Worms From Spaaaaaace!
Worms From Spaaaaaace!
by Anima
Bare seconds before the klaxon sounded, Drexal couldn't have been happier. Tucked into his coffin-like bunk in the quite-deserted crew quarters, the tall wolf-morph reveled in the first warmth and relaxation he'd enjoyed in months... Drex wasn't quite alone in the barracks; there was a totally unauthorized intruder pinning him to the bunk with her warm weight. Lifting a thick finger, Drex stroked his mate Beth's soft fluffy cheekfur. White teeth peeked from beneath a dark lip as she smiled in her sleep'. In turn, she slid a slender paw beneath Drexal's rump, and most indelicately squeezed a handful.
"Rrrrrr..." Drex grinned up at his lover. "No use pretending anymore, sweet. Rise and shine!"
Beth rolled onto her side, the dainty wolfess lazily combing her claws through Drexal's chestfur. "Forget about rising... Nothing could tempt me from this bunk." She murmured, her high, sweet voice a pleasure to the larger wolf's ears.
Drex wrapped thick, corded arms about the petite hybrid, crushing her lovingly to his body. "Well said, my dove. Y'know...it's still an hour til muster. We could"
A blaring klaxon cut short Drexal's words, a deafening shriek that both knew well. Reacting as trained, the two rolled out of the bunk and slipped into clean jumpsuits. Belts and headsets were donned, and the transformation from lovers to soldiers was complete. Without another word they parted, racing down opposite padded corridors to their duty stations...
After two hours of scrambling, Beth boarded a spacecraft bound for an orbiting battleship. She peered longingly back at the leave-base through a porthole, watching the lush planet dwindle. With a sigh, she refocused. Drex would be fine. She didn't even know his assignment yet, and wouldn't until she accessed an onboard computer. Strapped in her chair, Beth reviewed the information spurted into her via the hypnotic insta-brief flash.
Half an hour ago, the fleet departed for an endangered mining colony. Communications had failed, but the last transmissions were full of panicked screams about aliens.
A new, intelligent race? Just a natural disaster? Maybe even some new discovery that needed protection...' Beth's mouth firmed into a grim line. Who was she kidding? They wouldn't have sent her fleet to deal with natural disasters or archeological finds. Her people specialized in xeno-combat, possessing a long distinguished history in suppressing and exterminating hostile aliens throughout the galaxy. Beth felt the familiar cold fist close about her heart, accompanied by the thought. This could be the one I don't walk away from.'
Drexal sighed as that well-worn thought circled in his brain. He would walk away from this, Beth at his side. Thinking anything else would at best upset him, and at worst, truly get him and others killed! Drex bent his attention back over his squad's equipment/personnel inventory. Lt. Drexal War. Willy Coburn. Tyler Gast. The list went on...a crack team. Drex had fought beside most of the soldiers himself, saved them and been saved in turn. His eyes skipped over the empty slots, and the ones recently filled by rookies. They'd all had good runs... Drex cleared his throat, and read out loud to help him focus. 46 pages needed checking and writing off before the battleship achieved orbit around the colony world. Drex thumbed the electronic pad.
"420 mass driver rifles, 345 laser pistols, 42 ground assault vehicles..."
Beth, after reviewing the ship's records on their target world, now knew what to call their destination. She could see the dark world looming in the viewscreens...Brukar 4.
Doesn't fit. A lump of rock like this should be named after some kind of disease.'
Turning her face from the gloomy sight eased some of the depression that had begun to creep in. Unbuckling herself and lowering her lithe frame to the deck, Beth began a series of stretching exercises. Buying it on Brukar because of a cramp would be a bloody stupid way to go! Above, the shadowy bulge of the planet steadily grew in the viewscreen...
Drexal glimpsed Beth again only fleetingly, as he supervised the loading of the drop shuttles. Her lovely, slender muzzle and silken head looked silly perched on the shoulders of the massive suit of powered armor she wore. Part of a column of similarly outfitted soldiers, she tromped up the ramp of her ship, the closest thing to a personal tank military science had been able to create. Drex sighed, and turned back to his tactical display. Using a light pen, he traced the routes each shuttle would take, then plotted troop movements. Mind swirling with topographical maps, compound schematics and deployment times, Drexal did his best to keep his people safe and give them every possible advantage. He hoped it would be enough, this time.
Beth's shuttle was the third to touch down on Brukar 4. Breathing deeply to calm herself, Beth checked her weapons and armor systems, then those around her. Most of the armor in this squad was pitted, dented, even acid-corroded in places. One or two suits stood out in their gleaming finish, and still smelled of paint...rookies. Beneath the bulky armor, Beth wore a snug jump suit woven of metallic fibers, sealed at collar and cuffs against the environment. If she had to ditch her armor, she'd have a chance against the elements. Gleaming in her lap lay the standard peacekeeping tool of the xeno-control fleet. Three barrels nestled together fed into the sleek bulk of the weapon, studded with sensors and laser sights. It was a railgun, grenade launcher, and mass driver in one. Of course, it was only for taking care of big nasties, or hardened targets. The turrets mounted on her chest and back were quite enough to handle the average threat. Tied right into her visor display, her look could kill. Despite the awesome firepower her force represented, Beth still fought back worry.
Beth's stomach fell abruptly as the shuttle began its rapid descent. Minutes later the craft touched down, spilling soldiers from its sides, before zipping back to the carrier. The preceding two shuttles had established a beachhead, and construction of a base was already underway. Prefab structures and magnetic joins made the job literally a snap, and by the time the next shuttle squatted to disgorge its troops, the core facilities were in place.
A soft chirp in one ear coaxed Beth to chin a switch inside her helmet. A pinpoint of light shone to life, painting her eye with a map and mission. Quick march within 200 meters of colony dome, establish surveillance ring, return to base.' Her suit broadcast her mission to others, and those selected for the task formed up a loose line abreast for the march. Dust stirred beneath massive cleated boots, and rocks crunched. Brukar's terrain was hellish, and it took the armor gyroscopes' best efforts to keep the soldiers from pitching head-first down hills or into craters. At last Beth arrived at the set perimeter, and aimed her gauntleted fist at the ground. A solid spike of technology shot from her arm to bury itself in the barren earth. Beth watched her tac-display fill in the sensor ring as each soldier buried his spike. When the last green light winked on, Beth reversed and trekked back to base.
That colony sure looks deserted...'
Drexal frowned at the reports he was receiving, seated in the Mobile Operations Office. The MOO had touched down once the perimeters were established, and there was plenty of preliminary data to pore over. A remote link into the colony's computer system had yielded the operations logs...but there wasn't much to them. "About the only oddity is some worry about seismic activity," He mumbled to his aide, a human cyborg who was virtually one with the command console he manned.
"Shall I perform scans to substantiate those reports?" Hans droned, blinking sensor-filmed eyes. Drexal gave the go-ahead absently, studying the visual records. The stored tapes were inaccessible, but the current feeds were still active. Drex jumped around the colony, searching for survivors...or casualties. He found neither; the base was entirely deserted. Several gigantic holes appeared in the floors of the base, and there were scorch marks on the walls from weaponsfire...
Drexal leaned back in his chair. "Send in forty suits, with a tech-team equipped for subterranean work. Escort with phaser-wagons and MRL's. I want drones in the air, and spuds on the ground getting me constant feeds. Help me suit up, Hans."
Heavy equipment shook the earth around the colony base, while gleaming weapons and armor flowed into the valley. Penetration was simple and faultless, the base filled with armored juggernauts within ten minutes. Beth assigned herself to the quartet protecting the techs, who wore lighter, more mobile versions of her own armor. Her suit-lights glared down into one of the gaping holes the techs had chosen to examine, finding the bottom about forty feet down.
"Look at the walls...there seems to be some kind of resin holding the earth out of the tunnel. It's degrading though..." One of the techs pointed out, scraping the side of the tunnel for a sample. "Hmm. Organic. This isn't the work of sappers or anything."
Another tech was aiming a black box of some type into the hole, muttering to himself. Beth nudged him lightly. "Well? What's that box telling you?"
"This tunnel is deep, soldier. It dives down beyond the range of this thing. Also...there's olfactory traces of the colonists as well as some unlisted. The colonists were taken down there," He sighed, stowing his box. The crew paused to report to command, com-tips glowing in the dark chamber.
"I don't like the idea of going down there," Drexal sighed, gazing at the feeds of the hole Beth stood beside. "Have your techs visit all the holes, and try to map them as best as he can. We'll go in through the mine. There're lights and facilities there we can use. Maybe the miners disturbed a burrow or something..." Hans signaled affirmation, and got to work.
Brukar's mining operation was top-notch, and quite well established. The shaft nearest the colony dove down about four miles, with plenty of branching tunnels following veins detected by resonance scans. Every mobile soldier available searched the shafts for any sign of the resin detected in the colony's tunnels, hoping to find a link... It didn't take long. Near one of the more recent shafts, a half-collapsed tunnel showed traces of the alien resin. Drexal rode down the elevator to supervise personally...
"This way sir," A rookie waved Drexal over, turning to march towards the obvious center of excitement. Lights had been gathered from other sites in the mine, brightly splashing the site. Drex examined what remained of the tunnel, suit lights on full. "Well, this is our way in gentlemen. Bring a drill and get to work!" He snapped his lights off and stepped back to make room for the huge piece of machinery approaching. Studded all over with hover discs, and equipped with screws and laser cutters, the drill that rumbled up to the fallen tunnel was just what the doctor ordered... In seconds, the tunnel mouth was reestablished, the drill vanishing into the pipe and venting soil and rock behind it in compressed balls.
"Once we link up with the network we expect to find, I want drones in there, followed by suits. No grenades; we don't need any cave-ins, get it? Now" A horrific noise from the tunnel broke into Drex's orders, and the mangled drill came sliding back out of the hole, twisted and crushed! A vibration continued though the drill was silent, and a huge mass began sliding from the hole... Men jumped back and unslung their weapons, firing into the soft gelatinous thing that poured out into their midst! Drexal, trusting the engineers of the mine, pumped a grenade round into the creature. The charge went off, blowing the front end of the creature into the soldiers it had been surging towards. Though knocked slimily against the wall by the head', the men were fine.
"That explains the burrows," Drex muttered, using hand signals to warn others away from the tunnel. Abruptly, the vibrations returned...louder than before, and directionless. Suit lights painted the walls of the central shaft, darting everywhere, nervous weapon tips tracking slowly... In seconds, dirt exploded from twenty different spots in the shaft, more jelly-worms pouring inside! Drexal watched in horror as each worm, though riddled with weaponsfire, engulfed a soldier and withdrew! He could see their suited bodies held immobile in the soft mass, drawn deeper every second into the massive tube-bodies...
Beth saw the same, and vowed her fate would be different. Her rail-gun sang, slicing a worm in half with a spray of hi-speed rounds. She saw the flash of another grenade splattering a second worm all over the shaft, and recognized Drexal's command suit. In that split second however, three worms converged on her, including the larger half of the one she'd just dissected! A blunt, sloppy mouth opened and swallowed her with a snake-strike speed, gelatinous mass holding her fast! Her turrets sprayed bullets frantically, but the worm sealed the resulting holes as fast as they formed... She couldn't even pull her trigger finger to grenade the creature... Retreating now that it had caught something, the worm dove back into the earth, as effortless as a man swimming a lap in a pool.
Drexal screamed his rage at the sight of Beth devoured! He grew reckless, bouncing off the walls of the shaft as he used his jumpjets to avoid the lightning-strikes of the voracious worms! He exploded creature after creature...but it was no use. There seemed an endless supply...and you had to demolish the entire length to really neutralize each worm! His men were faring similarly, but holding their own as they'd backed into a steel hanger. Drexal gasped out orders for reinforcements, slapping in a new rack of grenades and jetting into that hanger to join his men. Almost as soon as he'd landed, a worm emerged right under the feet of the troops, having burrowed through inches-thick steel! Four soldiers disappeared down its body, bodies locked in panicked poses... Drexal's grenade was too late, and did nothing but seal the tunnel behind the horrible thing! Plating buckled beneath his feet, and Drex fired his jets...too late. He was engulfed and frozen. Furious, he writhed inside the armor shell, desperate not to be caught like this! Darkness shot past as the worm squeezed itself through the bowels of its tunnels, Drex's lights shining through its translucent form. Slowly, his armor was corroding...danger signals flashed inside his visor, life support systems failing one after the other!
"Digested by a giant jelly-worm. That's a great end to my file," He growled, tears stinging his eyes. "Oh Beth..." He welcomed each new red light in his suit, knowing it brought him closer to joining his love... He hardly noticed when the worm slid into a massive cavern, the floor writhing with identical worms. In the center though, a brightly glowing mass caught his eye... A stick warmth touched his fur, and Drexal recoiled sharply! The worm's substance flowed inside...through one, two, three holes in his armor! Drexal banged his head sharply on his helmet collar, and lay dazed as the rest of his suit melted away...leaving him unharmed. Every trace of metal and technology was absorbed...even the fillings in his teeth! Drex drew a breath, accepting death by suffocation...but even that was denied him. The worm had caught the oxygen in his suit and tanks, and retained it in a large bubble to sustain him.
By now, the worm had reached the giant glowing mass in the center of the huge chamber. Drex found himself staring at some slime-dripping aperture in the jelly-like mass's body, shuddering with revulsion as the worm squeezed itself up and in. The worm's speed was tremendous now, shooting through the slimy tunnels as fast as any hover transport. Shock stiffened his back as the worm braked abruptly and opened its maw, ejecting him and the bubble of air into a sticky pocket deep within the mass!
"Gaw, get off me commander!" Drexal startled at the voice beneath him, and rolled off the struggling body, as the worm reversed in the tunnel and retreated.
"Sorry, soldier...how many are in here?" He panted to the disgruntled private he'd landed on. He wasn't given time to hear the response...
"DREX!" A tiny bundle of desperate energy flung itself over him, and Drex sobbed his relief into Beth's shoulder...
Composure came later, as the entire squad from the mine sat in the sticky chamber within...whatever it was. A couple of the techs present postulated they were inside some kind of hive, while another argued it was a queen-worm. Without instruments though, all of which had been dissolved, there was no way to be sure of anything. Rocking booms shook their cavern from time to time, as terrible weapons were discharged on the surface, or in burrows around them... As the hours passed however, and no one arrived to rescue or devour them, Drexal decided to let the men sleep in shifts. While the best-rested soldiers waited and watched in the translucent bubble of a prison, Drex curled up with Beth and tried to sleep.
Greetings, bringer-of-violence/starvation
Drexal opened his eyes to find himself floating in a glowing sea...around him, he could see those men he'd ordered to sleep, all awake and amazed by the voice resonating in their head... Of the men he'd assigned to guard, there was no sign.
"What have you done with my men!" He demanded, whipping his head about.
Only those sleeping may receive us came the response. Beth took Drexal's hand, standing with him as they puzzled over this new development...
"Why have you brought us here?" She ventured, eyes searching the luminous void.
So that there will be understanding between us
Your people are destroying our crops with their metal noise
We are starving
Drexal and Beth gazed at each other, trying to work it out. "Metal noise..." Drexal murmured...
"The mines? The drills? Their crops...are minerals!" Beth exclaimed, eyes alight. "You saw how our armor dissolved..."
My children hunger
You see the truth
Drexal nodded..."The miners...they were stealing these creature's food. This is an inhabited planet, and it changes everything..." He winced away from the realization that his men had killed so many of these starving creatures. Beth reached out in silent apology and sorrow to the female entity who addressed them.
Stop killing us
We will return your people
Not waiting for an answer, the mental presence withdrew. The light around them ebbed slowly...
Hours later when the men awoke, a worm arrived and opened its sticky maw. Drexal shuddered, but urged the men into it.
"That's our ride home! Everyone in!"
All but the rookies allowed themselves to be engulfed with little more than a murmur of worry, and the greenies followed when none of the troops buried in the transparent jelly-creature dissolved, or writhed in suffocation. Drexal held Beth in his arms as the gelatinous maw closed around their upper bodies, and slurped them into its snug grip. Packed full of Drexal's squad, the worm slid from the Queen, and headed for the surface...
General Gast's men cried out in horror as a gigantic worm burst from the earth 20 meters behind them, its soft gooey body holding an entire squad of men, suspended like flies in amber! And all naked! Drexal War was spat on the ground in an insulating layer of slime, waving frantically to the troops for a cease-fire! Gast initiated a weapon-freeze on the entire army, and barked orders for the MOO to be brought in and receive the unprotected soldiers... When Drexal felt sure things were moving in the right direction, he returned to the worm, and the encapsulated air within. Moments later the MOO rolled up, and one by one the worm spat soldiers into the airlock, smooshing itself against the portal. When it had retched up the last man, the worm dove back into the earth with a shiver of distaste.
"Apparently it doesn't like meat anymore than we like zinc or copper in our mouths." Beth smiled weakly, scraping the thick layer of goop from her body.
"Thank goodness for that." He mumbled, while Hans helped towel him off. "Hans, the mining operation here has disturbed the habitat of an undiscovered indigenous race. I want an end to all hostilities, and immediate evac of the planet as soon as the captured colonists arrive."
"Already underway sir. General Gast's men panicked when their weapons froze, but once the shooting stopped, the worms all retreated on their own. The colonists arrived several minutes ago, and are being...offloaded as we speak." Hans reported smoothly, handing Beth a towel to wrap herself in. "No casualties at all...on our side."
Drexal nodded sadly, a sharp pang rising again as he tried not to count how many worms he'd blown into gooey droplets.
"The surveying team is going to be brought up on charges, I can tell you that." He sighed, before rising and checking his men. Aside from a few that had stuck together quite firmly indeed, the soldiers were unharmed. Beth followed him around for a few moments, but ultimately seized her mate and dragged him back to the command couch. "Sit! Rest. It's over." She growled.
"We made it through another one," He sighed up at her, letting himself be shoved down into the seat.
"Yeah." Beth groaned, flopping down in Drexal's lap. "I don't know if we can keep doing this, Drex."
Rubbing his muzzle tiredly, Drexal nodded. "I know...I know. I think we've earned a quiet retirement...and command may agree with us." He shot a look at Hans, who merely winked and went back to his board. "What do you say we have some children of our own?"
Beth rested her chin between Drexal's ears, taking in his scent...letting her muscles relax. "Sounds good to me, lover..." She leaned back and gazed solemnly into his eyes. "The sooner we get out, the better. I know I don't want to have to tell the accountants we had over 40 powered suits eaten off of us." Hans winced, and slapped his volume controls as his comm. unit picked up Beth's comment. Drexal rolled his eyes...
"They can write it off as foreign aid. Those fellas were hungry!"
THE END