The Ardoon King

by Samuel Fort

  Chapter 78: Green Blob

  Dusk gave way to night.

  “Pod crews standby for discharge sequence in ten mikes,” came the voice over the PA. “Power down opticals and ground all systems. Acknowledge.”

  There was a brief pause before the Anzu’s speakers came alive again.

  “Pod-1 acknowledges. Opticals offline, systems grounded.”

  Static. “Pod-2 acknowledges. Opticals offline, systems grounded.”

  Peth “Blitz” Blitsreah, the newly commissioned Warrant Officer who manned the rotary canon in GunPod-3, flipped his targeting sights from infrared to night-vision, then off. He reached to his right and grabbed a heavy, two-inch thick, rubber coated cable with the grounding terminal connection. He popped the metal end into a port in the grated floor and gave it a quarter turn left. There was a solid and satisfying clicking sound as the receptacle grabbed hold of the cable. A yellow light to his left turned red. His computer systems flickered once, then powered off.

  Pivoting, he raised his boots and placed them on an elevated pad coated in a thick, non-skid rubber. He touched a button on the side of his helmet and said, “Pod-3 acknowledges. Opticals offline, systems grounded.”

  Blitz listened as Pods 4 through 45 acknowledged the command in sequence.

  A moment later, the PA system came alive again. “All pods confirmed. Standby for discharge, all thrusters, in five, four, three…”

  There was a familiar hum that grew in intensity.

  “…two, one – GO.”

  Outside his glazed sighting port, the black sky flashed blue and white. The effect was brilliant, but lasted only a tenth of a second. A low moan that sounded very much like the single blast from a tuba rumbled up from the beneath the deck, followed by an ear-splitting crack of thunder. Then the sky was again black and silent.

  “Discharge complete. Reactive systems and opticals. Acknowledge.”

  The verification routine recommenced. Blitz acknowledged when it was his turn, removed the grounding cable, and began powering his systems back up.

  He scanned the terrain below him as his screens came to life. No bashmu had encroached on the perimeter during the discharge, which was not surprising, given that his systems had been down for less than a minute, but he was still a little disappointed. He liked firing the cannon. A lot. He loved watching the “bam-bams” disintegrate beneath him and he loved the accolades he received for a solid kill with minimal use of ammunition. Blitz was one of the best of the pod gunners, using under a hundred rounds, on average, for every kill.

  There was nothing more prestigious than selection as a crewmember aboard the Anzu. A position as gunner was especially prized. After twenty kills an effective gunner was all but guaranteed a commission as a warrant officer. That meant no more ground-pounding, better quarters, and, most importantly, the esteem of the Nisirtu nobles. He was marrying age and already had three solid prospects. The only question was which family to negotiate terms with before submitting an application to the council.

  Tomorrow the Anzu would travel to Denver International for supplies and he would rotate out for a week, allowing another gunner to take his pod. He didn’t like rotations. He didn’t like another Peth in “his” pod. But he was looking forward to getting a full night’s sleep.

  Something caught his attention on the night vision screen. It was a nebulous green blob that was moving in from the north. That was odd. To date, there had been no bashmu attacks from the north. The temples of the north were too distant to be an immediate threat, if the king’s calculations were correct. Could a bashmu have circled around from another direction? That would be a first. The monsters always headed straight toward Steepleguard when they emerged from the temples.

  Four nearby temples had been deactivated recently, their glyphs destroyed, and all were either south or east of the mountain fortress. That included the temple in Cash. Eighteen Peth had been lost doing the dangerous work. Deactivating the temples was like defusing bombs. One or two bashmu always circled the temples, like guards, and while the Anzu could be dispatched to take them out, new beasts emerged from the temples erratically. It was impossible to say when one might pop into existence. Twice they had appeared just as Peth entered the temples.

  Blitz flipped to infrared and saw nothing. When he flipped back to night vision he was surprised to see the blob had moved two hundred meters further south. Bashmu didn’t move that fast. Concerned, he flipped back to infrared. Still nothing. When he switched back to night vision the blob was gone.

  Confused, he put his finger on the small joystick that controlled his cameras and scanned the terrain below him. Nothing. He zoomed out. Still nothing.

  He keyed his microphone. “Command, this is Pod-3. Request all pods scan vicinity…” He checked the coordinates on his screen and called them out.

  He heard, “Command, copy.” The order was given.

  He listened intensely as, a moment later, the other pod crews made their reports to the pilot house. None saw, or had seen, anything.

  Command said, “Negative contact, Pod-3. Could be an artifact caused by discharge sequence. OPs in vicinity report no activity.”

  Blitz keyed his mic. “Roger that.”

  The man was perplexed. He didn’t think what he’s seen was a discharge artifact. Still, if the observation posts on the ground weren’t seeing or hearing anything, what else could it have been? Bashmu showed up on infrared and they didn’t move at the speed he’d witnessed. They also made a hell of a noise as they chewed their way through forested areas. In fact, the only way anything could have moved at that speed in such rugged terrain without making a sound was to fly.

  And everyone knew that bashmu didn’t fly.