by Pam Uphoff
Then they jogged together toward the fuzzy mental glows. Which were in a guarded building. Blocky angular letters—Greekish, not that he was any sort of an expert—over the doors. Not much help. Nighthawk led them up close enough to look through the glass on the doors.
A desk, manned by a bored soldier. They eased around the side of the building, checking the windows. Office, office . . . bars and glass that wouldn't open, four figures in bunks.
:: Sleeping? It's mid-morning? ::
:: Or drugged. These are some of the people I'm feeling. :: Ra'd eyed the window.
Nighthawk grinned. Made a snatching motion. Pinned something to the wall, that showed black in the odd light. She pushed on it, stepped in . . . and out into the cell.
Alarms blasted.
Bodies stirred. The nearest body sat up.
A boy, teenager, a blonde stranger.
"You're a Oner?" Ebsa looked at the other three boys as they tried to wake. Oners, one of them was wearing a Montevideo Flash shirt. "Nighthawk, open your corridor, Let's get the kids out of here." He grabbed the elbow of a woozy teen and steered him into the rectangular view of the crawler's interior. And the other three.
Ra'd stepped across to the other wall and sliced around the lock. Stepped out, gun at the ready. Two shots. "We'd better do this fast. Hawk? Pop that through-the-wall bubble, so they don't have it to examine. Ebsa, raid all the cells."
Ebsa followed him, looked both ways. He left the onrushing soldiers to Ra'd and sliced the lock on the next door. Four more kids, milling in woozy alarm. "Jail break kids, out you come and into the nice Lady's corridor." Ten cells, twenty-six prisoners. One was a Helaos. Ebsa stunned him. Last cell, four girls. "All out, let's go. Crawler's getting full, so be friendly. Do any of you know of any other Oners being held here?"
Vaguely shaken heads. He chivvied them through Nighthawk's corridor and closed his eyes. "I don't see anything but the Helaos."
Nighthawk nodded.
"Time to go, Ra'd." Ebsa nudged Nighthawk through, backed in, Ra'd followed, and the rectangle squeezed down and disappeared.
Right. Ebsa eased through the crush, and started dropping the lower bunks. "Sit down and we'll get moving real quick here. We're Directorate agents, well, Nighthawk's Disco, and . . . umm sit down it's time to leave."
He popped up to the driving deck, strapped in and backed out of their camouflaging vegetation. "Ra'd, how'd you like to shoot down any drones they get up?"
"Delighted. Head straight for the lake as fast as possible, I didn't see any amphibious vehicles." He swapped out weapons and headed up the ladder.
"Nighthawk? Grab a shotgun. If they flank us with those doodle bug quads, take them out." Ebsa hit the accelerator. Crawlers were not made for speed, so no dawdling.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" The blonde boy looked pretty sick, but he was on his feet.
"You might pass around some booster . . . Wait . . . where are you from?"
"Cairo. I'm a freshman at the university, I was walking, and I felt dizzy and this guy steered me into a truck . . . I think we went through a gate, it felt horrible . . . Am I drugged?"
"Yes." Ebsa felt a shock like electricity. "Wait . . . a gate. The Helaos have a gate to One!"
Chapter Ten
1 Rajab 1405 yp
World EM 0925
"More than one, I'm from Caracas." One of the girls looked up from the kitchen. "I was at the Regional Uni there. They must be targeting campuses."
Nighthawk stepped up and swept a look around. "They want to merge with young people, to become younger themselves."
The boy nodded. "That's what they said. The old ones would come and look us over. Sometimes they spoke English, telling us what they were going to do, once their scientists figured out which world theirs was going to merge with. Then they'd arrange it so they merged with us."
The girl wrapped her arms around herself. "They'd come and leer at us. 'Pretty girls. If the politician's wives don't want them we can train them to be good slaves.' They kept saying things like that. And I couldn't do anything."
"They must have been dosing you with tranquilizers of some sort. A bunch of those can mess with magic." Nighthawk eyed them. "Maybe some caffeine would help."
The girl lurched over to the kitchen fab and started punching buttons.
Ebsa bit his lip. "Nighthawk? I'm going to try to get us back to Fort Dinosaur. I don't want to leave the scientists here. So when we get there, we'll need a gate, quickly. Embassy, Comet Fall, random world, don't care, so long as the air is breathable. But Embassy would be best."
"Right!"
"I hear something!" A kid by a window yelled.
Nighthawk trotted back.
A shot and then a curse from the top hatch. "Keep going, but if you want much thinning, I'll need you to stop!" Ra'd's yell was punctuated by two more shots. "Got the drone, but they know where we are."
And we have to let the president know that they know where the One World is.
He kept to the low ground as much as possible. They heard engines several times . . . but they were in sight of the lake before they were spotted. Dozens of the bugs raced toward them . . . Ebsa eyed the tree line ahead. Pretty thick, but clearing to the right . . . the mud flats and swamps where the Maiasaurs nested. He surveyed the ground, took aim at a spot where a stream showed low slopes in and out of it, crossed it, angled more toward the lake. As he'd expected, the bugs turned to cut the corner, to try to cut him off from the water, but upstream, the stream banks rose and the soldiers had to slow to get across, and he had enough time to turn and run along the hard ground across from the Maiasaurs' island nesting ground. The dinosaurs all rose up, alert and honking in alarm.
"Hawk? Grab the tagging gun and pop a couple of those guys."
"What? Ebsa, this is no time to go all scientific on us . . . Oh, you want them mad, but not injured." She was grinning as she braced herself in the window and fired twice. The volume of honking tripled.
"Now close the window, we're about to get wet. Ra'd? Might want to duck down in case I roll the crawler."
A clank as the hatch closed. "Who let you drive?"
Ebsa glanced at the mirrors—the Helaos were getting close—and studied the steep bank, where the swamp was giving way to deeper water. He spotted a clear run to the water and turned down the bank. They hit the water with a jolt; dirty water sprayed up over the windshield. The wheels lost traction, and Ebsa slammed the screw into gear. Headed out into the lake, angling to the right and away from the Maias.
The Helaos turned as well. The bugs might not be amphibious, but they obviously thought they could handle the swamp. They splatted across the wet ground, firing at the crawler . . . getting closer. And closer to the dinosaurs as well.
Some of the Maiasaurs charged out, honking. The Helaos shot at them. One shrieked and fell.
All the Maiasaurs charged. Hundreds of them. At four or five tons each, the small open-caged vehicles didn't stand a chance. Nor, of course, their drivers. Ebsa spotted the Maiasaurs just crashing into them, rolling the bugs . . . climbing on them and collapsing the roll bars.
Ebsa turned more upstream, and further from the dinos.
The kids started cheering. "Stomp him!" "Crush him!" "Drown them in mud!" "Get them all, don't let them get away!"
Ebsa turned to look again. Some of the Helaos had turned their vehicles back and gotten out of the swamp ahead of the charge. A few men seemed to be pulling themselves out of muddy wrecks and limping away . . . the Maias turned to chase some of them . . . He turned back to view ahead. The top hatch opened again, and Ra'd called down. "Got half of them, the rest are running, not much organization there."
"Shoot anyone who looks like they're giving orders. And anyone else you feel like as well." Ebsa yelled back.
Nighthawk laughed. "No more pacifist lectures, Eb?"
"Oh hell no. Cross-dimensional slave raids changes the whole situation." The Home World! Even Earth can't find us. But these
Barbarians . . . why us? They aren't . . . going to merge with the One World are they? Ebsa closed down that line of thought. Panic later. Think now.
He spotted the game trail and turned toward shore. I can push the pace and be back in the fort inside of another hour. Then hopefully, home safe.
To tell everyone that we are at war.
He ran the crawler up the game trail, engaged the wheels and lumbered up the slope. Rolling hills. Triceratops herd, about fifty strong off to the northwest. Pterodactyls in the sky. Ebsa glanced at the tracking scope. Three tags in the lake. One ahead. One back behind them. Those tags really need to each be at its own frequency. I'd like to avoid the T-Rex just now.
Ra'd dropped down from the roof. "Turn on the radio, something's going on at the fort."
Ebsa flipped the switch.
" . . . under siege. Do not return. This message will repeat. This is Acty at Fort Dinosaur. We are under attack by roughly a hundred soldiers in uniforms I do not recognize. They have been shooting at anyone they see, but do not have any sort of artillery. But we are under siege. Do not return. This message will repeat. This is Fort Dinosaur. We are under siege. . . "
Ebsa cut the radio and slowed. "Right, so we have a choice. Barrel in and help them, or open a gate right now and warn . . . Oh damn. Nighthawk. Gate to Embassy, please." He turned the crawler abruptly down into a minor streambed and stopped. "This is the closest sort of concealed spot around. Put a gate right there. We can drive through, raise the alarm, drop off the kids and come back to see if we can get the team and the academics out of there."
She flashed a grin. "Yes, sir, General Ebsa, sir. And you think they're going to let us come back?"
"Well . . . "
The blonde boy grinned. "You're going to drop us off and head right back before they order you not to, aren't you?"
"Well, given the opportunity . . . yes." Ebsa watched Nighthawk swing out the door and sit in front of the crawler. "Ra'd? Once the gate opens, please duck."
A laugh from the ladder. "Yes, Nanny."
"Oh, and I don't suppose you've got Urfa's comm number, do you? It might cut through a whole lot of bull if you let him know the Helaos raided One World, eh?"
"Well, actually, yes, I do." Ra'd dropped down. "And we have a gate."
Ebsa sighed in relief at the sight of a broad stone plaza, tall buildings, people running toward them. Nighthawk stepped through, and the closest man—Wolfson! Oh crap, I hope he's on our side—dropped his hand and slowed. Nighthawk sidestepped out of the way and Ebsa jinked left a bit then drove straight through. Braked as soon as the back bumper was clear.
"All out for Embassy!" Ra'd opened the door and stepped out, keeping an eye on the armed men converging on them.
The kids all piled out. Grinning and relieved.
The blonde kid looked back. "First thing I'm going do is transfer to the directorate school. That was totally awesome."
Ra'd laughed.
"So we're a corrupting influence. I wonder how long before all of them decide this was the best adventure they've ever had?" Ebsa followed the last kids out, and heaved a deep breath of relief. One huge responsibility dumped in other people's laps.
He spotted men in the dark brown directorate uniform—embassy guards—and headed for the one with the most gold braid. "Sir, I am Ebsa Clostuone, Team Forty-eight. While assisting a scientific project on a Dinosaur World we discovered an extensive Helaos base, and found these twenty-five students that they kidnapped from the One World. The Helaos have dimensional travel, and they have the coordinates of the One World. I need to talk to the Director immediately." He glanced back. "And the kids need food and to be debriefed about where they were taken from so we can find the Helaos' gate anchors."
"Listen Closey . . . "
Oh, dear One, not an idiot, please!
"And we need to retrieve the science project people and the rest of my team."
"Oh, and you think we believe a word you say, associating with that Fallen witch? Did you think we wouldn't recognize her? We One damn well know who's been kidnapping children. And they're going to pay for it."
"Umm, how many children are missing, total? And how do you tell them apart from regular missing, kidnapped or runaway teenagers?"
The guard stiffened, pulled himself up tall, glaring—barely—down at Ebsa.
"You! Move that crawler!" An old Oner, old enough for it to really show, stomped up and also glared at him. "We can't leave a gate open to a dinosaur world."
He was wearing Disco gray, and the Embassy guard turned on him. "Listen Inso, you don't give orders to Directorate personnel." He scowled at Ebsa. "Move the crawler."
"Yes sir." Ebsa trotted back to the crawler as Ra'd ducked back inside. Nighthawk slapped her father's shoulder and trotted for the door. Ebsa was on her heels and closed the door. Ra'd, in the driver's seat, tossed a grin over his shoulder and backed through the gate.
Chapter Eleven
1 Rajab 1405 yp
World EM 0925
"Stop and place a corridor." Ebsa took a quick look around before he opened the door. "We'll take the other end to the fort and get everyone out."
Ra'd looked back at him. "Small matter of several hundred Helaos besieging it."
"Mid-sized herd of Triceratops to the north. If we can stampede them . . . "
Nighthawk hopped back in. "Ebsa . . . I used to think you were such a nice young man. I am astonished and delighted to see that I was wrong."
Ebsa stuck his nose up in the air. "I merely choose appropriate times and places to utilize my . . . creative mayhem. Unlike Ra'd who is full time into mayhem and barely restrained in his taking action on good days."
"Yes. That's why I love him."
He shook his head. "And taking your sweet innocent daughter into battle at such a tender age?"
She snorted just like Ra'd. "Don't be absurd, I left Oak with my father. This is entirely different from just crossing over to open a gate."
"Common sense and violence. Wow." Ebsa trotted up the four steps to the driver's deck. "Speaking of dinosaurs, where's the T-Rex?" The tracker scope showed five tags. "Three Maiasaura, one just south and moving fast, and one off to the far east."
"I only tagged two Maias. The buggy Ra'd tagged must have gotten trampled."
"Ah, yes." Ebsa headed for the gun safe, grabbed the 12mm and climbed up to pop the hatch, and stuck his head out.
Several pterosaurs, large ones, circling to the south. Ebsa ducked down. "Is the tag to the south circling?"
Nighthawk eyed the scope and nodded. "That must be your Quetzalcoatlus. The T-Rex has crossed the river. I wonder why?"
"Didn't enjoy being stunned and tagged?" Ebsa popped back up and took a long look around. "Angle further north. We definitely want to have the Triceratops between us and the fort. Then we need to figure out how to spook them . . . An explosion would do it, but give us away."
"We need a storm. Thunder and lightning." Nighthawk looked out the window. Late afternoon. Bright sunny day, a few clouds to the north.
Ebsa eyed her. "Can you actually affect the weather? Strongly enough to cause a thunderstorm?"
"Umm, with this heat and humidity? Ought to be easy."
Ebsa popped back up and eyed the herd. The fort was probably that spot on the horizon. "Right. Let's stop here, or perhaps halfway up the slope for better visibility without showing ourselves. And see what we can do about a storm."
Ebsa scanned, nothing obviously dangerous nearby. But he ducked down and reached for the 20mm.
Ra'd raised his eyebrows.
"Take the shotgun, in case of smaller critters, but meditate and see what Nighthawk is doing. Feed her power . . . and learn while helping."
Snort. "Stop being so damned . . . smart." Ra'd took a shotgun and the 12 mm and walked out to join Nighthawk.
Ebsa climbed up and paced the roof. Glancing down occasionally at the pair sitting cross-legged, facing each other. And more often upward, as clouds formed and rose. More
blew in and they thickened and climbed. The tops bright white in the sunlight, bases getting darker by the minute. A faint rumble of thunder.
The sun dropped lower, shining under the thick cloud layer. Flashes of white now, internal lightning, and frequent rumbles.
One damn, she really can do this. And even if the Triceratops won't take a run through the Helaos' camp, in the dark and rain we may be able to sneak in with the corridor.
Ebsa looked around again. Nothing near, and now the Triceratops were moving south. Not stampeding, but not lingering, either. Do they have a favored spot to sit out storms? Or just a regular nighttime spot? Damn these Helaos, we ought to be studying all of that.
A bright lance of light, crack of thunder. Big splats of rain.
Ebsa headed for the hatch. Being the tallest thing around in a thunderstorm was not a good idea. Especially not while holding a metal tube with explosives . . .
He shut the hatch behind him and racked the weapon. Looked out the door. The rain was coming down harder, and Ra'd and Nighthawk ran for shelter, laughing.
"So. You really can stir up a storm." Ebsa grinned at the witch. "But can you stop it?"
She grinned right back. "You're a bit late to think of that complication!"
"Ouch. Well. How about some dinner, and then we can move in on the fort."
An hour later the rain was sluicing down in the dark. They drove ten kilometers closer, parked behind a grove of trees, and headed for the fort on foot.
:: Acty! :: Ebsa suddenly felt the man's confused thoughts. :: Ready to get out of here? ::
:: Ebsa! One yes. Where are you? ::
:: Just outside. Please tell whoever is on duty to not shoot us. ::
:: Right! Shall I wake everyone up? ::
:: Yes, but show few lights. Give them five minutes to pack while we figure out how to get up the wall. ::
Ra'd snorted—quietly—at that.
Nighthawk was keeping track of the Helaos, since she seemed better able to sense them. Even knowing where they were, Ebsa still "read" them as small dull animals. He watched the wet miserable sentry march past, and brought up the rear as Ra'd eased up to the wall of Fort Dinosaur.
