Cascade box set 2, p.71
Cascade Box Set 2, page 71
“Elcher transferred my consciousness before the shell exploded. He had been watching me. I’m now in the Hulathen core consciousness. But it’s still me, and I think I know a way to come back, but first you must go where I show you, to complete the mission, and quick. I can’t hide all of you from the security systems for much longer.”
Not far away Zach looked at the transparent walls around him, each one a continuous stream of alien symbols. Aggie walked ahead of him, similarly fascinated.
“It’s like being in a hall of mirrors,” said Zach.
Aggie smiled and nodded.
Static started coming from Zach’s radio, which he immediately held to his ear.
“I think we have found it. Over,” said Fiona.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Roars, grunts and buzzing noises filled the air around Bass, as he stood watching all the E.L.F’s that had been given haven from the Hulathen. It was one of many underground chambers in the Core and throughout the camp where E.L.F’s were being held. Standing next to each exotic creature was a Cascader, doing their best to keep them calm.
A young man in an army uniform walked up to Bass. “Is it time sir?”
“It’s time Buckner. Tell everyone to gear up and get their heads in the right place. We’re going to war with the Hulathen.”
The soldier walked up to a middle-aged woman, who was standing next to a walrus like creature, but with rainbow colored skin and fish like fins sticking from its back, and relayed the order.
A boom rang out in the distance and a puff of dust fell from the ceiling. Some of the creatures reacted. Bass checked his own equipment, while more soldiers filed into the chamber, all fully armed and their helmets strapped tight to their heads.
Captain Bass stepped forward. “Listen up everyone! When we are topside we have two objectives. Save civilians and kill the Hulathen. It’s that simple. Do you understand the objectives?”
A series of “Yes sir!” and “Yeah!” echoed around the large space. Some of the creatures grunted in response as well.
“To the Cascaders. The Hulathen may try and target you specifically. We will try and stop that from happening. But use whatever advantage your E.L.F’s give you to fight back. And remember, even though it might not work, it’s worth putting those minds of yours together and seeing if you can affect the Hulathen directly. That failed at the dam, but who knows, maybe it’s still worth trying. Some of the Cascaders and E.L.F’s have already engaged the enemy, but our job is to protect the Core. As you can hear above us, the Hulathen are already attacking. We protect this place for as long as we have too.”
Those around nodded.
“Good, now make sure your helmets are on tight. You should all have rifles and a pack in case you get separated from us. Let’s get this done.”
More cheers went up.
Bass nodded to a nearby soldier, who started leading everyone out through the large doors into a bigger corridor, at the end of which was a large vehicle elevator which led to the surface.
Bass clicked on his radio. “Tell the general we’re moving out now. Over.”
*****
Zach and the others looked up at a diamond shaped container, at least twenty feet square in dimensions. It hung from the ceiling, an equal distance above their heads. Other smaller tanks were in a ring above the top of it, connected by pipes which different colored ooze rushed through. Inside the container sparks of light skirted around, and right at the bottom tip of the diamond a much thinner pipe coiled around, disappearing into a series of dark cube like machines.
“Bingo,” said Sam.
Zach scoured the walls to each side, searching for a way up to get close enough to get the toxin into the primordial Hulathen mix. There were no stairs, or ladder. He figured the whole thing must be maintained by drones, so there was never any need for direct access to the container. He studied the walls. There were a number of grooves and protrusions across them. He walked over and pushed his hand into the first gap he could find, then looked up at the wall which ascended hundreds of feet above him.
“You sure you can climb that?” Said Fiona behind him.
He pulled his jacket off, putting his backpack back on and handed her his rifle. “We’ll about to find out.”
“You got the vials?”
“Yup.”
He pushed the toe of his boot into a gap between two segments that stuck out and pulled himself up.
Fiona walked back to the others. “Spread out. Find yourself a defensible position and cover all the entrances that you can.”
They did as asked, each moving off to a separate corner of the large room with a ceiling too far above them to be seen.
The words on the display screen a few moments before purportedly from Cal kept pushing their way into her head and she shook it to shake it free from their grip. She also made sure to ignore any display screens around her.
Stay focused.
The idea of him being still alive somehow was too insane to contemplate, and if she started too, she had no idea how she would truly react. She looked up at Zach. He was now fifteen feet off the ground, and not too far from the first pipe which wound its way into the mixing tank.
Zach looked at the swirling substance beyond the clear container walls just a few yards from him, then at the pipe which hung down from high above and flowed into the container. He reached up and grabbed the pipe, it felt cool. He wondered how well it was connected.
Only one way to find out.
He swung his other hand across so both hands were gripping the pipe then pushed off from the wall. The hearts of those below skipped a beat. The pipe remained firm, not even sagging. He then reached forward with alternate hands and climbed along the pipe until he was face to face with the container.
So far so good, now how the hell do I get the stuff in there?
On the ground floor all the display screens suddenly switched to display two words. Two words which Fiona and the rest couldn’t ignore.
“They’re coming.”
“Get ready!” shouted Fiona, crouching behind a piece of machinery while anxiously looking up at Zach dangling three stories above her.
A distance noise, sounding like a swarm of bees started to grow louder than the machine clangs and booms around them.
Each one of them looked into the dark spaces and corridors around them waiting for whatever was making the noise to appear.
Sean fired first at the crab like robot which dropped down, landing in front of him. Fiona looked up and realized that the shadows above their heads were alive with movement. Another one dropped down onto the metal grated floor, then another, each machine, landing then scurrying towards the nearest human. More of the group opened up with their rifles, and bullets ricocheted in all directions.
Zach ignored the dark blur’s falling around him and concentrated on trying to find a path higher up on the container. He then sensed something behind. Twisting his head around, a razor sharp pincher sliced through the air, inches from his face. The drone, while clinging to the wall, leaned further and further out, inching closer.
He turned back to the container.
Now or never.
He pulled himself up on the pipe, then got his knee on top of it, then his boot. Using his other hand, he reached out and grabbed the side of the container. It was a precarious position and the slightest touch from the machine just behind him would be enough to knock him loose, but he heaved himself to his knees then stood. Heat from whatever was cooking inside wafted upwards, and he purposely made sure not to breathe in any of the fumes.
Ignoring the clacking sounds coming from just behind his head, he pulled his backpack off, keeping close to the container wall for balance and reached inside, pulling out a small gray case. As the clatter of automatic fire bounced around below him, he unlatched the lip and flipped it up to reveal five vials of a pale yellow liquid.
He fingers slid over the smooth glass and dislodged the first bottle. Gripping it carefully, he unscrewed the top then reached up to the top of the container. From below Fiona saw what happened next. The robot behind fell forward desperately reaching out with its metal claw, which latched onto the back of Zach’s jacket pulling itself and him downwards, tumbling to the hard floor.
Fiona let out a yelp and was moving forward before Zach landed on the robot, which immediately set about flailing its arms at him. Zach rolled off of it, but then fell back to the ground clutching his side. As the dog sized machine scrambled forward Fiona let forth a volley of shots, each impact knocking it to its side, until fingers of energy wrapped around its shell and it slumped lifeless to the ground.
“How badly hurt are you?” Shouted Fiona crouching as bullets flew past her head hitting other machines that were bearing down on her.
“Maybe a broken rib, I’m okay. I was so close!” He looked at the chaos around him, trying to locate the case of vials which fell with him. He spotted them against a wall across the room. He scrambled to get back up. “Need to get the vials, and get back up there!” As he got to his feet more drones dropped from the heavens, landing with a clump.
Fiona spun around and went to fire then stopped. A new horror had just wondered into her view. A Hulathen, all twelve feet high of it was running towards her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Bass looked through binoculars at the smoke and streaks of light over the capital on the horizon, then swung his view back to the Five Hulathen that were walking across the field towards him. Behind him, on a slight incline out of the sight of the field, waited a zoo of E.L.F’s with their Cascaders. At the bottom of the slope was a newly laid road, which led to the entrance of the Core.
“Do they know we’re here?” said Buckner.
“No, or they don’t care. Either way it’s their funeral. But we can’t let them just roll up on us on this ridge. So we’re going to attack.”
The nervous sergeant blinked. Bass slapped him on the back. “Don’t worry, they won’t know what hit them.”
He slid down the slope a bit and got to his feet. He wasn’t sure what each of the creatures were that the Cascaders were in control of, but on the way to the hill, he had organized them into different groups. Those that looked like they could fly, those that looked like they would be good in a ground battle, and those that looked like they would confuse the enemy.
He raised his hand into the air and the heaviest most armored of the E.L.F’s lumbered forward up the slope. Soldiers ran behind them, covering the creatures Cascaders.
A dark skinned beast, walked on six huge octopus like tentacles made it to the top of the hill first. The soldiers close behind started firing on the Hulathen who immediately fired back scything chunks of earth from the ground with each impact of their weapons.
The creature rolled into a ball and tumbled down the hill towards the aliens. On seeing the other slower creatures move over the crest of the hill, Bass raised his hand once again and the winged beasts took to the air. One of which kept changing shape, but somehow managed to take flight and soared into the sky and then dived down, dodging focused streaks of orange neon beams that tried to bring it down.
“Now!” he shouted into the chilled air that was already filling with dust and smoke. All the rest of the E.L.F’s clambered up the hill, over it and ran forward into a hail of particle beams that were firing at them indiscriminately.
One of the Hulathen was ducking and fighting hand to hand with the large tentacled creature, giving up his laser weapon for a sword that had formed from his wrist.
Roars, screeching and automatic fire consumed the air around Bass as he ran down the hill with his rifle raised firing at the closest alien. The heat from one of the Hulathen’s weapons ionized the air just inches from his head, and he dived to the ground. Two of the aliens were already down, but so were some of the E.L.F’s that laid dead and injured across the field.
We’re winning.
He got to one knee and focused his fire on the closest Hulathen whose armor was flickering and dimming. Excitement was rising inside him and he stood and walked forward as E.L.F’s swiped and clawed at the remaining aliens.
As he neared the Hulathen warrior, he just caught sight of dark shapes in the sky in the distance, and the purple streams which emanated towards the ground from them, again and again.
“No…”
*****
The Hulathen bounded forward. Fiona raised her gun but before she had a chance to fire, the alien grabbed a drone and started using it to smash the others close by.
“Uh?” Was all she could manage to say.
Zach scrambled forward, shooting at drones as they approached him and lunged for the vials, but stopped when he saw the Hulathen had them in his hand. Zach went to shoot but was stopped when bullets pinged of the alien’s armor from another direction. Turning he saw Michael running forward and shooting, his face locked in anguish.
“Die!” he shouted as the Hulathen tried shielding his unarmored face with his spare hand.
Zach went to join in the onslaught, but stopped. There was something wrong about this alien’s behavior. Also amongst the constant clatter of gunshot he thought he could hear almost human sounding words. One of which stood out.
“Cal…”
Zach looked at Michael as he neared and an unlikely realization formed in his mind, but before he could persuade Michael from his attack, the Hulathen swiftly stepped forward, swiping the rifle from Michael’s hand and hoisted him high into the air until their eyes were parallel with each other.
“Me Cal…” growled the Hulathen.
Astonishment flashed across Michael’s face. “W… What?”
Zach felt a presence to his side.
Fiona was standing, looking up at the tall alien. “Cal?” she enquired. “Is it you?”
The Hulathen looked down at her and gently lowered Michael to the ground.
She looked at him with eyes that betrayed what was happening around them. “I think it’s him Michael, he led us here, to the container, he…”
“I’m Cal… we friend… I help…”
Michael’s face returned to one of anger. “Bullshit! It’s a trick!”
Despite the demonic face Zach felt there was something different behind the cat like eyes looking at him, something human.
The Hulathen looked up at the container and pointed.
Zach nodded. “Yeah, we need those vials in that container.”
The Hulathen nodded then took off moving swiftly across the floor, grabbing and throwing drones as he went.
“We have to cover him!” shouted Zach to the others, and he and Fiona ran after him, firing left and right to try and clear his path.
The alien looked up at the container as he neared it, then with one leap bounded into the air, grabbing hold of the top of the diamond shaped vat of swirling liquids. He then flipped the lid off the case of glass tubes, slammed it against the top of the container so all the vials cracked, then dropped them into the bubbling ferment. He then dropped back to the floor, landing and crushing another two drones.
Zach and Fiona ran up to him.
“We go now.”
Zach wasn’t sure what to make of what just happened, but he knew they all needed as much help as they could get now the Ultor’s were not around. He nodded to the large alien, and then looked back to the others that had been fighting their own battles.
Michael joined them, now holding his rifle and eyed the tall alien suspiciously. Sam, Sean and Aggie fought their way across the chamber, destroying drones as they came, until they were all in a small group, firing at the relentless attacks from the insect like robots.
Zach looked up at the Hulathen. “Which way?”
The alien turned and looked at an exit not far off. “There…” he growled as if trying to force the words out.
“Everyone get to that door!” shouted Zach.
They all ran through the malaise of flailing mechanical arms and pinchers, ducking, firing and pushing away any that came too close.
Zach touched the pad on the wall and the door slid open revealing a long empty corridor.
The Hulathen was the last one inside and the door slid shut behind him. He then turned and slammed his huge fist into the control pad, causing it to spark and crumple inwards.
“Now where?” said Zach.
The tall alien walked forward, ducking slightly so not to hit the ceiling. “Follow.”
As they all walked forward Sam held Fiona back. “Why are we following that thing?”
She shrugged him off, leaving his confused expression behind. “Because it’s Cal.”
As she walked forward she paused taking a breath then continued.
They all ran along the corridor passing possible other exits, until the Hulathen suddenly stopped, and looked inquisitively at the large door in front of him. “I… I think lead to hanger.”
Zach went to tap the open mechanism when the door at the far end of the Corridor opened. The fizzing high pitched sound of particle weapons briefly filled the air, then stopped. Two aliens were coming towards them fast.
They all readied their weapons, apart from Sam who walked forward. “Is that Klept?”
The two Ultor’s suddenly stopped and raised their arms. Seeing the danger, Fiona quickly stood in front of the huge blue skinned alien next to her.
“No! He’s with us!” she shouted down the corridor.
Klept walked forward uneasily, flickers of green blood smeared across his space suit and armor. “How is this possible?”
“That’s a conversation for another time, right now, how the hell do we get out of here?” said Zach.
Klept walked forward, looking up at the even taller alien, then looked at the nearby door. “This should lead us to another transporter which will lead us to the closest hanger.” He then opened the door and a cool waft of wind passed over them.
They all looked upon a gantry which was suspended seemingly in the sky, with another cavernous space off to the side of it. They all walked forward, leaving the corridor behind.
