Too Close an Encounter by Jan Kotouč

Author:Jan Kotouč [Kotouč, Jan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arbiter Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

***

Major Holst heard a scream in his helmet speaker, and turned just in time to see Dr. Neiwert’s knees buckle beneath her. Dr. Asagiri immediately caught her, and Private Sheung – the team medic – quickly ran over to her.

“What happened?” asked Holst, hoping no one could see his own nervousness. “What’s wrong with her?!”

“I don’t know, sir. Her vital signs are normal,” said Sheung, who was examining the device on the chest of Neiwert’s suit. “Her brain activity is subdued. She lost consciousness.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know!”

“Sir!” Sergeant Williams shouted, and Holst turned his attention back to the Huns. The Huns had once again started to move and were beginning to approach quickly. The marines started to raise their weapons.

“Don’t shoot!” Malthus blurted. “We don’t know what’s happened here! Just don’t shoot.”

“Goddamn it, what do you think happened?” hollered Private Sanchez. “They’re coming for us!”

“Just keep a cool head!” shouted Malthus, but it was apparent that even he had been unnerved by Dr. Neiwert’s collapse. No one now had any idea what was happening.

Several Huns came all the way up to them, and with three arms from a middle quintet, began roughly shoving the marines.

“Major, what the hell do we do?” yelled Corporal Sit. One of the Huns came up to him, and he tried desperately to push it back with his rifle. The Huns were about two and a half to three meters tall, so he couldn’t push it far away from him at all. On the other hand, wearing a combat suit, the man weighed almost twice as much as normal, so the Hun also didn’t move Sit much with its shoves. At least so far. It seemed that the Huns were gradually starting to push at them with greater force.

“Protect Doctor Neiwert!” Holst ordered, and his marines moved to form a protective circle around Neiwert and the other members of the expedition.

“Holst to Ardent,” Holst said into the microphone. “We’ve got a problem here, we may need to evacuate!”

It would take two minutes for the report to reach the Ardent. Holst wondered if they would have even that much time.

More and more Huns arrived.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot under any circumstances!” cried Malthus. Even through the helmet, one could see that he was pale as a sheet. He was frightened like everyone else, but it appeared that at least part of his horror stemmed from how his mission was crumbling under his feet. “Dr. Neiwert can still fix it somehow! Don’t shoot!”

“Looks like we won’t have a choice!” Williams shouted as he tried to push back a Hun.

“No!” Malthus turned to Sheung. “Can’t you give her some stimulants to revive her?”

“We don’t know exactly what’s wrong with her,” Sheung replied. “We could hurt her.”

“If we don’t do it, the Huns will hurt us!” shouted Holst. From out of the corner of his eye he noticed that other Huns were emerging from nearby buildings. There were dozens of them. “Do it!”

“Yes, sir.” Sheung turned back to Neiwert and reached into his belt pouch for stimulants.

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