Alien Sky Read online

  ALIEN SKY

  by

  Daniel Arenson

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  AFTERWORD

  NOVELS BY DANIEL ARENSON

  KEEP IN TOUCH

  CHAPTER ONE:

  SPIDER WINGS

  Wreathed in smoke and flame, the dragon-shaped starship swooped toward a planet of mist, rainforests, and massive winged spiders the size of pterodactyls.

  "Remind me again, why did we ever come here?" Riff muttered.

  Captain of the HMS Dragon Huntress, he sat in his suede captain's seat, clutching the frayed armrests. He wore his old jeans and a white T-shirt, and his beloved plasma gun, Ethel, hung from his hip. Sweat dripped down his forehead. Before him, through the ship's windshield, he saw swirls of clouds, a snaking river, and the jungle of Planet Adilor below.

  Giga turned toward him and tilted her head. The android's black hair fell down to her chin, framing her pale face. Appropriately, she had chosen to wear a green kimono embroidered with small golden spiders.

  "Captain? It was your order to fly to Planet Adilor, sir. Something about . . ." Mechanical clicks rose from the android as she searched her memory banks. ". . . being so poor we should charge rent from the moths in our pockets."

  Riff grumbled. "Yes, but now we have bigger concerns than moths. Much bigger." He gulped and pointed. "Much, much bigger."

  Outside the windshield, a massive spider buzzed across the sky, beating translucent wings. Its belly was so large and round it put potbellied pigs to shame. Its many eyes blinked, large as human heads. With a screech, the creature whizzed away, vanishing into the mist.

  Riff gulped. "How many of these creatures did the colonists say are here?"

  Giga tilted her head to the other side, clicking and humming as she calculated. "Seventeen adult spiders, Captain. And several thousand eggs at the time of our last report." She smiled sweetly. "If the eggs have already hatched, then four thousand, seven hundred, and eighty-four spiders, sir."

  Riff sighed as the starship kept descending. "And definitely no chance the colonists would agree to let us nuke the whole damn forest from orbit, is there?"

  The android's smile never faltered. "Not if we want to get paid, Captain."

  Riff rubbed his temples. "I hate my job."

  The HMS Dragon Huntress kept descending through the atmosphere, heading toward the rainforest. Planet Adilor was a vast world, larger than Earth, covered with rivers, forests, and mostly harmless life—birds, fish, and fuzzy little rodents that purred when patted. A perfect planet to colonize. That is, until an asteroid covered with eggs had slammed into the surface only a few kilometers outside the colony . . . and started spewing aliens.

  "Alien spiders," Riff muttered. "Goddamn alien spiders with goddamn wings."

  "And venom, sir," Giga reminded him. "Quite venomous, actually. Did you know, Captain, that a single drop of Velurian spider venom can kill one thousand, three hundred and twelve and a half men? Assuming average distribution of weight, age, and health."

  He wiped sweat off his brow. "I think I've had enough figures for today, Giga."

  The Dragon Huntress descended farther until its thruster engines blasted the forest canopy, bending trees and vines and scattering mist. Birds fled. The ship leveled off and skimmed across the treetops. Riff rose from his seat, approached the windshield, and leaned against the glass. He pointed.

  "There!"

  A few kilometers away, he saw the colony. A hundred Earth settlers had built wooden huts, a concrete silo, and a palisade of sharpened stakes. An area of forest had been cleared out, making room for a field of turnips, squash, wheat, and other produce.

  Just outside the colony rose a granite mountain, its boulders and trees covered with cobwebs.

  Riff winced.

  The Dragon's dashboard speakers crackled to life, and a voice emerged from them, staticky, stuttering. "Captain Starfire! Thank goodness you're here. They killed another colonist this morning. Oh stars . . . you have to exterminate them, you—"

  The voice from the speakers died with a screech of static.

  Riff grimaced and clutched his gun. "Giga, take us right over the mountain. Right over those cobwebs."

  Giga smiled. "Happy to comply, Captain!"

  Obeying the android's wireless signals, the Dragon Huntress shot over the colony below, its engines bending trees, scattering thatch off hut roofs, and sending laundry flying off strings. The starship soared above the mountain, the cobwebs spreading below them. Riff glimpsed several large, shadowy figures scuttling between the trees. On the mountaintop, a massive web rose like a circus tent, gleaming with pale beads like dewdrops.

  Spider eggs, Riff realized. He gulped.

  "All right, Gig. You're in command of the ship until I get back." He patted old Ethel. "Time to go hunting some aliens."

  Giga saluted. "Happy to comply, Captain. Good luck out there."

  He nodded and left the command bridge. His boots thumped down metal stairs and along a hallway lined with doors. Finally Riff stepped into the Dragon Huntress's main deck. The couches had been pushed back against the walls, clearing a space for the landing party.

  Nova was already here, clad as always in a golden catsuit, the kaijia fabric thin but hard enough to stop bullets and plasma blasts. The ashai gladiator unrolled her whip, letting the tip crackle with electricity. Large, pointy ears thrust out from between strands of her blond hair, and her green eyes shone with excitement for the hunt.

  "Fragging aardvarks, Riff!" Nova said. "Did you see the size of that one what flew by us? Goddamn bugger nearly larger than Romy's backside."

  "Hey!" rose a voice from above. "It's not my fault, Nova. It's Riff's fault for stocking so much cake in the fridge."

  A hatch on the ceiling opened, and Romy leaped down onto the deck. She wobbled, fell down onto said backside, then groaned and struggled back to her feet. The demon's skin was red, her fangs long, her claws sharp. Wings spread out from her back, and a tail flicked behind her. She held a pitchfork, and fire crackled upon her head instead of hair. Despite her fearsome appearance, she clutched a teddy bear, and a cartoon dinosaur smiled on her T-shirt.

  "Oh hai, Captain Riff, sir!" The demon squared her shoulders and saluted, dropping her pitchfork with a clatter. "Cadet Romy, reporting to duty. Ready to stomp on some spiders, sir."

  "Romy, you are not to stomp on spiders," Riff said. "Your job is to flap those demon wings of yours, fly above us, and warn us if any spiders approach. You're purely tactical cover."

  "Tacty-what-now?" She tilted her head.

  Riff groaned. "Fine. Stomp on them!"

  "Or just sit on them and squish them," Nova muttered.

  The demon pouted. "You're just jealous that you didn't get any cake. You— Ah!"

  The demon squealed, Riff cursed, and even Nova jumped. A cow
-sized spider slammed against the porthole only feet away. Its mottled, bloated body pressed against the glass, its eyes blinked, and then it buzzed off.

  "All right, ladies." Riff hefted his gun. "It's show time. Remember, we're bound by Earth laws even out here. That means we can't kill any endemic life. No stepping on local insects. No burning any birds. Can't even snap a twig without a stack of paperwork from the Humanoid Alliance. Those spiders, now, they're alien invaders, hatched off an asteroid, so they're good to kill—but we don't kill anything else. I don't want to even see anyone tear a leaf off a tree. Got it?"

  Nova grumbled. "Fragging Earth laws make no sense. Are you sure I can't bring any grenades?"

  Riff glared at her. "I told you. No grenades!"

  "Back in Ashmar, we'd blast the whole damn forest apart." Nova sneered.

  "That's why Ashmar is a desolate wasteland." Riff marched toward the airlock and yanked open the inner door. "Now come on. It's hunting season."

  He stepped into the airlock, gun in hand, and walked down a flight of stairs. His companions walked behind, whip and pitchfork ready. At the edge of the airlock, waiting by the outer door, stood Riff's brother.

  As always, Sir Steel Starfire wore his knightly armor, the metal plates polished to a shine. Solflare, his antique sword, hung at his side. The knight's brown mustache, his pride and joy, drooped down to his chin. As ever, Steel's brown eyes seemed sad, older than his years, the eyes of a man who had seen too much tragedy, felt too much pain.

  "Cables all set to deploy." Steel pointed at a spool near the doorway, four cables wrapped around it. "We're ready."

  Riff nodded. "Harness up, everyone. We land by the spider eggs." He pulled on a harness and attached a cable. "We kill every adult spider we see, and then we burn those damn eggs before they hatch."

  Nova wriggled into a harness of her own. The ashai's eyes gleamed, and an eager smile twitched on her lips. Her hand tightened around her electric whip. Nova craved battle, Riff knew. These missions made him queasy, but she lived for them.

  A few steps behind, Romy tried to wriggle into a harness too, but she ended up entangling herself in the straps and falling onto the stairs. Finally the demon managed to stand on one foot, limbs sticking out at odd angles, the harness straps stretching across her torso and face.

  "Ready to deploy, Captain!" A strap muffled her words.

  Nova grumbled. "You don't even need a harness, Romy. You have wings and can fly down."

  The demon's eyes widened. "Oh yeah! I forgot." She tried to tug the harness off, only entangling herself further and falling down again.

  As Nova helped the demon extricate herself, Riff nodded and grabbed the outer door's handle. He took a deep, shaky breath.

  For money, he thought. For the colony. He looked over at Nova—at her green eyes, her mocking lips that he loved to kiss, her golden hair that he loved to stroke. For Nova.

  He raised his chin and tugged the door open.

  Air blasted into the Dragon Huntress, hot and humid and thick as soup. Mist swirled and the rainforest canopy sprawled to the horizons. The mountaintop jutted up below the starship, draped with trees, vines, and blankets of cobwebs.

  "Oh shenanigans," Riff muttered, belly curdling. He felt like he had just swallowed rotten eggs. For a moment he stood on the edge, hesitating.

  "Go on, while we're young." Nova placed her hands against his back and shoved.

  "Nova, damn it!" Riff cried, falling through the air. The cable whirred madly on the spool above. Riff plummeted. The air blasted his face, tugging at his skin. The forest raced up toward him. Whoops sounded above, and Riff turned his head to see the others descending above him. Steel held his blade, Nova cracked her whip, and Romy—flapping her wings instead of dangling off a cable—hooted as she clutched her pitchfork. The Dragon Huntress hovered above them, thruster engines blasting.

  Still falling, Riff returned his eyes to the forest below. The buggers lurked somewhere down there. He would search every tree for them, tear through every cobweb, lift every boulder until—

  With a shriek, one of the spiders leaped up from the cobwebs below, beat its wings, and soared toward him.

  "Bloody hell!" Riff cursed and aimed his gun.

  He blasted out plasma.

  The spider swerved in the air, and the plasma blazed downward and slammed into a tree below.

  "Don't hurt the leaves, Riff!" Romy cried.

  "Shut up and help me kill it!" he shouted back.

  The spider soared toward him, mouth opening in a squeal, revealing fangs the size of Riff's arms. Its eight purple eyes blinked, and its wings buzzed in a fury. Riff winced and fired again, and this time he hit the creature, but the plasma washed across the spider's bloated body like waves over a boulder.

  The alien arachnid reached him, jaws snapping. Black ooze sprayed from its mouth.

  Riff screamed and swung on his cable, dodging the slime. He kicked wildly.

  The spider's fangs lashed, nearly scratching Riff's leg. His boot thumped into the alien, squishing one eye. Black liquid spurted.

  With a growl, Romy slammed down onto the spider. The demon clung to the creature—it was several times her size—growling and beating her wings. She stabbed her pitchfork again and again.

  "I'm stomping it, Riff!" The demon wagged her tail. "I'm stomping it good, I—"

  "Behind you, Romy!" he shouted.

  The demon spun around in time to see a second spider flying toward them. She squealed, flapped her wings, and thrust her pitchfork.

  Riff cursed, firing his blaster again and again. Plasma flamed across the spider before him, burning its eyes, filling its mouth. The creature shrieked and fell.

  Riff cursed. The cable kept unspooling, lowering him farther down toward the forest. More spiders flew above. Another leaped from below. Firing his gun, Riff fell down toward the cobwebs.

  An instant before he could slam into the sticky net, he fired his gun down, blasting a hole through the cobwebs. He plunged through the opening and thumped against the forest floor.

  He unhooked the cable off his harness. Trees soared around him, draped in moss and lichen and more webs. He could no longer see the other Alien Hunters, only hear their cries above. He glimpsed a flash of gold between the treetops. Nova was still up there, swinging on her cable, lashing her whip. Then she vanished from view.

  "Steel!" Riff shouted. "Romy! Nova! Where are you, damn it?"

  They were supposed to meet on the surface, to move through the forest together, to burn down the cobwebs strand by strand. Not this. Not a battle in the air.

  "Steel!" He spoke into the communicator strapped to his wrist. "Steel, can you hear me?"

  Only static sounded in reply. Black ooze clung to the communicator, eating away at the metal. Riff grunted, tore the device off his wrist, and tossed it down. The glob kept hissing, corroding the communicator away to nothing.

  Riff hefted his gun, breath shaky. The communicator had probably just saved his wrist from being eaten away.

  "All right." He blew out a breath. "I've landed. I'm alive. Good. Good. Now I just need to kill some spiders."

  He began to walk. He had taken only three steps when he heard the screech behind him.

  He spun around to see a spider racing through the forest, legs kicking fallen leaves and clumps of dirt. Black ooze—the same kind that had eaten Riff's communicator—sprayed from its mouth.

  Riff leaped behind a tree. The slime slammed against the truck, corroding the wood. Holding his breath, Riff reached around the tree and fired his gun.

  The first blast of plasma washed across the spider's back. The creature opened its jaws to roar, and the second blast slammed into its mouth.

  The creature screeched as it burned.

  Riff shot again and again. More plasma slammed into the spider, entering its mouth, its eyes, its nostrils. The alien's belly bulged and glowed, full of flame . . . then burst.

  Riff grimaced and covered his head as chunks of spider rain
ed onto him.

  For a long moment, the spider rain continued. Globs thumped onto the forest floor and onto Riff. Finally he removed his arms from his head and looked around. Bits of the spider covered everything, including himself. Only its legs remained in their original location, sticking up like charred saplings.

  With a grimace, Riff tugged bits of alien flesh off his hair and clothes, hefted his gun, and kept walking through the forest.

  "Steel!" he cried out. "Nova! Romy!"

  He heard distant cries. Spiders squealing. People screaming. The Dragon Huntress's engines roared somewhere above, but Riff could no longer see the ship. He had hoped to land closer to the mountaintop, but what with the spiders assaulting him in midair, he wasn't sure where he had landed. He could be kilometers off. He lifted the compass that hung around his neck, flicked off a chunk of spider guts, and stared at the needle.

  "Eww . . . you stink."

  Riff spun around to see Romy approaching. Spider blood stained her pitchfork's prongs, and her tail wagged. She smiled, the fire crackling on her head.

  Oh God . . . it had to be Romy who landed beside me.

  "Did you see the others?" he said.

  Romy frowned. "Nova and Steel? Hundreds of times." Her eyes brightened. "Or did you mean unicorns? Are there any unicorns on this planet? I want to find one! I'm starving."

  "What do you even . . ." Riff groaned. "Never mind." He pointed ahead. "The spider eggs are that way, I think. Let's keep going. We'll meet Nova and Steel there. Keep your pitchfork ready."

  They kept walking through the forest. The trees soared around them. Lichen and vines hung from twisting branches, and eyes glowed from the foliage and holes in the trunks. Cobwebs hung everywhere, and shadows scurried in the distance.

  "There!" Riff fired his blaster.

  Plasma tore through cobwebs and slammed into one of the aliens. The winged spider squealed, leaped forward, and came flying toward them.

  Riff fired again. Romy shrieked and beat her wings. The demon soared skyward, then swooped, pitchfork plunging down. The prongs drove into the spider's back, and its bloated body deflated like a beach ball. Riff fired blast after blast until the alien burned and fell down dead.