by Terry Mixon
“I agree, but with one caveat. If we can get back safely, you have to let us go.”
The officer shook his head. “I caught you fair and square.”
“After we escaped to another world,” Clayton riposted. “It seems something of a draw.”
Krueger looked amused. “I have the control now. That gives me the edge.”
“Then release Penny and Mick. They have nothing to do with the charges against me.”
The other man nodded. “I can agree to that. They weren’t on my original target list anyway.”
“Then we have a deal. What happens now?”
“Breakfast. I’m afraid there are only MREs.”
The sound of rapid footsteps in the tunnel interrupted them. It was Gunnery Sergeant Danvers. “We have a problem, sir. A party from the army camp is headed our way. Maybe thirty people.”
“Bring everyone back inside,” the officer ordered. “We’ll just have to hope they don’t find us in here.”
* * * * *
Kathleen Bennett didn’t recall falling asleep, but she woke when the lid to the sarcophagus slid open. She frowned, trying to remember how she’d ended up inside the thing.
Nothing. She remembered seeing it, but not climbing inside. How odd.
She sat up and stretched her back. She felt good. Really good. She must have really needed that nap.
Then the memory of the day’s events caught up with her. The fighting. The torture.
She looked down at her foot and saw that the bandage was gone. But, her missing toe was back.
She wiggled it, unsure of how that might be possible.
Maybe this was a dream.
There’d be time to figure that out soon. First, she needed to find her son and see what was happening.
She slid out of the device and noticed something else was wrong. Her clothes didn’t fit correctly. Her pants wanted to slide off and her bra was like a clamp around her torso.
A quick look around the room located a shiny surface that would do as a mirror. She walked over to it, holding her pants up. What she saw stopped her dead in her tracks.
That wasn’t possible.
Gazing back at her was a view of herself that she hadn’t seen in decades. She looked as though she was in her mid-twenties. The parts of her that life had filled out had slimmed back down. And the parts that age had deflated had ballooned, if one could forgive the analogy.
Yes, this had to be a dream. A nice one, but she needed to wake the hell up.
The sound of the door opening behind her made her turn. Nathan came in and stopped dead in his tracks. Then his gun came up.
“Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?”
“Try not to be more of an idiot than you have to, boy.” Her voice was different, too. Less gravelly. Fuller.
He slowly lowered his gun, but he didn’t put it away. “Well, this is certainly a surprise, Mother. You’ve found the fountain of youth. Now I can see you in there. You look younger than I do.”
“How did I get into that machine?”
He leaned against the console. “You don’t remember? I went off to do some fighting and found you in it when I came back. The men I had guarding you said you got in under your own power.”
“I remember coming into the room alone, so I won’t rule it out. What’s happening out there?”
“Nothing as interesting as what’s going on in here. You’ve been out almost twelve hours. We have no idea where the ship is, but the terrorists are still alive and kicking. I think there are two or three dozen of them.”
She’d have to do something about clothes, but she had no idea what. It would have to wait.
“What about our forces? Do we still have guns?”
“Not as much ammo as I’d like, but enough. The new weapons are almost dry, but I might be able to find some more ammo here on the ship. We got a lot of normal guns and ammo from the dead. Enough to finish the job, I think.
“But that will have to wait. We need to have someone look you over. One of the men is a medic.”
She shook her head. “What would he see? You don’t have any instruments that could look inside me. Forget it. I need something to modify my clothes. They fit like crap.”
He grinned. “That’s because frumpy clothes don’t work on hot chicks.”
“I’m your mother. Don’t be any more of a pervert than you have to be.”
The deck under their feet shifted a little. Hardly enough to notice, but more than it ever had before.
Nathan stood straight abruptly. “I think we better go find out what that was about. Nothing good, I’ll warrant.”
No, probably not.
About Terry
Terry Mixon is author of The Empire of Bones Saga and The Humanity Unlimited Saga. He served as a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army 101st Airborne Division. He also worked alongside the flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at the NASA Johnson Space Center for almost two decades, supporting the Space Shuttle program, the International Space Station, and other human spaceflight projects during his tenure there. He lives in Texas with his lovely wife and a pounce of cats.
Contents
Titles By Terry Mixon
Copyright Notices
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Preview of Tree of Liberty
Table of Contents
Titles By Terry Mixon
Copyright Notices
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Preview of Tree of Liberty
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