Rift Breaker (33 page)

‘At your sssservicce sssssirrr,' he said.

Raegar gave a nod, charged his rifle and stepped into the raining ash.

Milton's pain had gone. He blinked and wiped the liquid from his eyes. His mind was peacefully clear. Neither visions nor voices vied for his headspace. He had reclaimed his brain.

Luylla tapped the good Fleet Commander Leroy on the shoulder. He turned quickly. Her metal fist struck him upwards on the chin, levering his head and spinning him on the spot. He collapsed with his limbs tangled awkwardly.

‘For the record,' said Tazman, leaning on a console to stand, ‘I was just about to do that.'

Luylla pulled up Leroy's sleeve and pressed the button on his wrist device. Both her and Tazman's cuffs loosened and dropped. She then dragged Leroy to a fixed battery rig and cuffed him to the handle, before ripping off and discarding his remote key.

Tazman limped over to Milton and pushed him playfully in the shoulder. ‘How you feeling buddy?' he asked.

‘Better now,' said Milton. ‘You?'

‘Been better,' replied Tazman.

‘Don't get too cosy,' said Luylla. She backed towards them, aiming her newly acquired pulse rifle. A Xoeloid scientist jumped up and stepped over a line of consoles towards them. The other two emerged from the alleys, locking a dead stare. The three glided together and formed a threatening row.

‘No,' Tazman shouted, stepping in front of Milton. ‘You can't have him.'

Luylla opened fire. As fast as she pulled the trigger, the Xoeloid on the right shot out its hand; in the same action three blue glowing stems sprang from its sleeve. They folded perpendicular to its arm and broke into a blurring spin. Luylla's pulse rounds veered off trajectory and were vacuumed into the
rotor. She released the trigger. The blurring mix of pulse energy settled into the vortex.

‘I guess it's one each then,' said Milton.

‘And you're sure you can't breathe fire?' said Tazman.

The Xoeloid advanced. Tazman and Luylla broke off in different directions. The wounded simian cursed, circling around to the alleys of control terminals. One Xoeloid stepped in his direction. With a flick of its arm, a long blade sprang from its sleeve. It strode after him in a direct course through the monitoring equipment, cutting into his path. It jumped forward at the last step and swiped the weapon high.

Tazman ducked into a roll and the blade chimed through the air above him. He emerged from the manoeuvre into a crouch and spun on the floor. He growled in his pain and he fell off balance. The blade glinted in the light and came down over his head. He rolled to the side. The weapon sparked on the floor. Holding his chest, Tazman rose and threw his weight to the side, rolling up onto the computer equipment. He sprang up and jogged along the top of the consoles.

The Xoeloid with the spinning shield advanced on Luylla. She sidestepped and fired a quick burst to delay it. Again her shots were absorbed. With a glance to the other side of the room, she raised her weapon and fired at the Xoeloid in pursuit of Tazman.

Rounds of pulse pumped from the barrel. The shots slowed in the air. She glanced over the rifle in confusion. When she looked up again, the glowing blasts turned back and shot towards her.
She ducked. The energy whizzed overhead and absorbed into the twirling blades behind.

The shield glowed bright with a viscous glob of pulse rifle discharge. The light throbbed and rippled, gravitating to the centre. The blades stopped abruptly then folded forward. A glaring flash shone from the device's base end. The Xoeloid straightened its arm.

Luylla broke into a sprint down the right side of the room. She dived for cover at the last moment. A blue blast exploded against a computer. The whole console shifted and toppled over. Smoking pieces of casing and circuitry blew out in a hail, leaving a hole crowned with black blast marks.

The third Xoeloid approached Milton with an outstretched palm. The raging, grinding noise flooded his mind again and Milton gripped his throbbing head.

‘Not again,' he grunted. The Xoeloid drew close, intensifying the noise. Milton concentrated. He fought it. ‘Never again,' he yelled. A power welled inside him and he forced the noise away with thoughts of home. A warm tingle travelled down his shoulders and arms. He touched his fingers together, feeling hypersensitive pinpricks. He pushed into the Xoeloid. An energy burst emitted from his palms and the scientist flew back, crashing into the long centre console. The scientist climbed from the crevice. Its open hand came down hard on a nearby computer monitor. Fingers snapped around the object and the Xoeloid ripped the screen away, snapping a tangle of cords. It cocked its
arm and threw its body into the swing, pegging the equipment in frustration. Milton thought about pushing the monitor also, but his confidence fell and he darted to the side. The monitor hit the wall and shattered. The scientist reverted to a calm demeanour and strode towards him.

Tazman jumped as the blade swiped at his feet. When he landed, the Xoeloid snatched the ankle of his good leg and pulled him down. He landed on his back, frantically kicking the grip before rolling off the opposite side of the console.

He hit the ground and howled in pain, cursing the aggravation of his wounds. With a flutter of black fabric, the Xoeloid leapt onto the level from which Tazman had fallen. Tazman backed away. The scientist observed the wounded simian's difficulties with a small head tilt. It raised its blade and stepped to the edge. Tazman's back hit a mainframe. He pressed on his weight and hoisted himself up against the heavy block. The Xoeloid leapt forward, cocked its arm to level the blade and stabbed. Tazman dropped. The blade missed and cut into the metal surface with the sound of sparks and blown circuits.

Milton ran. Heavy pieces of equipment shattered around him. The Xoeloid threw a sparking circuit box, Milton dodged; the object had enough force to crush him against the wall.

The Human bolted in no planned direction. He made it to the side of the room beneath a balcony. A clear path lay ahead behind the line of pillars. He was making his way through when a horizontal mainframe bounced and skidded in from the side,
turning his escape route into a dead end. The Xoeloid then landed on top of the ruined equipment.

Milton picked up a heavy power cell, lifted it over his head and hurled it forth. Its mass slowed the movement and the Xoeloid stepped easily to the side. The creature lunged, and appeared suddenly in his space. Xoeloid hands slammed on his sides and lifted him by his upper arms. He kicked and squirmed, landing a boot against the creature's stomach. The Xoeloid then released an arm and took his neck, heading back to the machine.

Luylla ran up the stairs that led to the balcony. She neared the top level when a blast hit near her boot, blowing out a chunk of stairs. She tripped forward. The rifle flew from her hands and clattered onto the higher platform. Before she could find her footing, her attacker planted a foot on her back. She lunged over the last level. Her fingertips barely brushed against the rifle strap. The Xoeloid dragged her down a step and rolled her over, dropping its heavy foot again to her stomach, glaring into her green eyes.

The shield once again began to spin. Luylla stretched out and reached for the gun; she was nowhere near it. The spinning blades sliced into the railing, flinging metal chunks in different directions. The Xoeloid lowered its arm, inching the glowing blur closer to her face.

Tazman crawled to his feet. The Xoeloid struggled to retrieve its jammed blade. His bandage and hospital pants were soaked red. He limped for life. A screech pierced through the
soundwaves as the weapon extracted. The sound continued in short bursts and the blade was free.

Tazman struggled to stay upright and growled through his teeth. He turned and slumped, resting with his back against something. He watched the Xoeloid with a woozy bobbing head, panting hard as blood continued to seep from his body.

The monster marched towards him. Its garment fluttered. It cocked its elbow. Tazman sighed, simply watching with eyes half open. His head swayed as if he would pass out. The Xoeloid came into stabbing range. Then a half-smile twitched across the Freegu's face. The blade thrust forward. Tazman moved with incredible speed at the last possible moment. The blade pierced the thing he was leaning on: a high voltage power grid.

Tongues of electricity shot down the implement. The creature broke into spasm. Tazman couldn't help but taunt when steam secreted from its eyes. A final loud spark and the Xoeloid scientist flew back and rolled on the floor in a disjointed, smoking lump. Tazman howled in victory, then moaned again at his pain.

As Luylla's attacker sadistically lowered the whirling blue light to her face, an evil grin appeared in its cheekbones. Luylla hooked the fingers of her artificial arm and swung it into the blades. With no loss of speed the Xoeloid's weapon sliced it clean above the elbow. She snatched the severed appendage with her flesh hand and swung it over her head. The metal fingers dragged across the higher platform and caught the pulse rifle strap. She
yanked down. The gun landed in her lap. She pressed the barrel to the Xoeloid's gut and nailed the trigger.

The Xoeloid shuddered over the automatic pulsefire. Each round pushed it further away until the lifeless mass toppled backwards. The shield shredded into its body, making it less recognisable as it bounced and rolled down the stairs.

Milton squirmed, only to force the hand tighter.

‘I'm not going back,' he spat.

He thrust his index and middle fingers into the silver eyes. The scientist shut them and shook its head away, spinning on the spot. Milton broke the grip and his feet touched down on the floor. Feeling the tingles mixing with his adrenaline, he roared and thrust his hand forward. Power surged through his arm and the Xoeloid flew back against the spiny machine.

Milton cringed, sucking air through his teeth. The Xoeloid quivered on the spike stuck through its middle. It wrapped its twitching hands around the sharp mineral and tried to heave itself off, but its grip slipped, one hand over the other, against thick purple blood. The moment lingered as its movement slowed until it finally lurched over. Its head hung down with one last spasm. Dead.

A hand clasped Milton's shoulder. Tazman limped to his side, panting and looking up at the fallen Xoeloid. ‘Well that was straight to the point.'

Twenty-nine

At the foot of the stairs, Luylla examined her damage and contemplated where she would find replacement parts. The angled cut was clean, permanently damaging all circuits and joints that held her forearm in place. The metal fingers twitched and the severed part sparked with a release of excess power. She reached into the hole and pulled out the loose component that made her elbow bend.

A flowing black shadow crept over the reflection in the metal. She dropped her arm and snatched up the rifle with a shaky arm. In mid-turn, a bony hand caught the barrel. A foot to her chest relieved her of the weapon and sent her flying back against the floor. She backed away with weight to her remaining hand, eyes fixed on the black robe that stepped with her movement. She weaved her body through the crisscrossed bar of scaffolding and sank back into a corner. She felt like a child again, hiding in dark places when hard times arose. The last Xoeloid, Reelai, stared
at her, curling his fingers around the rifle and bending it out of shape. The scope cracked and shattered under the strain. He tossed it at her feet, changed his focus and moved on.

Reelai scanned for the primary target, passing the pieces of his fallen colleague; the sight enraged him. These underlings had managed to strip his army of its rift-gate abilities. Whatever satisfaction their efforts brought them, he would make sure the attempts were in vain. The battle had already been decided. Composite forces had no chance to recover what they had already lost. One more task, though. The specimen still had to be contained.

Reelai went to the chamber. The Human had burst the hatch. The liquid preservative had spilled over the floor. He paused. Something was amiss.