There was a roll of trash bags on one of the shelves, and Arnie quickly pulled one off before he started to fill it with food. Adhara did the same, and we soon had two full bags of supplies.
I stood in the corridor with Kat as they packed, and we kept an eye out in the dimly-lit hallway for any signs of raptors.
It was a struggle to think about anything other than the descending fleets, and I knew that even if we did have a few hours left, it might not be enough time to get on board the mothership.
I didn’t know how long the process to travel with the black holes would take, and even if we got on board, we would have to locate Adhara’s parents and then convince them to stop the war.
What if they just shot us down on sight?
They might think we were there to bargain in return for their hostage daughter before we even had a chance to show off our gill-less torsos and explain the whole situation.
I gripped the cool metal of my sharp gun and tried to push those negative thoughts out of my mind. I had a family to protect, and I knew that fogging up my brain with worst-case scenarios wasn’t going to help anything. All I could do was go one step at a time and make sure to mow down any scaly fuckers that tried to touch my girls.
“Okay,” Hae-won hissed behind me. “Let’s get out of here.”
I nodded and started to lead the group back around the corner toward the lobby area.
We stepped quietly along the linoleum floor, and the only sound was the gentle rustle of the bags of food. It only took a few minutes to get back to the entrance of building 33, and we managed to reach the shattered doorway without running into any more dinos.
Then I carefully stepped over the broken glass and looked out to see a clear path to the ships.
“Looks good,” I said over my shoulder. “A straight run to Leo’s ship, okay?”
The group nodded, and I made my way out onto the bloodstained steps.
There were roars everywhere, and even though no dinosaurs were close enough to worry about, the sound of so many of them sent chills down my spine.
I stayed focused on the glistening crafts ahead and kept a watchful eye on the pale blue sky as we ran. I was worried the rustle of the food bags would draw attention, but I could hear violent roars in the distance which seemed to drown out most other noises. It sounded like something huge was arguing with something equally as huge, and I wondered if there was some poor bastard being fought over for lunch.
We hadn’t seen many dinos fighting each other recently, they mostly seemed to have joined forces in order to kill the humans. Although, if human meat was sparse, then I figured the carnivorous would have to resort back to attacking their own kind.
We reached the ships without incident, and Leo ran ahead to jump through the back of the craft. The forcefield quickly buzzed off, and I let the girls and Arnie through before I jumped in at the end. Then we hurried into the green-hued control room, and Leo already had the map in his hands as Adhara leaned over his shoulder.
They muttered in their native tongue, and Arnie’s eyes were wide as he watched them.
“What a beautiful language,” he whispered to me. “Isn’t it extraordinary?”
“It’s pretty cool,” I agreed, but I was more focused on trying to read Adhara’s face than what their words sounded like.
The gorgeous alien had her mouth scrunched up as she pointed at the screen, and her emerald eyes were narrowed while she spoke.
Leo’s expression gave away less, as usual. His mouth was a straight, stoic line, and his tilted head was the only sign of expression he had as he watched the map.
“I really hope it’s good news,” Kat said as she shuffled her feet. “We’re so fucking close.”
“We just need a few more hours.” Hae-won nodded. “It just needs a little while longer, right, Arnie?”
“I think so, dear,” the scientist replied kindly, but he didn’t meet her eyes when he spoke.
“It is not within this solar plane yet,” Adhara said, and Kat let out a huge breath.
“Okay,” I said. “And are you able to give us any form of estimate? Surely you can track if it’s going to appear in the next few hours?”
“It is difficult,” the beautiful alien sighed. “Like I told you, we can only track it when it appears in new solar planes. It does not track when in movement.”
“Can you guess?” Hae-won asked desperately.
“I could,” Adhara said as she stared down at the map. “But it maybe is not right.”
“We think ship will be in orbit soon,” Leo said. “Adhara says maybe in one human turn of sun.”
There was silence in the ship as we stared at the aliens.
“One day?” Kat asked in a small voice.
“It is my guess.” Adhara nodded. “But like I told, it is not for definite.”
“Okay,” I said, and my mouth felt dry as I spoke. “One day, if that is right, is enough. We can do this. Arnie and Mateo will work out what’s going on, and then the Hadron Collider will be making those black holes in no time.”
“Yeah,” Becka said quietly. “Exactly. One day is absolutely fine.”
“We’ve come up against tough shit before,” Kat said. “This is just another mission.”
“Look,” I said. “I know we’re scared. This is the most important thing any of us will ever do in our lives, but we need to remember how fucking incredible this team is. I did not come all the way from that Cambridge library just to fall at the last hurdle. None of us did.”
“We can do it.” Hae-won nodded, and she straightened her shoulders with determination.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get back to the dome and see if these guys can work out what to do.”
I kissed Hae-won on the top of her head, and the group started to make their way back out of the ship.
Leo carefully set the map down on the control panel, and he glanced at me before he headed out of the green-lit room. I followed behind and barely even noticed the horrendous smell of dino funk that came with stepping out into the open air.
We quickly made our way to the dome entrance and pushed the door open to pile into the circular lobby.
“Right,” Arnie said as he clutched his bag full of food. “Let’s get up to the others, then. No time to waste.”
We hurried up the wooden ramp and followed the scientist as he led us back to the staff quarters. I put an arm around Hae-won’s shoulders as we walked, and I gripped her tightly as she kept an expression of forced determination on her face.
There was no doubt my girls were the most badass women on the planet, and we just needed the smallest hint of good news to be up and fighting again. Arnie had worked at CERN for years, so if anyone could figure out how to fix it, then it must be him.
We went through the staff doorway, walked up the short staircase, and arrived outside the white door where the scientists camped out. Arnie swung it open, and we piled into the warm room.
Mateo was on the sofa with a book in hand, and Hilda was scribbling something into a notebook at one of the desks.
“What’s that?” she asked as her eyes fell on the bag.
“Food,” Arnie replied, and Hilda shot up from her chair.
“I’m glad you made it back safely,” Mateo said as he got up and helped Arnie lower his bag to the floor.
Adhara placed the other bag on the ground, and Hilda hurried over to tear through the findings.
“Where did you get all this?” the red-haired scientist asked, and Arnie gestured to Adhara.
“The alien sword let me cut through into the supply room,” he said. “We certainly owe them our thanks, I would say.”
“Yes,” Hilda muttered without looking at the aliens. “Thanks.”
“Mateo,” Arnie said. “Will you sit with me for a moment? I want to pick your brains about the start-up process.”
“Of course,” Mateo replied, and the two men strode to the furthest away desk as they spoke quietly to one another.
Hae-won rifled through one of the food bags and pulled out two huge bags of chips. She opened them both and then handed one of the bags to Adhara. The girls huddled around the snack offerings and tore into the food, and it relieved me a bit to see they were taking care of themselves even with so much going on.
“Jason,” Kat said. “Come grab something to eat, you need all the fighting fuel you can get.”
I strode over to the girls and grabbed a handful of chips from Adhara’s bag. My mind was so focused on the Hadron Collider that I barely registered the cheesy flavor of the food, and I mindlessly crammed a few handfuls into my mouth.
Hilda continued to rummage through the food as well, and Kat eventually walked over to the sofa to sit down.
The curly-haired soldier chewed on her lip as she watched the two men talking, and I walked over to join her. I perched on the armrest and ran a hand through my hair as I looked at Kat.
“You okay?” I asked, and she nodded.
“It just feels like we’re running out of time,” she muttered. “I mean, we are running out of time. This isn’t some food run or quest to save our parents. The entire fucking world depends on us.”
“Yeah,” I agreed as I put a hand on her shoulder. “And that means we better stop feeling sorry for ourselves and get this shit done. Right?”
Kat took a second before she nodded, and she looked up at me with her bright, hazel eyes.
“We’ve got this,” she said. “As long as you’re here, Jason, we can do this.”
“I’ll always be here,” I said and leaned down to kiss her soft lips.
Hilda cleared her throat, and I pulled away from Kat to see the scientist scowl over at us.
“The world might end soon, bitch,” Becka snapped. “Are you really going to tell them off for having a kiss after we just brought you all this food?”
“Yeah, we could do a lot more than kissing,” Hae-won huffed. “So, keep up the attitude and just see what happens.”
Hilda was spared from responding as the other two scientists hurried back over to join us.
“Did you work it out?” I asked as I stood up with Kat. “Is it going to be back on soon?”
The men glanced at each other, and I felt Kat’s hand lace into mine.
“We think there is something missing,” Arnie explained as he wrung his hands. “It’s rather complicated to explain, but there is one part which may need to be replaced.”
“Replaced?” I asked. “Okay, do you have the part here?”
“No,” Mateo said flatly. “It’s not here, and the storage unit where it would be is way too dangerous.”
“Wait, there’s a storage unit?” I cut in. “Where is it? We’ll go right now.”
“When I say dangerous,” Mateo said, “I mean the dinosaurs outside this place, times ten. You’ll die the second you step foot outside the spaceship.”
“The entire place is overrun,” Arnie said, and his light-blue eyes were watery. “We lost contact with everyone in there, but we saw footage of it right before communication went dark.”
“It’s impossible,” Hilda whispered. “Nobody could go there and live longer than five minutes.”
“We don’t have a choice,” I said firmly. “If we sit here and do nothing, then we’ll die anyway. I’m not giving up. I’m not going to let my family get hurt.”
I meant it, even though the scientists’ faces all told me how perilous the trip would be. If I only had one day left on Earth, I would spend it doing everything in my power to save my family.
No many matter how many fucking dinosaurs I had to cut down to do it.
Chapter 9
“You can’t go,” Mateo insisted. “I know you guys are experienced with this sort of thing, but there were some really tough guys who worked at that facility. The security guards were basically super-hench ex-soldiers, and they were killed within hours of the attack.”
The engineer shook his head violently, and he ran a hand through his dark hair as he watched me.
“The existence of humanity will end if we stay here,” I told him outright. “But if we make it back with the missing part, then it won’t. It doesn’t matter if I might die on the trip, if I don’t go, I’ll die anyway. All of us will.”
It was a bleak argument, but it was the truth. We’d run out of options and backup plans. There wasn’t any time left to work out something safer or simpler. My only choice was to wade into a dino-infested building and hope I could find whatever the hell it was that would make the hadron collider work again.
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” Arnie said. “But I also know that nothing we say will make you stay.”
“You’re right there.” I nodded, and I turned to my girls. “Listen, this sounds like it’s going to be our most dangerous mission yet. I love you all, and I think maybe you should all stay--”
“No,” Hae-won refused as she folded her arms. “We are not leaving you.”
“Look,” I said gently. “I just mean that Leo could fly, and I’ll go myself into--”
“That’s not happening,” Kat interrupted as she raised an eyebrow.
“We’re coming with you, Jason.” Becka agreed and flicked her blonde hair. “You actually don’t have a choice.”
“We stay together,” Adhara said as she put her hands on her slim hips. “We do not stay here while you go.”
“Yeah, we came all the way from Cambridge with you,” Hae-won said more sternly. “We are not going to abandon our posts at your side during the final mission.”
“You kind of made that choice when you married us,” Becka added with a haughty look. “And these other two are basically married to you anyway, so…”
“We go together,” Hae-won finished, and she folded her arms as she looked up at me.
“Okay, okay,” I chuckled with my hands raised in surrender. “I give in. Group effort it is. You in, Leo?”
“I am in the room?” he responded with a wrinkled forehead. “But I will also go to dangerous ommati place with you. I do not wish for you all to be dead.”
“You must be a hit with the alien chicks,” Becka snorted. “Everything you say is just so romantic.”
The male alien silently blinked at the blonde, and Adhara patted his shoulder gently.
“Okay,” I said as I looked back over at the scientists. “So, where exactly is this place?”
“It’s next to Lake Geneva,” Mateo said. “It’s about an hour’s drive, so I guess it won’t take long for you all to fly there.”
“Coordinates?” Adhara asked.
Mateo hesitated before he flipped open a notebook and scribbled something down. He scowled as he wrote as if he wasn’t happy about giving away such dangerous information.
“Lake Geneva is supposed to be beautiful,” Kat said with a lopsided grin. “I can’t believe I get to see it.”
“I mean, it might not be so pretty now,” Becka said. “Just admire it from afar. No skinny-dipping. Who knows what kind of dino-sharks they’ve got in this corner of the world.”
I briefly imagined the gorgeous soldier naked in a serene lake but forced myself to snap back to the job at hand. There was work to be done before we could have any more fun.
Mateo handed Leo the coordinates, and the alien studied the paper before he slipped it into a pocket of his flight suit.
“We’ll need to know what we’re actually looking for,” I said. “And if you have any idea where in the building this part will be.”
“I’ll write down the room.” Mateo nodded as he went back to his notebook. “You’re looking for a superconducting link. I’ll give you the part number on here, as well, to make locating it easier.”
“It will be labeled on the shelves,” Arnie added. “Well, I hope it will still be on the correct shelf.”
“Unless the dinos have started building their own weapon,” Kat muttered. “Maybe that’s why they took over the storage space.”
“Ew,” Becka shuddered. “Don’t joke about that.”
>
I took the piece of paper with the room number from Mateo and tucked it inside my inner jacket pocket.
“Hold on,” Becka said and held up a hand. “Could you maybe clarify exactly what the hell this superconducting thing looks like? In case the shelves are all wonky?”
“Like a metal pole,” Mateo said. “It will be about a metre long, silver, with lots of little bronze bits inside.”
“Please be careful,” Arnie added, and he held out the fire sword. “Here, take this. You’ll need as many weapons as you can hold.”
“There are many on my ship,” Leo said. “We have enough.”
“You keep the sword,” I told the scientist. “You can protect yourself if anything goes wrong. You’ve got this.”
“We should go,” Hae-won said. “We don’t have any time to waste.”
I nodded and looked at the three pale-faced scientists.
“We’ll be back,” I said confidently. “In the meantime, stay inside and stay alive. You’ve got plenty of food now, so no need to leave the dome.”
“Thanks,” Hilda said without catching my eye, and I nodded at the tight-lipped woman.
Then I strode over to the doorway, and we left the CERN workers in their staff room with two bags of food and a firesword. All I could do was hope they had the sense to stay put, and that nothing with too many teeth figured out they were in there.
The girls and Leo followed me out, and we made our way down to the wooden ramp.
“Superconducting link,” Adhara muttered as we walked down into the round lobby. “This is like graphite powder for humans?”
I remembered how simple it was to fix the alien’s ship when we realized all it needed was a craft supply from the Ravenscar store. Something told me the mission to the storage facility was going to be a hell of a lot more difficult than a shop run.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “This would be a much easier quest if the problem could be solved with graphite powder.”
“Yes, humans should learn to use graphite powder more,” the beautiful alien agreed in a frank tone.
“We’ll work on that,” I chuckled.
“Right after we finish facing hundreds of dinos,” Becka snorted.
Dinosaur World 8 Page 15
