Ozzy stepped forward. “Here goes nothing.” He reached out, and a soldier lunged at him, barely missing thrusting his sharp spear into Ozzy’s ribcage.
Ozzy jerked back, and the guy faded in and out.
“Zoowa,” yelled the troops, clanging their shields against their armored chests.
If these things were real then why haven’t they shot him yet?
He closed his eyes. Everything was the opposite, and he needed to continue that trend. If he gave a tinge of his blood, he’d live. If he didn’t, he’d die. And most sane Beings in the galaxy wanted to live.
Again…opposite.
“Shar?”
“Yes, Ozzy?”
“I won’t give you my blood.” He tightened his body and waited for a blast to take him off his feet and to his grave.
“Excellent.”
Kashiiish!
Ozzy flinched.
The troops shattered just as the dog-like creature did.
“Here you go, Ozzy.”
He turned and a beautiful woman with red hair and green eyes gazed upon him. She wore a long, purple robe that shimmered in the light.
The crystal sphere was in her hand and no longer hovering between the two ridges.
Was she another hologram?
She smiled. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a real, in-person Being.” She handed Ozzy the sphere.
He reached out and grabbed the ball. The surface was cold against his fingers and palms. He carefully looked it over, and the hairs on the back of his neck lifted.
There was a problem. It had small, rectangular devices screwed into the surface of the sphere similar to the device that created the doorway shield to access this area.
Again, not what he knew of Ancient Martian technology.
Ozzy lowered his head. “Thank you.”
She folded her hands into her sleeves and held them at her waist. “I have a favor, Ozzy.”
Ozzy drew his lower lip between his teeth and lightly scuffed the toe of his boot on the floor. He just wanted to leave. It was nice she gave him the sphere, but he didn’t have all day.
“Yeah?”
“You have a corrupt government. Your High Judge is a criminal, and his greed will be the death of your race. Do whatever you can to take him down so I can emerge and live among you. Mars is my home too, and I was a mystic priestess here long ago. If I can roam among a population again, I’ll be content and happy and live the rest of my years without the want or need for telomere DNA enhancements. I would be a good voice for any new leader you may have, advising him or her on what to do.”
Ozzy nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
“Then you can leave unabated.” She bowed her head. “Remember one thing, and this is the most important reason to oust your current government.” She spoke as if changing a current governmental system were easy. “Your government, along with the Dunrakee government, is bound to repeat a lesson that took place on Mars eons ago. It took my family. It took my friends. It destroyed two warring civilizations and blew up an entire planet named Maldek.”
She gazed over Ozzy’s shoulder. Was she remembering the events from long ago? “Your race and the Dunrakee race are on a path of destruction. Earth and my planet Mars can easily turn into another asteroid belt as Maldek became. Be forewarned, because your current government is blind, and the Dunrakee’s government is genocidal. Both, in turn, will harm you and your people.”
She took one hand out of her sleeve, flipped open a device, and pressed a button. “Good luck.” A blue, cylindrical light wrapped around her, and she lifted toward the ceiling and disappeared.
16
Ares Monument, Mars
Ozzy held the glowing and sparkling crystal, the blue gas inside twirling like a tornado. He stepped through the shield into Ares Monument’s entry room and eyed Quad, who remained bound by digger cuffs that clamped him against the rock wall.
More cuffs gripped his waist and neck, and Quad’s chest heaved in and out in quick succession. He grunted and flexed his biceps, trying to break free.
“You guys have been busy,” Ozzy said, looking at Gragas.
He glanced at his brother. Ozzy gasped and rushed over to Lou, who was still lying on the floor. “Lou.”
Lou raised his arm. “I’m alright, big brother. Just a little woozy.”
Jozi sat on the stairs, fidgeting with her rifle. “We’re wanted by the Ministry. Your brother probably is too, but he needs to go to a hospital, and the only hospitals around are run by the dang Ministry.”
“What about your ship, Gragas? It healed Jozi and me when we were shot by Mort Wildly’s crew.”
Gragas nodded. “It’s not planet side. We’ll use Jonas’s medbots.”
“That’ll work.” Ozzy handed Gragas the sphere then bent down and grabbed Lou’s arms. “Jozi, get his legs.”
Jozi shouldered her rifle and hurried down the stairs. She grabbed Lou’s legs, and they lifted him from the floor.
“Now what?” she asked.
Quad laughed, pulling on a digger cuff. It budged a few centimeters. “Don’t know how to get out, huh?”
Gragas shot Quad a look. “The same way we came in, Quad.” Gragas stood next to Ozzy and reached up, standing on his toes. He traced his finger around an upside-down cup engraved on the ceiling. “Take care, bounty hunter.”
“Don’t worry, Galactic Knight. You’ll see me again.”
A blue light zipped around them, and a strong wind swirled inside. A rush went up Ozzy and lifted him off his feet. A moment later, a vacuum-like suction pulled him down.
He closed his eyes and clenched Lou’s forearms. Ozzy felt his feet dig into the soft sand and dust spray across his body and visor.
He opened his eyes. “We’re outside Ares Monument. Let’s go.”
He and Jozi continued to carry Lou. A frown spread across Ozzy’s face as a dirt devil storm brewed and pelted them with crimson particles.
“Gragas, how much time do we have until numbnuts gets loose and finds us?”
“By numbnuts, I assume you mean Quad?” Gragas said, trekking next to Ozzy and holding the sphere under his arm while trying to shield his face from the blowing sand with the other arm. “It may take him a few hours, but he’ll break them off. The guy is strong.”
“Yeah, I figured.”
They picked up their pace and made it to Relic’s ramp, which was now half covered in sand. They placed Lou in the storage bay.
Ozzy went to press the “close” button when he saw a shadow at the base of Ares Monument.
Then he saw something moving.
Ozzy’s mouth flew open. “You gotta be joking. Gragas, you said it would take Quad a few hours to get out of the cuffs?”
“Yes.”
“That was a fast few hours.” Ozzy pointed ahead.
A bright light emitted from a muzzle and headed straight for Ozzy and his crew.
17
Ares Monument, Mars
“Duck,” Ozzy yelled and jumped out of the way.
A thick, hot beam zipped and exploded inside Relic, blackening a storage bay wall.
Ozzy scrambled to his feet and dove for the “close” button. The door vibrated and whined as its gears struggled to catch.
“Why is it—” Ozzy spied the problem. The massive amounts of sticky sand butted against the ramp put pressure on the hydraulics and gyros.
He glanced at his pallet jack and forklift. “No, I love those things.” But he had to choose.
“Jozi. Gragas. I’m going to use the pallet jack. I’m parking it on the ground in front of the ramp. Cover me.”
Gragas got to one knee and aimed his weapon while holding the sphere under his other arm. “Better let me do that, Ozzy.”
“No,” Ozzy shouted. The dirt devil was picking up speed and practically blinding the view outside.
Jozi also got on one knee and pointed her rifle. “Listen to Gragas.”
“This is my problem, not yours.” He led them
here, and now he was going to get them out.
Ozzy hurried to the pallet jack. It was bulky but not wide enough to block the entire width and height of the ramp. The metal exterior would act as a shield, blocking out any incoming fire.
A bright blast shot past Ozzy and scorched a nearby wall.
Ozzy pressed the “go” lever on the pallet jack that swiftly moved the jack forward. He held onto the steering handles and kept his head below the thick metal box that housed the jack’s engine and central processing unit.
The jack rolled down the ramp, and the wheels crunched over the sand, pushing some of it aside.
The machine swerved just as a photon shot zipped over his head. He couldn’t tell if the shot was from Jozi, Gragas, or even Quad.
He kept his eyes on the jack.
The machine teetered, lost its grip on the ramp, and tumbled to the side, sliding to the bottom of the platform and rolling onto the ground.
Shit.
Now his problem was even bigger. The two lift plates, also known as long, protruding forks, were his only cover.
The space below, between, and above the forks were good openings for as many pot shots Quad wanted to deliver.
Ozzy should have listened to Gragas. He should always listen to that guy.
Ozzy spun around and ran up the ramp. He dove into the storage bay while wondering how many photon blasts would catch him in the rear. “Gragas…uh, yeah…clear the sand.”
Gragas stood and handed Ozzy the sphere then grabbed a large shovel attached to a rack next to some weapons hanging near the workbench. “Nice and shiny,” he said, staring at the shovel’s metallic sheen. “Doesn’t look like you’ve used this before.”
Ozzy hadn’t.
Gragas rushed down the ramp and ducked low. Sand begin to swirl in the air from the shovel.
A photon blast lit up the pallet jack and shot golden sparks every which way.
Gragas shoveled more and threw the sand off the ramp like he was hurling clumps of snow.
“Quad is getting closer,” yelled Gragas, picking up his pace. “I’d suggest getting into the cockpit and starting the engines. I’ll shut the ramp.”
“Jozi,” said Ozzy. “Take care of Lou while I get Relic off the ground.”
“No problem.”
Ozzy tucked the crystal sphere under his arm and carefully moved up the ladder. He rushed into his cockpit and placed the sphere on the copilot’s chair.
He could hear the grinding of the ramp shutting and felt the craft shake.
“That was close. Quad is just outside, trying to blast his way in,” Gragas said over the helmet mic.
“Unless he has an armor-piercing rail gun or a ship’s photon cannon, he won’t succeed.”
“This is Quad. Don’t underestimate him,” Gragas said.
“Duly noted.”
Ozzy initiated hover thrusters, lifting Relic off the ground. He activated his boosters and moved the throttle forward. They shot upward, heading toward Tagus Valles and Jonas’s compound. There he could get his daughter and his money.
Gragas stepped inside the cockpit. “You know what this is, don’t you?” he said as he picked up the sphere and sat down.
“It’s the connection to all thirteen crystal skulls on the planet.”
“Yes,” said Gragas. “But there is more.”
Ozzy huffed. He knew what they did and why but didn’t want to necessarily know what Jonas had in mind once he had the technology and gained possession of all thirteen crystal skulls. “The skulls are a technology to move vast objects using sound.” He put the ship on autopilot, watching a red mountain range to his left. “Is that what you mean by more?”
“Yes,” Gragas said. “They emit sound, but that’s not why I think Jonas wants the skulls.”
“Then what do you think, Gragas?”
“They can be used for psychic ability and quick materialization, meaning he can manifest what he wants and in a short period. In a way, he can brainwash people, and perhaps, a population, all except those of the bloodline.” Gragas paused. “In other words, he can get what he wants and, in most cases, when he wants.”
Ozzy let out a quick laugh. “He could always get what he wanted, Gragas. And psychic abilities? I’ve read the myths, and that’s all they are, only myths. I think you’ve entered Fantasyville.”
Gragas rubbed his hands together. “Oh, that type of psychic ability with the crystal technology in hand is real. He’ll use it to rule Mars if that’s his biggest desire. Once he gets all thirteen skulls, a lot of things will go his way. He’ll have greater abilities and be more powerful in creating a coup—a government takeover. I only hope he brings in the light and not the darkness that seemingly pervades your high officials and Ministry with you humans.”
Ozzy shrugged. “Once I get Lily and my money, I don’t care.” He looked off at the mountains.
He had Anonymity up his sleeve, and when all the holovids, holoimages, and holodocs hit prime-time news, it would finally get Robert Baldwin off his back and for good.
And send Robert to prison where he belonged.
18
Tagus Valles, Mars
The ship shuddered and bounced up and down as Ozzy lowered Relic’s skids and flicked off the engines. “Let’s go. Grab the sphere.”
They were on one of Jonas’s landing pads next to his driveway. The pads were a nice, new installation, covering up all the blown-out holes in his yard from the battle Jonas waged against Mort Wildly’s bunch and the Mars Ministry Police before Ozzy found the Ark.
Ozzy slid down the ladder. “How is he?” He unclipped his helmet and set it on the floor.
Jozi was crouched next to Lou. She was already out of her suit and in her jumper. Her big blue eyes flitted around and a strained smile appeared. “He’s okay but sleeping. He’s going from cringing pain to being relaxed every minute or so.”
“He’s a trooper. Us Macks can get through anything.”
Ozzy pulled off his EVA and let it fall to the floor, a smile spreading on his face.
“You’re in a good mood,” she said.
“More than you know, Jozi. I’m getting enough auric credits to get my ass off this rock, along with my daughter, my brother, and…” He cocked his head. “And you. I mean, that’s if you want to join us. We make a pretty good team.”
“It wasn’t long ago that you wanted me off your rig and out of your life.”
If it weren’t for Jozi, he’d be dead ten times over. “Don’t fault a guy for changing.”
“Well, thank you for the offer, but I must decline. I’m going to clear my name with the MMP and the Ministry. And maybe Robert and I can talk. I have a lot of questions as to why he didn’t come to get me from the orphanage and adopt me and what really happened between him and my parents. Maybe he could tell me what they were like. I barely remember them.”
Ozzy held back his desire to tell her to stay as far away from Robert as possible, but she wouldn’t listen. She’d always put that man on a pedestal, making excuses for all the crap he’d done, and even thinking that without Robert, humans would be doomed.
Jozi’s wristband beeped. She sighed. “That’s not a good sign.” She pressed it on, and a hologram folded in front of her and began playing a holovid.
As if on cue, the High Judge’s face stared back at them with a smile. “This is a video recording, but I have patched it into the MMP wristband of Jozi Ryan.” He paused and cleared his throat. “If you turn yourself in, and turn Ozzy Mack in, and if you do so in the next day, I will relieve you of all charges, and you may live your life free again, though outside of the MMP and the Ministry.”
Jozi winced and glanced at Ozzy.
“And if you don’t,” continued Robert, “I’ll expose that you and Ozzy aren’t only working for all the crime syndicates on this planet, but that you are both indeed working undercover for the Dunrakee scoundrels. You won’t only have the MMP after you, but you’ll have the Martian Marines, every Naval officer, a
nd every citizen pining to end your lives.”
A black screen appeared, and the holovid sucked back into her wristband.
Jozi dropped her head into her hands. “Shit. This isn’t like him. Why is he doing this?” Jozi’s nostrils flared. Her sadness over the situation was changing to anger. “I’m getting a little pissed.”
It was obvious, but it bared repeating. “So you don’t expose him, even by accident, Jozi. You know things he doesn’t want you to know.” Ozzy shifted on his feet. “So, what are you going to do?” He trusted her, but she had a stronger connection to her Mars Ministry Police family and her uncle than to him.
“What do you mean ‘what am I going to do?’”
Gragas’s bootsteps clanged down the ladder. “I’ll give you one last chance, Ozzy.” He had the crystal sphere in his hands.
Ozzy lifted his hand but kept his eyes on Jozi. “What are you going to do?”
Jozi shook her head, the skin between her eyes creasing. “You’re fine, Ozzy. I can’t believe you’d think that of me.”
“Are you sure that’s how you’re feeling?”
She stood, marched over to him, and looked deeply into his eyes. “I’m more than sure. Now, drop it. I won’t turn you in.”
Ozzy pressed his palm to his heart and bit his lower lip. “If you are sure then thank you. But, if you are not, know I won’t be taken into custody easily.” He took his eyes off of Jozi and glared at Gragas. “One last chance for what?”
“To stop your daydreaming of buying an Eagle to head to Europa with your daughter. It’s a good, sound plan but doesn’t help the whole of the galaxy. If you join up with my Galactic Knights then—”
“Nope,” interrupted Ozzy, pressing the button next to the ramp. The ramp hissed open. “I’m getting my loot and going. Simple as that.”
Jonas was standing outside with a few of his men and one little girl with a huge smile on her face.
“Daddy, Daddy,” yelled Lily. She hurried up the ramp and jumped into Ozzy’s arms.
“Hey, Lily-bug.” He gave her a big kiss. “Where’s your mommy?”
Martian Quadrilogy Box Set Page 49
