Authors: Ian Woodhead
Maulis-Bow’s claw danced across the panel and dozens more door-shaped compartments opened above and below the other panels. He tapped out another pattern, and the full wall changed to reveal hundreds more compartments. Desmond tilted his head back and counted another sixteen levels, each one holding an alien creature. “There are so many of them!” He ran to the next clear case and pressed his hands and nose flat against the material, utterly transfixed at the creature just inches from his face.
“I call this the Annals of Shame. This selection is all that remains of the three hundred and fourteen species which we have discovered while slowly expanding along the outer spiral arm of this galaxy. In the thirty-four millions years after we acquired the technology to move between the stars in a short time, my species have butchered countless billions of intelligent, beautiful creatures. All because, apparently, their existence insults The Great Deity.”
“After all that time, I’m not surprised that you haven’t conquered the whole universe by now.” Desmond tapped his finger on the glass-like material, so wishing she would open her eyes. Desmond had never seen anyone or anything so beautiful.
This alien’s physique closely matched the classic female form but with wider hips, and a chest which would put a porn actress to shame. To complete this picture of Desmond’s ideal woman, her silky straw-coloured hair reached almost to her knees. If it wasn’t for the fine black- and white-striped fur covering every inch of her boy, she could quite easily pass for any other shopper, as long as she didn’t stray into any well lit areas.
Maybe he could shave her? That would be most pleasurable if the old fuckwit would let him bathe this delectable creature in hot soapy water for a few hours. Desmond turned around getting ready to ask the question, only to find him standing right behind him.
“That is designation twenty-one. We never found out what they called themselves. This vile animal is all that is left of their world. Unlike the others we conquered, this species was more violent than we were.” He placed his paw on Desmond’s shoulder. “Now, turn around, and witness its true form.”
Desmond did as he was bid and turned to find a huge black- and white-striped slug-type animal stuck in the transparent material. The image of his dream woman were in pieces. He wanted to sob for her loss. How dare this feathered fuckwit do this to that poor woman. Desmond so wanted to smash its dirty little face in.
The curator pulled him away from the display, and all the aggression seeped out of his bones. He blinked and shook his head, trying to disperse the horrible sensation of supping twelve cans of strong lager. “Okay, that was weird.” The creature in the tank, the slug-thing woman now looked very much like a cross between a black and white tapeworm and a funnel.
“Designation twenty-one. This was the first creature we encountered who were able to inflict massive losses upon our troops. You saw how it reacted to you. That thing has been in that booth for millions of years and yet it still lives. They were the apex predator on their world. To them, we were the prey. It was a most disconcerting situation. After two months of these things slaughtering our soldiers, we destroyed their world with Mass Drivers.”
Desmond nodded, still feeling shaky, and moved to the next display cabinet with a little more caution. “Okay, I get it. I really do, Maulis-Bow. You’ve been feeling a bit shit cos all your mates and their great grandaddies are all a bunch of psychopaths. So why should it matter now? I mean, all these aliens are alive again, cos your pal fucked up back in the past.”
The curator grinned and nodded. “Indeed. My plans were quite successful.” He joined Desmond beside the display case. “This one is designation twenty-nine. They were a peaceful race, like most of the advanced cultures were. Yet, our techs discovered that in their ancient past, these creatures performed genocide on the two co-existing sentient races who once lived on their world. For the first time in our history, we found a species who acted as we did but somehow were able to quell their, as you say,
psychopathic behaviour
.”
If it wasn’t for the constant grinding coming from his guts, urging Desmond to fill it with food, he believed this place would be a constant source of wonder to behold for days, if not weeks. Even if he had a backpack full of tuna sandwiches, he suspected the backpack would still be full for when he returned to the chamber. His time here was coming to an end. This place no longer felt real anymore, like he was existing in somebody’s freaky dream. Which, he suspected, was pretty much what this was.
“They were able to alter their minds and bodies, to splice their species with genetic strands from preserved specimens from their long-dead sister species.” His claws danced across the panel and all the display cases closed, returning the wall to its dull uniform grey colour.
“Our time here is running out, so I will have to cut short our tour. It is such a shame, I do miss the company and the exhibits are not great conversationalists. True to be told, neither are you, Desmond, but you are able to respond, if only with simple sentences. It was the discovery of designation twenty-one which showed a select few of our species an alternate way of existence.”
Desmond nodded. “You mean not jumping on the heads of every life form you encounter? Okay, so, well done, old guy. You’ve done it. All these aliens are now free to frolic in their alien fields, eat their alien food, and it’s all happy ever after. Great. So why bother telling all this to some poor janitor?”
The curator wrapped his hands tightly around Desmond’s arms. “I think you miss the point. Not that this shocks me. It is quite simple. The Sauron race will live on, only with a few minor alterations. I have made sure of that. We will be like designation twenty-one.”
“Wait, Zinik-Tow has this dumb idea about turning himself back into a dinosaur, or some bollocks.”
“That is because I did not tell my followers the full story. None of them were ready for the truth. I implicated that we sought out a simpler life, to live like our ancient ancestors. To hunt and to kill our prey. Our species never did this. We were a carrion creature, Desmond. Stealing other kills is a lot easier than the running the risk of killing your own animal. We carried this trait all the way through our lineage.”
“Right, you steal other folk’s stuff, and then murder them all. Yeah, I can see how this might piss off a few people.”
“We murdered our last intelligent species ten years ago. Our technician caste discovered they had cracked the secret of time travel. Zinik-Tow believed that he was on a holy quest for the Great Deity, to destroy the only quantum capsule in existence. I told him he would be restarting our species in our distant past. To fulfil the destiny of the
Sons of Maulis-Bow
.”
“He’s going to be proper annoyed when he finds out the truth.”
The curator shook his head. “No, I think not. He will still fulfil the destiny of the Sons of Maulis-Bow, only with altered parameters. Now, it is time for you to return, Desmond. Your future awaits.”
Desmond grinned. “Oh yeah. The making babies part. Yeah, I’m going to enjoy that.”
“I am glad you are joyous. You see, it is you who will be restarting our species. You are designation twenty-one.”
“Wait, what are you talking about?”
“I have altered your base-line genetic structure, Desmond. You will be the father of a new species. A melding of Human and Sauron. A new hope for this galaxy is now within your cells. In time, I see an alliance of species from all the star systems that the old race once annihilated. The melded species will still rule this galaxy without resorting to violence.”
The curator turned Desmond around and led him out of the room and back onto the curved corridor. He took him to the window, which showed thousands of spaceships traversing between the worlds. “It will take thousands of years for our home to resemble the scene you see. It will happen, and this time, it will be without spilling the blood of billions of innocent lives.”
The space station, the view outside, and the curator started to fade before Desmond had the chance to asked him exactly what any of that meant, and to tell the idiot that the other clown in that timeship was still alive and kicking and had already started a pissing war against the human race.
Chapter Eighteen
The rough weave between Jefferson’s thumb and finger gave him a smidgen of scant reassurance that he really wasn’t dreaming anymore. His heart-wrenching shriek had been the catalyst to wrench him out of the terrible certainty of watching those two Tyrannosaurs tear him in two. Even now, with the comforting sounds of his friends’ murmurs massaging his ears, Jefferson could still feel the tiles shake as the pair of them lunged towards his trembling body.
He choked back a harsh sob.
“Hush now,” said Janine. She crouched beside him and pulled his head against her chest. “It was only a dream.”
“How the hell could I could I have fallen asleep, Janine? I feel so stupid. No, I feel irresponsible. It’s almost as if I wanted to get everybody killed.”
Janine took hold of his chin. “Don’t you make me slap you again. I’d much rather kiss those lips. If you keep it up with this pity party, I swear, I’ll knock you into next week.”
Jefferson shrugged. “Go ahead. It’s probably the only way that I’ll be able to live past today.”
“Look, you slept because you were exhausted, both physically and mentally. Also because for the first time since this madness began, we are all safe.”
She helped him onto his feet. Jefferson saw three strangers sat apart from Sandy and David. He also noticed the small group they had bumped into in that restaurant. It pleased him to find they hadn’t succumbed to any of the dangers in this mall from hell, but it did sadden him that the group hadn’t found a way out of here. It didn’t bode well for them at all.
“Tell me what you can hear.”
Why was she even asking him this? Then it dawned on him that the music had stopped. He turned his head over to the direction of the counter. The air conditioning wasn’t on either. “The power’s off. I thought it was a bit dark in here.” What was it like in the eatery and in the main area? Oh no, they won’t be able to see anything. “We’ll have to get some torches!” he gasped. Jefferson remembered that he’d lost the crossbow. They were so dead!
“Will you stop shaking and tell me what you can hear?”
“Apart from our voices, Janine, I can’t hear anything.”
“Exactly! They’ve all gone, Jefferson. The dinosaurs aren’t on this level anymore.”
It took a moment for this news to sink in, and when it did, Jefferson wasn’t sure if he should believe it. After all, it’s not like they could all vanish into thin air. “Did they find a way out of here? What about going upstairs or out into the carpark, maybe they’ve all killed each over.”
“Slow those horses, cowboy. We’ve all been through this. Here, drink this, sweetheart.” She passed him a cardboard cup. “You need rehydrating.”
“What is it?”
“Stop being so suspicious.” Janine grinned. “I think you’re going to like it.”
He took the offered cup and took a sip. He looked in amazement before guzzling it down. Jefferson thought it would be something she’d gotten from this store. “Where did you get the coconut water from? Wait, no, I’m not sure I want to know. Was it David who told you I loved this stuff?”
She linked arms and took him over to David and Sandy. Now that his senses were almost back to full strength, Jefferson felt some kind of atmosphere in the back of this store, and it was all aimed at Sandy. He stopped in front of the girl.
“You okay?”
She slowly nodded. “I’ve had better days. Still, at least none of me had dropped off yet.”
Sandy sounded exhausted. Jefferson gave her a tight hug, partly because he was still glad she was here, and partly to shame the others. He’d already guessed that the new arrivals must have heard about what had happened to them on the upper level, including Sandy and Alan’s escaped from that ship of theirs.
David passed him an energy bar. “Here, I saved one for you. I guess you’ve heard about the mystery of the missing dinosaurs.”
Jefferson nodded.
“Well, me and Janine had a bit of a scout about ten minutes ago, and I reckon we can easily make it to the furniture shop. Thing is, there’s only you who’s been able to get through and—”
“And we’re going to need you to show us how you did it.”
He hadn’t noticed Janine’s friend had walked up behind him. “Hello again, Lindsey. It’s good to see you again.” It disturbed Jefferson a little to see the woman’s eyes giving Sandy the occasional glance, and when his friend moved a little closer to David, Lindsey took a slight step back.
“What happened to you and your little group, Lindsey? I don’t want to be funny, but I was kinda hoping not to see you in here again.”
The woman’s face clouded over. She momentarily lost her aura of calmness. “Jesus, I thought we’d had it bad before. When those bird-things took control of our minds…” Lindsey grabbed Jefferson’s hand. “To be honest with you. I’m not sure I can repeat what happened to us while trying to get out. We were stupid not to follow your advice. See, Kevin wasn’t too happy about going downstairs, so we pursued our original objective to get to the carpark. Oh God, if you hadn’t given that sword to Kevin, none of us would be here right now. They were all in that dark corridor when they…”
Janine let go of Jefferson and hugged her friend. “Stop thinking about it. They’ve all gone now. Come on, let’s see you.” She turned and smiled at Jefferson. “Are you okay to move?”
He looked into his empty cup, and then placed it on a table. “Oh God yeah!”
She wiped Lindsey’s face. “There, that’s better. We can’t have your friends seeing you like that, honey. You’re their rock, remember. Jefferson, grab the others, we’ll meet you out front.”
He nodded and watched her take Lindsey over to Kevin and Margaret. Kevin had fashioned a scabbard from what looked like a couple of belts and half a shoe. He’d also removed his shirt, tied a red bandana around his forehead, and painted a few thick black lines down his cheeks. If it wasn’t from Lindsey’s very brief recant of what happened in that corridor and Jefferson’s imagination filling in the blanks, he might have laughed at his ridiculous-looking man. Then again, perhaps not. Jefferson didn’t think he’d be able to find any joyous emotion in his tired frame for a long time. He turned his attention to the three others who’d tagged along, wondering about their story. Jefferson felt no inclination to go over and introduce himself. He had no inclination to do anything but to get the fuck out of here.
“How long have I been out, David?”
Both Sandy and David had joined him by the counter of the sandwich shop. He leaned over and scanned the area, still expecting to see a bunch of little dinosaurs to start galloping toward him. Jefferson was right about needing some light. Everything was draped in shadow, yet it wasn’t totally pitch black. The yellow emergency lights were still working.
“Not long. Probably about an hour tops.” David took Sandy’s hand. “I know this is going to sound mega weird, but I so
miss all the dinosaurs
.” He gave Sandy a sad smile. “Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration.”
Were they together now? He couldn’t even find strength to ask or to be all that surprised at this new development. Jefferson waited for the others to catch up before he climbed onto the counter and jumped down on the other side. He walked between the tables, heading towards the main concourse, keeping his ears open and his eyes alert for anything that might pose a danger.
He knew there were two men carrying swords behind him and yet Jefferson was still in the lead? Since when did he become the leader of this unlikely collection of survivors? If any of the Tyrannosaurs were still around, how was he going to protect everyone? Then again, he doubted the swords would be of much use either. They might as well be armed with frigging cutlery.
Jefferson stopped when he reached the last table; he found his legs totally refused to respond to his commands. What if those two hellish creatures were still in here? He grabbed the edge of the table, suddenly feeling very faint. They couldn’t have gone anywhere else. Unlike all the other dinosaurs, they were far too big to go through any door. He couldn’t go out there. Jefferson’s nightmare would come true if he moved. It was that simple.
“It is safe, you know, honey.”
He jumped. So much for keeping his ears on high alert. Jefferson hadn’t heard Janine until she was right on top of him. “No, we’re not,” he whispered back. It took a lot of effort not to turn around and push through all these strangers and go hide himself in a box. “Those two Tyrannosaurs are still out there. They’re too big to go anywhere else.”
She shook her head. “Believe me, they’re not. We’ve checked.” She pointed over at the grocery store, next to Alan’s toy shop. “That’s where I got you the coconut water. Nothing tried to bite me in the arse. There’s nothing out there.” She then turned around and whispered something.
Of all the things to be terrified of, Jefferson guessed that huge Tyrannosaurs weren’t a bad thing. It’s not like it was spiders or mice or, in Gloria’s case, pen tops. Christ, he so hoped she was okay. Jefferson looked over his shoulder and frowned when he noticed a single cup sitting on the table where she always used to sit. Jefferson was sure that wasn’t there when he rescued David from the seal thigh dinosaurs. It would be just like his workmate to go have a cup of tea when there were loads of carnivorous dinosaurs running around. She wouldn’t have batted an eyelid. That woman would walk through a tropical storm and still be humming some melodious tune. It made him wonder just how many others were still alive in the mall, all hiding away, watching from the safety of their refuge, just waiting for someone like him to show that it was safe to come out now.
“We’re all waiting on you, Jeffdude.”
Sandy stood by him, grinning. It felt so weird to hear someone else call him that name. “Sorry, I was just waiting for everybody to catch up.”
“Sure, I can buy that.” She gently tapped the gun she’d picked up outside the department store. “You know something? I don’t think this device really belonged to those soldiers.” She chuckled. “Okay, that’s what David thinks. He says that it’s biotech. He also said that they probably stole it from some other species.”
“So?”
“Don’t you get it? This means that this is alien. It’s a proper alien gun. How cool is that?” Sandy stroked its side. “It wouldn’t fire for you, Jefferson, because it didn’t recognise your hand. It looks a lot better now, don’t you think?”
He just looked at her, unsure of why she was telling him all this.
“It does look a lot better now. The colour’s come back to it. Which is good.” Sandy then linked arms and pulled onto the concourse. “Oh, and if there are any dinosaurs still here, I’ll just melt their heads, like I did with the last one.”
“I’d love to know what Janine just said to you,” he muttered. Jefferson had to admit, he didn’t feel so scared with her by his side, or maybe it was more the case that she carried possibly the most powerful weapon on the planet. He nodded to himself. It was probably that.
“Sorry, there are some things you shouldn’t ask a girl, and that’s one of them.”
“You just made that up. Okay, Sandy. So, what’s the deal with you and David? That last time I checked, you thought he was nice but a bit too geeky for the likes of you.”
Sandy quickened her pace. It took Jefferson a few seconds to catch her up. “Or were my eyes playing tricks on me?”
“Jefferson,” she whispered. “I don’t want to die alone. Don’t you get that?”
“What are you talking about, you’re not going to die.”
She nodded. “Yes, I am. It’s raging through my body. There’s nothing anyone can do to stop it. No human doctors, that’s for sure.”
“You don’t know that. Anyway, you have us, and
what about your boyfriend
? The poor lad will be worried sick about you.”
She took a deep breath. “There never was a boyfriend. I made him up to stop all the creeps that I work with from asking me out.”
That statement just showed how much Jefferson knew about his friend. Christ, to think he was actually looking forward to their wedding. One thing was sure, the woman would make a terrific author. Just how much of her past conversations were real?
“How are you holding up?” Janine took his hand. “We’re nearly there, honey.”
“Will you be okay going back into the furniture shop? I know how bad it was for you in there.”
“I haven’t given it any thought. All that matters is that we’ll be out of here and we’re together. I’m glad to see Sandy helped you.”
“Yeah, she sure has a way with words,” he replied. “Sandy has always been good at getting people motivated. The company had sent her on half a dozen courses over the past few months. She was desperate to get out of that nail bar. God, listen to me banging on about such mundane bullshit. How weird is that, after everything that’s happened to us.”
She gently squeezed his hand. “It isn’t weird at all, honey. It’s perfectly normal behaviour. After this unbelievable clusterfuck, talking about the mundane will help your mind to adjust to our new circumstances.” Janine stopped. She wrapped her arms around his waist. “Believe me. I’m not too sure I want to see what’s happened outside the mall.”
Her words helped his old anxieties resurface. She was right. After all, apart from him, nobody else had gotten in here. Add in the factor of all the power failing, it painted a very grim scenario. “We’ll soon find out, Janine. We’re almost at your shop.”