They had seen so little of the buildings. But it didn’t really matter. Peter remembered the way back to the high tech room with the portal. They slipped along the dark corridor, their felt-bound feet silent on the stone flagged floor.

The age of the building surprised him.

Doesn’t make sense to build the portal and then these rundown buildings.

But he kept all his speculations to himself. They had to be quiet.

They eased out of the old building and out into the dark. Snow flurries his his face, the air chilled his ears.

‘Breathe through your nose,’ Peter said. ‘You’ll save heat.’

‘We’ll be out of here soon though,’ said Walt. ‘Won’t we?’

Peter shrugged and reminded himself.

We have to at least try the portal.

But to Walt he just squeezed his shoulder and put his finger to his lips to remind them to stay quiet.

The white of the snowy ground lay at the very edge of his senses, and the static of falling snow made everything shift. The lack of a moon though meant to watchers they would be shadows amongst shadows.

The sleek building with the portal loomed sudden out of the dark. Its smooth curved surface alien and hard as if it had landed here. They circled it but the entry door faced the rest of the compound and soon they sheltered in its recess.

Peter looked at the blank inner surface and spotted a deep purple glow. He ducked down and prodded at it.

May as well be a monkey trying to use a mobile phone.

He grinned, might be taking photos of myself for all I know.

Suddenly light flared out in the recess and he fell back in surprise. The door remained closed and a bit of cloth would not cut it this time. A flat panel with the shape of a two thumbed hand on it looked to be an electronic security lock.

‘Uh Peter,’ said Tiz. ‘I think we had better get out of here.’

Someone plucked at his felt poncho. ‘Lights have come on in the old building now,’ said Walt.

‘Of course they’d have alarms,’ Peter said. He stared at the door. Between the surround and the door opening a thin line cut the narrowest of gaps. Just enough to show where the opening lay. Otherwise the wall looked unbroken.

‘There’s no way in,’ said Jan. ‘We’ve got to go.’

Peter’s heart raced.

This is all my fault. Somehow. It’s because of me they’re here, stuck on an alien planet.

‘There’s got to be a way in,’ Peter said.

‘But not here. We’ve got to hide,’ said Tiz.

Walt stepped next to Peter and took hold of his arm. ‘Maybe they will open the door…’

‘And we can sneak in after them,’ Peter said. ‘Okay. Go off to the right, Step in our old footprints if you can. Follow me.’

They rounded a corner of the portal building, but since it had five sides they remained in view. Peter lead them into the shadows where a snowy slope angled up from the flat compound.

‘Stay together and be quiet,’ Peter whispered.

Blackbirders came out of the old building, they swept beams of light across the space but did not see them huddled low against the slope. Snow fell thickly now, and that helped conceal their tracks.

And any night vision infrared.

Snow began to accumulate over their felted clothing too.

Peter recognized the officer as he strode with backwards knees across the open space directly to the door recess. He noted the trampled snow, then pressed his hand to the lock. The door swung in.

Peter held his breath.

Leave the door open. Leave the door open.

Peter heard a series of thumps off to to the left. Through the falling snow, shadows moved down the slope.

He looked to left and right. The slope had a geometrical regularity. At the top of the angle a palisade set at angle away from the slope rose a couple of meters. He understood then.

This embankment. It’s part of a fortification.

The shadows ran across the compound towards the portal building. The interior glowed bight through the still open doorway and lit a path across the snowy ground.

Stolen story; please report.

Humans. They move like humans.

A siren blared out then as more lights flickered on. The humans shot arrows at the blackbirders, some fell dragged back into the building by their comrades.

The cousins slipped close around him.

‘Where did those guys come from?’ Tiz stood but Jan hauled him back down.

‘We don’t know who are they?’ Jan said. ‘They could be worse than the aliens.’

‘Hard for them to be that bad.’ Peter held his hand up to stop her protest. ‘You don’t know the blackbirder aliens like I do. But you’re right. We need to watch.’

‘But the door to the portal building. It’s open now,’ said Walt.

‘I think they’re like us. Humans,’ said Tiz.

‘Come on,’ said Peter. ‘We’ve got to take the chance to get home.’

They ran towards the portal building behind the shooting humans. One saw they and let fly an arrow. It missed but Peter dragged them all to the ground.

The human waved and yelled out something Peter could not quite hear, but they turned their attention to the blackbirders again.

‘Come on,’ said Peter. ‘They think we’re one of them.’

They crashed through into the portal just as gunfire erupted outside.

An alert sound pulsed from the walls of the portal building as the four ran down the corridor. They ran into a startled group of humans running in the opposite direction.

Tiz fell over and Walt spun against the wall when he rebounded off a large human.

Peter looked head on to the bearded man. His face striped with paint on his face that highlighted his cheeks and nose. The fierce war-like glare rocked him back.

The man yelled at him in a guttural language. Petter shook his head. The fighters dragged Peter and the cousins back away from the portal.

‘We’re going the wrong direction,’ shouted Peter. ‘We have to go back. That’s our only way home.’

But the group gave them no choice and pulled them along. When they came to the portal doorway they all got bundled out just as the lights flickered and a thrumming boom came from deep inside the building.

Peter looked over his shoulder. A pack of blackbirders thumped along the corridor after them. Their screeching chilled him as they drew near. Then he found himself stumbling through the snowy compound. Gunfire blasted out, and arrows flew, as humans and blackbirders exchanged unequal fire.

The ground shifted under his feet as he ran up the embankment. He grabbed hold of Walt and dragged him along amidst the other human fighters. The stink of unwashed bodies and an animal smell struck him as he forced cold breaths through his nose as he caught his breath.

The palisade at the top of the slope had been broken, the ground turned black cleared of snow, when part of the bank had collapsed outward. Beyond lay a deep blackness and a yawning void. The length of the slope meant they must be fifteen meters above ground. His head spun as he imagined standing on the edge of a three levels building.

Behind and below him lay the snow clad roofs of the buildings in the compound. A mass of the alien blackbirders now poured from the portal building, and trampled the ground to mud as they raced in pursuit. Several human bodies lay on the ground, but more of the aliens. He had little time time to see more. One of the humans pushed him off the edge of the broken palisade wall into the dark.

He dropped a meter and stumbled, but did not fall over. He caught Walt and Jan when they fell after him. Tiz helped. He had already made the leap. The uneven wooden platform wobbled as more fighters jumped after them.

A woman shouted in his ear, he got the message. ‘Move it.’

They fumbled their way down to ground level. There, amongst the sounds of large snorting creatures and the pushes of milling humans, they pulled into a tight huddle.

Peter stared at the retreating attackers and tried to put into context what had just happened.

The attackers wore thick white clothing made of felt, with large hoods. Most were bearded, but amongst them women looked just as warrior-like with painted faces and weapons in their hands. The abortive attack on the portal had been driven back when all of the blackbirders had arrived. Had they come through the portal?

‘We have to stay with them,’ said Jan. ‘Get away from the aliens.’

At the top of the palisade the first blackbirders had appeared rimmed with light from the compound behind them. They had lights mounted on guns and they moved these about looking for targets.

A group of attackers ran past, one looked at him in surprise, but they ran on.

Without another thought or word Peter and the cousins ran after them through the trampled snow. They caught up just when the group began to climb onto their mounts on the edge of a dark forest.

Huge furred beasts three meters tall at the shoulder, their heads covered in thick gray fur. The great creatures moaned and grumbled as their riders kicked them into motion along a wide forest trail.

Peter hesitated for just a heartbeat before he dragged the cousins in pursuit. The beasts began to run, snow flying in the wind like a blizzard had arrived. He could hardly see the way ahead along the straight forest trail.

Peter resisted the idea of taking to the forest where they would be slowed and isolated. Staying with the humans would be their only chance. ‘Try to keep up with them,’ he said.

‘And away from the aliens,’ said Jan.

He looked behind. Blackbirders had jumped down onto the platform and ran in close pursuit. Peter sprinted, the others kept pace, though he had to slow to let them keep up. The aliens got nearer and nearer while the retreating humans on their mounts raced away along the trail into the mist and flurries of snow.

Ahead a moon came out from behind the cloud as it just cleared the top of a mountain. It shone almost directly along the middle of the trail.

The sudden increase in light made their situation clear and dire. The fighters had left them trailing over two hundred meters behind. The snow kicked up by the passage of the huge creatures had fallen to the round by the time Peter and the cousins stumbled through the muddy snow trodden ground.

The screeches of the pursuing blackbirders came closer every moment, while the panting sobs of Walt and Jan told him they had given all they could.

We’ve got to get into the forest. Maybe they will chase the attackers and not us.

He looked for an opening between the dark trees.

From the corner of his eye he saw a huge shadow ran at them from the forest. A predator. His primate instincts made him veer away from it. The hyena proportions, the large head, the sloped back. Then it reared on its hind legs and jumped.

It leapt close by over their heads snarling with fury. More of the beasts erupted from the forest onto the trail from either side. On their backs he glimpsed figures holding long spears, or bows that flung arrows at the pursuing blackbirders.

He dragged Jan and Walt into a snow drift. Tiz landed in a huff next to them. They ducked down into the snow and watched the battle.

Ice had wormed its way behind his cloak and Peter shivered. But he didn’t move. The mounted warriors cut down the blackbirders easily and sent the remaining stragglers running back towards their fort. But the warriors attacked even these stragglers with sword or arrow. And, if not these weapons, then the fearsome mounts raked the blackbirders with claws, or bit them in half and tossed them into the forest’s shadows.

A crunching of snow from behind made Peter turn. He looked up into the gaping maw of one of the creatures. He had no doubt then. These beasts ate meat, and had the teeth to make short work of the four of them.