Freedom Express (Book 2 of The Humanity Unlimited Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  “It’s a key. It allowed us into the ship. The others used it to get into their facilities.”

  He examined it curiously for a moment and then dropped it into his pocket.

  The front door to the apartment blew in with a tremendous crash. The wall of noise stunned her. The only one of her captors that seemed capable of movement was the man with her computer.

  He snatched it up and scurried out the back like a rabbit, just missing the men rushing in the front with pistols out. The ensuing gunfight was short and brutal. Nathan came in right after the lead men.

  “Where is he?” he shouted at her. He had to. Her ears were ringing so loudly that she thought she might never hear correctly ever again.

  “Out the back. He took my computer and a copy of the map. Kill him.”

  It occurred to her after he’d ran off that the bastard had taken her toe with him, too. Like a grotesque souvenir. Maybe Nathan would get it back when he killed the man. She’d like to have it put back on before it rotted.

  The thugs with Nathan went from body to body, shooting everyone in the head. She supposed it paid to be thorough.

  Nathan was back a minute later. “He got away. We’ll have to kill him another day.”

  He cut her free from the chair and looked at her foot. “One of my guys will sew this up as soon as we get out of here. We need to be long gone when the French police show up. In this neighborhood, they’ll come in force.”

  Two of his men grabbed her and hustled her out of the apartment. Another one came in with a gas can. It looked as though they’d be having a bonfire. Probably to get rid of any DNA evidence. Good.

  Five minutes later, they were on the road out of Paris. Fire trucks and police cars raced in the other direction. They’d bound her foot, but it still throbbed in agony.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  Nathan turned in his seat and looked at her. “To the base. We found it and got inside. I’m relatively certain the police won’t trace us there. We can make plans on what to do next once we get there.”

  “We have to find that son of a bitch and kill him. His friends, too.”

  “We’ll get payback for what he did to you. I promise.”

  “Screw payback. He knows about the alien tech. He has the map. He might be able to find the base.”

  Nathan considered that. “We’ll need more people. If he comes calling, we’ll give him a big surprise.”

  After a moment, he smiled. “This is actually kind of refreshing. It’s usually Father and Harry we’re competing with. All those ‘no kill’ rules made life boring. Even though you’ve lifted that, I confess to a certain level of anticipation in struggling against them. These people we can exterminate like rats. That’s a nice change of pace.”

  She shook her head. “You’re insane.”

  Her son laughed. “It’s taken you this long to figure that out? I’ve known I’m barking mad for years. It’s really freeing when you don’t have to limit yourself to what society finds appropriate.”

  He turned around and stared out the windshield. “You’re going to love what we’ve found. I’m sure you can come up with a way to use it against the US. Maybe sink one of their aircraft carriers or something. In any case, the game has changed for us.”

  It was about time. She was sick of having everyone run over her. It was time to put her enemies in their places. First these Islamic fucktards, then Queen, and finally her ex-husband.

  * * * * *

  Clayton hit the button to activate the quantum tunnel with a mumbled prayer. He caught himself part way through and snorted. A less religious sort than him was hard to imagine. The oldest habits died hardest.

  The portal opened in much the same way as those in the video had. At least it opened. He’d really have been screwed if the damned thing hadn’t worked.

  The other side was dark. Pitch black. The beams from their flashlights went just far enough to reveal rough stone. The natural kind, like one would find in a cave.

  “Through the gate,” he said as he walked to the other side. “We’ll see if we can’t slow them down a bit.”

  Once they joined him, he tugged the tablet as far over as he could. The short cable meant his arms were still in the old world. He certainly hoped it took as long for a portal to shut down as to open. Otherwise, he’d have difficulty feeding himself.

  Clayton unplugged the tablet that controlled the quantum tunnel and jumped back a few steps. Nothing happened. The gate showed no sign of closing.

  “Hmm. This isn’t what I had in mind.”

  “We need to get further into the cave, Mister Rogers,” Mick said. “If we’re right here when they come along, they’ll just drag us back to the US.”

  They retreated deeper into the cavern. A path showed people had once used this portal fairly regularly, based on the wear. No telling how long ago that had been.

  “Off the path here,” Penny said. “There’s a side cavern without the neon sign saying ‘we went this way’ to lead them in behind us.”

  Mick scouted and waved them in. It wasn’t deep, but there were several columns of stone to keep them out of sight if anyone glanced in. Scuffs of movement told him that the soldiers had come into the transport room.

  Too bad. The power room would’ve kept them busy searching for a long time. Probably long enough for the tunnel to close. He made a mental note to have them test how long a portal stayed open on its own once he got out of this mess.

  They shut off their lights and waited. He breathed as shallowly as he could. Sound traveled in silent spaces like this and he didn’t want to attract the notice of the soldiers, if they decided to come into the cave.

  Of course, they had no way of knowing it was located somewhere else. Without seeing it open for himself, he’d have guessed it was just an opening in the wall.

  The sound of men moving quietly through the unfamiliar caverns grew louder. There were no lights, though. He mentally rooted for them to keep going.

  Then reconsidered. How would he rescue them if this was an alien world? These were Americans. He wanted to escape them, not leave them trapped. This was quite the quandary.

  “You can come out of there, Mister Rogers. We know right where you are.”

  The voice made him flinch in spite of himself. He made no move and hoped that the others didn’t give them away.

  “You probably think I’m bluffing. IR/UV goggles. I can see the heat of your bodies around the rocks you’re hiding behind. If I have to come in there, I’ll shoot first and ask questions later. Toss the rifle onto the ground and we all walk out alive.”

  The loud clatter of metal on stone told him that Mick had let the rifle drop. “There you go,” the young man said. “I don’t have any other weapons that can hurt you from over here. I’m coming out with my hands up.”

  He also turned his flashlight on and pointed it toward the ceiling. That let Clayton see Penny joining him.

  With his options gone, Clayton raised his hands and stepped out to join them. Several men with weapons held up to cover them lifted their goggles and came forward to relieve them of their packs. They then searched them closely for weapons and used zip ties to bind their hands behind their backs.

  Their leader—the same man who’d spoken to them from the base of the ridge—came forward. “You sure know how to make things hard on everyone, Mister Rogers. Let’s get the formalities out of the way. You’re under arrest on the charge of high treason. We’ll take you back to our ship and then the US to face trial for your crimes.”

  Clayton shook his head wryly. “We both know you don’t have the authority to arrest me in New Zealand. This is an out-and-out kidnapping.”

  “Good luck having your attorney use that in court,” the young man said. “My name is Lieutenant Commander Karl Krueger. I once had the honor of serving on an op with your son. He was a fine man. This situation pains me because of that.”

  The soldiers brought them out of the side cavern and started herding
them back toward the base. Commander Krueger walked beside Clayton with one hand on his arm to keep him steady.

  “What the hell is this place?” the man asked. “We almost missed the opening up on the ridge.”

  “You’re not cleared to hear the answer to that question, Commander,” the man in the civilian clothes said. He was standing on the path near where it changed direction and headed off to the portal.

  Clayton felt his lips tug up in a smile. “It’s a thousand year-old base left by—”

  “Shut up!” The civilian shouted.

  “—humans that once traveled the stars,” Clayton finished. “I’m not likely to get into more trouble by talking, so don’t bother to tell me to shut up, you moron.”

  “Gag them,” the man said coldly. “Not one more word from any of them or you’ll find yourself in a hole with them, Commander.”

  Krueger stopped and stepped in front of Clayton. “Your authority over me only goes so far, Mister Ulysses. Let me give you a bit of advice. Never give an order you know someone will disobey. It makes you look weak and undermines your authority.”

  The civilian didn’t back down. “I know you military freaks want to feel like you’re all that and a bag of chips, but you need to realize what kind of world you live in. You can do it my way, or I’ll make a few calls and you’ll be transferred to the ass end of nowhere to await your own court martial.”

  “You got a big mouth for such a little asshole,” one of the soldiers said. “We could have a nice friendly fire incident and our problems go away. Or you could slip and fall off a cliff.”

  “Enough, Gunny,” Krueger said. “We don’t threaten to kill civilians, even if they are CIA douchebags who deserve a horrible death.”

  “Laugh it up,” Ulysses said. “Your day is coming.”

  A soldier came up behind the CIA agent. “Commander, we have a problem. We’ve lost the exit.”

  “What do you mean? How can we lose an exit?”

  “It’s gone, sir. Just like it was never there. The center part of the tunnel we came through is just a solid piece of rock now.”

  Great, Clayton thought to himself. The worst of both worlds. Trapped in an unknown location and a prisoner. Could things get any worse?

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Harry marveled at the size of the ship. It seemed to stretch on forever. The lights came on ahead of them and went off behind them. The atmosphere was cold, but had started getting warmer. The ship knew someone was aboard.

  The corridor had the feel of a military warship. He’d traveled in enough of them over the years to recognize the frequent placement of airtight doors. On the ships he’d traveled on, those had been watertight. In case battle damage breached the hull.

  He hoped this didn’t turn out badly. It seemed unlikely that anyone was going to come complain about them trespassing, but if they did, it would get ugly.

  “Why is the ship just parked out here in the middle of nowhere?” Emily Adams asked. “Doesn’t that seem a bit odd?”

  “It does,” Harry said. “The most likely answer is that they didn’t want anyone stumbling across it. Way out here, there’s zero chance anyone on Earth could find it. Not optically, anyway. It’s obviously still functional, so it was in standby mode.”

  “And it’s waking up,” Jess said. “If the heavy-worlders are the bad guys in this drama—which it sure looks like they were—then this is not the best thing for us. If they come back looking for trouble, then we’ll get shot up.”

  Ray stopped next to a diagram on the wall. “Here’s a simple deck plan. Even heavy-worlders get lost, it seems. This says we’re a few decks down from the control center. If we’re going to find answers, that’s one of the places I’d look. Also, if we go down and aft, there are transport chambers. I bet those are quantum tunnels.”

  Harry liked the sound of that. “If we can open a direct passage to Mars, that might make me feel a little safer. We can send Freedom Express a little further away and not risk so much.”

  “One thing is bothering me,” Ray said. “Where did this ship come from? The drives we’ve seen all have a light speed limit.”

  “Even the grav drives?” Jess asked. “It seems as if altering the gravity gradient should let you ‘fall’ right up to the speed of light. Infinite mass would help in that case, wouldn’t it?”

  The engineer shrugged. “If you were falling toward an infinite mass, it might make a difference, but it would most likely prevent a ship from hitting light speed. The natural universe is pretty firm on maintaining the laws on that sort of thing. Above the quantum level, anyway. It sure seems as though the quantum tunnels violate those laws.”

  “What if altering the gravity gradient takes more and more energy as one goes faster. That would stop a ship somewhere short of the ultimate speed.”

  Harry tapped her on the shoulder to get her moving again. “So would a bit of hydrogen at those speeds, I bet. I read a humorous article on the Internet once about how a can of beans would act at various speeds. A single bit of gas at really high velocity could make a damned big explosion. And before you mention using magnetic fields, I’ll remind you that it takes time for something to move.”

  She nodded and started walking again. “That’s true. Atmospheric compression causes the heat a lifter generates on reentry. Most people think it’s friction of the ship’s passage, but it’s not. The air can’t get out of the way fast enough and the vehicle smashes it together, causing high temperatures.”

  “Fine,” Ray said. “How did this ship get to the solar system? Sublight? That’s one hell of a long trip, even if they came from somewhere close.”

  A set of stairs led them up several levels and brought them to a large hatch. It didn’t open when they approached. There was a numeric panel beside it.

  “It wants an entry code,” Harry said. “Great. We’re not getting in that way, then.”

  Jess squatted and looked at the pad. “Some of the numbers have odd patterns in the dust. Not from recent use, but from oils on the fingers, I bet. I’m seeing four, and that matches the number of places above them. We just have to guess the code.”

  “Twenty-four possible combinations seem a little weak for security,” Ray said.

  “That’s because no one expected us to be able to dismiss six numerals entirely,” Jess said with a grin. “Bets on how many tries it takes me?”

  It turned out to be seven. “Lucky seven,” she exulted as the hatch slid slowly open. “Come to Momma!”

  Harry raised his weapon and stepped inside. He had to admit the bridge was a little underwhelming.

  The room beyond had no consoles or even chairs. It was completely empty.

  * * * * *

  Doctor Granger led Queen to the elevator with Mount Jackson right behind them. The large man made an impression even when he wasn’t in sight. It was as though Queen could feel him standing behind them.

  He looked down into Jackson’s eyes when they got into the dilapidated elevator and started down. “I saw you reading a science magazine. Might I enquire if you’re a scientist?”

  The large man smiled. “Sort of. I’m a doctoral candidate in theoretical physics.”

  “Forgive me, but you seem about as far away from my mental image of a theoretical physicist as possible.”

  “I get that a lot. If it makes you feel any better, I’m also on the university wrestling team.”

  “That I can believe.”

  The elevator doors wheezed open onto a large open room taking up much of the basement. Perhaps all of it. There was a large amount of equipment set up, but they’d cleared the right hand side of the room.

  Someone had built a stand that supported a series of metal arches about ten meters deep. It looked very out of place. The metal framework supporting it wouldn’t allow anyone to walk through. He couldn’t imagine what it was for.

  Brenda Cabot stood talking with several men and women clustered around what was obviously one of the alien power supplies. The
stolen blue cube sat inside it. Or possibly a different cube. At this point, he wasn’t going to doubt her story anymore.

  She saw them come out of the elevator and waved them over. “Mister Secretary, welcome. I’m glad to see you on your feet. I have no idea who the shooter was. We’re guilty of a number of crimes, but that one is someone else’s.”

  He inclined his head. “I’m willing to grant that possibility. I’ve made a few enemies over the years. I see you already had a power supply.”

  Cabot shrugged. “Actually, it’s the one I stole from you. We had the unit, but not the cube. It’s the power source. Forgive my rudeness, but I’m not going to introduce my associates. I’d rather you only come after me once we cut you loose.”

  At least that supported her claim that she’d be releasing him. It would’ve been better if she’d not allowed him to see their faces at all. Of course, this could all be a sham and these people might be of no particular importance.

  He inclined his head toward the others. He had the doctor’s name, but that was almost certainly fake. As was the wrestler/theoretical physicist’s. Meant to lead him astray, no doubt.

  That was fine. He’d locate them one way or another. Sooner or later, everyone made mistakes.

  “By now, every law enforcement agency in the country is on high alert. They’ll be looking for you everywhere.”

  Cabot smiled. “Good thing I won’t be handy, then. You wanted to know if I was telling you the truth. Watch and learn.”

  She picked up the “cell phone” and brought it to life. Reading from a piece of paper, she painstakingly entered a long series of characters.

  “I thought that was dead,” he said.

  She lifted it to show a cable running to the power supply. “I have it on external power while they refurbish the battery.” She tapped the screen one last time.

  He wasn’t sure what he expected to happen, but the arch filling with mist and lightning wasn’t it. He gaped as it grew thicker.

  “What is that?” he asked.