Free Alien Velocity by Robert Appleton

up. “Why not? What the hell are these things?”
    “Occasionally we catch a glimpse of one, an exile wandering the wastelands. But they quickly choose suicide. No other creature has ever made it out of their city alive.”
    “Where’s this city?”
    “You know where it is. I have observed you are constantly drawn by its summons.”
    “The lighthouse?”
    “Yes. It is the perfect means to lure interstellar castaways to their deaths, a beacon of hope. It is not even a matter of trust. The marooned ships have no choice but to head for that sign of civilization and, from there, none make it back.”
    Mantraps began to snap at the thick of his stomach, gnawing at his resolve. The hunger joined in. He’d been so distracted all day, nothing ultimate had reared its head. He’d had a task to perform, a means to an end he hadn’t envisaged. Surviving was an end in itself. No shape to it, no personality. But this—this was slam-bang, guillotine focus. It had a shape and personality. Evil.
    “So what do we do once we reach your parents?” He hoped like hell to hear the word escape.
    “Our parents have been in direct contact with us all this time. Remember we are all linked. When we reach them they will tell us exactly what must be done. They have met with the aboriginal species of Baccarat, the kind race of old who now dwell in the forest realm. Not even the usurpers dare interfere with the equilibrium of the forest. Its roots go deep, and it gives the planet its air. The aboriginals have promised to send you back to Earth, Charlie.”
    His heart lifted.
    “With one caveat,” she added.
    “Oh?”
    “You must destroy the great city beneath the lighthouse. That is the only way the aboriginals will be able to reclaim their planet and control the wormhole technology to send you home.”
    Charlie leapt to his feet, almost fell backward. “Then why don’t you just throw me to the goddamn lions while you’re at it! All the technology in the universe…and you want me to walk up and knock? Wow, I have to hand it to you guys, you’re every bit as dumb as you look. Listen, I had to run on a goddamn treadmill to get here. I’m just a hamster in a tin shithouse. Christ! As if things aren’t bad enough, I have to do your dirty work for you as well. You want me to die. Wow, that’s gratitude. I tell you what, as soon as I get you there, you’re gonna show me how to get food and water for myself and then I’m gone. Sayonara. I’ll live in a cave somewhere. I don’t care. There’s no way I’m risking my neck for someone else’s beef. No fear.”
    “Are you finished?” Marley asked.
    He shrugged sulkily.
    “Maybe you did not hear me,” she said. “You have the opportunity to destroy one of the most evil regimes known anywhere in existence and, if successful, you will get to go home. Not to mention all the countless lives you would spare from now on. If that is not enough to convince you, maybe this is.” He looked up as she removed her metal hood to reveal a bald head with three bare patches in the skin showing her skull.
    Perhaps the eyes used to be there, eons ago.
    “The evil ones are us. We are them. A long time ago, we shared the same planet and we alone know how to defeat them.”
    Intrigued, Charlie cocked his head to one side.
    “So you will help us?” she asked.
    “What would I have to do?”
    “You would have to enter the city.”
    “How do I do that?”
    “You will have to be captured.”
    “You what—” He spluttered into a cough and slid off the sloping stone. He wiped orange dust off his leg and the sleeve of his T-shirt and shook his head. “For a species on the verge of extinction, you sure have a sense of humour.”
    He spat the phlegm from his mouth. Rising to resume the trek, he held his arms out ready to lift Christina onto his shoulders. Strangely, she was not there. He checked the nearby rocks in case she had fallen. No sign.
    “Marley, what’s happened to her? Christina. The little