Survivor (12 page)

The aliens worked on the next project. It
looked like a massive ship but there were still lots of parts to be
added. The bigger creature stood near them, sharing in the
conversation from time to time. All of their backs were to the
black compression gun. No doubt they thought the rest of the planet
was dead.

"They're unstoppable," she whispered.

"Something stopped them before," Cal
said.

"We don't know that. Maybe they just decided
to take a nap."

"I recommend we stay hidden and wait until
they leave. Perhaps then, the force-field will lift."

"We can't do that. There's the opportunity
of a life-time out there. And besides, there's no guarantee that
we'll be able to leave once they go. But I bet they have the
technology to get us out of here."

"It's a bad idea," Cal said.

"I know. But I'm doing it anyway."

"Business as usual then."

She nodded, still too shell-shocked by the
demonstrations to laugh.

"Aright. Time to bite the bullet," she
said.

"In the middle of the night?"

"Well it's not the middle." Nova said.
"They're up. I don't want to leave it any longer. If they are
planning to wreak havoc on the universe, then I want to stop them
now."

"That's if they don't kill you on sight,"
Cal said.

"Yes."

"Well, be safe, I suppose."

She nodded and marched to her sleeping pod.
She changed out of her sandy clothes from the day before and put on
a black singlet, thick trousers with many pockets and her thick
trench-coat. She wore a thick khaki belt made up of pouches. She
slid her knife into a sheath on the left and her gun into the
holster on her right.

"How do I look for an ambassador of the
human race?" she said.

"Embarrassing," Cal said.

She rolled her eyes. "Monitor the situation.
If things get bad, run the simulations. If there's a chance to save
me, do that. If there's not, then get yourselves out of here. When
you get out tell the guys at the Maw what happened."

"Confirmed."

She strode to the storage bay and climbed
into the lander. She took a deep breath as she started the lander's
engine. Her stomach rolled as she laid a shaky hand on the
throttle.

"Have I got maximum shielding?" she said.
She hated the tremor in her voice.

"Confirmed. Crusader can't even detect
you."

"Good," she said, letting out a long
sigh.

She pressed the detach button and the lander
clicked free of Crusader. She grabbed the controls with both hands
even though it was on autopilot. She swallowed hard as the lander
dove for the planet.

Her course kept her well out of sight of the
Ancients. She just had to hope that they weren't scanning for
foreign ships, and that if they were that they thought she was just
a bird. Chills racked her body as she thought about the compression
gun and how it would feel to be crushed by her own weight. Her neck
tingled as the planet drew closer.

She took the time to look around and relish
in her own existence. She had no idea how much longer that
existence would last.

The lander came to rest on the desert sand
far too soon for Nova's liking. It took three minutes for her legs
to stop shaking enough for her to stand and get out of the ship.
She jumped to the desert and leant against the lander.

She breathed deeply until her head stopped
spinning. She pushed herself up and surveyed the landscape. The
desert was just as she'd left it except that the glow from the red
moon was gone.

She checked her weapons one more time, drew
her back straight, and steeled her nerves. There was no way to put
it off any longer; she was here and she had a mission to do.

She trekked through the sand in her thick
boots. Her mind raced with what she'd say to these aliens. Her
imagination filled with visions of her trying to communicate and
failing miserably. In one scenario the aliens couldn't understand
her and shot her on sight. In another replay they thought she
declared war and retaliated by destroying the nearest human
colony.

She clenched her teeth and shook the images
free. There was no reason for the meeting to go badly. She just had
to keep calm and be reasonable. The logical thoughts didn't stop
her stomach clenching or the blood draining from her face. She bit
her lip and strode on.

For whatever reason, she'd been left with
this job and she'd be damned if she turned away now. As much as it
should have been Doctor Codon in her place, she was glad it was
her. The chance to have first contact came once in a million
lifetimes. Even if the meeting did go badly she'd be remembered for
the rest of time. Or she would be so long as there were human
colonies to remember.

She lay on her stomach and dragged herself
up the last of the rise overlooking the oasis. The broken remnants
of the Confederacy ships spread around her and surrounded the
Ancients. She used the ships for cover as she scurried down the
hill. Her heart clenched in her chest every time she heard an
Ancient speak. Miraculously she made it to the very edge of the
tumbled ships without being detected.

She took a deep breath. The black-hole
cannon and the compression gun leant against each other in the
centre of a minor crater. The rest of the Ancients were gathered in
groups, scattered around the area, working on small projects.

Nova took a final breath and stepped out
from behind the ship. She approached the nearest group of Ancients
with her hands held out to either side, palms up. Her breath was
ragged and dry in her throat. She got five paces before she was
spotted.

The nearest Ancient glanced up from his work
and froze.

A torrent of words poured out of his mouth.
Heads whipped around at his voice and some of the Ancients jumped
to their feet.

Nova was surrounded by a chattering circle
of tall creatures, all staring at her. Her chest constricted but
she stood straight and stared back at them, her gaze
unwavering.

"I come in peace," she said.

The lead Ancient muscled its way to the
front of the crowd.

"I come in peace," Nova said again, the
words coming out in a rush.

The Ancients stared down at her. They
sounded like a swarm of beetles as they spoke to each other. Their
clicking voices buzzed around Nova's head. More of the creatures
gathered to see what the fuss was about.

"A human? What is a human doing here?" the
lead Ancient said, stepping forward.

It took Nova a few moments to realise that
she understood what it said.

"I can understand you," she said.

The Ancient waved its hand as if the event
was of no matter. "You haven't answered my question."

"I- er- this planet is part of the Human
Confederacy," she said.

"The humans claim to own part of this
galaxy?" the Ancient said. "The parasitic human race dares?"

"We- we've been expanding for some time now.
I wish to ensure that you will not harm the human colonies," Nova
said. Her heart sat right in her throat but she had to do what she
came for. She may not care for many humans, but she'd be damned if
she didn't try to stop the total annihilation of human life, if
that's what the Ancients had planned.

"Why not?" it said.

"Well-" Nova's thoughts stumbled over the
question. It was so simple and yet so layered with meanings,
possibilities. "We have as much right to live and be free as
you."

"I don't think so," the Ancient said. "We
have fought too hard, for too long to be usurped by the likes of
you."

The alien held up its clawed fist and a
barrel clicked open at the end. The Ancients advanced towards Nova.
Their feet stomped onto the sand, leaving a trail of holes. They
spoke to each other in their foreign language.

Nova's mouth dropped open. The careful
negotiations she'd gone over in her head were over before she'd
started. A buzz warned her that the Ancient's weapon was powering
up.

She backed away from the closing circle. Her
eyes flicked left and right. There was no way she could outrun
their weapons and she had no hope that her plasma pistol would do
anything against their armour.

She darted left, pushed past the Ancients
and made a mad dash towards the crater and weapons. As she ran past
her arm caught on the blade of an armoured forearm. Her flesh
ripped open and dripped blood into the sand. She tucked her arm to
her chest and kept running, stifling a cry of pain in her
throat.

The sound of pursuit was right behind her.
The sand to her right exploded in a flash of red. Smoke poured out
of the hole where melted sand glowed white-hot.

She stumbled away from the explosion,
darting left and right in a desperate effort to avoid their
gunfire. It was hard to run in the newly churned sand. She nearly
tripped on the solid cube, sitting at the bottom of its crater.

She regained her balance and pushed on.

Only five more steps, three, one. She was
there.

Nova swung her arm around and pulled up the
compression gun. It was heavy; her arms and back strained to pick
it up. She lifted the gun to her shoulder, placed the index finger
of her right hand on the trigger and turned to face the
Ancients.

They stopped chasing and stood in a rough
semi-circle around her. Each of their helmeted heads was turned in
her direction. It was impossible to see any fear on their faces
behind the damned emotionless helmets.

The biggest Ancient had its fist-weapon
pointed at her. She lifted the gun higher on her shoulder and put
the alien in her sights. The armoured figure filled up the whole
targeting area.

She clenched her teeth, readied her shoulder
for the kickback, and pressed the trigger.

She'd squeezed her eyes shut against the
inevitable pain but it never came. She opened one eye and then the
other. The aliens still stood in front of her. Nothing had
changed.

Nova frowned and squeezed the trigger again.
This time she watched the gun, but nothing happened. There was no
sudden burst of light, and the creature didn't collapse into
itself.

A new sound broke through Nova's confusion.
Loud clicking; it sounded like laughter.

She looked up from the gun and saw the
armoured creatures laughing. If she'd ever wanted to see terrifying
aliens reduced to a joke it would have been this. But the joke was
on her.

The lead Ancient lunged at Nova. It leant
down, grabbed hold of the rifle, and plucked it out of her grasp.
She had no hope of resisting; the gun slid out of her hands as if
she was a newborn.

"After all our time fighting the Zions, and
the Plims, and all the other pretenders, we worked out the species
lock," it said.

"I-I," Nova stuttered. She didn't understand
most of what the Ancient was talking about.

Without further warning, the Ancient lifted
its fist and a blast of light shot out. It exploded into Nova and
filled her vision. The force of it sent her body and mind reeling
before she lost consciousness.

***

Nova's head pounded. Lights danced behind
her eyelids. There were voices, but her ears were ringing and she
couldn't make out the words. There was a smell too, like musty
dirt. It was as if she'd stumbled into a cupboard which hadn't been
opened for centuries.

Fragments came back to her; she'd confronted
the Ancients and they'd shot her. Was she dead? Her heart kicked up
faster at the thought. No, she couldn't be.

There were voices.

She forced her eyelids to open. The brief
flash of light was all she needed. She was back in the tunnels, in
a small room. She'd caught a glimpse of two Ancients near the door.
Her eyes were closed again, but in her mind she went over every
detail she'd seen in that brief glimpse.

The voices emerged over the buzz filling her
ears.

"You have to get the information out of her.
Remember what happened last time?"

"We were nearly wiped out."

"We can't afford to let that happen again.
If they're the dominant species then they're the biggest threat. We
have to know everything we can about them."

"What if she refuses to talk?"

"Do whatever it takes. Do you understand? I
don't care if you have to tear this planet apart – we need to know
what they can do, so we're ready. I refuse to be forced to hide
underground a second time."

"I'll make sure she talks."

"Good. And do it now. They might already be
on their way. We need any advantage we can get."

"I'll get it done."

Footsteps faded away. Something grated, like
stone on stone. Nova flicked her eyes open again to see an Ancient
slide a thick stone door across the entrance. Purple lights glowed
from the walls, casting an ominous glow over the creature's black
armour.

"Time to talk," the creature said, as it
turned and locked eyes with Nova.

Even the helmet couldn't hide the intensity
of the creature's gaze. She felt intelligence, cunning, annoyance,
and curiosity, pouring from the alien.

She forgot her aching head and bruised body.
There was just her and the Ancient.

It didn't waste any time and went straight
to the far wall, pulling down a small pistol. Wires and lights
sprouted out of it. Nova could only guess at its purpose.

She struggled to her feet. If the creature
was going to kill her, she'd die standing. She pushed her back
against the furthest corner, the rough stone scraping down her
skin. She scanned every inch of the room for a way out. The only
exit was through the passage, which was blocked by a solid stone
door. Her breaths came hard and fast and her legs twitched to get
going, to move, but to where?

"What's your name?" Nova said. It was the
first thing she thought of to buy time.