Part 1 (1/2)

TEN LITTLE ALIENS.

by STEPHEN COLE.

Chapter One

Postern of Fate

I.

We're going to take the jump.

The smoky corridor ahead is broken up, a big black gash keeping one end from the other, like a giant's kicked through it. This whole level is dimly lit, the indifferent white of emergency lighting spread too thin. Behind us we hear the low whine of the Kill-Droid charging up its laser.

Hear that and you've got five seconds.

We turn, bring the gun to bear. We're used to something bigger than this pulse cannon, the trigger's so small we can barely fit our finger round it. Makes little odds - there's smoke everywhere, generators are on fire, we can't see.

We couldn't stop the Schirr taking the bridge. We couldn't save the hostages. The Ardent Ardent had no choice but to take out the whole s.h.i.+p. Good of Haunt to whack out the top section of the had no choice but to take out the whole s.h.i.+p. Good of Haunt to whack out the top section of the Harbinger Harbinger first. Gives us five whole minutes to get back out. first. Gives us five whole minutes to get back out.

One Kill-Droid floats out of the white mist at last. Cherry-red lasers spew out of its twin barrels. We dive, roll and turn, teetering on the chasm's edge. Our neck tears on puckered metal. We can feel blood but we're too charged to feel the pain right now. The Kay-Dee takes the pulse. Its crystal head cracks and shatters like ice under a boot. Clatters to the ground.

Now we hear footsteps. Reload the pulse barrel, unthinking, just on instinct. Gauge the jump again. We can do it, but we'll need a run-up. Straight into whatever's sprinting for us now? If it's on its feet down here it should be friendly, but -

A tall, dark shape flies out of the fog. Almost Almost friendly. friendly.

Denni. Her eyes narrow as she sees us. Cannon raised, blonde dreadlocks flapping as she spins on her heel, she fires. The mist illuminates like sheet lightning's ripping through it. There's a huge explosion, we feel the heat, smell oil and burnt-out electrics.

'It's you that's drawing the droids here, Shadow,' she shouts over her shoulder at us. 'Your damper's dried out.'

Jesus, we're a droid magnet. 'Where are the others?'

'Lindey's dead.' Denni's voice is terse, like it's all our fault somehow. I don't know about Joiks.'

We get up, join her and fire some more into the thick smog.

'Then I'll hold them off here,' we say. 'Get out of here. Pod's that way.'

Denni scoots without another word. She doesn't get far.

'Shadow,' she shouts. 'The ground's blown out. No one can cross this.'

'Sure they can.' We hear the whine of a kill-charge building, and criss-cross the corridor with pulse-fire. 'Look, the pods are just two hundred metres through that smoke. Don't think about it. Go.'

'You're crazy. I'll have to double back.'

'We can do do it. The pods are waiting. Follow me.' it. The pods are waiting. Follow me.'

'No! If you hold them off, then I -'

Fine. So stay. We've got to take this jump. We're gonna prove we can do it. Denni won't take anything on trust from us no more but everyone watching this back on base, every d.a.m.ned one of them, is going to watch us , feel , feel us clear this gap. us clear this gap.

We push away from the crumpled lip of the floor. In the vids, leaps like this come in slow motion. The thrill stretched out so we can enjoy the long moments of will we, won't we will we, won't we clear the gap. clear the gap.

It only takes us a split-second to know Denni's right. We're not going to make this.

We reach out for the twisted edge, helplessly, as the jump becomes a fall. Denni's shouting something, we think maybe she's. .h.i.t, but we blank her out. We've caught a blackened metal spur projecting from the lip. We're gonna haul ourselves out of here. Our muscles feel like they'll split our skin open as we raise ourselves level with the charred floor.

And we see a Kay-Dee's gla.s.sy head, sparkling blue-grey as it blows out of the smoke ahead of us. It waves the stubs of its twin-barrels at us, a victory dance. The guns swivel into position.

The charge kicks in, energy builds ready to take our face off.

Well, we've been through that once. This is where thinking we know best always gets us. We're jinxed. We bellow out curse after curse in frustration. And we drop into the blackness.

Hitting the force mats a hundred metres below.

We lie there, panting for breath in the darkness. Eyes screwed up. We've We've screwed up, again. It's too dark for the webset to function right down here, there's no image to relay. screwed up, again. It's too dark for the webset to function right down here, there's no image to relay.

Thoughts cloud up. We can imagine how it is for them watching back in Debrief as we disa.s.sociate from these recorded feelings, start to drift.

Something crashes down beside us. Hears us holler back up at the distant patch of white smoke high above. A few seconds later it scrambles over. We're too tired to even react.

It's black down here, we can't see anything, but we recognise Denni s breathing from better times in the dark.

'Is your webset off, Shadow?' she murmurs. 'There's something I have to do.'

It isn't. We don't say anything.

Denni spits in our face.

Cheers and wolf-whistles cut through the dark silence.

Colonel Adam Shade found he was wiping his cheek when the lights went up in the visual debriefing room. He felt exposed. The rest of his team were going wild with laughter, gesturing obscenely, throwing their websets to the floor.

'Nice jump, Shadow,' jeered Frog, and her pale blue eyes bulged even more grotesquely than normal. 'Maybe you shoulda asked your lovely pretty Denni to give you a push, huh?'