Pushing a couple of buttons and moving his right joystick, Josh twirled Gracie and focused the camera on the source of the weapon fire. The video feed revealed five young Chrysallamans in ragged clothing running away from something. Out of the bottom of the viewscreen, four armed Asiddian commandos appeared. They were obviously chasing the youngsters and had no idea their pursuit was being watched. Every so often, one of the soldiers would fire his disintegrator rifle at the fleeing urchins, but none of the blasts hit a target.
Without warning, disintegrator rays cut across the pursuing Assids. Twirling Gracie on its axis, Josh stared at the source of the deadly blasts. Armed Chrysallaman commandos dressed like Whatsit swarmed into view. Gracie was so small and high above their heads, the commandos didn't notice her.
Whirrnigg, who'd left her Bowler on auto-pilot so she could watch the excitement, said, "I remember Whatsit from the initial briefing on the VrrSilliac Xur. Those fellows look like his twins! That can't be a coincidence! Would you mind if I had a go at the controls?"
King knew she was better at fine motor skills than he was and let her have his seat. Jesús and he watched as Janniss had Gracie follow the sombrero wearing commandos and Chrysallaman youngsters. Staring in dumbfound amazement; they saw the group re-join Jenson, Chang, Roemer and Whatsit. It was clear there was some kind of friendly association.
Reaching over to his com link, Jesús said, "General Blunt. You better get down to Bowler Central on the double. We've found Whatsit and the crew! Looks like the Chrysallaman Underground exists and is working with them!"
***
Tom and McPherson ran into the Bowler control room and spied a crowd of people around one of the viewscreens. The operators parted to let them through. It appeared the folks on the ground were in the middle of a military operation because they had killed several Assids guarding the wide double-doors to a warehouse. In standard assault formation, the raiders swept into the building. Keeping the presence of the Bowler secret for the time being, Janniss had it enter through an air vent near the roof overhang. It became clear Doug’s squad was after the remains of the scout saucer Salteer.
"My God, it looks like the Assids have gutted the saucer. There's not much left of it," Tom said.
The scene turned deadly as red disintegrator rays licked at Doug's team from the southern walls. PDS bubbles protected Whatsit and the humans, but three of the Chrysallaman soldiers were cut apart.
Twirling Gracie toward the source of the rays, the people on board the Destinnee saw at least 50 Assids hiding behind some inventory racks along the southern and western walls. The western wall soldiers were shifting their positions to get open shots while the southern wall enemies kept Doug and his group pinned down. The odds weren't in favor of their friends. None of Doug's group had the updated PDS shields, and there was no doubt their necklaces would fail to protect them when enough of the disintegrator rays focused on each one of them.
McPherson looked at Janniss and said, "Lass would you mind very much if I take over Gracie's operation?"
When Whirrnigg saw the look in the big Scot's eyes, she knew better than to deny his request. She started wishing she had a bowl of buttered popcorn to enjoy while the show unfolded.
Just then disintegrator rays started targeting the little group from the western wall. The situation became dire.
"Give the bastards something else to think about!" Tom ordered.
"Yes sir!" Gracie dived out of the roof rafters toward Doug's head. Aiming the MA ray at the southern wall racks, McPherson thumbed the activation key.
The devastation of a MA ray is breathtaking. The racks and the southern wall of the building disappeared. Suddenly a circle of light appeared on the viewscreen. Half the light was reddish in color and the other half was yellow.
"Jerks just hit me with disintegrator beams!"
Turning Gracie on her axis brought the western wall into view. Stabbing down of the activation key, McPherson took out 10 feet of the racks and wall on that side of the building.
"That ought to get their attention," he chortled as his audience watched at least 20 Asiddians run away from the carnage.
"I would kill them all but the story of the wee black ball wiping out their ambush should spread like wildfire. Nothing like good advertising!"
"Get a team ready for deployment. Home in on the coordinates of Gracie. Try not to alert the Assids," Tom ordered.
***
Pettrr Dunnbull whistled a happy tune as he waited for news of the death of Whatsit and the humans. Losing 10 fellow soldiers wasn't the best idea, but the death of the interfering Chrysallaman sympathizer was worth it. As soon as the story broke about the ambush and their deaths, he planned to take immediate action. Dr. GooYee would be eliminated forthwith. As promised to his Asiddian contacts, Princess Peregrine would be returned to them unharmed, and six months of food and medical provisions would be doled out from warehouses to enhance Dunnbull's reputation with his people.
The General's daydreams were interrupted by shouts. Rising from his rocky perch, he grinned because he was sure news of the ambush had reached the lair.
"Now friends. Relax. I'm sure there's nothing to be alarmed about."
Whatsit and the humans walked into the flickering torch light followed by four Chrysallaman commandos. All were covered with dust, and none of them looked happy.
"We were ambushed! The damned Asiddians knew we were coming," Whatsit said.
"Impossible," Dunnbull declared. "No one outside the rebellion knew anything about the operation."
"Exactly. Someone in the rebellion is a traitor."
"How convenient. You fail in your mission and blame it on someone else."
"Who said anything about failure?" a clear telepathic voice asked.
Turning his head in the direction of the sound, Dunnbull saw a black ball float into the room. The ball was about 9 inches in diameter and had three dark holes resembling eyes and a mouth. Children ran to the object and tried their best to touch it, but it floated just out of their reach. Adult Chrysallamans backed away; frightened by the magical way it hovered.
"Who's in charge, Doug?" Tom asked.
"General Pettrr Dunnbull thinks he is," answered Doug and he pointed.
Floating toward the Chrik with the Christmas tree look, Tom said, "Hello. My name is Tom Blunt. We're here to help."
Dunnbull was speechless at first, but his surprise was replaced by anger.
"Just what or who are you?" he sputtered.
"I'm General Tom Blunt. Leader of the rescue operation."
"Doesn't look like much of a rescue if you ask me!"
"I didn't ask you."
The belligerent attitude of the lizard was surprising. Tom tried to put himself in Dunnbull's shoes. Perhaps the whirlwind events of the past few days coupled with a talking ball were too much new information for the Chrysallaman to swallow. He decided on a softer approach.
"Food, medical supplies and some of our Chrysallaman crew are on their way as I speak. Very soon your people will be out of this cave and among friends."
"We don't need your help," Dunnbull hissed. "My people are perfectly fine."
"What do you mean we're fine?" Helleen asked. She had walked over to hear what was being said. Bristling at the statement, she announced, "As a member of the Civilian Counsel of the Rebellion, I welcome any overture of help or rescue."
Realizing the audience was growing, Dunnbull thought he had to do something or his position of command would be destroyed. Backhand slapping the old woman, he watched her tumble to the floor.
"Never question my word again Helleen."
In the ensuing silence, Cherree sprang at the General with flying fists. A guttural scream left her throat as she attacked. Sidestepping the onslaught, Dunnbull grabbed her throat and held her at arm's length.
"Not so fas . .," he began.
Out of the corner of his eye, Dunnbull saw the human, Becky Chang, grab his wrist. Grinning at the futility of her effort to sto
p him from throttling Cherree, he tried to tighten his hold. His fingers seemed to be frozen. Trying to close his grip with all his might, the General couldn't understand why nothing happened. Feeling a numbing pressure on his wrist, he realized Becky's tiny hand was half way to closing into a fist. It struck him as odd that her fingers were buried in the flesh of his arm to the point where they were almost touching the bones. He realized his hand had become numb and bruise colored. Cherree struggled out of his limp fingers and gagged as she sucked air into her lungs.
"You were saying?" Becky asked with a hateful glare as she released her hold.
The sudden relief from the inexorable pressure of the human's grip was replaced by agony. Looking at his arm through watery eyes, Dunnbull saw Human finger-shaped depressions in his wrist. It felt like a couple of the bones were fused together from the pressure. Cradling his limp, almost amputated right hand with his left, Dunnbull almost fainted from the pain.
"Restrain him after Dr. GooYee checks the condition of his arm," Helleen ordered.
Two Chrysallaman volunteers grabbed Dunnbull's limp body to drag him away. From out of nowhere, a red disintegrator ray sliced into a nearby group of civilians. Killing them, the ray swept toward Doug and Becky.
Spinning on its axis, the black ball glided between them and the red rays. A halo of magenta and yellow light erupted around it as the Asiddian death rays landed. More rays flashed at the ball as Asiddians poured into the cave. Doug and Becky fired their disintegrators at the soldiers; picking them off one by one. The ball stayed with them. A MA beam erupted from the mouth hole, picking off another couple of commandos.
Whatsit gathered as many of the young Chrysallamans behind him as his shield would encompass. His PDS necklace powered by a miniature FLIT gen would only hold a short time before it overheated and failed. Knowing the breakdown was inevitable; Whatsit prepared to die.
From out of the shadows of a cave tunnel, a black shape glided into the room. Moving like a specter, the dark form launched itself at the Asiddians, cutting them down with a device that appeared to be a sword-like MA beam. The beam was about 3 feet long and looked for all intents and purposes like a light sabre from Star Wars. The flashing blade made a hum-rum-hum sound as it flew through the air. Amputated Asiddian arms and heads dropped to the cave floor in grisly piles. Disintegrator beams fired point blank at the black whirling dervish either missed or had no effect.
Whatsit realized his PDS bubble was no longer active. The red rays had stopped. Raising his eyes toward the section of the cave where bodies were outlined by the light from the sword, he saw a dark shape outlined in the glow. The person, or whatever, was dressed in a black shark skin body suit. The shark skin cloth shimmered in the flickering torch light, adding an aura of savage beauty to the mysterious rescuer. A black hat with a wide sombrero-style brim perched on the shade's head, but the most eye catching thing about the costume was a Chrysallaman skull necklace. The skull was just like Whatsit's but with diamonds for eyes instead of his rubies. The MA sword flickered out, and Whatsit saw a thin line of silvery porcelain shaped like an epee blade rising out of the hilt. The figure sheathed the blade in a leather-like scabbard.
One of the Asiddians on the floor grabbed a discarded disintegrator rifle with his undamaged left hand and pointed it at the black figure. Too late to stop the cowardly kill tactic, Whatsit watched in despair as a red disintegrator beam nailed the specter in the center of its chest. The death beam failed. An electronic countermeasure, half magenta and half yellow encircled the wraith, saving it from instant oblivion. The dark suited specter turned toward the source of the ray and pointed its right finger at the Asiddian murderer. Its thumb came down, and a white beam filled with dancing swirls shot out of the fingertip and bored a hole in the head of the soldier. The red ray focusing on the black figure winked out.
Whatsit was stunned. He'd witnessed many strange sights in his life but the magical way a MA ray fired out the figure's fingertip was astounding. The wraith stepped toward him, and Whatsit straightened to his full height. He had no idea what to expect next. Stopping close to him, the figure raised its hands to the black hat and pulled it off, letting it hang from her neck by the draw cord.
Chellsee Brookkss stared at him with a concerned look.
Stroking his cheek, she asked, "Are you all right?"
Whatsit realized he was holding his breath and released it in a whoosh. Without uttering a sound, he hugged her.
Chapter 9 – Reunion
"Chellsee?"
"Mom?'
"Chellsee?"
"Cherree?"
All three of them lunged to hug each other and jumped up and down until Helleen stepped on a dead Asiddian's body. Looking down for a moment in disgust, she shrugged her shoulders and started jumping again with even more abandon.
Whatsit turned to the black ball and said, "Tom, it was way too dangerous to let Chellsee come on this mission. She's not trained for combat."
“She’s been training with McPherson in hand-to-hand combat since you left and earned his respect. Besides, she was insistent, and you know how strong willed she is," Tom responded. "Couple her physical skills with the new PDS and FINGER gun, and there was little danger."
"The finger what?" GooYee asked.
"You'll be briefed on all the new tech as soon as you get back. Needless to say, Dr. Heinbaum has been busy."
"Yes. I see he has resorted to medieval swords with short range killing capacity," GooYee sniffed.
"I thought a game of Zelda had somehow found its way into the cave," Whatsit replied.
"I'm sure the good doctor will have some choice words for your description of his work," Tom replied with a chuckle as Human and Chrysallaman FORCE teams began arriving.
"Harrumph! Speaking of reunions, I have many sick children down here who require medical assistance," GooYee said as MerrCrr JnnWall walked over to join him.
Staring at the number of Chrysallamans still alive after the Asiddian assault, MerrCrr said, "It will take at least three trips to move all the Resistance families to the Destinnee."
"Move them where?" Dunnbull asked. He'd regained some poise and the look of concern in his eyes didn't waiver. "Did any of you even consider the possibility we don't need your help?"
Blunt floated the black ball over until he was at eye level with Dunnbull. Picking his words with care, he said, "We'll put it to a vote if necessary. No one is here to force your people to do anything. I happen to believe they don't want to live in a cave under the constant threat of death."
"My friends have appointed me their military commander. They rely on me to see the dangers posed by the Asiddians and by you. You think you bring salvation when all you really bring is disaster and death."
Watching the survivors packing their belongings and others following rescue teams out of the cave, Tom said, "Your people were smart enough to appoint you their leader. I think they're smart enough to recognize a change of scenery is in their best interests. It seems they've made their decision."
"My people are like children. They don't understand the nuances of your offer. They expect me to make the hard decisions. I know what is best for them."
"Best for them or best for you?"
"I will not argue with a black ball!"
Walking to a place where he blocked the cave entrance, Dunnbull held up his arms and said, "My friends. Please think about what you are doing. These aliens offer you nothing. Don't abandon your home for false promises."
Heads turned and several Chrysallamans stopped packing as the general's words echoed in the chamber.
"You don't want to trade the safety of our home for the unknown dangers these aliens offer."
Uncertainty began to grow on many faces. Helleen grabbed Chellsee's hand and marched up to stand beside Dunnbull.
"I believe my eyes. These humans have returned my daughter to me unharmed and rescued us all from certain death. We've seen fellow Chrysallamans fighting alongside these humans as equals. I lov
e Chrysalis, and it will be my future home. I have been offered a chance to fight for it in a meaningful way. I'm taking it!"
Raising Chellsee's hand over her head, she shouted, "Who joins me to fight for our home?"
Murmurs of agreement filled the chamber and packing resumed.
Dunnbull glared but said nothing at first. Turning to the black ball hovering beside him, he said, "This isn't over!"
Evolution of F.O.R.C.E. (The Origin of F.O.R.C.E. Book 3) Page 9
