PARANORMALS AND THE SHINING STAR
“I have a question,” Powerhouse called from the main cabin of the plane.
Vortex had been watching Shining Star through the window as he flew alongside them; the paranormal Taalu could easily outdistance the PCA private jet, but he had agreed to pace them so they would all arrive together. When Powerhouse spoke up, Vortex glanced over at the big man.
“Go ahead,” Lieutenant Takayasu replied from the cockpit. Though Takayasu was no pilot, he had taken the copilot’s seat and a headset, to keep in contact with the authorities.
“Shining Star’s people think that these Noctoponm guys came at me because his paranormal ‘signal’ or whatever was hidden in the rogue pit and I’m the one they picked up, right?”
“That was the Grand Lord’s guess. And I think Lord Larr and Chief Naltin agreed with him.” Takayasu twisted around in his seat to try and make eye contact with Powerhouse. “Why?”
“If they were right about that, then why are we having to chase after these aliens? Shouldn’t they have come after Shining Star when he got out in the open?”
That’s a good question, Vortex thought. He peered through the window at Shining Star. Callin’s silver glow was on full power, as near as he could tell.
“I don’t know,” Takayasu answered a second later; his tone sounded like he echoed Vortex’s opinion. “If our time-line is correct, you were still sparring with the one Noctoponm when we came back upstairs, so they might’ve been too distracted. But since then? I haven’t a clue.” He asked the pilot, “How much longer?”
The pilot, a PCA Lieutenant Junior Grade who transferred over from the Navy, consulted his instruments. “If we keep tracking with your glowing friend out there, and if the bearing he gave us is accurate, we could probably set down at a private airfield on the south side of Cheyenne in less than fifteen minutes. Our altitude is low enough that I could have us on the ground with a one-minute warning.”
“If you had to, could you put us down away from an airfield? On a city street, something with lights?”
The pilot flashed a cocky grin and nodded. “In this little bird? Not a problem, Lieutenant. So long as I can see, I can get us down.”
His gaze still locked out the window, Vortex perked up. “Michael, I think Shining Star just read your mind. He’s pointing to eleven o’clock low.”
Takayasu sat forward in his seat. “I think I see a property on fire, maybe a large homestead. Definitely outside Cheyenne city limits, but that roadway to the south is lit.” To the pilot, he said, “I’m holding you to your word. Head that way and prep for landing unless I say otherwise.”
“You got it.”
“Mike!” Shockwave called from the very back seats. He had been trying to take a nap, but like the others, he must’ve been too keyed up. “We don’t have to wait to land. I can get us down faster.” He held up his removed shoes. A beat later, he added, “I promise not to go splat with you on my back.”
Takayasu considered this. “Powerhouse, would you be up for jumping to the ground from this height?”
“Hey!” Vortex jumped in. “I’m not staying behind. If Shockwave is carrying you, could Powerhouse carry me?”
Takayasu responded by asking, “Lincoln? Could you do it?”
“Yeah, I could do it. I’m sore, but not sore enough to let it stop me.” He looked over at Vortex. “If you can handle the jolt ...?”
Vortex nodded.
Takayasu nodded as well, removing his headset. “All right, get ready. Lieutenant,” he said to the pilot as he rose from his seat, “touch down on the closest impromptu strip to the fire, so long as it’s clear of civilians. Keep the plane running until you hear otherwise from me. But if I don’t contact you, one way or the other, in half an hour, contact regional HQ for further instructions.”
“Aye-aye.”
Vortex unbuckled his seatbelt. “What kind of backup are we looking at? Was the closest PCA office able to—?”
“No,” Takayasu replied as he moved back into the main cabin, “nobody useful for this kind of fight, so I told them to keep clear. They’ve got field agents on standby in Cheyenne, just in case. I’ve got some balls rolling back home, but nothing that’ll be on time for this confrontation.”
“We aren’t going to wait for your balls to stop rolling?” Shockwave asked with a smirk.
Takayasu chose to give his quip a serious answer. “I have the impression the Grand Lord wouldn’t wait. I’d rather he not go into something like this alone, especially since our planet’s got a stake in this, too. Besides ...” He looked to Powerhouse. “I think it’s time for a little payback.”
Powerhouse nodded his grim agreement.
“All right, then.” He snatched a small, black case from an overhead compartment. “Vortex, you wearing your psi-band under your mask?”
“Always.”
“All right. We don’t know what these guys can do, so we’re preparing for the worst.” Having opened the small case, he slipped a protective psi-band onto his head and passed two more to Shockwave and Powerhouse.
“Gentlemen ... let’s get down there and engage the enemy.”
PCA
The “jolt” when Powerhouse landed was more substantial than Vortex was expecting, a lot more. It wasn’t Powerhouse’s fault; he absorbed as much of the teeth-rattling impact with his legs as could be expected, given that they’d hit the ground at God only knew how many miles per hour. But Vortex’s recent experiences with Shining Star flying him up to, down from, and between the Taalu ships must’ve spoiled him on the whole superhero-physics thing.
“You all right?” Powerhouse asked as he eased Vortex from his back to the ground.
Determined to cling to his heroic image, Vortex drew enough breath to answer, “Sure.” But I foresee another visit from Jeremy Walker in my very near future. Looking around the mostly open grasslands, his eyes instantly adjusting against the glare of the nearby fire, he sucked in more air and forced out, “Do you see the others?”
“I think Shockwave was coming in—” was as far as Powerhouse got before Shockwave, with the Lieutenant in tow in the same fashion, crashed down about fifteen yards away, and it looked like he didn’t come down much lighter than Powerhouse. But, to his credit, Shockwave kept his promise of not going “splat.”
The four, all of them a bit stiff, met in the middle just as Shining Star touched down between them, as breezy as one could please. Shockwave scowled, but he kept any comments to himself.
“So,” Vortex said, “what’s the plan?”
The five men turned as one toward the raging fire two hundred yards away. What appeared to be (or have been) a sprawling mansion or compound was blazing away.
“Larr,” Shining Star said into his Taalu communicator, seemingly the same device he had used as a translator when Vortex first met him, “has the signal changed?”
“I don’t think so,” came Larr’s crusty voice, “but it’s hard to be sure from here on the surface. Our scans aren’t nearly as accurate as they’d be if we were still in orbit.”
“Understood. We’re moving forward.”
“One more thing: Until just a few seconds ago, we were getting four distinct convert signals. Now we’re only seeing three.”
Shining Star wasn’t sure what to make of that. Takayasu stepped forward and asked, “Lord Larr, what class was the fourth signal?”
“We showed top readings across the board. But like I said, the fourth is gone.”
Takayasu turned to Powerhouse. “That might answer your question — if there’s only three Noctoponm, this could explain why they didn’t come after the Grand Lord or Shockwave.” He gestured toward the compound. “This must’ve been the home of an unidentified paranormal, a Class One. If they tracked such a paranormal here, they’ve just killed him or her.” When the others looked shocked, he added, “That’s just a guess, of course.”
“Yeah,” Vortex said, “but it sounds like a good guess to me. Which
sucks.”
After a quiet beat, Shining Star repeated, “We’re moving forward, Larr.”
“Watch yourself, Callin. If it’s really the Noctoponm, don’t hold back.”
“I won’t.”
“I wish you’d let me send Della and Charl to join you before you engage them.”
“No.”
“You had your cytorem, Callin. And your sister—”
“No!” Shining Star snapped.
After a moment, Larr closed out with, “Stand strong, Callin. You are the Shining Star.”
As the Grand Lord tucked his communicator into his belt, Vortex asked, “What’s a ‘sigh-torum’?”
“Cytorem,” Shining Star replied, a bit curt. “There’s no literal translation. Your closest idiom would be ‘trial by fire.’ Let’s go.” The latter was clearly a command, and the Grand Lord strode toward the flames with authority, his silver cape flaring out behind him.
The others followed.
When they’d gotten fifty yards closer, the west end of the compound teetered on the verge of collapsing in on itself ... but rather than caving in, the roof bulged outward. A moment later, one of the eaves split and flew apart, sending burning shrapnel sailing into the night sky. Then the wall below that section burst, and three figures emerged — they were mostly in silhouette against the flames, but Powerhouse still recognized one of them instantly.
“It’s them!” he yelled, his stride increasing. “That’s the walrus-thing that killed Pendler. If you guys see him do this,” he imitated the alien’s arm motion from right before its gravity attack, “duck, back up, fly away — whatever it takes, don’t let it get you!”
As they all sped up to keep alongside Powerhouse, the three figures grew more distinct. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
The most humanoid-looking one was also the reason for the roof’s breaking apart — it was, standing about twice Powerhouse’s height. Its naked skin read like stone in the firelight, and three glowing white eyes, one above the other two, peered from beneath a ridged skull that made Vortex think of a Klingon from extremely tallStar Trek— no, scratch that, this was more elaborate; it looked more like an armored ankylosaur had crawled onto its head and latched on. The whole package reminded him of a triclops, something from the old Dynamation adventure movies — an alien, courtesy of Ray Harryhausen, complete with a G-rated lack of genitalia.
Alongside the quasi-humanoid triclops, the bulky one rang true to Powerhouse’s comparison to an elephant seal or walrus with a lamprey’s face, but it was the third one in particular that made Vortex’s skin crawl as it scuttled through the broken picture window. As with the others, it wasn’t an exact equivalent to anything on Earth, but if it did have a counterpart, Vortex likened it to a five-and-a-half foot long wasp — it had the reddish-black, chitinous-like exoskeleton, the segmented limbs (eight instead of six, but who was counting?), the bulbous eyes over a puckered little mouth, the gossamer wings, and worst of all, a glistening stinger at the end of its back section. Its body wasn’t as crisply broken into head-thorax-abdomen, nor did it have any antennae that Vortex could see, but the similarities were strong enough to make him feel almost ill. He had always hated Earthbound wasps, and he was sure this appalling thing would be visiting his nightmares for years to come.
“Okay, how about we keep it simple:” he said aloud, trying to sound cavalier as he pointed at each one, “ ‘Triclops,’ ‘walrus,’ and ‘ugly ass wasp’?”
“Works for me,” Shockwave agreed in disgust. “Jesus ...”
The wasp alien released a sharp, shrill buzz. The other two instantly zeroed in on the approaching humans and their Taalu companion. The walrus rumbled and spat, pointing a flipper-like hand at Powerhouse; the titanic triclops flexed its arms, and slender blades, with the same stone-look as its skin, slid from the outside of its wrists, extending until they were easily five feet in length.
“Grand Lord,” Takayasu asked as he drew his V9, “any final suggestions?”
Shining Star’s reply was even more terse than before. “The same as Larr’s: Don’t hold back.”
“Didn’t plan to,” Shockwave spat, and he put on a burst of speed that moved him ahead of the others.
The triclops alien pointed a wrist-blade at Shining Star. “Blee nok, Taalu! Ceptol tem—!”
“Whatever, dumbass!” Shockwave yelled back.
Coming to an abrupt halt, Shockwave dug his feet into the dirt, jammed both fists forward, and cut loose with a double kinetic wave. The air rippled as the twin shockwaves closed the distance to the aliens — the waves broke over them and slammed into the blazing building behind them, sending more flaming debris scattering. The attack toppled the triclops, and sent the wasp tumbling head-over-abdomen, but the walrus held its ground, barely.
“Ha!” Shockwave cried in jubilation. “These guys ain’t so—”
The triclops didn’t bother standing as it drove its wrist-blades into the ground. The earth between the groups rose up like an ocean wave.
“—oh, shit!” was Mark’s less-than-triumphant summation.
The soil-tsunami smashed into them. Shining Star and Shockwave took to the air, but Shockwave wasn’t fast enough and he spun out of control. Vortex and Takayasu hunkered down for all the good it would do them, but Powerhouse stepped in front and punched the tsunami as it hit. The dirt and grass were too soft to split apart at the blow, but much of the tsunami’s momentum was interrupted — instead of breaking their bones, Vortex and Takayasu found themselves flailing about in loose earth to avoid a smothering burial.
PCA
As a thick cloud of dust stole his allies from view, with shafts of dizzying firelight dancing throughout, Shining Star forced himself to focus on the enemy. Radiating intense silver energy around his body, the Grand Lord dove into the Noctoponm’s midst. He barreled into the “walrus,” knocking the blubbery creature to the ground. Pressing his advantage, he placed a booted foot upon its torso and extended a hand toward its face.
No holding back, just as he promised Larr.
An energy bolt burst from Shining Star’s fingers, frying the creature’s—
But the destructive beam did not find its intended target. The instant Shining Star fired, a sharp pain spiked into his lower back, spoiling his aim as he burned a divot into the ground. He twisted at the waist, lashing behind him with a fist, but found no target; the insectoid clung to his back, its stinger worming into him as it tried to penetrate his skin. Thrashing about in an attempt to shake the creature loose, Shining Star felt the stinger’s point of contact burning.
Then the tall one, the “triclops,” loomed through the dust over him, its stony blades at the ready. He could meet this new attack on its own terms, even with the wasp on him, if only he could steal a moment to focus, to free his cape ...
The wasp’s stinger thrust harder than ever, the walrus clambered to its feet, and the triclops drew back a massive blade to slice through his neck.
Roaring his defiance, Shining Star demonstrated the reason for his appellation. His silver envelope re-energized and expanded from his body. The triclops bellowed and turned away, a hand over its three eyes; the walrus squalled in pain.
But while Shining Star expected the wasp to take the worst of the damage, he was shocked to instead feel a counter energy spasm right back at him. Thankfully, it separated him from the wasp’s eight-legged clutches—
His reprieve was cut short as he felt his body crushing under oppressive weight. He was forced to the ground, grateful that he no longer needed to breathe as he once did. But his bones, his joints ...!
The walrus advanced upon him, its flabby lips churning.
“I don’t think so!”
This time it was Powerhouse who emerged from the fire-lit dust. He threw his entire body into a punch across the walrus’ fang-filled mouth. But the walrus actually held its own this time — the ground cracked and sank under its feet as it increased its own weight, and when Powerhouse struck it again, the creature’
s fat body barely quaked.
Powerhouse grabbed at its plump neck, intending to hold its head steady as he delivered what he hoped would be a knockout blow right between its eye orbs.
With a coughing spew, the walrus spat acid straight into Powerhouse’s face. The human cried out and stumbled back, his mask sizzling away as he groped at his eyes.
Shining Star tried desperately to stand ...
PCA
Vortex and Takayasu arose from the loose earth in time to hear Powerhouse’s outcry. They could tell the general direction of the fight, thanks to the dominant glow of the compound fire, but otherwise the dust blocked their vision.
“Can you see anything?” Takayasu asked him, rooting around in the turned soil until he found his V9.
After a second of experimentation, Vortex shook his head. “No, the fire’s overwhelming my infrared. And how do we know these aliens give off body heat, anyway?”
“Good point.” Takayasu wiped a hand across his dirty face, spitting grit to the ground.
Vortex looked down at the Lieutenant’s sidearm. “You might want something with more stopping power for this fight.” He added in a lighter tone, “Do you still have that paint gun?”
Takayasu smirked. “Don’t be a smartass. I get enough of that from Mark— whoa, speaking of!”
Both men instinctively ducked as Shockwave sailed overhead a mere ten feet off the ground.
Back to business, Vortex said, “Come on ...”
PCA
Powerhouse stayed on his feet, but his eyes were swollen almost shut. He was afraid to swing around blindly — what if he hit one of his friends? He hated the idea, but his best bet might be to wait for the aliens to come to him, then grab whatever he could and squeeze the hell out of—
A strong buzzing warned him at the last second, but even as he threw himself to one side, the wasp struck. It collided with him from the right, its stinger jamming into his lower-back, twisting and digging right over his kidney.
“Get the hell off me!” He jammed an elbow at the insectoid. His arm connected with its armored torso, and while he did not hear the crack! he had hoped for, it did release a buzzing whine as it tumbled away from him.
Paranormals (Book 2): We Are Not Alone Page 32
