To Wake the Living (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 2)

by Robert F Hays

“What Injun tactics? They only had one fer open battle. Set thair braves up fer an ambush, then send a small group out ta act casual like. When we saw them, they’d a run fer it and we’d a chase ‘em into the ambush. If’n we didn’t chase ‘em, all they could do was git off thair horses and beat thair heads on the ground. Only idiot second lieutenants used ta fall fer that one.”

  “Well Jim, looks like you’re it,” Earl said. “I’ll take orders in the field from an ex O.S.S. man.”

  “I was in Special Forces ten years ago. That’s a lot of time to forget things.”

  “You’ll do just fine,” Dr. Chin said.

  “Ok, initial plan of operations is to scout the settlement and send in an infiltration team of one. How about it Peter?”

  “I’ll have to keep my hips in check and put on my macho act. Guys of my persuasion were very low on that Exodus roster. They weren’t inclined to perform the necessary breeding with females to further the population.”

  “How do you plan to eliminate the guards?” Jim asked.

  “Unfortunate accidents. They’ve already had a couple in the past few weeks, looks like they’ll have more.”

  “Can you arrange for a few more amongst the colonists, ones where the bodies are never found? I need more manpower for the final part of the plan.”

  “Which is?” Peter asked. “I need to know their functions so I know which ones to select.”

  “Soldier types. We’re going to take one of their shuttles and along with this one retake the Lydia. If we can nab one of the Stutchmans, we can play the hostage game too.”

  Carol walked over to Jim and flopped heavily into his lap. “When you said manpower I hope you were including womanpower as well.”

  “I used the term man in the generic sense indicating mankind as a whole. I would welcome the qualified womankind the same as the men. But you’re pregnant so I want you in the rear with the gear.”

  “Oh, Jim,” Carol snapped.

  “She’s as healthy as a horse, as you Earth people would say,” Dr. Chin commented. “There should be no problem.”

  “See,” Carol said wrinkling her nose, “this womankind will be out there whether you say so or not.”

  Earl chuckled to himself. “We already have one from the fairykind and I can deal with that.”

  “Do you always have to be mean?” Celia said.

  “That was a joke. I’m sort of getting used to this modern thinking.”

  Jim looked around. “I just held my breath waiting for Karla to explode and exclaim that conformity to anything was immoral or something.”

  “What happened with that woman?” Captain Mull asked.

  “That seems to be the most asked question of the last twelve hours. We’ll have time to figure it out later, for now, doc, the medical situation.”

  “Protective suits outside are in order. The short period we spent unprotected last time would have no effect, but prolonged exposure would be detrimental.”

  “This ship was to take the geological survey team,” Chris said. “There are a number of modern suits aboard as well as some of the colony’s more cumbersome ones.”

  “Geo. Survey equipment.” Levin exclaimed as he jumped to his feet and headed for the equipment at the rear of the shuttle.

  “Food, Celia what can you tell us?”

  Celia pointed at the monitor. “It takes a bit of cooking, but mulch weed can be eaten.”

  Jim turned to see Levin’s backside as he bent over to search through the contents of a case at the rear of the shuttle. “Levin I take it that you’ve come up with something in the way of equipment.”

  “Oh yes,” Levin replied as he returned carrying a portable flat screen connected by a fine wire to a box with a handle. “It’s a geological subterranean mapper. Hold this box shaped instrument on the ground and it can send a pulse. The returned echo maps the rock strata. I’ve read about them being used to track humans underground during mining operations.”

  “How about aboveground in air?” Jim asked.

  Levin panned the device around the cabin while adjusting controls. The image on the screen changed from pattern to pattern and eventually focused into the outlines of only the human shapes in the area. “See, we can even detect humans through solid objects.”

  “Anything else?”

  “I believe there’s another instrument somewhere around here that’s used to monitor and analyze the sounds of moving rock and subterranean water flow. I could modify it as a long range listening device.”

  “Any explosives?”

  “There’s a pulse blaster for tunneling. I could convert that into a quite potent weapon. One thing on our side is that they do not know how to convert these things for other uses. I’m sure the Commonwealth is not going to show them.”

  “Good. Anyone up to a little exploring?” Jim asked as he stood.

  * * *

  Water cascaded down the sheer faces of the brown volcanic cliffs forming rivulets that joined into a shallow, muddy stream. The stream meandered south along the floor of the broad gully. Rain fell in near horizontal sheets as the wind tore at the off white suits of the party. Illumination came from dark gray skies and the continual flash of lightning, which produced an almost unbroken roll of thunder.

  Levin pointed at a low shelf on the cliff wall. “I could put a receiver up there to warn us of the sound of approaching stratos.”

  “What then?” Earl asked. “We need a plan for when they do come. Just knowing isn’t going to do any good”

  Levin swung the heavy object in his right hand forward and dropped it into the stream. Mort jumped aside to avoid the muddy splash. Reaching down, Levin touched a control and strange patterns rippled across the water’s surface. Within seconds, a fine mist of spray and fog rose from the water rapidly obscuring everything. “It’s a sonic drill,” Levin said as a section of the gully was cloak in a heavy mist that rapidly moved with the wind. “It drills exploratory holes through rock, but when you use it on water, this happens. I doubt if they could tell the difference between it and some naturally occurring ground fog.”

  Earl looked down at the machine. “Pity it’s so heavy. We could use it as a smoke screen for movement.”

  Levin switched off the drill. “I could rig ionizers from the spare batteries we have. They would condense humidity in the air into a cloud, but I would not walk through it. The charge in the cloud would be enough to kill a man if it discharged to ground through him.”

  “Make me one of them,” Peter said enthusiastically.

  Jim looked around to see Carol and Celia pulling up clumps of mulch weed and inspecting the bulbous roots. “We don’t need to eat those yet, there are about two weeks of emergency supplies on the shuttle.”

  “We can eat both,” Celia yelled over the wind. “It’ll make the rations last longer and give us variety.”

  The rain eased and the wind velocity slowly dropped. Jim’s greatest fear was to have someone caught in the open during a storm. He decided to take advantage in the slowly moderating weather.

  “Chris, take Mort and Peter and scout the gully to the north about a kilometer. I’ll take Earl and Sam and go south. Everyone else, stay near the ship and help Levin sort equipment.”

  He turned and started to walk downstream. The other two members of his team followed without a word. They waded across the knee deep stream where it took a turn and followed the cliff. The clay mud on the other side stuck to their boots and required frequent zigzagging back to the stream to wash it off.

  Rounding a long, sweeping turn in the gully, a mud brown waterfall blocked their way. They were forced to cross the stream again and walk the narrow ledge between it and the cliff face.

  The openings of several lava caves on the cliff caught their attention, but now the stream was too deep to cross. Twenty meters further on, they sank half way to their knees in the ooze of a section of the gully floor. Thoughts of turning back were temporarily dismissed as they saw a rocky region up ahead.

&nb
sp; “Hope the plains aren’t like this,” Jim said dismally as he pulled at a leg that had sunk in a little deeper than usual.

  “It’s not this bad,” Sam said. “Ah saw them there survey photographs. It looks solid and covered with that there weed stuff.”

  “Look there,” Earl said, pointing ahead of them, “a ledge that leads from the gully up to the ridge. We could be better off up there.”

  Jim nodded and they hurriedly made their way to the base of the natural path. Halfway up the ledge, the going became difficult as it sloped to an angle that made them slip on the oily surface. They slowed, having to stamp out footholds with their heels.

  On reaching the top, they made their way along the edge of the cliff parallel to the gully. The topography ahead gradually flattened and gently rolling plains could be made out through the mist in the distance.

  “It’s going to be hell if we have to carry gear this way,” Earl said.

  “Yep,” Jim agreed, “and if we go much further in that direction, we’ll have to find some way to camouflage these white suits.”

  “What’s camouflage?” Sam asked.

  “You color your cloths a brownish green so you will blend in with the countryside,” Earl said.

  “A blotchy brown green and black is better,” Jim said, amused by yet another time altered concept. “Pity we don’t have outfits like the Commonwealth rangers use. Optical receptors on one side change the color on the other.”

  Sam gave Jim a confused glance. “What does that do?”

  “If you walk past a red wall, the side of your clothing away from the wall turns red.”

  Sam shook his head. “All that tryin’ ta hide don’t seem fair fer soldiers ta do. They should stand up and fight like men, with flaigs a wavin’ and bugles a callin’”

  It was now Jim’s turn to shake his head. “And get mowed down like grass by the other side who’re hiding?”

  “Ah knows that’s common sense, but ah still don’t thaink all that there sneekin’ ‘round is like fightin’ a real war.”

  “Well it’s...”

  All three stopped walking and looked at the sky to their left. A vast circular section of the cloud disappeared and was replaced by the dark blue of a clear sky.

  “Shit!” Jim said, diving for the cover of a large boulder. Both of the others quickly joined him.

  “Ah has seen some amazin’ thaings since ah got here, but that’s a topper.”

  “They’re clearing sections of the sky with the weather equipment to look for us,” Jim said. “Keep an eye out for a strato.”

  The three lay for a few minutes scanning the horizon. The sky slowly clouded again easing their anxiety.

  Jim raised himself to a crouching position and dusted off the mud caked to his knees. “We have to get back to the shuttle. See what they picked up on the instruments.”

  They made their way back down the ledge and along the stream, which had reduced in size due to the time that had passed since the storm.

  The light dimmed to a cloudy twilight. They rounded the last bend and caught sight of the craft again. Lightning occasionally cut the sky at a distance. Chris and Captain Mull waved frantically as they came closer.

  “What is it?” Jim asked when they came within an audible range.

  “We have to move!” Captain Mull yelled. “They were searching the valleys about twenty kilometers from here. If they keep up a pattern, they’ll be here tomorrow!”

  The three quickened their pace. They stopped short of the craft. A spray of water and steam billowed from its underside. The hovering jets were being cleared of built up moisture. Diving through the side hatch they were greeted by Dr. Chin already secured in his seat.

  “Do not take off your suits yet,” Dr. Chin said. “We have to purge the air in the ship first”

  “Ok Doc.,” Jim said, diving for a seat. “Why the hurry?”

  The Captain turned in the pilot’s seat to answer his question. “We have to get there before the sun goes down, otherwise the jets will be visually detectable in the dark.”

  The shuttle rocked slightly as it rose and moved sideways. Jim flipped out the seat monitor and watched the ground suddenly retreat as he sank into his chair. It then changed to level flight.

  “Have you picked a destination?” Jim asked

  “Yes, there’s a larger valley closer to the settlement. It’s in an area they have already searched and from the maps of the primary geo. survey I think I know where we can hide.”

  Chris leaned into the aisle and caught Jim’s attention. “How was it where you went?”

  “Mud, slush and water.”

  Chris nodded in agreement. “Same where I was too. Hope this next location’s better.”

  Jim sat back and watched the ridges and gullies pass beneath them and felt the breeze from the purging vents filling the cabin with filtered air. He leaned forward and looked down at his mud coated legs and boots. He felt a slap on the arm from Carol.

  “Next time wipe your feet before coming in.”

  “I would have but there was no doormat.”

  The scene below changed to a gentle slope then a couple more rocky outcrops and a wide river.”

  “Look at the forward monitor,” Mort said from the seat behind and across the aisle.

  Jim switched his and saw that they were rounding a spur that protruded into the broad valley. As they rounded it, a cliff face came into view. The base of the cliff was honeycombed with giant lava caves. The shuttle descended and seemed to be lining up with one of them.

  “We are going to hide this thing in one of those?” Jim said.

  The Captain nodded without taking her eyes off the instruments.

  Mort leaned forward and tapped Jim’s shoulder. “One of them is large enough to turn the shuttle around, according to the maps.”

  The mouth of the large cave filled his screen as the shuttle slowly entered. Jim peered into the dark. They slowed to a hover and watched the walls pass when the shuttle pivoted. It settled facing the rapidly dimming light of the outside. Switching from view to view he decided that it was too dark to explore at this late hour so he removed his suit. His decision seemed to be a general consensus as the others were removing theirs.

  Jim stowed the suit beneath his seat. “Time to call Doc Redmond again,” he said, looking up. “Computer, open a direct line to Dr. Redmond on Batalavia.”

  “Automatic answer, line open,” the computer replied.

  “Ah... wait one,” said the voice of Redmond. “You caught me in the shower.”

  Smiles and low chuckles filled the cabin as they waited.

  “We could call back later Doc,” Jim said.

  “No, no, I’m out now and have some news for you.”

  “Good or bad?”

  “Both. The bad is that I doubt if our listening in can last that much longer. Stutchman is getting annoyed at Jennifer going to his cabin and he’s insisting that they talk in a lounge. An extra person, whose name has not been mentioned, appears to be watching her extremely closely. I doubt that she’ll be able to open a second line even if she knew how.”

  “And the good news?”

  “She did give us the radio frequency and parallel space aspect that she was going to try to contact the Alliance on. They seem to want to cover both ends by seeing what sort of a deal the Bund can offer them. During the last hour, they think they have been talking to the Bund, but instead, they’ve been talking to a team from the Commonwealth Secret Service.”

  “Good work!”

  “We’re trying to gain their confidence enough to slip a Commonwealth fighting corvette through in disguise. They probably could not tell the difference. So far, they’ve asked for help if needed but not until requested. We don’t want to push them for obvious reasons.”

  “Sounds mostly on the good side.”

  “What are your plans, Jim?”

  “Tomorrow we’ll set up an observation post close to the settlement. The next day we see if we can slip Pe
ter in to find out what’s going on and then play it by ear.”

  “Any help needed, just call. You were not there when Levin called in so I believe he has a few things to tell you.”

  “Ok Doc, will talk to you tomorrow night.”

  “Put your plans off a day,” Levin said. “I need the time to prepare the equipment.”

  “What interesting things have you got for us?”

  “Well, Tal put me through to the Commonwealth Ranger Special Operations Branch and they gave me advice on the things you may need. You see, all of the components of different equipment are quite generic. A circuit disk from a home 3V can be used in a battle cruiser’s pulse cannon. We have geological survey instruments that can be disassembled and reassembled into quite an array of military applications.”

  “Did they tell you how?”

  “They shot me the plans for about thirty such devices. It seems that we can fix your protective suits to a very similar configuration of a Ranger’s battle suit. We can relay detection devices from your observation post to a Ranger Special Operations battle room on Pellan. They can advise on your activities from there.”

  “Great,” Jim said. “Those old storm tents are a sort of brown color so we can cut one up to cover the shuttle and anything else that needs camouflage. Maybe we can make an over garment to disguise these protective suits.”

  “No, you can not do that,” Levin said. “Remember, the suit filters air through the lining of the suit itself. Cover it up with a nonporous material and you’d suffocate. All you have to do is turn the suit inside out. They work just as well either way and the inside is a very nice olive color.”

  “Oh,” Jim said.

  “I am at the moment experimenting with the suit’s faceplate.” He raised the cowl on his lap and pointed out the almost transparent vertical and horizontal strips that intersected in the center of the faceplate. “The ranger faceplate can display a small dot anywhere on its surface. A geostatic gyro mounted to the left of the plate uses the navigational satellite we put in orbit last week to determine the orientation of your head. If the controllers wish to indicate a geographical feature, they place the dot on the plate where your eye will see it at the indicated location. We do not have the ranger plates so I figured out a coordinate system that should work. Here, look at this.”