Rayland had made several attempts to convince me that we needed to take shelter with the nesters. Like Kaya, I wasn’t sure they could be trusted, but as much as I distrusted him I was growing more and more convinced that it was our only choice. I knew that I would have to make my decision soon, but there was one thing holding me back, our scheduled contact with the Earth Reclamation Fleet.
As long as we stayed in the air and kept moving, it would be a lot harder for the Qharr to peg our position when we made contact with the fleet. Rayland insisted that we would be able to safely communicate with them from his nest, but I wasn’t so sure. I didn’t want to be responsible for repeating the tragedy of Safe Haven. Fortunately, I wouldn’t have to wait much longer; we were due to make contact on that very day.
I rubbed my eyes; the new one just didn’t feel right. It kept tingling. Maybe it was just my imagination, but since Khala had re-grown it, everything seemed to have more of a bluish tint than it had before. I dropped my hands then climbed to my feet and made my way to the door which slid open as I approached. Becca and Farris were waiting for me in the corridor. My sister had been treating me with kid gloves since I’d been injured making my way into and back out of the inquisitor ship, and considering the severity of my wounds I’m not sure I could blame her, but even so it was starting to get on my nerves.
“Anything eventful happen?”
“Not really.” Farris frowned folding his arms across his chest as he glanced down the corridor in the direction of the bridge. “We gonna do this or not?”
“Matt.” My sister pursed her lips and placed her hand on his shoulder. “She just woke up give her a minute.”
“I’m fine!” I gritted my teeth and shuffled past the two of them then sighed and turned back to my Becca. “I’m as eager as Farris to get this done with.”
Becca didn’t put up any further resistance and the two followed me to the control center where Lily, the doctor and Rayland were waiting.
“Lily, are we ready?” I asked moving to her side and placing a hand on her shoulder.
She craned her neck to look up at me, and bit her lip.”Yeah, I’m not detecting any Qharr ships nearby, but that could change if they detect our transmission.”
“We’ll try to keep it brief then,” I said then turned back to my sister. “Becca, care to do the honor?”
Even after her initial activation, my sister was the only person still able to get the long-distance communications array up and running. Which meant that if we ever lost her we’d likely lose complete contact with the Earth Reclamation Fleet. I wasn’t about to let that happen, I’d sooner die than lose another person that I cared about. Kaya’s passing would be the last, at least within our group, if I had anything to do with it.
My sister initiated the array with the key and nothing happened. I spun around in my seat to eye my sister who looked about as confused as I was.
“Becca?”
“I-it’s not working. I don’t know why. I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong.”
“Here let me… wait–” Lily said stopping short before furrowing her brows and toggling the controls. “I’m getting a message, text only. It looks like a bunch of random numbers intersected by hyphens apostrophes and spaces.”
Lily shook her head and eyed the display. “I think maybe they’re using some sort of code and… what’s this? I’m getting more. It says here that communications have been compromised and to avoid further attempts at communication… and this is weird… ‘to unravel the mystery seek the failure of Pyrpygym’.”
“Pyrpygym?” I rubbed my forehead, closed my eyes then turned to the doctor something suddenly occurring to me. “That doesn’t mean anything to you, does it doctor?”
“Indeed,” he replied bobbing his head up and down. “It is the name of Vakrexid’s father’s brother’s sixth foreparent. He was a mathematician.”
“Oh, I’m sorry; I didn’t realize it was a name. I know how your people fe–”
“NO! Please, apologize not. Names of those who have passed into the final library may be uttered by anyone.”
“So, it’s a pretty safe bet that they’ve contacted the doctor’s homeworld. Any idea what Pyrp–” Farris paused, closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. “–uh, whatever his name is, failure happens to be?”
“Yes, most assuredly, Pyrpygym was one of the most celebrated minds of the time, but few know that he was a strong proponent of switching over to an eight-based numerical system. After his failure to convince the Regents of Rumination to make the change, he was most offended. He retired and did not re-enter public life even to the day he died eighty of your years later.”
“Yeah, didn’t need the life story,” Farris grunted. “Think maybe the answers with this eight-based number system?”
“Most assuredly,” Vakrexid bobbed his head.
“It can’t be that simple, can it?” I paused then turned back to the screen. “Doctor why don’t you take a look? In the mean time, I think it’s time we get the hell out of here.”
“Vakrexied concurs,” he tooted leaning over the console next to Lily. I sighed then shook my head and turned to Rayland. “I need some coordinates, I think it’s finally time I take you up on your offer.”
“Sure,” he said his eyes widening a bit in apparent surprise.
After he stepped up beside me to input the coordinates, I sent the ship blasting off into the open sky and toward what I hoped was the relative safety of the Rayland’s nest.
“Canada, again?” Farris’s eyebrow twitched as he paced back and forth behind me.
“British Columbia this time,” Lily noted absently.
“Alberta, British Columbia, what difference does it make?!” Farris cursed. “It’s fucking Canada, there’s nothing there!”
“Simmer down Matt. Don’t you think you’re overreacting, a bit?” Becky messaged his back and rolled her eyes.
I grimaced then glared back at him over my shoulder. “There’s plenty of things in Canada, but what’s important is what’s not there. We’re going to hide from the Qharr remember. Seriously Farris, what’s got you on edge, anyway? And hell would you stop pacing, it’s bad enough flying this thing and listening to you bitch. Just stop it would you?”
“Okay, okay, I get your damn point. I hate that we always have to hide from the gray skins and I don’t trust these nesters either. How much longer is it, I’m getting tired of waiting.”
“Farris you want to drive this thing?” I gritted my teeth and cast my gaze back over my shoulder at him.
“You know I can’t.”
“Then shut the fuck up! Jesus!” I glanced at Lily who grinned from ear to ear. She seemed to find something humorous about our exchange. I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at her then shook my head, and cleared my throat. “We’ll be coming up on Rayland’s coordinates here pretty quick. Sit tight and just be quiet, okay?”
“And there it is…” I blurted out a moment, calling up sensor readings. “Looks like there’s some ruins below, not picking up any human life signs.”
Rayland grinned and leaned over the console, getting a little too close for my tastes. “Did you really expect to?”
“No, not really,” I grimaced then shoved him away. “Get out of my face Rayland.”
His only response was to tighten his grin. I bit my lip and returned my focus to the sensor readings. “The mountain’s a little on the small side, but there’s a lot of forest so we could probably conceal the ship near the tree line like we did in Alberta.”
A little on the small side was an understatement, it was really more of a glorified hill than an actual mountain, but I wasn’t about to argue that point with Rayland.
“Put the ship down there,” Rayland said motioning at a portion of the view screen displaying a small clearing nestled inside a section of the forest that was just big enough to accommodate our ship. “That’s probably about the closest we can get.”
“
Looks tight, may want to get strapped in guys. This is going to be a rough landing.”
Lily was one of the first to strap herself in, which seemed a bit odd considering her capacity to defy gravity, but then again she hadn’t had as much time to flex her muscles as I had. I guess she wasn’t as confident in Dyssa’s abilities as I was in Khala’s.
The others followed Lily’s example, but I opted to remain unrestrained, I found the straps a little too confining. The doctor was the last to buckle up; the straps were just a little too small for him and had to be adjusted to accommodate his lanky frame and even then they were pretty damn tight. I turned away and began the procedures for landing. Though I was getting a better hang of the human-styled controls I was still have a little trouble mastering them, even with the extensive flight experience Khala had passed on to me. Even after Lily repaired the damaged thruster.
The ship shuddered and groaned as I brought her down and I could feel my teeth chatter during one of the more violent quakes. Finally, it touched ground with a dull thud and I let out a sigh of relief as I turned to Rayland. “Well, I sure hope I don’t end up regretting this.”
“Trust me.” He gave me one of his insufferable grins then threw his thumb over his shoulder. “We going or not? I’m sure my people think I’m dead or worse. So you can understand that I’m pretty eager to get back.”
“Yeah, just let me initiate the deactivation process,” I muttered tapping the controls and watched until the panels all blinked off.
Rayland led us out the ship and into the surrounding forest where we began our long hike through the wilderness.
Chapter Four
“Rangers!” Rayland yelled at the top of his lungs. “Stand down!”
Our attackers lowered their weapons just as Lily and I were nearly on top of them. We glanced at each other then back at Rayland before taking several steps back.
“Major Patterson,” a woman said stepping out from among the circle of rangers. She was at least four or five centimeters taller than myself, had long brown hair done up in a ponytail, a pair of penetrating sea-green eyes and was moderately attractive, in a bulky muscle-bound sort of way. “We expect you back a lot sooner.”
“Yes, well Captain Neada sometimes things take an unexpected turn,” he replied grinned from ear to ear.
“Sorry, for jumping out at you like that Major, we weren’t sure if it was really you or not,” she grinned at him and swirled her hair around her finger. It was a gesture that seemed at odds with the tough-soldier impression that she gave off, but who was I to judge someone based on her appearance?
“Ah, hell, apology accepted Captain Neada, just try not to do it again. You scared the bejesus out of us. Say, I don’t suppose you brought along an extra holocloaker did you?” Rayland said glancing over at Kaya and then Lily with a grin and a wink.
“No, I’m afraid we just brought the one, sir,” Neada replied reaching up to yank on her pony tail.
“Damn, well there’s no help for it. If those gray-skins find the ship we came in they’ll be able to track it right to us. Callwell, Lourne take the cloaker and follower the trail back. You’ll find a ship parked about eight klicks down the path. It should be easy to spot, the damned thing is parked right along the treeline. Use the cloaker to hide it then head back to the nest, we’ll meet you there,” Rayland said glancing first a tall man with close-cropped blond hair and then a slender woman with shoulder-length brown hair.
“Yes sir,” the two replied in unison, retrieved a large metallic cylinder from the pack of another soldier, and disappeared in the direction our group had just come.
“There,” Rayland grinned back at us. “Told you we would take care of it.”
“Take care of it?” Farris folded his arms across his chest and glared at the other man. “What the hell have you taken care of exactly? And what in God’s name is a holocloaker?”
“A holocloaker takes images from the surrounding area and uses them to create a three dimensional illusion which blends in perfectly with the terrain and seamlessly hides anything within a square kilometer of the device,” Captain Neada replied frowning at Farris and studied him with a pair of cool eyes.
“We use them when we’re out hunting. They’re pretty handy for hiding our campsites or to provide cover when a Qharr patrol ship passes overhead,” Rayland added.
“Ah yes, Vakrexid remembers you humans using similar technologies before the Qharr invaded this world,” the doctor said letting out a high-pitched wail.
“May I speak freely sir?” Neada asked staring at the doctor with what could only be described as a look of uncertainty.
“Speak Neada.”
“Sir, are you sure about these… people? I haven’t ever seen anything like this creature here,” she said pointing at the doctor then turned to look at Lily. “These two… are you sure they’re entirely human? I get the heebie jeebies just looking into their eyes. ”
“Ah, hell,” Lily averted her eyes and seemed quite uncomfortable as she gripped my hand and stared at the other woman with wide eyes.
“Can’t really comment on how human they are, but I do know that if it hadn’t been for these people, Captain, I wouldn’t have made it out of the compound alive.
“Very well, sir,” she nodded took another uncertain look at Vakrexid, Lily and me then turned away.
“Now,” he said his frown stretching back into a smile. “I think it’s time for us to depart, don’t you? If you want to chat while we’re moving that’s fine, but the longer we’re out in the open the more likely the gray skins will find us and without that holocloaker we won’t be able to hide from them if they happen on us.
I pursed my lips, shrugged then held a hand out to Rayland, “Lead the way.”
“I’d hoped you’d say that,” he said just before he spun around and started back down the trail.
“This is most delightful!” the doctor exclaimed as the trail came to an end in front of a sheer rock face.
“Funny,” Farris said coming to a stop behind him. “I was just thinking the exact opposite.”
The doctor hunched over and bent down to study a small shrub and began to pick a number of small red berries from the plant. “BERRIES! If Vakrexid boiled these with the right edible lichen I can make a most delicious juice.”
Rayland chuckled then slowly walked over to put a hand on the alien’s shoulder. “Well doc, if you can wait just a bit longer I promise you that you can have all the berry juice you ever wanted.”
“Truly?” the doctor asked cocking his head back and forth. “Are we near this nest of yours, then?”
“Yep, as a matter of fact Lily and Lexa over there are standing right in front of the entrance,” he smirk stretching into a full blown grin as Lily and I shared a wide-eyed glance.
“Entrance?” Lily blinked. “All I see is a solid rock wall.”
“That’s exactly what you’re meant to see,” Neada replied slowly walking toward Lily and me before kneeling down on the ground beside us. She palmed a small rock alongside the wall and with the blink of an eye a control interface appeared just to my right. Neada climbed back to her feet tapping out a code that must have been at least ten digits long. In response the wall in front of me flashed and in its place an empty cave mouth appeared.
“Carder, Mackay wait here by the entrance until Callwell and Lourne show up. Everyone else, inside the cave,” Rayland said issuing his command with a firm but calm voice.
We all shuffled inside and Mackay, a tall-lanky woman with long red hair, and Carder a brown-haired man of medium build, took up guard on either side of the entrance. Neada was the last inside and upon entering she tapped her fingers against another panel and the opening vanished just as suddenly as it had first appeared.
“Shit, no lights,” Farris cursed from somewhere to my right.
“Just wait a minute. Don’t get your panties in a wad,” Neada replied a moment before the
cavern was flooded with bright light.
I winced and reached up to shield my eyes, but then dropped my hand. My enhanced eyes were capable of adjusting the light much quicker than other humans. Lily being a bonded human had the same advantage, but she wasn’t the only one. Vakrexid seemed completely unfazed by the sudden salvo of illumination.
I happened to glance over and watched Farris as he traced his hands across what had been the cave mouth. “Shit, it’s seamless. How the hell’d you do it?”
“We use a modified class-three force shield emitter to generate the feel of solid rock and a holocloaker casts a seamless illusion on top of it,” Rayland replied glancing back at Farris with a single raised eyebrow. “Now if you all would join me on this platform we can take the lift down to the tunnels.”
“Uh… platform?” Lily asked with furrowed eyebrows as she glanced around the room. “I don’t see any platform.”
Rayland rolled his eyes and let out a long exaggerated sigh as he slowly shook his head. “Have you learned nothing yet? It’s disguised by a holocloaker. You see this indent in the ground here?” he asked kicking his foot against a depression in the cave floor. “It marks the center of the lift platform. Now, everyone gather around me. There’s more than enough room for all of us. Just make sure you keep close.”
We all shuffled onto the platform as Rayland guided us each into position, then with a satisfied nod he kicked the depression three times in a row, paused and kicked it twice more. The floor lurched downward beneath our feet. Becky and Farris both stumbled, apparently caught by surprise by the lift’s sudden movement. Our enhanced balance prevented Lily and I from stumbling or maybe it had more to do with our symbiote’s gravity defying abilities. Either way I really wasn’t sure. Rayland, Neada and the other rangers didn’t stumble, but that was probably because they’d known what to expect and had braced themselves.
Battle For Earth Page 38
