“Aye, boss,” replied Dizzy, his green battle suit glimmering from the light on the bridge.
Jozi marched over to Gragas. “What are you doing?”
Gragas shook his head. “He has a lesson to learn.”
Jozi pounded her fist against her thigh. “A lesson that will kill your entire race.”
The ship rocked and veered into a turn.
“I’m not sure Ozzy will find it in his heart to kill an entire race, even mine.” He turned to Ozzy. “Remember, Zalas and all the other children are like your daughter. Remember their faces when you set the Ark on every one of my people.”
Jozi grabbed Gragas’s arm, squeezing. “Are you crazy? You’re just going to let him go?”
Gragas spun on his heels, eyeing the bridge’s holodisplay and keeping his mouth shut.
“Jozi,” said Ozzy. “Is it safe to say you’re not joining me?”
Jozi shook her head vehemently. “I came here to kill an entire race and, like you, I wanted nothing more than to save humanity and do this deed. But I have a heart, Ozzy. I have a brain that can see beyond government differences and see the people here aren’t evil as we’ve painted them. They are like you and me. They want peace and love. They want to be happy. They don’t want to take out entire civilizations but, apparently, you’re not like that. You’re not like them. You’re like the Dunrakee government and now the human government.”
Ozzy marched toward the bridge’s exit. “You know what, Jozi?” He touched the side of the doorframe. “You do what you want, and I’ll do what I promised to do. I have a job, and I aim to finish it. Apparently, one of us here isn’t scared to make the hard decisions.”
He marched out of the bridge and down the hall.
He’d do this alone. It was how he did things best anyway, and it was about time he got back to his old ways—being a loner.
26
Earth • Ancient Athapaskan Land, California
Ozzy sat on a wide and flat, slate rock surrounded by beautiful wildflowers and bugs. Lots of bugs.
The rock vibrated as the ship lifted into a hover. The craft’s engines hummed louder, and the thrusters lit the sky, shooting the ship due south.
“Bye,” said Ozzy sarcastically as he waved to Gragas’s ship. He then flipped them off and dropped his hand by his side.
A cold and frigid wind blew against Ozzy. The sun was slipping toward the horizon. He adjusted the dial on his jumpsuit’s wristband, and the suit quickly heated, warming his skin.
Ozzy looked around. He was in a valley. It was quiet here except for the bugs buzzing around. Some made loud, chirping sounds. Were those called crickets? He didn’t know. He never studied the little critters.
Trees sporadically dotted the area, and a forest was off in the distance. He figured he’d be sleeping there for the night.
Ozzy inhaled deeply. The air was fresh on Earth, and it gave him strength.
“Well, no rest for the weary.”
He pushed off the rock and jumped onto the soft, moss-covered soil. Small ground cover filled with purple flowers dotted the moss and went on for kilometers.
According to Gragas’s map system, there weren’t any Dunrakee near this location or anywhere in the vicinity. In a way that was good. Yet, if Zeld was somehow still alive, it meant she was most likely on her way to the crystalline energy signature and, if memory served correctly, it was nowhere near here.
He took several steps. A crow cawed. Ozzy went low and into a crouch with his weapon drawn and shook his head.
It was only a bird. If he were going to live on this planet one day, he’d have to get used to these types of things.
Plants rustled in the distance.
He stepped back. “It better not be another hungry animal,” he moaned to himself.
He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice if it were. He’d shoot the creature right away and as many times as it took to down the sucker.
The bushes moved again, and Ozzy pointed his weapon.
A hand stuck up above the brush. “It’s me, Ozzy.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Zeld?”
“No, you nitwit. Do I sound like Zeld?”
Jozi slowly stood with her hands up and walked around the high brush.
Ozzy lowered his weapon, his brows drawing close together. “What are you doing here?”
“Take one.” She held two canteens. She extended her arm and handed one to Ozzy. Her face was as unemotional as a rock. He couldn’t tell if she were still pissed or just calm as could be. “These will replenish themselves on their own, gathering water from the oxygen in the atmosphere. Take a drink, and in a few minutes, it will fill back up.”
Ozzy unscrewed the cap and took a swig. He was parched and needed the water. “That’s good.” He took another drink and then unzipped his satchel around his waist and placed the canteen in the pouch.
He tilted his head. “Why are you here?”
“Nice to see you too.”
“No, seriously.”
“Because I’m going to help you.”
Ozzy smirked. “You’re lying.”
Jozi nodded a few times. “Yes, I am.”
“Then why are you here?”
Jozi watched Gragas’s ship disappear on the horizon. “I can’t let you kill this entire race. Not after what I’ve seen. They aren’t bad people. Their only fault is being governed by terrible leaders.”
“Well, tell that to our ancestors who lost their homes and died here.”
Jozi placed her hands on her hips. “There’s no let up in you, is there?”
Ozzy turned and walked down a small hill that led to a wide area of brush, ignoring her question.
“Gragas is not too keen on you killing his people, Ozzy. He sent me to stop you.”
Ozzy glanced over his shoulder. “I wasn’t too keen on his people killing mine, but did that stop them?”
They walked around a small creek that zigzagged through the large valley.
“How are you going to find Zeld, anyway?”
Ozzy pursed his lips. “I don’t think we need to.”
Jozi halted. “What? Zeld has the map.”
“Do you remember where the two crystalline energy signatures were on that map?”
Jozi shook her head. “Not really.”
“The bigger signature, which is where Zeld was heading, was west of the smaller signature—you know, where the bear attacked me.” He hopped over a bend in the creek. “That’s where I’m heading.”
“You know exactly where that larger signature is?” Jozi’s voice was filled with doubt.
“I do.” He lightly rapped on his head with his knuckles. “It’s right here in my noggin’. It’s called memory.”
Wapooh! Wapooh!
Jozi went to her stomach, and Ozzy dropped into a crouch. He pointed his rifle. The photon fire came from farther away, yet there was no trace of the photon bolts hitting anywhere near them.
Wapooh!
A fire lit up to the west. Screams filled the air.
Ozzy eyed the area. “I think the Dunrakee soldiers are attacking another village. They can’t even keep peace among their own damned race so how do we expect them to have peace with us?”
“Yeah,” replied Jozi, “because we humans are so much better.”
Ozzy dismissed her statement. “We’ll go around the village.”
“Bad idea. We wait until it dies down.”
Ozzy moved forward. “Why would I take advice from you? You don’t want me to complete this mission.”
“Don’t, Ozzy.”
Ozzy didn’t reply, and Jozi reluctantly followed.
Wapooh! Wapooh!
The sounds of small explosions and weapons going off became louder.
Ozzy rounded a brush and lowered in a crouch, inspecting the area. He was nearing the edge of the forest. A little north was a small flower and rock-covered hill. He pointed in its direction. “Let’s get a good view from there.”
Maybe
if he climbed it, he could look down onto the forest and see exactly what was happening. Perhaps the Dunrakee were merely conducting a live training and villagers weren’t being ransacked. In either case, he needed to find a path where he could slip by unnoticed.
He stepped over a rock and climbed a boulder. He placed his foot on a piece of jutting stone and put all his weight on it to climb higher. It broke, and he lost his footing, cracking his knee against the gray slate.
The broken piece tumbled down the hill.
“Watch it,” complained Jozi.
Ozzy found another foothold and climbed on top of the boulder. “Keep up, Jozi.” He stepped back. “Whoa.” If he walked any further, he’d fall down a long and wide crack between two rocks and roll down a steep, descending grade.
It was about a hundred meters down to the bottom.
Jozi climbed the boulder and stood atop with Ozzy. She paused, glancing down at the hole between the rocks. “Holy Mars.”
The crack was a couple of hundred meters wide, expanding the breadth of the rock formation. However, it was only two meters to the other side.
“I can easily leap across,” said Ozzy.
Wapooh!
A fire blast exploded on his right butt cheek, pushing him forward. He grunted loudly, and Jozi went to one knee, quickly turning and popping off shots at the coming culprits—the Dunrakee.
Ozzy cringed in pain. But the momentum was already doing its work, and he instinctively took a step forward to stop himself only to find he was stepping onto nothing but air.
His hands windmilled, trying to find something to grab onto and only finding empty space.
His other foot slipped, and he slammed on his rear and slid down the descending grade between the two rocks.
His boot hit a small outcropping and twirled him around. He bounced against another rock while careening down the deep decline and smacked his shoulder hard. He yelped in pain and covered his head with his hands and forearms.
His hip clipped a rock, and he lifted into the air. He came down on his back with a thud and slid to stop at the bottom of the grade.
He curled into a ball and gulped for oxygen. His body ached, and his buttock burned like hot coals.
Wapooh! Wapooh!
Ozzy opened his eyes and looked toward the top of the crack’s lip more than a hundred meters up. Jozi was there. Her heels were near the edge, and she was firing left and right.
A photon blast zipped past her and cracked the rock behind her. A thick, gray cloud of dust and debris formed.
A hoard of broken chunks cascaded down the steep ravine. Ozzy threw his arms over his head to cover up.
Several rocks pelted him, and pebbles rushed down and pinged against his body.
A moment later, the debris stopped raining down, leaving a dust-fog behind.
He gathered himself the best he could and stood. He took a step and grabbed his ass. “Damn that hurts.” It was only a flesh wound but still painful as all hell. He limped forward, cringing with every step.
He searched for Jozi, squinting his eyes against the evaporating dust and dying light. “Jozi?” he whispered.
Everything was silent.
“Jozi?”
Something liquid dripped on his hand. He glanced at it as another drop splattered at his feet.
His heart dropped. It was blood. Jozi had been hit. Worse yet, she might be dead.
He swallowed hard. “Jozi?”
No reply.
He took out his gun. Movement echoed into the ravine.
Someone was up there.
Ozzy aimed his weapon. They would not kill him without a fight.
27
Earth • Ancient Athapaskan Land, California
An arm, blood dripping from the fingers, hung over the edge of the ravine.
Ozzy studied the extremity. That couldn’t be Jozi.
He was over a hundred meters down, but still, the shape of those fingers was most definitely Dunrakee.
“Jozi,” he yelled, not caring who heard him.
Jozi peeked over the lip, peering at Ozzy. She was catching her breath. “I’m okay.”
A photon beam whizzed past her. She shrieked and twisted around, blasting off a few more shots.
Panic went through Ozzy. More Dunrakee were coming. He put his foot on a rock outcropping and pushed up, curling his fingers around a boulder.
The ground concussed, and the rock wall vibrated. He glanced up and gasped in surprise.
Photon slugs blasted all around Jozi. She fell backward, her arms outstretched and her hands were searching for something to grab.
A small explosion pushed her farther into her fall, and her back hit a jutting rock. She arched and let out a yelp as her gun twirled from her hand.
She tumbled forward and slid face-first on the descending downgrade, then somersaulted and landed on her back, sliding down the steep decline.
She let the momentum drag her to the bottom. Her boots kicked rock, dust, and pebbles as she skidded to a halt.
The gun followed her and smacked her in the back. In one sweeping motion, she turned, grabbed it, and aimed at the top of the ravine. She pulled the trigger.
A scream echoed down the ravine, and a Dunrakee soldier held his chest and went to his knees. A moment later, he went limp and slumped to the ground. Half of his body dangled over the edge.
“We have to go. More might be coming,” said Jozi.
Ozzy put his hand on his butt and limped forward. “I’ll do my best.”
“It’s only a flesh wound.”
Ozzy shot her a look, his face drenched in sweat and dirt. She might as well have called him a wimp while she was at it. “I—”
The ground gave way, and he and the dirt trickled down like sand in an hourglass.
The hole turned into a wide, long opening, and he dropped with a thud onto more dirt and small, round rocks. Jozi landed on top of him, smashing his face into the ground.
She tumbled off of him, and he rolled to the side. She twisted around and pointed her gun at the hole. She let out a loud breath. “That’s one way to escape.”
“Where are we?” Ozzy dusted himself off and quickly surveyed the area. They were in a long, open tunnel. It went from east to west for kilometers.
A thin, metallic track was on both sides of the walls. Next to the tracks were small lights every few meters, giving the tunnel an ample glow.
“Is this an underground train system?” Ozzy said more to himself than to Jozi.
She nodded and pointed west. “Let’s go.”
Ozzy huffed. “You know this is pointless.”
Jozi put out her hands as they walked. “What is?”
Ozzy held up his index finger. “One, I may know—vaguely—where I’m going, but I still need the map for the exact location of the crystal sphere.” He held up two fingers. “Two, if I find it, you’ll try to take it from me to save the bastards who took over our planet.”
Jozi held up her index finger. “One, we can still get the sphere. Two, you don’t have to kill every man, woman, and child on Earth. It’s that simple.”
Ozzy kicked a bunch of rocks. “If I don’t complete the mission, we risk another attack and genocide. I’m not taking that chance.” Why keep these evil Beings alive? It didn’t make sense to Ozzy. They deserved the same fate as the humans, but worse—all-out genocide. It’s the law of cause and effect. It’s how the galaxy did things.
“I saw you, Ozzy.” Jozi slowed to keep pace with Ozzy’s limping. “You were kind to Zalas. She and her family were kind to you.”
Ozzy gulped down the truth and the truth that the people were just like his people—they probably only wanted peace and to live happy lives. Yet, they were treated more poorly than the Ministry treated his own race.
Ozzy looked at his feet as he walked. “The opportunity is right now. I don’t want to look back on this day ten years later, wishing I would have killed every Dunrakee soul. They’ll take us out if we don’t take them out firs
t.”
“We have the Galactic Knights on our—”
A rumbling filled the tunnel, and a mighty wind picked up. Jozi and Ozzy turned. A growing, small light headed their way.
Ozzy’s eyes about popped out of his head. He looked up and all around. The hole they had fallen through was too high to climb, and there weren’t any indentations in the walls to curl into for safety.
There was no escape.
They’d be train pancakes any minute now.
28
Earth • Ancient Athapaskan Land, California
Jozi took Ozzy’s hand and pulled him along.
“Son of a…” Ozzy whined, limping as fast as he could away from the oncoming train.
The problem: they had no place to go. Not up, not left, not right.
The train was coming fast, and it didn’t have wheels like trains of old. It was being guided by energy branching off like lightning and slithering around the rails.
“Down,” ordered Ozzy, dropping to the earth floor.
“What?” Jozi vehemently shook her head, doing her best to pick Ozzy back up and outrun the train.
That would be impossible.
“We have no other option. There might be enough room underneath the train,” he yelled.
The rails were on the side of the tunnel, and the train was lifted on the wall tracks.
Ozzy pulled Jozi into a crouch. “Get down.”
She laid on her stomach next to Ozzy. “You better be right.”
“If I’m not, nothing we can do about it now.”
“Except die.”
Precisely. But die was something that should have happened to them on many other occasions.
Jozi put her hands by her side, making herself as flat as possible. Ozzy mimicked her.
The train rushed forward, and the ground vibrated violently the closer it came.
“Here it comes,” he shouted as he closed his eyes. The wind rushed across his body and rocks kicked up, jumping up and down a few centimeters off the ground.
Martian Quadrilogy Box Set Page 71
