Killer Planet

Chapter Six

Almost by instinct, they had curved their path through the jungle in a northerly direction and now, through gaps in the foliage, they could see the outline of another spaceship projecting into the sky. Its smooth lines were interrupted by the bulges of weapons turrets, and it was obvious to Jan and Petra that they were approaching the area where the Stellar Expeditionary Force had tried to establish its beachhead.

“This is it,” Jan said, his voice betraying his excitement. “This is where we find out where Bari has gone to.”

“Great! Then we can all get out of this place.” Petra spoke brightly to conceal her growing concern over Bari Hazard’s probable fate. In spite of all they had learned about Verdia’s inexplicable terrors, Jan was clinging to his belief that highly trained soldiers would have been able to survive where civilian workers had perished. But Petra, judging by what she had seen, found it hard to imagine anybody escaping alive from the kind of widespread destruction which had been visited on the engineering team. She had not expressed her fears to Jan, out of consideration for his feelings, but now there was no need—they were within minutes of learning the truth.

“We’ve got to watch out for some kind of sign or message,” Jan said. “I suppose the most likely place to look would be around the ship itself.” He tried to quell the pounding of his heart as Petra and he moved cautiously out of the tree cover and walked in the direction of the spaceship. Lightning still flickered on all sides to the accompaniment of rolling thunder, sporadically illuminating the huge craft with violet-tinged brilliance.

“It’s just like the other one,” Petra said in a low voice as her eyes took in the fact that the ship had been subjected to incredible bolts of energy which had torn plates out of its pressure skin in some places and had melted the tough alloy in others. “It’s even worse!”

Jan nodded. “There’s a hell of a mess on the ground, as well. I didn’t think it would be as bad as this.”

In the area around the ship the scene was similar to the one they had seen earlier, except that in place of derelict earth-moving plant there was abandoned military equipment.

Tanks, bridge-layers, personnel carriers, helicopters, field guns, jeeps…

The tanks had been fitted with wire-guided missiles in the hope that they would be less prone to electromagnetic interference than radio-guided missiles. Almost all of the missiles had been fired and their guidance wires trailed limply from the inert tanks. Some machines were lying on their sides and others had been overturned, like toys which had been broken and scattered by a child in a tantrum.

The awesome destruction was, if anything, more complete than at the terraforming site. Two years earlier something had swept through the encampment with the force of a thousand tornadoes, laying waste all around it. And whatever it had been had come in fast, without warning, taking everybody off guard.

Jan and Petra knew that for sure—from the evidence of the skeletons.

They were everywhere the young couple looked—some still leaning over the controls of vehicles, some mangled by caterpillar treads. Others were lying in the open, with bony fingers still clutching laser rifles, as though they had been looking in vain for a tangible enemy against whom they could try to direct their fire.

As he walked with Petra through the scene of carnage Jan felt a bleak despair growing inside him. Until that moment he had nurtured the conviction that his brother was still alive. Bari had always been quick-witted and tough and very resourceful. Somehow, Jan had assured himself, Bari would have found a way to reach safety, no matter what forces were ranged against him, no matter how many others had died—but the shadow-eyed skulls mutely told a different story. Their message was that the Killer Planet had been too fast and too powerful, that no human being could have left this battlefield alive.

Leaden-footed, numb with grief, Jan stumbled to a halt and slumped down on a block of vine-covered masonry. Petra, seeing that Jan had at last accepted the truth, kept her distance for the moment, discreetly giving him time to recover from the initial shock.

Jan’s eyes prickled painfully as he surveyed the desolation all around. A well-armed military expedition had been wiped out on this spot, and many centuries before that the population of a huge city had been annihilated by the same agency—the malignant power of the Killer Planet. He could not understand the forces which prevailed on this stygian world, nor could he hope to combat them in any way, so the only course open to him was to return to Earth as quickly as possible and try to pick up the threads of his disrupted life.

Petra came to stand by his side. “I’m so sorry, Jan,” she said, sensing what he was going through.

“PoorBari…”Jan’s voice failed, choked off by the lump in his throat, and he hid his face in his hands, unwilling to let Petra see how close he was to breaking down. “If only I didn’t feel so helpless. My brother was murdered here…and there’s nothing…absolutely nothing I can do…”

Jan broke off as he saw a horrified expression appear on Petra’s face. “Petra! What is it?”

“Over there!” she cried. “Look!” Jan turned to follow the direction she was indicating and instantly stiffened with shock—a battle tank only fifty paces away from them had begun to move.

Jan and Petra leapt to their feet and, instinctively reacting as though the tank were under the control of a human driver, darted into the cover provided by a broken stone column. But the sentient war machine was not deceived. With an ear-splitting screech from its rusted metal tracks, it lurched forward and came directly at them, crushing everything in its path. The trailing grasses, creepers and missile guidance wires which blurred its outline gave it something of the appearance of a prehistoric mammoth.

“Jesus!” Jan breathed. “We’d better get out of here!”

“I’ve already gone!” Petra, sprinting as fast as she could, led the way out of the lee of the protective column before it could be toppled on them. Jan came close behind her as they ran for the cover of the jungle.

There was a nightmarish familiarity about what was happening, except that this time the conditions were worse. They had been quite tired before the deadly chase began and were unable to match their earlier turn of speed, and it would be expecting too much of their luck for another underground cavity to appear just where they needed it. The only point in their favour was that they were closer to the edge of the jungle than before, and even a battle tank powered by all the demons of hell would be repelled by that wall of massive trees.

Striving to keep up with Petra, Jan shouted, “I think we’re doing better…this time. I think we’re…too fast for the…the…”

“Save your breath,” Petra advised. “We’re not in the clear yet.”

The tank churned and clanked close behind them, its corroded components emitting shrieks of mechanical fury. Fear drove them onwards. Running on adrenalin boost, they could hardly feel their feet touching the ground. They did not dare risk a backwards glance, but it was becoming obvious to them that they were outpacing the tank. They reached a flat mossy square which was bounded by the jungle on its far side, and were sprinting across it—only seconds away from safety—when the unthinkable happened.

A second tank burst through the wall of a ruined building ahead of them, barring their escape route.

Petra, who was still slightly in the lead, slid to a halt, her thoughts in chaos. The first tank was howling and thundering close behind them, threatening to crush them at any second. She swung to the left and ran parallel to the jungle’s edge, with Jan on her heels. From behind them came an ear-punishing squeal of metal tracks as both tanks came in pursuit.

They tried to increase speed, but the dreamlike adrenalin flight was no longer possible for them. They were breathing in noisy rasps, and their limbs felt as though they were made of lead. Their feet were slapping loudly on the pavement, a sign that they were both nearing total exhaustion. They were on the verge of collapse, whereas the huge war machines—propelled by some devilish concentration of energy—were maintaining their relentless speed. There seemed to be a note of exultation in the harsh chorus of their gear trains.

With Petra still in the lead, the pair broke through a stand of tall grass, knees sagging at every step, and saw ahead of them a rocky knoll, on top of which was what appeared to be the ruins of a temple. The knoll was surrounded by a water-filled channel which was spanned at one point by a slender marble bridge.

“Across the bridge,” Petra gasped.

They ran towards the bridge, using up the last dregs of their strength, and reached it with the thundering tanks barely ten paces behind. They threw themselves on to the bridge, grabbing its balustrade for support, and by sheer force of will dragged themselves towards the safety of the far side.

The two speeding tanks converged blindly on the bridge and collided with an appalling crash of armour. The impact sent one of them off course. It narrowly missed the bridge and plunged down into the channel, sending curving sheets of water flying in all directions before it disappeared beneath the surface. Simultaneously, the other tank made a slewing correction to its course and came pounding on to the bridge.

Jan, who still had not reached the knoll, felt the marble structure heave violently beneath his feet. There was a piercing crack as the fragile stone beams snapped. He dived forward and grasped some trailing vines as the bridge dropped away from under him, taking the pursuing tank with it.

He clung desperately to the vines as an upflung wave of water smashed over him and seethed back into the moat, then he felt Petra’s strong hands helping him to drag himself up on to the solid rock of the knoll. “Hold on,” she urged. “You’re almost there.” Jan was unable to reply because he had inadvertently swallowed some brackish water, but within seconds of reaching dry land he was able to sit up and take stock of the situation. There was no trace of the death-dealing war machines except for clashing ripples in the turgid water, and the struggling shapes of wounded fish. Although it could hardly have been intended as such, the moat which surrounded the knoll had served as a perfect tank trap.

“We were lucky again,” Jan finally managed to say.

Petra gave him an appraising stare, wondering if he had yet fully accepted that his brother was dead. “Yes, but how long can that kind of luck hold out?”

“Not much longer,” Jan admitted. “Perhaps we’ve had our full ration already.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” Petra was sitting cross-legged on the ground, breathing heavily as she recovered from the second dreadful chase, and Jan could see that for the first time her composure was beginning to crack. She was trembling slightly and her face bore a hunted expression, the blue eyes dulled with weariness and apprehension.

“In that case…” Jan paused, swallowing painfully. His grief over the loss of his brother was returning in full spate now that the immediate threat to their lives had been lifted, but at least he had been freed from the heavy load of obligation which had burdened him for years.

“In that case,” he said more firmly, “the sensible thing to do would be to head back to the Seeker and blast off for home.”