Waiting (24 page)

On the floor,
curled up in the fetal position, he kicked and squirmed as if he
was giving birth which in the way of his kind he was. Like a
torrent of maggots, the wriggling creatures poured from his mouth,
eager to find their host bodies, blindly following their instincts.
More and more they came, a constant flood from the mouth of the
human who was once Sam Clifton.

Beech became
mesmerised as they spread out, covering the floor, surrounding her,
some climbing up her legs. She screamed, desperately trying to
brush them away, but more came and her entire body became covered
in them. Others could smell the embryos in their chambers and
started climbing up the sides.

The door
swished open and Jacobs stood there with a small laser in his hand,
the only weapon on the Goliath.

'Move and I
will kill both of you.'

Then he took in
the nightmare before him. His feet squashed dozens as he ran to the
switch and yanked it down and the incubation chambers closed up
like giant clams protecting the embryos. From the wall he grabbed a
fire-extinguisher and blasted Beech with the dry powder, the tiny
creatures dropping from her, many dying.

The creature
that looked like Clifton was still spewing out the aliens from his
mouth and was blindly crawling towards the door. Jacobs took
careful aim and fired the laser and the red beam burned a neat hole
through the hosts head. It dropped flat on the floor, still
twitching from the horrors it carried.

Jacobs locked
the door to prevent anyone coming in while the madness was going
on. He watched the vile creatures now cut off from their intended
victims, stamping on any coming too close to him. One by one they
died, nothing they could find to sustain them. From Beech's hair
several dropped dead to the floor. Beech stood screaming at the
horror of it all, saw Jacobs and held her hands out towards him,
her eyes imploring him to forgive her. Awkwardly she stepped
towards him and with a shaking hand he pierced her heart with a
single shot and she dropped to her knees, her hands still reaching
out to him as she died. From her mouth wriggled a tiny alien and
Jacobs squashed the obscenity with the heel of his boot.

Jacobs stood
with his hands shaking and he threw the weapon across the room. All
around him was death. An anger suddenly rose up from somewhere deep
inside him and he grabbed another fire-extinguisher, killing
anything still wriggling. Like a man who had lost his mind he kept
going until the extinguisher was spent and he dropped it to the
floor where its metallic clatter echoed like an old plague bell.
Somebody hammered at the door.

'JayJay. It's
Valerie. Let me in.'

'No. Not yet.
Stay away, Val. Keep everyone away from here.'

He stayed for
another hour until he was certain every tiny alien parasite was
dead before he finally opened the door.

Chapter 76

'Confidence,
Lieutenant Nolan. Confidence.'

Nineteen year
old Del Nolan had no idea what was going on as she sat ready at the
controls of the fastest, deadliest ship in the fleet. 'Sir. The war
is over.'

Maxim buckled
himself into a seat behind the pilot. 'The war is over when I say
it's over. Take off.'

'Yes, sir.' The
Venom rose off the launchpad and hovered. 'May I ask where we are
going, sir?'

'Find the
enemy. South eastish.'

'South eastish?
Could you be a little more specific, sir?'

'Of course.
When somebody starts shooting at us, we are there.'

'South eastish
it is, then.'

The Venom flew
over desert and desolation in a southerly direction. Then the ship
stopped, hovering one hundred yards above the ground.

'Sir?'

'Nolan?'

'Sensors have
picked up recent activity. A heat trail from an engine. Heading due
south.'

Maxim stared at
the huge screen above the pilot. Not enough survived of this city
for anyone to make it their home. 'Heading due south? That would be
on desert highway from the Base.'

'Yes, sir. The
heat signature is one of our chargers. I'm not aware of our people
out here.'

'They aren't.
This is our target. Can you track them?'

Nolan made
adjustments and a thin trace line crossed the screen. 'That way,
sir.'

'Shooters at
the ready,' said Maxim.

'Shooters
ready, sir.'

'Forcefield
activated.'

'Forcefield
activated, sir.

'Find them.
Return fire only.'

'Yes, sir.'

Maxim followed
their progress on the screen. Eventually they reached a small town
with negligible war damage. Here, a semblance of human activity
could be seen and civilians scattered at the sight of the black
ship as it floated almost serenely above them. Not everyone took
flight. From a window of a three-story building, a laser cannon
fired at the ship, its power easily deflected by the
forcefield.

'We could wipe
them out, sir.'

'Hardly a fair
fight, Lieutenant Nolan. I'll hail them.'

'External
speakers and directional microphone on, sir.'

'This is
President Maxim. Gunther, you treacherous dog. You have something I
want.'

'The war is
over now, Maxim. Go home.'

Maxim said,
'Gunther. You may have noticed our nice new ship. Lasers can't
touch us, but we can hit you. If you want us to demonstrate we can,
but I cannot guarantee the lives of those in our range.'

'This is
Salamandra. The war is over. What is it you want?'

'Gunther knows.
I want the unit he stole from my Base. Hand that over I swear we
will not use our lasers.'

Gunther said,
'Just go. Leave us in peace.'

'Lieutenant
Nolan. That building. Red sandstone, two stories. Is it
occupied?'

'Nothing
showing on the infrared.'

'Then flatten
it.'

The two cannon
shooters destroyed the building in less than four seconds.

'Have I made my
point, Gunther? The next building will be occupied.'

There came a
long pause, then a drone came out of a window and flew towards the
ship. It landed underneath the ship, left a box on the ground then
returned to the window disappearing inside.

'If that isn't
the unit we will come back,' said Maxim.

From the belly
of the ship came a line with a three fingered grapple which wrapped
delicately around the box and retracted back in the shop. The ship
turned around to fly back to the headquarters. Twenty miles out of
the town, it stopped and dropped like a stone.

Changah
grinned, slapped Salamandra on the back and said, 'They aren't the
only ones with fancy equipment, my friend. They are most fortunate
we have only disabled their electronics and not given them a
bomb.'

'They can walk
away from this. All they've lost is a ship, not their lives. They
can reflect on that as they walk across the desert.'

'Indeed. You
have returned at a most propitious time. We need your genius to
help us plan and rebuild our cities.'

Bridget said,
'I hope there is a place for us here, too?'

'We need all
the young healthy people we can get,' said Changah. 'You are all
most welcome.'

'Sounds good to
me,' said Staples. 'Nathan. Fancy a stroll around this fair
town?'

'Why not,' said
Willis.

They stepped
out into the sunshine and with no particular place to go, they
walked off leisurely in the late evening sunshine.

'Not a bad
place,' said Willis. 'I could settle down here. I mean, you heard
Changah. Studs like us are needed to repopulate the place. I'll not
hold back from doing my part.'

Staples said,
'I'm afraid I'm a one woman kinda guy.'

Willis pulled
up and said, 'Bridget?'

'Fate has
conspired to throw us together here. Can't argue with fate.'

'Love. You
intend to woo this woman with your charm and good looks, I
suppose?'

Staples
shrugged. 'But of course.'

'Good luck with
that, then. Where are you going?'

'To woo Bridget
with my charm and good looks of course. No time like the
present.'

They were
almost back to the building when they saw something that stopped
them dead in their tracks. Taking a carefree walk in the sunshine
were Bridget and Salamandra. They were oblivious to Staples and
Willis as they held each other and kissed passionately. Then, hand
in hand they blissfully walked away.

Willis said, 'I
did warn you, pal. It's Marcia Potts all over again.'

'Crap!'

Chapter 77

'Major Gunther.
Good to hear from you again.'

'Not major,
Captain Jacobs. Just plain old Otto. I'm a civilian now. Things are
ok here now. We have a long way to go, but there's no more killing.
What is your status?'

Jacobs laughed.
'Let's just say we have lived through interesting times. Otto. Sam
Clifton turned out to be the carrier of the aliens. He's dead now.
So is Sandy Beech.'

'Little Sandy?
How come?'

'She wasn't
quite as innocent as she looked. She was the one helping the aliens
all along. I killed her.'

There was a
pause then Otto said, 'Probably for the best. And those
aliens?'

'All dead.
Without hosts, they soon withered and died. There remains were
evacuated out of the airlock with Clifton and Beech. Gone
forever.'

'Excellent
news. How are your plans for settling on Spero going?'

Jacobs said,
'Coming along. The storm has stopped and the terraformers are
making a good job of things. The atmosphere is almost breathable.
We can see the new oceans at last. I'd say another year and we'll
be on Spero raising two thousand babies.'

'Great. Talking
of babies reminds me. My daughter Bridget and her husband
Salamandra are expecting. Hey. I'm going to be a grandfather.'

'That is good
news. My future is with Valerie Cormack. We plan to adopt a couple
of the babies and bring them up as a family.'

Gunther said,
'You must send me pictures.'

'Don't you
worry. We'll all keep in touch.'

'Yes. Well, you
all take care, Captain. I'll stay in regular contact. Good luck,
over.'

Chapter 78

'Shush! They've
just dropped off to sleep.'

'Finally,' said
Jacobs, sipping a cloudy brown beverage. 'Come and sit with me and
tell me what you think of this one.'

Valerie Cormack
quietly closed the door behind and tiptoed across the porch,
carefully avoiding the pothole still full from the rain the day
before. She sat on the pile of handmade bricks they had fashioned
into a bench and took a glass from Jacobs.

'On a scale of
one to ten, I'll give this beer a minus three.'

Jacobs grinned
and said, 'Really? That good? I knew I was getting the hang of
it.'

She squeezed
his hand and breathed in the early evening air. 'Either that
sulphur smell is going or I'm getting used to it.'

'Probably a
little of both.'

He pointed
vaguely at the horizon and said, 'In another ten or fifteen years
all those pine trees will be ready for us to start using. More
buildings going up but made of wood, not these bricks.'

'I quite like
our bricks,' said Val. 'An interesting colour.'

Jacobs was part
of the brick production team, making a thousand bricks per day.
They had a dark blue tinge to them due to the unique elements in
the clay they used. Fifty three buildings were already made from
it. The dwellings were allocated by a lucky dip draw and most were
occupied by young couples who had adopted babies. Those not yet
with a place to live in stayed on the Goliath. It had survived
unscathed from its landing, protected from the entry through the
atmosphere by the marsillium coating.

Jacobs had
stepped down from the leadership position he had never been
comfortable with, but took part in the town planning meetings and
his opinions were always valued. There was often talk of forming a
more formal council, but that smacked of politics and they all
remembered where that had gotten them.

The sparkling
rivers had been stocked with various species of fish most of which
adapted and thrived. The nearest lake at the foot of a range of
green hills had been turned into a fish farm and provided enough
for everyone. Chickens were free to roam where they pleased, but
stayed close to the community, pecking at the tilled ground and the
scraps thrown to them, providing eggs for those who searched for
them.

A lowland plain
was being cultivated with a dozen different crops with more added
to as the seasons changed. Everyone had their part to play. They
flourished in the pristine environment and vowed to keep it as
unspoilt as possible. In a couple of years the sounds of children
playing would remind them all to take care of Spero and it would
take care of them. The schoolhouse was already half built; the blue
clay tiles catching the sun in the mornings.

Spero was a
little cooler than Old Earth as it had become known and they had
settled close to the equator for the most temperate climate. This
was late spring and the evenings could be chilly still. In the
winter it had snowed slightly and the far away mountain range still
had a dusting of snow on the peaks.

A few of the
goats had taken off and had made a new home in the mountains, but
enough still remained in the communal farm to provide milk and
meat. One day when their numbers allowed, their hide would provide
clothing and blankets. Birds were flourishing and people would take
educated guesses as to what they were as they flew overhead as if
keeping an eye on the proceedings.

As they had
orbited the Goliath prior to landing, they had seen the alien ship
which had been hidden by the dense cloud. They had decided to land
the Goliath on the opposite side of the planet, not wishing to be
near a constant reminder of how close they had come to be used as
hosts by the aliens. Nobody suggested investigating that ship.