The admiral stared back at Jason, clearly astonished at what he was hearing.
“You’ve already received the reports on the attack of Capital City. The possible death of my daughter in a brutal massacre. That was the Sahhrain. It’s started … they’ve double-crossed the Blues, ready to go to war.”
“Why am I just hearing about it now? This is … preposterous!”
“The Stellar was attacked by the Sahhrain when we stumbled upon their fleet. The Parcical responded to our distress call, so now you are hearing about it. Damn it! What you need to know is that, with the possible exception of our Caldurian Star Watch assets, the level of technology possessed by the Sahhrain fleet is far superior to our own. Put ten Craing Heavy Cruisers—hell, a Meganaught—up against one of those immense Sahhrain warships and you’ll be picking through space dust to find our crewmembers’ DNA. Here’s something else, Admiral—all that I’ve told you is still not the worst of it. Go back and read the logs on someone called Rom Dasticon. The Sahhrain are doing everything they can to bring him into our realm of existence. An entity … a force … so powerful—”
The admiral interrupted, “I know perfectly well who Dasticon is.” He held up a palm and shook his head. “All this is—well, to be honest—incredible, if not unbelievable. Again, you must return to Liberty Station. A full investigation will—”
“Have you not listened to a damn word I’ve said? We are on the verge of full-out war! I’m ordering you to ready the fleet. I’m bringing Star Watch here, to the Dacci system, to see if we can nip the upcoming war in the bud … early on.”
The admiral shook his head.
“What are you doing? Stop shaking your fat head.”
“You are no longer fleet Omni. Star Watch is under my command until, as I said, a full investigation has been conducted. As for the allegations about your brother, those too will be investigated. Come home and we’ll take it from there.”
“I always suspected you were an idiot, Stark. Now I’m certain of it. My first priorities will be finding my daughter and stopping Dasticon. You need to ready the fleet. Do it now! Send Star Watch to the Dacci System.” Jason gestured for Seaman Gordon to cut the connection.
Chapter 27
“Disgusting. They look like slugs,” Bren said.
“Yeah, slugs that can stand and bounce around,” Gain added.
“They look harmless to me. They’re kinda cute … don’t you think?” Rogna asked, taking several steps in the direction of the clustered, knee-high creatures.
“Stay away from those things,” Boomer said, standing at Drom’s side, and taking in the strangely constructed obstacle course, cloistered in the valley below them.
“She’s right,” Drom said. “Get back, Rogna!”
Boomer pointed to the left. “So I’m guessing the starting point of the course is at that end of the valley.”
“That’s my assumption too, as well,” Drom said.
“Why even bother going through all those obstacles? Why not just climb down the far side over there, toward that end, and complete the last obstacle? You’d then be done with the whole thing,” Gain said.
Boomer shook her head. “No, I thought of that myself. The constructors of this course—whatever it’s called—would have designed the obstacles to be done cumulatively and consecutively. Different from the Goldwon trials, where we could change the order of the challenges and still complete the course. Here, I’m betting that once started, only by completing the previous obstacle would you be allowed to progress on to the next one. Not worth the potential risk of deviating from the intended.”
“What are those?” Drom asked, pointing.
“Bones. Using my HUD, I zoomed down on the ground. There must be several hundred bones scattered around down there,” Boomer said. “Obviously, we weren’t the first ones attempting to defeat this course.”
“And there’s no way for us to know if it was successfully completed? If the won effigy has already been found … taken?” Gain asked.
“Get back, Rogna!” Bren yelled.
Boomer turned in time to see Rogna twenty paces away, along the lip of the valley. She was crouching down, holding something out before her—probably food from her rucksack—and offering it to the little group of Pogoes. Excited, high-pitched yipping sounds erupted as the hopping slugs moved closer—slowly, at first, then hopping forward frantically. Rogna looked back over her shoulder. “They’re so cute!”
Bren, who was closest to Rogna, was the first one to jump into action. Using her enhancement shield, she jumped up and over Rogna, placing herself between the girl and the approaching Pogoes. Then the slugs attacked—coming straight at Bren.
The speed in which the Pogoes moved took Boomer completely by surprise. Before she could even react, three of the Pogoes leapt onto Bren—two onto both thighs and one onto her exposed neck. The white, translucent-colored Pogoes immediately changed color, from pinkish to dark red. They were filling up on Bren’s blood.
Bren screamed and flailed. Using both hands she tried to pull off the Pogoe clamped on to her neck. Drom raised his enhancement shield.
“No! Not accurate enough. Let me,” Boomer said, rushing closer in and raising her arm. “Take your hands away, Bren!”
Bren’s legs turned wobbly, her blue skin now a sickly white color. She lowered her hands and fell to her knees. Boomer fired one quick plasma bolt from her suit’s integrated wrist cannon. The Pogoe flared into bright flames, before shriveling—becoming charred and black—and dropping away. Two more plasma bolts left the two other Pogoes dead.
In a swiping motion, Drom used his enhancement shield—turning the remaining Pogoes into a gooey paste.
Boomer and Rogna rushed to Bren’s side.
“I need to take her back to the ship,” Boomer said.
“It’s too late,” Drom said, looking down at Bren.
Boomer knew he was right. Bren’s eyes were open and fixed—her life form icon, showing on Boomer’s HUD, had blinked off. Boomer felt sick to her stomach, saddened, and suddenly overwhelmed with doubts. They hadn’t started the course yet and they had already lost another team member. Why had Elder Pauli placed her trust in them? After all, they were nothing more than a group of kids, for God’s sake!
“This is all your fault!” Gain said, looking at Rogna. “How many more times are you going to do stupid things that get another of us killed?”
“It was an accident,” Boomer said. “I’m sure those things would have attacked at some point anyway.” She looked over to Rogna, and said, “Bren just saved your life. I hope you appreciate her sacrifice.”
Tears filled the young Blues’ eyes. “I didn’t mean it. I just wanted to …” Rogna buried her face in her hands and wept.
Boomer said, “I’ll be back in two minutes. Nobody let your guard down. The Pogoes aren’t the only predators on this planet.” She took Bren’s lifeless arm in one hand and phase-shifted away.
* * *
Boomer returned to the surface, finding the others pretty much where she’d left them several minutes earlier. In the distance came the sound of the Pogoes’ chatter, getting increasingly louder.
“Bren?” Drom asked.
“I found an out of the way place on the ship to put her body where it won’t be disturbed. Here’s her rucksack … no use letting her food go to waste.”
Drom took the bag and swung it over his shoulder, next to his own. “I figured you could do that phase-shift thing you do, and take us down to the entrance.”
Boomer nodded and gestured for the three remaining Tahli warriors to huddle in close and make physical contact. Taking another look down into the valley, she set new phase-shift coordinates and they flashed away.
Once down on the valley floor, the four spread out to get a better look at what was before them—an ancient-looking stone block, with crudely-formed metal fittings, designed to weather the ages. Five chiseled stone steps led under an archway that actually began the start of the course.
Boomer estimated the small valley to be approximately fifty feet wide by two hundred feet long. The obstacle course, built on the site, took up almost the entire valley. The ground was gravel-like and, as she’d noticed when looking down from above, bones were strewn about all over the place.
“Look at the size of this one!” Rogna said, picking it up and standing the long white bone virtually on its end. It was nearly as long as the pratta-shaft she held in her other hand.
Boomer and Drom exchanged a look. That bone was neither a Blues nor Sahhrain bone. Boomer pictured something more on the scale of a small dinosaur.
“So who’s going to do this?” Drom asked, standing with his hands on his hips as he looked up into the archway. “The scroll mentions something about balance … or having good balance.”
“I have good balance, and I think I should be the one attempting to do this anyway,” Boomer said. “Why don’t you follow along on that parallel path running off to the side? The three of you can give me suggestions along the way.”
“You going to wear that suit?” Gain asked.
“No. From what I’m getting, completing this course needs to be accomplished fair and square. I’m not even sure I should wear my enhancement shield … probably not.” She climbed up the steps, holding still on a flat, pedestal-like, rock surface that must have weighed five tons. The stone-carved arch above her head spanned twenty feet into the air. But the course lying before her had fully captured her attention: complicated looking, with various heights of stone platforms and open vaults which, from her present perspective, seemed black and bottomless. She followed the course with her eyes—one section at a time. Each looked more impossible to conquer than the one that preceded it.
Drom hurried around to the side, climbing on the path paralleling Boomer’s. He pointed in front of her: “There are wheels, which will need resetting, at the beginning of each obstacle. The first thing you do, once you succeed through an obstacle, is reset the wheel behind you. It’s the only way you can move forward, too, I’m betting.”
Boomer watched as Gain and Rogna joined Drom on the pathway. They all looked apprehensive.
Boomer removed the enhancement shield from her arm and reluctantly shoved it into her rucksack. She retracted her combat suit and unclipped the small SuitPac device from her Tammy Wrap. She hesitated but then placed that too inside the bag. If she was going to do this—it would be as a Tahli warrior—no tricks, no special technological advantage. She closed and tossed the rucksack over to Drom, then. The first obstacle before her spanned twenty feet. She stepped to the edge and looked down, not seeing a bottom. Looking over to the opposite side, she saw the metal wheel that Drom spoke of, the one she would need to reset.
“You need to jump from one spire to the next,” Rogna said.
“I know that,” Boomer said, looking ahead at the three skinny rock spires—each no more than four inches square. She’d need to jump more than six feet, landing one-footed on the first spire, then holding her balance there. Could she even jump that far?
“Maybe I should do this one,” Drom said. “I have a much longer stride than you.”
“Shush! I’m trying to concentrate.”
Boomer took in a deep breath and let it out. She took several steps backward—held steady there for a moment—then ran and leapt. She landed one footed on the small four-inch-square spire. She waved her arms up and down to balance herself and realized the skinny stone tower was swaying back and forth.
“How are you going to jump to the next one? It’s not like you can get another running start,” Rogna asked.
Boomer briefly wondered how Carmotta had endured her younger sister for so many years. She took a quick glance downward and instantly regretted doing so. The blackness was absolute. Considering the sun was almost directly overhead, she should be able to see something down there.
She brought her attention back to the next spire. About to agree that the leap was impossible—she smiled. The swaying! She couldn’t get a running start, but she could let the swaying tower, beneath her right foot, propel her over to the next tall pillar. That is, if she timed things just perfectly and could maintain her one-footed balance.
“You can do this, Boomer,” Drom said.
“Don’t fall,” Rogna added.
First, leaning her upper body somewhat back, and then a little forward, Boomer began to sway the rock spire several feet in both directions and the momentum began to build. Obviously, the time was coming when the spire’s motion would be too fast—making it impossible to keep her footing. She needed to jump before that happened. Back and forth, the tall pillar swayed, closer and closer to the next one. Their distance apart—down to about four feet—seemed doable, so she leapt. Halfway over to the four-inch rock square, Boomer realized she was going to miss it. She’d over-shot a left-foot landing. She felt her heart restrict in her chest and clenched her teeth, certain she was about to die.
Chapter 28
Boomer’s eyes locked on the rock spire, as she felt herself begin to fall. She reached out with both arms, realizing her fingers were mere inches from touching it. But it may as well be a thousand miles away. No, she was going to die—that was for certain. In a matter of moments, she’d be swallowed into the darkness beneath her. She contemplated the eventual impact. Would she even feel her death when it came? In a split second her mind raced, flashing to her family and those she loved. She thought of Mollie and hoped she wasn’t experiencing her last few seconds too—but with their connection, she knew she was. I’m sorry, Mollie. Resigned now to her inevitable fate, she turned her head toward Drom and the others. Rogna and Gain were there, looking back at her, horrified. Wait. Where was Drom? Suddenly frantic, Boomer needed to connect with him one last time—even something as simple as eye contact. It was important. The top of her head was below the spire, as crisp, cool air rushed up from the dark depths below. She was falling faster.
And then she felt a Thump! As though someone had kicked her squarely in the back. It hurt a lot—and propelled her up—face first into the rock spire. The unforgiving ragged surface struck her right cheekbone—splitting open her cheek. Her arms and legs instinctively wrapped around the pole-like spire and her descent slowed, then stopped. As warm blood flowed down her cheek, she closed her eyes, leaning her forehead against the cold, hard surface. She continued to gasp for breath until her heart rate slowed, realizing that she might not die today, after all. Based on the all-too-familiar sting she’d felt on her back, she knew Drom used his enhancement shield—had fired off distortion waves at her as her body descended. It had done the trick.
“Boomer?”
The voice was distant, unmistakably Drom’s—the most perfect voice in all creation. The voice of a saving angel.
“I’m all right,” she called back.
The next voice she heard was female and anything but angelic: “Are you going to finish it or just stay down there all day?”
“Bite me, Rogna,” Boomer yelled back through smiling lips. She stared up at the ten feet she’d need to climb. I’m never, ever, going anywhere without my SuitPac on again. It took several minutes before she reached the top, and then another few minutes to get her foot securely positioned on the small square stone and stand atop it.
Drom moved back to where the others were and smiled at her. She mouthed the words thank you. He shrugged. Once again he’d been there for her—had saved her from certain death.
Using the same method as before, Boomer got the rock spire swaying back and forth. She had a much better idea now about the effort she’d need to propel her to the next small pedestal. Back and forth, she continued the spire’s lateral movement until the time was right—and she leapt. Her left foot landed perfectly on the small square of rock, but her fast momentum caused her to fall off again. This time, though, she clung to the spire, and held on for dear life. She waited for the spire to cease movement, then climbed up.
Boomer repeated the process again, but this time she nailed her landing
. Excited clapping came from her onlookers. The worst was over—all she needed to do now was jump over to the next ledge. She swayed back and forth on the spire several times and leapt, landing on solid rock. Letting out a long breath of relief, she looked across to the others and noticed Drom studying the scroll. He looked over to her and made a face.
“What … what’s wrong?”
He gestured with his chin. “All that … back there … um … it was okay for you to have on an enhancement shield after all. I understand the symbols better now and it clearly speaks of Tahli warriors and enhancement shields.” Again, he shrugged. “Hey, at least now you know you’re—”
“Just throw it over to me,” she said, more relieved than she wanted to show.
She caught her shield one-handed and secured it onto her left forearm.
“Don’t forget to reset the wheel,” Drom said.
Boomer turned and found the dark metal wheel, located on the far left side of the small plateau she was standing on. It reminded her of a ship’s old fashioned steering wheel. She turned it in one direction without success, then the other way, and felt the wheel slowly turn. It took five full revolutions before it locked into place and she heard an audible scraping of stone against stone. The spires behind slowly changed orientation—as one moved to the left another one moved to the right. They’d completely repositioned. Boomer turned, recognizing the next obstacle had reconfigured as well.
“Look, they’re moving,” Rogna said, pointing out the obvious.
The new obstacle had a thirty- to forty-foot span. Five metal rings, each six feet in diameter, were supported by poles of varying heights that continuously spun around at different rates of speed. Standing upright between the five rings were more rock spires.
“Crap! Are you kidding me? Again?!” Boomer mumbled, as she wiped blood from her split cheek.
“I think you’re supposed to time it—jump through the rings and land on the little rock squares.”
Boomer (Star Watch Book 3) Page 16
