Hayes selected Glorianne. Startled, she slapped the gun’s muzzle to the side and glared back at him.
“Enough, Hayes … leave her alone,” Billy said.
Hayes blew Glorianne an air-kiss and snickered. He and the other Sharks fell back into position behind Billy.
“The point we’ve made is that less is more; getting close to Dasticon is what we’re after. I’m guessing he rules through intimidation … both here and throughout your universe.”
Oranammy said, “Our universe?”
“As I said … we’re not from around here.”
Oranammy continued, “He arrived on this planet one hundred and thirty-seven years ago. Before that, the Dal was known only through ancient Crimon writings. He was nothing more than a scary fable; a dark figure that parents used to scare their children into doing chores or getting into bed on time. When he arrived, although this was generations before my time, I was told that on that day … all normal living was purged from Crimon. Now even the inner world, which is indeed far more pleasant than out here, is an unhappy … sorrowful, place. We all live in fear … constant fear of doing or saying the wrong thing. Daily, hundreds of our people are made an example of. Some, like us, who’ve committed minor offenses, are sent here—serving out our lives in this miserable world. Others, who have committed more flagrant offenses, are publicly executed. Or, worse yet, tortured to death.”
“So you’re telling me I don’t need to convince you to join up with us? That it’s really not necessary,” Billy said.
“You will not find anyone not hoping to end the life, if possible, of the Dal. You just need to be certain of your capabilities. The repercussions are what we … anyone here would fear. Tell me … what, exactly, do you intend to do? You are going up against an all-powerful god. One so miserable … well, defeating him just seems impossible.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me about him? Any weaknesses?”
Glorianne scoffed at that. “What weakness? Very rarely is he even seen here in person. He shows up sporadically … for minutes, maybe a few hours at a time … then he is off again to another city … another world.”
“How does he get around?”
“Sometimes in a starship. Sometimes he simply appears at the top steps of the citadel.”
Billy looked at him questionably.
“Looks like a grand statue that’s created in his own likeness.”
Hayes asked, “No one around here thought that a little strange … you know … an all-powerful god requiring a spacecraft to get around?”
Billy watched their blank faces. “I take it that traveling into space is not commonplace around here.”
“Only the Dal is capable of such things,” Glorianne said.
Billy, wanting to get things back on track, said, “Look … we need to enter your inner world. Will you help us?”
Oranammy and Glorianne exchanged a glance and, looking resigned, nodded.
“Where would our friends have gone? What can you tell me?”
Oranammy said, “Anyone attempting to enter the inner world unescorted faces certain death. There are two entrances nearby. Come, we will show you.”
Chapter 32
Sol System
Planet Earth, Subterranean Aquifer, The Lilly, San Bernardino, CA
__________________________
Present day …
Jason and Dira glanced over at each other as the admiral paused, reaching for his half-full bottle of beer. Jason said, “Dad, if you’re going to tell me Ol’ Gus died in that MediPod … his arm half-bitten off by that goddamn Serapin—and you’ve hidden that from me, I’m going to—”
Jason’s tirade was cut short hearing an incoming NanoCom hail. Standing, two fingers up to his ear, he walked to the far end of the patio. “Go for Captain.”
“What are you doing?”
Jason checked his internal nano-devices—the clock read 0330 hours. “Nan … it’s three-thirty in the morning here.”
“I can tell time, Jason, and I know you’re awake. I also know you’re not actively searching for the girls. So, again, what the hell are you doing?”
Jason resisted the urge to snap back at her. He knew she was beyond worried—not one but two daughters gone. They’d slipped into another multiverse realm without any clear way to return home.
“Billy and a team of Sharks, along with Traveler, have followed their route through the portal on the Harpaign Moon, Almand-CM5.”
“I didn’t ask you what Billy and Traveler are doing, Jason! I want you looking for them …”
“I am … looking for them, but I need to do it my way. Remember, we already possess the capability to move between multiverse realms. That tech is integrated into all Caldurian spacecraft. If we’re going to bring the girls back home, along with Billy’s Shark team, we need to acquire better technology. We have to figure out how the Caldurians always knew where to go, which realm was what, and so forth. We need that reference key.”
Gaging by Nan’s prolonged silence, Jason knew she was mulling over what he’d just told her.
“I guess that makes sense,” she said. “Why can’t you get that information from Granger? He’s a damn Caldurian.”
“I know that. I’ve already spoken to him several times. And I will again. But he had little to tell me. Apparently, that information was on a need-to-know basis and he was not privy to more than a handful of multiverse destinations … our realm included. He assured me there was a reference key, only he didn’t have it.”
Jason heard her exhale. “I still don’t see how talking into the wee morning hours with your father helps us. Seems to me it’s wasted time. You could be out there right now looking for the girls.”
Jason suddenly wasn’t so sure she wasn’t right. His father’s recall of past events was taking far too long. “I assure you, we’re getting close. I’ve already discovered aspects to the past that I never knew, but I’ll move things along, I promise.”
“Keep me up to date … on developments?”
“I promise, Nan, you’ll be the first to know anything new.”
The connection ended and Jason returned to Dira and the admiral. Both looked up at him.
“Your ex-missus?” his father asked with a half-smile.
“She is, of course, worried. She also thinks we’re talking overly long here.”
The admiral shrugged. “You wanted to go down memory lane. I’m not so sure that’s …”
“No, Dad, let’s stay in the same direction we’re going. I want to hear the rest of it. But first, I’m going to bring Ricket and maybe Bristol, for his technical perspective, down here. I intended to repeat the same line of questioning with him, but since time is of the essence, it’s better we consolidate things.”
* * *
Ricket and Bristol phase-shifted together into the scrapyard amongst a stack of chrome hubcaps. The ensuing clattering noise was enough to wake the dead, causing the admiral to stand up and reprimand the two. “What’s with all the racket? Get yourselves up here and try not to make more of a mess down there.”
Wearing their red Star Watch uniforms, both looked tired, having completed all-day work shifts. Summoned down to Earth’s surface, Jason was sure they were beat.
As they approached, Jason scrambled to drag two patio chairs over for them to sit on.
Bristol said, “I’d forgotten what a shithole this place is. Seriously, is there any real demand for that crap anymore?” His eyes took in the scrapyard below.
“Mind your own business,” the admiral rebuffed him, looking offended.
Jason said, “Thanks for coming down here on short notice. As you well know, Boomer and Mollie, along with their team, traversed into the portal on Almand-CM5, and were quickly followed by Billy and his Sharks. We’ve verified the portal has since closed. Whether or not they can reinitialize it from the other end is an unknown. It’s probably best if we assume they cannot, and do everything in our power to find some other means to ascer
tain their location.”
“Parcical can make that multiverse leap …” Bristol said.
“Yes,” Ricket responded, “but we have always been at a loss of how to discern one particular multiverse realm from another. Of course, the configurations are infinite.”
Bristol yawned, followed by a disinterested shrug. “I suppose you’ve asked Granger?”
Jason nodded. “Provided us with scant new information.”
“I’m not surprised. His technical knowledge’s always been far overrated to me,” Bristol said to no one in particular.
Jason spent the next few minutes bringing Ricket and Bristol up to speed on the admiral’s account of what transpired more than two decades earlier. Ricket offered some new perspectives—how certain events had occurred from his own viewpoint—but, for the most part, it seemed the admiral had provided a fair accounting of past events.
“We’ll take up the story where my father took notice of the Caldurian in the MediPod and what had happened to Ol’ Gus.”
Dira said, “I’ve been waiting for that! You kind of left us hanging, Admiral, with what happened to Gus, and the escaped Serapin part of your story.”
“Yeah … let’s hear it, Dad. The whole truth about Gus, okay?” Jason insisted.
* * *
Summer, 1995 …
The sound was definitely getting louder. While Perry stared at the open hatch, Ricket, who’d stifled the constant chiming on Gus’s MediPod, also took notice. He turned and listened intently.
“What the hell is that?” Perry asked, tentatively moving toward the hatchway. Cautiously, he peered around the corner, into the ship’s main corridor. Fifty or sixty feet away, what appeared to be a dinosaur prowled forward. Wide-eyed, Perry watched as the large blue reptile crept forward—sniffing and growling—as bands of saliva streamed down from the beast’s wide-open jaws. Perry pulled his head back in, hoping he hadn’t been spotted by the creature. Heart racing, he recalled noting what appeared to be blood on the beast’s short, outstretched clawed arms, and also around its mouth. His thoughts turned to Ol’ Gus. A weaving line of crimson droplets on the deck led all the way back to the distant DeckPort. Was that his father’s blood? Turning around, he stared at the MediPod, knowing his father was still within it.
Startled, Perry jumped when Ricket joined his side to also peer around the corner into the corridor.
* * *
Summer, 1995 …
Ricket did something on the small virtual panel, located to the right of the hatch, which caused an energized field to fill the space.
“We are safe now,” Ricket said.
Perry continued to stare ahead, unseeing. “What happened over there? Is he …?”
Ricket said, “Your father is doing fine. He is healing …”
Before Ricket could continue, the gentle, whirring sound of a MediPod clamshell opening up caught their attention. Perry watched, somewhat astonished, as the alien sat up and looked over at him.
Clearing his throat, the alien asked, “Reechet … who is this individual?”
Chapter 33
Sol System
Planet Earth, Subterranean Aquifer, The Lilly, San Bernardino, CA
__________________________
Summer, 1995 …
The Caldurian closed his eyes and nodded. “Oh … I remember now. We crash landed, didn’t we?” He looked over at Ricket. “But you wouldn’t know that since your mind was scrubbed.” The alien, after looking about the compartment, continued, “On a positive note, we still seem to be in one piece.”
Perry instinctively didn’t care for the alien—whoever he was. He talked with a superior, haughty inflection in his voice—not unlike a few high-ranking officers he’d dealt with in the past.
Perry looked out again into the corridor. Although the beast was nowhere in sight, a trail of blood droplets made it clear it had ventured down a nearby intersecting corridor.
“Where is Cabreil? Where is Cabreil?!” the Caldurian barked, staring to his right at the two unoccupied MediPods.
Perry looked over at Ricket for some clue—what was the alien so heatedly bellowing about? But he noted only confusion on Ricket’s face.
“He was here … next to me. We must find him! We must find Cabreil!”
“Who the hell is he?” Perry asked, his irritation mounting at the Caldurian’s accusatory tone. He looked at Ricket, who remained silent.
Perry asked again, “Who are you and who is Cabreil?”
“I am First Officer Hormly Fine. I was the captain’s second aboard this ship, until his unfortunate demise.”
“And this Cabreil you’re raving on about?”
“He is the Master of Engineering, and we need to find him!”
“Relax, we will … so just settle down.” Perry’s thoughts returned to the blue beast, lurking somewhere out there in the passageway, recalling its blood-dripping claws. Things weren’t looking too good for that Cabreil fellow.
“Look … he may be hurt, or worse. There’s an escaped lizard-beast roaming freely about this ship.”
With incredulity, First Officer Hormly Fine stared back at him. “Beast? There’s a beast roaming about the ship?”
“Escaped from the habitats, during some kind of power reset,” Perry said, looking to Ricket for confirmation.
Ricket looked up at Fine sympathetically. “We could ask the AI about his whereabouts.”
Fine slowly nodded his approval.
“AI … provide the whereabouts and condition of Master of Engineering Cabreil.”
The AI hesitated before answering: “The designation Master of Engineering Cabreil is not in my memory banks.”
Fine looked up with an annoyed expression. “Of course she wouldn’t know. Her memory banks were scrubbed too, at least partially, right before the crash. AI … provide the location of any other living individual on board this ship.”
“An individual of Caldurian origin is located on Deck 2.”
“Please provide further details about his injuries,” Ricket prompted.
“His injuries are non-life-threatening. He sustained a bite wound to his right buttock. Suggested course of treatment is one hour and fifteen minutes within a MediPod device.”
Perry and Ricket looked over at each other.
The Caldurian officer pointed a finger toward Perry. “You need to get to him. And you need to put that creature back in the habitat it belongs in.”
Perry stared back at the strange-looking alien with astonishment. “I don’t take orders from you. Go find your own lost crewmember.”
“I cannot. I …” Fine gestured into the cavity of his MediPod. “I have no legs.”
His comment took Perry completely by surprise. Both he and Ricket turned to look inside the MediPod and found the alien’s legs had only partially regrown back.
“The MediPod program must have ceased operating at the time of the crash. It will need more time … to complete the task. Find Cabreil.” With that, he gestured something to Ricket and laid back down.
Perry closed his eyes and clenched his teeth—the son of a bitch was beyond irritating.
“Watch over my father. Also feel free to unplug First Officer Hormly Fine’s MediPod.” With that, Perry removed his shoes, setting them down on the deck. He took another quick look out the corridor then hurried out.
Careful not to make a noise, he took three long paces and crossed over to the opposite bulkhead. Holding up there, he peered around the corner. The weaving line of blood droplets continued forward with the large lizard nowhere in sight. Perry ran full out in the direction of the closest DeckPort, some seventy-five feet away.
He heard the beast almost immediately. A rapid thump-click, thump-click, thump-click—its oversized clawed feet pounding against the deck as it moved in his direction. With the beast gaining on him, Perry didn’t risk looking back. He kept his eyes locked on the finish line—the energized DeckPort ahead.
Several short snorts, followed by a loud gr
unt, spurred Perry to run faster. The fucking thing is right on my heels! Ten feet out Perry dove—his arms straight out before him, Superman-like.
He had the forethought to mentally focus on his desired destination. What was that deck number? Did he need to know it? Instead, he concentrated on the ship’s mess hall as his fingertips passed into the energy field.
Perry belly-flopped hard onto the deck—the air violently knocked from his lungs. Struggling to breathe, he looked back at the DeckPort, his eyes fixed on its shimmering blue energy field. He waited—expecting bloodied jaws to emerge—for the beast to pounce on him right where he lay.
The beast never showed. Perry spent the next few minutes regaining his breath. Finally, rising to his feet, he wondered how the damn thing even made it to the upper deck in the first place. He let the thought go and yelled out, “Hello? Um … Cabreil?”
He heard a shuffling sound, then a groan. Hurrying, Perry half-ran, half-jogged, to a doublewide hatchway up ahead. He entered the ship’s mess hall, a large compartment that could easily facilitate over a hundred crewmembers, perhaps even double that number. Scanning the tables and chairs, he saw no sign of anyone.
“Over heeere! Help meeee!”
Perry spotted him on the deck near the entrance to what must be the ship’s galley. Lying beneath the end of a long, cafeteria-style counter, Cabreil was on his left side—his right side completely bloodied. Perry reached him in four strides, then knelt by his side. A circular pool of red had formed under his hips and upper legs.
“Okay … take it easy … we’ll get you all fixed up.”
“Just shut up and help me,” he croaked. “Find something to staunch the bleeding.”
The smell of copper and shit, plus a lingering smell of beast, hung heavily in the air. Perry noticed a bloodied, long metallic fork lying on the deck next to Cabreil. Good for you, man, he thought.
Glory for Sea and Space (Star Watch Book 4) Page 18
