Druid's Descendants (Druid's Path Book 4)

by Mark Philipson

  Pushaman answered through Masato 2: “The caves are temporary. Water seeps in through cracks in the ice. If the passages are not swept or lit with white stone lamps, the water will return to solid matter.”

  Pushaman held the tip of the spear close to his face. Eyes flashed. A faint dot of light glowed where the shaft met the point and then radiated up into the tip and outward. Using broad, sweeping motions, the hybrid passed the glowing end of the spear across the face of the dripping wall. Cracks and seams fused. The water stopped seeping into the tunnel.

  Two hours later, after scouring and shoring up cavern walls, the captain and the hybrid came upon an intersecting tunnel set at a downward angle. Tubular crystal lanterns, embedded in the ice, illuminated the passage.

  On the floor of the tunnel, a snow-covered ramp stretched into the corridor. A chain of lanterns narrowed to a string of bright globes shining in the distance.

  Pushaman held the spear at his side and stepped onto the ramp. The hybrid leaned forward and slid down into the depths.

  Kenshin jumped on a split second later. He lowered his stance and pumped his legs into an even stride. The captain counted each lantern a he glided down the ramp. Upon reaching 30, the ramp leveled.

  Pushaman stood next to the rim of a vertical shaft. Mist rose and swirled in a stream of light. The hybrid jammed the spear into the floor. Shards of ices flew in all directions. “Follow,” Pushaman said and lowered himself into the narrow opening. The hybrid used the jagged sides to ease his massive body down.

  Kenshin entered the hole and tested the wall with his feet. When he found a footing on an outcropping, he worked his toes into the crevice below and dug his fingers into the ledge above. The irregular walls provided an abundance of grab spots. Kenshin reached the bottom of the passage in ten minutes.

  Masato 2 waited at the rim. When Kenshin and Pushaman reached the bottom, the holographic dissolved and reappeared at the bottom.

  “Home,” Pushaman said. Masato 2’s deep voice resonated off the cavern. The hybrid stepped into light filling the center of the shaft.

  Kenshin followed. After a momentary flash, his feet landed on a crystal platform. A bridge of ice spanned the upper reaches of a cave towering 1,000 meters above a shimmering lake. Crystalline blocks lined terraces down the face of the cave to the lake’s edge. Stairways, carved from ice, connected the terraces.

  Masato 2, now on the platform, recorded three dimensional images of the cave and transmitted renderings to Sobuku’s console. On the research deck, from the input data, she confirmed the chemical compound of the ice crystals to be pure Brahmantium.

  “It’s as I suspected,” Masato 1 stated when it saw the reports. “The richest deposit of the mineral on the planet —” Masato paused and corrected himself, “The richest deposit we know the existence of.”

  Sobuku cleared her throat and waited.

  “Navigate to a directory named Sky Guard.”

  Sobuku found the directory under an icon of what Ancients called a ballista. She invoked a blueprint of a tubular object.

  22

  ON BOARD THE Gato, on the research deck, Masato 1 hovered to the side as Sobuku leafed through the pages of a detailed blueprint in the Sky Guard directory.

  “Set the base first,” Masato 1 said when Sobuku located an orthographic drawing.

  From top-down view, Sobuku focused on a square piece, selected it and dragged it off the drawing. The piece tilted forward as a copy left the screen behind and reformed as a holograph. The piece expanded from screen-size to one quarter of the final scale. While Sobuku moved it to a clear spot on the console, she extruded the Z axis in the positive direction. The one meter square piece thickened to 5.5 millimeters.

  The gun platform, a simple round object, came next. Sobuku copied and extracted the circle, centering the holograph on the base. She adjusted the dimensions to bring the outer edge within one-half meter of the base’s inner edge.

  When the platform fell into place on the clearing on the console, Sobuku selected and copied a square, and then pulled out the holograph and let the flat piece hover over the forming prototype.

  Masato 1 said, “Scale Y axis to .5 meters.”

  Sobuku squinted at the drawing and forced it into a rectangle by compressing the vertical edges.

  When the holograph eased to a stop within 2 millimeters of the platform, Masato 1 said, “Extrude one-quarter meter on Z axis. Isolate top section and scale down 100 millimeters.”

  After two more extrusions in the positive direction and one in the negative, a rectangular cube with a wide base and two narrower stages stacked on top of that joined the prototype.

  Sobuku located the barrel, made a coy, dragged it out, and graphed it. She gave the barrel dimension, forcing it into the shape and sizes specified by Masato 1 while fitting the barrel to the prototype weapon.

  Masato 1 stepped back, falling silent. The holographic image of the Director of the Institute of Natural Science studied the holographic image of a weapon designed to save the world that’s never been built before. Masato 1 moved on to the next phase of the operation by streaming the loading and firing mechanism plans from the Coreglass data fibers into the holograph’s multi-thread memory.

  In its present state, the prototype looked like a block of white clay molded into a composite of primitive shapes. A firing mechanism and ammunition would transform it into a weapon.

  In the ice cavern, Masato 2, up until now just a blocky, two dimensional snapshot, took on the high resolution, three dimensional holographic depiction of Director Hasegawa. Masato 2 copied a data stream and projected the document onto the ice. The graph spoke: “We will cut pieces of the material found in this cavern to the dimensions specified in this document. The excavated material will be brought back the Gato Kujira Maru and reassembled.”

  Kenshin caught himself. He was about to ask the graph about ammunition but decided to keep his mouth shut. The director must’ve written the solution to that issue into the program.

  The instance of Masato’s graph copied the components of the drawing and overlaid the pieces on a flat section of the wall. Glowing rivulets streamed in all directions along a maze of embedded fibers.

  “Pushaman, show me your knife?” Masato 2 asked the hybrid.

  When Pushaman offered the long blade, Masato 2 burned in a tick mark 10 millimeters below the tip. “Make the knife hot from this point forward.”

  Pushaman squeezed the hilt, easing up when the blade glowed to the edge of the mark.

  “Cut the first piece and remove it when it’s finished,” Masato 2 told Pushaman.

  Pushaman looked at the overlay. He stared at the knife. The hot section straightened and thickened. A row of evenly-spaced teeth filled the tip. The hybrid plunged the now saw-toothed front end of the knife into the ice. The glowing droplets racing in the fibers halted and bunched up into a solid mass of light at the center.

  When the cut was finished, Pushaman dismissed the hot end of the knife. The hybrid inserted the blade at the center of the lower end of the cut. Pushaman set a padded hand near the upper section. As the palm of the hybrid’s hand adhered to the surface, it eased the piece out from the wall.

  Masato 2 told Pushaman to square-off a stalagmite, turn the piece over, and set it on the block. The director’s holograph copied a section of the drawing and overlaid the instance on the outer edge. On the underside of the piece, a series of grooves appeared, 30 millimeters long by 7 millimeters wide, beginning flush on the inside edges and dipping to 5 millimeters on the perimeter.

  “Captain Kamura, you will trace out the refinements while Pushaman performs the rough cuts and sets the pieces,” Masato 2 said. The image nodded to Pushaman. The hybrid broke off a stalactite and handed the glowing ice crystal to Kenshin.

  As the captain felt the warmth emitting from the liquid core, Masato 2 accessed Kenshin’s plug and uploaded a data stream. In the captain’s right hand, the icicle changed shape. The long end collapsed into the base. Th
e base took on the shape of a hand-grip and fitted to the folds of Kenshin’s palm. A shaft grew out of the lower end of the grip, flattening out into a narrow paddle studded with fine teeth.

  Kenshin turned his hand over. Releasing the knurled handle stopped the glow, bringing the shaft flush with the base of the hand-grip and leaving tip of the paddle exposed.

  Kenshin set the tool on the inner edge of the mark. The captain followed the instructions pouring out of the plug. He drew the tool outward, applying grip pressure. The tip glowed and the shaft extended as it cut a graduated ramp to the edge.

  The work continued: Masato 2 projected component dimensions on the ice. Pushaman cut the pieces, extracted them, and set them in place. Kenshin carved out the details.

  23

  PUSHAMAN GUIDED THE glowing knife over the curved overlay. The hybrid deactivated the blade and pried the cylinder out of the wall.

  Once the last component was in place, the top end of the grip extended outward from the captain’s hand. A plug formed on the tip of the shaft. Kenshin set the plug on the narrow end of the piece. Grip pressure made the plug hot. The glowing forward end bored a smooth hole as the lengthening shaft plunged through the ice. The plug burned rifling pattern into the barrel as the shaft receded.

  When the last detail on the last piece was cut, Pushaman carried the first piece cut from the wall to the shore. The hybrid set the square slab of thin ice on his back. He dove into the lake and vanished into a hole. Holding the piece on his back, Pushaman kicked hard toward an illuminated section of the cavern.

  On the Gato, Sobuku and Masato 1 watched as Pushaman emerged from the waters of the holding bay. The hybrid hoisted the piece to the whale’s head as the ship bowed to the surface.

  Pushaman pushed itself clear of the head, and swam back through the tunnel. When the hybrid re-emerged at the base of the ice tower, it lifted the next component and swam through the flooded cavern.

  As Pushaman dove with the last piece cradled in his arms, Kenshin wondered how he was going to get back to the ship. The protective skin-suit could withstand exposure to water at low temperature, but, could it generate enough oxygen to swim over a kilometer under water.

  Kenshin received the order to evacuate the ice tower. From the shore, the captain ascended the staircase past the terraced levels and stood on the platform in the center of the ice bridge.

  Masato 2 appeared, “Point the hand tool to the ceiling,” the holograph said.

  Kenshin lifted his arm and applied pressure. A disc expanded out from the top, widened, and then spun into a blur. The spinning disc bore a hole up into the ice. Kenshin retracted the tool and climbed out of the vertical chimney.

  As he looked down at the cavernous interior of the ice tower, the escape hole froze over.

  Kenshin walked across the ice field.

  When Captain Kamura returned to the Gato, the Masato 1 and Masato 2 holographs moved closer together, touched, and merged into the original instance of the director.

  Masato invoked a copy of the prototype from the research deck and presented it topside. The platform rotated the barrel support structure. The barrel tilted in a circular pattern, covering different angles as it spun on the platform.

  As the prototype scaled to full-size, Masato spoke: “The ordnance will be surgically mounted to the forward section. The base will be spliced into the Gato’s charged fat cells and connected to the main Coreglass fiber network. The weapon will use an advanced form of sonar wave manipulation to locate and lock-on specified targets.”

  On the research deck, Sobuku saw a flashing icon. She dismissed it and plugged in. From the network, Sobuku located the control panel monitoring thick layers of whale blubber. She downloaded a local anesthetic protocol from a thread in the Coreglass and distributed the resulting chemical compound to every fat cell.

  “Anesthetic is administered.” Sobuku’s voice came out of Masato’s image.

  Kenshin went below and returned carrying a tubular device terminating in a pair of rings.

  Pushaman lifted the base. Masato projected the outline on the hide. Kenshin set the device on the skin. He squeezed a protrusion on the inside of the upper ring. The lower ring eased downward until coming to rest on the head.

  The captain applied equal pressure to the top. The Gato felt nothing as a beam of concentrated Coreglass energy traced the shape of the base component through the skin and bored into the underlying layer of fat.

  Kenshin adjusted the rings, directing the beam to a 90° angle and fanning out the trajectory. The energy scoured the surface of the fat layer, cutting it apart and preparing the remaining surface for surgery.

  When the beam completed the cut, Kenshin set the device down, peeled away the skin and blubber flap, and tossed it on the ice-shelf.

  Pushaman lifted the base. The hybrid set the piece into the exposed section of the head. As the channels cut into the sloped edge came into contact with the fat cells, charged electrons stored in the blubber combined with the raw Brahmantium making up 100 percent of the base.

  On the research deck, Sobuku saw a power spike on the display as the base came online. Alerts sounded as levels on the histogram climbed. She lowered acceptance and raised impedance until both indicators normalized. The alerts stopped.

  On the head, Kenshin fused the Gato’s hide to the base by melting the skin and fat and then drawing the bead tight against the base.

  Pushaman set the platform down. Kenshin focused the energy beam, welding the pieces together. Sobuku monitored the power surges, adjusting input and output thresholds.

  The gun support came next.

  The director’s holograph appeared on the research deck. Masato gave Sobuku access to a locked section of the Sky Guard directory. Inside, a diagram flashed onto the screen. “This the core of the firing mechanism. We will use the incoming power bursts to construct it,” Masato said.

  Masato guided Sobuku as she established direct contact with the head gun.

  “Advance input to accept a power increase of 120 percent,” Masato told Sobuku. “Use this surge to form the fluted surface of the firing mechanism cavity.”

  Sobuku isolated a stream of electrons and programmed the dimensions of the part into it. She compressed the surge and directed the power-blast through the fat layer, up into the head gun, and though the firing tube.

  A series of grooves converged at the lower end, spread across the floor, and climbed the walls of the tube.

  “One-hundred and fifty percent power for the next step,” Masato said.

  Sobuku boosted the output slider. Seconds after the surge attained maximum output levels, a cylinder formed out of the channel convergence, separated and hung suspended in the chamber.

  “Back-off to 100 percent,” Masato said.

  24

  THE HYBRID LIFTED the final piece. When Pushaman set the piece, an extruded section on the lower end fit into the firing chamber and covered the upright cylinder.

  Kenshin welded the rifled barrel to the support. He returned to the bridge. Pushaman followed the captain. The seat behind expanded to accept the hybrid’s massive frame. Over-charged electrons coursed through fat cells and moved thick layers of blubber to accommodate Pushaman’s dimensions.

  On the research deck, Masato’s graph said, “Allow input surges of 125 percent of full power to hold for two seconds. Repeat burst at ten second intervals until ordered to stop.”

  When the second incoming spike came through, Sobuku directed the surge to the sonar translator memory crystal. The boosted signal picked up millions of lines of code on its path.

  When the burst struck the microscopic translation circuits, it burned in new memory patterns.

  Two bursts later and the upgrade to the sonar translator was fully installed into the Coreglass fibers.

  Kenshin activated the first outgoing signal on the improved sonar. The whale’s sonar, primarily designed for underwater use, displayed a high performance rate through the atmosphere. Drawn images, tra
nslated from deflecting sonar waves, populated the consoles in real-time.

  The scope showed an object dropping down from high altitude. Kenshin isolated the object and directed a sonar blast. In an instant, the translator wrapped the object in a wire-frame, extruded shapes, and applied textures. A wide head sat where a pair of black, segmented wings merged. Swept-back legs terminated into huge talons.

  A bat-airship of the Marauder class swooped down from the stratosphere. As the bat drew closer enhanced sonar drew more detail. A long, metallic teardrop-shaped device was attached to a framework implanted into the hide.

  Masato messaged Kenshin on the bridge:

  — Bring up the object on the gun sight, Captain Kamura.

  Kenshin saw the newly installed icon of the head gun flashing. He invoked it and centered the incoming image in the cross-hairs. Topside, the head gun rotated and searched angles in the sky. Kenshin waited.

  — Fire on my command, Captain.

  Sobuku, following the director’s instructions, diverted a block of code to the trigger mechanism. The code passed through the grooves in the tube and entered the missile in the chamber.

  — Fire.

  Kenshin activated the trigger. The missile left the barrel and locked onto the incoming airship. The the missile ignited when it passed supersonic speeds. Billions of Brahmantium electrons, loaded with upgraded code, filled the sky.

  The first thing Captain Poormina Kalapedia, the pilot of the airship saw on the display in the cockpit was a complete loss of sonar guidance. The next thing the captain noticed was that the payload she carried had gone offline.

  Kalapedia grabbed the steering column. In manual control, the captain turned hard to starboard. When the bat felt the tug from the surgically implanted wire, it dipped its right wing and banked to the right.

  With sonar disabled, Kalapedia peered into the darkness and guided giant wings into a long, sweeping arc that brought the ship about.