CHAPTER 10
Kalin
THE CAVES
Three spiked creatures jumped out of the wall, roaring and waving knife-like claws. Kalin leapt backwards and fired his Barra. A blue beam struck the nearest animal in the chest. It shrieked and stumbled backwards, falling to the ground in convulsions. The other beasts charged. Two laser shots from Marante and the monsters went down. Gaping holes opened their torsos, their bodies twitching with what life remained. The high-pitched whining of their Barras settled into a low hum. Kalin stared at the creatures whose skin was darkening as death rolled in.
A painful way to die, he thought.
He pressed a blue button on the side of the weapon and a tiny door slid open. Two small orbs appeared and he gently tapped the yellow one. A rotating holo displayed the three-dimensional specs on the weapon. He waved his hand through the holo and the settings readjusted.
“What are they?” he asked, noticing the foot-high mounds of dirt where the animals had manifested.
“There is no record of this life form,” said Marante, kneeling beside a beast. Its body was still and black in color. “They have minimal intelligence and are indigenous to this world.”
“Set your Barra to incinerate.” Kalin watched the door on the weapon slide shut. “We have to find those Earth-humans. I need to know why Vorkis wants them.”
Marante was busily studying the scanner. His telepathy hadn’t picked up Kalin’s thought of using the two Earth-humans as bait. It would force Vorkis to come to him—an ideal scenario. If Earth’s implosion became eminent, he would be sure to save the Earth-human pair for species regeneration. It was better odds than what he had.
“Let’s go,” he said.
They hadn’t jogged far through the tunnel when they heard voices up ahead. Kalin waved his hand for Marante to stay quiet. They crept along the tunnel wall, listening to what sounded like snapping bones. Around a bend, in a cavern, six Zorcon guards were sitting in a circle voraciously devouring their meal, their Barras resting alongside them on the earthen floor. In the center of the group lay the waste pile, a steaming mound of blackish-red human bones and raw viscera. Kalin’s stomach twisted. The smell was putrid, the blatant disregard for human life repulsive. Marante gagged loudly and quickly turned away, holding his mouth. Two Zorcons glowered in their direction. Human entrails dangled from their engorged cheeks. Kalin grabbed Marante by the arm and pulled him behind an outcrop.
“What’s wrong with you?” he whispered. “You almost got us killed.”
“I will never get used to Zorcons,” said Marante, whose nose was leaf-green and marble-sized. “They are disgusting creatures.”
“Yeah, well, we have to pass those disgusting creatures and I need you to get a grip.”
“All right,” answered Marante, flaccidly waving his hand in acceptance.
Kalin peeked over the boulders. The Zorcons had resumed their eating. He signaled Marante to follow. They quietly crept toward the feeding guards; ready to slip passed them when suddenly six of the same spiked animals that had previously attacked them leapt out of the walls, snarling at the Zorcons.
“Oridians!” shouted one of the guards.
The Zorcons went for their Barras but it was too late. The monsters lunged at them with flailing arms. They ripped and slashed at the guards, who screamed and fought to stay alive. The sharp talons of the beasts easily tore through the soft flesh, severing appendages. Within moments, all the Zorcons were dead. Pools of white blood and shredded limbs lay scattered on the ground.
A gray Oridian with a spike-ridden body picked up a detached head and began sucking an eyeball. A brown one tried to swipe the head away but the spiked one shoved him hard and he stumbled back. The brown animal roared and swung its claw, slicing open the spiked one’s shoulder. The creature yelped and dropped the skull, clutching its bloodied wound. It growled at its enemy, exposing two-inch-long serrated teeth. Without warning, the spiked one bent its massive legs and jumped with such power it seemed to fly in the air before pouncing on its opponent. The two began fighting, swiping with their claws and biting each other. The other Oridians anxiously gathered around the pair, hooting and whooping as they jumped about, wildly waving their arms.
It’s like an Uru death match, thought Kalin.
He signaled Marante. They cautiously moved past the boisterous crowd then ran down the tunnel until the sounds of the monsters were gone.
Marante checked his scanner. “Apparently, the Oridians are only capable of detecting heat signatures no matter how low and odors but cannot perceive sound. The Zorcons were wearing Neth Blockers able to mask their heat and scent, but they malfunctioned due to the increasing electromagnetic field of the planet. I can create NBs to work around this; however, we must secure a location for this purpose.”
“Okay, but we need to hurry,” said Kalin. “Those Earth-humans need our help.” Another stab of guilt.
What could Vorkis want from two Earth-humans? he wondered. Why didn’t he just teleport them? He couldn’t wait to talk to the two.
Using the scanner, Marante led them to a narrow entrance. He easily slipped through the slivered opening, but Kalin had to suck in his chest and ram himself in. After heaving and huffing his way for fifty feet, Kalin emerged behind Marante into a small cavern with several flat, knee-high boulders scattered about. Marante sat on one and sifted through his belted waist pouch, extracting the essentials to build the NBs. Kalin leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath.
“You could’ve picked a better place to get into,” said Kalin between heavy pants. “My lungs are almost crushed.”
Marante tossed him the scanner and he fumbled to catch it.
“Stop being a baby and check our location.”
“Baby?” said Kalin, annoyed at the put-down. “You have no lungs. You breathe through your skin. And don’t call me a baby, pencil-neck. I’m surprised your head fit.”
“Baby,” said Marante, never looking up.
A loud rumble shook the cavern. Clumps of loose dirt and stone cracked off the ceiling and walls as waves oscillated through the stone. Marante swooped up the equipment in his arms and huddled by the wall with Kalin. The shaking stopped abruptly. Clouds of dust particles flittered down like rain, settling on the ground.
“That was nasty,” said Kalin, eyeing their surroundings suspiciously. He placed the scanner on a boulder and hoisted his Barra. Those creatures came out of the walls.
Marante began rummaging through the items cradled in his arms. “I have also created NBs for this chamber to make it a safe base.”
Kalin had yet to meet someone that could equal Marante’s intellect and speed with electronics. He always carried the basic devices already half-built in case of emergencies, and there were many times his ingenuity had saved their lives. His knowledge was impeccable.
Marante placed the bulk of the items on the boulder next to the scanner and went around the cavern pressing silver, coin-size devices onto the stone walls. When he finished, he took the scanner, stepped to the middle of the cavern and waved his hand over an orb. In the center of the flat discs, six tiny red lights blinked on. He tossed Kalin his NB.
“She was a perfect replica of a Saleran female,” said Marante, attaching the silver NB to his own tunic.
“Not really,” said Kalin. “She was too short and she smelled different.”
Saleran women had been special; their Lasgera Gland secreted an alluring scent, which they controlled, and no human male could resist it, including himself.
It’s just something else I have to forget, Kalin thought, frustrated at never again being able to take in the sensual aroma. Suddenly a morbid thought entered his mind. What if the rumor of Vorkis was that he’d located a female to have his child? Maybe an Earth-human female?
Just then, terrified screams of people exploded through the cavern. Kalin tapped the NB to his black vest and hurriedly slid through the crevice, mumbling obscenities all the way. He stopped at the main tunnel and peeked ou
t. The two Earth-humans sped by him with snarling Oridians in pursuit.
“Come on!” he said.
They dashed after them.
“A tunnel up ahead will loop around and take us in front of them,” said Marante, reading the scanner.
“Lead the way!”
Marante took him into another tunnel and soon they came to the crossway. Stomping footsteps were closing in. Kalin raised the Barra to his cheek, ready to fire. When the pounding feet were almost upon him, he stepped into the passageway, blocking the oncoming Earth-humans.
“Hit the dirt!” he shouted.
The two dove onto the ground and rolled. Laser blasts sent high-pitched reverberations through the tunnel, disintegrating the two creatures into balls of yellow dust. Kalin stood behind the Earth-humans whose attention was on the ashes.
“They’re called Oridians,” he said.
The girl turned around and Kalin’s heart sank. It had been a long time since he’d seen big green eyes with long black lashes. Her skin was soft and clear; he doubted if she’d ever had a pimple. A slender nose upended just above a set of moist lips. Her blue shorts and red shirt covered a body any man would die for. Marante appeared beside Kalin and the jaws of the two Earth-humans dropped open. He always had this effect on primitives, especially up close.
“Are you all right?” asked Kalin, staring at the female. She was focused on his friend. “He’s harmless,” he added, thumbing Marante. “Except for his nose. It can jump start a cruiser when full blown.”
“You shut up,” said Marante. “My name is Marante of Chaslea, and this thing—” He pointed at Kalin. “—is my captain and comrade of many years, Kalin of Salera. It is good to meet you, Rina and Shiro of Earth.”
“How...how do you know our names?” asked Shiro.
This guy has a strange lisp, thought Kalin, probably from his deformed teeth.
I agree, answered Marante.
“Chasleans and Salerans are telepathic,” Marante said aloud.
A bellowing boom split the air followed by a thunderous roar, shook the passageway. The tunnel rocked and swayed. Fractures raced up the walls and across the ceiling, bursting the stone apart.
“It’s at least a niner!” yelled Rina.
“Let’s go!” shouted Kalin.
He ran through a haze of black dust with the others close behind, keeping his senses in touch with theirs, making sure they were alive.
They need NBs, said Marante in his mind. We must make skin contact in order for our NBs to work on them.
We stop and we die, said Kalin, swerving and jumping over tumbling rubble.
The quaking ceased unexpectedly. Aside from the sprinkling sound of falling pebbles, an eerie silence hovered within the tunnel. Kalin studied their area. Behind them, down the passageway, black boulders covered the place they’d been. A cave-in. Plumes of steam rose out of six wide cracks that arced across the tunnel.
Earth does not have much time, said Marante. We must hurry.
Yeah, said Kalin, watching Marante brush off his dusty head.
The Earth-human called Shiro was bent over, resting his hands on his knees and gasping for air. The doll-face named Rina was coughing and leaning on the tunnel wall. Kalin saw fingers creep out of the stone behind her. He yanked her away and shot the beast. The blast echoed through the tunnel along with the shrill of the dying animal.
“Thanks,” she said, eyeing the ashes on the ground. “Who are you?”
“We will answer your questions when we reach our safe base,” said Marante, approaching them. “To shield you from the sensory glands of the Oridians, you must wear what we call Neth Blockers, or NBs.” He pointed to the silver pin on his black tunic.
Kalin noticed Shiro examining the cave wall where hundreds of egg-sized crimson balls protruded.
“What are these?” asked Shiro, gently touching a bulb. “I’ve never seen this type of rock before.”
“I don’t know,” said Kalin, feeling its smoothness. “Marante, do a scan.”
An animal roar echoed in the tunnel.
Marante took Rina’s hand. “Quickly! We must make skin contact for our NBs to work on you. Our safe base is not far from here. Come!”
He ran off with Rina. Kalin eyed Shiro.
“I’m not holding your hand,” said Kalin.
He grasped the nape of Shiro’s neck and they began their jog. Kalin noticed the girl didn’t have a problem keeping up the pace. She was firm and tight, her long, silky hair bouncing to the trots. The resemblance was uncanny.
“In here,” said Marante, waving at them.
Shiro stopped at the narrow entrance and stared. “I’ll never fit.”
“Yes, you will,” said Marante, clutching his arm. “Your torso is soft. Come.”
Marante and Shiro went in first, then Rina and Kalin. Shiro’s grunts got louder as he squeezed further into the crevice.
“You are doing fine, Shiro,” said Marante. “We are almost there.”
Rina was sliding through unrestricted, and pushing Shiro from behind. Kalin hoped Shiro didn’t get stuck; using his strength might hurt him. Shiro exited the tunnel and fell to his knees, gasping for air. Rina knelt beside him and patted his back.
“See,” she said with a smile. “You made it.”
“Barely.”
She helped him to stand. “Sit over here and relax.”
One of the wall NBs was on the ground. Kalin put it back up while Marante began working.
“Now tell me,” said Rina with her arm around Shiro, “what’s happening to our world?”
“The most vicious criminal in history is here within your planet and we are here to capture him,” answered Marante, his focus on the scanner. The six wall NBs lit up. “His name is Vorkis. He has been sentenced to death for the genocide of the Salerans, Kalin’s people.”
“All Salerans?” Shiro said in surprise.
“All of them, except me,” Kalin said, irritated he may have to explain the whole matter. “He slaughtered everyone with a lethal virus and I’m here to execute him.”
“So you’re the last Saleran?” asked Rina curiously.
“Sort of,” he said, turning away ashamed. “Vorkis is my soon-to-be-dead cousin.”
“Your cousin killed his own family?” said Shiro, disbelief in his voice. His breathing was almost normal now. “What kind of a man would do that?”
“A cold-blooded murderer,” said Kalin, “and I don’t want to talk about it.” The acrid revelation was torturous, a twisting dagger forever in his side.
“So,” said Rina, “how are we standing in a place where the pressure is over fifty million pounds per square inch? We should be flatter than paper.”
Marante went on to explain how Vorkis used REMs to penetrate the planet and create the vast complex. He told them about the Borit Reactor and according to the scans, Vorkis had two ounces of Pril; three was all he needed to destroy any world. Kalin watched Rina closely. She was intrigued with his friend, studying his physique.
A brainer, he thought, too smart to know what’s good for her.
He lifted one foot onto the boulder next to Rina and raised the Barra to his cheek, checking the alignment, hoping to get her attention. It worked.
“So why did you bring us here?” she asked.
“We didn’t,” said Kalin. Her eyes were a mesmerizing ocean green. “Vorkis did. So you tell me why you’re here.”
“Maybe he’s horny,” said Shiro. Everyone turned their heads to him. “She’s pretty,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Rina slapped his arm. “Maybe he wants you, hero.”
Kalin sat next to Rina. “Vorkis is not into men. He prefers women, but that’s not the issue. You must have something he wants.”
Rina glanced at Shiro. “We’re geophysicists. The only thing we have is knowledge of Earth.”
“What you call knowledge most children are learning at the age of two,” scoffed Kalin. “Your race is primitive when it comes to planetar
y sciences. No, it has to be something you physically possess.”
Rina’s expression changed from curious to angry. She stood up and raised her arms, gesturing down her body. The dirt from the dive onto the earthen floor couldn’t hide the shapely legs and curvy figure.
“This is it,” she said. “We don’t possess anything of value.”
“Maybe it is your looks,” said Kalin, ogling her.
“You’re sick,” she said. “Keep the leers to yourself. I mean it.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” he said sternly. He had to set the boundaries with this fireball. “Keeping secrets is not going to save your world.”
“What secrets?” said Shiro. “We have none. Go ahead. Strip-search her. I dare you.”
Rina’s eyelids shrank to menacing slits. “Touch me and you’re dead. I said I have nothing. Whether you believe it or not, it’s the truth.”
He got up and stepped closer to her. She didn’t budge. She’s not afraid of me. “You’re lying,” he said, “and I will get it out of you.”
“I tell you what,” she said, pushing up on her toes to get closer to his face. He sensed she was frustrated at her five-foot height. “When you find out what it is I have, you can tell me about it. But until then, don’t call me a liar.”
A snorting laugh came from Marante. She is taking you on, he said to Kalin in his mind.
She won’t win, Kalin answered.
Maybe. Marante sprang to his feet. “We are ready, Captain. Rina, Shiro, press these to your clothing.”
He tossed a silver NB to Shiro, who attached it to the collar of his white shirt. Marante walked to Rina and handed her the other.
“With this, the Oridians will be unable to detect your heat signature nor scent. Guard it, my lady.”
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to his left upper sleeve.
“It is my Comlink,” he replied, rubbing his finger over the gold, triangular pin, “a communication device. We cannot use it here for fear of detection. Which reminds me.” He turned to Kalin. “With all the shooting, Vorkis is certain to know we are in the vicinity.”
“Good,” said Kalin. “Bring him on.” He walked to the narrow exit tunnel and stood, waving his hand forward. “This way, your Short Highness.”
A lethal glare from Rina told him she didn’t appreciate the appellation.
“Where are we going?” said Shiro, rubbing his forehead in exasperation. “Can’t we stay here?”
“Our primary goal is to destroy Vorkis’ Command Center,” said Marante. “Come, you will be fine.” He went into the crevasse first pulling Shiro behind him.
Kalin scrutinized Rina as she pressed the NB to her red shirt. There was something deep within her mind, out of reach, hidden. He would have to continue his probes. She resembled Kara, one of his former girlfriends he’d left behind and one of the most beautiful women on Salera. After he’d left to work with the Federation, Kara took up with Vorkis and Kalin noticed a change in her personality. When he’d last spoken with her from the Quasar, she’d refused to look him in the face. Instead, she’d kept her head low and never made eye contact. The conversation was short and to the point, a remarkable difference from the old self-involved Kara. Three months later she died in a mysterious fire. Vorkis was cleared of all charges concerning her death and soon after began his assignment for the Federation searching for Pril.
Rina’s beauty surpassed even Kara’s, he mused. Then he sucked in his breath, shocked at the notion.
Could she be working for Vorkis?
His hatred for Vorkis was equally reciprocated. Had he placed Rina here as a distraction? Possibly as a spy? Her consciousness harbored high levels of cautiousness and concern—a strong concern for someone else besides Shiro.
As far back as he could remember, Vorkis had always had a beautiful woman on his arm, doing his dirty work, and this one was by far the prettiest. But where did Shiro come in? The chubby Earth-human’s uncertainty and confusion were innocent—typical emotions sustained by someone unfamiliar with life outside their world. The female was the connection. He was sure of it. Hot anger began building up inside him.
Steady, Kalin, he said to himself. Don’t lose it now.
His hatred was like a bubble that threatened to burst. Here, in front of him, was someone who may be working for Vorkis and he had to wait. Time would expose her plan and patience would justify his killing her, but self-control was nearly impossible. The need to choke it out of her was getting stronger. He had to make it difficult for her, press her into revealing her plan.
You have no proof, said Marante in Kalin’s mind.
She’s hiding something and Vorkis is involved, said Kalin. I swear, Marante, if she’s working for him, I’ll bleed her until there’s nothing left.
She may be telling the truth, said Marante. Your hatred is consuming you, my friend. Allow your conscience to guide you, not your heart.
If I could do that, I wouldn’t be here, said Kalin.
“Darn,” Rina said, wadding her hair into a bun. “I knew I should have clipped it this morning.”
“Sometime today, doll,” said Kalin, hoping to irritate her with the cutesy name.
“Must you be so childish?” she said before slipping into the passage.
Child? I’ll give you child, he thought. Time in a Telvor Beam would fix you.
He slid into the crevice behind Rina, thinking of different ways to torture her. The Telvor Beam was used for medicinal purposes but could be altered to create unimaginable pain. A whiff of perfume floated his way.
It would be a shame to kill her.
What attracted women to such a hideous personality as Vorkis’? It had to be something Vorkis had concocted, some kind of biochemical, after all, that was his specialty. He was startled to bump into Rina who had stopped just before the exit. She was pushing Shiro.
“It’s not working,” said Shiro, his voice squeaking from his constriction. “I can’t move.”
“He is truly wedged,” said Marante, who was outside the crevice in the main tunnel, pulling Shiro’s arm.
“Hurry up,” said Shiro. “I can’t breathe.”
Kalin reached over Rina’s head and pressed his hand against Shiro’s upper arm. “Suck it in on my count. One, two, three.”
Shiro yelped and flew out of the crevice. He bashed sideways into the far wall with a thud, then moaned as he slumped to the ground.
“Did you have to push so hard, King Kong?” said Rina, rushing to Shiro.
“I’m sorry,” said Kalin, exiting the tunnel. “I thought I was gentle.”
“What is a King Kong?” asked Marante, kneeling beside Shiro and checking his vitals with the scanner.
“It’s an old Earth-human movie about a big ape,” said Kalin smirking, aware of Marante’s hatred for Earth-human thrillers. “The insects are great.”
Marante’s eyes formed into dark slits. A loud groan came from Shiro as Rina helped him off the floor. Ragged tears opened both sides of his white shirt.
“Sorry,” said Kalin. Pink splotches covered Shiro’s puffy face, a sign of high compression. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” said Shiro. “I’ll live. Thanks.”
A low rumble grew louder.
“Another quake?” asked Shiro, suddenly totally awake.
“No,” said Rina. “The feel is different. It sounds like...thumping. Listen.”
Kalin ground the soles of his black boots into the dirt. She was right. Impact tremors.
“Scorpion!” yelled Shiro, pointing down the tunnel.
A fifty-foot-tall arachnid was charging at full speed.