by Ben Winston
John nodded his acceptance, and Gunny Skarsgaard just grinned. “You’re a Legend, Sir. You gotta live with it.”
“You’re not too far from being one yourself, Gunny, so I’d watch what I said were I you!” John replied, grinning.
“As you say, Sir,” Gunny replied, but he was still smiling.
John shook his head as he turned back to the Saints. “Let’s just have dinner, like you planned. With any luck, Mary will have that toxin analyzed, and we’ll know how to act when the time comes.”
“Okay, Gunny, I did make enough to feed you as well, are you hungry?” Lisa asked.
“That would be welcome Ma’am, Thank you,” Gunny replied.
“It’s Lisa, Gunny. No need to be so formal.”
Gunny grinned. “Yes Ma’am.”
Lisa rolled her eyes, and Bailey chuckled.
“You men go ahead and take seats, I’ll bring everything out,” Lisa said.
“Can I give you a hand?” John asked.
“Thank you, Major, but no, I’ve got it,” Lisa said, smiling at him.
The men took seats while Lisa brought the meal to the table. The men waited until Lisa could join them before beginning the meal.
Shortly after they began eating, Mary called with information about the toxin.
“John, the stuff that the Lizards gave Lisa isn’t actually a poison. It’s more of an enhancement suppressor than anything else. It’s designed to simply shut you down without damaging you or your enhancements at all. It’s actually pretty ingenious considering they don’t know anything about how the enhancements work,” she explained.
“So how do I react then, Doctor?” Gunny asked.
“Just like we outlined earlier. Simply shut down, you don’t have to go as deep as we had feared, since the Lizards will not expect you to be dead,” Mary explained.
“Mary, what effect, if any, would this toxin have on a normal human?” John asked.
“Well, considering the way this works, it would either kill them outright, or put them in a deep coma. There would be considerable brain damage to the unenhanced brain. The toxin would be trying to attack connections that aren’t there,” Mary explained. “Either way, the person it was used on would be toast.”
“How about catatonia?” John asked.
“Yes, that could be one of the manifestations, why?” she asked.
“I was thinking if Gunny put himself on a temporary lockdown he would still be able to see and hear what was going on, but he would emulate being catatonic. It sucks to be like that, but it could be useful in this situation,” John said.
“Let me run it past my computer and see what effect it could have on him to be under lockdown for that long,” Mary said.
“Okay, but try to hurry, we’re almost finished,” John said.
“Just a couple of minutes,” Mary said. John could hear her typing in the background.
“Well,” Lisa said, “At least now I know that I wasn’t actually going to kill you.”
“True,” John said. “But, it’s clear that they want to capture one of us alive.”
Gunny nodded. “Which means that they want to take us apart and see what makes us tick.”
Bailey shuddered. “I think I’d have preferred death.”
John could only agree with him. “Lisa, please don’t think we blame you or Bailey for any of this. You were doing it because you thought you didn’t have a choice. I don’t like the fact that they would use you like this, but I certainly don’t blame you.”
Gunny nodded. “If for some reason, this goes bad for me, I don’t want either of you to feel bad, or think you are responsible for it. You’re not, you are doing as we have asked you. If this is my last mission, it will be the Lizards that caused it, not either of you,” he grinned. “If it’s not my time, then I would like to come back for another dinner, this was excellent.”
Lisa smiled at him. “You’re welcome here any time, Gunny. You know, I think I remember a recipe my grandmother taught me for Lutefisk. I’ll try to make some up for you.”
“I haven’t had Lutefisk since I left my home on Asgard. My mother used to make it all the time for us. That would be really nice of you, Mrs. Saint,” Gunny said, smiling. John tried not to chuckle, he knew for a fact that Gunny Skarsgaard hated Lutefisk and couldn’t even stand the smell.
“John, Gunny, If Gunny stays in that mode for more than an hour, he could suffer a stroke. If he’s in water that’s too deep or under a lot of pressure, he would risk Nitrogen Narcosis or possibly Decompression Sickness. Both are something the enhancements would correct on the fly if they were active,” Mary said. “Gunny, no matter what, placing your enhancements in lockdown in this situation is going to be dangerous. I would suggest, that if possible, while they are moving you back to their base, reactivate to a level that can maintain your health, then go back under when you get to where you’re going. I’ll try to monitor you from here, and if possible, I’ll help you along.”
“I appreciate that Doctor. I’m starting to wish we could keep you with us for other missions as well!” Gunny replied.
“Nope, I’m a healer, not a fighter. But you have brought up something that might be considered by command. Having an extra Marine, trained in enhancements might be a good thing,” Mary replied.
“Well, I hate to put an end to it, but I think it’s time to get this show on the road. Mary, is the barge in position?” John asked.
“Gloria says we’re just now arriving, and she’s setting the barge to hold position. Chloe already went upstairs to get the other Marines ready to go,” Mary replied. “Be careful, both of you.”
“Will do, Doctor. Stand by for enhancement lockdown,” Gunny said. He looked up at John with a half grin. “I really hate this part.” He leaned back, and seemed to sag as he shut down his enhancements.
“I know it’s really uncomfortable, Gunny. With luck, this won’t last long,” John said as he turned to Bailey. “Okay, now, you either need to drag him downstairs, or go running down there worried that he isn’t dead, but catatonic. They should come up and take him for you. In fact, that might be the better way to go.
“I’ll go suit up, and be ready to go.” John turned to Gunny. “I’ll never be more than a couple of minutes away. In aeternum fideles, Gunny.”
Bailey headed for the stairs down to his basement, and John left the house. He had brought his armor with him, but left it in the mule. He armored up and got ready to move. It was Party time.
Chapter 13
“Tracking systems are active, John,” Mary said once he activated his suit. “Gunny is doing great so far.”
“Do you have a lock on him?” John asked.
“Affirmative, two vectors - from your suit as well as from the barge. Just stay close to him, and we should be good,” Mary said.
“Understood. Chloe, time for you and the kids to get wet,” John ordered.
“Actually, we’re almost at the cave opening. We have both of you on our scanners. Mary has the barge using ambient noise to help map the cave system. We should have a good map very soon,” Chloe replied.
“Just remember, this water scatters subspace so the further away we get from the barge, the more shitty the signal will get,” John replied.
“I’m using one of the robotic subs to follow the team. It’ll be the relay back to the barge, and I’m having it plant repeaters as it goes, just in case,” Gloria said.
“Good thinking,” John said.
“Actually, this is kinda fun,” Gloria said. “It sure is a major change from what I normally do.”
“Well, I hate to spoil it for you, but the fun is only beginning. Okay troops, Gunny’s on the move. Go!” John ordered, and ran back into the Saint residence.
“Master! He didn’t die!” Bailey said, panicked. “He’s in a catatonic state, but he isn’t dead!”
“That isss good, we did not wantsss him dead. Bring himsss to me now,” the Lizard ordered.
“He is too heavy f
or me to carry alone, Master. I could drag him I suppose...” Bailey began, but the Lizard stopped him. “We antisssipateted thisss.” It waved and two other lizards climbed out of the pool. “Take thesssse to the person. They will carry himsss.”
Bailey nodded, and went back upstairs. The two lizards looked around to make sure it wasn’t a trap, and one of them picked up the body and threw it over its shoulder. It went back down the stairs with the other one following with its weapon at the ready.
“There are othersss at this personssss homesss. Who are they?” the main lizard asked Bailey when they got back to the basement. The two lizards, the one carrying Gunny and the guard, both jumped back into the pool, and were gone. Bailey knew that John was now on his way.
“I don’t know, Master. I knew Gloria and Mary were with him at his home, but I don’t know anything about any others. Do you want me to look around and see what I can find out?” Bailey asked.
“Missssssing perssssson invesssstigation you will do. Find out then, report to me,” the Lizard ordered. “Call when you know ssssomething.”
Bailey bowed, “As you order, Master.” But he was talking to empty air, the Lizard had already left.
Just as Bailey turned around, John came down the stairs. Bailey held up his hand to stop him, and John crouched, weapon ready. He immediately began searching the area for Lizards.
Bailey walked up to him, and whispered next to his helmet. “The main lizard just left, seconds ago. I stopped you in case it was still close enough to see you.”
John nodded his understanding, and gently patted Bailey on the arm. He opened the visor. “Take Lisa and go someplace else. We don’t want them coming back here if one gets past us.”
Bailey nodded. “Good luck, Major.”
“Thanks, you too.” John winked at him. “Now scoot, I gotta get moving.”
Bailey nodded and ran upstairs. John closed his visor ran down the rest of the stairs and dove into the pool.
Once in the water, John had to use enhanced vision because the tunnel was completely dark. His heads up display showed that Gunny was about a hundred and fifty yards ahead, and moving away. John, aware of the warning given him by Bailey, took off after him, but kept his eyes open for the one that should be only a few yards ahead of him.
This configuration of the armor was set up for underwater work. The back unit had small thrusters in it that could move a Marine at a good speed for a reasonable amount of time. The mapping data being built by the computers in the barge was being sent to his suit and it updated every few seconds. In that way, he could see how far back the rest of his team was.
“Try to pick up the pace a bit, Chloe, from the looks of it, you’re still quite a ways back,” John said.
“Looks that way to me too, we’re trying to step it up,” Chloe said.
“Well, hurry up, or I won’t save any playmates for you!” John said.
“You better, or you get no nookie for a week!” Chloe teased.
“Heh, right! Like you could go that long!” Carl replied making everyone laugh.
“Okay folks, let’s get serious,” John replied. “Besides, we’re leaving Gunny out of all the good jokes.” It was John’s way of calling his people back to the task at hand, and reminding them they had a man in jeopardy.
“Right,” Chloe said. “Control, we’re going to outrun the ROV. Don’t panic, but follow along as best you can.”
“Understood, Major,” Chloe said. “I’ll catch up eventually.”
“Or you’ll run out of line for the bot. This cave is a friggin’ maze!” Alice said.
John’s suit warned him that he had caught up to the Lizard that Bailey had warned him about. He painted its outline on the visor of the helmet, and John asked for a virtual reality display. As the mode changed to VR, John saw the lizard clearly less than ten feet in front of him.
John was surprised that the Lizard hadn’t noticed him yet, since he knew they could see much better than humans in low light, and detect currents in the water. However, it looked like the lizard either wasn’t worried about checking behind him, or it was leading John into a trap.
“I’ve caught up to the tailing lizard. Everyone be on their toes, they might know we’re coming,” John said.
“Did you kill it?” Chloe asked.
“No, not yet. But I’m close enough that it should know I’m here,” John said.
“Understood, weapons hot kids. No, go to the left, Anders!” Chloe ordered.
“Aye Ma’am,” the Marine replied.
“Pick it up everyone! We’re gonna be late to the party!” Chloe said.
“Water pressure is getting close to maximum for Gunny, John. He reactivated for a short time after they got him in the water, but he just shut down again. He can’t handle prolonged exposure at this level,” Mary said.
“Let’s just hope they’re close to their base. Let me know immediately if the levels change drastically, or he gets in real trouble,” John said.
“Will do,” she replied.
He quickly checked the outside water pressure and noticed that it was too high for a normal human to tolerate for long, but well within the parameters for a Marine, and not even a concern for the armored suit.
Pulling his knife, he reached forward, grabbed the Lizard’s ankle and pulled it back to him. As he pulled the larger beast closer to him, he cut the hamstrings so it couldn’t swim effectively, and caused it considerable pain.
The Lizard screamed in pain, and spun around, reaching for its weapon. John slashed at the hand going for the weapon but it was just out of reach. The Lizard caught his knife arm with its other hand while it drew its weapon and tried to point it at John. It was a projectile type of weapon that was useless at a distance under water, but up close, it had enough velocity to breach his armor.
John caught the arm with the weapon in his powered gauntlet, and fought the lizard to keep it pointed away from him.
It was a stand-off that John could not afford to spend any time on. Gunny was getting further away with every passing second, so he needed to end this fight quickly.
Getting an idea he quickly issued a series of voice commands to his suit, and then ran the program. The suit quickly rolled in a complete circle. The sudden move broke the lizards grip on John’s arm, and sliced the lizard’s neck using the suits motion to drive the knife.
The Lizard dropped the weapon and tried to grab its throat as the water got murky from the dark blood getting mixed into it. John made certain of the kill by driving the long knife deep into the side, and up through the hard vertebrae into its heart. He let the lizard sink to the bottom of the tunnel, and shot forward to try to catch up to the two pulling Gunny along.
According to his data, both his team and him were catching up. He just hoped they would get Gunny into the base before he expired from the pressure.
Gunny’s signal disappeared from his screen suddenly, and he was just about to call Mary when she called him.
“He’s in the base, John. Not a moment too soon either. I show you as twenty seconds behind him. Is that right?” Mary asked.
“Yeah, that looks right. Can you still track him in the base?” John asked.
“Not exactly, I’m still getting data from his controller, but I’m having trouble pinpointing its location,” Mary said.
“Well, we have the point where we lost it, so we’ll go there, and hopefully, reacquire it once we get inside. The clock is now running on this, people. They are going to start cutting on him very soon, and we need to get in there,” John ordered.
“Copy that, Boss,” Chloe said.
Less than a minute later, John was looking at the door to the base, and the two armed guards floating beside it.
“I’m going to need assistance getting in the door,” John said. “I’m at the entrance, there are two guards armed with those weapons they like.”
“We’re on our way, we should be there in under a minute,” Chloe replied.
“John,” Glori
a said. “I’m starting to get some odd readings from the drone. I’m still following the team, but this cave system is returning some odd noise readings.”
“Can you be a little more specific, Gloria?” John replied.
There was a pause, and Mary answered.
“John, this is really odd. The drone is echoing the acoustic readings from the team back to the computers here. From what I’m seeing, it looks like you guys are swimming through a huge mansion. Like there are rooms all around them.”
“You mean like there are caverns surrounding the tunnel?” John asked.
“No, this isn’t that large, and the signals are really weak since the only source is the ambient noises you guys are making, which isn’t much. This reads as structures – underground buildings,” Mary explained. “You are shallow enough that we might be picking up people’s basements in town. You’re directly under it.”
“Yeah, that could be it, or we’ve wandered into the real base, and this tunnel is really a hallway. Which means...” Chloe interrupted him.
“...we could be ambushed at any fuckin’ minute!” Chloe replied.
Chapter 14 - Horath (Forth Day)
"High Lord, Mid-Lord Snasshss did not return with the retrieval team, and is overdue. We are detecting unusual noises in the main corridor. Could this be the attack you anticipated?” a kneeling lizard asked.
“It very well could be. What is the status of the squads?” Before him three holographic screens appeared to give him the report.
“Sensors show a barge over the entrance to the corridor. There is a cable leading into the opening, indicating that a drone of some kind has been deployed. Your readings are the scanning equipment it is using. Send a team out to destroy the drone, but they are not to let it detect them. Return the drone to our lab.” The High Lord ordered. “What is the status of our prize?”
“It has only just arrived, and is undergoing a decontamination sequence before we begin our analysis. We should be ready to begin in a few minutes,” the small lizard asked. “High Lord, we are not really set up for this. The equipment is here, but we are little more than communications technicians. We could easily miss something important. Mid-Lord Snasshss is the only one of us with any training in this area.”
