Hellworld (Deathstalker Prelude) (9 page)

4:43.

“Get out of here,” said DeChance.

“Shut up,” said Corbie. “I’m thinking.”

“You can’t stay,” said DeChance evenly. “I’m trapped here, and there isn’t enough time for you to get me out and get clear of the other geysers. If you stay, we’ll all die.”

“She has a point, Russ,” said Lindholm. “There’s nothing we can do for her. Except give her an easy death, instead of a hard one.”

Corbie looked up angrily. Lindholm had his disrupter out and aimed at DeChance. Corbie drew his own gun. “That’s not the way we do things in the marines, Sven, and you know it. Now throw your gun down here.”

Lindholm looked at him thoughtfully.

“Dammit, Sven, throw the gun down here! I’ve got an idea!”

3:24.

Lindholm threw the gun down to Corbie, who caught it deftly with his left hand and tucked it into his belt. His face was beaded with sweat, not just from the heat of the geyser’s opening.

“All right, Sven; get going. We’ll catch you up.”

“Not a chance,” said Lindholm. “I want to see what you’re going to do.”

Corbie flashed him a quick grin, and then aimed his disrupter at the earth honeycomb a few inches away from the esper’s trapped foot. “Hold very still, DeChance. Don’t even breathe heavy.”

He fired the disrupter into the ground. The bright energy beam drilled cleanly through the earth, throwing broken shards into the air. DeChance tugged at her trapped foot. It moved a little, but remained stuck. Corbie tossed his gun up to Lindholm, drew the second gun, and took aim at the earth on the other side of the trapped foot. He fired again, and the honeycomb crumbled and fell away. DeChance pulled her foot free.

“Nice shooting, Corbie. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Good idea.”

He holstered his gun and helped her up out of the crevasse.

2:35.

Corbie scrambled out after her, and the three of them ran through the field of about-to-erupt geysers. DeChance was favouring her right foot, but still running strongly. The broken ground rumbled under their feet. A few wisps of steam rose from geyser openings. The earth collapsed suddenly under Lindholm’s feet, but he hurdled the opening crevasse and kept running.

1:07.

Corbie’s breath was burning in his lungs, but he forced himself to run faster. Lindholm and DeChance pounded along beside him. The ground shook and rumbled under their feet, and Corbie could almost feel the pressure building down below.

:41.

Corbie glanced back over his shoulder. They’d covered a lot of distance. The esper’s pace was slowing as she struggled for breath. Surely they were out of the field by now….

:01.

Boiling water fountained into the air a few yards to their left. The three of them kept running, and only a few sizzling spots hit them. More geysers blew off, spouting steam and water and boiling mud, but they were all well behind the running marines and the esper.

“I should never have agreed to join the Hell Squad,” said Lindholm breathlessly. “I was safer in the Arenas.”

“Save your breath,” panted Corbie. “You’re going to need it. We’re not out of the geysers yet.”

“Don’t you have a plan to get us out of this, Russ?”

“Shut up and keep running.”

“That’s a good plan.”

Behind and around them, the geysers spouted hundreds of feet into the pale green skies, but the marines and the esper were already leaving them behind.

We’re going to make it,
thought Corbie incredulously.
We’re going to bloody well make it!

He grinned harshly as he ran. This new world was just as tough as he’d feared it would be; but just possibly he was tough enough to deal with it. Another geyser blew off, some way behind him. He tucked his chin in, and kept running.

The sky was darkening towards evening when Hunter first saw the statues. The sun was hidden behind dark clouds, and the sky’s color was deepening from chartreuse to a murky emerald. Shadows crawled across the broken land as it rose steadily towards the clouds. Hunter slowed to a halt as the ground ended suddenly in a sharp-edged ridge, and he found himself looking down a steep slope at a plain some two hundred feet below. And on the plain, standing silent and alone in a semicircle in the middle of nowhere, were the statues. Three huge black columns, starkly silhouetted against the broken land. Dr. Williams and Investigator Krystel stood on either side of Hunter, looking down at the statues, and for a long time nobody said anything.

“Our first sign of civilisation,” said Krystel finally. “Captain, I have to examine those statues while there’s still some light.”

“Now wait a minute,” said Williams quickly. “If we waste time here, we won’t be able to reach the city before dark.”

“We wouldn’t make it in any case,” said Krystel. “It’s still a good seven miles away, and the sun will be down in less than an hour. We might as well make camp here as anywhere. Right, Captain?”

“It looks safe enough,” said Hunter. “But they could be just grotesque rock formations, shaped by the wind.”

“No,” said Williams flatly. “They’re statues. I can see details.” The other two looked at him, and Williams smiled stiffly. “I told you I had built-in extras. My eyes have been adjusted. My vision’s good up to almost three miles.” He looked back at the statues, and his smile disappeared. “I can see the statues in great detail, Captain, and I don’t like the look of them. They look … disturbing.”

Hunter waited, but Williams had nothing more to say. The Investigator looked at Hunter impatiently, but he avoided her gaze, refusing to be hurried. Krystel was right; they had to make camp soon, and this was as good a place as any, with the high ridge to protect them from the wind. The bare ground offered little in the way of comfort or shelter, but after a hard day’s walking Hunter felt he could sleep standing up in a hailstorm. He sighed once, quietly, and then led his team carefully down the steep and jagged slope to the plain below. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt this tired. The ground had been uniformly hard and unyielding all day, slapping sullenly against his feet, so that just the act of walking was difficult and exhausting.

The statues drew steadily closer, and Hunter tried to concentrate on their growing details, but other thoughts kept intruding. He hadn’t heard from the esper’s group in hours. He was sure they’d have contacted him if anything had happened, but still their silence nagged at his nerves. He didn’t want to have to contact them first; that might look as though he didn’t have any confidence in them to handle their own problems. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to get any sleep that night, no matter how tired he was, until he’d heard from them. He decided to wait until the sun had gone down, and if they still hadn’t contacted him, he’d try and raise them himself.

They should be all right. The esper might not have much dirtside experience, but she was rated as a first-class telepath. Whatever else happened, nothing was going to sneak up on her. And when it came to physical threats, the two marines should be able to deal with anything stupid enough to annoy them. Their records had made impressive reading. If their luck had been a little better, and their criminal tendencies a little more subtle, they could have ended up as heroes rather than Hell Squad fodder. Still, for all their faults they were both experienced men, and had seen combat duty on more than one alien world. And while ordinarily Hunter wouldn’t have trusted either of them further than he could spit into the wind, they were both bright enough to realise they were going to need the esper’s help just to stay alive on Wolf IV. They’d look after her. He remembered his encounter with the dweller in the water hole, and smiled wryly. The two marines would have made short work of that. Assuming they’d have been stupid enough to get caught by it. If there was one thing their records agreed on, it was that they trusted nothing and no one; not even themselves. Which was just the attitude they’d need to survive on Wolf IV.

The huge standing stones drew nearer, and bit by bit Hunter began to see hints of shape and meaning in their design. From the distance of the ridge, he hadn’t realised just how big and solid they were. All three statues were the best part of a hundred feet high, and ten feet in diameter. Each statue had to weigh countless tons, and the back of Hunter’s neck prickled uneasily as he tried to figure out how and why the damn things had been brought out onto the plain, miles from anywhere. He finally came to a halt before the first of the huge statues, and Williams and the Investigator drew up beside him. The three of them stared in silence for a long time.

“Could these be a representation of the creatures that built the city?” said Williams eventually.

“If they are,” said Krystel, “we’d better hope those aren’t the correct dimensions.”

The statues stared impassively out over the empty plain. Their details had been blurred and distorted by wind and rain, or at least Hunter hoped they had, but the three forms were still clear enough to be both fascinating and unnerving. It was hard to get a grasp on them. Each great twisting body rested on two thick elephantine legs, but there was also a nest of curling tentacles that hung from the waist to the ground. There were two sets of arms, separately jointed, that ended in clusters of smaller tentacles. Various openings spotted the body, like so many open mouths or wounds. Hunter had to fight down a sudden urge to put his hand into one of the openings, to see how deep it went. The bulky head was a nightmare mess of harsh ridges and planes, set around a gaping maw studded with thick teeth. There was no trace of any eyes, but a series of slits and shadows at the top of the head might have been something similar. The great bulk of each statue should have made the alien creatures look slow and sluggish, but instead there was an overriding impression of strength and speed and ferocity. Hunter found his hand had dropped automatically to the gun at his side. He smiled sourly, but left his hand where it was.

“Nightmares, carved in stone,” muttered Williams, glancing at the other two statues. “Horrid-looking things, aren’t they? How old do you suppose these carvings are, Investigator?”

“Hundreds of years,” said Krystel. “Maybe more. They’ve obviously been exposed to the elements for some time…. I’ll give you another question, Doctor. Why were they left out here, so far from the city? A warning, perhaps? To mark some tribal boundary?”

“Maybe this area wasn’t so deserted when the statues were erected,” said Hunter. “We don’t know it was always like this. Personally, I’m not so sure these statues are meant to represent the creatures who built the city. It’s more likely they’re some kind of legendary demon, or god. I mean, look at the body. Legs
and
tentacles? It doesn’t make sense. No, these statues look to me more like a combination of creatures, rather than some naturally evolved being.” He looked away, and studied the sinking sun for a moment. “We’re not going to make the city before night. We’ll make camp here, and carry on in the morning. The ridge and the statues should provide some shelter from the elements.”

“Are you sure we’ll be safe out here, on our own?” said Williams, looking nervously around him. “I mean, at least the pinnace had a force screen….”

“We have a portable screen, Doctor, and a good collection of proximity mines,” said Krystel. “You’ll be safe enough, never fear.”

They moved into the wide semicircle before the three statues, and began emptying out their backpacks. Krystel collected all the proximity mines and set about planting them in a circle around the statues, establishing a basic perimeter. Hunter set up a field lantern, and soft golden light spilled out in a wide circle. The familiar gentle glow was a comfort after the harsh sunlight of Wolf IV. Everything looked the right color again. Hunter quickly assembled the portable screen, and set it for a radius of two hundred feet, just within the proximity mines. He waited impatiently while Krystel primed the mines, and then turned the screen on. A faint shimmer on the night air was the only sign the force screen was up, but Hunter could feel his muscles relaxing for the first time in hours. He turned away to help Williams unpack the field rations, while Krystel took one last look around the perimeter.

She’d done everything she could, by the book, but somehow she still felt uneasy.

Some time later, after a meal of protein cubes and distilled water, she ended up leaning against one of the statues, the cold ridged stone pressing uncomfortably into her back. She took a long slow look at the open plain, through the shimmer of the screen. Everything seemed still and quiet, but night was falling fast, and the deepening shadows gave an added sense of urgency to her uneasiness. She stubbed out the last inch of her cigar on the statue, and lit herself another. She’d considered rationing herself, on the grounds it was likely to be some time before she could hope to get a new supply of cigars, but she didn’t see the point. Either way, it was going to be a hell of a long wait, so she might as well enjoy them while she had them.

She glanced across at the other two statues, and was faintly disturbed by the way the gathering shadows suggested movement in the stone faces. She tapped ash from the end of her cigar, and wished fleetingly that she was somewhere else. Anywhere else. After the mess she’d made of the Grendel mission she’d thought herself lucky to be offered a place on a Hell Squad, but she was beginning to have her doubts. As an Investigator, she’d always had the security of knowing the Imperial Fleet stood ready to back her up. Now she didn’t have that anymore. She was on her own. If she screwed up again, they’d all pay for it with their lives.

Krystel smiled determinedly. She would cope. She was an Investigator.

Dr. Williams warmed his hands at the pleasant glow of heat from the field lantern. The evening was growing steadily colder, and the heating elements in his uniform could only do so much. He stretched out his left hand, and the sensor spikes slid out from under his fingernails. He slid the spikes back and forth a few times, enjoying the sensation, and then had them give him a rundown on the air around him. He didn’t expect to find anything harmful, but it was a good test of the sensors’ abilities. Tiny glowing numerals appeared before his eyes, via the optic nerves, giving him the exact percentages of the air’s constituents. Williams ran quickly through the numbers, and then dismissed them. There were a few interesting traces, though nothing that would cause any immediate harm, and no surprises. Pretty standard air, when you got right down to it.