Chapter 30
Unknown System
Unknown Multiverse Realm
__________________________
Present day …
Billy, at first, was tempted to split up his team—send Tops, and several other Sharks, back tracking the fleeing Tahli ministry members—but he decided not to, better to keep his team all together. What lay ahead could require every one of them.
In the front, Tops periodically stopped to inspect the footprints on the rooftop—footprints of Boomer and Mollie, and those with them.
“Commander … we have a change of direction.”
Billy squeezed between several Sharks before kneeling down beside Tops. “Okay, talk to me.”
Tops, gesturing with two fingers, said, “There’s less oily soot here but you can still make out five sets of tracks … they hesitated here … then they all changed direction … moved off to the left. One more thing … there’s a new set of tracks … not from the girls’ team. See … over here to the right.”
Billy looked at the collection of oblong smudges, unable to easily differentiate between them. “Can you tell if the new tracks are leading the others … like a guide?”
“Mo … mo … most definitely … right out front,” Tops stuttered.
“Sensors picking up new life forms,” Sanchez said, “approaching us from three o’clock.”
Billy scanned his HUD and saw the same twenty, or so, red icons moving and spreading out in a semi-circle ahead of them.
One young Shark, tattoos covering both arms and most of his neck, said, “We can take them out. The tech here is ridiculously old school.”
“Taking out locals is not our mission, Corporal Hayes. Remember, we’re uninvited; we’re the trespassers here. They’re defending against invaders,” Billy said.
The sour expression on Hayes’ face made it clear he didn’t care. He was more than ready to pull the trigger on his multi-gun. Billy wondered, in that moment, if he had ever been just like him—an adrenalin junkie. He didn’t think so, but then maybe …
Billy studied the readings on his HUD. By flipping through several sensor modes, he was able to decipher what lay behind the myriad of pipes and exhaust stacks ahead of them. More of the same …
“The local militia is closing in on our position,” Sanchez said.
“Good. Maybe it’s time we introduce ourselves, anyway,” Billy responded.
That comment got Hayes’ attention—he raised and patted the side of his weapon.
“No one fires! We’re in no danger from these combatants. Follow my lead and maybe we can find the others.” Billy looked over to Traveler, and said, “Do me a favor, big guy. Hang back a bit … out of sight, just until I establish communications with the locals.”
The rhino-warrior looked slightly indignant at the suggestion, snorting a burst of misty snot into the air as a response.
Billy moved out in front and seven Sharks followed. None were able to walk more than a few feet without having to step around a wide-mouthed air vent, or a pipe the width of a man, or some other cumbersome, rusted-out obstacle. Thirty feet from the nearest, fairly well hidden combatant, though easily detected on his HUD, Billy climbed up on a raised flat-topped box. It vibrated beneath his feet and he guessed it was some kind of air-conditioning mechanism. He raised his palms up, turning first to look left, then looking right.
“We’re not here to fight. We don’t want to start a war. I apologize for our uninvited presence here.” Billy waited for a response but none came. “We’re looking for our friends … others like us.” This time Billy waited a full minute before looking back over his shoulder. Hayes tilted his helmeted head, shrugged, and patted the side of his multi-gun.
“Tell me why we shouldn’t just destroy you … all of you … right where you stand?” The affronted voice came from the hazy forest of rusty pipes, lying before them.
Billy raised his visor so that they could see the actual person they were about to confront. He immediately regretted doing so. The air there was purely caustic—burning his eyes, and he could taste some tangy, bitter chemical on his tongue. He pulled a half-smoked cigar from his pocket and placed it between his lips. He patted his battle suit, looking for his lighter.
A figure emerged from between the pipes. Of average height, he wore what looked like a well-worn leather flight suit—similar to what pilots wore in the mid-1920s, back on Earth. The weapon he held was some kind of rifle—but unlike anything Billy had seen before. It had dual wooden stocks, presumably for placement against both shoulders when firing. The single, long barrel of the gun was metal gray and, by the size of it, the caliber—of whatever projectile it fired—was large. Billy guessed at least .50-caliber.
As the individual approached, Billy could see he was human-like. He stepped down from the box and met the man halfway.
The man’s face was dark with soot and grease. Only when he raised his goggles up over his forehead onto his leather headwear could Billy see that he had Caucasian skin tones. He reached into a pocket and came out with a stogie of his own. Instead of dark brown, it was grayish-white in color. After using his thumbnail to light a matchstick, the tip of the cigar glowed bright orange and white smoke poured out from the man’s lips and nostrils. He then reached over to light Billy’s cigar.
The two stood and smoked for several moments before the leather-clad man said, “Do you know where you are?”
Billy inhaled, letting the smoke drift slowly out his mouth. “No clue.”
That prompted a smile. “My name is Oranammy. Captain of security enforcement here.”
Billy wasn’t sure if that was his first or last name, or perhaps his only name. “You can call me Billy. I’m the commander of this lost squad. Um … you got another one of those?” Billy pointed to the man’s stogie, then retrieved from his own pocket one of his specially blended Gurkha-brand cigars, which he handed over to the security officer. In return, Billy accepted one of the leafy, grayish-white cigars. He brought it up to his nose and inhaled its fragrance. It was, surprisingly, floral—not terrible. He nodded and slipped it into one of the battle suit’s many pocket compartments.
“What kind of place is this, Oranammy?” Billy asked, using his cigar to gesture at their surroundings.
“This is the outer world, where those who have been cast out are sent to serve out their sentences.”
“Outer world? Does that imply there’s an inner world, too … somewhere?”
Oranammy clucked his tongue, as if it were a ridiculous question. “People, typically, don’t live long enough out here to fully serve their sentences. We all want to return to the inner world. All this,” again he gestured toward the pipes, “is in support of the inner world below us.”
“Well … good luck with that! You must have really screwed the pooch to get yourself cast off into this hellhole,” Billy said.
This time, Oranammy laughed out loud. “Screwed the pooch … that’s funny. Yes, I did the unthinkable. I didn’t bow my head low enough in the presence of the Dal.”
“What’s that … the Dal?”
Now the security captain eyed Billy suspiciously. “You may be new to this place—I can see you’re not from around here. That’s obvious by the advanced technology of your weaponry and your outfits. But the Dal is universal. There is only one God—the Dal is omniscient.”
Billy quickly nodded, not wanting to lose the positive groundwork forged between them. “You’re not talking about Rom Dasticon are you?”
“Well, I’ve heard that term. The Dal goes by many names, and though that one is ancient, it’s not used by our kind. I suggest that you not use it in his presence, or within earshot of his disciples.”
Getting back again on a more even track, Billy asked, “The others … the ones who look like us, you saw them?”
Oranammy smoked his cigar but didn’t answer immediately. As if contemplating how much information to provide, he peered at Billy with a sideways glance. “They came and went, the
ones dressed like you. Dark suits, with helmets. Uh huh, they came and left; didn’t cause too much trouble. Don’t know where they went. Of course, we’re still looking for them.”
Billy was about to comment on the last bit of information, when the security captain continued: “It was the others—the ones dressed in the long robes—that we were told breached the connecting boundaries of the two worlds. They entered into the inner world illegally. No one is allowed to enter there without proper authorization.”
Billy thought about that. It seemed obvious to him the girls must have done the same thing. If Rom Dasticon—this Dal character—could be found somewhere within that inner world then that was where they went. Their mission was to find Dasticon and kill him.
“You mentioned the three robed ones. Just so you know, they’re not with us—not friends of ours.”
“That is good, because they have already killed several of our security forces. You can explain to our official magistrate your particular situation—why you came here in the first place, and illegally entered our airspace.”
“Will that really be necessary?” The words no sooner left Billy’s lips, when close to two dozen similarly dressed men emerged out from behind the pipes—their strange weapons raised.
Shit. “I’m going to ask you nicely … walk away … pretend you never saw us. Then maybe you’ll still have the chance to serve out your sentence here and live to a ripe old age,” Billy said.
His Sharks emerged behind him. Their matte black battle suits, and subtly amber glowing visors, made for an impressive, highly lethal-looking, sight. And then, as if to emphasize the point, seven-foot-tall Traveler, wearing his own contoured battle suit, stepped fully into view. Billy could hear several of Oranammy’s men gasp. Oranammy himself did a double-take.
“Let me be honest with you, Oranammy. Any of my guys could defeat your entire team in mere seconds. And it won’t be a fair fight, either.”
Chapter 31
Unknown System
Unknown Multiverse Realm
__________________________
Present day …
“They don’t scare me,” she said. “I say you’ve already done enough jabbering, Captain Oranammy. Show them how much damage a lofter can inflict … even that big one will cry for his mommy with a couple of sprag-slugs drilled into his ass.” She raised her dual-stocked weapon in Traveler’s direction.
All eyes turned toward the vocal security team member, standing directly behind Oranammy. Billy scrutinized the somewhat-shorter, leather-clad individual who obviously was female. A waterfall of wavy brown hair cascaded out from the back of her leather headwear, down to the middle of her back. Her features were slight, and even from a distance Billy could see she was attractive … perhaps even beautiful.
“Be still, Glorianne! We’re not at the point anyone needs to start shooting,” Oranammy said, not taking his eyes from Billy. “Or … are we, Commander?”
“That is up to you, Captain. We came here to do a job. I’m not so sure you’re going to like what that entails.”
“To find your comrades. The ones who look like you,” Oranammy said.
“Yes … that. But that’s only part of it.”
“And the other part?”
“Well, we’re going to take out Rom Dasticon, if we can. Where we come from—he’s been causing misery. We don’t want this same disaster,” Billy said, gesturing all around them, “to become our reality too.”
Oranammy stared at Billy stone-faced for several moments before the corners of his mouth turned up and he laughed out loud. Glorianne was the next to laugh and then, like a domino effect, the others in their group chuckled loudly too.
Billy smiled appreciatively and waited it out.
Eventually, Glorianne said, “The Dal has been around for eons … thousands of years. What makes you think he can even be destroyed?”
Billy expected outrage at the prospect of their god-deity being maligned in such a manner.
“Well, it’s far more likely that this Dal character … Rom Dasticon to us … has taken advantage of certain technological forces at work in the universe, instead of possessing some kind of supernatural power. Where we come from this type of control is not so far-fetched.”
Glorianne stepped forward and stood at Oranammy’s side. She pulled the goggles off, along with her leather headwear, shaking her long hair free. It sprang to life in a magnificent tumble of wavy curls that framed her small, purpose-filled, face. Billy’s early presumption that she was beautiful was confirmed. Her blue eyes sparkled, even in the murky haze. “Do you realize that you and your kind could be executed for even speaking such things? And that we,” she said, gesturing toward her fellow security team, “would be executed too for even listening to you?”
Billy pursed his lips and nodded. “And here you are listening …”
Glaring at him, she eventually looked over to Oranammy. It became clear to Billy then that the outrage she’d expressed earlier was clearly feigned. What he saw in that moment was hopefulness.
“Let me ask you first,” Billy said, “about what you did. What was your crime? Why were you relegated to this outer world?”
Beneath the soot and grease, Billy could see her face flush. She raised her chin and, even though looking in the direction where Traveler stood, she didn’t really see him.
Oranammy said, “You owe these trespassers no explanation …”
She waved him off, reengaging her eye contact with Billy. “I refused to be one of his willing pantillas.”
Although Billy’s internal nano-devices hadn’t translated the foreign word, he had a good suspicion that Pantilla was a term similar in meaning to concubine. He nodded, but made no comment.
Hayes, standing five feet behind Billy, asked, “Hey … are we going to stand around here all day? I thought we had a mission to complete.”
“Sh … sh … shut up, Hayes,” Tops said, looking at Glorianne with puppy dog eyes.
Billy could see the big man was smitten. Hell … so was he. “We’re moving on … with or without your help. Let us pass and you can live out the rest of your days right here in paradise. Or instead, maybe you’d like to join us? If we succeed, you can return with us, finally get away from here.”
“To where?” Glorianne asked, her tone full of disbelief and skepticism.
Billy smiled and retrieved his virtual notepad. He initialized the device and instantly a three-dimensional display hovered before them. With a few more taps, a spectacular, slowly revolving bright blue planet appeared—starkly contrasting with the black, star-filled space around it—and seemed to hover in midair.
“This is where we come from. This is planet Earth.” Billy manipulated the display to show the shoreline of Big Sur, in Northern California; then the Grand Canyon appeared, and finally a snow-peaked mountain range in Colorado.
One by one, the security forces stepped closer to view the display better. Although their murmurings were unintelligible to him, Billy had little doubt about the gist of what they were saying.
“That blue world is where you come from? That is your home?” Oranammy asked.
Glorianne continued to stare until her eyes welled up with moisture. She blinked the tears away. “I have no life … other than this. Promise me … promise you’ll take me with you to this place …”
“Earth. It’s called Earth,” Sanchez said behind them.
“Earth! Yes … remember … I’m coming with you.”
Hayes scoffed. “Seriously, we’re now taking on refugees?”
Billy ignored him and continued to stare at Captain Oranammy. “I’m sorry, but it’s all or nothing. Everyone’s in with us or no one is.”
“What you’re asking is monumental. You expect us to mutiny, give up hope? Some of us still nurture hope of returning to our own homes and families someday.”
Billy shrugged. “Not if we’re successful. Without the Dal around things would be different here. You know that, too. Come with us … h
elp us change things. Afterward, you can either stay here and build a new life for yourselves or come to Earth with us. But this is a one-time offer only.”
“You are what … eight combatants? How can you seriously believe you can defeat the Dal and his armies of millions? What you speak of is an impossibility.”
“We don’t have to defeat an army, and we’re very good at what we do,” Billy said. “We need you … all of you … to help traverse into the inner world. First, to find our friends there then take down the Dal. As to our capabilities …” Billy looked over to Sanchez and nodded.
Sanchez returned the nod and vanished into thin air. One by one, the other six Sharks also vanished. Surprised, Oranammy’s security forces looked about nervously. Suddenly, one of the men jerked his head back and forth sideways, as if trying to avoid a buzzing bee. The man next to him spun around—then spun around again. He flailed out with an awkward kick—spastically not connecting with anything visible—and lost his balance.
Billy rolled his eyes and shook his head sympathetically at Oranammy. “I apologize … my Sharks … they’re having a bit of fun.”
Oranammy looked on with a sour expression.
Billy waited. He knew the cloaking function on the Sharks’ battle suits was only temporary—they would stay invisible for no more than a minute. Considering Ricket had devised this often-useful feature, it was a frequent annoyance he hadn’t engineered it in a way to veil them longer.
Sanchez was the first to reappear. Surprised, Oranammy found himself looking down the muzzle of a multi-gun—only inches from his nose. One after another, the other Sharks too popped into view. Each, upon selecting an Oranammy team member, held a multi-gun close to that person’s head.
Glory for Sea and Space (Star Watch Book 4) Page 17
