“This would be beautiful countryside if the aliens didn’t live here,” he muttered. He couldn’t help thinking of a mixture of the English countryside and the rainforests they’d used for training exercises, years ago. “We could just come to an agreement about sharing planets…”
The Rhino snorted. “So people have been saying,” he said, as the Marines reached a large river running down to the sea — and the alien city. “But we have to get them to talk to us first.”
Charles nodded as the aliens launched another ambush. The tanks opened fire, tearing through undergrowth and aliens alike, while the armoured infantry ran forwards in hopes of preventing the aliens from retreating. Charles saw a pair of aliens stumbling right towards him — a shiver ran down his spine as he saw their movements, utterly creepy compared to human movements — and held up his hand, trying to get them to stop. The aliens lifted their weapons instead, refusing to even try to surrender. Charles opened fire with bitter regret, wondering just why so many aliens were prepared to die in a futile attempt to slow the human advance. Were they terrified of humanity?
He put the thought aside as they finally brushed through the last ambush and found themselves staring down at the alien city. For a moment, it took his breath away; the aliens might be eerie and creepy, but their city looked like something out of a fairytale. It was a glowing mass of spires, all gleaming as if they were made of ice, while water seemed to run freely through the streets. Half of them, he realised, were actually canals. To the aliens, they were as good as roads. Hell, there were boats on the surface.
“Odd design,” Private Butcher commented. “Where the hell are the oars — or the outboard motor?”
Charles frowned, using his suit’s sensors to zoom in on the closest boat. Butcher was right; there were no engines or slots for the oars. It puzzled him, leaving him wondering if the aliens had used the canals as rapids, then he understood what he was seeing. The aliens swam under the boat to provide motive power.
“Odd,” Butcher said, when he pointed it out. “No engines?”
“I guess they like to use muscle power,” Charles said. “We did when we were sneaking up on Abu Hsian and his gang of merry murderers.”
He cleared his throat, checking the HUD. The landing forces had spread out, carefully sealing off all land routes to the city. It would have been more impressive if he hadn’t been all too aware that the aliens preferred to swim through the water, allowing them to bring supplies in and out by sea. The alien city seemed to have captivated everyone, even the Rhino. There were no suggestions about forcing their way into the city and taking it by storm.
But then, no one is trying to bar our path any longer, he thought, grimly. They must have given up on trying to hold the city.
“The recon units will advance, carefully,” the Rhino said, finally. “Report at once if you run into trouble.”
Charles braced himself and led the way into the alien city. He’d been in the Middle East, China and even Russia, but none of their cities had ever given him such an odd feeling in his bones. Part of him was still captivated by the alien city, part of him found the whole structure oddly creepy. Up close, it was easy to tell the city hadn’t been built for humans. There were doors that were simply too small for anyone larger than a kid. But for an alien, with their immensely flexible bodies, they would be easy to use.
He forced his way into one icy block — the walls did look to be covered with ice, although he had no idea why — and looked around. There was nothing, apart from a large pool in one corner of the room; when he peered inside, he saw a handful of fish-like creatures swimming in the water. Pets, he wondered, or a food supply? It was impossible to tell. He looked into the next room, remembering all the lectures on how best to search a site for anything the intelligence types would find useful, and saw a handful of plastic sheets on the floor. When he picked them up, he saw writing on them.
“Good find,” Sergeant Jackson complimented him.
Charles snorted as they walked out of the building. The alien writing hadn’t been deciphered, even though it wasn’t the first time they’d recovered samples from an alien base. For all he knew, they’d picked up the alien counterpart to great literature — or pornography. The reports had suggested that the aliens were actually nowhere near as sexual as humanity, but Charles was inclined to dismiss that as wishful thinking. In his view, the mating urge was one of the prime drivers of human civilisation.
But if the aliens reproduce like frogs, he asked himself, would they even have anything like sex?
Inch by inch, the Marines spread through the city, carefully inspecting every last room and compartment. There was no resistance, not even a single sighting of an alien, merely endless rooms, some of which were filled with incomprehensible machines. The Marines marked them down for larger removal by the intelligence officers, then passed on to the next section, hunting for signs of where the aliens had gone. Charles peered out over the ocean, waves lapping against the edges of the city, and knew the answer. The aliens had gone underwater, where humans couldn’t follow.
“Pull back to Base Camp,” the Rhino ordered, finally. “The follow-up forces can continue the searches.”
Charles nodded, relieved. It had been hours since they’d landed — and it felt like days. If it hadn’t been for the suit, he would probably have reached the limits of his endurance long ago. Instead, he led the way back to the Base Camp, which had been established alarmingly close to the city. A handful of Marines were already pumping water from the nearby river and using it to help set up the base. Others were working on the damaged tanks. He removed his suit, detailed Sergeant Jackson to look after the remainder of the Marines, then went looking for his commanding officer.
The Rhino met him in the mobile control centre, which had already been buried under a protective canopy of earth. he didn’t look happy; Charles knew he would have preferred to command from his suit, rather than a vehicle that was a clear target if the enemy managed to parse their way through humanity’s datanet. But with units from several different countries operating in the field, he couldn’t afford any miscommunications.
“Good work,” the Rhino grunted. “Opposition seems to have faded away entirely.”
Charles nodded, looking at the Blue Force Tracker display. The humans had secured the coastal cities, having smashed the planetary defence fortresses, but the aliens had largely withdrawn into the waters. Stalemate, it seemed, at least until the humans could start deploying the underwater probes. But it would take several days before they felt comfortable enough to start bringing scientists, some civilian, down to the planet’s surface.
“They weren’t ready for us,” he said. “The next time we force a landing on an alien world, sir, it will be a great deal harder.”
“Almost certainly,” the Rhino agreed. He slapped Charles on the back. “Go get some sleep, mate. You’ll be useless to yourself and your men when you’re half-dead on your feet.”
Outside, the sun was already starting to set. Charles looked towards a glow in the distance, realised to his amusement that a handful of soldiers were smoking, then up towards the sky. Hundreds of pieces of debris were still tumbling through the atmosphere, leaving fiery trails as they burnt up and vanished. Beyond, there was no sign of the fleet. It was still holding station some distance from the planet.
Lucky bastards, he thought. Night was falling rapidly now, sending chills down his spine. There was a faint smell in the air, he realised now, that was completely alien. He had a feeling that he wasn’t going to sleep well, no matter how tired he was. They don’t see the mud on our boots.