Auria

Chapter 24 - A Way Out?

”Where are we going?” asked Auria, still holding an aching head and dragging bare feet over cold, slick stone.

Gen pulled her along with him, away from the alien craft.  The pale, creeping shadow followed closely behind.  In the distance, a large, brown animal bobbed and bound toward them on all fours.  Gen stopped to catch a breath, knowing he couldn't use the gift without slowing down the pace.  The shadow passed, leaving Gen to scratch his head and stare.  Fixating eyes on both the shadow and the approaching, brown monster, he blinked repeatedly before realizing the creature coming toward him had come straight out of a dream.

“What's going on?” asked Auria.
“We are.” said a smiling Gen.  “We live.”
“What's that thing.” she slurred, seeing and hearing the galloping, dark beast.

Gen's eyes finally focused on the behemoth in the short distance between them.  If not for seeing a face, he wouldn't have known.

“Sot.  What happened to you?”

Sot began to walk upright, steadily crossing onto Gen's path, though now side-tracking around the outside.

“I've come for you.” said Sot in a harsh, deep voice.
“Can you help me carry her?”
“No.” said Sot, flexing leg muscles, shifting nearer to the ground.

The ape lept into the air between buildings, sprouted skin-flaps and soared.  A gray suit ran after the crew; Sot headed his way.  Three other suits joined the chase after departing the huge landing-craft.  The ship rose, hovered and charged weapons, its ramp slowly closing.  The silver, tube-shaped craft slowly rotated with forward guns coming into view.  The gray-suited men halted where they stood and opened fire.  Sot folded arms and legs and lengthened his body to hasten his descent.

Gen continued to pull and heave a disabled Auria.  She stumbled and mumbled, barely awake nor able to walk.  He stopped to meditate after he felt buzzing plasma-bolts whip the wind into a frenzy.  His slowing pulse halted mid-pump, as did everything else within sight.  With dark pupils looking ahead, he saw Bob move in a peculiar way, almost lifted above the ground.

“How did that chicken-shit get here?”

Turning to watch for plasma-bolts, he heaved harder, raising Auria's feet above ground and pulling arms over a right shoulder.  The slower-moving plasma passed easily to the left and right.  Gen turned to look back, seeing the brown blur falling toward the four gunmen.  He also noticed something small in the corner of an eye and skipped a step, stopping just before running over the half-size alien.  Bob held a hand between them, the universal symbol for either peace, stop or 'talk to the hand'.

“How do you do this?” asked Gen.

He twisted to look behind, knowing the gift would end soon.  The brown blur produced sharp talons, barely catching the tops of helmets and ripping.  A yellowish fog erupted from Sot's red rump as claws tore open suits.  Stained helmets caused the men to fire at every angle, even toward themselves.  Gen couldn't have seen anything in the distance without the powers given by his 'infamous' gift.

“Did he just piss on them?”

While Gen watched in confusion, a blue vortex opened directly behind and blocked his view of Sot's airborne assault.  The spinning whirlwind grew larger, surging in energy and static electricity, just like the day in the Arena when it made a wall to stop the plasma fire from killing him.  Bob's ship phased into reality, the ramp already lowered at their feet.  Blue shields rippled and sprawled in waves of compounded energy, blocking the other ship's plasma salvos.  Gen returned to real-time, losing the gift once more and began to pull Auria up the closing ramp.  He turned to look for Bob but saw nothing, only a warping, rippling, blue mirror of energy.

The ship cast off, actually speeding in the direction of the enemy craft.  Heavy plasma fire hacked fresh shields, sounding like ancient drums pounding off in wicked sequence.  The ship turned and began opening its ramp again.  Gen stood there still, holding a sleeping Auria to his chest.  Both fell, sliding down the ramp with Gen's bleeding hand further lubricating her slick arm.

“Are you awake yet?” asked Gen.
“Yeah.  I am now.”
“Better get on-board.”

Auria tried to stand, but slipped again, losing her grasp of Gen's wrist.  As she tip-toe teetered on the ramp's edge, the brown blur slammed into her, bouncing Auria over top of Gen and into the ship's rear bay.  Sot stood looking down at Gen's face-down, bloody body.

“How did you get so big?” Gen asked, seeing long, furry legs at arm's reach.
“You do this to me almost every time.” laughed Sot, offering him a muscular arm.

Gen reached up, taking hold, but noticing Sot felt hollow somehow.  It seemed there was only the appearance of muscles, nothing substantial.  Still, Sot now stood several feet taller than Gen and twice as wide.

“You've blown up.” said Gen.
“And, you've defied death.” gleamed the ape.

The ramp closed.  Bob's ship quickly rose and propelled, slamming into, around and through buildings with six heavy-fighters in tow, and the landing-craft.  Gen noticed the shielding change from green to yellow with red speckles.  The beating drum of enemy fire reminded him of rain-drops hitting a hot, tin roof, albeit, one destined to collapse.

238 walked around the outside of a deserted building.  Hearing strange noises heading his way, he mumbled.  “No, not like this.”  He ran.  Loof dug claws deep to hold on.  Running across an intersection and stopping, he looked left, right, and then straight ahead at the spinning ship roaring down the aisle-way.  Turning around and loosing footing, a long, brown arm reached out of the speeding vessel and grabbed hold as he attempted to dive out of its way, pulling his shoulder out of socket.

Auria stood beside Bob in front of the huge, forward screen.  Buildings and tunnels passed on either side, zipping beneath faster and ever closer.  Bob looked to Auria and smiled a wee-tiny smile.  Another seat grew from the floor, resulting in a console identical to where Bob sat, except much larger.  As it rose, the backs of her legs touched the growing seat where she graciously sat, still gazing into the ever-changing view-screen.

Up ahead, a blue jump-point formed, slowly growing until it became over-shadowed by a second, blue sphere.  A blast of energy erupted from the double-formation, sending a shock-wave to shake the closing ship and rattle sensors.  Bob ricocheted and slid against the side of the tunnel, reversed and headed off in the other direction, all while taking heavy fire against red shields.  The drone fighters tried to ram Bob's spinning, spiraling craft.  Rolling from side to side, he barely evaded the huge missiles.  Bob passed beneath the low-flying landing-craft and reversed directions again, running parallel and beneath the larger vessel.

A horde of confused fighters crossed overhead.  The enemy landing-craft began pushing downward against Bob's shield, fusing both shields together and lowered landing pads to block escape.  A volley of plasma bolts suddenly hit their own ship from the incoming fighters.  Bob raised an arm and clinched invisible teeth, grunting loudly.  A shock-wave formed, one evolving from his own, tiny vessel and expanding in electrical energy.

The incoming fighters lost control, some ramming the landing-craft after passing through Bob's electromagnetic wave.  Everyone on-board rocked and shook, yelling in protest.  A smoldering, junk heap rolled toward the cavern floor though Bob's, tiny ship remained airborne beneath its debris.  A blue, spiral vortex manifested like clockwork.  His ship slowed to a crawl and safely entered the jump field, only to re-materialize within the same planet's orbit.

His ship rotated, seeing an enemy mother-ship at a distance deploying its main weapons.  A great, white beam fired at the planet below, laying waste to everything it touched.  An eruption took place on the surface sending an expanding, unstoppable ring slowly around the watery planet.  Orange fire grew from the center of the blast as an orange cone shot skyward, spilling fiery guts in every direction.

“Death.” said Bob.

She looked to Bob and felt as though watching the bittersweet end of a dying planet through his mind.  If a tear could've formed, it would've.  A crackle in the tiny alien's voice lead her to believe his heart held purpose.  She'd picked the right place to be, and at the right time.  He looked to her and partially smiled.  Sad eyes shown low, dark pupils surrounded by yellow shells.  Outside, another blue vortex emerged.