Rift Breaker (21 page)

Luylla appeared behind him. She cocked her pistols expertly and holstered them, leaving the flaps unsnapped.

‘Hey, can I have one of those?' asked Tazman.

She bit her lip and looked him over before handing him a gun.

‘Awesome,' he said coolly, tucking it into the back of his pants.

The door opened with the usual gust of vapour. Tazman and Luylla, without a word, strode on side by side. Tazman thought the place was creepy before, but now he knew murderers dwelled here. The gun rested against the base of tail. He was wholly prepared to draw if the Xoeloid got in his way.

The duo cleared the tunnel. They had agreed to act naturally, but nervousness had already got the better of them.

Tazman led the way. To his surprise, every door was open. He found the long corridor Milton had stormed through.

Down in the distance, a Xoeloid scientist floated out from an opening. Tazman and Luylla stopped simultaneously. The scientist turned and glided towards them. Luylla's hand drifted to her gun. Tail wisely stopped her, gently moving her arm away. They were already looking suspicious and standing still wasn't helping. Tazman started forward and they continued their walk.

The Xoeloid neared with fixed silver eyes looming down. Tazman straightened and stood taller, putting on his fake smile.

‘Hello,' he said. ‘We're here to visit our friend Milton. Is he home?'

The scientist stopped. It didn't speak; not Reelai. It gave the old head tilt. An awkward silence passed. Without straightening its head it turned and headed back the way it came.

Tazman and Luylla exchanged a glance and followed. They had gone ten steps when the Xoeloid suddenly stopped. The duo halted. The creature twisted, achingly slow. It showed just a hint of its eye as it looked back at them, forcing another eerie moment before snapping to the front and continuing at a faster pace.

The winding corridor rose and fell. The walls, at places, turned semi-transparent, revealing hints of hidden laboratories beyond — rooms with experiments and strange machines and other Xoeloid secrets.

The Xoeloid made a sharp turn. The folds in its robe swung across the smooth floor. It entered a white room. Tazman turned
the corner. Across the grainy floor, centred in the room, Milton lay face-down on a one-legged crystal platform with gel padding. Tazman slowed his step and entered. A polished metal machine limb hung from the ceiling. The exposed drill piece was coated red. Rounded and sharp blades hung from the walls.

The Xoeloid stood to the side. Tazman bowed and tilted his head quickly, smiling to humour the creature, before approaching Milton. A metal circle had been grafted to the flesh in the back of the Human's head; his hair was matted with dried blood. Tazman stretched his gaze to the corner of his eye. The scientist turned to leave. Luylla sidestepped around the Xoeloid as it passed. ‘Good riddance,' he whispered.

Tazman nudged Milton in the shoulder.

‘Hey, buddy,' he whispered closely. ‘Wake up.' Milton breathed deeper.

Milton stirred and lifted. Tazman helped him turn onto his back. Milton's sweaty face had drained of colour. His arm slipped and hung lifelessly off the side of the platform. The Human moaned and touched his head. His eyelid twitched and lifted.

Tazman checked the door. Luylla was looking down the hallway with a hand to her sidearm. She turned back with a worried look. Tazman leaned close to his drowsy friend.

‘Milton, listen to me,' he said. ‘The Xoeloid killed our ship-mates. Reelai was on the
Reconotyre
. We have to leave right now.'

‘Psst,' said Luylla. Tazman spun and was jolted by a cutting voice.

‘He is well,' Reelai announced, moving into the room behind three of the other scientists. ‘The operation was a success.' Luylla backed herself to Tazman's side. The Xoeloid spread through the room. ‘This is good news for our kind.'

‘That's great,' laughed Tazman, slapping a hand on Luylla's shoulder. ‘Isn't that great?' he asked her. She nodded.

‘Welcome back,' added Reelai.

The Xoeloid stared down, their facial muscles fixed. Reelai moved closer to check on Milton. The reflections in Reelai's eyes caught their darker shapes against the white of the room. He returned his gaze to Tazman and stared expectantly, prolonging the uncomfortable silence.

Tazman smiled and nodded, darting his vision evenly across the scientists. His ears twitched. Tail was caught in a freeze. He could hear Luylla's anxious breath next to him. Her rapid heartbeat matched his. The Xoeloid were not going to let Milton leave. Tazman looked at the floor and defocused his eyes for a lingering moment. He inflated his lungs in an attempt to calm his heart, before opening his mouth to prompt her.

‘Luylla.'

They both drew their guns.

Eighteen

Reelai's lackeys lunged. Tazman gripped the pistol with two hands and squeezed the trigger. The round shot passed a Xoeloid head and burned a hole in the ceiling. Long fingers whipped over the firearm. Tazman held tight and pulled away but the gun was snatched clear and sent him into a stumble. He was lifted by the neck and pressed against the wall. Tail lashed at the Xoeloid, wrapping around the arm that held him. Tazman clawed at the freezing hand. His airway sealed. The Xoeloid's grip tightened with intent to kill.

Luylla nailed two scientists in the midsection with a blast each. They merely flinched. Ghostly hands attached to lanky arms swatted her weapon away and secured her robotic appendage. The machine limb whined under the strain, making zero headway.

Luylla squirmed, lashing out her flesh arm for a strike. She planted an ineffective blow to the Xoeloid's torso. Rubbery digits
gripped the back of her neck and forced her to turn around. Her arms were restrained behind her back.

‘You are going nowhere,' sneered Reelai.

Milton sat up. Light flooded his retinas. He blinked. Blurry images sharpened to sounds of struggle. Black towering shapes of the Xoeloid pinning his friends. Tazman flipped his foot up and tried to kick his attacker. The muscles in the arm that held him flexed and pacified him. Tail drooped. Luylla jumped and kicked against the operating table. Her captor pulled her back, taking both her arms in a single hand to grab her hair.

Milton lifted his legs off the table. Leaning woozily against the bed, he reached down to snatch a loose object from the floor.

‘Stop,' he ordered, raising the pulse pistol. The Xoeloid turned. One of them began to advance but hesitated. ‘Release them.'

Reelai stepped towards him. Milton tightened his grip. The threat stopped Reelai mid0-step. The barrel of the gun felt cold against his temple.

‘Put them down or my precious brain'll be gone,' he slurred.

The Xoeloid scientists who held his friends looked to Reelai. A lingering moment passed. Then Reelai gave a nod and they obeyed Milton's order.

Luylla pushed away aggressively and joined Milton on his side of the room. Tazman's feet touched the floor. He sidestepped across the wall, gulping for air and rubbing his neck. He swept up the other gun and clicked the lever. The pistol charged. He then aimed at Milton. The Xoeloid flinched.

‘Let's go,' said Milton, backing to the door. Luylla followed.

‘You are not leaving this facility,' shot Reelai.

‘Dead or alive, he is,' replied Tazman, backing out behind them. The momentarily confused Xoeloid stepped aside.

‘I'll kill him. I will,' Tazman howled. ‘Don't forget, I've got space dementia. Oooohhhhaaaa,' he mocked, twinkling his fingers.

The three of them stepped into the hallway. The Xoeloid remained frozen. Reelai watched on with narrowed eyes that held nothing less than pure contempt. Milton stared right back and shook his head in disappointment.

Milton, Tazman and Luylla started back down the tunnel, increasing the pace to a light jog as they gained distance. Milton clasped Tazman's shoulder and hobbled faster in an effort to keep up. Tazman slowed and gripped Milton's arm.

‘This way,' pointed Tazman, leading them down a familiar-looking passage.

A gold door slid in from the right. They ran into it with hands slapping the surface. A second door closed a short distance behind them.

Tazman kicked the barricade. ‘Damn it. Not again,' he cried, raising the nozzle of his gun.

‘Hold on,' said Milton, pushing down his aim, ‘I think these doors are operated by thought commands.'

He felt the surface of the door with his palm, running his fingers along its embossed markings. He closed his eyes and
tightened his jaw in concentration. In his mind he pictured nothing else but the door sweeping open. The surface began to shift under his touch. He opened his eyes in astonishment, which halted the door, having only moved a mere crack.

‘At least we won't die of suffocation,' said Tazman.

Luylla shushed the Freegu and took back her pistol. Milton surrendered the other and tightened his eyelids again. He absorbed the feel of the surface in both hands and focused on the unseen. In his mind he conjured the image of the mechanisms that made the door move. He imagined them unwinding in separation. The door shot open. The trio continued.

They found the mouth of the boarding tube and raced across the rocky threshold. The spikes of the installation sheathed out, starting to swallow the view of the green space. The terminal rumbled under their feet, prompting them to pick up the pace. One by one they filed into the
Inhibitan
.

Milton, the last to enter, turned and slammed the door shut. Before it closed, he thought he caught a glimpse of Reelai standing on the other side of the tube. He might have even heard his voice. He didn't care. He discarded the thought and pulled the securing levers. The locks clicked in the hollow door.

Milton reached to the back of his neck for the first time since he woke. Nestled in a bald patch was the back end of the sharp implement he'd seen in the hologram.

The cargo hold hung with an uncomfortable silence. The
Inhibitan
's engines were not firing; the hyperdrive was not
priming; only the humming of the ventilation fans could be heard. The door status readout indicated the ship remained connected to the terminal. Milton exchanged a glance with his yellow friend.

‘We're good to go, babe,' Tazman called. ‘Let's get outta here.'

Milton raced up the cockpit passage. Ahead, the forward pane brimmed with activity. A large shadow moved across its glow. He crept up against the wall. That's when he saw Luylla, sprawled on the floor with her pistols scattered. Was she dead or knocked out?

Star charts and location data splashed across the screen, shifting through in rapid flashes. A Xoeloid stood over the ship's controls. Its palm extended in empty space over the screen. A glob of sweat ran down Milton's face. Luylla's gun lay at the edge of the room. He didn't want to miss, not in the cockpit.

The Xoeloid's gaze snapped to face him. Its eyes blazed with the computer screen data that flickered across its reflective globes. The Xoeloid broke towards him.

He backed down the sloped walkway. A hollow feeling came over his insides. He felt short of breath as if his body could no longer absorb the oxygen in the air. He tripped back and tried to crawl away on sweaty palms. Upon seeing the creature's veiny hand peel open before him, Milton's head felt like it was imploding. He felt a crunch at his implant. A sharp ringing overcame his senses. He blocked his ears but the noise didn't come from anywhere around him, it was growing inside his head. His brain throbbed and pulsated. He gritted his teeth and kicked
his legs to back away. The Xoeloid matched his step and the noise rang louder and morphed into the twisting metal girder sound of the safe haven.

The Xoeloid tucked fingers into the back of Milton's vest and dragged him across the floor. Milton squirmed against the sweeping ground and fidgeted with the zipper.

He was dragged out into the cargo hold. Tazman charged from the side. With a brief scuffle, the Xoeloid threw the Freegu into a pile of crates.

Milton kicked and twisted as the floor continued sliding under him. The
Reconotyre
escape pod passed on the right — then some large crates. Milton stuck out his boot and caught one of the cargo straps. The Xoeloid's grip slipped and Milton fell to the floor. The pain worsened. Intense waves resonated on his skull. He lost control of his body and writhed uselessly. The Xoeloid stepped to his side and glared down on him. Milton looked up at the creature. It had penetrated his thoughts to cause him excruciating pain. It stood calm and enjoyed the infliction another moment.

Yellow arms hooked over the Xoeloid's shoulders and pulled a pry bar against the creature's neck. The Xoeloid spun. Tazman's feet slipped off its bony back and swung about. He held tight to the bar. The Xoeloid lifted Tazman's arms off and threw him. He landed with only a slight stumble, absorbing the fall with bended knees. Tail tensed, alert. He cocked the prybar over his shoulder.

He swung for the creature's midsection but hit the Xoeloid's palm. Fingers whipped closed. The bar was snatched away and thrown aside. The Xoeloid advanced and loomed over Tazman. The Freegu punched it bravely to no visible effect. The creature backhanded and tripped Tazman to the ground.

Milton struggled to his feet, but the more he tried to move, the more the pain worsened. His shaky view of the fight caught a long dark object deploying cleanly from the Xoeloid's sleeve. Its smooth, polished surface thinned and lengthened into a blade. The Xoeloid pinned Tazman with a foot and stabbed mercilessly.

‘No!' Milton yelled.

Tazman screamed. The Xoeloid twisted the implement until the Freegu's voice failed to a croak, and cut. The Xoeloid extracted the blade and looked over the weapon in relish, watching the stream of blood run back down the metallic surface and drip to the floor.

The monster glanced up in time to receive a volley of blast rounds to the chest. It stumbled backwards with its robe fluttering. Luylla walked briskly from the cockpit entrance and blasted again, pulling each trigger in balanced succession. The Xoeloid twitched with every hit, keeling forwards on its knees when it could no longer stand. Her flow of ammo ran dry and her guns clicked harmlessly. Chemical smoke fizzled from her weapons.