Seconds after The Lilly disappeared through a newly-formed wormhole, an outpost Craing light cruiser emerged in its place. Earlier, Traveler and his rhino-warriors had returned to Trumach, their home world—a world free from the tyranny of the Craing. They’d returned to their mates and offspring. Now, with help from his father back on the Independence, Jason had tracked down Traveler. Happy to hear from Jason, Traveler explained how he had found Stands in Storm’s mate and her offspring, several young rhino males. After delivering the news of Stands in Storm’s honorable death in battle, Traveler had presented himself to her, as so obligated, to become her new mate, her provider. But the obligation was dismissed. Believing Stands in Storm dead, she had already found another mate to provide for them. And something else surprised Jason as he listened to the rhino’s deep voice.
“This place is no longer my home. I miss the land where the Furlong bear hunts, where the wolf howls at the moon. Captain, would you allow me and several of the other rhino-warriors to return to that place, to the habitat on board The Lilly?”
“Of course. You can return there whenever you wish. I do have one request, though.”
“Yes, Captain. The admiral has already spoken to me of your situation, the plight of your home planet. I would be honored to join you, to again fight at your side.”
Now, with the outpost cruiser secured alongside the Minian, Jason and Billy watched their friend exit through a mid-deck airlock. Traveler greeted them, ready for battle: a heavy hammer hung from a thick leather thong at his belt, and an energy weapon strapped to his left wrist. He wasn’t alone; Rustling Leaves followed close behind, and eight other rhino-warriors followed soon afterward.
* * *
Jason hadn’t had the opportunity to check out the Minian’s flight deck previously. He was surprised to see a fleet of one hundred royal blue two-man fighters, similar to the Pacesetter, and numerous shuttles all symmetrically lined up in parallel rows. There were also hundreds of smaller un-manned drone fighters, secured, with their wings collapsed, mounted in rows high up along the bulkheads. Equipment began to load onto the largest of the Minian’s shuttles, one nearly twice the size of the Epcot. There was a flurry of activity: SEALs stowing their packs and multi-guns; Ricket maneuvering equipment into place; several rhinos carrying extricated seats; and Dira, who’d abruptly brushed past him, carrying several large medical bags. He heard her say something under her breath about him cutting Bristol some slack.
Ricket emerged from the shuttle. Jason noticed he wasn’t wearing a battle suit. “We’re scheduled to leave in ten minutes, Ricket. You need to get into your battle suit.”
“Captain, deploying the drones from the Minian will be a fairly technical process. There may be a necessity to alter the code, or handle any number of issues on the fly.”
“We may have similar needs on the ground,” Jason replied.
“Undoubtedly, you will.”
It was then Jason noticed an awkward-looking member of the team hovering nearby. “That better not be who I think it is,” Jason spat. Both Dira and Orion, who had been conversing closer to the shuttle, turned to see what the commotion was about.
Ricket took a deep breath and brought his hands up in surrender. “I cannot be in two places at once, Captain. The only other person who has sufficient technical capabilities is Bristol. Please understand, these advanced drones are programmed not to be detected. Even with specialized equipment, you’ll need to get in close—even then, it will be hit or miss locating them.”
“I don’t want him on my team.”
“Would you trust him alone on the Minian, which will be operational within the next few days? I would be happy to switch places with him, but I don’t think that is the best course of action.”
Dira glared at Jason; behind her helmet’s visor, he could see her furrowed brow. Jason looked around and spotted Rizzo coming out of the shuttle.
“Rizzo!”
The young SEAL jogged over to Jason’s side, “Aye, sir?”
“See that guy over there? That’s Bristol.”
“Yes, sir. I know who he is.”
“You’re responsible for him for the duration of this mission. Where he goes, you go, and visa versa. Do you understand?” Jason could see Bristol was listening. “One more thing. If he does something to compromise this mission, or exhibits harmful action to another team member, you have my permission to shoot him.”
“Aye, Cap.”
That brought a laugh from Billy, taking hold of another seat being passed down to him from Traveler up in the shuttle. “Cap. Another small problem,” Billy said, making his way across the flight deck. He took a soggy stub of a cigar out of his mouth and looked at it.
“What’s that?”
“Even with the larger shuttle, there’s not enough room for everyone on board.”
Jason raised his eyebrows and gestured toward Bristol. “Leave the kid.”
“Still wouldn't be enough room,” Billy replied. “Two people.”
Jason walked toward the other side of the flight deck and laid a hand on one of the fighters. “Other than Bristol, who wants to ride with me?”
Dira spun on her heels and walked in the other direction.
“I’ll ride with you, Cap,” Billy responded, still finding the situation funny.
“Huddle around, everyone,” Jason ordered. He waited for the team to move around him in a semi-circle. “AI, please provide a holographic representation of Earth.” When it appeared, Jason added, “Good, now expand it to four times that size.” He took a step forward and gave the now ten-foot-diameter projected model of Earth a gentle swipe, causing the planet to rotate on its axis.
“AI, show the five drones approximate locations.” One by one, their locations were indicated, by small expanding red rings over five continent positions.
“We’ll start here, the drone located in the southern part of the African continent. A few days ago the terrain would have been flat, fairly open—small trees and brush. Don’t expect that to necessarily hold true now. Anything is possible.”
Ricket made his way to the front of the crowd and looked up to the virtual model. “Your battle suits have been upgraded. HUDs have time-reference indicators.”
“What does that mean? How does that affect us?” Billy asked.
“It means you’ll always know the time period you’re inhabiting, based on modern Earth’s Gregorian Calendar—sometimes referred to as the Christian Calendar. You’ll want to keep an eye on the HUD’s displayed date. Things will change, depending on your specific location. And realize there isn’t any one single timeframe. The planet is in chaos—multiple time references, or realms of time, may and probably will coexist within any one hundred mile radius.”
Dira raised her hand and when Ricket acknowledged her, she asked, “So … will the landscape change? Like between one time frame and the next?”
“Good question, Dira. The short answer is probably. Until we’re actually down there, we won’t know the variable spectrum of time. It could be millions of years or thousands. The time flux currently being generated by the five drones makes sensor readings impossible to read,” Ricket added.
“Explain to them about the PTCC,” Jason said.
“It’s something I’ve developed and incorporated into your HUDs,” Ricket said. “As the captain mentioned, we call it a phase-time-comparator circuit. Or PTCC. Sorry, rhinos, you won’t have this functionality built into your wristband displays. I’m working on that.”
“So, what’s it do?” Billy asked.
“Go ahead and select PTCC from your main HUD sub-menu.”
Jason watched as everyone did as they were told.
“What it will do is allow for playback of previous timeframe visuals, based on current optic references. For example, I have set the parameters to exactly twenty days in the past. Now, as you look around viewing the current timeframe, either a smaller window, or a direct visual overlay, will display the corresponding visual timeframe
of twenty days ago.”
“That’s flippin’ cool!” Rizzo announced, slowly turning around and, like the others, seeing the activity of the past displayed on his HUD. “I can see Caldurians. They’re doing something to that fighter over there,” he said, pointing to the fighter Jason stood next to.
“Understand this visual information may not be exact. It’s Caldurian technology and the visual information is pulled from the multiverse. All right, you can play with that function later. Orion, let’s talk weapons,” Jason said.
“Yes, Captain. You each have a sidearm, including the rhino-warriors—we’ve switched out the wrist weapons. These sidearms are similar to your multi-gun rifles; both guns have settings for plasma fire, rail-gun, and tracking micro-missiles. I’ll be spending time with each of you in small groups going over your sidearm and rifle weapon functionality. When I do, pay attention; your life and the lives of those who count on you will depend on it.”
“Thank you, Orion,” Jason said. “Your phase-shift belts function as they did in the past. Their phase-shift radius has been extended out to one hundred yards. Again, be mindful of where you’re phase-shifting to. You don’t want to phase-shift into the side of a mountain or into solid rock. Doing so would not kill you, since your matter would displace any other matter, but that might not be all that comfortable, as you’d probably be trapped, unable to move. Orion will be reviewing phase-shifting, along with weapon functionality.”
“You mentioned there are five drones. You should mention where else we are going,” Billy said.
“In addition to Africa, one is to a location within the North American continent, another to the South American continent, another to Asia, and one to Europe. It’s imperative that each one of you understands the importance of this mission. The drones on Earth need to be removed. Getting close to them is virtually impossible. So we’re bringing in identical drones from the Minian. With luck, they’ll be accepted by those other drones and allowed to saddle-up close. Once all five drones around the planet have been paired with a sister drone, they’ll be simultaneously phase-shifted off the planet. Any questions?”
Jason waited but no one said anything. “Good, we leave in one hour.”
Chapter 10
“I’m still uncomfortable with your being alone on the Minian,” Jason yelled above the noise of the fighter’s dual rear-mounted thrusters.
“The Lilly can be back here in minutes, or you can phase-shift via the shuttle or fighter in minutes, if necessary. There are multiple fighters on board, as well as drones. I believe I am safe here,” Ricket said.
“If the Caldurians return, and we know they eventually will, it’s still uncertain if the AI will take up a defensive position. After all, its original programming was developed to protect Caldurian interests.”
“Understood. In addition to getting the bridge and other key systems back online, I’ll have time to work on that aspect as well, Captain.”
Jason triggered the fighter’s canopy to close. Below, Ricket gave a short wave goodbye and headed off the flight deck.
“He seems to know what he’s talking about,” Billy said, from his seat behind Jason.
“I’m just uncomfortable having Bristol along on this mission. Who knows what his motivations are. Hell, he could kill us all in our sleep.”
“We’ll watch him, Cap.”
Jason brought the fighter up off the flight deck and hovered there. The shuttle, which they decided to call the Magnum, was being piloted by Lieutenant Grimes. She’d been a last minute addition brought over from The Lilly. Other than, the fighter squadron’s commander, she was considered the best; some thought an even better pilot than Wilson.
The Magnum rose off the deck and together both vessels moved toward the massive opening on the starboard side of the Minian. They emerged on the far side of the shields and continued on toward Earth. It felt good to be behind the stick again. Jason had hoped his nano-devices would have the necessary updates for piloting this more advanced, more sophisticated fighter. Now seeing he instinctively knew what each of the dash readouts meant, and how to configure the ship’s navigation and phase-shift systems, he let himself sit back and enjoy the ride.
They entered the upper atmosphere and descended to a midpoint in the Atlantic Ocean. Jason watched the time-reference indicator on his HUD as it changed every second or two. The time spectrum seemed to be all over the place: some date readouts were millions of years in the past, some thousands of years in the future. They were flying at close to two thousand knots per hour, and the coast of Africa was quickly approaching. The first drone’s location was in a remote area that had never been overly populated. But since recorded history only went back five or six thousand years, he was basically guessing the same held true now.
At twenty thousand feet, Grimes took the lead as they headed northeast toward the central part of South Africa. Less than a moment later they descended into a deep fog, with visibility extending only feet from the nose of the fighter. A holographic representation of the landscape below hovered several inches above Jason’s instrument panel, and he saw a faint ring, signaling the rough location of the first drone, come alive. They were close. Although she was out of his sight, the Magnum, less than a mile ahead, was stationary after lowering to the ground. Jason brought his fighter to within fifty yards of the shuttle’s position and landed. His time-reference indicator had settled on a single date era: two point five million years BC.
“Whoo. I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore … Am I reading this right, Cap?” Billy asked while activating his seatbelt’s auto-release mechanism.
“I think so.” Jason looked out through the canopy at a world two and a half million years in their past. They climbed down and stood with their back to the fighter. Both raised their multi-guns.
“We’re not going to be eaten by a dinosaur or anything, are we?”
“No, that would require us to be in a time realm sixty million years farther back. We should be OK,” Jason replied, sounding anything but confident. He took the opportunity to contact Ricket, to make sure all comms were still in working order.
“Go for Ricket.”
“We’re on the ground and starting our search for Drone One.”
“What is the time-reference date there, Captain?”
“Two point five million years, BC.”
“Interesting. Good hunting; all is well here.”
Jason broke the connection and he and Billy headed off toward the shuttle. As they approached, the aft hatch opened and a gangway extended toward the ground. The first one off the ship was Orion, quickly followed by Dira. Rizzo was next with Bristol shuffling behind him. It became evident Rizzo and Bristol had been going at it. Voices were raised and, clearly, tempers were short.
“No, that’s where you’re wrong, Bristol. I am your boss. You’ll do as I say, or you’ll pay the consequences. Got that?” Rizzo barked.
“You sound just like your mother; she wanted it a certain way, too,” Bristol replied, thrusting his hips in and out in a lewd gesture.
Rizzo raised his multi-gun, turned it over and was preparing to ram the stock into Bristol’s mid-section.
“Hold up there!” Billy yelled. Then, looking over to Jason, he asked, “I’m taking it you wouldn’t have stopped him, would you?”
“Probably not. I would have shot him.”
Billy stood between Rizzo and Bristol. “Where’s your equipment, Mister? Aren’t you the science officer?”
Bristol gave a quick shrug and said, “I guess it’s still on board the shuttle. Get one of those freaky monstrosities to bring it down.”
Jason’s temper was building, and he felt the heat increase in his ears. He checked the setting on his multi-gun. Dira, reading Jason’s body language, moved to Bristol’s side. Whatever she was saying to him, Jason couldn’t decipher from this distance. Bristol nodded his head, then turned and disappeared back into the shuttle.
Over the next few minutes, the ten SEALs and ten r
hinos exited the Magnum and were loosely assembling at a nearby rock formation. Eventually, Bristol appeared on the gangway carrying a backpack; a separate satchel hung from one shoulder. Rizzo was waiting for him and pointed in the direction of the SEALs. “Over there.”
Grimes jogged down the gangway and joined Jason. “Cap, you want me to stay here, keep an eye on the shuttle and your fighter?”
Jason looked over at the fighter and thought for a moment.
“Can you remote pilot that fighter?”
“Yes, sir”
“Send it back to the Minian. We can always call it back here if it’s needed.”
“Yes, sir”
Jason signaled for Billy to join them.
“Aye, Cap?”
“I’d like you to assign two SEALs to keep watch here with Grimes. And have them get several fires going.”
“You got it, Cap.” Billy spun on his heels and barked out two names: “Holloway, Donaldson!”
“I’ll close up the shuttle, Cap,” Grimes said, and headed off. Jason watched her leave, realizing he couldn’t recall ever seeing the young lieutenant in one of their newer formfitting battle suits before. He had to admit, she filled it out in all the right spots.
“Excuse me, Captain.”
Jason turned to see Rizzo approaching, with Bristol several paces behind. “What’s up, Rizzo?”
“Bristol’s got his instrumentation going. He may have a rough indication where the drone is located.”
Bristol released the strap of his satchel and let the device slide down to the ground. Crouching over, he pressed a small indentation on the device’s side and two long flaps on its top opened, revealing a holographic virtual landscape representation that was nearly identical to the one Jason had earlier accessed on the fighter. The landscape flickered and disappeared several times, breaking into tiny digitized blocks, then held steady for several seconds, before repeating the same process, over and over again.
Realms of Time (Scrapyard Ship) Page 5
