Logan Ryvenbark's Saga Box Set

Table of contents-12

“Just in case of what?” I asked.

“Planetaryevacuation. Haven’t had the need to use them yet, but we have themready. The Federation has to make all type of contingency plans. Ithink we have three of them; our titanicclass of vessels.So are you going to offer me a drink?”

I walked to the bar again, mixed her adrink and brought it to her.

“Brilliant,” I said. “A very goodanalysis.”

“One that we were too stupid to thinkof,” Haldran said.

“I think that could be expressed in amore diplomatic way,” I said.

“OK. Cajun showed our mentalincompetence by her utter brilliance.”

“Yes. That sounds much better.”

“Thanks. It’s a theory, but I thinkit’s one that fits the facts,” she said, sipping the liquor. “Butif you’re going to ask me how to stop it, I don’t know thatyet.”

“Frankly, I was going to wait untiltomorrow for that question. I’m taking one thing at a time.”

“That’s wise. When do we leave toget a closer look at it?”

“Inabout a week. Belen’s engineers are building us a new ship, theGeorge S. Patton.They're tinkering around a bit, but it should be through in aboutseven days.”

“Will we have all our people here ina week?”

I nodded. “Never missed a deadlineyet.”

Chapter 5

Rabwas exercising with an android. Well, not really exercising. Theywere beating the pulp out of one another. The android was slender,fast and, of course, incredibly strong. Rab’s head snapped back asa pale blue fist – as quick as blue lightning in a Floridahurricane – swept within an inch of his nose. Rab’s kick wasblocked and knocked away. A blue leg swung around, but Rab jumpedover it. While in the air, his kick bounced off the android’schest, knocking him off balance. He recovered quickly – androids dothat – and slammed a fist into Rab’s gut.

Rabgrunted, whirled as fast as a tornado and grabbed the blue arm,lifted the android and tossed him over his shoulder to the ground.The crash to the floor would have stunned any man, but not thealloysthe android was made of. He bounced up… or tried to. As he turnedand lifted his head, Rab’s huge military boot smashed his face. Theblow stunned the blue opponent for two seconds – which was all thetime Rab needed to lift the android and slam him to the groundagain.As hefty as he was, Rab made a NFL punter kick that lifted theandroid from the ground. He rolled over and, amazingly, didn’t jumpup as quickly. He was a millisecond slow. When he stood up, Rabdrop-kicked him. Rab dived, but the android rolled away. His kickmissed the android’s jaw by a half-inch. They both jumped up andcircled each other. Then Rab saw me and raised his hand. Theandroidstraightened and stepped back.

“Afine match. You are getting better,” the android said.

Rabnodded. “Yes, it was a good match, Andy. You never slow down. WishI could say the same for humans.”

Rabwalked over and smiled. The cragged face had some nicks. The hairhadsome gray in it, but the mustache was all black. He had seen eventsalmost incomprehensible to the average man, but the dark eyes stillhad a flash of humor and merriment in them. The humor showed whenthegray-uniformed courier from the Federation walked into thegym.

“Areyou Master Sergeant Rabelais?” he said.

“Iam. There’s only one in the universe, son, and it’s me.”

“Weneed to proceed immediately to Nassau Mountain.”

“Theheadquarters of Ms. Morganthal. She likes mountains, but doesn’tcare much for the beach.”

“Yes,sir. Your squad is waiting for you.”

“Whenyou say ‘my squad’ you mean Ryvenbark’s Raiders, the finestmilitary unit in all of space?”

“Yes,sir. We’ve tried other methods of contacting you, sir, but youwerenot available.”

“No,I was hiking. Two weeks in the wild with no electronic equipment.Noringing, no buzzes, no noise whatsoever. It’s a very peacefulexistence. Often, a time of peace and quiet does you good. Youget tocontemplate nature and meditate upon the finer things oflife.”

“Weneed to leave now, sir.”

Rabgave a wry frown. “Enough with the contemplation. Guess I need toget back to killing people.”

Theyoung courier did not smile at what Rab thought was a funnyline.

WhenClint Lamour saddled in, boots and all, he gave a huge Texas yell.When Clint talks, sometimes you need earplugs. I was surprised hewasn’t wearing spurs as his boots clamored on the floor.

“Howdy,major. Been a month of Sundays since I’ve seen you.”

WhenI shook his hand I flinched. Some people have nerves of steel.Clinthas hands and arms of steel. Flesh and blood, but they feel likesteel. Charisma and dynamism flow from him like water overNiagara.When he gets wounded he just yells at the blood cells not tobleedand they obey him. He has dark green eyes, a huge smile andtough,brown, leathery skin. Linage goes back to the sixteen hundreds intheLone Star State — which means one side of his family came fromtheApaches and the other side from tough men who wore the grayduringthe Civil War. The grit can make you forget he is an expert inengineering and weapons.

“Goodto see you again, Clint.”

“Wehave a little mission?”

“Thatwe do.” I pointed to the screen with the sphere. “We have to takecare of that.”

“Doesn’tlook too hard. Just blow the dang thing up. Pick up the piecesandshout hooray!”

“Itwill be more difficult than it looks. Speaking of hard, the thingisa lot harder than it looks.”

“Ifigured it must be. Didn’t think you’d call me in on an easymission.”

“Theeasy ones anyone can achieve. For the tough ones we need Texasandespecially one Texan named Lamour.”

Heshowed his huge smile. “I enjoy flattery, major. I don’t believea word of it, but I enjoy it. Makes me feel like a Bluetick Houndafter a possum.”

Ilaughed. In our high-tech culture, many people don’t know what aBluetick Hound is. They are hunting dogs with very amiable,friendlypersonalities and are also very intelligent. The ‘tick’ is not aninsect parasite but the ‘ticking’ black coloration on most of thebreed which, on a white hair background, can give the impression ofnavy blue. Back on Earth Clint owns a few of them, which is onereason he has picked up the name ‘hound dog’. A few people mightnot consider that a compliment, but Clint does.

Heblinked with interest and lowered his voice to a hurricane yell.“Have a read out?”

Ihit a couple of buttons on my computer and the sphere disappearedfrom the screen; in its place were black numbers and blueequations.Clint took about ten seconds to scan the screen.

“Sobombs and lasers won’t work. Doesn’t appear any of our weaponswill damage it. An interesting piece of rubble,” he said. “Did Isee two ships around it?”

“Youdid. But I don’t know why they are flying protection, because thesphere doesn’t need any.”

“Anyopening in it?”

“Doesn’tappear to be.”

“Background?”

Ihit a few keys again and the little history we had on the spherecameup on the screen. Clint shook his head.

“Aplanet killer,” he said.

“Yes,and somehow we have to stop it. I’d like you to work with ourscientific team. The current theory of Federation scientists iswehave to get into the sphere to blow it up, but we don’t know yethow to get inside.”

“Intimes like this any current theory is useless. We need a lot moreinformation.”

Ismiled. “Which is one reason I wanted you to come with us. Ifigured you might help in that task.”

Hislaughter bounced off the ceiling. “That’s what I like about theRaiders. There’s never a dull moment… Is Lt. Alvarez coming withus in this trip?”

“I’mabout to go see her right now.”

“She’sas cute as a speckled hound, and down in Texas that’scute.”

CarliAlvarez, in non-Texas slang, is a lovely woman. When I saw her, shewas grunting on an exercise machine. Sweat formed on her tan skin.Her brown hair was tied into a pigtail. The long legs moved backtheweights in time with the grunts. I picked up a towel and wiped twobeads of sweat that rolled toward her eyes.

“Bythe way,” I told her, “you’re as cute as a speckledhound.”

Sheroared with laughter. “Some women might be puzzled about that, butI know it’s a compliment. Clint must be coming along withus.”

“Yes,he is. And he asked about you.”

“I’mglad he remembered me.”

Likemost men, he could never forget you,I thought. She pushed the weights back one more time.

“Gettingin shape for the mission?” I asked.

“Yes.I read your report. Usually we fight living, breathingadversaries.Never fought a rock before, even if it is a big rock.”

“Afirst time for everything,” I said.

“Youhave a plan yet?”

“Nota plan to take out the sphere. Still muddling that oneover.”

Shedid one last bench press, then sat up and grabbed a towel. “I readall the background material — not that there was much of it — andit seems there’s very little for a military unit to do. This ismore of an aerial battle. You blow up the sphere and you haveaccomplished your mission. No ground troops are needed for that. Sowhy do you want me to sign up?”

“Ialways like to be prepared, although I concede your point. Butthereare too many unknowns on this assignment. There may be a placefortroops on the ground, or in a sphere as the case may be. And ifwe dowell, the Federation will be forever in our debt.”

“Noway. I don’t want the Federation in our debt. I want to be paid.Nooutstanding balances.”

“I'msure that can be worked out.”

“Iassume we’re charging our usual rates.”

“Yes.Our fee won’t bankrupt the Federation but, if we succeed andsurvive, the mission will be very profitable.”

Chapter 6

Wewere one day away from leaving when the the newest squad memberchecked in. The tall, blonde woman, dressed in a blue uniform,saluted as she walked to my desk.

“GenevaAlesong reporting, sir.”

“Ms.Alesong. Ryvenbark’s Raiders are taking a small trip and I’d likeyou to drive.”

“Itwill be my pleasure, sir.”

“I’veread your resume and the comments about you from other officers.Areyou as good as they say you are?”

“Slightlybetter, sir.”

Igrinned. “You’ll fit right in. I see you volunteered. Did youwant to be a part of the Raiders?”

Shesmiled. “Every military man or woman wants to be a part of theRaiders. They’re the finest. Para-military, but still the finest.It is said that with time and with a little cash incentive, there’snothing they can’t do.”

“Ihope that’s true. This mission may test that statement. Glad tohave you with us, Ms. Alesong.”

Ioffered my hand. She shook it.

“Alesong?Did you have a relative in the military? A… Ben…?”

“Barry,sir. My brother. We come from a military family.”

“Irecall meeting him. How is he doing?”

“Verywell. Like you, sir, he’s a major now.”

“He’syoung for a major.”

“Soare you, sir.”

Ilaughed. “A member of the squad told me recently that he enjoysflattery. I guess I do to. Welcome to the Raiders, Geneva. We’reglad you joined us.”

“Thanks.I am very happy to be here.”

“Thefirst thing you need to do is acquaint yourself with thePatton.We’ll be heading out in a day. Will that give you enoughtime?”

“Morethan enough time.” She gave an impish smile. “That’s becauseI’m slightly better than my reputation.”

“Idon’t doubt it. The trip shouldn’t take that long. The excitementcomes when we get there.”

Twothousand miles away from the sphere I stared at it on the ship’sscreen. It hadn’t change an iota from the last time I had looked atit. Silent and deadly. Moving steadily but slowly through space.Oblivious to everything around it. Stars shone behind it;flickeringspots of white and light blue in the blackness of space.

Thered sun of the solar system also shone in the distance. For amomentI wondered if we could somehow push the thing into a sun. No matterhow hard the outer shell was, the fury of a sun would destroy it.Nothing could withstand a solar explosion. The builders would havetostart again and I guess it had taken a long time to build the firstone. The problem was I had no idea how thePattonandGreenecould edge the sphere into the sun. There was going to have to beanother way to stop its relentless progress.

Twohours later I took my first inspection of thePatton.As I roamed downthe spotless, shining corridors, I told myself I’d send acompliment to the engineers. But to be honest, one starship looksagreat deal like every other one, both inside and out. I had acomfortable chair on the bridge and a good crew. But I did findthelast member of Ryvenbark's Raiders in the medical office.

“Wherehave you been, major? I’ve been expecting you,” Dr. Charlotte‘Cricket’Longmount said.

‘Beenexpecting you.’Sort of sneaked up on me.

“Ipassed by your office earlier today and you looked so busy IthoughtI’d say hello later. Hello.”

“Ihope we won’t need your services on this trip.”

“Hopeso too,” she said. “But it’s always good having mearound.”

Charlotteis a tall lady. Almost six-three with ragged black hair and abedsidemanner that would drive more traditional doctors up the wall.Although in her case, she uses her battlefield manner more thanbedside manner. No one ever wants to get shot or lasered or sufferfrom any of the other infinite ways of getting wounded in space.Butwe know it can happen. All the Raiders get a profound sense ofsecurity knowing Dr. Longmount is traveling with us. A few of usarefair to middling singers. The good doctor doesn’t sing, but she didattend dance school while also in medical school. When she’s notmending bodies, she looks like beauty personified when spinning onadance floor.

“Wetake off in two hours?” she asked.

“Yes,we’re heading out. The trip shouldn’t take long. It should bevery uneventful. But when we arrive at our destination we may see alittle action.”

“I’mready,” she said.

Chapter 7

ThePattoncame out of warp drive about a thousand miles from the sphere. Isatin the captain’s chair and gazed at the sphere for what seemed thethousandth time. It hadn’t changed a bit. It flowed through spacelike a luxury ship on the ocean, seemingly oblivious to anythingaround us.

“Let’s get a little closer, Ms.Alesong. Mr. Jones, any readings of defensive weapons?”