Pandora's Chase

Chapter Thirty-Two

Dwears were as fearless as they were smart, so it seemed odd to Lendar when the better part of a minute passed before the first one sniffed at the body. He needed both Dwears to show themselves before he could, with any chance of success, attack. Otherwise there would be far more trouble than he needed. A surprise strike was the only feasible way to hunt one Dwear, let alone a pair of them.

His leg began to tingle from his awkward crouch, and just as he was about to shift his leg, the snout of the other Dwear appeared. Though, not where he had expected.

Its nose sniffed from just around the corner on the right side of the tunnel opening. One went to inspect the body. The other, the tunnel from which it came. Slowly, its head arched around the corner, as if to test Lendar's resolve.

Even the Dwear at the limp body in the middle of the floor was uncomfortably close. The one with its head barely a meter away would have most men fleeing in terror. But Lendar couldn't afford to back down, so he remained hidden in the darkness with his gun drawn. He had to be quick in order to strike both beasts down.

The approaching Dwear's breathing became intentional with a low growl from deep in the bellows of its throat, and Lendar knew it had caught his cent.

The time to make his move was now.

Its right paw crept out into the tunnel, and a second later, it completed the step, bringing half its body into view. The moment the second paw landed on the stone floor, Lendar attacked. He fired two precise shots at the beast's head.

Pop! Pop!

The bullets bit into its skull, an instant kill, and as it began to fall, Lendar charged forward. He dove over the dying Dwear, and as he came through the doorway, sliding along the Dwear's back, he aimed his gun again. The other Dwear was bounding towards him and Lendar pulled the trigger again and again and again. One bullet struck the Dwear's chest, and the other two caught its head.

Lendar slid off the first Dwear not a moment too soon. The second collapsed atop the first, dead on arrival, both beasts tumbled limply to the floor. Lendar skidded to a stop on the floor a few feet away, took one second to breathe, and then rose into another crouch, gun at the ready. There could have been more threats in the hangar.

But he stayed in his defensive position and for a minute heard nothing. Then a flurry of approaching footsteps from afar. More guards coming down the hall. Rising, he searched for anything that could block the entrance. There was nothing big enough that he could move in time. He was about to give up and make a run for it, but then his eye caught several fuel cans sitting at the base of a forklift. Hurrying, he emptied two containers atop the dead Dwears and took a step back.

With no other source of ignition, he trained his gun on the closest Dwear and fired the last two rounds into the corpse, setting it ablaze with the muzzle flash. Lendar grinned as he watched the fire roar into a flaming blockade, licking the stone archway into the tunnel and up the wall. Several grimy faces peered through the blaze, but the smoke and heat became so intense so quickly, the men were forced to retreat.

Ah, but the smoke.

It was filling the hangar, and the fire suppression system was not part of Lendar's plan. It would put out the fire quickly, allowing the guards to enter. Holstering his weapon, Lendar finally peeled away from the entrance and made a beeline for Nazarus, hoping he could make it in time.

He didn't.

As he neared his ship, the fire suppression alarm rang out, and the system shot compressed carbon dioxide onto the flames. A thick, white cloud engulfed the tunnel entrance, quelling the fire. Lendar, swearing, stopped at the podium next to his ship's launch pod and initiated the launch sequence. He then grabbed a screwdriver from a nearby tool cart and jammed it into the podium's keypad to pry it off. The entire front panel of the podium broke away, and Lendar took it with him as he ran up the familiar ramp into his ship. He closed the bay door, locking himself inside, mere seconds before the guards reached him.

Unable to reverse the launch sequence, the guards bolted back to the hangar office as the bulkhead protruded out from the hangar wall. It rotated, separating Lendar's ship from the restrictive hold of the hangar and exposing it to the freedom of space outside.

A minute later, he was in the cockpit, ready to launch. The automatic safety harness strapped him in tightly when he sat in his captain's chair. The engines roared awake as he gazed out the cockpit window at the giant red planet Khaos. A little thrust, and he lifted off, gaining velocity, leaving Desmois behind.

"Nazarus, wake up," he ordered.

An energy within the cockpit powered up, and a light-hearted man's voice spoke with a computerized humanoid accent. "Good morning, Captain."

"It's not morning. Calibrate time."

"Did you--?"

"Just calibrate. We have to move quickly."

"I have calibrated already, sir. Please tell me why I was powered down for seven months, thirteen days, nine hours, three minutes, and twenty-seven seconds."

"There's no time for that. We need to get out of this sector now. Initiate trajectory plot. Heading: Space Station Port Luness. Confirm."

"Confirmed, Captain."

Nazarus shot out of sight at the last possible moment, just before the guards launched remote space hounds to track and engage Lendar's ship.

"Heading set for Space Station Port Luness. May I expect you'll update me when you do have the time, sir?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, sir. Distance to target: one thousand nine hundred thirty-two Parsecs. ETA at--"

"Never mind that. I'm hungry, and I need a shower. Just get us there." Lendar stormed out of the cockpit.

"Yes, Captain. So good to have you back, sir," Nazarus said.