When Eagles Dare

by Doug Dandridge

  He picked up the figure of Charley falling below him, maybe a hundred and fifty yards. Charley would be the first to open his chute, and Jonah would take his cue from his partner. By the plan, it would then go up the line, so everyone didn’t need to pulse radar into the night. It might be tight focus in one direction, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be picked up. Anyone that got cold feet was authorized to use their radar, since it did no one any good if they smacked into the rocks.

  Damn, but it’s cold, Jonah thought as he knifed through the night air. He knew he’d be warm soon enough and was happy to be leaving the terrors of the midlands behind, though that didn’t mean the lowlands wouldn’t have terrors of its own. That was a life-heavy zone, with choking vegetation and more than abundant wildlife, including predators more than a match for the ones they’d faced above.

  The colonel felt another shiver going up his spine, one that that nothing to do with the cold air. He’d studied what information they had on the lowlands, or the canyonlands as they were better known. There were references to many predators, not all of them animals, and fierce natives. And the information they had wasn’t enough. The plan had been to spend a couple of days on the fringe of the forest learning everything they could. Now they’d have to forge ahead without as much information as he’d have preferred.

  Charley popped his chute, deploying a wide rectangle that pulled him back into the air, almost up to where Jonah was. The colonel’s own radar warned him that it was time to deploy his own. Jonah grasped the handle on his harness and pulled hard. The chute rolled out of its small bag and opened, while the threadlike risers rose with it. In an instant it was if he had hit a wall, his forward motion reduced to almost nothing compared to the terminal velocity he’d been falling with. He looked up to check the chute, grunting in satisfaction as he noted its shape.

  The chute was an amazing piece of technology, necessary since they couldn’t afford the extra weight of jetpacks. It was made of a tight mesh of stronger than steel fibers, as were the risers. The whole setup, including its carrying case, weighed less than a pound and a half. It also functioned as a flying wing.

  Jonah pulled on the risers, changing his fall to head away from the cliff and the rocks, which were now only several hundred feet below. He spotted Charley and pulled on his risers again, setting his course to follow that of his partner. He attempted to turn his head to see how the others were doing but was unable to get it far enough around to do any good.

  Leave it to Charley, he thought as his partner steered toward an open area in the forested hill lands. The major came down in a perfect landing, feet touching as he bent his legs slightly. He then pulled up his chute, rolling it into a bundle he could stuff back in the bag attached to his harness. The chutes were reusable with a little care, but they probably wouldn’t have a use for them for the rest of the mission.

  Jonah tried to emulate his partner, coming down near the center of the clearing, trying to set his feet to stay upright. And failing, falling to his butt and being pulled along the ground for ten or so yards before he was able to get himself under control.

  “You okay?” Charley asked, running up and grabbing Jonah’s chute. “Any injuries?”

  “Only to my pride,” the colonel replied, scrambling to his feet.

  “Watch out,” hissed Charley, pushing Jonah to the side as Sandra came barreling in, almost hitting them. The woman remained on her feet, though, and was soon rolling up her chute and pushing the small ball back into its bag.

  Others started to land, most in the clearing, and a few with curses in the trees. A half dozen of those who’d landed in the clearing headed out into the woods to help the three or four who’d landed in the trees.

  “I’m so glad to get out of this crap,” Joey said, tossing his gloves to the ground, pulling off his harness and then unzipping his winter coat. He tossed it to the ground, then pulled off the booties and pants. The other mercenaries still in the clearing did the same, until all were down to their normal warm weather clothing.

  “We’re missing one of our people,” Charley said, walking back into the clearing.

  “Not in the trees?”

  “Not in these trees,” Charley said, shaking his head as he pulled his winter coat off.

  “Who is it?” Jonah asked, looking around the clearing with his night vision, trying to pick out who wasn’t there.

  “Avgust Babich,” Charley said, shaking his head again as he pulled off his booties. “You know he wasn’t the best at jumping. Figures the big bastard wouldn’t be able to control his descent.”

  Jonah closed his eyes, wondering when the luck was going to turn their way. Babich was their explosives expert and had most of their demolitions equipment. I just hope he didn’t come down on the scree slope, the colonel thought. If that happened, he might be dead. Or he might be lying out there with a broken leg, which could be just as bad, since death would soon follow.

  “Organize search groups,” Jonah ordered, finishing removing the clothing he would no longer need down here. “No less than three people in each. Then have them fan out and search for that Ukrainian.”

  “I assume you’ll want me to stay here with you?” Charley asked with a smile.

  Damn, but it’s good to see all their faces again, Jonah thought, looking at his partner. It wasn’t as good as looking at a face in the light, since the night vision made everyone look green. Still, after days of not seeing anyone’s smile, it was a relief to see them again.

  “We need to make our plans, partner. I want us moving by sunrise. We’ve got a lot of distance to cover, and not much time to do it.”

  “And if we don’t find Avgust?”

  “I’ll worry about that when it happens,” Jonah said, a hollow feeling in his stomach. He didn’t want to abandon someone in his party who might be injured, but could they afford to spend an entire day looking for him? What if they didn’t find him in that time?

  “Let’s get our people out searching,” ordered Jonah, waving for the mercenaries in sight to come over to him. “The sooner we get this search going, the better our odds.”

  He had to wonder what the odds were in the first place, looking for one man in an unknown forest. He couldn’t have fallen too far, could he?

  * * *

  Avgust Babich cursed under his breath once again as he looked over the forest floor from the tree he was hanging in. It wasn’t his fault that a strong gust of wind had caught his chute and sent him spinning away from the landing zone. It also wasn’t his fault that he was over sixty feet off the ground, hanging from almost indestructible carbon fiber risers.

  The easiest way to get down would be to pull the quick-release buckles on his harness. The first problem with that was it would leave his harness sixty feet in the air hanging from a tree. His harness was a required piece of equipment if he wanted to have his necessary items easily accessible while travelling, or more importantly, while in combat. The second problem was the sixty-foot drop. He might survive the fall. The odds were a hundred thousand to one that he’d land without injury. Broken legs or back were the most likely outcomes, which would leave him lying helpless on the ground, easy prey for anything that came along.

  Twisting in his harness, the Ukrainian merc looked back at the trunk. The tree looked very much like those he’d seen on Earth, apart from lacy leaves and bark that seemed to pulsate as if it were pumping something underneath. From what he’d read about this world, it had motile plant growth, if not the norm, also not exceptional. He didn’t want this thing mad at him if it turned out it was able to move its limbs in some manner. But whatever the outcome, the trunk was simply too far away for him to swing to.

  Don’t panic, he thought, taking some deep breaths. He wasn’t in any immediate danger. Eventually, though, that would no longer be true. Hanging up here without a way to get to water, he’d eventually die of thirst.

  With that last thought, he realized how hot he was, how thirsty. Unzipping his winter coat, he pul
led his canteen from its carrier and unscrewed the cap. He raised the canteen to his lips and took a sip, then another. Disaster struck when he tried to put the canteen back in its carrier. The vessel slid out of his hand as he tried to push it inside his coat. He tried to grab it before it fell out, and only succeeded in knocking it completely away. The canteen fell, tumbling to the ground to land on its side, and spilling its contents onto the dirt.

  “Shit,” Avgust screamed, enraged at his clumsiness. The forest erupted with noise, the calls of animals startled by a sound they’d never heard. Avgust shut his mouth. Just because he was angry didn’t mean he had to follow one stupid act with another.

  Something was attracted to the noise. A creature that must have been this planet’s version of an insect started buzzing around his ears, followed by many more, and he found himself spending the next few minutes swatting at the creatures. A couple of them landed and took a sample of his fluids. They must not have liked the taste, because they immediately buzzed off. The rest followed, probably as the result of some chemical signal put out by the ones who’d taken a sip of Avgust’s bodily fluids.

  Damn, it’s hot. It wasn’t really that hot in the night air three thousand feet above the lowlands. However, bundled as he was, he was quickly overheating. It took some work to get his booties and gloves off, unwrapping the scarf that wrapped his neck and lower face. He couldn’t get his jacket off because of his harness, but unzipping it completely allowed some cool air to enter. The pants were easier, just open the buttons and let them slide down. The problem was he’d wanted to catch them, mostly for the objects in the series of leg pockets. Instead, like the canteen, they fell to the ground.

  Great. Now I’ve got a pile below me. Anything intelligent coming along would know to look up. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. It depended on their attitude toward aliens dropping out of the sky. Considering what the current alien invaders were doing to these people, he didn’t expect their disposition to be positive toward him.

  “Will you look at that,” came a Human voice from below. “I told you that curse came from around here.”

  Avgust looked down to see the three faces looking up at him. Achilles Antonopolis, Yusef bin Sherif, and Dotty Farrah made up the search party, and all had smiles plastered on their faces.

  “Are you okay up there, you crazy Russian?” Yusef asked.

  “I’m Ukrainian, you asshole!” he yelled back, laughing. “Now if you’re through insulting me, can you please get me the hell down from here?”

  “What should we do?” Achilles said, looking at the tree for a moment, his gaze rising up the trunk, then along the branch. He shone a light on the trunk and walked closer. “I really don’t like the look of this thing, guys.”

  “It’s just a damned tree, you f’ing Greek,” Yusef said, walking over the tree and reaching with his hand. “Shit. The bark is moving!” the Arab exclaimed, pulling his hand back before making contact.

  “Just use your climbing handles and get up here!” Avgust yelled, glaring down at the others. “I’m tired of hanging here.”

  “We…”

  “Look out!” Dotty yelled out as she turned around, rifle at the ready. “Back to back,” she ordered.

  The other two reacted immediately to the officer, forming a triangle that presented their fronts to whatever might be out there, even if they didn’t know what it was.

  Ten or so aliens came silently out of the dark, their eyes glowing in the manner of creatures with enhanced night vision. They all moved forward in a crouch, most with spears, a couple with round tubes to their lips.

  “Hold your fire,” Dotty ordered, keeping her rifle aimed at the creature closest to her, “but if they attack, you’re weapons free.”

  Avgust pulled his own weapon up, pulling at the strap that held it to his harness. He wasn’t able to pull it to his shoulder to get a sight picture. Still, he had the barrel pointed in the general direction of the largest group of aliens. Set to full auto, it would hit them with a fusillade of rounds that was sure to drop at least three of them.

  One of the aliens walked forward, spear held at the ready, and stopped five yards from Dotty. He straightened up to his full height, about five feet, slightly shorter than the lieutenant.

  “I really don’t like this,” Achilles said, his voice shaking slightly.

  “Me either,” intoned Yusef, “and I think there are more of them waiting out there.”

  “They’re not doing anything yet, sir,” Dotty said, obviously on her comm. “Yes, sir. I’ll try to get them speaking for the translator.”

  “Is he coming?” Yusef asked, moving his rifle to cover the aliens one after the other.

  “They’ll be here as fast as they can,” she said, eliciting groans from the others.

  Which means they’re some distance away, Avgust thought with a feeling of impending doom. At first glance, it looked like the Humans had all the advantages. Their battle suits were light armor as well as camouflage. It would harden when hit by kinetic pellets, stopping low-velocity rounds of light weight, and surely the primitive weapons the aliens were holding. That wasn’t a sure thing, and the Humans weren’t covered completely. Their lower faces and hands were exposed, and those tubes had the look of blowguns, which were probably armed with some kind of poison dart.

  The alien standing in front of Dotty started to speak, a strange combination of low-pitched vocalizations and gurgling. He spoke for quite some time, then gestured out into the night. Dotty shook her head, then started replying.

  “We don’t understand, but please keep talking, and maybe we will.”

  The alien gurgled louder, then spoke again. It sounded like he’d said the same thing. Who could tell? The alien waved a hand, and another half dozen of the aliens came out of the dark, aligning themselves with their fellows.

  Now more of the aliens started to speak, a discussion or argument among themselves. The voices rose and fell and reminded the merc hanging from the tree of nothing more than a pond full of bullfrogs croaking to their prospective mates.

  The natives were starting to become agitated, and Babich was starting to think they’d be killing a bunch of them before the night was over. From what the colonel had said, that would be the worst thing that could happen. They needed the friendship of these people, and killing a bunch of them would be a step in the wrong direction. However, they wouldn’t just stand there and let the natives kill them.

  * * *

  “They do not understand us,” said Vegentioc, standing just to the side of Gurgincom, the leader.

  “Of course they do not understand us,” replied Gurgincom, his gill slits opening and closing in a sign of anxiety. “They are not from here. What else could we expect?”

  “The other aliens can understand us,” said Vegentioc, his voice lowering in anger. “Why not these?”

  Gurgincom blinked his eyes in surprise at the stupidity of the other male. He looked back at the aliens, standing there back to back. It was obvious they were in a defensive formation, and they had weapons akin to those the invaders carried. Not exactly, but then these aliens looked nothing like the others, so that was to be expected. He had to assume they were just as deadly, which meant if they fired on his people, a lot of them would be dead, including himself. He could hope that they would be able to kill some of their slayers, if hope was the right word.

  The smallest of the aliens, what he was thinking must be a female, kept talking. Some of her higher pitches were at the extreme range of his hearing, which was more adapted to the lower range of his people’s speech and underwater sounds.

  “We are wasting our time here,” said Vegentioc, blinking his eyes as he looked over at the other warriors who gathered around them. “We should just leave.”

  “We were told to be on the lookout for these aliens,” said the leader.

  “And so we have. We cannot talk to them, so I say we go back to the village and report that we were not able to talk with them. Maybe the chie
fs can send someone who can work out the language.”

  Gurgincom closed his eyes tight and then opened them wide, a sign of disagreement. He had not thought they would find the aliens here in the first place. That they had would bring honor to himself and his party with the chief. Leaving here without procuring their aid would bring shame.

  Gurgincom gestured to the aliens, hoping to get them to follow him. One of the aliens looked up, and Gurgincom followed his gaze with surprise to see that another of them was hanging from a Mazarash tree from some strange threads that didn’t look strong enough to hold him up. The alien looked back at him, obviously still alive. Which was another surprise, seeing what kind of plant he was attached to.

  The alien female kept talking, waving at her fellow up above, then moved toward the tree, looking like she was about to slap the trunk.

  “No!” yelled Gurgincom, hopping quickly toward her, ignoring the yells and weapons of the other aliens. He moved around her and got between her and the tree. The skin on his back crawled as he thought about how close he was to the deadly plant. One touch would kill him, like it would kill any animal that made skin contact with it. The tree fertilized itself that way, catching some of the less aware animals and dropping them dead to decay below it, feeding the roots. Some animals were immune for some unknown reason and used the tree as a home that protected them from everything else, and at times they would feed on the animals that had fallen beneath the tree.

  Could these creatures be immune as well? he thought, holding his spear as a barrier to keep the female away. If she wasn’t and died while his people stood around doing nothing, wouldn’t that anger the rest of her people?