Slimer

long way to reach another supply.’ ‘Good,’ sighed Shelley. ‘Then it’s definitely over. We will have destroyed this monstrosity that we so foolishly brought into the world.’ A violent shudder ran through his body and for a second or two his face seemed to shimmer out of focus. Then he was back. ‘Won’t be much longer,’ he said weakly. ‘It’s beginning to break down inside.’

‘How much longer before you.. you.?’ asked Paul.

A flicker of a smile appeared on Shelley’s lips. ‘Die? Possibly only minutes. But don’t be sorry for me. I look forward to the release that death will bring. At least I didn’t suffer the fate of my friends and colleagues… I have stayed myself to the end. I wasn’t… taken… by that horror. I only lost my body… not my soul…’

‘There’s one more question,’ said Paul urgently. ‘You’ve got to tell us — is there only one creature?’

Shelley gave a feeble nod. ‘Yes. Only one. It didn’t need to reproduce. It didn’t even possess the capacity for reproduction, either asexually or bisexually…’

‘I don’t follow you,’ said Paul. ‘Why couldn’t it reproduce?’

‘I told you — it didn’t need to reproduce. Species only reproduce in order for their genes to survive, or we could say that genes themselves have contrived for the species to reproduce in order to improve the chances of their own survival. But because the Phoenix organism is in itself immortal, or thought it was, it didn’t have to rely on such a clumsy mechanism…’

‘The Selfish Gene,’ murmured Paul.

Another ghost of a smile from Shelley. ‘Ah, I see you have seen my video tapes. Young man, you must ensure that those tapes are seen by the right people. Steps must be taken to ensure that something like the Phoenix can never be unleashed upon the world again. Do you promise?’

Paul nodded. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll make sure the full story of what happened here gets out.’

‘Good,’ said Shelley. He gave a deep sigh and his head lolled back on his shoulders. His features began to melt and run together. Then there was a hissing sound and something black emerged from between his lips.

‘Get back!’ Paul warned Linda. They began to retrace their steps up the corridor, keeping' the lamp trained on the squirming shape on the floor. It was then that Linda realised they’d left the flame-thrower up on the landing pad.

Shelley rapidly disappeared and in his place was the familiar horror of the pool of glistening black slime. But it was different this time. Its viscous surface was rippling and bubbling in an agitated manner. Then thick, greasy- looking fumes began to rise up from the liquid.

Both Paul and Linda started to cough as the acrid gas reached them and were forced to back even further away. ‘What’s happening to it?’ wheezed Linda.

‘It’s dying — I hope,’ said Paul.

They watched it for about ten minutes. By the end of that time there was nothing left of the creature but a scattering of dried, black flakes. Eventually Paul walked carefully towards them and then prodded through them with the barrel of the M16. ‘Careful,’ warned Linda.

‘It’s okay. There’s nothing left but ashes. It’s all dried up. It’s dead.’

‘But how can we be sure?’ She wanted to believe it was dead, with every fibre of her being, but the suspicion remained. The thing had tricked them before.

‘We can’t be. Not absolutely,’ said Paul. ‘But I’m 99 % convinced and that’s good enough for me.’ He came back to her, a wide grin on his face. ‘I really believe it’s all over.’

‘God, I hope you’re right. But what do we do now?’

‘We find that other pilot,’ said Paul, slinging the M16 over his shoulder. He sounded almost carefree and she half-expected him to start whistling at any moment.

‘How do we know he’s not in there? she gestured at the pile of blackened flakes. ‘The thing might have got him while we were up top.’

‘No, I don’t think so. In the condition it was in I doubt if it was capable of attacking anyone. I’m sure we’ll find him safe and sound. Come on, let’s go.’ He set off down the corridor with a definite air of jauntiness.

Linda followed him wishing she could feel as cheerful as he obviously felt but she couldn’t shake off the strong suspicion that their troubles were far from over.

Seventeen

They eventually found him outside. They were about to descend the gangway to the lowest level when he suddenly came running up the gangway towards them. He stopped when he saw them. He was a heavily built man in his late twenties. He had a crew-cut and was dressed in the same sort of overalls as the one Paul had shot.

He stopped when he saw them. ‘Who the hell are you?’ he shouted. Linda noted the alarm in his eyes. He looked as ifhe had just received a bad shock.

‘I’m Paul Latham. This is Linda Warner. Our yacht sunk and we ended up here a few days ago.’

‘What the hell is going on around here? Where is everybody?’ He spoke with a pronounced American accent.

‘It’s a long story,’ said Paul. ‘Just believe me when I say there’s no one left alive here but us and that we should get away from here as soon as possible.’

The pilot narrowed his eyes. He was looking at the M16 slung over Paul’s shoulder. ‘If you’re the only ones here that means you shot Mike…’ He reached down quickly and Linda noticed for the first time that he was wearing a holster.

But as he unbuttoned the flap and started to draw out a 45 automatic Paul moved faster. He had the barrel of the M16 pointing at the man before the hand gun was even clear of the holster. ‘DontF cried Paul. ‘Drop your gun over the side.’

The man hesitated, obviously considering his chances of getting a shot at Paul before he could fire. Then, with an expression of disgust, he held the automatic out to one side and let go of it. It bounced off the gangway steps with a metallic clatter and disappeared. ‘You did kill Mike, didn’t you — you murdering bastard,’ he snarled at Paul.

‘It was… an accident,’ said Paul helplessly.

‘Yeah?’ he sneered. ‘Tell that to the judge. You’re going to fry for this, kid. We got the death penalty back where I come from…’

Oh great, thought Linda as her sense of despair returned with a rush. After all we’ve been through we end up being convicted of murder. And who was going to believe their version of events? There was no evidence to back them up except a lot of empty clothes and piles of ashes. Then she remembered the video tapes…

‘Paul,’ she said urgently, ‘we should go and get Shelley’s tapes. No one’s going to believe all this otherwise.’

‘Yes,’ he said wearily, ‘You’re right. I should have thought of that myself.’ Then to the pilot he said, ‘Look, I did shoot your friend but it was an accident and I’m sorry. It’s just that… well, things have been pretty bad around here.. ’ He shook his head helplessly. ‘I wish I could explain but it would take too long. And it would sound crazy, fantastic… you’re just going to have to accept my word for the time being that I had a good reason for thinking your friend was dangerous. But I’m no murderer!’

The pilot obviously decided to change his tactics. With a slyness he couldn’t conceal he said, in a conciliatory tone, ‘Okay, kid, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt for now but let me go back to my chopper so I can radio for some help.’ ‘No,’ said Paul quickly. ‘You’ll call no one. Not yet. First we’ve got to go and pick something up. And you’re coming with us. I warn you if you do anything stupid I’m going to have to shoot. I’ll try not to kill you but that’s not easy to guarantee with one of these things.’

The pilot went pale. He raised his hands. ‘Hey, keep cool. I won’t try anything, I give you my word.’

‘Good. Get moving then,’ ordered Paul, gesturing with the gun, ‘Back the way you came.. ’

Even though she knew the creature was dead — or at least she was nearly certain of it — having to go inside the platform again was the most difficult thing she’d ever done in her life. Once again the feeling returned that she was never going to see the end of these damned corridors — that she