Battle Beyond Earth: Resurrection (24 page)

Jones slowly got up and looked around at the carnage. He wasn't sure what part of the creature was organic and what was machine, as it was scattered in equal measure.

"Everyone okay?"

But they were too horrified to answer. Jones saw Taylor lying lifelessly in a pool of the disgusting red fluid. He rushed to the Colonel's side and turned him over. As he did so, he heard a groan and breathed out in relief at finding him alive.

"You're crazy, you know that, right?"
                                                                    

Taylor groaned again and wiped the liquid from his face and brushed it off his equipment.

"Yeah, and we're still alive."

Jones helped him to his feet. They looked over at Babacan being carried between two of the others. He could barely support his own weight, but he still looked up and nodded at Taylor in appreciation.

"Let the drones carry Babacan. We have work to do. We must keep moving. Longer this takes us, the more people we lose up there. If it takes too long, we won't get off this fucking place at all."

Taylor turned and carried on. He got up to a jogging pace and quickly felt pain shrieking through his body. He was limping slightly on his left leg, but he fought through the agony. He looked back to check on the bomb and could see the two carrying it were not far behind.

"How much further?"

"As far as we can take it, Jones."

Suddenly, a door opened, and six Morohta warriors rushed out towards them. Taylor turned, deflected a shot with his shield, and ran right at the first one. He smashed it off its feet, and with his shield held high drove his Assegai deep. Gunfire rang out as the others with it were cut down. He pulled out the Assegai to strike again, but the wounded creature swung the stock of its weapon towards him. The sharp edges cut into his jaw and up to his lip, but he quickly countered. He lifted up the Assegai and plunged it down into the warrior’s neck until it went limp and collapsed.

"Keep moving!" he shouted, getting up to pace once again and ignoring the blood pouring down his neck. They carried on for another hundred metres when the chasm opened up into a vast underground canyon lake. It spanned out as far as the eye could see, and even the mouth was several hundred metres wide. A hundred metres into the water along a metal walkway was a green illuminated tower. It reached up to the ceiling and into a vertical corridor that seemed to rise to the surface.

"This is it, this is what Irala meant," said Jones.

Taylor looked around suspiciously for any sign of danger, but there was nothing. For a moment he marvelled at the beauty of what they were beholding. It was a magical sight, and Jones was clearly thinking the same.

"Be a damn tragedy to destroy this level of beauty," said Jones.

"Not as much as it would be to see Earth die."

Taylor pointed to the two carrying the weapon.

"You two, Jones, Antos, on me. The rest of you hold your ground, and do not let anything pass!"

He led the way forward to the gantry over the water that led to the tower. It was just two metres wide and made of a widely dispersed mesh that allowed you to see every glimmer of movement of the water below. He ran faster and faster towards the tower. Every pace he drew nearer, he expected some new danger to step out from the far side, and yet nothing came. They reached the end; the gantry circled around the tower and was a complete dead end. The base of the tower was ten metres thick and glowed from many semi-transparent windows.

Engravings and rune-like letters were cut and painted over almost every piece of surface area, but it meant nothing to any of them. Taylor placed his hand on the side of the structure and could feel the warmth it was transmitting. He could also feel a pulsating that was not unlike a heartbeat.

"What is it, machine, living, or what?"

Taylor shrugged. "Soon enough it will be nothing at all."

He gestured for the weapon to be placed down on the far side of the gantry where it could not be seen from where they had entered. Taylor and Jones took up positions either side of the spherical bomb, just as they had practiced.

"Are you ready for this?"

Jones nodded.

"They each placed a hand on the exact points they had been taught, twisting their hands back and forth to points as if they were opening a safe. They finally heard a clicking sound, and the space beneath their hands slid open to reveal a small keypad. The language was Krys, but it didn't matter; they had memorised the sequence.

Jones looked back into Taylor's eyes one last time, but Taylor did not hesitate.

"Three, two, one..." he said.

He punched the eight-digit code in just as Jones did in exact sequence. The keypad flashed three times and displayed a countdown.

"That's it, no going back," said Jones.

"Let's get the fuck out of this damned place."

They rushed back along the gantry and could already hear gunfire as they approached the rest of the team. But it was nothing more than a light skirmish.

"They really screwed up in defending this place."

"Yes, a mistake they are not likely to make twice. So let's be sure to make the best of this while we can," Taylor replied.

They reached the line of Immortals. They were finishing off a Stalker with sustained fire until it finally dropped dead.

"Time to go on home!" Taylor shouted to them all.

They got to their feet and got to a running pace. They passed over the trail of bodies they had left in their wake when they reached the body of Wilcox. It was being recovered by two of the drones. The two halves of his upper body flopped about as internal organs fell to the floor. It was a sickening sight, but they had no time to handle it in any better manner. They rushed to the elevator floor, and Taylor pointed for Babacan to do whatever he had to in order to activate it. He obliged, and they heard it power up and begin to move. They were almost clear and in the shaft when the chameleon-like armoured creature stepped into view. It reached in, and grabbed Jones by his right leg and pulled.

The Lieutenant was launched off his feet. His head smashed into the floor of the elevator, and he was dragged forward. Taylor jumped forwards to reach for his hand, but it wasn't quick enough. Jones flew out of the narrowing gap to the elevator shaft, and a second later they were rising up at rapid speed and could do nothing.

"Stop, go back down!" Taylor cried.

Babacan tried to manipulate the controller once again, but he could do nothing, and they continued up to the surface. Taylor had not felt so powerless in a long time, and he felt his blood boil with rage.

"He can't survive against that thing," said Bailey, but Taylor didn't want to hear it.

"Yes, he can. We are not leaving him behind!"

* * *

Jones was launched from the elevator until he felt the alien’s grip release. He landed hard on the floor and rolled to a halt. He was back on his feet quickly and reached down for his rifle, only to find it had been yanked free when he was torn from the elevator. His hand reached for his Assegai, and he activated it and his shield, taking up a guard position and preparing to defend himself. The alien just stood in front of him as if with no fear or concern at all. Jones was utterly terrified but did everything he could to hide it.

"You should never have stepped foot on this sacred ground," said the creature.

"Yeah, well maybe you shouldn't have come looking for trouble."

"How can you ever believe you can win? You are small and weak. You are a toy to be played with until we grow tired of doing so."

"Then you know nothing about the Human race."

"You do not know who I am, do you?"

"Should I?"

"Prince Ganbaatar, son of Bolormaa, the Undefeated Scourge."

Jones tried to imagine what Taylor would say, and to feel the courage that he would.

"Undefeated? There is always a first time for everything. You are no Prince of mine. I am William Jones of the Immortals, and you will remember that name until the moment I drive this blade through your skull."

"Immortals?" Ganbaatar asked.

He began to laugh in a slow and echoey way that resonated through the chasm.

"It will be my pleasure to not just kill you, but all of these Immortals. Nothing can stand in our way."

"Indeed, well I am."

The alien didn’t respond. He only stretched out his arms and opened his hands palm forward. Jones couldn't work out what he was doing, when suddenly a blade launched from each of the insides of his arms and he grasped them at the hilt. Each blade was a metre and a half long and straight. They glistened like diamonds under light, despite the dimly lit environment. Jones could see the alien was enjoying himself, and his sense of confidence was overpowering.

"Why do you want to end our lives? To what end? What do you get out of it?"

But Ganbaatar said nothing and began circling him. Then he roared with anger and rushed forward with both blades in a quick cut towards Jones' head.

* * *

The Immortals rushed off of the ramp of the elevator but stopped as they realised Taylor was still aboard.

"What are you doing?" Alita pleaded.

"I will not leave him behind."

"But you'll die," she replied, tears seeping down her face.

Taylor's comms unit flashed, and he accepted to hear Cohen's voice.

"Taylor, come in."

"I'm here," he replied solemnly.

"Have you accomplished your mission?"

"Yes."

"Then get back up here. We can't hold on much longer!"

"Lieutenant Jones is stuck down there, dragged back down by that monster I thought you killed. I'm going in after him."

"Taylor, that is the spawn of Bolormaa," Jafar added.

"I don't care. I left a Jones to the enemy once before. I won't do it again!"

"Taylor you..." began Cohen.

But Taylor cut the signal off.

"They are your responsibility now, Lieutenant," he said to Alita, "You get them to safety."

She couldn't find any more words to say to try and stop him, and he put his hand into the console and activated the elevator. As it began to move, he pulled the huge Morohta hammer from his back and held it in readiness in both hands. He soon vanished from Alita's view. He was trying to psych himself up mentally as he felt his grip clench tighter on the hammer.

"Come on, Jones, you can make it," he said quietly as the elevator increased in pace.

* * *

Jones' head smashed into one of the skeletal-like support beams, and he felt the impact ring through his ears, knowing it was only his helmet that kept him conscious, let alone alive.

He looked back just in time to see Ganbaatar's blade coming for him once again. He raised up his shield again, and the impact smashed him out and away from the wall. His legs were weak now, and his right arm was bleeding badly from a deep cut below the shoulder. Ganbaatar paced confidently around him as if toying with him. Jones knew he was no match for the creature, but he was determined to land a strike. He acted even more exhausted and weak than he was, and as Ganbaatar rushed forward again with a vertical cut, he began to step one way to counter and then immediately leapt the other, coming up on the inside of the beast’s right arm. He thrust his Assegai into the centre of the arm, and Ganbaatar let out a shriek of agony.

Jones smiled, realising the alien’s arrogance had allowed him to land a strike he should never have been able to make. The sword fell from its wounded arm, but a moment later the open hand lashed out at his head. It hit like a freight train and threw him back off his feet. As he rolled and tumbled, he finally came to a standstill as he smashed into a metal rail. He felt his Assegai drop from his hands. He could hear it bounce and fall, and to his horror the railing was all that had stopped him from falling down a deep canyon and into the blackness.

 
His weapon was gone now, and with it all hope of hurting the alien Prince. Taylor's words of close combat rang through his head now, as he understood how true they were. Ganbaatar seemed to patch over the wound with something from his suit that burnt into his flesh and caused him to screech once again. It was a dreadful sound that emanated in Jones’ ears. He knew he was finished now and made no attempt to fight back. He got up onto one knee and smiled at the creature.