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Kanner, Nix and the team have been sent to a primitive planet
ahead of the construction companies. Their remit is to ascertain the viability
of peacefully living on Iridessia alongside the indigenous species.
Probes have already sent back favourable reports.
The probes had not met the locals.
Kanner and Nix must observe the creatures on the planet
whilst dealing with dark forces their best scientists will have difficulty
explaining.
Excerpt
“I
suppose you want to go down those tunnels, don’t you?” Nix asked while Kanner
nodded his head.
“You know
the sensible thing is to get out?” Nix continued.
“Or,”
Kanner began, “maybe the sensible thing is to walk down the tunnels and see if
there’s some form of alien tech down there that could produce our ‘ghost’ for
want of a better word.” Kanner’s voice trailed
off to a mumble as he made mental lists of what to take and what they might encounter.
“What
happened to ‘no inhabitants matching the intelligence of humankind’?” Nix
asked.
“I feel I
should say something like they were aiming really low when they sent us
here.” Kanner saw a scathing look on
Nix’s face and backtracked,
“I’m
joking. We’re scouting this planet with some of the best minds available.”
He was
interrupted by Nix,
“I can’t
see my breath.”
Kanner
gave him a blank look.
“That’s
what happens when there are ghosts,” Nix said, “it gets colder and you see your
breath in front of you.”
“Or maybe
there’s a crack somewhere in the rock and a cold draft is getting in from
outside. Maybe the wind just dropped. From what we can tell it’s Iridessia’s
autumn and it is most certainly getting colder at night.
As more
minutes ticked past, Nix recovered.
“Let’s
start on the left,” Kanner said. A brief “OK” was Nix’s only reply.
“Are you
really OK with this? We can go back if you’re not sure.”
“No,
let’s do it. I won’t hear the end of it back at base if I wimp out now.”
The
left-hand tunnel was, as expected, pitch black. Kanner adjusted the light on
his helmet to emit a wider beam into the tunnel.
“Mind,
there’s an uneven step down. Nothing to
see. It looks like an empty tunnel. The light isn’t penetrating very far.
Watch, slippery patch,” Kanner announced as he took small steps forwards into
the darkness.
“I’m at
the end,” Kanner said unnecessarily as both men reached out to touch the cold,
damp wall. Their contact produced a searing white light which filled the
surrounding space. They yelled and tried to shield their eyes with their arms.
Turning their backs on the walls they blindly made their way back along the
dank, stone corridor. Their bodies bumped into each other in their haste to
escape the intense light.
“Kanner,
why is the tunnel longer on the way out?” Nix asked still shielding his eyes
with his arm.
“I don’t
know, but I was thinking the same thing. Maybe we’re almost…”
They spilt out of the tunnel and sprawled across the
floor having been caught out by the natural step formation at the entrance.
Darkness overcame them for a few moments as the pair groaned and complained.
Kanner sat up with his knees bent and rested his arms on his legs.
“Nix, you
OK?” he asked.
“Yeah,”
“We
should leave,” Kanner began,
“About
time,” Nix said pulling himself to his feet and reaching down to give Kanner a
hand up. They turned their backs on the trio of tunnels and took a step towards
the cavern between them and the tunnel to the outside world.
“Kanner,”
Nix began,
“I know,”
Kanner answered. They had no control as their bodies were manipulated to face
the tunnels again. Both men let out a yell as they felt their bodies snatched
into the air and flung into the middle tunnel. They approached the end wall at
high speed and had no ability to slow themselves or shield their heads from the
impending impact. Breath squeezed out of them as they stopped inches away from
sudden death. They hung in mid-air incapable of speech or movement. The lights
on their helmets and arms shone but had no effect on the surrounding darkness.
The
lights went out.
Kanner
tried to move his mouth to speak, but his jaw moved too slowly and no sound
came out. He had no connection with anything. He couldn’t see or hear Nix and
he couldn’t feel the tunnel on any side of him. The universe around him felt
like it had been erased leaving him hanging in the absence of everything.
Kanner
felt his head snap backwards and was dragged by the chest in an unknown
direction. When he dropped unceremoniously onto the hard, damp floor, he
realised he had been expelled from the second tunnel. He immediately looked
around for Nix.
“Make.
It. Stop,” Nix said through gritted teeth. He was fighting and losing the
battle as his feet took him closer to the third tunnel.
Kanner
tried to pull him back but again felt his
body hoisted into the air. His ability to breathe disappeared. His body tried to panic, but even that function was
removed. Kanner hurtled into the third tunnel and landed just behind Nix as he
walked through the end wall. The lights from Kanner’s gear worked in the last
tunnel. The wall at the end was some sort of transparent rock. Through it, he could see Nix surrounded by some of the
more vicious creatures they had encountered on the planet. Kanner threw a hand
into the wall but was stopped, bruised and
scraped for his efforts. The animals closed in on Nix who appeared to be in a
trance. Kanner was powerless to help. He slammed both palms on the wall he
could still see through and pressed his forehead in-between them. He hoped with
everything he possessed that Nix wasn’t really there and they were both
unconscious somewhere rather than about to experience the fate he saw ahead of
him. He closed his eyes in defeat.
About the Author:
Amy J Hamilton is about 300 years old and was spawned on an
alien planet. She exists mainly on coffee and chocolate, but mainly coffee.
She has a husband, two teenagers, tropical fish, a tortoise,
a degu and a bearded dragon who can fly and breathe fire (lie). In her spare
time, she bakes things, sews things and play things on the piano.
She has been writing since she could hold a pencil in her
left nostril. Amy’s books fall into various genres: Erotic/Sci-Fi: Lunar
Medical series (Modified, Nate and Day), Sci-Fi Murder Mystery: Missing
Remnants. Paranormal Sci-Fi: Iridessian Haunts
Amy currently writes for Radish Fiction. The serialised
fiction app is free to download for iOS and Android. Having passed the inspection of the content
editor, authors are invited to write serials where the first three episodes are
always free. Subsequent episodes may be free, unlock for free after a week but
can be unlocked early for 3 Radish coins, or are permanently locked until 3
Radish coins are paid. An episode is between 30c-42c depending on how many
coins you buy.
