, “Don’t go in the water!”

Ian exchanged glances with the man named Mason. He looked back at Jennifer and said, “Okay, honey. Don’t worry, we’re not going in the water.”

The Soosuri extended an arm with a human-like hand out of the water and laid it on Jennifers leg. The translator spoke his words, “Good-bye, Jennifer, taio of Suse and feti’i of the Soosuri. Go with your people and may the Great Father watch over you.”

Ian watched the aliens disappear one by one, leaving the humans alone in the cavern.

Thuros Rider joined Mason and Ian at Jennifer’s side. “Kalil’s dead. Stupid kid didn’t realize he’d taken up sides with a madman.” He leaned over and carefully examined Jennifer’s wrappings. “Looks like the little squids got it good and tight. I suggest we get her to your ship as soon as possible before trying anything fancy. Your doctor can do more than we can here.” Rider gestured his hand at their rough camp.

It took Ian a moment to respond as a feeling of helplessness swept through him, “There’s no doctor on board.”

Thuros looked from Jennifer to Ian then stood, pulling Ian away. “She probably needs surgery,” he breathed, his back turned to Jennifer. “What do mean you don’t have a doctor?”

“It’s a small crew,” Ian whispered back. “Ghost or Robin might know more about field treatments, they learn that stuff as SOF. There’s also a fully equipped infirmary…but…” He glanced over his shoulder at Jennifer. “We’ve got to get her back to Earth Space.”

“There’s twelve of them, right?” Rider persisted. “Someone will know what to do.”

Ian shook his head. “It’s just me, Ghost and Robin back on the ship. The commanding officer was killed when we were attacked four systems out from Earth.”

“Crud,” Thuros muttered. After a moment’s thought, he said, “She still needs more than we can offer here.”

Ian nodded and gathered himself and looked around the camp. After just two weeks, the marooned crew had managed to arrange things to at least serve as a functional outpost with the equipment they had at hand and some things they had obviously obtained from the locals. “Is there anything you need?”

“Give me two minutes,” Thuros said. “Mason! Grab those sample bags and the data pads. We’re leaving.”

Tom was thoroughly lost. He had only been out in the water a handful of times and never this far from the base camp. He slowed, falling behind Quade. His arms were tired from the breast strokes he was forced to use to compensate for his useless leg.

“Sushi,” Tom muttered. “The next one I meet will be sushi.”

“Up here,” Quade said over the local net.

Tom gathered his strength and managed to kick and paddle his way out of the underwater tunnel they had been following and into a broader open area. Looking up, he could see daylight piercing the green water. “Thank, God,” he breathed. “Let’s get out of here.”

“We need medical supplies,” Quade said, holding up his arm. The deep gash was still trailing thin strings of blood into the water. “It’ll heal if I can get it bandaged.”

“No kidding,” Tom muttered as he gently touched his wounded leg. “Should’ve grabbed the med-kit. Cripes this hurts.” The harpoon was lodged firmly in the meat of his thigh. There was a gaping, ugly wound around the short end of the broken shaft protruding from his leg. With every heartbeat, a small cloud of blood blossomed into the water. He tried to close the wound with both hands.

“AHHH!” Waves of pain washed over Tom and continued even after he had let go of his leg. He cursed and tried to swim up. “I need to get this fixed.”

Quade grabbed Tom’s arm and tugged him upwards. “Come on, we can’t do anything down here.”

Tom grimaced in pain as the stronger Quade pulled him upwards. He glanced around, noting how the rocky walls widened out on all sides until he could barely see the far walls. Quade angled over to the far side of the pool, looking for a decent place to exit the water.

Tom was having trouble concentrating. His mind was filled with alternating thoughts of grilling sushi and slicing up Jennifer. The side dish for the meal of revenge would be the head of those two interlopers. “Five more minutes,” Tom muttered. “Five minutes and I could have fixed everything.”

Pain screamed through Tom’s leg as Quade accidentally kicked him. The pain brought a little clarity to Tom’s thinking. He was in no condition to take on anyone. “First things first.”

“What?” Quade asked.

“Get to the surface, fix my leg, take their ship,” Tom grunted. It was as much of a plan as his muddled mind could formulate. “Then we take care of them all.”

“I’m not getting stuck on this forsaken rock,” Quade said in way of agreement. “We’re almost to the edge.”

The echoing call sounded three times before Tom took notice of it.

“What was that?” Tom looked around, confused. His eyes finally focused on Quade’s eyes through his face mask.

Even through the green-tinged water, Tom could tell Quade had gone very pale. He was staring off at a deeper portion of the sea floor.

Tom followed Quade’s gaze and saw the two dark shapes moving in fluid motions directly toward them.

Quade gave a single curse, let go of Tom, and kicked hard for the rocky shoreline twenty-five meters away.

Left spinning on his own in Quade’s wake, Tom called out, “Coward!” He glanced back at the approaching shapes, growing more distinct as they circled closer.

A third creature was now approaching from Tom’s left.

Tom turned and tried to catch up with Quade. Pain shot up his leg, causing Tom to gasp. He was not going to make it to the shore before those things reached him. Tom spun to face the creatures and breathed, “Come on, friend. The water’s fine.”

A fourth creature, all grasping tentacles, teeth, and muscled body heaved into Tom’s peripheral vision. He spun just in time to see it snatch Quade into a four-armed grip.

“Son-of-a…” Quade screamed then was cut off as razor-sharp claws easily severed his head from his body.

The creature ripping into Quade let out a warbling cry of victory.

Stunned, Tom stared at the beast and carnage blocking his path to the shore.

A shadow passed over Tom. He looked up in time to see his own hunter sweeping down on him.

Tom spat, “Thanks for nothing, Jennifer, you stinking…” Four blade-like claws piercing his body stole Tom’s breath and most of his throat. Tom was alive long enough to realize at least three creatures were fighting over the severed pieces of his body. The prize for the winner; the contents spilling from his gut.

Ian and Rider managed to get Jennifer out of the caves and back into the open. Not taking his attention from the stony footing, Ian called back, “How’s it look, Ghost?”

“Not a sign of ‘em, sir.” Ghost was bringing up the rear. He carried both his and Ian’s pistols. Ian had suggested Ghost take Tom’s automatic rifle, but the experienced SOF member had declined, saying, ‘never take an untested weapon into battle.’ Instead, Ghost had expertly dismantled the rifle, Tom’s pistol, and even the spear gun. For good measure, he had then tossed all the components into the pool of water after making sure there were no Soosuri still lingering about.

“Robin,” Ian called, “prep the ship, we’re dusting off as soon as everyone’s on board.”

“Copy that, Captain,” Robin radioed back. “Um, I have you on camera and you are not wearing your environmental gear. Protocol states…”

“Give me a sec,” Ian grunted back. They had loaded Jennifer up in a makeshift litter back in the cave. His wife may be slim, but she sure seemed to weigh a lot as dead weight. They reached the Reaper sitting on the rocky shelf.

Ghost reached for the hatch controls.

“Hold one, Ghost,” Ian said. He turned to Mason and Rider. “Okay. You guys were part of the scientific team, right?”

Rider nodded.

“We have not been properly introduced,” Mason said, holding out his hand. “I am…”

Ian cut the man off. “Sorry, time for that on the ride home. The big question is, can we get on board and head back to Earth or are we going to pass on some alien bug and kill half the planet?”

Mason gave a short laugh. “My good man, if there were anything to hurt humans, we would not be here now. My specialty is genetics and from what I’ve seen, there is nothing on this planet nor harbored in our systems which could harm us. The poly-nucleotide strands just aren’t fully compatible…”

“Robin,” Ian interrupted, “the Professor out here thinks we’re safe to come on board. But, let’s run a decom in the airlock just to be sure and we’ll see what they want to do with us when we’re back in Earth Space.”