Whatever Gods May Be (29 page)

Something crawled over her hand, and she screamed.  She tried to rise to her knees, but cracked her head on the cave ceiling.  Panic welled up within her; it was all she could do not to throw herself backward and outside amidst the screaming maelstrom of wind and lightning.  She began to cry softly to herself.  She knew she had a fever and could feel chills running over her body, and she wondered if the radiation she had taken in already was killing her certainly and if to even continue to fight on was really important.

The cave that had saved her life suddenly became clammy and hateful.  Her eyes gradually adjusted to the dim light that flowed in from outside, as well as a few phosphorescent minerals irradiating weakly from the floors and walls.  Somewhere further down the cave's endless maw, water dripped from above.  There was something else too, a sound that made her teeth chatter loudly together.

Almost inaudible, a rustling noise filled the cave.  Valry hugged her knees and backed up, her eyes fighting for focus as she retreated.

The rustling sound grew louder and Valry knew that whatever was approaching her could be no more than a few feet from where she was hunched over on hands and knees.

Something even blacker than the surrounding darkness loomed towards the back of the cave where she had moments ago been resting.  Valry froze, not even breathing.

For a moment the shadowy mass didn't move either.  The rustle had ceased, and the only noise that hummed through the oppressive cave was the outside shriek of electrified wind, rain and stone battering against the slopes.

Suddenly, a glow filled the blackness.  It was not a natural light and it was not blinding.  But it was the most terrifying light Valry had ever seen.

She was trapped.  The thing in front of her knew it.  A moment later, and the darkness again grew brighter.  For this time, the hellfire eyes were accompanied by a smiling set of fangs that glowed and smiled with victory.

A low devilish growl joined the drooling grin.  Valry darted to her side, praying that the cave was wider than it was deep.  She did not look back.

The growl snarled into a surprised shriek.  Valry crawled on her elbows and knees until the ground disappeared beneath her.

A moment later and all terror vanished completely in a much more peaceful blackness.

* * *

The vampire was starving.

For an entire night, since its eviction from the nearby city, it had not fed.  Quivering with weakness, the creature lapped at its wounds for nourishment, occasionally chewing on an already tattered limb when the hunger became too strong.  It's body flamed with agony, but so exhausted was the vampire after barely escaping the funnel and the immolating daylight, that it could barely utter a whimper of discomfort.  There was still one arm left, so it would not actually die of famishment, but the vampire sensed that it would shortly require a more substantial alternative.

Injured accidentally by one of the trained Jumpers, the vampire had been forced to escape from the Redeye city.  In the vampire community the hurt or dying were no longer considered viable participants, but instead, a new source of food.  In this respect, the race always remained reverently economical; one who was about to die, was allowed the supreme satisfaction of witnessing its own funeral procession.  This rare tribute, unfortunately, entailed being eaten alive.  The vampire crouched at the back of the cave had decided against enjoying such high honors, and had made a hasty departure from the company of his salivating cohorts.

It found the outside world even more gruesome to deal with.  Racing aboveground, by morning the vampire had found itself in the crater valley, with no immediate shelter nearby to shield itself from the new day.  Panicked, the vampire created its own tomb, by burrowing into the softest ground it could find until nightfall.

The Light funnel had formed midday, and it proceeded to strip the valley floor of all topsoil.  Painfully s'2rprised, the mangled vampire suddenly discovered itself to be exhumed, and quickly being melted by the dim light that peeked through from the black clouds above.

Screaming in terror and agony, the vampire had stumbled blindly through the storm's beginning, searching for someplace to hide its burning flesh.  It was only vaguely aware of the giant Stinger and the human girl also in the valley trying to escape the growing intensity of the storm, but even so, the vampire cared very little for what these two enemies were doing.  Driven by pain, the vampire made for the crater slopes away from the funnel's oncoming ferocity, concerned only with preserving its evil existence for yet awhile longer.

Miraculously, the vampire had found the cave.  But, now, while the rock walls around it provided suitable comfort and safety from the still raging storm outside, the vampire became horribly aware of how starved it was.  A basically, stupid creation, the vampire assuaged these initial pangs of hunger with self-devourment.  It could never have hoped to understand that it's own flesh was worthless to perpetuating its existence, since the vampire's brain functioned only on a motor level.

The creature would have consumed itself completely in time had it not seen the far more appetizing human morsel enter the cave entrance.  Salivating uncontrollably, the vampire crouched in the damp corner of the cave, barely able to believe its stunning good luck.  Though anxious to pounce, the vampire moved slowly toward the unsuspecting girl, deducing correctly that it possessed the advantage of surprise.  It could have settled for a direct attack, but in the vampire's weakened condition, it would much prefer to have killed silently without a struggle.

Unlike its legendary cousin of Earth eons before, the vampire was not a thing of elegant horror.  It's preternatural instincts included none of the enviable abilities of its mythical predecessor, such as physical transformation or hypnotic powers used to render prey helpless and inactive.  The Redeye vampire was instead a lifeless organism that resembled a small monkey, with a mouthful of yellow, decaying fangs and a diabolical stench that would have sent tuxedo-donning Transylvanian ancestors howling with disgust.  A remarkably weak creature, the Redeye vampire nevertheless was one of the fastest things on the planet.

It was this last, deadly asset that the stalking vampire in the cave wished to rely on fully in its preparation for the kill.

Something crunched beneath its feet, though, and with a sudden, misercble realization, the vampire knew that it had attracted Valry's attention.  Though incapable of linear logic, the creature somehow had the feeling that it shouldn't make much of a difference.  There would be a struggle, it thought instinctively -- but the conclusion of the fray would not be surprising.

Grinning, the vampire.  watched the girl move away from it.  Quickly, it's sickened and rotting limbs prepared for the death lunge.

Suddenly, the food was gone.  The vampire shrieked with frustration, as Valry seemed to be swallowed up by the cave floor.  It crawled over to the pit in which Valry had fallen, and stared down into the darkness.  Immediately, it spotted the unconscious figure of the food sprawled out below.  The vampire, somewhat disappointedly, saw that the human had fallen into some kind of underwater grotto.  Valry's body lay half submerged in water and .  .

Again, the vampire howled in astonishment.

For now, it seemed, that it's dinner was being taken away by some mysterious ally.  Furious, the vampire growled and snapped at its oozing body, while staring at the slug move out of the line of sight and taking the lifeless girl with it.

The vampire engaged in a moment of apoplectic temper tantrums before deciding to descend into the grotto.  Like most vampires, it did not like being near water, though ironically, most of the worldwide habitations of the Redeyes were close to large bodies of the wretched liquid.  This demographic anomaly was mainly explained by the Jumpers' necessity for moisture, but it was still a medium that the vampires only barely tolerated.

Slithering down the dank interior of the cave shaft leading to the river below, the vampire growled painfully to itself.  Oblivious to everything, except the smell of fresh meat and blood, the Redeye abomination failed to detect another presence in the cave aside from the mindless slug and the girl ahead.  It was an oversight that would prove most unpleasant for the crippled vampire in a very little while -- and unfortunately for Valry Phillips as well.

* * *

Zolan's attention was torn from the control console.  He had heard a scream.

"Who's there?"

But there was no reply.  Only the slight hum from the glossary console at his elbow broke the Rover's nonfunctioning silence.

Zolan shook his head, feeling a little dizzy -- and perhaps just a little frightened.

And then he remembered the dream.

She had called out to him again.  She had seemed so real.  Panic welled up inside of him.  Was he going mad? So soon?

Suddenly, he heard it.  Water.  Zolan's reaction was instantaneous and confused.  There was no water in the Hall.

Zolan jumped from his seat, groaning as his head spun in a still-stunned frenzy from the crack to it earlier, as well as the scorching treatment to his eyes.  He staggered over to the nearest wall and listened.

Nothing.

Growling irritably, he moved over to another bulkhead and put his ear against it.  This time, there was no mistake.  Though Zolan had spent very little time near one in the past few centuries, either on Earth or any number of GCPP planets, there was no mistaking the universal sounds of a seashore.

Zolan's heart beat excitedly.  The Rover had done it again! The disconcerting dreams of only a few seconds ago were forgotten in the euphoric wake of his new discovery.  For the next ten minutes, he simply hopped around from wall to wall, craning his ear to hear the precious noises of terra firma.

Gradually, cold logic replaced his momentary surge of childlike excitement.  Because the Rover had obviously set down on a world instead of remaining in the Hall, did not promise Zolan that his situation was vastly improved.  The ship's brain core was still nonoperational, which meant he could neither identify the location of this planet, nor determine if it was one he could survive on for an indefinite period of time.  Nor could he activate a rescue beacon to the deep space satellites speckled across GCPP territory.  In the Hall or not, Zolan Rzzdik was still a very lonely and isolated man.

Zolan suddenly grinned.  Well, it doesn't matter.  Even the sounds of an outside and alien world, were better than no sounds at all.  Zolan gave the bulkhead a grateful pat.

"Good boy, Rover," he said sincerely.  Possibly he was being prematurely optimistic; the planet outside could be a poisonous hellhole, and the ocean he had listened to made up of liquid methane.  Zolan felt this was unlikely, mainly because if the Rover had been able to bring itself to a safe landing, it would not have chosen an environment that was deadly for its sole occupant.  Nevertheless, when Zolan descended to the lower levels of the Rover, he checked the consoles to the outside exit.  All of the gauges were frozen to the last points before the Rover had pulled its own plug, and as he had suspected they all registered positively.  Though there was considerable background radiation and an odd flux reading, the surface temperature and atmospheric count were all within the realms of livability.  Possibly, the Rover had chosen a touchdown point near one of the planet's poles, which would readily explain the last set of figures Zolan was studying.

The real problem now lay ahead.  For without aid from the Rover's central computer, there was only one way to obtain access to the outside world, and that was by blowing the emergency circuitry that preserved the hermetic seal.  Zolan performed this task unhesitatingly, then sweated over the intricate pulley system in the airlock that would free the boarding gantry from its housing.  It was an hour of pulling and grunting before the gantry lowered itself to the ground, but after that was accomplished, all Zolan had to do was breach the hull hatch and step outside.

A blast of humid, foul-smelling air slammed into Zolan, and at first he thought that the Rover readings on the atmosphere count were completely invalid.  A few more test whiffs, though, alleviated all of his fears.

Zolan stepped out onto the top level of the three story landing platform.  The Rover was on the edge of the surf line, occasionally being licked by a wave or two below.  A storm was brewing, and the chop further out was increasing, littering the ocean surface with angry whitecaps.  The water was brown and dirty, which suggested to Zolan that the planet was volcanically active.  From all appearances, it looked to be a world in the early stages of transition from a hothouse of lifelessness, to one of promising stability.

After a few moments staring at the harsh land and waterscapes, Zolan decided that it was the kind of world he would not like to stay on for more than a few days.  Nevertheless, it was better than floating blind in the Hall, or lost in the gaps between galaxies.  Until the Rover was restored to full functionability, at least he would not have to endure the claustrophobic confines of the ship.

The winds were picking up, throwing sea spray and sand in the air, but still Zolan did not feel forced to return inside and wait for calmer weather.  Something about the sky caught his attention; he had never seen one quite like it out of all the worlds he had ever visited.  Darting in and between the churning grey and brown storm clouds were globs of black, which were so disparate from the rest of the overcast appearance, that Zolan first thought they were flying crafts of some sort.  Squinting against the flying grit and wind, he could see gradually that they were far from artificial, but at the same time distinctly nonclimatic.