The Archer's Paradox - The Travis Fletcher Chronicles Page 28

  “Seasons don’t fear The Reaper,” he hummed to himself as he climbed over seats and bodies, “Nor do the wind the sun or the rain,” he sang quietly to himself as he looked dispassionately at the horror surrounding him, “We can be like they are,” no-one took any notice as he calmly made his way to the door, “Take my hand.” He purposefully smacked the controls on the last syllable of the line he was singing.

  He stood in the opening, half expecting a stray shot to suddenly end his life, or what he was imagining to be his life, but would that be so bad anyway?

  The firing stopped and all he could hear were the moans of pain and anguish behind him. Into the silence he shouted, “It’s me you want!” he looked to where Lak’in lay in Xnuk Ek’’s arms. “Leave everyone else alone and I will come quietly.” he announced, raising his hands behind his head in surrender.

  “Travis Fletcher!” Xnuk Ek’ gasped, “Have you lost your sanity?”

  “No,” he replied under his breath while keeping an eye on the soldiers outside as they altered their positions, “what’s happening here is insane.” he nodded at the bloodbath behind him. “It has to stop.” he paused for a moment before adding, “And I promised Dragonfly I would look after you.”

  “Step off the craft!” A soldier with more braid on his uniform than the rest had stepped forward and stood with his hands on his hips.

  “Promise to leave everyone else alone first!” Travis countered.

  The officer looked uncomprehendingly at Travis, then whispered to the soldiers to his left and right. “Step off the craft or we will take you by force.” he reinforced his order by gesturing menacingly with his gun. It occurred to Travis that the officer was unsure of his ground or else he would have his soldiers rush him the moment he appeared. This gave him a little more bravado than he should have felt. Even though he had convinced himself that this was all a dream created by his dying brain, it still felt too real to ignore.

  “No, not until you give me your word of honour.” Travis repeated. His resolve began to waver as he saw the officer motion to his men and weapons were steadied towards him. Travis’ heart stopped. This is it. He thought and he silently bid farewell to his life before he became aware of Xnuk Ek’ standing by his shoulder.

  “Travis Fletcher asks that the survivors,” she indicated inside the shuttle, “be allowed to live, and he will come with you without a struggle.” she stated in a clear voice. To Travis, she whispered, “Your language is unknown to them, they do not understand you.” she raised her voice again, “And I will accompany him to act as interpreter.”

  “No!” Travis gasped at her.

  “The choice is mine.” she replied. “And I also made a promise, to Niji No Tori, to keep you safe.”

  The officer consulted another soldier for a moment before turning back. “You may accompany Travis Fletcher,” he said to Xnuk Ek’, “and we will attend to the wounded and survivors.”

  Travis felt Xnuk Ek’’s cool fingers wrap round his hand to bolster his flagging courage. This time he did not flinch or recoil but he squeezed back, looked up at her and smiled wanly. “Then, let’s keep each other safe.” he said as they stepped off the stricken craft and onto the hangar floor.

  As soon as their feet touched the ground, two burly warriors frog-marched them to the commanding officer who looked them up and down with a sneer curling his lips. His bright, blue eyes glinted cruelly as he motioned his men towards the shuttle. Travis could see a second craft, similar in design to the one they had just left, behind and to the right. It too had suffered substantial damage. Its nose was crumpled and the fuselage twisted to the right. Travis surmised that the second shuttle had rammed theirs as they were manoeuvring to land, but whether by accident or design, he could not tell.

  “So, you are Travis Fletcher.” The officer smiled, his voice dripping with malice. I lost my pilot and two of my best men when we collided with your ship.”

  Travis pulled himself up to his full height, still a few inches shorter than the man in front of him and locked eyes with him. “And you killed half a dozen passengers then shot our pilot and two others in cold blood when we tried to get out.” His voice full of indignation. How dare this arsehole blame him for this mess?

  The officer looked at Xnuk Ek’ for a translation. “Travis Fletcher says that our pilot is also dead along with a number of passengers.” she paraphrased. The officer just snorted derisively. Just then a number of sharp reports split the air, along with screams of pain. Travis realised with horror that the soldiers were not saving the survivors but killing them! He whirled towards the shuttle then back to the officer to see him pointing his gun directly between Xnuk Ek’’s eyes, who was backing away slowly with her eyes full of dread.

  “And neither do we need an interpreter, Otoch scum.” he spat. “We have no need to have a conversation with him.”

  Hot tears of anger burned behind his eyes. “No!” Travis launched himself forwards with his hands outstretched and with no real plan but was parried by a vicious blow to the side of his head for his trouble. He collapsed sideways, his head reeling and the taste of blood in his mouth. He floundered wildly, trying to get back to his feet, but his knees buckled beneath him and his sense of balance seemed to have deserted him. He was dimly aware that the massacre on the shuttle had stopped. All dead. He thought to himself. Because of me. His resolve drained away and he slumped back to the ground.

  As Travis reeled away from the blow, Xnuk Ek’ saw an opening while the warrior was distracted and off-balance. She summoned her mental energy and lifted a large packing crate off to one side and sent it hurtling at the warrior. It struck him with considerable force on his upper right shoulder and sent him crashing to the ground cursing in pain, his weapon skittered away across the hangar floor. She was aiming for his head, but the effect was good enough. She also detected that the killing on the shuttle had stopped and discerned that the others would be returning momentarily. She reached down, grabbed Travis Fletcher under his armpits and hauled him to his feet, shaking him to get his attention. “We should run.” she urged.

  Travis dragged himself out of his funk and looked up at Xnuk Ek’. “Where?”

  She pointed to the side of the hangar where the exits were. Large doors for moving cargo to the main ship and smaller ones for personnel lined the wall. The cargo doors were all shut, as were most of the personnel doors, but one remained open about fifty yards away. “There. We must get into the ship. We will be safe there.” she finished decisively.

  Travis could not for the life of him understand how that would save them from the wrath of a dozen murderous and angry soldiers.

  His reticence was obvious to Xnuk Ek’. “We must go, now!” she insisted and pointed to the soldier she had injured who was reaching for his gun, while nursing what looked like a broken arm and screaming orders to ‘kill the Otoch woman’ and ‘maim The Original’. Warriors were emerging from their killing spree on the shuttle and looking round for them.

  Travis pulled his shattered wits together. “Let’s go!” he shouted, pushing Xnuk Ek’ ahead of him. She had the longer stride and was probably much fitter than he was so could cover the ground quicker. Plus, they still wanted him alive, he hoped.

  “No,” Xnuk Ek’ countered, “you go ahead and I will create a shield to protect us.”

  Travis had seen mental shields used before to protect from weapon’s fire but that was by trained guards. Did she have that skill? There was no more time to argue so he set off at full tilt towards the door.

  About fifty yards. He thought to himself. About thirty strides, I’ve run further. He reasoned, trying to keep his fear from getting the better of him. Five, ten. He counted as his feet pounded on the hard surface of the hangar. Crack! The firing started and a beam passed through his peripheral vision. Then another and another. He felt Xnuk Ek’ wince as the shots started to impact her shield, each one more painful than the last. Fifteen. Packing crates ahead. Jump. Half way there. Sweat beaded on his brow fr
om the effort and fear. He could see the door looming ahead. Sanctuary, if Star was to be believed. He had no choice but to believe. The intensity of fire increased and he sensed Xnuk Ek’’s pain increasing as her shield weakened. Twenty. More packing crates. Jump! Nearly there! Crack! That one sounded louder than the rest. Regret and an apology brushed his mind a moment before Xnuk Ek’’s body crashed into him, knocking him off his feet. She hit the deck like a rag doll, struck her head on a packing crate and lay still, an ugly wound in the small of her back, to the left of her spine, still smouldering.

  Travis scuttled over to where she lay whilst keeping low behind the crates they had just hurdled. Blood seeped out of a gash across her temple, framing her head like a dark liquid halo and the wound in her back, about the size of his fist, oozed sticky red goo. The material of her jumpsuit was fused to her flesh around the hole by the heat of the beam. Inside the wound looked, to Travis, like hot raspberry jam where the disruption charge had scrambled muscle, sinew and internal organs. He could see her spine under the goo and she was not moving.

  “No no no no no no.” he moaned, stroking her hair gently. “Not you too.” he bent down and gently kissed her head.

  The firing had stopped. “Show yourself and we will not harm you!” he recognised the voice of the officer who had hit him. “There is nowhere for you to run!” he finished, stating the obvious.

  Travis saw the faces of the passengers on the shuttle: Xnuk Ek’’s lover, Jagā No Ashi's father and the rest he was never introduced to but who had all volunteered to take him home before even meeting him. Some of them looked so young, like the couple who were shot as they opened the door after the crash. And now Xnuk Ek’; a beautiful star had been snuffed out by this band of arrogant barbarians, just as he was getting to know this beautiful, complex person. A red mist of fury descended over his eyes, banishing all rational thought and reason as he stood and faced his attackers. Synapses and pathways in his brain that had lain dormant in all humans were suddenly snapped open. Blind fury forced energy and messages through these unused paths as his genes remembered their ancestry and heritage, resulting in a crackling ball of energy in the palm of his hand. He looked at the white, pulsating ball for a moment before hurling it in the general direction of the officer who was shouting orders at him. Not being a natural sportsman, the shot was not particularly accurate but as the ball hit a nearby crate, it exploded in a shower of hot metal. It was enough to send all the attackers leaping for cover. Still in the grip of his berserk rage, a second ball formed itself. He hurled it with a deal more accuracy and the crate shielding the commanding officer shattered, blowing him onto his back.

  Travis began to feel groggy from the effort but he pushed it down. “Back off fuck-wits, or I’ll kill the lot of you!” Travis screamed, hurling a third to emphasise the point, but it was a step too far as he sagged to the floor, a wave of exhaustion and nausea washing over him, but it was enough to make the attacking soldiers pause for a moment.

  A low moan caught his attention. He looked over at Xnuk Ek’’s body and saw it move. Not dead! He crawled to her side and turned her over, cradling her head in his arms. Her eyes opened. Travis’ heart leapt with joy and he forgot his weariness.

  Her eyes were dull, her lips pale and her face creased in pain. “You must go.” she whispered, a tickle of blood bubbled from the corner of her mouth.

  “Not without you.” he replied, gently.

  “I am dying.” her voice was edged in pain. “I have failed you. Please go.” she pleaded.

  “Not without you.” Travis repeated. “I can’t do this without you.”

  “Give up and show yourself!” Obviously the commanding officer had recovered from Travis’ attack.

  “Fuck off!” Travis shouted back from behind his bunker of crates. “Anyone showing their face gets it melted off.” But it was all bravado. Not only did he not have enough energy left to create another ball but his rage had subsided and his body had forgotten how to, but no one called his bluff.

  “We can wait!” came the reply, but the impatience in the voice belied the statement.

  Travis slumped forward, tears welling up behind his eyes. “Too many people have died because of me.” he said, stroking her hair. “The boy looking after me, the guards who tried to protect the doctor, all those people on the shuttle.” he paused a moment. “All because of me.”

  “I am sorry, Travis Fletcher.” Xnuk Ek’ said, resigned to her fate.

  “Well, no more!” he replied, heaving Xnuk Ek’ onto his shoulder. Only a few more yards. He reasoned to himself as he struggled to his feet. But to what? He took his first faltering step and nearly buckled under the weight of the woman over his shoulder. Travis never was much of a weightlifter, even without having all his energy sapped. He could feel the soldiers getting up from behind their barricades and levelling their weapons at them, preparing for the final volley. It seemed that they were no longer prepared to take him alive. The first shot cracked past his face so close he felt his cheek go numb and he braced himself for the next to strike him down. A sudden surge of energy that was not his own coursed through his body as he took his next step, then another and another as he powered from one leg to the other, his legs pumping like pistons on a steam engine. Deadly beams cracked around his head spurring him on.

  The pair tumbled through the door that promised safety just as Travis’ last reserves of borrowed energy dissipated and he crumpled to the floor. Xnuk Ek’’s body rolled off him and lay still. Travis heaved himself onto one knee. They were in the anteroom between that hangar and the main ship, with hermetically sealed doors on both walls. When all the doors were locked, the hangar could be ejected, along with the other three nacelles as escape pods. Beyond the doors was an anteroom where passages through the stubby struts connecting the hangar to the main ship and bounce tubes to take people up to the ships in the gantries. Travis remembered a similar arrangement to get into the gaming centre.

  Travis gently rolled Xnuk Ek’ over. She was still breathing, but it was laboured and shallow. She was unconscious, her skin was clammy and cold and blood still trickled from her nose and the corner of her mouth, showing the extent of her internal injuries. “Oh what have you done to yourself, you stupid bitch.” he chided the prostrate body gently. He cast around for somewhere to hide but the anteroom was just one huge empty space. “But I’m still not leaving you.” he grabbed the collar of her jump suit and started to drag her through the joining corridor of the strut, but her body had become a lead weight since he was no longer being augmented by Xnuk Ek’’s last remaining strength.

  He had got no more than ten feet when the first soldier appeared, followed by another and another. This was it, game over. He had nothing more to give. He just hoped it would be quick, but he was determined not to go out with a whimper. He lay Xnuk Ek’’s head gently on the ground and straddled her prostrate form protectively. At least she would never know how completely he had failed her.

  The officer in charge shouldered his way through and sneered. He was nursing what looked like a broken arm. “Shoot his legs off to stop him running.” he ordered one of his men.

  “What about the woman?” Someone asked.

  He looked at the pathetic form at Travis’ feet. “She’s dead already,” he replied, “she just does not know it yet, but finish her anyway.”

  The soldiers raised their guns and Travis raised a two finger salute as a final act of defiance. He was about to add a suitable curse when a white ball sizzled over his head and buried itself into the chest of the closest soldier, who fell to the floor with a grunt and a startled look on his face. The other soldiers immediately sprang to readiness and swept the area looking for the sniper, but there was nowhere to hide in the connecting corridor. Another bolt sizzled over Travis’ head and ended the life of another attacker, then a third, then a veritable cascade, like a miniature meteor shower. Whoever was shooting had unerringly perfect aim and the whole thing was over in a matter of seconds without th
e Éðel soldiers being given a chance to return fire. Then silence. Travis, who had remained as still as a statue, turned round to face his saviour but the corridor behind him was empty. He thought he heard a faint whirring above him and looked up just in time to see a dome, about the size of a large dessert plate rotating to cover two stubby barrels. Automated defences? Travis thought to himself. She knew. That’s what she meant about being safe. The ship was supposed to be empty, other than them, so Travis discounted a human marksman.

  “Why couldn’t you be out there?” he cursed at the ceiling. “You could have stopped all this!”

  He looked down at Xnuk Ek’, still unconscious at his feet. Now what? He knelt down beside her and stroked her cheek. She was still breathing but her complexion was the colour of porridge and her skin was cold and clammy. He had to get her medical attention as soon as possible. The vague remembrance of Xnuk Ek’ relocating him to his cabin after he had been prematurely released from the White Room came to Travis. “Time to return the favour.” he smiled gently at her. He got up and stepped over and round the bodies on the floor. He felt as though he should be horrified but he felt nothing, only a notion that there was not enough bodies.