Battle On The Marathon

by John Thornton

  He did that and hustled back to me.

  “Sergeant, that Jellie in the river has neither moved nor done anything. Is it dead?” Yaakov asked.

  “That is what we will find out,” I then explained what Samuels had discovered and how the Jellie in the water might just be wounded, or its technology had failed it.

  “Now listen up. We need to move fast. Yaakov and I will check out this Jellie in the water, but remember Dietermeyer and Lieutenant Gonzales are heading here. Watch for them, but keeping this site secure. The detergent dump is essential. If something goes wrong out there with this Jellie—like it is laying a trap for us—hit it with an amvex, even if we are out there. Nothing must stop this mission.”

  Wanagi replied, “Understood.” The remaining soldiers agreed.

  Yaakov and I jumped off the bridge and into the river. I knew my suit was water tight, and would be as buoyant as I needed it to be, so I adjusted it and sank to the bottom of the river. There were a couple meters of space above our heads, but the river’s bottom was irregular, rocky, and with more debris than I expected. That debris included a sunken boat, several broken automacubes, and some permalloy beams. My reactive armor kept me upright, and I began to move toward where the purple glow was located. Yaakov followed my lead. The water was fairly clear, but there were tainted threads of brown— dancing in the water—which seemed to not mix with or dilute into the water. I was reminded of how oil and water were hard to put together or blend. The brown ribbons snaking in the flow had the same color as what I had seen leaking out from Jellies before. Again, I was thankful for the reactive armor which protected me.

  Swim-walking along the bottom, my optics allowed me to keep watch on what was ahead, and moving against the current was a bit more tricky than I expected. I knew none of my weapons would have any range under the water, and I doubted the enpol would even fire. My new hand and arm tingled as I thought about that. I patted the amvex grenade and knew it would work if I was close enough and it came to that. Soon we were nearing the purple glowing sphere of the Jellie.

  The streaks of brown were leaking from cracks in the Jellie’s carapace. It had no tentacles extended, and no feet either. It was just sitting on the bottom of the river, glowing its purple menacing light. I walked around the Jellie, and the streams of brown were being carried downstream, but none of the cracks were big enough for me to insert my fingers into.

  “Yaakov, this Jellie is busted, and might be dead, but beware!” I said over the full-unit frequency. “If we can open that crack more, we can assess if the organic thing inside is stunned, wounded, or dead. Watch for me while I cut it with a vibration saw. I still wonder if this is a trap.”

  “Agreed, Sergeant! I see nothing else around here, except for all the junk. Must have already been a battle here, the wrecks show detonation damages, and that security automacube was shattered,” Yaakov replied. His deep voice was reassuring.

  Putting my gloved hand against the biggest of the cracks, I saw how the flow of brown gunk was disrupted by the pressure of my hand. That made me think the crack went all the way to the inside of the carapace shell. I activated the vibration saw in my hand’s armor—it was my new hand, by the way—and it began to cut into the carapace of the Jellie. Slicing a slot at an angle away from the crack, I made a straight line about a half meter long. Brown stuff bubbled out along where I cut, so I was reaching the interior.

  “This shell must really have been damaged,” I stated. “Carapaces do not usually cut this easily.”

  “Sergeant? You have done this before? A lot?”

  “No. Not a lot,” I replied as I adjusted the vibration saw’s cutting angle to make a new line which would connect back to the crack and form a rough triangle. That was my plan, but the Jellie had a different agenda.

  As I began cutting that second slot, a side of the Jellie struck out and knocked me away. I was shoved through the water, but Yaakov thrust his fingers into the slot as it widened a bit. His reactive armor was sparking and flickering as it distributed the pressure on his hand. Suddenly, the two sides of the triangle cut I had been making folded out, and a flap of carapace opened. Organic tentacles, not the glowing purple of the carapace suit, but the dull blueish purple of the Jellie itself shot forth and wrapped around Yaakov’s hand and arm. By then I was back and grabbed that tentacle. With all my strength, I pulled. Yaakov, instead of trying to get away, also grabbed the tentacles with his other hand and pulled too. More tentacles squirmed out from inside, and I considered severing them with the vibration saw. Instead, I just grabbed them as a handful and squeezed. They entwined around my arms, but the reactive armor kept them from exerting too much pressure. Unlike the glowing purples tentacles which I had seen previously stretch out from the carapace, these organic tentacles were not nearly as strong.

  Yaakov and I yanked, pulled, and wrestled with that Jellies until it was wrenched out from its protective carapace. The purple glow faded out as the Jellie squirted into the river. Brown gunk came with it, and the whole thing reminded me of a giant pimple bursting out, or the lancing of a boil done in a crude and unsanitary manner.

  With the Jellie out of the carapace, I saw that its bell-shaped top was torn and part of the ball at its apex was a yellow color, which did not match the rest of the Jellie’s blues and purples.

  Its long stem jutted up and the hooked spike at its end slashed across my optics. Had they been real eyes, I am certain I would have been blinded, yet the spike did not damage my reactive armor.

  Yaakov ripped a large tentacle off the Jellie and it floated away with the current. The other tentacles went wild, thrashing in the water, squeezing down on our bodies, but not doing any harm. I joined him in tearing and squeezing down on the tentacles and tendrils which connected to that Jellie. The carapace was now just a dull purple, and the brown gunk was steadily flowing out from the triangular flap in its side.

  Twice more the Jellie struck with its spike, but each time was weaker and less coordinated. We stripped off the rest of its tentacles, and its bell and stem were all that remained. It wiggled around in the water, but in a pathetic manner.

  “Samuels! Samuels! We have captured the carapace suit!” I called triumphantly. “Yaakov, hold this thing still!”

  Yaakov restrained the dying organic Jellie while I peered into the carapace. “Samuels? What do I do inside here?”

  “Inside you will find seven large lumps, set in a rough arrow pattern. Three of those are larger than the others, and make up the arrowhead,” Samuels replied. “This sounds weird, I know, but I think that is the control interface. The largest of those bumps, the point of the arrow, is what controls the purple light. The others are for motion. Beware the square thing which juts in. That is for weapons, I think?”

  I crawled from that bottom of the river, into the Jellie carapace. It was sort-of a reverse of being born. Wow, why I think of it that way, I will never know.

  Inside, my light shined, but the brown fluids made it tough to see anything. So, by feel I massaged the inside of the Jellie’s suit. The tough outer carapace was not at all like the gooey, soft, and pliable inside. I found the arrowhead which Samuels had described. I squeezed the biggest knob.

  Brilliant purple light came on.

  “Samuels?” I asked.

  There was no response. I let go of the gooey knob. The purple light faded.

  “Samuels?” I called again.

  “I can hear you now. Remember when the glow is on, communication is out! It blocks our signals. I think it does a whole bunch more, but this is all weird and new. Try getting it to move. Mess around with the other bumps. I got my shell up out of that hole. Crazy stuff!”

  “Sergeant Kalju?” Yaakov asked. “I think this thing is dead, this Jellie from inside. That yellow spot on its crown, it has spread all over the top of that mushroom-head. Sort of a tan color now. I do not know what to call this thing’s anatomy, sorry. It has not moved at all. I bagged its body for containment and study. Had to snap the st
em thing in half. I can push on this big old shell to get you up to the riverside if you want.”

  “Step back. I will try to walk it there,” I answered. “Tell me what you see happening, for I am blind inside here.” I squeezed on two of the bumps at the same time.

  “You made a leg, or arm, Sergeant!”

  By pulling and squeezing and shoving on those bumps, I got some kind of appendage to extend out. I could extend it and contract—retract—it. Using that, I sort-of levered the rest of the globe up and was able to move it along. Yaakov guided me, and shoved on the sides of the Jellie suit whenever it raised up from the river bed. Between the two of us, we got it into the shallow waters by the river’s edge. Rolling it over, we left the triangular flap up and that gave me a view of the air above, and kept the gunky brown fluids inside. Well, mostly inside. The thing was still leaking badly. Popping my head back out, and looked around. The positon was about ten meters out from the riverbank, and at the side where the lieutenant was bringing the rest of the soldiers.

  “Lieutenant Gonzales? We have captured two Jellie shells, and are using them. Do not fire on us. My position, and Samuels’ position are friendly.”

  “Got it marked down,” Lieutenant Gonzales replied. “We lost the horses and Evan to a bombardment. Those accursed Jellies landed a bomb right in front of the horses. Killed them instantly, and Evan almost as fast. We are manually hauling the cargo. ETA five minutes to your location.”

  “I hate it when they kill animals!” I cursed, and wanted to say more about the Jellies killing an elderly man and his horses, but swearing and profanity would not fully express my outrage. “There will be payback.”

  “This is Dietermeyer, my detail is also about five minutes away. We can see the Jellies coming behind you lieutenant. Five of them, all on the road, pacing you. We can now hit them with enpols and soon with grenades. Nearly in range.”

  “Slow them down as much as you can,” Lieutenant Gonzales responded. “Those soldiers hauling the cargo are heading for the dump site. They must get that stuff in the water! I will stay back to give them cover as well.”

  Moments later, soldiers, manually pulling the wagon came over the slight ridge and were in sight of where I was in that Jellie shell.

  “Sergeant, that box thing can aim their icy blaster! It aligns with the arrow, well, nearly perpendicular to it. Compress the two opposite sides of the box, and one of those white globes will shoot out. Not sure on range, power, ammo, or whatever, but that is how you aim and fire this crazy thing.”

  “Yaakov, get up on the shore, but stay out from in front of this thing.” I pointed out of the flap at what I was calling the front, even though it was a rough globe shape. “The alignment on this Jellie weapon looks pretty decent for spewing some of their own icy detonation at that hillock. Warn the wagon pullers that I will be opening up with weapons from this shell here, but on our enemies. Tell them too about Samuels in her shell!”

  “Right! On it!”

  “We can catch them in a sort-of crossfire,” Samuel reported. “I have the aim on that hill. Well, sort-of, anyway. I must figure out how to see out from inside here. Sticking my head out and looking around is inefficient.”

  As the soldiers hauling the wagon passed along the river, I could hear in the command frequencies that Lieutenant Gonzales and Dietermeyer’s detachment had engaged the enemy. The Jellies were spewing their icy detonations, and trying to get close enough to use tentacles and such. None of their long-range artillery bombardments were falling now. The battle was just beyond the hill and out of my line of sight.

  “We cannot get the wagon itself up the bridge,” one of the soldiers commented. “So, we hand carry the cargo. We dump it in at the top of the bridge anyway! That is our destination!”

  From my display, I could see that the soldiers were moving the enzymatic detergent barrels up onto the bridge for dumping.

  “Lieutenant! We made it! The dump is happening!” several soldiers reported. There was elation in their voices.

  “Lieutenant Gonzales, Samuels and I are in position with a nasty surprise for the Jellies. The hillock will be the primary target area. Get everyone back and let us try this!”

  Lieutenant Gonzales did not directly respond to me, but she sent out the command, “Lay down a suppressing fire with energy weapons. Incinerate the area, and then fall back toward the bridge.”

  The soldiers crossed over the bridge, carefully covering each other with shots from the enpols. One soldier was burning the roadway with incendiary gel. I wondered how well the Jellies could see through the smoke that was starting to billow up from there. I pondered what I would see when I popped my head down into the Jellie to fire its own weapons.

  “Samuels? Does the purple glow need to be on to shoot this thing?” I asked.

  “It seems so. I did fire one blaster without the glow, but could not recreate how I did it. Sorry!”

  The soldiers moved past the hillock and started to sprint toward us. Their strobes were flashing, all in unison with each other. Those lights cast shadows in the smoke and the streaks from the enpols. Beyond that was an increasing purple glow. That whole scene was surreal. The last soldier over the hill was Lieutenant Gonzales. I could tell by checking the popup display in my helmet, and by the different colored camouflage pattern she was using in her reactive armor.

  Estimating her speed, and knowing about how long it would take me to drop into the Jellie shell, squeeze the knob, and then compress the square, I called out, “Lieutenant Gonzales? Give the word and our own barrage will begin in thirty seconds. While firing, we cannot hear anything on the links! Everyone remember, the two nearby purple glows are Samuels and me, not Jellies!”

  “Engage when ready!” Lieutenant Gonzales said.

  I ducked down into that black cave of the Jellie carapace. My helmet light just showed its murky and watery interior. I wrenched my body to where I could grab the big knob with one hand, and sort-of straddle the box projection with my legs. It was awkward and difficult to move that way. I activated the purple glow, and that altered my perceptions as I felt enclosed, trapped, and uncertain. Squeezing my knees together around that square and gooey lump, I fired the icy blaster weapon of the Jellies.

  The white globe appeared for an instant to my optics in that tomb of carapace, and then it was gone. I shoved my knees together again, and hoped the detonations were falling somewhere near where the Jellies were on that hillock. I was locked into that dark cave of the Jellie’s shell. I could only see out through the triangular flap where I had entered. That only showed a lighter gray color, and even that night sky was obscured by the purple glow from that Jellie illumination. My heartrate increased and my breathing was labored as I fired again.

  “What am I hitting?” I nearly panicked thinking of my friends who had been killed by Jellie weapons and wondering if I was adding to that death toll.

  Letting go of that knob, the purple glow ceased. I just had to look out. I could not blindly fire yet another blast from the Jellie’s carapace. Pulling my legs back to a more anatomically normal position, I popped my head up. I fully expected to get slapped down with a tentacle, or have an icy detonation take off my head, but that did not happen. The hillock was crowded with the five enemy Jellies. Two of them were split open with their purple glows flickering. Brown gunk was oozing from them as if they were pumpkins that had been dropped off a wagon. One was wobbling around and around, while the other two were just sitting there, inert, while their own irritating purple light was fading.

  “…ing. Samuels, Kalju, cease firing!” Lieutenant Gonzales was charging toward the Jellies. “Everyone help me drag these monsters out of their shells!”

  Yaakov rushed toward me, but I waved him away. Someone else was jumping up and down next to where Samuels had parked her confiscated Jellie carapace. It was still glowing purple, but then shut down. I quickly turned back to see Lieutenant Gonzales ram her bullpup into a crack on the side of one of the immobile Jellies.
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br />   A muffled sound of rapidly fired bullets reached my external microphones.

  “Look out!” a bunch of voices screamed out.

  The wobbling Jellie projected out several tentacles and stabilized itself. The tentacles whipped around and narrowly missed crushing down on Lieutenant Gonzales. I zoomed in my optics and saw that some of the icy shrapnel was sticking out from that Jellie. At the same time, I drew out my enpol, and took aim.

  Before I could fire, a myriad of energy bursts impacted into those tentacles. The tips, and middles of which turned a burnt sienna color and then sloughed off. The amputated stubs withdrew a bit and that Jellie began to wobble and spin about in an erratic manner. Soldiers from all around were rushing up to our leader and shooting at any tentacle which got near to her.

  Vibration saws were activated and the Jellies’ carapaces were severed open. The brown fluids were splashed about as soldiers dragged the still struggling Jellies out from their carapace suits. Those Jellies were dismembered in short order into more parts than I could ever count.