The Timelost by Chris Turner

Author:Chris Turner [Turner, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller, pilot, aliens, empire, soldier, contact, invasion, starship, colonization, fleet
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The locust navigator of Audra’s pirated vessel docked the L-Doraxu on the outcrop above the lakeshore. Below, a strip of the vast desert yawned; here Audra picked out scatterings of human life farther down in the valley, of rude settlements, low hovels and makeshift tents, curling smoke and sooty little fires amongst the small ant-like movement of dark-robed figures. Miko was not amongst them, but somewhere in the ridge itself that towered at her back. She sensed it.

She concealed the ship in a small enclosure on a ledge and ensured it was adequately powered down before unstrapping the locust from its command post, wrapping slimy tentacles around its limp form. She plunged it into one of the holding tanks. Then she sealed the stopper tightly. The creature’s sightless eyes glared and blinked as he twitched. What a miserable existence to live in the body of one of these lifeforms! She had learned the best way to subdue these enemies was to dunk them in the primitive vats, for they, the bloodsuckers of the universe, proved treacherous to the end. If she didn’t return to the ship, too bad, the three specimens would live long in their amniotic fluid...

Exiting the craft, Audra moved toward the cliff wall where glinted a large, locked steel door. While the metal gleamed sombrely in the noonday sun, trails of smoke rose overtop the great crumbling ridge from a set of huge funnels belching waste fumes into the sky. Beyond the cliff face and the steel door was some air manufacturing plant or purification centre, she guessed.

She peered about. Oddly, there was no one around.

Seizing an end of the door with her powerful tentacles, she gave it a savage tug. The slightly corroded metal flew off and she drifted inside, like an emboldened thief, and no stranger to the sepulchral darkness and stale air that flooded out.

An alarm trilled. Such did not concern Audra—she had a gut feeling that the place was only trip-wired. More of a concern was that an intruder recognition system might see her and record her image. This would give the enemy an advantage knowing her physical size and capabilities, something she wished to avoid.

She shot off quickly into the thick, stale-aired passage. She sensed movement behind her. Not organic activity, but robotic devices, chirping and clicking with moving parts. No matter. The algorithms of these devices were inferior to her intellect; she could elude them.

Making good speed, she navigated the tunnel through sombre, dim-lit, pipe-snaking ways, full of cobwebs and dust. Her limbs, unique to Zikri evolution, gave her a steady, gliding gait. She came to a cavernous, high-ceilinged chamber hewed out of the rock. The place was reminiscent of some primitive mine of undeveloped organisms on other planets. Tunnels led in different directions. Down the main shaft, she saw three large pipes trail into gloom.

Audra studied these pipes with detached interest. She detected the slosh of liquids cascading through their massive lengths. Of greater significance was the vast array of engines that towered above her, set in the wall with flywheels, tubes and whirring parts.

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