Weird Space 2: Satan's Reach (27 page)

He lay back in his sling and stared through the viewscreen. A blue world rolled silently below.

“
Judi
, tell Zeela that we’re almost home.”

Two minutes later Zeela hurried onto the flight-deck and slipped into the co-pilot’s sling. She leaned forward and stared. “Kallasta...” she said. He detected wistfulness, almost sadness, in her tone.

Journey’s end
, he thought.

“Where do you want me to land?”

She was silent for a while, then said, “I’m not sure. My parents came from a small town called Jerez, on the equator. I don’t recall if there was a spaceport nearby.”

From the little she’d told him about her homeworld, he’d gained the impression that it wasn’t an industrial planet. “Do you know if it had
any
spaceports?”

Some of the backwater worlds were so under-populated and rarely visited that maintaining a spaceport was hardly viable. She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t recall. When we left Kallasta I was only five.”

He told
Judi
to establish radio contact with the planetary authorities. “We’ll get directions to Jerez,” he told her, “and come down as close as we’re able. Do you have relatives still on the planet?”

“I think so. I remember aunts and uncles... They’ll still be living near Jerez, I think.”

“And they’ll take you in?”

“I think so. If not, or if we can’t find them... Well, I can look after myself.” She avoided his eyes.

Seconds later, still staring through the viewscreen at the pale blue, banded world, she asked, “Will you stay a while? It’s a beautiful place.”

“That would be nice. With luck we’ve given the bounty hunters the slip, and there’s nothing to fear from the Ajantans now.”

He considered Janaker and the Vetch, and the uncanny way they’d managed to trace him and Zeela across the Reach... He wondered what the chances were of their being able to trace him through the void to Kallasta.

Judi
said, “Den, I have failed to establish radio contact with the planetary authorities. Kallasta does not appear to have a spaceport, or if it does it is not responding.”

“Strange. If the planetary authorities aren’t reachable via radio, what about–”

Judi
interrupted, “There is no detectable radio traffic at all, Den.”

He asked Zeela, “But Kallasta is technologically advanced?”

“Agricultural, mainly. But yes, it did have technology.”

“So I wonder why no one’s responding? Keep trying,
Judi
.”

“Affirmative.”

Zeela looked at him. “What do you think the problem is, Den?”

“I don’t know. Even low-tech worlds have radio facilities.”

Judi
said, “I’ve conducted a scan of the continent directly below. I was looking for areas of population density, cities, towns...”

“And?”

“I detected several small townships, now deserted. There is no sign of extant human population.”

“On the
entire
continent?”

“Affirmative.”

“And how many townships were there down there?”

“Not many. It was a sparsely populated continent. But even so I would expect there to be still some signs of life.”

“Me too.”

Zeela said plaintively, “What happened down there?”

“When your parents left... what, thirteen years ago?... was it part of some mass exodus?”

She pulled a face. “I really don’t know. I’m sorry. I remember that we left aboard a smallish ship, that’s all.”

“
Judi
, do you have any cached information on Kallasta?”

A second later
Judi
replied, “Negative, other than routine scientific data collected by the original survey team centuries ago.”

“Okay...” Harper considered the options. “Zeela, can you recall any geographical features close to Jerez that might single it out from other equatorial towns? We might as well try to come down there.”

Her brow furrowed as she tried to recall the town from her childhood visits. “It was inland, beside a river, where I went with my mother and father on picnics.”

“That might describe a hundred towns,” he said. He instructed
Judi
to keep looking for any signs of habitation, then sat back. “We’ll land wherever we find life,” he said.

She nodded, a worried look on her face.

Minutes later
Judi
said, “I have located signs of life, Den.”

Harper was about to ask for more information when
Judi
went on, “Alert! I detect a pursuing ship.”

Harper cursed. How the hell had Janaker and the Vetch caught up so soon?

“Details,” he snapped.

“An Ajantan vessel.”

“But...” He felt a wave of despair wash through him. “But we destroyed the Ajantan ship...”

“This is a larger vessel. I surmise that it was following the first ship, but was keeping its distance. They request a radio link.”

“Do it,” he said. “But like last time, do not provide a visual link.”

The viewscreen flickered, and a second later he was staring at a familiar scene: a darkened bridge, with three amphibian figures perched on high seats in the foreground.

Deja vu
, he thought.

The Ajantan on the right opened its shark-like mouth and spoke in a sibilant hiss. Seconds later the translation rolled along the foot of the viewscreen. “An ultimatum, human: give yourselves up or face the consequences.”

In an aside to
Judi
, he asked, “How far away are they?”

“One million kilometres and closing.”

“So within missile range...”
Our last remaining missile
, he thought.

“Affirmative.”

“Transmit this,” he said. “We do not recognise the judicial authority of the Ajantans.”

His reply caused a hurried consultation amongst the trio, and the Ajantan spoke again. “You are responsible for the death of thirty-six innocent Ajantans, and the destruction of a prime class starship.”

Harper leaned forward and snapped, “Innocent? We fired in self-defence. It was your ship that launched the first missile. We were merely protecting ourselves.”

Again the trio conferred. “If you do not consent to arrest, we will be forced to take offensive action.”

Harper looked at Zeela. “We have one missile remaining...” To
Judi
he said, “Evasive action?”

“Problematic. Their ship is potentially faster than ours.”

“Great. What about our shields, are they up to withstanding...?”

“Negative.”

He took a breath. “What do you advise?”

“Our best option is to fire upon the Ajantan ship, and then attempt landfall. Their ship is large, and I suggest less manoeuvrable in planetary atmosphere than ourselves. If the missile fails to destroy their ship, I will land, drop you in the rainforest, and then make for another area in order to draw the Ajantan ship.”

“Not a scenario I’d normally opt for, but if you’re sure we can’t outrun them–”

“We cannot.”

“In that case do it. Fire!”

“Affirmative,”
Judi
said. “Hold on tight. We are about to take evasive action.”

Harper smiled at Zeela. “I think she means that any second now we’re going to make one hell of a dive.”

He glanced at the viewscreen. Their final missile was streaking away through the upper atmosphere. As he watched, the pursuing ship fired an intercept missile and they collided in a quick, actinic fireball.

A split-second later the flight-deck canted at a near perpendicular angle and Harper lurched forward in his sling. Beside him Zeela shouted out and gripped the sling’s frame as they plummeted, her face contorted in alarm. The surface of the planet rushed to meet them. Something exploded behind them and the ship jumped sickeningly.

“
Judi
?”

“The Ajantans are firing.”

“Damage?”

“Dorsal shield breached. Rear landing stanchion inoperable...”

Which meant that, even if they evaded the Ajantan ship, the subsequent landing would be more than a little bumpy.

Another explosion detonated, this time to starboard. The ship tipped, side-swiping, righted itself and screamed towards the planet’s surface. The viewscreen showed ripped clouds and a rapidly approaching rainforest.

“Damage?” he yelled.

“Rear sensors compromised. Port shield breached.”

A missile, now, on target, would blow them apart...

They rattled, Harper’s head batted back and forth. He expected the
coup de grace
at any second. The maindrive screamed, pressed to the limit of its tolerance. The rainforest expanded at an alarming rate.

Just when he thought impact inevitable,
Judi
levelled out and screamed a matter of metres above the tree canopy.

“Hold tight,”
Judi
warned. “We’re descending... three, two, one. Now!”

Descending?
Harper thought, then realised what
Judi
meant.

They dropped, and the viewscreen showed a chaos of shredded foliage and tree trunks as
Judi
ploughed through the forest at mach five.

“Prepare to disembark,” the ship said.

“We can’t possibly jump,” Harper yelled.

“I will slow down and lose altitude. Go.”

He nodded to Zeela and they unstrapped themselves from their slings and staggered across the crazily tilted flight-deck.

“I will come down as close to the inhabited township as possible,”
Judi
said.

They slowed, and as they did so Harper became aware of the multiple, thumping impacts as
Judi
skittled a thousand trees. The effect, he thought as he grabbed Zeela’s hand and sprinted along the corridor towards the exit, was like being in the sound-box of an instrument struck by a manic percussionist.

The ship yawed, throwing them against the wall. “Damage report?” he cried.

“Port auxiliary engine dysfunctional.”

They came to the hatch and Harper yelled at Zeela, “Hold on!”

She grabbed a hand-hold as the hatch slid open and the ramp descended, instantly shearing off as it impacted with a passing tree. They clung on and peered out. They were below the forest canopy now, but still fifty metres above the ground.

“
Judi
,” he called, “we need to lose height.”

“Understood.”

The ship dipped nose down, throwing them forward. Harper almost fell from the open hatch. Zeela screamed and Harper clung to the frame in desperation. Across from him, Zeela was doing the same. He peered down. The ground flashed by a matter of metres from the ship’s underbelly.

“We need to slow down!”

He heard the engine growl. Tree trunks strobed past the opening with decreasing frequency.

He called out, “The Ajantan ship?”

“Inserting itself into a pursuing orbit,”
Judi
replied.

“How far away?”

“Approximately four minutes, but closing.”

He should be grateful for small mercies.

Judi
slowed further. They were only three metres above the ground. He looked across at Zeela and nodded.

He thought of something. “
Judi
,” he called. “The town? Which direction?”

“In relation to our current trajectory, ten o’clock, and seven kilometres distant.”

“I suggest radio incommunicado from now on. I don’t want to risk the Ajantans homing in on my signal.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll be in touch... eventually,” he said.

He looked down. The ship was moving at a little above walking pace now, firing its retro-jets to compensate for its forward momentum. He looked across at Zeela and said, “Jump!”

She didn’t hesitate. She bent her legs, looked down, and launched herself. Harper followed, bracing himself for the impact. He hit the rainforest floor and rolled, thrashing through ferns and fetching up in the embrace of a waxy, crimson bloom the size of a bed sheet. He lay on his back, staring into the air. The ship, horribly lop-sided thanks to its misfiring port auxiliary, ploughed on through the tree-tops, gaining speed and vanishing as he watched.

He looked around. Zeela was picking herself up and batting her way through the undergrowth.

She knelt before him. “You okay?”

He struggled from the sticky leaves and stood up. “Fine.”

They ducked reflexively as the roar of a ship’s engine passed overhead. Pressing his hands to his ears, he looked up. The Ajantan ship, its piscine bulk like a fish out of water, sailed high overhead.

Seconds later it passed from sight, the sound of its engines diminishing gradually. Harper allowed himself to feel a moment of hope.

Zeela grinned at him. “Welcome to Kallasta, Den.”

He laughed. “It’s great to be here.” He looked around. “Now, which way did
Judi
say the town was?”

Zeela pointed through the sun-dappled undergrowth. He picked up his pistol, slipped it into his belt, and set off after her.

The soil of the rainforest was sandy, and the undergrowth sparse. There was no riotous, ground-hugging vegetation here, no barbed tendrils to dog his footsteps. Great searchlights of sunlight slanted through rents in the canopy, filled with dust motes, spores and floating insects. The calls of unseen creatures created a constant background sound-track.

He caught up with Zeela and asked, “Predatory animals?”

“None that I can recall. At least, my mother and father let me play in the rainforest when we were on holiday.”

He nodded, but nevertheless kept a wary eye out.

They walked side by side, ducking under drooping branches and lianas. Zeela was quiet.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said when they’d been walking in silence for fifteen minutes, “about when we get to the town.”

She glanced at him. “Yes?”

“It’s likely to be the first place the Ajantans look for us. We’d be wise to hole up in the rainforest, hide until they give up and go home.”

“Do you think that likely?”

He smiled. For her sake he was putting an optimistic gloss on the situation. “I’m pretty confident that we can dodge their search parties.”

“And if they do go,” she said, “you might even come to like it here so much you’d want to stay.”

He didn’t know whether to be annoyed at her flippant remark, so replied in a tone just as casual, “Well, the temperature here is certainly clement.”