Cemetery Planet: The Complete Series (12 page)

3.

“What is this all about?” Harvey scanned the faces. Dark and angry wisps of steam. Swirling, billowing glares. Harvey took one look at these ominous creatures and his insides tightened. His forehead broke out in a cold sweat. His heart leapt to his throat. But he swallowed his fear, denied his desire to run, and stood his ground.

“I said, what the
hell
is this all about!” he didn’t let his stare waver as he met each ghost individually, peering into their souls for answers. “Why are you accusing me of something I haven’t done? And what the hell is it that you think I did?”

“You really have no clue, do you, Harvey Crane?” Kip Broders stepped down the stairway. All spirits went silent, watching pensively. “You don’t know a thing about what’s going on here. Not a thing.”

“All I know is what I see. Graverobbing alien cyborgs—and you people. And all of you want me dead.”

“These souls don’t want you dead, Harvey,” Lea said. “They’re just scared.”

“They’re scared?” Harvey couldn’t contain his disbelief. “Of what?”

“Of you.”

“Why would they be afraid of me? What have I done?”

“You work for DeepSix,” Broders said. “And DeepSix is working with the Unspeakable Ones.”

“The-the what? Who are the Unspeakable Ones?”

Broders paused to let the suddenly agitated souls calm down again. Harvey felt tension in the air almost as if it were a real thing, a heaviness that weighed down the spirits into a sepulchral mood. In that snapshot of time, he sensed their fear, and knew it had to be for good reason. Even Broders had the look, as if he didn’t want to say what he was about to say. Yet he straightened and seemed to gather his courage when he spoke.

“In all recorded history of the universe, there has never been a species more insidious, more hostile, and more intelligent. They have a name, but the sound of it being spoken is so disagreeable to the ear that others have come to call them simply the Unspeakable Ones. These beings had no capacity for compassion. They lived to conquer, and they threatened a takeover of the entire galaxy, enslaving and slaughtering its innocent inhabitants. But another race of advanced beings fought back. There was a great war, a galactic battle the likes of which had never been seen. After much bloodshed and destruction on both sides, the race of protectors, the ancient species known simply as the Guardians, prevailed.”

Harvey’s insides were scrambled. He didn’t know what to make of Broders’ disclosure. Broders, for his part, wasn’t finished.

“The prowess of the Guardians was surpassed only by their goodness of heart. They wanted peace, and abhorred killing of any kind. They gained their energy and resources from the cosmos and never, ever waged war unless they were attacked, or unless they saw a great injustice being perpetrated. Then, and only then did they intervene. And when the war was over, because of their virtuous nature, the Guardians couldn’t bring themselves to kill the Unspeakable Ones’ survivors…”

Broders swept his sights over the souls in the vast catacombs. The mood became considerably gloomier in anticipation of what was yet to be disclosed.

“So the Guardians imprisoned them here, on this planet.”

“Here?” Harvey interrupted. “Here on Cemetery Planet? How could they have done that without someone seeing?”

“This happened long before any human had set foot on this world,” answered Broders. “For eons these beings have lain dormant, in a kind of pupae state.”

“Pupae state?” Harvey felt himself sinking further into madness. “What are you talking about?”

“The Guardians, transformed the Unspeakable Ones’ DNA makeup, changing them into like wormlike creatures that inhabit the depths under Mount Mausolus. They’re helpless things, huddling together, and have no resemblance to the great race of warriors they once were. It was more for humiliation than anything else. But it was also a precautionary measure. The Guardians knew they couldn’t just leave the Unspeakable Ones the way they were naturally. So they changed their physical makeup.”

“I don’t get it,” Harvey stated his thoughts bluntly. “If these…Unspeakable Ones have been turned into harmless worms and buried underground, then what’s the problem? And why is everyone so mad at
me
about it?”

Broders and the other spirits grew agitated. The dark streaks of gray swirled with greater turbulence. Lea must have sensed their surging rage and swooped in to intervene. But Broders composed himself quickly, and he revealed something quite shocking to Harvey with his next statement.

“The problem is, Harvey, that the Unspeakable Ones, though they look much, much different than they once did those thousands of years ago when they were on the verge of conquering the galaxy, they still, to this day, are the same, conniving, evil, dictatorial beasts they’ve always been. These monsters have been waiting to make their return and take what they believe is rightfully theirs. They have a plan to steal the human corpses from the graves of Cemetery Planet. They’re going to use our bodies like parasites. And they’re getting help. The only way they can do this is with those cyborgs, and with the assistance of DeepSix!”

4.

“This is crazy! Absolutely, positively, one hundred percent crazy!” Harvey blurted. “An ancient, warlike race made to live under a mountain. No way. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe a word of it!”

The ghostly apparitions appeared restless, conversing among one another. The general feeling Harvey got from them was of resentment still, but now they seemed confused. Lea was among them, clearly agitated by what Harvey had to say.

“It’s not crazy, Harvey,” she was as persuasive as ever, and Harvey, though relieved to see her safe, couldn’t believe she believed this nonsense. What she said to him, though, wiped away his doubt. “Harvey you know it’s the truth. Just think about it. Look at what’s happened to you. Those cyborgs. Why didn’t the scanners pick them up? Because they’re DeepSix androids, Harvey. So is that gigantic factory underground. You saw that place with your own eyes, Harvey. So don’t say it’s crazy. Don’t you dare!”

He had to clutch his own head for fear it would burst. How could he possibly believe such an outlandish tale? It didn’t take long, actually. He remembered all the problems he’d started having with the holomemorials. He thought about all the graves that had been exhumed, and how it all looked so random at first. However, upon closer inspection, he’d found it was anything but random. Then he thought of his various run-ins with the cyborgs. All these concepts were driving him down a path of acceptance. Before he allowed himself to believe, he had questions.

“You said this all took place thousands of years ago…why did these Unspeakable Ones take so long? I mean, Cemetery Planet has been in existence for a long time. Why now?”

“They’re cunning beings,” Broders told him. “And they know they have to act under the cover of secrecy. Otherwise, if they’re found out before their plan is fulfilled, they’re vulnerable. They had to wait until this planet became basically abandoned. No living soul, besides the caretakers, has visited Cemetery Planet in fifty years. Knowing that, the Unspeakable Ones chose now as their time to resurface.”

“And DeepSix?” Harvey asked next. “How are they involved?”

“DeepSix is a corporation just like any other. They exist to make a profit. The Unspeakable Ones are very wealthy, and even after all these millennia have assets throughout the galaxy. Planets of solid gold, diamond, platinum. DeepSix has made a deal with the devil, literally. They’re providing the material assistance, the cyborgs, the vast infrastructure that will enable the Unspeakable Ones to reanimate our bodies and use them as their own.”

A nervous murmur rolled among the spirit ranks. Faint human forms became swirling vortexes as whispers resonated. Even Lea exhibited a profound concern.

“The Unspeakable Ones are pure evil,” Broders continued. “And they will perpetrate atrocities the likes of which humans can’t even begin to comprehend. They must be stopped, Harvey Crane—and you have to stop them!”

“Me!” he searched the room. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“Mount Mausolus,” was Broders’s answer.

“What about Mount Mausolus?”

“Before the Guardians left, they built an emergency beacon, a way to signal them in case the Unspeakable Ones escaped from their underground prison. At the top of Mount Mausolus is where the beacon can be located. We need you to activate that beacon.”

Harvey back stepped. “But why me?”

“That place is seething with dark energy,” Broders said. “A spirit would be drawn in and absorbed by evil if it came too close.

Lea grasped his arm. “Harvey, I’m afraid.”

He couldn’t turn away from her pleading eyes. She looked to him for protection. How could he say no? Fear. That’s how.

“But-but what about the Unspeakable Ones?”

“They’re confined deep underground. The emergency beacon is at the very summit of the mountain, and as we understand, a clear path leads up to it. You should have no difficulties.”

“And I’ll go with you as far as I can,” Lea said anxiously. Harvey saw in her look, heard in the tone of her voice, felt the desperate determination in her energy. She wasn’t a physical being anymore. She never was. But now, more than ever, she seemed alive to him. Whatever that meant.

“I just…I don’t know…”

Another disturbance in the masses. The ghosts were growing restless once again, and it all had to do with Harvey. More heated allegations. More accusatory glares.

“You say you’re not in on this,” Broders spoke for the multitude. “You say you aren’t helping DeepSix with their Faustian deal…then prove it!”

A crushing roar. Harvey knew he was backed in a corner. Pressure from all sides. Lea desperately begging him. A thousand spirits coercing him.

“Well, Harvey Crane,” Broders conveyed the message from every soul in the soupy mix of mist and smoke. “Will you help us? Will you go?”

5.

Harvey stood flatfooted, watching the cyborgs kick and thrash their way into the catacombs, crashing into walls and spilling bones. The spirits, now a giant, turbulent cloud of shimmering light, worked as one, circling and confusing the androids. Not all of the killing machines were affected, and three in particular eluded the paranormal attack, setting their cold, dead stares on Harvey.

“Run!” Broders coalesced from the haze, pointing. “There!”

He sensed Lea pushing him toward a small set of stairs, down into a dark, narrow tunnel. Behind them the spirits were wailing and the robots were roaring. His legs ached from running, yet he pressed on, knowing if he slowed even a little, those mechanical monsters would be nipping at his heels.

Lea was a dazzling chromatic halo, urging Harvey onward, darting into the darkness like a prism of light. Her eternal glow helped him navigate the narrow trail, into an area of large pipes and conduits Harvey recognized from his history. Obsolete technology, but it still seemed operational. He felt the constant whirring even before hearing it, and that soothed him a little. He didn’t know why.

Up and over one large pipe. On his belly to creep under another. He had to contort and twist around several large ducts, heading deeper and deeper into the inner substructure. He came across what looked like air condensers, heating and cooling systems, the whole life support apparatus. The going was tight, and he thought maybe the cyborgs were too bulky and cumbersome to make it through. So he paused just for an instant to catch his breath. A creak and a groan from behind. By the ambient from the machinery, he caught a glimpse of an articulated leg, bending and flexing with surprising agility. That’s when he realized those damn cyborgs could go anywhere he could go, and probably many places he couldn’t.

Lea urged Harvey forward again, and he ran. Tirelessly on and on—until he came to a dead end. The passageway just stopped. The end of the line.

In desperation, he felt with his hands and found a crank. Realizing it was an old airlock, he twisted the round handle. It turned one revolution and wouldn’t budge a millimeter more.

“Shit!” he strained and strained with everything he had. Nothing. Stuck beyond his power. But was it beyond Lea’s? Her ethereal radiance surrounded the crank handle, a shapeless blanket of dense air. He could see the stress against the corroded mechanism. Her effort had an effect, and the crank began turning. In a matter of seconds, she had the door open a crack, just enough for him to crawl under, and not enough for the cyborgs to follow.

It didn’t take long before he heard the androids pounding, screeching, frantic to get past the rusted hatch. He kept running, knowing the mechanical assassins wouldn’t be able to make it. He wondered what they would do next. What retaliatory move would they make?

He got his answer.

A long, slow moan. A series of clicks. The sound of a great motor winding down. The rumbling stopped. The robots had shut down the life support systems. Check and mate.

“Harvey!” Lea was still with him—somewhere. He heard her voice and followed the sound, coughing, wheezing, lungs tightening more with each step. His skin boiled at the tremendous heat escaping the machine room and festering in the underground funk. The air became a soggy sponge, and he had to fight for each breath. The worst part—he had no idea where he was going.

There comes a point when the human body begins to shut down, when it can’t take any more. Harvey, once upon a time, had been an athlete. Not a mega-jock, but he could hold his own in a sprint or pin someone relatively close to his size in a fair wrestling match. He prided himself on his strength and endurance in those days, in the flower of his youth. Those days seemed light years ago. He was glad, though, that he’d been disciplined and had maintained his regular exercise regimen. Otherwise, he never would have made it this far. As it was, from his experience as an athlete, he recognized the signs of muscle failure. Shaking knees. Flittering stomach. Blurred vision. A steady ringing in his ears. The classic signs. He knew if he didn’t make it to safety soon, he’d collapse and never wake up.

That’s when he stumbled. The wall was hard and cold despite the stuffy atmosphere. He wanted just to sit, to rest…to sleep.

“NO!” Lea’s strident command jarred him back to consciousness. He felt feathery for a moment as she helped him to his feet. Weak and wobbly, he responded to her commanding words. “Harvey, don’t give up on me now! It’s just a little further…please!”

He stumbled and staggered, willing himself forward. He sounded like a fish out of water, gasping, grasping at whatever could keep him upright. After a few more steps, he felt it again, the overwhelming need to rest. That was all he needed. Just a few minutes on the floor with his eyes closed and…

“We’re here, Harvey! Right here! Look!”

It was the hardest thing ever just to lift his head, but when he did, he had the biggest jolt of unexpected joy. It was a service bay, complete with racks of space suits, a rover, and, best of all, an autoserve. There was even a working H2O dispenser, an ancient one that operated via hand pump. Everything was there for him to recover, restore, revive.

He got on his knees and thanked God for the fortuitous find. He also thanked Lea, and wondered aloud just where he would have been if it weren’t for her.

“Probably dead a long time ago,” he coughed into his hand, a raspy sound originated from his throat.

“You sound horrible,” she said, ignoring his praise. “Hurry!”

 And when she said that, she caused the transparent cabinet doors to click open, allowing Harvey easy access. All he had to do was put on the suit, one thing he could do without her help.

His first breath in the old suit was, as usual with such an antique condenser, a little tough to swallow. He was grateful anyway. It kept him alive. And as he took the wonderfully stale air, a giant shockwave in the floor made him spit it right back out. A crack in the darkness, at floor level, produced a bout of temporary blindness. The crack grew into a fissure. The radiant illumination of two stars hit him, and he had to shield his eyes. As his vision adjusted, he began to make out shapes. Crosses, then tall spires, columns and cubic slabs, darkened against the stunning star rises, both Fomalhaut and Piscis Austrini blazing in the low horizon. In the center, between the blazing sky and the gloomy foreground, lingered a towering peak, rocky and irregular, rising tall and strong like a fist pointed to the stars.

Mount Mausolus.