Hunted (3 page)

She grinned and was about to jump down when some
instinct made her look again. This time she scanned the area much
closer to their camp, less than a klick distant. And there it was,
something moving, registering as a brilliant red blob in her gun
sights. Then another and another. Three high heat sources slowly
converging on the location of the overhang under which Knutsen and
Jensen lay sleeping.

Her stomach clenched, and without thought she
thumbed the safety off the multigun, aiming at the nearest of the
heat sources. Whatever it was, it was only 300 meters away. She
fired.

The shot missed, impacting a dune, creating a
spectacular heat rose in the infrared spectrum. She switched to
night vision, and what she saw almost made her freeze rigid with
shock. A mutant, much like the ones she had seen on the
Argoss
and
Heimdal
, with the strangely articulating
limbs and smaller head. But this one was still recognizably human.
It crouched low, turning to look towards the other creatures it
travelled with. They scuttled away, as if aware they were suddenly
visible and in danger. In a moment they were all gone, hidden
behind rocks or dunes.

But now they would be more careful. She mentally
berated herself for missing her target. With a snarl of rage, she
hopped down and hurried back to the camp. She kicked hard at
Knutsen’s foot, then Jensen’s. Knutsen was on his feet in a second,
but Jensen merely moaned.

“What is it? What happened?” Knutsen checked his
wrist display. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

“Never mind. They found us,” Stephanie replied. She
had her back to them, the multigun raised high, scanning the area
in case the enemy returned. “I saw three mutants coming directly
towards the camp. I don’t know how, but they can track us. We need
to keep moving.”

Knutsen nodded curtly, then knelt beside the
comatose Jensen, checking his vitals.

“He’s not looking good.” He gently peeled back an
eyelid, using a light from his wrist display to check Jensen’s
pupil response.

“He’s unconscious, not sleeping.”

“Then you’ll have to carry him,” Stephanie replied.
“I’ll take point.” She grabbed up the second multigun, slinging it
across her back, then a medkit. Knutsen donned the remaining
emergency kits, then with a grunt, bent and lifted Jensen across
his shoulders. He staggered to his feet.

Stephanie gave him a sympathetic look. “We need to
circle back to the crash site. That’s the first place any rescue
team would look to find us.”

Knutsen gave the merest of grunts. He took a step,
then another. His face was locked into a determined grimace.
Stephanie led the way, switching between infrared and night vision
while sweeping the area ahead and behind. Now they knew for sure
what they were facing, their only hope of survival was to hide.
Superior firepower would only work for so long, and the Ancestors
alone knew how many of the damned creatures were on the
surface.

As they made their way, Knutsen occasionally
stumbled so Stephanie had to catch him. It was obvious that he was
growing tired. Attempting to distract him, she described what she
had seen.

“It’s as though there were two species,” she said.
“The one I saw appeared almost human. It had a larger head and I’m
sure it had normal feet. It was definitely different to the ones on
the
Argoss
.”

Knutsen did not answer. It was all he could do to
move in the heavier gravity with Jensen’s weight and his own.
Stephanie continued.

“Also, they reacted immediately to the fact that I
could hit them with a charge. The mutants on the arc did not seem
to care. They attacked with a ferocity that seemed . . . well, I
think it bordered on madness. But these others, they displayed
caution. Which makes me think they’re smarter. Or simply not
insane. Either way, it makes them more dangerous.”

Knutsen grunted. Each step he took was a deliberate
action, requiring focus and concentration. After only a short
while, he was sweating. Slowly he lowered Jensen to the sand.

“Need to rest,” he gasped out.

Stephanie kept up her scanning, switching between
modes on the sights. There had been no other sign of the creatures
since she had fired on them, but they were still out there. She
could feel it in her gut.

“We’re not more than 3 klicks from the wreckage of
the shuttle. We can take 10 minute breaks in every 30. Think you
can manage that, Pål?”

He looked up at her and she was shocked at the
exhaustion written into every line on his face. She put a hand on
his shoulder, giving him a squeeze.

* * *

Sunrise on Palsenz came slower than they were used
to. On the
Endurance
, a day was split into divisions of
fourteen hours of daylight and ten of night. Daylight was simulated
by a plasma ball suspended in the middle of the sphere. As a
result, the sun was always overhead no matter where you were. At
night, however, it was shielded, creating the illusion of a regular
day. It had long since been set to emulate the approximate timings
that they would find on Palsenz itself, in order to acclimate the
colonists.

Stephanie watched the orb of the sun rising over the
horizon with her mouth hanging open. It was unlike anything she had
imagined. Her whole life had been a preparation for the moment they
arrived and claimed their new home, but now she realized that their
existence on the
Endurance
had been a mere reflection of
reality. And a poor one at that.

They were now less than a klick to the crater left
by the
Heimdal
. Fragments of the shuttle littered the ground
around them. Pieces impossible to identify, twisted and burned. She
felt regret and loss. It had almost been their home, they had spent
so much time in it. On the plus side, the debris would make it
easier for a rescue team to find them.

Stephanie took a good look around, doing a 360
degree turn. Nothing. But from the corner of her eye, she thought
that maybe she
could
see something. Snapping her head back,
she focused on a nearby dune, only a hundred meters distant. She
put the gun sight to her eye, but there was no movement there now,
and no indication that there had been anything. She was jumpy, that
was it. Just her nerves getting frayed.

As she was turning back she saw it again. This time
there was no mistaking it. The small head, the thin limbs; mutant.
One, then another and another. The three that had been tracking
them. They raised themselves, standing as tall as they were able,
clearly wanting to be seen. Stephanie swallowed dryly, wishing she
had not already finished the last of her water ration.

Why did they just stand there?

“Pål. They’re here.”

She indicated the dune with the mutants. Knutsen
looked up from his burden, seeing them. His eyes widened with
shock, then closed in dismay.

“We’ll have to fight.” He stared about himself,
obviously hoping for a defensible position. The shuttle explosion
had left a crater and they were on its edge. Either they moved
towards the mutants, or they moved further into the crater.

To Stephanie, the footing looked treacherous, with
jagged shards of metal protruding from the sand. But mercifully,
there seemed to be a narrow path free of any major obstacles, and
it led directly to a large piece of the
Heimdal’s
hull.

“We go down,” she said.

That piece of the hull would give them cover, acting
as a shield. Knutsen glanced to the crater, assessing, then nodded.
As he made his painful way to the crater’s epicenter, Stephanie
held back, her eyes never leaving the dune and its three very
visible occupants.

But why were they just standing there? What were
they doing? It was almost as if they wanted her to look at them. To
distract her!

She whirled around but it was too late. Pål was
already too far away. She saw the sand erupting before him, two
mutants emerging from a hidden trapdoor. They grabbed at his legs,
pulling him down. Before she could even call out they were
gone.

She shrieked as despair and anger filled her.
Turning back to the mutants on the dune, she raised the multigun,
but they too were gone. With nothing to vent her rage on, she ran
down to where she had seen Pål and Jensen disappear. Yet no matter
how hard she searched, she could find no sign of the trapdoor. The
sand seemed undisturbed. She fell to her knees, a strangled scream
escaping her raw throat.

When she looked up again, the three mutants were
almost on her. One of them had blue-grey eyes, almost like Pål’s.
But the stunted faces and smaller heads with wide mouths sent a
surge of adrenalin through her as well as a sense of certainty.
With Pål gone there was nothing left. Raising her gun, she pointed
it at her own head, then reached for the firing stud.

The closest mutant reacted. Its eyes opened wide and
it raised a hand as if to order her to stop, to desist. Then she
heard it. The distinctive roar of a class III shuttle making an
atmospheric landing. The whining of the drive as the attitude jets
kicked in was unmistakable.

She was rescued. They were here! Unable to believe
her senses, Stephanie Chu looked up just as the shuttle began a
near-vertical descent. The pilot was skilled, no doubt. One of her
colleagues from
Endurance
, most likely Chang. She felt the
briefest sense of justification. She had made it. Even if she died
now, it did not matter. The rescue had come.

She looked to the mutants, but they did not appear
concerned. One was covering his face from the onslaught of wind and
sand, but the others kept their eyes locked on hers. None made any
attempt to flee.

Incredulous she stared at them. Slowly she turned
her gun around, once again assuming a combat stance. The shuttle
landed behind her. She could hear the airlock opening. She smiled,
grimly triumphant.

“You should run.”

The mutants did not react, merely observing her with
calm equanimity. Stephanie waved the gun. “GET AWAY!”

Someone behind her spoke. The voice was accented,
but understandable. It was not anyone from the
Endurance
.
Could it be a shuttle from the
Bitter Sea
?

“I am the Speaker. We will not hurt you.”

Small, oddly jointed hands reached out. Stephanie
turned and stared in wide-eyed horror. Mutants were emerging from
the shuttle. One stood directly beside her. In an instant she was
disarmed. One of the three unclipped the gun-strap, relieving her
of her heavy multigun. Another took the one slung across her
back.

A strangled noise emerged from her throat as she
tried to speak. Unable to comprehend what was happening, she sank
to her knees. Finally, she found her voice.

“Why? Why did you attack us? On the
Argoss
?”

The mutant named Speaker looked at her and for a
moment Stephanie thought that she could see sadness within its
eyes.

“We are not like those poor wretches on the arc.
They are our great shame. We have abandoned them. The
Argoss
is their home and this planet is ours.”

Stephanie struggled to get to her feet, but found
her legs too weak. Clawed hands reached out to help. Speaker looked
up at her as she stood, taller than him by a full head. Up close
she found the mutants not quite so repellant. But they had a
strange smell, like dried leather. Speaker addressed her again.

“Your kind are our ancestors. Those on the
Argoss
are our close cousins. But they are not like us. We
cannot live with them, so we gave them the
Argoss
. But this
planet is ours. If your people are to live here, then an agreement
must be reached.”

Stephanie looked over to the shuttle. It looked
exactly the same as the
Heimdal
, and for a moment she
believed it
was
her ship, that this was all a bad dream. But
the strange creature before her belied that.

“We set out from Earth to colonize this planet,” she
said. “This is our home.”

“No. It is
ours
. We got here first. But your
kind will be allowed to settle. There will be an agreement about
boundaries, possibly trade. We will keep your crew members as
surety until we have concluded negotiations with your leaders. Your
people are quite safe. The injured one is being treated by our
physicians. He will recover.”

At this news, Stephanie felt her strength abandon
her and she almost collapsed. Pål was alive! She took a deep
breath, composing herself.

“What makes you think we can reach an agreement on
sharing the planet?”

A curious coughing sound emerged from the mutant. It
took a moment for Stephanie to realize that it was laughing.

“You have no choice. We have mastered the secrets of
the Predecessors, the species whose planet this once was. We have
had a long time to understand their heritage. Your kind will be
allowed to settle on this planet but knowledge of the Predecessors
will be denied. Come.”

Speaker led her to the shuttle. Once aboard, it
quickly launched. Inside there were two crew members, plus Speaker
and his retinue. Stephanie watched with professional interest as
the crew operated the vessel within the atmosphere. That was a
skill more art than science. The pilots knew what they were
doing.

“We will deliver you back to the
Endurance
.”
He passed her a communicator. “With this we shall forge our
agreement.”

Stephanie felt her head swimming. It was too much,
too fast. But a thought occurred, nagging. They were so certain, so
assured!

“What if we cannot come to terms?” Once again she
thought she saw sadness in the creature’s eyes as Speaker looked up
at her.

“Then you will have to leave this system.” He turned
his back to her, watching on a vid screen as the great bulbous
shape of the
Endurance
appeared. “Either that, or we will be
forced to destroy you utterly. Palsenz is ours.”