‘That’ll keep the gas out for as long as the door can stand up to their onslaught. Here, get inside the chamber. Take this, here’s the … oh never mind. Just get in, push further back into the chamber. It’s going to be a bit close but hopefully they’ll get here first. Ok, now stand behind me. Close your eyes if you have to. Shh, it’ll be ok.’
The door splits away from its frame. Edges of the framework fly across the small room and an arm pushes through the opening. It screams in frustration and a massive blow to the door rips it back a little more. A head and shoulders squeeze through the opening, scraping the sharp edges. Heedless of its own blood running down the inside of the door, the creature screams in fury and pushes harder.
‘Aye, come on beastie. I’ve got a wee surprise for …’
The head pulls back and the room is suddenly empty.
A stomach ripping stench fills the room but the shattered and bent doorway stands unmolested. Slowly Ian steps out of the chamber. He carefully pushes away the carts and debris, to look through the broken doorframe.
His heart flies into panic as a dark head appears from the dim shadows of the hall behind. Reaction swings his arm back, ready to throw whatever forgotten thing is in his hand and he stops …
‘Are you ok in there. Ian, it’s me!’ Mark Nolen shouts at him. ‘Hold on, everything is ok. It’s going to take a few minutes to get in to you but they are gone. You can relax.’
The head disappears and Ian can hear muffled voices from outside in the hallway. They don’t seem to make much sense, his head is swimming and he can’t focus on …
‘Ian! Ian over here. It’s an oxygen canister. Take it and breath!’
Clarity suddenly snaps back into his world. ‘Mark, I need another for Molly! Hurry! Oh? Yes I see it. Thanks.’
Molly’s eyes are glazed as he slips the mask over her face. Her breathing is shallow so he sets the mask to a slow forced stream of almost pure oxygen. Her arms suddenly fly up and he can see the recognition and terror in her eyes.
‘It’s ok lassie! We made it, we just have to be a little patient for a few more moments. Aye, that’s it. Come here, I’ll hold you for a little. We’re ok now.’
The now welcome sound of a plastisteel cutter filled the room. It’s sharp, steel-cutting wine strangely sounds almost comforting.
Chapter 9: Death
“Have you ever danced with the devil
in the pale moonlight?”
1986 movie, “The Quest”
(I’ll bet you thought I was going to say “Batman”)
‘You may be able to pull the wool over the eyes of Colonel Drake, my friend Thomas, but you can’t fool me. Go ahead and tell me you didn’t go and dislocate your shoulder to get this light duty. Now don’t go making a big deal out of every little bit of work. This just isn’t all that complex!’ Anton Dotschkal growled as he dropped his tools and walked over to Tom Bracken. Anton was glad to be out and doing something positive again but his kidding could sometimes take on a rough edge.
‘It’s not my shoulder you big lummox! I’m concerned about alignment and synchronization of the unit with the existing sensor array.’ Tom closed the AutoSentinel access panel located just below the sensor tower. ‘This unit controls all three of the tripod based, heavy Pulsar Rifles. You can’t just go and jimmy a new circuit bulb into the system and expect it to conform to firing protocols!’
‘Marty went over this with us. The new circuit bulb is adaptive. It will automatically update the Identification and Classification section on the processor. He could not have made installation simpler.’
‘We still have to go in here and tap into the brain stem functions to do it. I don’t like fooling with these. It’s not like this is a simple Sentinel for detection and identification. This thing can really make your day go bad if it decides to start firing out of control.’
‘Look, I’ll do this one for you. You only need to cut into the subcutaneous layer on the main processor fiber. The exact location isn’t all that exacting, just get it within a micron or so of the sinigal synapses of the cerebral cortex. The Hive-Bot installation team will wake up and do the rest when you place it on the cut and activate the bulb. Watch, I’ll activate it. Now, just hold it there for a second more. It gets a little warm so don’t let that surprise you. Ah, see the color change?’
‘Oh, cut it out Tom! You aren’t at Advanced Systems Boot Camp again. This is a field modification. It’s a little drastic but Marty knows what he is doing.’
‘How the hell could he have put this together so fast? I’ve seen modification teams work months for smaller changes than this to these weapons.’
‘You’re working with Marty Feldman! A guy that even I have to hold in high regards. Ok, look at that, all systems checks out and ... See, now here’s what I’m talking about! Look at the strength and speed of the Interpolative Identification Feedback cycle. I’ll bet he added a few upgrades there as well to the package.’
‘Now, get over here and I’ll stand by while you install this unit. Oh, I’m sorry Tom.’ Anton pulled his hand back from Tom’s shoulder. ‘I forgot about your shoulder. Are you sure you’re gonna be ok? Maybe another session at Ian’s dispensary.’
‘No you don’t. That place still stinks and there’s no way I’m gonna let that crazy Scotsman diddle around with my shoulder now. He’s still wobbly from his encounter with the Black Ghosts.’
‘Yeah, I noticed it too. We need to get these up and running. The Sun’s getting pretty low and the last thing I want is those guys returning tonight.’ Anton shouldered his upgrade pack, slung his Phaser Rifle and then walked over to pick up Tom’s pack. Tom immediately reached down and winced in pain from the movement. ‘Well aren’t we the jumpy one. I know you well enough Tom to not even go for your rifle. You go ahead and carry it, I’ll just help with the pack. Let’s head up to station 4.’
‘Cheez Anton. You aren’t as bad as they all say you are.’
Anton stopped for a second. Then he continued up the pathway. ‘Yeah, yeah I am.’ He mumbled quietly.
* * * * *
The GraviDynamics drive bay is located in the very center of the Argos. The bridge and Command Information Center, or CIC, are located in a ring surrounding the drive bay. Normally very quiet during flight, the drive’s hum is even lower now with only the minimal amount of noise coming from the easy breeze of the environment controller. The Argos hasn’t moved since being docked here four and a half months ago so the only systems being used are for basic power and for maintaining the Hive-Tab network and gravitonic field.
The CIC is the heart of the security network for the Station. Virtual displays fill the room, highlighting areas of activity or simply sections of the perimeter that exhibit a calculated high potential for activity based on the behavior of small animal life in the area surrounding the sensors.
‘To answer your earlier question, notice how the stars either seem to burn brightly or simply twinkle in the skies at the points where we can see through the tree canopy.’ Colonel Daniel Drake directed Corey Zavtek over toward the sentinel monitor displaying an area near the southern edge of the plateau. ‘That’s an enhancement first suggested by Mark almost two years ago to designate earth-like star systems verses those that would not be very friendly toward human life.’
‘At the time we never thought we’d be bringing the Argos back in time to our own planet. Don’t forget, this is a starship and not a port based colony vessel. He intended the little gimmick to be a subtle reminder of the true focus of our company, which is the colonization of other earth-like stellar systems. The display caused quite a stir on the bridge when we emerged from the portal into this timeframe. There were so many bright, solid stars visible that we were sure the display malfunctioned. We never gave it a second thought and didn’t even try to correct it because it was a low priority item. As it turns out the display was right. There are many more life friendly systems nearby in this era.’
‘The oddity of this new display
is that the stars are in a sky that looks like a mid-day illuminated landscape. The whole scene reminds me of walking on the lunar surface but with trees and animals all around. The scene is an artifact of the expanded spectrum illumination produced by Marty’s strobe-flash. We’re flooding the areas with light that’s goes way into the infrared, a bit beyond one micron wavelength, and deep into the ultraviolet, uh down to around 365 nanometers or so I think he told me. The display then compresses the bandwidth to the range visible to our eyes. So the broader bandwidth along with low level enhancement makes the whole area look bright as day. I think it’s a neat little trick folding in the outer wavelengths so that the colors of things we’re familiar with still look natural. You know trees are green and yellow flowers are yellow.’
Corey didn’t seem to be as impressed as Dan thought he would be, ‘Ok, I get that. Then the spectrum is compressed and shifted down nonlinearly to where we can see the whole range on our display. That’s neat considering the illumination isn’t a flood light. The strobes are constantly changing the illumination packets up and down the spectrum in a random shift. Look here! You can see some strange color strobe effects at some of these edges where the light is scattered and shifted away from our …’
A small alarm chimed as a dinosaur emerged from dense brush, ‘Look at that! It’s blurring and the colors are washing across it in bands rather like a rainbow on this display. That’s one of the Black Ghosts! It’s trying to adapt to the illumination. Wow look at it squirm! It really doesn’t like the lighting. Cheez, look at it, the effect must be painful .. it’s gone.’
‘I was just set to fire on it.’ Dan commented. I wonder if Marty couldn’t have set this so that they can’t feel the illumination. Everytime we get one in our sensor field they can feel the lighting and they leave. This is great for a defensive perimeter but not so good if we are trying to get rid of these bad guys.’
‘Well, if they keep probing the perimeter like this then it’s just a matter of time before the system learns enough about their signature to fire automatically. On the other hand they may just learn how to fool it before we get their full signature. Hey, that must be the other Black Ghost. We have two distinct signatures now, one by the cliff edge and another near the tunnel they first used. That confirms it, they are probing for weak points.’
‘No, I think they are trying to learn how to adapt to the lighting. See, there’s another probe of our defenses. Their response pattern is changing every time they return.’
Dan looked a little upset, ‘Yeah, I was looking at the algorithm development for targeting. Their responses are changing enough from probe to probe that the automatic identification algorithm can’t converge to a good solution. We need to change our method of modeling their responses to the Sentinels and that’s going to be a big job. Looks like we have a standoff for now. They can’t get in and we can’t fire quickly enough to kill them.’
‘I guess we have an arms race of sorts. We can’t kill them and they can’t get in. I hope that they’ll get tired of the game and leave before we have to go through the entire development cycle. Maybe we can get back to normal.’
‘You mean near-normal don’t you Corey. Even if they stop, this means we’ll have to arm everyone with hand held strobes whenever we leave the perimeter. We’ll need to do it day or night since they are almost impossible to see in the day time as well. Marty’s been calling them flashprobes and they are a bit clumsy to handle but we should have a helmet installable version in a day or so.’
‘I guess I was hoping they would simply leave the area. Well, let’s see what the morning brings. You managed to set up the second line of sensors didn’t you? We need to know if they do manage to get by the outer fence.’
‘Yep, as of twenty two hundred hours last night everything was set up and secure. So you can walk back to your place and enjoy the evening without fear. Take one of the flashprobes with you.’
‘I think it’s going to be a long time before I can walk peacefully like that Dan. Thank you and have a nice evening.’
* * * * *
Corey left the Argos carrying one of the rifles and one of the five flashprobes that Marty had assembled. As he walks outside, his eye catches a glimpse of small movements in the shadows formed by the pale light of the moon rising just above the horizon. The hair on the back of his neck rises with an intense chill flowing down his spine. He tries to swing his rifle from his shoulder and pull out the flashprobe at the same time. The flashprobe flies out of his hand as he swings the rifle up.
‘Yo, hold on Corey, or should we call you “thumble-thumbs”?’ a voice lifted from behind him. ‘You ain’t even facing in the proper direction.’
‘Tom? Oh cheez, you gave me quite a scare.’
‘Well I hope it wasn’t us you thought you saw.’ The low deep voice of Dan Drake came from the shadows to his side. ‘Are you sure you’re ok now? Can we come out without being shot?’
‘Come on Dan, cut it out.’ Corey replied. ‘You’re right. I’m jumpy as hell and I don’t think it’s going to be getting any better in the day light tomorrow. What are you guys doing out here? You’re a little up in rank to be standing guard duty Daniel.’
‘Mark asked us to walk you home. Good thing too! Looks like your nerves are a little on edge. Come on, we’ll keep you company. Swing by the dormitory this way I want to stop in and see how Molly is doing. Doc said she was ok but her eyes didn’t look right to me.’
‘Ok, thanks. Yeah, it doesn’t help being as tired as I am. I’m drained from that trek with Alex and ….’
A low warble lifts from the high brush surrounding them. It feels like a low thumping in the air that pounds the inner ear with only the lowest levels of perceived noise. Corey stops and again reaches for his flashprobe just as the deep warble changes to a long, low sobbing. The cries rend into his heart with memories of their long chase overland. The soft crying of a girl’s voice lifts into the air between sobs.
‘It’s them!’ Corey whispers to Dan and Tom. ‘They’re doing it again and they are getting better at it.’
‘Of all the things to mimic! Why in the world would they mimic the calls of their victims as they lay bleeding in pain and agony?’ Tom said as he pulled over beside Corey.
‘Shh, lay low right where you are and just listen!’ Dan called over the silent network. The constant warbling can now be felt as well as heard as it slides up and down the scales. Tearful, pitiful sobbing and pleading fills the air and then stops. Then the warble sounds again. More sorrowful pleading follows its call from a slightly different direction.
‘They are trying to flush their prey.’ Corey’s mind analyzes the sounds. ‘They listen to the pained cries of those they catch and then use them to inject fear into the hearts of those they hunt. How did they …’
The soft crunch of the coarse sandy soil carries through the evening’s air. He never would have heard the soft sounds if they were not listening and motionless.
‘Wait Corey, don’t use your flashprobe yet.’ The soft call of Dan’s voice echoed across the silent Hive-Tab link in Corey’s brain. ‘Wait until you are sure they are close enough.’
It seems to take forever for the source of the cries to approach. The cries are never clear enough to determine exactly where they are. The soft crunching of their footsteps however slowly grow louder.
The sounds stop. The soft, breeze filled air around them holds nothing more than the night-cries of the jungle and the soft washing of the surf far off in the distance. Corey’s suddenly aware that he is holding his breath. ‘No, leave it out slowly, quietly! Shit, my heart is pounding so hard they must be able to hear it. Was that something behind me?’
Slow-footed time passes as Corey’s mind races on; wondering and doubting each barely imagined movement of the night. His straining eyes notice a flicker in the star field across the clearing before him. ‘Did I actually see it? There, by the building. Yes, something…. there they are, both are over by the door.’
‘Gone! Where did they … the windows right in front of where Dan is.’
‘I’m gonna flash the building right in front of you Dan.’ Corey warns the security chief across the Hive Tab. There is no reply.
‘Did he hear me? Should I push in? Maybe Dan and Tom are both dead?’
Corey hesitates a moment. He can only see one of them now. His thumb lightly presses on the control of the strobe. Where is the second Ghost?
A scream fills the air and less than a dozen feet before him stands the black demon responsible for all of his fears. He hesitates! He cannot fire, the slugs would penetrate into the building. He rises and reaches down to pull his combat knife from his belt.
A sudden blow strikes him from the side. Knife and flashprobe fly spinning from his hand as he rolls hard to the ground. Crouched above him, a scant foot or so away is the beast that hit him. It rises and turns. Even in the dark, he can see the hatred in its yellow eyes. If he reaches for the knife beside him it will be upon his back, if he charges in it …
A black shadow fills the sky before him. Red jaws close over his helmet and a sledgehammer blow flies into his gut knocking the air from him as his battle armor instantly hardens. He falls to the ground, his head skidding hard across the sharp gravel.
Corey twists to meet the next blow but it’s gone. Tom is standing over him, lifting his head.
‘Kinda froze up there Corey didn’t you? Come on, shake it off you’re ok.’
Corey looks up, his vision is blurred, his head spinning and his chest hurts. There’s someone shining a strange light… ‘It’s Dan, ok I can see it now.’ The thoughts race on while his hands slowly move to his waist. His pistol’s still there.
Strong hands lift him to his feet. ‘Come on, stand on your own now!’ Tom’s talking in a normal voice. ‘We’ve got guys on their tail. Dan managed to get a call out and two of the patrols took over for us.’
Hunter's Moon (Cretaceous Station Book 2) Page 37
