Borne On Wings of Steel (51 page)

She heard the frightening noise again, closer this time.

Now she felt its presence more clearly. She felt the evil inside it, as it came for her with one intention—to kill her.

Out of the darkness and tiny twinkling lights, she saw a body with huge, long legs coming out of it from all directions.

Elise fired another burst.

Sparks lit up the darkness as the blasts ricocheted off something only a meter away from her.

She hit some part of it. But the Destructor, unlike a living thing, never uttered a sound.

Elise strained to listen and focused her eyes, concentrating fiercely—trying to will her senses to detect the undetectable.

At first, there was dead silence and darkness.

Perhaps she had destroyed it? Or at least disabled it?

Suddenly, the same heart-stopping sound came softly to her hearing—a faint, horrifying click.

And then another.

The clicking-scraping sounds grew faster.

And closer.

Elise kept fumbling for her sensor, until at last she had it. But it slipped out of her grasp, her palms sweaty. She leaned over for it, trying to find it on the floor in the darkness as she halted her huddled retreat.

In that moment it had her.

Elise screamed as she felt the multiple appendages first rip the blaster out of her hand then in a flurry of shadowy motion pin her down on the floor. She struggled against the terrible strength, but to no avail.

The Destructor had her trapped, its metal body right on top of her.

Elise shut her eyes. With her arms and legs pressed hard against the floor so that she couldn't move, she opened them and looked up.

She was shocked to see nothing but the darkness. She had guessed she would finally see the monster now that it was so close. But there was nothing but darkness above her—at least that was all she could see.

But she was wrong.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the needle-tipped talon coming for her neck.

Elise screamed.

Suddenly a barrage of blaster bolts lit up the darkness. As she stared upward, still pinned helplessly, she saw the outline of the Destructor as it stared down at her.

The hail of blaster fire increased as the bolts hit true. Large chunks of the Destructor ripped away until it fell in two broken sections.

Elise felt the metal arms pinning her fall away.

She rolled over, all the while blindly reaching for her fallen blaster. Just as she found it, she realized something was right beside her.

She froze.

"Get your weapon,” Kyle whispered so quietly she almost didn't hear his words.

Bringing her blaster up, Kyle's form became visible beside her.

Kyle nodded his head forward, pointing. Elise peered into the darkness in the direction he indicated.

Once again, she felt more than saw it through the pitch darkness. Another Destructor was coming for them.

Kyle held up his right hand, displaying three fingers. He then brought his forefinger up to his lips for silence.

Three Destructors.

Elise's heart thumped like a starship's engine jumping into hyperspace.

Kyle pointed his blaster over to the right wall, about midway up. Then he swung it over to the left wall as Elise watched. She surmised he must mean two Destructors were there, ready to pounce on them.

She nodded.

Kyle's blaster came to life, sending a steady stream of fire at the left wall.

Elise opened up with her weapon at the right wall.

The tunnel lit up like a fireworks spectacular under their twin hail of fire.

But the two Destructors escaped most of it as they leapt away.

When they ceased firing, only a few severed limbs littered the floor near them.

"Not good,” Kyle whispered.

Out of the blackness dozens of clicking noises now became audible.

And the sounds grew closer.

"Get ready,” Kyle whispered as he quickly reloaded his blaster. “They're coming again. And there's more of them."

Elise checked her own blaster—it was half empty.

Kyle looked at her—deep in her eyes.

"You shouldn't have come back for me."

Kyle's words caused her to catch her breath. But she answered without pause. “We don't leave anyone behind—especially family."

He smiled at her.

The clicking noises came closer.

"Don't stop firing, Elise. No matter what, don't stop.” Kyle readied himself.

Elise swallowed hard as she raised her blaster.

In the background, another sound came faintly to their ears—some kind of throbbing sound...

The clicks suddenly increased.

"They're charging!” Kyle shouted at Elise

Kyle fired his blaster non-stop.

Elise saw the darkness alive with movement. She pressed the trigger and held it solid.

They were everywhere—along both walls, even clutching to the ceiling as they crawled toward them.

And they were right on top of them.

Elise screamed as a Destructor fell from the ceiling toward her.

She rolled and fired, sending it into pieces.

Kyle stood and sprayed the tunnel side to side.

In the red light of their tracers the deadly Destructors became visible as they crowded towards them.

Side by side, Kyle and Elise fired volley after volley.

Her gut wrenched in agony as her blaster fired it last shot.

Kyle stepped in front of her and fired another volley.

The darkness returned as his blaster emptied its last charge. Silence drenched them—a deep, black silence.

"I'm scared, Kyle,” Elise whispered.

He stepped back and put his arm around her. They both crouched against the far right wall.

"I am too.” His embrace tightened around her shoulders.

The clicking sounds returned.

"Close your eyes,” Kyle whispered.

"Will that help?” Elise whispered back.

"I sure hope so."

From the middle of the tunnel, a shadowy shape emerged, although the pair kept their eyes tightly closed.

The faint sound of metallic clicks drew closer.

Kyle and Elise knew with the sinking of their hearts that the Destructor came for them.

More clicking sounds became audible as more Destructors approached from out of the darkness. The multitude of ominous sounds heralded the approach of certain and impending death.

Suddenly, the staccato of blaster fire filled their ears.

Kyle and Elise opened their eyes wide.

"Come on!” Krinia cried out as her blaster took out the nearest Destructor.

"Over here!” Jaric added.

He stood outside the opened door of the turbo-elevator, holding an assault blaster in each hand. Jaric stood with his legs apart to steady himself as he pumped two steady streams of blaster fire through the darkness at the Destructors.

Rok pummeled them with his own assault blaster in one hand and a blaster pistol in the other. A Kraaqi war cry echoed off the walls as he raced forward, firing non-stop.

Kyle and Elise jumped up and ran under their covering fire.

Debris from the broken Destructors filled the air.

But more and more took their places as they kept on coming.

Rok stood his ground until his blaster pistol fell silent. The Kraaqi holstered it and grasped his assault blaster with both hands as he continued firing short bursts.

Rok retreated backward with a quickening pace.

A few seconds later, he stood at the turbo-elevator again.

Krinia and Rok stepped inside the opened doors, firing away, while Jaric stood a short distance outside still yelling and firing both his weapons until he emptied both.

With a quick jump, he leapt inside holding both weapons.

Jysar punched the controls and the doors shut.

"Whew!” Jaric gasped. “That was close.” He fell to his knees exhausted.

"It's not over,” Rok said with a serious tone. “If Jysar can't get this turbo-elevator moving, we're going to have to fight our way out."

"You're kidding,” Kyle said in utter disbelief.

Rok shook his head.

"What kind of rescue is this? We're supposed to be whisked away from mortal danger right about now ... not stay in the middle of it.” Kyle winked at everyone with a smirk.

"Yeah, I wish,” Krinia said.

Suddenly, the thunderous sound of heavy, multiple blows against the turbo-elevator doors pummeled their senses.

Everyone stared as the doors were beaten by innumerable blows from the outside. As they watched, dents and creases appeared from the horrendous blows.

"It won't last long,” Elise said, echoing all of their thoughts.

"Jysar?” Rok looked over at the Hrono.

But Jysar shook his head. “It's not going anywhere. I've tried everything, but the Paum is blocking everything I try."

"Come on, Hrono. Make it work!” Rok urged.

The doors shuddered under a renewed barrage from the metal arms as the Destructors fought to get at them.

"This is it,” Jaric began reloading both his blasters.

The others followed suit.

"When the door goes down, give ‘em everything we've got.” Kyle stood right before the door with his reloaded weapon.

The dents grew deeper with a metallic hammering.

But nobody asked what would happen once they emptied their blasters, because there wouldn't be time to reload.

Elise looked around at her friends trapped with her inside this tiny place—the people she cared most about in all the universe. She realized that the same, grim expression was on everyone's face as they prepared to face this final assault.

She felt a grim determination to face death bravely with her friends around her.

"The three of us will fire until we're empty,” Rok said with a commanding tone, indicating himself, Jaric and Kyle. “Then the other three will take over while we reload—Elise, Krinia and Inaha."

"What about me?” Jysar asked.

"You keep working on getting this thing going again!"

Jysar began working at the control panel again, a new urgency in his efforts.

Rok, Jaric and Kyle readied themselves as the door began to warp and bend under the terrible blows.

"Are you holding that fear in check, Big K?” Jaric whispered with a twinkle in his eye.

"Are you kidding?” Kyle chucked. “Fear is all I've been running on."

"How many can there be left?” Jaric asked. “We've taken out a ton of them."

"More important, how many charges do we have left?” Kyle arched his eyebrows as both he and Jaric looked at Rok.

Rok balanced the assault blaster in his grip as if he were weighing it. But he didn't say a word.

Jaric leaned closer to Kyle and whispered.

"I take it not many."

"Stay focused,” Rok ordered. “Short bursts only. Make every shot count."

The metal door began to groan horribly as it reached its breaking point.

Kyle took aim, as did the other two.

Elise put her back against the far wall, her own weapon primed and ready. She steeled herself for the final attack.

Krinia stood beside her, her head-tail whipping side to side as Inaha watched, grim-faced.

They waited for the Destructors massed outside to break the final barrier down as their hammer blows became deafening.

The door lurched inward, the steel howling as it warped...

All at once, a huge explosion ripped the air, the sheer force of its shock wave sending everyone down on the ground as if they been slammed by hurricane-force winds. The entire universe seemed to shake and boil all around them as the power flickered and went completely out.

Darkness engulfed them while everything shook as if in the throes of a mighty earthquake.

Amid the darkness a blinding red glow became visible as a crack grew wider on the damaged door. The temperature rose astronomically in milliseconds. Elise felt her clothes drenched in sweat. She fought to breathe in the suddenly super-heated air.

Long, heart-throbbing seconds stretched by before the thunderous rumbling from the explosion slowly subsided.

As quickly as the temperature rose, it now slowly decreased.

Elise finally discovered she didn't have to fight to breathe as the air came sweetly to her lungs with each new breath.

"Look at the doors!” Elise said with shocked surprise.

The steel doors were warped completely out of shape by the great heat from the explosion outside.

And outside the warped and dented doors, all was strangely silent.

"What happened?” Elise said as she pushed herself up off the floor.

Everyone else gathered themselves up from where they had been so harshly shoved down by the titanic force from outside.

"I don't know. But whatever it was, it was huge.” Jaric brushed himself off

They stared at the misshapen doors, each wondering what was going to happen next.

Suddenly, a familiar twinkling and swirling of lights slipped inside the turbo-elevator like a cloud being sucked into a vortex.

"Minstrel!” they all shouted together.

"Yes, I am glad to see you as well.” Minstrel's body swirled with a rainbow of lights.

"Where did you come from?” Jysar asked.

"It's a long story. But time enough for that later. Get these doors open, Mother is waiting outside the core of the Paum.” Minstrel floated out of the way as Rok and Kyle began straining to open them manually.

"What about the Destructors?” Elise looked up at the glowing alien.

"Mother fired her hybrid-weapon. She targeted the ones attacking you from outside this section of the Paum's core. She had to carefully calculate how far the resulting destruction would extend around the beam so it would be able to destroy the Destructors attacking you, but cause no damage to yourselves."

"Hey, that was some calculation!” Kyle whistled.

"So, they're destroyed?” Jysar asked.

"You will find a large hole outside. And a massive amount of damage.” Minstrel glowed with emotion.

"Mother took them out, eh?” Jaric chuckled.

"You betcha,” Kyle added.

"Mother will now set the weapon on wide dispersal and fire again down the same angle."

"Cool,” Elise said. “Why?"