Logan Ryvenbark's Saga Box Set

Table of contents-14

“Anysign of any type of defense?”

“No.It’s like‘OldMan River’:it just keeps rolling along.”

Afew other officers gave her questionable gazes. She shrugged. “Igrow up on the Mississippi. In Missouri.OldMan River just keeps flowing along.Never heard that song?”

“Yes,tired of living, scared of dying,” said Weapons Officer Murdock.“Good song. I sang it at a high school musical.”

“Youcan give us a rendition later,” I said. “You detect no type ofweapons on the thing?”

“No.Whatever it used to destroy the planets is not showing up. I’mguessing the builders of the‘thing’didn’t think about any space combat. They figured no one would befoolish enough to approach it.”

“Guessthat says something about us.”

“Notthe first time we’ve been foolish,” Rab said.

Igrinned. “Tek, you said there are five chambers inside?”

“Yes,but that comes with a coda. This close to the thing our scanners dowork, but there is interference, which I can’t pin down. Thescanners are working, but not at a hundred percent. Readings couldbeoff. And we can’t tell what, if anything, is in the chambers. Thefinal one may be the control headquarters. When we get there we maybe able to commandeer the sphere.”

“Good,then that’s our goal. But I don’t understand one thing. If thisis a weapon of war, which it clearly is, why build chambers into itthat doesn’t enhance its capabilities as a weapon? They’retotally extraneous and, for that matter, useless,” Isaid.

“Thebuilders might not have your relentless, logical mind, major,”Geneva said.

“Oryour astonishing sharp wit,” Rab said.

Ilaughed. “We’ll soon find out. Rab, get the squad ready. We go infull battle gear; take every weapon we can. If we don’t know whatthose chambers hold, I want to be prepared for anything.”

“Yes,sir.”

“Ifall goes well, in thirty minutes we cross over.”

Chapter 9

Thetunnel of air has a golden hue to it. It sparkles and gives offflashes of yellow against the darkness of space. Like mosttechnological wonders, it takes a while to complete its task. Thebrown sphere eased through space. The oval curve of gold slowlyedgedout from thePatton.It sliced through the blackness but, like the sphere, was in nohurry. The gold doorway moved at its own speed, as if testing thespace around it. Halfway to the sphere it paused. Instead of goldflashes, three red sparks flew into the darkness. Directed by acomputer on thePatton,the doorway waited. On rare occasions, it has retreated andreturnedto a ship. I didn’t want it retreating now, but it was imperviousto my orders. After eight agonizing minutes it inched forwardthengradually picked up speed. ThePattonstayed about a mile from the sphere. Whatever was piloting thespherecould not be Artificial Intelligence. If so, all it had to do wasveer away and our gateway was lost. But the sphere didn’t. Itplodded toward its destination, ignoring the tunnel. If thespherehad weapons, it could also send one through the doorway that hadbeenestablished. I was well aware that the Raiders and thePattonwere vulnerable when we tried to establish a tunnel of air toanothership. The corridors of thePattonwere sealed off. If a weapon blasted us, hopefully any damagewouldbe contained to this part of the ship. We might be killed, buttherest of the ship should be safe. Space, aliens, or odd-lookingspheres have a thousand and one ways of killing you in space. Youhave to be aware of all of them. Or you die young. There is also,I’ve always thought, an element of what might be called luck.Somesoldiers have been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Theydidn’tmake a mistake. They followed all the correct procedures. But alaseror bullet caught them. I’ve been amazingly fortunate in combat.I’ve always seemed to be in the right place at the right timeinstead of the wrong lethal place at the wrong time. I appreciatethat, but you never know when that good fortune will run out. Theuniverse likes to keep things in balance.

Ilooked out again. The tunnel had stalled for a second time. It wasthree-quarters of the way to the sphere, but it wasn’t moving. Ilooked back toward my squad.

Astrid,blond hair under her helmet, stood smiling. She winked at me. Inodded back. Rab grinned as he stood holding his laser rifle. Helooked ready. But Rab always looked ready. He will say that thereisno such thing as luck or good fortune. There is only training,courage and preparation.

TheCajun Asian, standing next to Rab, was ready and had ample courage.It is rare to find individuals, even in today’s genrich world, whohave exceptional scientific abilities as well as soldiering skills.Kayli was one of them. In addition to her brilliance, she had theexcitement gene in her DNA. She could also carry a tune. Well, shecould do a lot better than simply carry it. Her voice could caressasong and make it memorable. Her laser rifle pointed upward. Readytocross to the sphere, she wore a big smile. She waved and I wavedback.

Murdockhad a toothpick in his mouth. It’s his trademark. No one else usesthem these days, but he likes them. He gets them in flavors. Aburgundy one was stuck between his teeth. It moved up and down ashechewed it. Instead of a laser, he liked an automatic rifle. Itshootstwenty rounds a second. Or is it two hundred? I should know, buttheweapons people keep making improvements. Remington looks like anOlympic gymnast; huge chest, beefy arms, and he is just as quick.Hewould qualify for the sharpshooting medal but not the balance beam.He’d probably land on it and break it.

Thegoateed Haldran stood next to the Cajun Asian. They have becomefastfriends. We all look military, even Cajun. She’s beautiful but ifyou’re around her, you get the sensation she’s dangerous. Or canbe. I understood it caused a bit of strife in one or two scientificfacilities she spent time in.

Haldraninstead, looked distinguished and did not have a military bearing.Hehad a relaxed gait, much like Clint Lamour. Clint favored hiscowboyboots to military boots. He chatted with Carli at the back of thesquadron. Unlike Cajun, who was ready to cross, Clint looked verycomfortable conversing with Carli, and she looked like she was notanxious to leave either.

Genevastood behind Rab. This would be her first combat mission. Shedidn’tlook edgy or nervous. She nodded. Cricket looked as calm as if shehad taken one of her sedatives. But she hadn’t. For a doctor shedidn’t particularly like taking prescription drugs. She had patchedme up a few times, for which I was enormously grateful.

Noneof the squad appeared nervous. Tek stood ready. He’s taller andleaner than most of the squad. A cigar stuck out from his mouth. Hesmokes as many cigars as Murdock chews toothpicks.

WhenI looked outside, the golden tunnel had moved closer to the sphere.Only about fifty feet away now. The gold light locked onto thesphere. For a moment it slipped, then returned. Slipped again, thenthe gold turned darker and stayed on the rock. When solid, it wouldflash yet another color, a bright green, which was the signal togo.

“Getready,” I said.

Asupport team, with scientific equipment, was in back of us. They’dcross over when I gave the all clear.

“Let’sgo,” I said when I saw the green flash.

Weran into the gold tunnel at full speed. The tunnel is safe, butevenso, you like the solid metal of a ship under your feet, so thequicker across the better. Engineers on thePattonhad opened theportal for us. We clamored into the sphere.

Barrenand empty.

Westared around but there was nothing to stare at. Just a vast, emptyroom with a huge, solid, brown wall to our right. Miles long. Cajunand Tek walked over and tapped it with their hands. They flickedopentheir scanners and studied the readings.

Astridstood beside me.

“Notexactly living up to its fearsome reputation,” she said.

“Justwait. I’m guessing it will later.”

“Spreadout. Report anything that looks suspicious,” I said.

“Nothingcan be suspicious if nothing is here, major,” Genevasaid.

“Agood point, but let’s make sure there’s nothinghere.”

Lamourlooked at his radar scope. It can scan about five miles in alldirections.

“Nothing,sir. It won’t scan through the door but there’s nothing out here.Just dead air,” he said. “And old man river just keeps rollingalong. Or flying along, as the case may be.”

Cajunand Tek were almost a mile away. I buzzed them. “What are you twodoing?”

“Lookingfor the controls, sir, and I think we’ve found them,” Cajun said.“We should be able to open a gate in the wall soon. It looks aboutfive feet thick. Not sure we could blast it open, but I think wecanopen it manually. When we do, the door should be almost in front ofyou. Give us about thirty seconds. OK, maybe aminute.”

“Raiders.Since there’s nothing to see, stay here. Should be a gateway heresoon,” I shouted.

Thesquad had branched out but stepped back toward me. The only soundswere footsteps on the floor. Besides that, utter stillness. Thereisno sound in space and the sphere didn’t seem to carry much either.But Cajun and Tek made noise as they walked back to us.

“Shouldbe opening in about a minute,” Cajun said.

Thewalls dilated. Instead of a spaceship, a forest appeared. Talltreesthat reminded me of oaks but with broad, dark green leaves thatwavedin the strong wind blowing. Below, red desert sand surrounded thetrunks. Instead of the silence of the chamber, we were in theforestthat was alive with sounds. Birds sang. Chirping flew from thetrees.Small animals rushed from one tree to another or scurried acrosstheground.

“Let’sproceed, but very cautiously,” I said.

Westepped onto the sand. A small pathway curved through the trees. Ihad walked just five steps when the red sand grabbed me. Fingers offire sent pain through my leg. I yelled and blasted the sand.Yellowlasers exploded around my foot.

Iwas looking down and the explosion caught me off-guard. A greencreature, incredibly quick, ran two feet from me before Astrid blewhis head off. I yanked my foot from the sand. The Raiders took up adefensive position.

Ieased toward the creature. It looked like a two-footed alligatorbutwith a shorter snout than those back in my native state of Florida.Rough, bumpy skin like gators. Large eyes. No tail but very sharpteeth. Thing had a nasty overbite. And amazing speed.

“Tek,tell me what’s below us. I want to know what grabbedme.”

Cricketrushed over and knelt down. “Got bitten?”

“Notsure. But something sure hurt. At least briefly. Foot seems OKnow.”

Sheran her medical scanner over my boot. It buzzed contentedly.

“Nobites. No entry wounds,” she said.

Bitesfrom alien creatures are not our major concern. It’s the toxicgerms they carry that can kill quickly and, often, horribly. That’swhy we carry the medical nanos in our bloodstream. They canspeedilywipe out alien germs and can, if there is resistance, mutate intosubstances that can overwhelm the attacker.

Rustlingcame from the forest. Branches on several trees shook. We couldn’tsee anything because the forest was too thick. But somethingmoved.

Itwisted a small knob on my suit. “Let’s try the shields,” Isaid.

Therustle in the trees increased as our yellow shields coalescedbeforeus. Almost invisible, they can stop almost anything that crashesintothem. Two Raiders came alongside me on both my right and left. Theother soldiers marched behind us.

Animal,guttural yells erupted from the forests.

“Theydon’t sound friendly,” Astrid said.

“Don’tknow why they should complain. There’s no‘keepoff the grass’sign. They don’t have a ‘no trespass’ sign either. Of course ifthey did, we’d ignore it, but still…”

Aheavy windhoooooedthrough the trees and brought the smell of sewers and dead, rottinganimals with it. Noses twitched and stomachs twisted. We proceededslowly. The red sand beneath our boots didn’t seem firm but itheld. At least for now.

Abolt of fire from Clint’s rifle exploded a tree trunk and took halfthe nose and face off another green space gator. Blood and green,ragged skin flew through the air. The thing yelled and darted backinto the forest. It got about three feet before thudding to theground.

“Thesounds are increasing. I have a hunch the forest is full of thosethings,” Rab said. He stood on my right.

“Let’ssee if we can scare them off,” I said. “Raiders, direct your fireinto the trees. If you see anything moving, fire at it. If youdon’tsee anything moving, fire anyway. One minute volley.”

Burstsof red and yellow lasers, as well as bullets took leaves andbranchesoff the trees. Our shields are another technological marvel.Bulletsand lasers can go through them but they stop all incoming fire. Thefiring stopped after sixty seconds. As I glanced around, I saw alotof damaged trees but no fleeing gators. I didn’t have confidencethe battle would be that easy but I needed to try it.

Cajunstared at her scanner. “Looks like about a thousand of them, major,and more are coming.”

“Guessingthey don’t have a live and let live philosophy.”

“Doesn’tlook like it.”

Ifwe had been civilians, the roar would have frozen the blood in ourveins. Nerves would have double-timed “run” messages to thebrain. But the Raiders have molten steel for blood, or at leastthat’s what we’ve been told.

“Whatwas that?” I said.

Carli’svoice came from behind me. “I’m guessing it’s that thing rightover to your left, sir. It has big teeth and a strong pair oflungs.”

Iturned and saw the large head with round dark eyes staring fromabovethe trees. The head was attached to a green neck and a body aboutfive times the size of a smaller croc. It opened its mouth andshowedthe enormous, white, pointed teeth.