Fortunately for Mr. Mayor that the crystal on his staff brightened, then began flickering in a pattern, diverting his attention from the cloaking novelty. “Excellent! My son has returned with information.”
A few seconds later, another Krill came running up, with a quick nod of his head toward the mayor. “My father. I have searched the Cavern of the Blighted Ones. The human friend is... here.” He moved to the table and drew a circle on the map. “The friend is locked in bands and undergoing... difficult questioning.”
How awe-stounding! Except the difficult questioning part. The Krill had done the recon work and found Rock. “How is he, please? Have they harmed him?”
The mayor’s son shuffled his feet, giving the impression he didn’t want to answer the question, until the mayor gave him a poke with his thumb. “Please accept my apologies. He is well. But I heard the examiner give orders. He said these very words. Fetch a sleeper from the crypts, that this intruder may enjoy our peace.”
That got Roll moving off of his pallet once again, only to collapse on the ground. Several Krill, those who would look after him while we moved on to the cavern, patted his arms, trying to sooth him. He just sat there with his head in his hands looking so forlorn. If he could have managed a port, I know he would have grabbed the map and went for Rock. Roll was in bad shape.
And Rock would soon be infested! We quickly devised our plan of attack. The Krill would divide their force and enter the cavern through the two available tunnels. We would blast and enter through the larger tunnel. But how to coordinate? Tee pulled his pid and looked at it, wondering how he might explain the workings of the complicated device. Not an option. He pulled out some comm buds. Try the buds again? Maybe. Perhaps delving to give instruction?
In the meantime, the mayor rummaged through a sack to find a lone crystal, then motioned to someone, evidently the one who would lead the second group of Krill. He pressed the three crystals together, those from their staffs with the lone crystal, and gazed at them in deep concentration. They all blinked in synch.
He handed the crystal to Tee. “Use your mind to call out to the crystal, though I do not have words to tell you how.”
Tee accepted the crystal, then looked at the mayor. “I have a way of communicating, mind to mind. May I reach out to you, to learn the way of the crystal?”
The mayor did his head shrug, which Tee took as an authorization to mind delve. He called Fierce, our language expert, to join them. Then he gently touched the mayor’s arm, resulting in a wide-eyed look which settled into one of wonder. The delve was brief. Tee took the crystal in his hand and concentrated. The other crystals glowed brightly. He handed the crystal to Fierce. They glowed, then started blinking in a complex series.
Tee smiled at the amazing device, at Fierce, and then looked at the mayor. “Thank you. I think our man Fierce can handle the comms. For now, let’s keep it simple. One flash of the crystal when the ordnance is about to blow. Uhhh, one flash when we are ready to destroy the poured rock wall. Two flashes when we near the prison holding our friend. Three flashes if we run into trouble. Copy? I mean, will that work for you?”
Maybe the short delve went deeper than Tee thought, with the mayor managing a serviceable salute, then pointing a finger at Tee. “Roger that.”
We moved out double-time. Hold on, Rock, we’re coming for you.
***
Our Krill allies led us through a tunnel to a dead end. Roddy pulled the Logan to scan for a false wall, unwilling to trust fully what was, in truth, a very short relationship. He moved to Tee, who was clearly on edge, not seeing an exit. Our guys didn’t miss the interchange, some shuffling their feet nervously. The Krill didn’t seem to notice, as five of them continued their odd behavior, down on hands-and-knees, feeling along the base of a rock shelf.
One of the five searchers called out a word that my translator didn’t recognize. We watched on as their crystals glowed brightly, then grew dim as they were inserted in five small openings. A section of the wall moved aside quietly.
We resumed our run along the hidden tunnel to a fork, where Mr. Mayor announced the human destination was at the end of the right fork. The Krill would move down the left fork. We made our way quickly to another dead end, finding what the Krill had called poured stone.
The wall blocking us from the Gall cavern was of an unknown composition, denser than concrete. We decided to drill a few holes and set det cord charges to augment the satchels. It took a while to determine the best focal pattern for the laser, but we felt it necessary to get through the wall on our first try, being outgunned and all. That allowed some time to send crawlers into cracks to see what we would find on the other side. Our location was just outside the cavern computer complex.
The Gall were being cautious, with four soldiers on guard duty by the computer room, to our right. Rock was in a room a short distance down the main cavern tunnel, to our left. The rescue plan was minimalist, made in haste. GG borrowed a guy from Dirty Feet, making teams of six operatives. There were five of us in Shockwave, including Steve, with Rock and Roll out of play. We weren’t exactly sure what the Krill would do. Knowing their location was sufficient. Fierce verified he could monitor the Krill with the crystal comms and a map of the area.
We took cover as the final charges were set. Fierce concentrated on the crystal, which flashed our blast warning to the Krill. They responded, saying they were in place and ready. That interchange was followed immediately by a tremendous flash and crash. I shook my head at Tee, who just smiled in return. He still overdoes an explosion any time he gets the chance.
We raced through the blasted debris and dust, our Ivees shifting through the spectrum to give an optimized view based on the circumstances. GG tore off to the right, Longarms whine-clapping in a melodic rhythm. Dirty Feet peeled off to the left with the rest of us, enveloped in my cloaking field, sprinting toward the room holding Rock.
A mist formed in the tunnel, blocking our way to Rock. Toxic gas? Para took readings. No. It was just water vapor. Still, it would undermine my cloak. It was another proof the Gall had access to the knowledge of their human captors. Gopher Guts and Dirty Feet knew all about our capabilities and tactics.
I scrolled my Ivees to see what the floater drones might reveal, which was nothing good. An oversized platoon of at least 100 soldiers was forming up, many raising their weapons to fire. The floater images went blank.
Tee shouted, “Take cover!”
The fire was withering, our rocky shelter quickly turning into an oven. They had us pinned down, unable to advance or retreat. Para tossed a grenade, only to have it explode halfway to the target. Another grenade, another early explosion. Too many Gall had come to the barbeque. GG had finished their work in the tunnels near the computer room, but couldn’t get close enough to help.
Roddy held up a satchel charge, thinking to have Para toss it to bring the tunnel down over the enemy troops. Para tossed another grenade with the same premature explosion, and Roddy put the satchel away. 140 Fahrenheit; 60 Celsius. And rising.
Our Krill crystal flashed bright, then started flickering in the Krill code. We were all paying attention by that time. Tee looked at Fierce, who signaled we should all stay put, but be ready to move out fast.
The mist had long since evaporated in the withering fire. I took out and extended my old mirror-on-a-stick to see what was happening down the tunnel since the enemy fire had slowed. There were abrupt flashes of lightning all around the Gall, complete with little bursts of thunder. The Krill were attacking from the rear.
Fierce shouted, “Now! Advance and fire. The Krill have taken cover.”
We advanced, firing out Longarms, with GG moving up to add to our firepower. The Gall screamed in rage, but they knew they were in jeopardy, caught between the hammer and the anvil. They moved away from us in retreat while we poured destructive energy at them, the Krill allowing their withdrawal, though they could have strafed their flanks.
Rock’s prison was just ahe
ad, in a room behind a massive reinforced steel door. Tee handed the Logan sensor back to Johnson and shook his head. We had nothing left with enough pop to take it down. But Para was good with doors and we had Longarms. I pulled the scanner recording to my Ivees to have a look. A summary report showed the metal composition would be resistant to laser fire. I guessed even Para would have a hard time with the heavy door. This was going to take a while.
Then I noticed something else. The infrared showed movement. It was one of those mature Gall monsters crawling up the back of a chair, sting waggling as it went. In the chair, head moving all around, was Rock, trying to get a look at the monster.
The 50 Krill came skipping past our forward guard positions like a bunch of preschool kids. I couldn’t even speak, my mind reeling as I pushed the imaging over to Para. But she was captured by the exuberance of the Krill. I punched her in the shoulder to get her attention.
She looked at me, then the imaging on her Ivees. “Ouch! Oh! Rock!” Para inverted and smashed into the door. Again. Again.
I lifted the Logan to get another look. The monster had stopped at a position near Rock’s head. I enlarged and enhanced the image. It was looking at the door, jumping a little each time Para connected with a resounding crash.
The mayor moved over to Tee, looking like he was trying to communicate again mind-to-mind, finally giving up and pointing at the door. “May we Krill try?”
The door had dented, yet was nowhere near the breaking point, which prompted Tee’s reply. “Hurry.”
The mayor silently pointed a finger at four other Krill, as he pointed his staff at the jam hinging the heavy door. The four moved their crystals close to his, resulting in a sudden tug of attraction like magnets, the Krill holding tightly to their staffs with both hands. A stunning bolt of energy leaped from the merged devices, the mayor directing the arc slowly from the top of the jam seam to the bottom. He then pointed to Para. She smashed the door again, causing it to rebound and then open outward.
The monster was perched just to the side of Rock’s head. It froze for a moment, then crouched to leap at him.
I practice a lot, Longarm tuned to ultra-narrow setting, the needle setting, Nanem mode. No squeeze, no flinch, just a thought: needle fire. The monster curled up and fell to the floor.
A Gall host stepped out from behind a piece of equipment. “Now, that was terribly unkind.” Then he dropped out of sight. Literally. He had stepped through a trap door leading to a slide.
The holding room was large, able to accommodate most of our group.
I ran to Rock, who looked fine, other than a few scrapes and bruises. “You’re a lot of trouble, you know.”
He looked at me with his fake angry look. “Sorry for your trouble, I guess? Where’s Roll? Why didn’t you guys port in? I was getting a little worried. Roll, where are you?”
Para was working on his bonds as I patted him on the shoulder to settle him down. “Roll’s going to be fine. He got shot up a little. He’s back resting with the Krill.”
Rock looked at me like I was crazy. “The Krill. Aren’t those the horsey-things on Turkskee?”
A pack of ten krill scampered into the room, joined hands, and started dancing in a circle around Rock in his chair, the mayor leading the group, while they called out in a singsong voice. “We’re the Krill and we rescued you. Now you owe us a favor. Hah. Hah. You really do. Owe us a favor.”
Rock’s smile faded. “What sort of favor?”
The mayor stepped up. “We would have some of us Krill ride with you and your magic, to visit your world.”
Rock looked at Tee, who shrugged, and then nodded his head. “I hope that can happen.”
The mayor rubbed his hands, looking almost human. “Very good. Either way, we must find your other friends. Remember, there must be great caution with the infested.”
Rock pointed at a heavy door leading to another room. “I saw Taylor when they first brought me in, other side of that door.”
I grabbed the Logan from Roddy to get a look. The imaging was terrible. Roddy tried, scrolling through the settings. The room was heavily shielded and our Logan had seen better days.
Para rummaged in her field pack, pulling a biometric module for her scanner, and tromped to the door with one of the medics. There wasn’t time for caution, with Gall troops preparing to storm our position any minute.
The mayor sprinted ahead of her. “We must first look to see their... stage... of infestation. The Blighted may, even now, be able to spawn.”
Another Krill ran up to the mayor and stood ready, holding an ancient hand drill with a crank, and a glass tube to insert in the hole. “We can bore a hole with this and observe.”
Tee motioned to Roddy, then looked to the mayor. “Your advice is good. We have something that will work a little faster.” He nodded to Roddy.
Roddy attached the laser drill set-up to the door and took a step back, scrolling through his Ivees to find the device. There was a puff of smoke as the drill-bot bored a hole and inserted a pinhole camera. Roddy engaged a nanocloud and pushed the 3D imaging out for all to see.
The Krill in the room jumped back, pointing their staffs at the images, looking ready to open fire.
Tee held up his hands and slowly moved toward the cloud to wave a hand through the image. The nanites adjusted their auto-alignment to accommodate the gesture, his hand looking a part of the scene. There were six people in the room, four humans and two of Crimson, Gall thralls covered in larvae cysts. Two of the humans were curled up, sleeping, or in a hibernation cycle, covered with cysts. The other two humans were seated at a table, in a trance state, facing two Gall thralls.
The people in the room were all so still. That made some tiny movements jump out at me. There were small shapes moving across the table away from Taylor and Jonesy, the port-techs for GG and Dirty Feet.
Tee pointed at the shapes as he spoke to the mayor. “Are those larvae of the Blighted?”
The mayor squinted, trying to focus. Tee asked Roddy to magnify.
As the images enlarged, the mayor stepped back reflexively. “Yes. Those are the worms, the immature of the Blighted. Larvae. They are leaving your friends, moving to the others. It is a purging!”
Tee looked hard at the mayor. “That’s a good thing, correct? At least two of our friends will be free of infestation.”
Something else came into view, a horrible clarification to what the mayor was about to say. “No. No, not a good thing. These are being purged of... larvae... that they may be hosts of the mature Blighted.”
The adult Gall were very large, a foot long at least, their size showing them to be of great age. They climbed to the tabletop and were slowly making their way to the humans that would be their hosts. Hosts with teleportation capability.
Para hit the door hard, making a dent, the hinges screaming. The pinhole camera crashed for a moment, then came online again, just in time to see the Gall leap to our guys. Para wasn’t paying attention to the image as she moved back to gain a longer run, pushing at anyone in her way. She sprinted forward and leaped in a move only an inverted Para could manage, hitting the door high. It crashed to the floor in the other room with a bang and a cloud of dust.
Fierce had been watching the cloud image, and leaped past Para, throwing mesh auto-locks, starting with Taylor and Jonesy. When the restraints made contact, they flowed to envelop each victim in a tight mesh wrapping. Others followed through with body bags. Those also flowed to encase the people, but refused to seal around their faces since they were still alive. More guys jumped in with restraint head bags. Those did seal around each person’s head, dimming their senses, yet allowing them to breathe.
Duct tape finished the binding ordeal. We cleared the room of bound bodies, then I stepped in with Ivees on infrared. The larvae glowed bright in the IR spectrum, all still on the tabletop. I hosed them with the gun cleaning solvent we use for the mini-20s and flicked a spark from a mag rod. If the smell of petroleum distillates hadn’t bee
n so strong, I would have stayed and turned up the volume on my headset to hear their muted little screams.
Our perimeter called to say we had company coming, a lot of company. A Gall host stuck his head up through the trap door where he met an unfortunate accident, colliding with the heel of Para’s boot. Shrieks from the passage in the floor suggested additional Gall were impacted by the mishap.
Our wrapped thrall friends were both docile, while Taylor and Jonesy kicked and screamed, promising terrible retribution until exhaustion overtook them. It’s difficult to take a full breath in a restraint hood. Sounds of battle were beginning in the passageway. I took it as our cue to leave. Tee had loaded the Krill map to his pid, and set it to track the route from the town position to Gall cavern. That would provide enough information for Rock to port us to safety.
Hold on! Rock was conscious and should have been able to port to safety any time. The Gall was coming for him! He would have ported, if he could. Why had no one thought about that? I whispered my concern to Para. Was this all a Gall scheme? We quickly adjusted our Ivees, expecting to see a Gall monster already attached to poor Rock.
There was no Gall, but there was... something.
Rock looked so sleepy as he turned and focused on Para. “Para, can you take a look at this? They attached it. Must be messing with my nanite weave. I can’t port. I’m so tired.”
Rock sat down, a better alternative than collapsing.
As the noise in the tunnels grew with the intensity of battle, I grabbed Tee. “Grandad, Rock has a Gall gadget attached to his spine. He can’t port.”
Tee’s eyes were blank for a second, then the statement seemed to register. “Of course he can’t port. What’s going on? That’s obvious.”
I recalled my incident by the boulder, when the Gall almost got me, the smell of almonds. And my daze. “Does anyone else smell almonds? That smell was there when a Gall almost got me. I couldn’t think clearly.”
The mayor was standing near, listening, looking like he wanted to move along. “You are vulnerable to the Breath of the Blighted? We must leave. You will all sleep.”
Invasion: Journal Three (Shockwave Book 3) Page 9
