Indian Hill (42 page)

“Liliana, Francesca, start firing!” I yelled.

“What?” They both seemed on the verge of tears. I ran down the plank, gun a blazing. A few of the bolder guards had been within a few feet of the landing when I cut them down. The girls finally began to open fire and within seconds dozens of the guards had fallen. They were beginning to make a Genogerian death wall in front of us, so much so that the other rushing guards were having a tough time getting around their fallen comrades. We just kept
firing
.

“Deb, get the commander to shut the hatch!” I screamed. She didn’t move, she was still holding Stephanie in her arms. “Deb, now or you’re going to be holding a lot more than just her.” I think that finally sunk in, she moved quickly, grabbing Steph’s gun as she went. My guess is she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. The guards got sick of making a mad death rush to the hatch, so they began to open fire. Francesca died fast; she had a mere moment to lament her stomach wound before she was struck for the second time square in the chest.

“Liliana, get into the ship!”

“I’ll go when you do!” she yelled back.

After what seemed decades the hatch began its incessantly slow climb upwards.

“Alright now Liliana, I have no desire to be called Hop Along. Run for it.” And run we did, with an entire army of Genogerians behind us. A few actually grabbed on to the hatch as it finally closed, and all they were rewarded with was the right to be called Lefty or Righty as the case may be. Or in one poor bastard’s case, Stumpy. It was still disconcerting to have so many of them surrounding us.  We could hear them below us and we knew it was just a matter of time before they launched some sort of assault.

“Oh Stephanie,” I moaned, “why did you have to do that?” I cradled her in my arms, tears streaming down my face. She had been gut shot and was still alive.
T
he pain was taking her and death was all too prevalent
on her strained features
.

“I did it for you,” she said gently. “You have sacrificed so much for our safety, it was time for a little payback.”

“Stephanie, thank you,” I sobbed. “I will always love you, and I promise I will never forget you.” And that was it, her eyes closed and she still had one of her slightly crooked smiles on her face. She went out the way she wanted to, fighting. And that’s the way I’ll always remember her.

“That’s your problem, hu-man. You are too sentimental,” the commander said with a sneer in his voice.

“Fuck you!” I shouted, wanting nothing more than to gut shoot him so he’d know what it felt like to die a slow, agonizing death.

“And too easily unsettled.”

“And fuck you again, why aren’t we flying yet?” as I stood up and headed towards the commander. My weapon was raised, I had so much wanted to bury him right there on that ship. But that would have done the planet Earth such a great disservice, and I had more than myself and Stephanie to think about.

“I cannot start the ship until my men leave the area.”

“Listen closely because I’m not going to say it again.” I planted the weapon square on his snout. “As soon as you start this ship, I’ll guarantee they’ll move away. And to be honest with you I really don’t give a fuck if a few of your men turn into fried crocodile nuggets.” He hissed, but he saw my rage and had no doubt of my intentions. The ship started and more than a few dozen Genos did become crispy critters, which made it all  the more satisfying.

“Let’s go. Open the doors and let’s get this bucket moving.”

“I can’t open the door, they are automatically sealed when life is detected in the launch area.”

“Well then, order your men out of here so we can leave.”

“No matter what I say, they won’t leave. They will not let me be taken off of this ship.”

“Order them or die.”

“I’ll order them, but then you’re going to have to kill me. Because they will not move. But we can negotiate, if you like.” And he opened up his snout in what appeared to be his award-winning smile, but the only picture that stuck in my head was of the Big Bad Wolf in the Little Red Riding Hood story.

“What’s the deal Commander, you’ll fry me instead of slow roast me before you eat me?”

“No, I’ll keep you alive, a few of your women will have to be sacrificed, but your safety will be guaranteed.”

“So you’re saying that all I have to do is sacrifice a few of my companions and you’ll let me live out the rest of my years in relative comfort and safety, completely enslaved on your ship.”

“Exactly.”

A few of the women who didn’t know me so well were actually a little flustered and I would assume worried.

“Go fuck yourself.” His toothy grin disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. “Get this ship moving now, I won’t warn you again. If you don’t or if you try some new stunt I’ll kill you and take my chances with all these controls.” He started the ship in the general direction of the hatch and with great satisfaction I watched through the rear view monitor as a dozen or so more guards instantly vaporized. I would have been a lot happier had Stephanie not just been killed, but it was still a very satisfying moment. The guards backed up enough to be away from the deadly exhaust but they would not leave the hangar. I was at a complete and utter loss.

CHAPTER 48

“Which one of you is Colonel Thomas?”
The Progerian greeter asked.

Any doubts the colonel had about their conversations being eavesdropped upon were now erased, the colonel thought.

“I am.” The colonel walked forward, sweat pouring off of his face. All of the science fiction movies he had ever watched had not prepared him for the sight in front of him. They were bipedal alligators or crocodiles, he could never figure out the difference. They were the most savage and vicious looking creatures he had ever seen. And the toothy smiles did little to allay his fears.

“Welcome Colonel to the Star Scout Julipion. We have been expecting your arrival for months. My name is Brystrar and I will show you to your holding cells.”

“Holding cells?” The Colonel wanted to turn tail and make a run for the shuttle now.

“Oh I am sorry, the translation does not work well. To your um… quarters. Is that a more appropriate word?”

“Yes, that is infinitely more appropriate.”

“Is there anybody else on board? We were under the impression you had two other crew members besides yourself
and your companion
.”

“No, just me and Lieutenant Johnson here.”

“Hmm strange, yes strange indeed.”

The colonel knew they knew he was lying; the question was what would they do with that information.

“Colonel, I am going to have to ask for you and your lieutenant’s firearms. We are very leery about hull breeches and such.”

“And what of the dozen armed guards you’ve got here?”

“Come come, Colonel, you came to our ship, first uninvited, and now armed, surrendering your firearms would be the much more diplomatic solution. Besides you are outnumbered four to one, no no, I mean six to one.”

The colonel had been unholstering his sidearm when way down the bay he noticed a huge commotion going on.

“Brystrar, what exactly is going on down at the other end of the bay?”

“That is of no concern to you. We are running drills.”

“I think I see blue flames, are they firing at each other?”

“Colonel, I will not ask again, hand over your firearm
s
or we will take
them
by force.” The guards who had seemed almost bored with the entire proceedings now took up arms and had them upraised at the colonel and the lieutenant. Not exactly pointing at them, not yet anyway.

“I’d feel a whole lot better about giving up my pistol if I knew exactly what was going on down there,” the colonel said as he pointed down to where the ruckus was.

“Colonel, do not tell me that you flew all the way out here to get yourself killed over matters which do not concern you?” The firing at the other end of the bay got increasingly more intense, the guards here seemed to be itching to get into the fray. The colonel thought they just might shoot him and the lieutenant so they could be done with th
is
detail.

“Brystrar, all I am asking is what all the commotion at the other end of the bay is all about?” The colonel watched as huge plumes of energy seemed to fry a score or more of the creatures. “We both know that is no drill down there, I can tell from here that your men are dying.”

“Very well Colonel, we are in the midst of quelling an escape attempt.”

“Humans, Brystrar?”

“Colonel, your sidearm.”

“Is it humans, Brystrar?”

“Colonel, look out!” the lieutenant shouted, but it was not soon enough. The colonel took a hit to the thigh, he watched in disbelief as his leg just seemed to disappear.

“Captain, I’ve been hit, several unfriendlies here.” The colonel started shooting rounds, the first one hit dead center in Brystrar’s head. His head snapped back from the force of the bullet. If the bullet had not killed him the broken neck would have. But the colonel did not get another shot off. Three shots from the
guards hit true and vaporized him
.

The lieutenant just started shouting, “The colonel’s down, the col….” and that was it, the lieutenant died without ever getting a shot off. The captain knew from the sounds of it that the colonel and the lieutenant were dead. He more than half wanted to give himself up. That had to be better than the alternative didn’t it? But he had sworn to the colonel he would carry out the final aspect of their mission..

“Dear God, please forgive me for what I am about to do. And dear Lord, please tell my family that I will always love them.” And with that said he pressed the detonator. He did not feel a thing, so quick was his passing that he believed that the bomb had failed to detonate. But there was the tunnel of light, so apparently God had approved or at least forgiven his actions. The explosion was catastrophic in the launch bay. The explosion killed every living thing not protected in a thousandth of a second.
Mike's
shuttlecraft was lifted up and hurled against the far side of the bay.
Luckily
the bay door problem had been solved, the explosion had ripped a huge chunk of the outer hull away, it had to have been at least a mile long by half that same height. The damage was mesmerizing. With the instant depressurization breach in the hull all of the ships in th
at particular
launch bay that had not been completely destroyed were now being sucked out into the vacuum of space.

“What the hell was that?” I pulled myself up off of the Commander,
thankfully
I had fallen into him and smashed his head into the bulkhead, because if he had not been knocked semi-unconscious he would have easily overpowered me and taken my rifle.
A
s luck would have it my full hundred and seventy pounds crashed into his head as opposed to his four hundred and fifty plus pounds the other way.

The commander shook his snout, and blood flew in rivulets. I was not thrilled to be sprayed by Progerian blood.

“It appears that your visiting dignitaries blew up a bomb.”

“The who and the what?” I asked dazedly.

“Your planet sent a shuttle to our ship, and apparently we grossly underestimated its strength. We were planning on taking the crew and the ship captive to show your planet that you have no offense or defense against us.”

“Looks by the size of that hole in your hull, you definitely screwed that up.”

“Yes,” he said with a sneer. “It seems that you hu-mans are full of a great many surprises,” as he looked directly at me. “I strongly suggest that you sit down and strap yourself in.”

“Why Commander, I didn’t know that you cared.”

“I don’t, but we’re about to be sucked through that hole, and I don’t want you to mistakenly take my head off.”

“Ladies, everyone alright back there?”

“Yes,” came some wobbly voices. “For the most part we were already strapped in,” Deb piped up.

“Why didn’t that bomb destroy this ship like it did the majority of the others?” I asked.