The Great Space (Scrapyard Ship Book 6) Read online

  He had to take an extra step to keep up with Dira’s longer strides. He looked down at those long legs of hers … legs that had become the focused attention of so many men on board the ship. He just didn’t get it. As they rounded the next intersection, they made their way down the same corridor where the ship’s brig was located.

  An on-guard SEAL brought his multi-gun up. Recognizing Dira, he relaxed. “Five minutes, no more,” he said to Bristol, and let them pass through the now-open hatch.

  Another guard acknowledged them as they stepped within the circular brig compartment. There were four identical, brightly lit holding cells, each containing a bunk, a toilet, and a sink. The brig’s only inhabitant was at the far side of the room. Captain Stalls, wearing bright red overalls, stared out from behind a light-blue force field.

  Dira held back, placing a hand on Bristol’s shoulder. “Go ahead. You don’t have a lot of time.”

  Bristol continued on alone toward his brother. Seeing him ahead, dressed in brightly colored overalls, his long hair hanging free, Bristol felt more sympathy for him than he thought possible.

  “Well, well, if it isn’t the little traitor.”

  Bristol stopped in his tracks and took in Stalls’ smug face.

  “It’s not like I had much of a choice,” Bristol said defensively.

  “There’s always a choice, little brother. Just like you have a choice now to still be a traitor or to get me out of here. That is unless family doesn’t mean anything to you anymore.”

  “You’re the only family I have left—”

  “Actually, that’s not entirely true. Remember … you and I are only half-brothers. Someday, if I survive long enough, we’ll talk about your other brother.”

  “I would have known about another brother. Nice try, bro, but I knew every derelict pirate around—no other brother,” Bristol replied dismissively.

  Stalls shrugged. “I don’t care if you believe me or not. Just remember where you were born. I never said he was a pirate … why would he be? Your mother wasn’t one.”

  Stalls did have a point. Bristol had no memory of his mother. He’d been an infant when his father, another colossal misfit of a pirate, had absconded with him after one of his many pillaging and plundering treks across the sector.

  “Time’s up,” the SEAL said.

  “Without me you’ll never know, Bristol. Don’t you want to know who your mother and your brother are? You’re smart, little brother; get me out of here and I’ll take you to them myself. I promise.”

  Chapter 14

  Reese, far larger and more imposing-looking than his partner, was now out front and had just plowed through two swinging aluminum doors. He’d drawn his weapon and was doing an effective job clearing a path through more frightened-looking airport personnel.

  Running to keep up, Nan held Mollie’s hand but could feel her trying to wriggle it free. “Stop doing that, Mollie!”

  “Why is everybody running? What’s happening?”

  “Just keep up. We can ask questions later,” Nan answered, but wondered the same thing. What had happened in the past few minutes to ratchet up mass hysteria to this level?

  They were mid-way through the airport’s vast baggage handling infrastructure, with multiple layers of yellow and blue conveyor belt systems. With only backup emergency lighting present, this non-public access area, with its exaggerated long shadows, looked more than a little creepy. Mollie was no longer trying to extricate her hand from Nan’s. In fact, her grip was almost too tight.

  Reese yelled, “This way!” and darted to the left. Nan and Mollie changed direction and ran after him while Agent Clark brought up the rear. There was sunlight in the distance, and the sound of jet engines was getting significantly louder as they approached DIA’s expansive formation of gates, runways, and taxiways.

  As they cleared the building structure, Mollie brought her hands up to cover her ears. But what made Nan stop dead in her tracks was not what was on the ground, but above in the air. Ten or more low-flying commercial jets were circling the airport—needing a place to land. But that wasn’t possible. The runways and taxiways were a congested mess. Apparently several large aircrafts had attempted to maneuver themselves out of the way, only to become stuck: half on and half off the concrete. Numerous pushback tractors were at various stages of hitching up to stranded planes, but even Nan could see the futility in that process. Moving any one of the marooned jets would be possible only if there was sufficient open space about to move it to—which clearly there was not.

  Reese was on the run again and Clark was yelling above the whine of jet engines, “Move it! That way.”

  An assorted array of airport emergency vehicles was clustered near the main runway ahead. As many as ten fire engine pump trucks, and even more ambulances, were idling—their red and blue revolving lights flashing. Nan felt Mollie tugging on her hand and looked down at her.

  “I’m scared, Mom.”

  Nan could barely hear her daughter’s voice above the din from the surrounding whirling jets. Their hair was being tousled, as if they were standing in hurricane winds. Nan bent down and picked Mollie up and realized there was no way she would be able to run with her. Reese was back at her side and, seeing her expression, took Mollie from her in one arm and headed off toward the EMT vehicles located on the other side of the taxiway.

  They passed beneath the belly of a red and blue Southwest 737. Reese slowed and turned toward Nan and gestured for her to keep away from the massive jet engines. I think I figured that one out on my own, she thought, but simply nodded and continued after the big DoD agent. Mollie had her arms tightly wrapped around his neck, her head buried in his chest. The first of the emergency vehicles was a large fire truck, with a big water cannon mounted on top. A worried-looking man wearing a fire helmet looked down as they passed below him. He was yelling something and shaking his head. His outstretched arm, a finger pointing in the direction of the main airport structure, made it clear he was not happy with them being there. They passed two smaller utility trucks before Reese put Mollie down next to Nan and motioned, with two upturned palms, for them to hold here. He had his creds out in one hand and his handgun in the other. He approached the driver side door of an ambulance. Then came drowned out shouting back and forth as the vehicle’s driver and Reese got more and more animated. Eventually, Reese held up his weapon and, with two commanding jerks, gestured for the EMT tech to get out of the vehicle. The door opened and with two raised arms the driver got out.

  Clark ushered both Nan and Mollie forward from behind. As the EMT tech saw their approach, he did a double take. Recognition crossed his features when he saw Nan. He then nodded and quickly moved around to open the back doors of the vehicle. Nan helped Mollie into the ambulance and then followed. Clark closed and secured the back doors and after several moments joined Reese in the front cab. Nan and Mollie had no sooner found a place to sit down than the ambulance turned and accelerated back toward the airport. In less than a minute they slowed again. Nan ducked her head down enough to see through a small oval window, giving her a view into the forward cab and out the front windshield. A ten-foot gate at the outer perimeter of the runway stood before them. She heard Reese yelling something and then the gates, first one side and then the other, opened wide. Reese wasted no time and gunned the engine. Both Nan and Mollie held on tight as the ambulance proceeded to make numerous quick left and right turns.

  “What do you see, Mom?”

  “I’m just watching the road ahead. There’s lots of cars. A traffic jam.”

  “Are we going to get stuck here?”

  “I don’t know, sweetie. Maybe.”

  Nan saw Clark reach up and toggle a switch. Whoop-whoop-whoop—a siren blared outside. From what Nan could see of the road ahead—an endless line of immobile cars—there was no way to move another ten feet, let alone drive the ninety miles to Colorado Springs, where Cheyenne Mountain was located. Reese coaxed the ambulance off the airport access road and
onto a just-wide-enough shoulder and kept the vehicle moving. Mollie was on her feet and staring out one of the two back windows. Nan looked out the other. Most people were outside their cars—some sitting on their hoods, others standing together; perhaps trying to come up with a plan to get back to their homes … back to their families. Nan was being hailed via her internal NanoCom.

  From all her time on board The Lilly, she answered with the standard crew comms protocol, “Go for Nan.”

  “Nan, how are you and Mollie holding up?”

  “Jason! Thank God. I forget I have this thing in my head. We’re fine … in Denver. Two agents are escorting us to Colorado Springs. Government personnel are being distributed around the country and sent below ground where possible. Our destination is Cheyenne Mountain. Where are you? What is happening in space?”

  “I’m with my father on The Lilly. I wish I had positive news for you, but Earth has been surrounded by seven dreadnaughts. What’s worse for those in the Western Hemisphere, and there in North America, drones have been deployed. We’re not sure what that means exactly … perhaps a foreign life form.”

  “Life form? What the hell does that mean? Life form different than Craing?”

  “Yes. Most definitely different than Craing. It may be an organism … something called a molt weevil.”

  Nan’s attention was drawn to a commotion out the back window, off to the side. A circle of twenty to thirty people stood in a wide arc around something that must be one of the drones Jason was referring to. Spherical in shape, with raised, angular plates around its circumference, the drone looked menacing. Abruptly the crowd jumped backward, then began to run away. A woman grabbed her young daughter into her arms. Even at some distance, Nan saw the terror in her face.

  Multiple plates around the sphere opened. Nan leaned forward and squinted her eyes. Mollie turned back and looked at her mother with a questioning look. Things with legs, lots of legs, were moving … more like crawling … out of the drone. There was a constant progression of them … God, how many of them are there? Nan wondered.

  “Nan, what is it? What’s wrong?” Jason asked.

  Chapter 15

  It took them close to six hours to make it to the outskirts of Colorado Springs. As bad as the gridlock had been earlier, it was worse here. Even the I-25 emergency vehicle lane was totally blocked.

  Mollie was fast asleep on the ambulance gurney and Nan was dozing on the bench seat at her side. When the two back doors opened, they both bolted upright.

  “What is it? What’s happening?” Nan asked, looking over Reese’s shoulder to the jammed up highway behind him.

  “This is as far as we go in this thing.”

  “Far as we go? Are we close?”

  “Not particularly. I’m guessing ten miles,” he replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

  Mollie was on her feet and wiping the sleep from her eyes. “Mom, I have to …” She looked at Agent Reese and flushed.

  Nan nodded and gestured for Reese to give them a moment. Understanding, he nodded and closed the doors. Nan heard him from outside: “We really need to get moving.”

  Nan looked around the confined space, not seeing anything that would suffice. She opened several side cabinets, eventually pulling out a plastic basin, which she held out to Mollie.

  “No way! I’m supposed to pee into that thing?”

  “That or you can hold it.”

  Mollie narrowed her eyes and tightly constricted her mouth into an expression that said I really hate you right now. Nan handed her the basin and followed it with a small box of tissues. “You’ll need this too.”

  Mollie grabbed both. She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows.

  “Oh, sorry.” Nan smiled and turned around. Outside the window she saw people running. Then there was distant yelling and screaming coming from further down I-25.

  “I’m done,” Mollie said. “What’s with all the screaming out there?”

  Both back doors crashed open. “We have to go … right now!” Reese urged. He leaned in and grabbed Mollie, threw her over one shoulder, and then helped Nan jump down from the back of the ambulance.

  “What is it?” Nan asked. Clark was at her side and not so gently coaxing her to move faster. Reese and Mollie were weaving between the four lanes of parked cars while dodging a steady stream of people running north on I-25. “Where’s everyone going?” Nan asked Clark over her shoulder.

  “There’s another one of those drones south of here, on the highway.”

  Nan squeezed between the back bumper of a VW Jetta and the hood of a beat up minivan. She stepped up onto the Jetta’s bumper and looked south. There it was, no more than a few hundred yards further down the highway. There was something else—dark things moving about.

  “Move it! Ms. Reynolds,” Clark barked from behind.

  Nan didn’t need additional prompting. She’d glimpsed enough of what was coming in their direction to be more than a little afraid. Had her eyes played tricks on her or were there hundreds, if not thousands of those dark crawly things, the same things she’d seen earlier at the airport?

  Screams of terror that were now far too close brought a shiver down Nan’s spine. Up ahead, Reese had just cleared the highway and, with Mollie still draped over one shoulder, was running full out and down an embankment. Nan reached the last lane of cars. Too close to wedge between them, she climbed up onto the hood of a small Mazda Miata and felt the thin steel dent beneath her feet. Another glance to her left and she saw something that brought her to a complete stop. Three car lengths away was one of the crawly critters. About the size of a standard clothes dryer, it had six octopus-like appendages and a formless torso and head. There were eyes, and what she guessed was a mouth, but also a ring of tubular protrusions that flopped about as the thing moved. What held Nan transfixed to the point she couldn’t move was the vision of a middle-aged woman held tightly within two of the beast’s appendages. Only her head was still fully visible, because the rest of her body was being wrapped up into something. Her body was spinning round and round as a mucous-like substance sprayed from the ring of tubes … layers upon layers of it were coating every inch of her body. Eyes wide and her mouth agape in a perpetual scream, Nan watched horrified as the two of them locked eyes. Then the woman’s head, too, was completely encased. The cocoon process completed, the wrapped-up woman was flung onto the bed of an old pickup truck.

  “Move it!” Clark screamed, with panic in her voice. But her words were cut off abruptly as she ran face-first into a misty spray of something. Immediately, she was vaulted into the air, grabbed by the same damn creature. How it had moved so quickly, with such speed … Nan was having a hard time comprehending. Clark looked to be paralyzed with fear and, like the other woman, her open eyes were wide and desperate, her hands held out in front of her like rigid claws. The beast used its other appendages to start the spinning process. At this distance, Nan could hear the wet sloshing sound as the secretion process began covering Clark’s body. Spinning-spinning-spinning around, Clark’s form rotated. By the time the female agent was halfway immersed into a cocoon, Nan pulled herself free from her own terrified paralysis. Ready to flee, Nan noticed Clark’s handgun on the pavement below. Without thinking, she jumped from the Mazda’s hood and scooped up the gun. Six feet separated Nan from the preoccupied beast. She raised the semiautomatic pistol, aimed, and squeezed the trigger … nothing. Nan found the safety switch, changed the setting, and tried again. The recoil caused her to nearly drop the gun. The creature screeched—a high, relentless, terrifying sound that caused Nan’s knees to nearly buckle. Clark, the lower portion of her face web-covered, was lying on the pavement face up. The creature was flailing, all six of its legs probing at a gaping hole in the middle of its torso. Shit-colored secretions seeped from the wound—a wound the creature was attempting to cover with the same mucus substance it had used to make Clark’s cocoon. Nan squeezed the trigger again and again until the clip was empty and the gun’s breech locked open.<
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  Three more creatures arrived in the brief span it took Nan to kill one of them. Clark’s cocooned body was up again in the air, held in the tentacles of another beast, and was being spun around. The dead creature was also in the air, quickly being spun into a much larger cocoon by two other creatures. Slowly at first, Nan backed away. When she felt the hot metal of the Miata hit the back of her legs, she spun around, climbed onto its hood, and was up and over the sports car with all the speed she could muster. In two strides she was heading down the same embankment she’d seen Reese fleeing down earlier. Where the hell did he go? Where was Mollie?

  Gunfire erupted from up ahead—somewhere over the grassy knoll she was now halfway up. Out of breath, she almost didn’t hear the distant scream. It was Mollie! Nan’s mind flashed to the image of Mollie, captured, spun into a cocoon; her little face nearly covered, her eyes pleading … help me, Mommy.

  Nan crested the knoll and saw more creatures in the distance. A large building occupied a city block just ahead. High above it was a sign reading CATERPILLAR.

  She heard Mollie’s screams again and then saw her. A hundred yards away, atop the building, Mollie stood with her arms waving above her head, signaling to Nan.

  Nan ran toward the building with everything she had. The creatures looked to be circling around the building and hadn’t noticed her yet. She watched them as they scurried about and saw how quickly they moved. Unlike an octopus that slithered around on all its appendages, these things could stand upright on any two of them, and run like a person. As she approached she slowed and crouched down into the tall chaparral grasses.

  The entrance to the building was close to her, but there were several beasts running back and forth in front of its large plate-glass windows. A black pickup truck emerged from the back of the building. Moving fast, it headed directly for Nan. Standing in the bed of the truck was Reese, and he appeared to be holding a rifle. Someone was driving the pickup, but the sun’s reflection on the windshield made it impossible to see who it was. Nan saw Reese’s gunfire before hearing its retort come a half-second later. Two of the creatures, one on each side of the truck, were in fast pursuit. As fast as the truck was speeding, the creatures were faster. Reese fired several shots at his pursuers and missed. As one of them moved forward, on the left side of the truck, Reese finally hit his target. In a tangle of legs, the creature rolled and flopped to a stop. Before Reese could turn and bring his aim to the other creature, it was already attacking from the right side of the truck. Less than twenty yards away, Nan could now see the driver. One hand was on the steering wheel as the other aimed a pistol toward the passenger window. The creature leapt and grabbed on to the cab. Two arms reached across the windshield, while other arms found purchase above and below the pickup’s cab. The man fired three times before the creature fell away onto the ground. The truck braked to a stop right in front of Nan.