Survivor Planet III (8 page)

“Before I escaped to Taseeus, I made a pit stop on Earth. While there I sought out your brother, Kenix.” Before Ayres or I could interrupt, Lourde rushed on with his explanation. “I'd heard from my sources that he was on Earth and where exactly to find him.”

I could tell by the look on Ayres face that he didn't appreciate that bit of information.

“Fearing that your brother may one day face danger such as I was facing, I tried to convince him to come with me. If I could discover his whereabouts, how long would it take for others? Anyway, you know how stubborn he is. Having quite the time there, I fear.” He shook his head and chuckled. “He refused to leave, so I did what I could for him and left him with the larger part of this coin.”

“What exactly does the coin do?” I repeated.

“One of my best inventions! The Cointos–C-o-i-n-t-o-s,” he spelled. “
Coin
is self explanatory, t-o-s stands for
The Other Side
. It's a coin with two circular pieces embedded in it that come apart. I gave the coin to Kenix, keeping the remaining small piece for myself. When I rub this piece thrice, it'll pull whoever holds it—in this case, Kenix—across space to me. Hopefully, he'll have heeded my advice and kept the coin on him at all times.”

“Holy shit, that's cool!” I had to admit.

“And that's not all,” Lourde said. “Kenix can also use the coin in his possession to move around the Earth as he wishes in the mean time. All he has to do is—”

Suddenly the ground rumbled and an explosion sounded.

“That'll really piss them off,” I said, viewing the monitor. The three of us stared at the screen displaying the carnage. It appeared only two Akkadian's fell prey to our trap at one of the entryways, but now it was completely blocked off. Four more Akkadian's warily explored the damage and then quickly set off to find an alternative way in.

“Rub the damn thing. We're running out of time,” Ayres demanded.

“As you wish,” Lourde assented. He plucked the tiny coin up between his thumb and finger once more and rubbed it three times. Then, he waved his arms indicating we should make some room. Recalling the size of Kenix, I stepped back even farther.

The air crackled a bit as though filled with static energy. Next, sparkling particles began swirling like a mini tornado in the space before Lourde. In the next moment the number of particles increased to the point that a shape could be made out. It took only seconds before Kenix completely materialized before us.

“Holy shit,” Ayres and I exclaimed in unison.

Kenix stared down at his hands before putting them up to his face. Then he reached down with one hand and felt the crotch of his pants. Seeming relieved, he stared around at his new surroundings. “I'm always afraid I'll lose something important when that happens.”

Ayres stepped forward and they clasped forearms in greeting. “It's good to see you, brother,” he said.

Kenix nodded at Lourde and then at me. “Good to see all of you. Now, where the hell are we?”

“Taleon,” Ayres informed him.

“Taleon?” Kenix snapped. “What are you doing here? You're all supposed to be on Taseeus.”

“Look, there's time for explanations later. Right now I need you to help me kill some Akkadians. Are you in?”

“Of course I'm in,” Kenix said.

Ayres opened the bags at his feet and the pair began arming themselves. Once they were ready, Ayres kissed me hard. “Remember what I said.”

I nodded.

With his brother's arrival, the need for Lourde's help decreased. Ayres instructed him to stay with me and help guard the entrance.

Kenix held up the coin he'd dug out from the pocket of his jeans. “Let me show you what this little baby can do.” He flipped the coin right outside the exit of the tunnel. In the next instant he was gone. Vaporized. But before Ayres and I could gasp in surprise and Lourde could chuckle in glee, we saw Kenix suddenly part the hanging vines on the other side of the entryway, holding the coin up in the air. He pocketed the coin, giving us a wink.

“That's what I was trying to explain,” Lourde said. “It's the perfect escape—a personal transporter. You toss it ahead of you, materialize, snap it up and toss it again. Faster than running. Or say you need to get past a door, or over a barrier, or to the bottom of a cliff…”

“We get it,” Ayres interrupted. “Well done,” he acknowledged.

Lourde preened like a peacock.

“Got me out of some sticky situations on Earth,” Kenix admitted. “Nothing like the morning after…” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Yeah, we get it,” I said. “Don't you have some aliens to kill?”

Ayres kissed me again and headed out, Kenix hot on his heels. Lourde and I kept watch as best we could from our position.

* * * *

It was dark out, so I figured Ayres and I had been under for quite some time. It was the most time I'd ever spent in Lara's mind, and I'd felt the bond between us grow even stronger. Not a good thing perhaps, considering she was as good as dead once we got her to do our dirty work.

Off in the distance, laser bolts lit up the sky, flashing off rocks and trees, leaving scorch marks, the sight of which made me shiver in memory of the cabin door back on Earth. From the amount of weapons the guys were packing I wasn't too concerned with their safety. If anything, Ayres had made the Akkadian's out to be more of a nuisance than a threat. Besides, according to the monitor, where we could practically watch a play by play of the action, it appeared that the green blobs were down from twelve to seven. Pretty good odds for two giant warriors to handle.

But then we saw two more ships arriving.

Unfortunately, they were directly in our range of sight which meant when they landed and disembarked, they would be able to use the same tactic the guys had used; coming up behind their target and catching them unaware.

“Fuckers,” I couldn't help but mutter. “Time to get our hands dirty.”

Lourde nodded and swallowed hard.

Heading outside the mouth of the tunnel, we kept our backs against the wall of the stone hill letting the thick foliage conceal our presence. Our eyes remained on the ships as they flew in low and landed.

“Wait for them to get out and let them pass us,” I said. That way we would keep behind the invaders and place them smack in the middle of our motley group.

“What the hell?” Lourde suddenly exclaimed.

His eyes weren't on the monitor that he had attached to a strap on his belt just in case he had need of both his hands. He was staring at the ships. Peering through the darkness, which had grown gloomy thanks to a spattering of rain that'd begun to fall, I saw something huge creeping amongst the thickening fog. The Akkadians themselves were relatively large creatures; green, with long-limbs, hunchbacked, and long-faced. Ayres description hadn't done them justice, the ugly bastards.

Three Akkadians had disembarked from one of the ships, two had come out of the other one. I focused on the pair who appeared to be holding a long chain attached to a black creature twice the size of them. A giant collar was around its thick neck. The beast walked on two legs, was covered in shiny metallic-like skin, and had long front arms with giant claws—clearly visible even from a distance.

“What is that thing?” I asked.

“Damned if I know,” Lourde replied. “They must have picked it up from somewhere in the galaxy. What a hideous creature.”

“Check the monitor, see how the guys are doing now. Are the odds any better?”

Lourde peered at his screen for a moment. “Appears they're down another Akkadian.”

“With this group, that puts the enemy at eleven, plus a giant beast.” Hopefully no more enemy aliens would disembark.

“I wonder what the hell they're even doing here. They know this is prime Calixtus territory. They really have some balls.”

“Do you think it may have something to do with the tournament coming up?” I asked.

“Possibly. If they set up a base here and kept out of sight they could probably make a mess out of the game. Really stir things up.”

“You'd think they wouldn't want to risk it.” The thought of anyone intentionally picking a fight with Roamyns would be sheer folly.

“Yes, well, they're not known for their great intelligence.”

Considering they had greater technology than humans I figured they couldn't be as dumbass as Lourde suggested.

“We need to warn the guys.” As the newest mob began lumbering toward their cohorts to join the battle I bit my bottom lip in concentration. If only we could even the odds a little.

“I've got an idea,” I said. “I need you to keep an eye on Kenix; can you tell the two apart on the monitor?”

“I believe so. Ayres is the slightly larger of the two.”

“Okay, you'll need to see when he looks ready to fire. And I'll need that coin in your pocket.”

Lourde narrowed his gaze at me. “What are you planning?”

“Trust me. It's probably better you don't know.”

I tucked the coin in my pocket and told Lourde to stay put. He argued of course, but I reminded him the prime objective was to keep the equipment safe. If the equipment survived but we didn't, our plans would screech to a halt anyway, but I wasn't about to remind him of this fact. No doubt he'd figure it out momentarily. By this point both sets of Akkadians had passed us, so before Lourde could object I pulled the long skinny ray gun off my shoulder and began to jog.

Coming up behind the enemy I began picking them off one by one as quickly as I could. I focused on the group of three, considering the group of two had their hands full controlling the beast they led. I took them down, relieved they were as slow and clumsy as Ayres had said, all the while silently praying no other aliens had exited the new ships and would come up behind me. I had to have faith that Lourde would cover my back. By now the other two Akkadians had turned round and were fumbling for their weapons. The beast gave them a run for their money, becoming crazed by all the laser bolts flying around. In the confusion I crept as close as I dared. In order for my plan to work I had to move forward. My shots were pretty wild at this point—being fired on in return now, I had to duck and zigzag to keep out of the enemies range.

The beast's arms flailed about as though it swiped at an invisible enemy. Its head tilted back and it lifted its snout to sniff the air. Then it lowered its gaze and stared directly at me. It charged suddenly, pulling the Akkadians off their feet making them land hard on their bellies in the dirt. Seeing them go down I no longer gave them my attention; instead I focused it all on the huge monster barreling toward me, chain dangling behind it. I fired again and again, but just as I'd feared, the bolts bounced off the shiny armor-like skin. I only had time to drop and roll before it would have charged right over me. I kept rolling and then scrambled up onto my hands and knees. I felt the beast step on the back of my foot forcing me to roll over onto my rear end. My weapon lay out of reach, for all the good it'd done me. I scrambled to pull the coin from my pocket.

“Now?” I screamed to Lourde. He'd come out into the open, his eyes flashing between the monitor and me.

“Now!” he cried back, just in the nick of time.

As the beast bent down its great ugly head and roared in my face displaying three rows of razor sharp teeth, I rubbed the tiny coin three times and tossed it right in its mouth to the back of its throat. It closed its massive jaws and I swear I saw it gulp before it roared at me again.

I covered my head, promising anything and everything to the universe in that moment if I survived. Seconds later I heard a rumble and then a mini explosion. Guts, slime, gore and blood rained down and covered me as Kenix, weapon blazing, blew out of the centre of the monster.

“Holy Mother Fucker!” he yelled.

Seeing him alive and whole filled me with relief. “Thank God you're okay!”

Kenix, hand on his crotch, bent down and dug through the carnage to retrieve my tiny coin. “I think I'll be keeping this, thank you very bloody much.”

I shrugged. “There was no way to warn you they had a bullet-proof back-up plan.”

Both of us were a bloody, sticky mess.

But we were alive.

As Kenix opened his mouth to begin a tirade, I scrambled over to my weapon just in time to shoot one of the pair of Akkadians lumbering up behind us. Kenix whipped round and let the other one have it.

“Are you okay?” Lourde came jogging up before stopping short and making a face over the state of us.

“We're fine,” Kenix snapped. He pulled out his coin and only paused to snap the other tiny piece he held back into place while glaring at us both defiantly. Then he tossed the coin far off in Ayres' direction and disappeared.

“That was bloody ingenious!” Lourde winked at me, then stared down at his monitor. “It's okay. There's only three left. Looks like Ayres has them running scared back to their ships. He won't let them get away. We'll need one of those ships to get back home, since they destroyed ours.”

Not that I'd ever really consider Taseeus home, but I was relieved all the same. The thought of being stranded on this cursed planet for the rest of my days was a fate I'd already pondered in my not so distant past.

If we succeeded in our mission, it wouldn't be a fate Lara would have to face.

Not if she were dead.

* * * *

That night Ayres and I curled up together in one of the little alcoves we'd converted into a bedroom. On the floor making a soft nest were several warm furs brought along with us on our journey. There was still so much to tell him about what had happened with Lara, but after we'd seen each other safe and alive, we'd both been filled with a desire to enact our reverence for life. As soon as his brother left we'd scrambled back here and shed our clothing. Earlier we'd covered up four of the Akkadian ships with foliage to hide them from prying eyes. At least we had no fear of any Seers spying us since we were far from where the game was played. Kenix had washed himself thoroughly before he'd jumped into the remaining Akkadian ship to return to Earth, but not before handing the coin—intact—to Lourde. I'd bid him farewell, and he'd nodded. I took it as a good sign, considering it'd taken quite some time before he'd even looked at me without scowling.