Eradication: A Space Opera: Book Four of The Shadow Order Read online

  Because he didn’t know where else to look, Seb turned his attention to the wall of blasters in front of him. He heard Sparks giggle, but he ignored it.

  The room had just three walls. Instead of a doorway to access the space, the entire back wall had been removed to allow the room to open up into the larger warehouse. Every inch of the three remaining walls had blasters covering them. Seb saw every gun he knew existed and many, many more.

  “I can’t believe how many blasters they have,” Seb said, loud enough for his voice to echo away from him into the larger warehouse behind.

  “Not that we can use them in the third section of the complex,” Sparks said. Her eyes widened. “Not unless you want to incinerate us all.”

  Seb shrugged. “There is that.”

  Bruke let out an anxious whine in response to Sparks’ statement, but the others ignored him.

  Sparks had her computer in her hands and most of her attention on the screen. When she looked to see Seb watching her, she turned the screen around to show him. “I’m downloading the schematics for the mining facility.”

  Seb didn’t understand the mess of lines on the screen, so he didn’t reply. Silence filled the space again and he returned to the shame of being caught gawking at SA. He hugged himself for warmth and spoke before he drowned in his embarrassment. “Why do you think it’s so cold down here?”

  Not looking up from her screen, Sparks said, “They probably have some highly volatile weapons somewhere. Raise the temperature too much and Aloo will turn to dust when they go off.”

  Before they could say anything else, Moses entered the room. He had four black radiation suits with him, all of them the correct size for each of the Shadow Order members. After he’d handed them out, he looked at the quartet, addressing them with his detached monotone. “You’ll need these suits when you land and take off. If you go outside at any point, make sure you’re wearing one. If you don’t, it’ll take just seconds for your skin to blister and your eyes to melt. Although, I’d strongly advise against going outside anyway. It’s not a good idea on Carstic.”

  Not a whine this time, but Bruke shifted his weight from one foot to the other as if the ground beneath him had grown too hot to stand on.

  Seb felt nervous too and drew a deep sigh that did nothing to calm the churning anxiety inside him. They were going into hell, but currently, hell seemed like his best option. He stepped towards the wall of blasters and pulled a semi-automatic from the rack. A two-handed weapon, he gripped its cold metal frame to test its weight.

  When Seb turned around, he found SA watching him and instantly flushed hot again. Were it not for the biting air conditioning, he would undoubtedly be sweating at that moment. Why couldn’t he keep his cool in front of her? He’d known her long enough now.

  Seb forced a laugh to break the awkward silence. “I know Gurt would be disgusted to see me pick such a crass weapon. It’s hardly the single-shot blasters he’d use. But we all know I can’t shoot like him. I need to be able to spray blasts to give me any chance of hitting anything.”

  “Just make sure you don’t hit me in the crossfire,” Sparks said.

  “You don’t need to worry about that. Unless I’m trying to kneecap someone.”

  Sparks stuck out her long tongue at him.

  Bruke still didn’t speak. By the look on his green face, he seemed close to vomiting.

  Because Bruke hadn’t done anything since they’d entered the weapons room, Seb walked over to him and said, “Which one do you want?”

  Bruke looked like he’d forgot how to talk.

  When Moses tutted, Bruke’s frown deepened as he clearly grew more anxious.

  Seb moved over to the blasters and got another automatic rifle like the one he’d taken for himself. He held it in Bruke’s direction. At first, Bruke stared at it and didn’t move. “Come on, you’re better having a weapon than not having one.”

  Bruke took the blaster with shaking hands.

  “We’re going to be fine,” Seb said to his friend. “We’ll land on Carstic, take out those parasites, and be back in time for dinner.”

  Silence swept around the room. Not even Moses got behind that statement, despite it being in his best interest to.

  “Right,” Moses finally said. “You lot need to suit up. We need to get you to Carstic.”

  Seb raised his eyebrows at Bruke. Bruke finally nodded back and picked up the suit Moses had dropped in front of him. They wouldn’t be back in time for dinner, Bruke knew that, but Seb could see it felt better for him to pretend at that moment. Sometimes you needed to tell yourself lies to keep going. Sometimes the reality didn’t bear thinking about.

  CHAPTER 10

  The shuttle shook and wobbled as they entered Carstic’s atmosphere, blurring Seb’s vision when he tried to look at the planet they were heading for. They still had a way to go, despite the large red expanse of wasteland dominating the view for some time now.

  They all wore their black radiation suits. Although, at present, they sat with their visors open. They weren’t close enough to need them closed yet. The thick suit restricted Seb’s movements, it smelled of rubber and a hint of glue, and a layer of sweat stood out all over his body. But if it stopped him getting microwaved on Carstic, then it would be worth it.

  From the second it came into view, Seb had been unable to take his eyes from what looked like a scorched planet beneath them. The closer they got to it, the more he questioned his decision. The prison cell had been a far better choice, but could he have let Bruke go with Reyes? Maybe he should have called Moses’ bluff. They weren’t going anywhere. But the consequences would have been too great to risk it. He looked at Bruke. The green-scaled creature sat on the hard metal bench with his eyes closed.

  The mission felt pointless. They were about to risk their lives so Moses could get richer. Sure, they’d all receive a healthy bonus for it, but credits seemed much less important to Seb than they had in the past. He thought about what he used to be and shook his head. He’d fight in the pits for a small purse, rest for a couple of days, and do it all over again. Had he moved very far away from that with his new life? At least he knew the pits; he understood them and knew he would walk away unharmed. Hell, he even enjoyed the battles in the arenas. Another look at the red planet and he shuddered. It seemed more hostile than even the most volatile of crowds.

  Would it have been better had Moses not told them anything? Now that Seb knew about the radiation, infection, and parasites, of course he felt apprehensive. “We need to get in and out as quickly as possible.”

  It took for Bruke to whine for Seb to realise he’d said it aloud. He clapped a hand to his mouth and mumbled, “Sorry, Bruke.” After sharing a glance with SA, he added, “I was thinking that we need to make sure we’re as efficient as we can be. Carstic’s far from a holiday resort. It’s not somewhere we want to hang around.”

  For the entire journey, Sparks had fiddled with her computer. When she finally looked up, Seb flicked his head in her direction. “Have you got a high score yet?”

  “I’m not playing computer games.” Sparks scowled at him. “If you must know, I’m making sure I have all the floor plans sorted before we go in there. Better to be prepared, eh?”

  A nod and Seb said, “Jolly good. Keep it up.” Whenever he felt nervous, he behaved like an idiot. Although aware of it, he couldn’t do anything to change it, his mouth just ran away with him.

  Before anyone else spoke, the monitor on the back wall of the shuttle burst to life. A bright glow as the screen flickered for a second, and then a close-up of Moses appeared.

  Seb flinched and pulled his face back. “Urgh!”

  As he always did, Moses fixed Seb with a cold glare and said nothing.

  “I’m sorry, big man.” Seb laughed. “I wasn’t expecting such an extreme zoom. I hate to break it to you, but you ain’t the prettiest.”

  “I’m just here to reiterate,” Moses said, ignoring Seb’s dig. “We expect you to land, ge
t into the mining complex, flush out all those bloody parasites, and get the hell out of there. There are plenty of ships in the hangar, so you should be able to get yourselves off the planet. However, if you don’t manage that, we’ll have a shuttle on standby. You got that?”

  Nods moved around the shuttle and Seb gave Moses a thumbs-up and a wink.

  “Oh, and Seb, I forgot to tell you; I give everyone three lives. Two warnings and you strike out on the third. Consider the nonsense with your refusal to go on this mission as your first warning.”

  “So I’ve got one more life to use?” Seb asked.

  “Or don’t use it at all,” Moses said.

  “And what happens when I’ve used all my wishes up? Do you go back into your lamp?”

  After a deep sigh and exhale that pushed his thick cheeks out, Moses said, “Just watch it”—he then made quotation marks with his thick fingers—“Chosen One.”

  Before Seb could say anything else, the screen turned black. Probably a good thing; he didn’t know when to stop at the best of times. When he got such a favourable reaction from Moses, he found it even harder.

  Seb looked at the other three to find them all staring at him. “What?”

  “Why do you keep pushing him?” Bruke asked.

  “Because it does him good to be challenged once in a while. We all need a challenge, right?”

  “And what was he talking about when he called you Chosen One?”

  Seb and Sparks looked at one another before Seb shrugged it off. “Never mind that. Hey, pilot,” he called out, “are we there yet?”

  “About fifteen minutes,” the pilot shot back at him.

  Seb turned his attention to Bruke. “I can’t handle sitting here in silence for any longer. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself? We know you fight like the devil when pushed. What else is there to you?”

  “I dunno,” Bruke said as he rested back into his seat. “What do you want to know?”

  “Why don’t you have any family?” Sparks asked.

  The same rage Seb had seen in Bruke’s dark eyes on the battlefield returned and he clenched his thick fists. A set jaw and gritted teeth, he spoke in a low growl. “The Countess got them.”

  Were it not for the rattle and wobble of the shaking shuttle, there would have been silence in the back of the vessel.

  Bruke finally continued. “I knew what she did to children when they reached twelve and older; everyone did. I didn’t want to have to slaughter my family, so I ran away. If I wasn’t there, they couldn’t make me kill them, right?”

  Seb nodded and the others continued to watch Bruke.

  “But my neighbours sold me out. They must have told the Countess that my family had a boy of age. I would sometimes go past my old family home to check on them from a distance and make sure they were okay, but I noticed something wasn’t right one time. When I checked the hut, I found my family dead inside.” His eyes glazed as he stared into the middle distance. “They’d painted the word deserter on the wall with their blood.”

  A deep frown and Seb’s pulse quickened. “What a thing to go through. I’m sorry. Did you ever find out who ratted on you?”

  A shake of his head and Bruke looked down at the floor. “I would have killed them if I had.”

  When Bruke looked up, his brown eyes were glazed with tears.

  Seb’s heart sank. “At least we’ve stopped that from happening to anyone else, eh? You were an important part in overthrowing the Countess’ rule.”

  A nod and Bruke said, “I was, wasn’t I?”

  “You may not have been able to save your own family, but you’ve saved thousands of families now. For that you should feel proud, even though I know it won’t bring them back.”

  After he’d pulled a wet sniff in, Bruke nodded. “You’re right. We have made a difference, haven’t we?”

  “And you know what?” Seb said. “Despite that greedy shark, Moses, we can carry on making a difference. He may be motivated by credits, but it seems that in the places we have to go to there are people that need our help. We can do that as well as fulfil our mission.”

  As much as he’d directed his comments at Bruke, Seb needed to remember that too. They were making a difference. They did help people.

  The atmosphere in the shuttle had changed drastically. Maybe they all needed to remember what they were fighting for—they were rescuing a community, even if they were all dead. At least they could go in and deal with the parasites so no one else had to. And maybe there were some survivors. Moses’ intel might not have been up to much.

  As the shuttle continued to shake and wobble on its slow decline onto Carstic, Seb looked at the red planet in front of them again and pulled a deep breath into his tightening stomach. They needed to get in and get out. If they did that, everything would work out just fine.

  CHAPTER 11

  “We’ll be landing in two minutes,” the pilot—a lizard-like creature with feet for hands and hands for feet—called back at them.

  A deep inhale to calm his rapidly accelerating pulse and Seb looked out of the front window again. He finally saw the mining complex. It stood as a large and ugly building in an otherwise barren landscape.

  Seb pressed the button on the left side of his suit’s hood and watched the visor slide across. It tinted his view of his surroundings with a yellow hue. It also altered the sound of everything. He still heard the rattle and shake of the shuttle, but the noises were toned down, muting them so he didn’t have to be overwhelmed by them.

  A look at Sparks, who’d just pressed her button, and Seb said, “If I’d known it would have been this much quieter with the visor closed, I would have pressed the button earlier.”

  Despite the yellow tint to his visor, Seb saw Sparks’ nod just fine. The only slight distraction came from the radiation timer on the right of his vision. It read ‘3h’, indicating how much time they had outside in Carstic’s atmosphere before it became caustic.

  When Seb looked at Bruke and SA, he saw they’d closed their visors too. The serene bioluminescent blue of SA regarded him with her usual level-headedness, a slight green tinge to her eyes because of the tint. Bruke’s brown eyes were spread wide in his suit. The yellow didn’t dilute his clear panic.

  The shuttle suddenly dropped several metres, lifting Seb’s stomach and forcing him to grab onto the barely padded armrests on either side of him. A shudder ran through the vessel that damn near rattled his teeth from his gums.

  “The hangar’s locked,” the pilot called back. “I’ll need to land outside and drop you off there. You’ll have to find your own way in.”

  Seb looked at Sparks, who rolled her purple eyes at him before she said, “Never simple, is it?”

  Another sudden drop and Seb’s stomach flipped again. He craned his neck to see out of the front. They were just metres from the ground now. Although he tried to centre himself, he couldn’t stop the adrenaline-fuelled shake running through him. They had three hours in their suits. Once they entered the complex, they didn’t need to worry about radiation. They’d be fine. They had plenty of time, especially as they only had to open a door. Then Sparks’ words repeated in his mind. Never simple, is it?

  The shaking shuttle had been bad enough, but then it started swaying from side to side. Even with the muted sounds around him, Seb heard Bruke’s whines and watched his friend grip his seat’s handles. Were he less concerned about how he looked in front of SA, he might have done the same.

  Another look out of the window and Seb clenched his jaw to keep his anxious words in. They were heading at the planet like a meteor set to blow a crater in the rocky ground.

  Seconds before impact, the shuttle suddenly stopped. Were it not for his seatbelt, Seb would have ended up in the front next to the pilot. Instead, the belt across his chest and waist took most of the jolt, ripping pains across his front from the sharp snap.

  A low hum buzzed through the shuttle as it hovered for a few seconds before lowering the final few metr
es. The pilot pressed the button on the left side of his head and his visor shot across his face too. He lowered the exit ramp and called back to the team, “Good luck. Let us know if you need picking up.”

  “We won’t need picking up,” Seb said. “We have Sparks. She could pilot a rock out of here.” He winked at his friend before unstrapping and getting to his feet. The radiation gear made it feel like he had a fat suit on. He picked up his gun on the way out of the ship and sped up to get off the shuttle before SA. Although she glared at him, she let him go. If it wasn’t safe, he needed to be their first line of defence. He couldn’t lose another friend.

  Carstic looked as barren now that he’d reached it as it had from space. No signs of any life whatsoever. No small tufts of grass or weeds. No trees. No animal droppings, carcasses, or habitats. The hard, rocky ground looked scorched, although, surprisingly, it didn’t feel hot like he’d expected it to. As flat as a runway, the horizon stretched for miles. Were it not for the large mining complex protruding from the ground, there wouldn’t be anything but red rock.

  As the others alighted from the shuttle, Seb reached up and took Sparks’ hand to help her hop down. He did the same for Bruke. Clearly still pissed with him, SA came off last. Seb held his hand out for her and she simply stared at it before hopping from the shuttle with her usual grace. He couldn’t help but smile at her.

  The ramp pulled back into the shuttle. The entire thing rumbled with the engines powering up, and then it shot away from them back into the sky as if fired from a slingshot.

  The sonic boom of it breaking the sound barrier made Seb jump as he watched it fly away. When it had vanished completely, he said, “Looks like we’re on our own, then.”

  The mining complex had two huge chrome doors, which faced the group. The sun glistened off them, dazzling Seb even through his tinted view. It seemed impossible that such a scorched planet with such a bright sun wouldn’t be hotter. Maybe Solsans had turned his blood cold and he didn’t feel it as much. A shudder ripped through him to think about the dark and damp planet. If he never had to go back there again, it would be too soon.