The rumble grew into a roar. Everyone looked up. A large white cloud formed in sky. Eight huge bright rings appeared through it. A blast of lukewarm air rushed down, spreading dust around the building. Pieces of plaster dropped from the decaying internal wall as the ground shook. Denver’s dog repeatedly barked.
A massive object, in the shape of a key moved in front of the sun, casting a shadow over the area. The mother ship had lowered, but something larger was attached. A rectangular vessel with four large funnels protruding from its side. The circular mother ship appeared to be connected to the bottom of it.
“What the hell?” Ben said.
“This is it,” Layla said. “The data, behavior, experiment and Igor. It was leading to this. They needed more than the root to terraform.”
“What are you saying?” Charlie said.
“I’m saying we haven’t got time for disagreements,” Layla said. “You and Gregor sort out your differences later. We’ve all got bigger things to worry about.”
CHARLIE LOOKED at Gregor and slowly shook his head. Gregor glared back. The woman in front of Layla turned and said, “What do you know?”
She seemed non-aggressive, unlike Charlie and Denver. Layla only ever knew Charlie as a vague acquaintance during her first year in North America. She found him a little abrupt. It all changed after they moved to the farm. Gregor and Charlie became equally as obsessed over one another. Sabotaging anything around each of their respective operations, employed in a dangerous game of one-upmanship.
Layla jabbed the alien rifle into the back of Charlie’s head. He shuffled forward a few inches. “You need to listen to me. I’ve observed what they’re planning to do. Croatoans testing with an atmosphere box. A timeline near completion. Igor mentioning a ship to complete the process. You only need to look around you to see the place is primed for it. The ship up there is the final part. We need to figure out a way to stop this. Together.”
Charlie shrugged. “I’ve already got a plan. Been working on it for years while you’ve been sucking up to the croatoans and butchering the population.”
“And you can hatch it in a day?” Layla said. “Because I reckon that’s all we’ve have. Maximum.”
“What’s your plan, Jackson?” Gregor said.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“He wants to put a bomb on the mother ship,” the woman said. “Blow it out of the sky. Ben was supposed to get information about the shuttle runs.”
“Shut up, Maria,” Charlie said.
Layla moved around to Charlie’s side, in order to get eye contact. “Trust me. It’s do or die for all of us.”
“Charlie,” Gregor said. “Call off your two pet dogs, and I’ll give you the information you need. We’ll do this together. After that, you and I will sort our differences the traditional way. Do we have a deal?”
Gregor stood up and dusted himself down. Charlie nodded toward Denver. He lowered his rifle.
Layla lowered hers. “Good. Now we can talk live civilized people. Do we have a deal?”
“There’s nothing civilized about you,” Charlie said. “But you have a deal. The overall requirements for the planet are bigger than Gregor’s ego. Then again, they always have been.”
“Replace my name with yours and the statement still makes perfect sense,” Gregor said.
“For God’s sake. Will you two knock it off?” Layla said.
She looked skywards again at the joined vessels. They’d maintained a position high above a few puffy light orange clouds that drifted lazily past.
“How can you get me on a shuttle to the mother ship?” Charlie said.
“Easiest way is to put you in a food container,” Gregor said. “If we still have people left at the farm, it’ll work.”
“You mean processed humans?” Denver said.
“Does it matter now?” Layla said.
The last thing they needed was to keep raking up their individual choices for survival. Layla noticed Gregor’s eyes kept flicking toward Ben. He nervously edged further away, until he flinched as his back hit the semi-collapsed interior wall.
“We arrange oxygen to be left behind the stacked trays,” Gregor said. “You get in before the container’s loaded onto a shuttle. Alex or Vlad can divert the croatoans elsewhere. We launch a diversionary attack on the farm. The shuttle will make an emergency take off.”
“And we get shot with the cannon on the roof of the shuttle?” Denver said.
“The croatoans are pragmatists. They don’t fire cannons toward their own buildings.”
“You sure that’ll work?” Charlie said.
“I can’t think of another way. You sure the bomb will work?” Gregor said.
Charlie walked over and stood a couple of yards in front of Gregor. “It’ll work. But don’t bet on me not coming back, my friend.”
Gregor’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t test me, Charlie. I could—”
Masonry exploded inwards.
Layla jumped back, covering her face.
A light blue beam shot through the room, passing between Ben and Charlie. It punctured a basketball-sized hole in the opposite wall.
Bricks clacked to the ground. Dust filled the air.
Gregor picked up the rifle, spun, and pointed it through the ivy. “There’s a big ugly alien outside.”
“Is everyone all right?” Charlie said.
Gregor fired two shots; both went clean through with no damage. “What the fuck? It turned into a blur.”
Charlie crouched over Gregor and pulled leaves to one side. “We met that thing in New York.”
“Augustus sent a hunter after you.”
Layla ran across the room and knelt next to the gap that had been blasted out of the wall. She leaned around saw a large croatoan prowling outside. It threw its weapon to one side and drew a sword from its thigh, chrome with circular holes running down the middle. Larger than the ones carried by the security guards at the farm.
She squeezed the trigger. The rifle bucked against her shoulder. The croatoan shifted to its left at an unbelievable speed. Denver joined her by the hole and fired his rifle. The alien dodged again in a blur.
“It’s impossible to hit the thing if it’s facing you,” Denver said. “We need to split up.”
The alien raised its sword and moved toward the building.
“Take the bomb to the edge of camp,” Charlie said. “Get everything prepared. Gregor says this thing’s after me. I’m going to create a diversion.”
Denver nodded and ran to the back of the building. Ben stayed against the wall, shuddering. Layla decided not to argue and followed.
“Get moving now,” Charlie said.
She stopped and looked back. “Take the croatoan rifle.”
Layla threw it to Charlie. He caught it in his left hand.
Ben scrambled past her. Charlie jumped through the ivy and stood in front of the building. The alien pointed at him with its graphite gauntlet, and swung its sword in a circular motion above its head. Charlie rushed to his right, back toward the forest in the opposite direction to the farm. The alien hopped after him.
Chapter 33
DENVER WIPED the sweat and dirt from his eyes. The journey back from Manhattan was long and tedious. He’d only caught a few hours sleep as they drove back over night. The weight of the bomb, the mines and the other supplies in his backpack seemed heavier than his usual load. Luckily his new rifle helped balance things out.
Pip trotted by his side, staying close. Even she didn’t like Gregor that much and Denver had come to learn his dog’s intuition was often worth paying attention to.
He’d noticed Gregor glancing at him and the weapon. An expression of jealousy, but then he had an automatic weapon so he had nothing to concern himself in terms of who had the biggest penis replacement.