Mission Critical

by T. R. Harris

  “My lord!”

  “What is it now?”

  “A contact has come on the screen. It…it is enormous. What is it?”

  “That would be the Calvary,” Adam answered.

  Volic studied the screen. He recognized the image materializing before his eyes. It was Adam’s Colony Ship. He turned to the three guards manning posts along the side of the command dome. “Shoot him! Kill all the Humans.”

  Volic’s mouth fell open as he watched the shackles on Adam’s arms pop open and fall to the deck. Adam glared at the alien. He wanted to rip the alien’s heart out, but first he had to dodge the incoming flash bolts from the guards.

  Although Gracilians were tall and husky, they also had a thin bone structure, and in the light gravity of the research station they weighed about eighty Earth pounds. With Adam’s added strength, he was able to lift the comm tech from his chair and throw him at the guards. The aliens were using targeting computers in their weapons, and the movement of the tech through the air confused the sensors. Bolts lit off, but they hit the tech rather than their intended target. After that, Adam did some fancy broken field running to reach the first two guards. He threw his body into the pair, crushing bone and cartilage, before picking up a fallen bolt launcher and sweeping the room, taking out both guards and techs alike. The unfamiliar flash weapon was set at level-one intensity, with twelve bolts to a battery pack. That was impressive. As he fired, Adam questioned why the Gracilian-designed and Incus-built weapons weren’t more popular? This thing was fantastic.

  Unfortunately, by the time Adam was done killing every alien in the room, Volic had escaped.

  Hey guys, he said through the ATD. Our buddy Jym has arrived. And that little thing about Volic destroying the Earth…well that’s been handled, too.

  My hero, replied Copernicus, the sarcasm coming through his thoughts loud and clear.

  But Volic’s on the loose, so you might want to find the DMC and secure it before he gets to it. The last I saw, they had all the dark matter stuff out on arm number four. Go get it and then meet me at the Orion.

  We’re on our way, Riyad’s voice said in his mind.

  27

  Adam locked down the command dome to keep any ambitious guards from making their way inside. He walked to the wraparound viewport and looked out. The Colony Ship was out there, dwarfing everything around it. He was reminded of the famous line from Star Wars—That’s no moon, it’s a space station. Although it was only twenty miles in diameter, this close to the research station, the damn thing did look like the Death Star.

  There were flashes around the huge globe, as tiny dots of reflective light fired on the ship. Yet every time a bolt flashed out and hit the station, a dozen answering streaks of light targeted the source. This was the impressive defenses of the Colony Ship that Jym spoke of. It only took a few minutes for the attackers to realize the futility of their action and they retreated.

  Adam, can you hear me?

  Sure can, Jym. Welcome to the party.

  Is there a party? Regrettably, I cannot attend, I am still in the Colony Ship.

  I know that, and well done. Looks like the bad guys are bugging out.

  Adam!

  He heard Arieel’s thoughts in his head.

  Hey babe. How’s it going?

  Why are you so calm? Is there not a battle underway?

  Not for much longer, at least not out there. Listen Arieel, I have to go now. I’ll be in touch when things are secure here.

  There was still a large number of armed Gracilians on the station. Volic was also on the loose and there was no telling what he might do. Adam gathered up all the weapons he could find and left the dome.

  There was wholesale panic in the station. Most of those who worked there were scientists—both Gracilians and Incus—and they were having no part in the battle. Adam always found the Incus to be funny looking creatures, shaped like five-foot tall ‘S’s’ with stubby arms and legs. But when they ran, it was like something out of a cartoon; legs a blur as they scurried along.

  The scientists didn’t pay him any attention; the military troops, on the other hand, were part of the mad rush and mixed in with everyone else. Some made eye contact with him, which was too late for them. The panic level climbed considerably as Adam blasted guard after guard in the middle of the running crowd. And they were all running, for escape pods or to the arms. Adam felt the station jerk a couple of times, as the fingers broke off to become independent spaceships under chemical drive. Adam didn’t care about them. He let them go.

  How are you guys coming with the DMC?

  We got it, and it only cost the lives of about a dozen Gracilians, but they died with honor, said Riyad. So what happened with the whole Earth going kaput thing?

  It seems our friend Volic sent one of those world-powering devices to Earth with one of the cubes rigged to blow. He was all set to send the trigger code when I disabled the station’s only CW comm. He couldn’t get the signal out. Thank you very much, I’ll be here all week. Adam took a mental bow.

  Wait a minute, Coop said. The concern in his emotions came through the mental link. You thought there’s only one CW facility on the station?

  I only detected one.

  Only one active facility. Each of the arms has a station that activates when the emergency protocols are initiated.

  Like when an arm breaks away and flies off? Riyad asked.

  Exactly.

  You mean Volic could still send the signal?

  If he gets to an arm and activates the emergency breakaway, Copernicus replied. And there’s one other thing. The main CW facility has a conventional relay backup system. It’s separate from the main system. If you shut off the main CW array that only means the signal went out conventionally.

  Jym! Adam yelled through his ATD.

  Yes Adam, said the little bear, annoyed. I can hear you quite loudly.

  How long would it take a conventional wormhole signal to reach Earth from here?

  Repeat please.

  You heard me. How long?

  Give me a moment. A few seconds later he came back into Adam’s mind. Six hours, why?

  Adam ducked into a quiet passageway, free of the confusion and panic in the main corridor. He had to think. It had already been half an hour since Volic sent the signal. There was still time to warn Earth, but not much.

  Riyad, get to the Orion. Use the ship’s CW link to contact General Sharp. You remember him?

  Yeah, he’s the guy we stole the trans-dimensional starship from.

  Tell him to find a man named Brian Parker. He has the device. It shouldn’t be hard to do. He has an ultimate power source and will probably be making a big deal out of it. Tell the general to get the device and separate the cubes. Then get them as far away from each other as he can. One of them is rigged to explode. And Riyad, we only have a little over five hours for all this to happen.

  Understood. We’re on our way. But you need to find Volic. If he gets to a CW station, it won’t matter what we do. Earth would still be toast.

  Now go! I’ll find Volic.

  28

  Adam rushed off along the wide, curved hallway, passing panicking Gracilians and a few Incus scurrying along on their short legs. No one paid the Human any attention, more concerned for their own safety than what he was doing.

  He found the entrance to the Number Two arm—the only remaining arm to the station—and rushed through the portal. The arm was about five hundred feet long and a dozen Gracilian scientists came racing away in the opposite direction.

  Adam grabbed one and threw him against the wall. “Volic! Have you seen him?”

  Confused and afraid, the alien answered without coxing. “He passed moments ago.” Wide eyes shifted down the corridor. Adam released him and continued through the central passageway.

  He passed through another portal, then stopped and turned when a loud rumbling came from behind. Two huge security doors rolled out from the bulkhead and clanged shut. On t
he other side of the door was a louder noise; that of explosive bolts going off. Gravity flinched for a moment before a blast of fresh air hit his face.

  Half of the laboratory extension had just detached from the rest of the station and was racing away under a steady blast of chemical power. He moved farther along the central passageway, knowing that the end of the tiny spaceship was only about two hundred feet ahead of him. Volic had to be in here somewhere.

  The end of the arm bulged out into a wide arc, with laboratories placed along the outer wall. All the doors were closed—

  And that’s when Adam took a level-one bolt to the back.

  The intense ball of plasma hit at an angle instead of straight on, but still it had enough energy to throw him to the floor with his back feeling like it was on fire. With a face painted in agony, he crawled on hands and knees for a side door just as another bolt splashed on the deck next to him. He fell against the door and it slid open. Another bolt hit the door frame, causing the electronics in the door to go crazy, jamming it open. He crawled farther into the room.

  Adam took one of the Gracilian flash weapons he had and began to fill the corridor with random bolts, fired in rapid succession. It would keep his attacker at bay, at least for the moment. But all he had to do was wait until Adam exhausted all his bolts, and then simply enter the room and shoot him dead.

  Adam had one more trick he could try. He took one of the flash weapons, and with his Human strength, bent the barrel, collapsing the bolt-way. He triggered the weapon and then tossed it down the passageway. It only took a second for the pent up energy of the bolt to overload the system. The weapon exploded like a small grenade.

  Fighting through the pain in his back, he crawled to the doorway and looked out. A Gracilian soldier lay dead a few feet away. A bloody leg was across the hallway while half the alien’s face was missing. Adam nodded. That worked.

  He forced himself to stand and staggered back into the corridor.

  A level-one blast to the center of his back should have been lethal. But it had hit obliquely, and the added toughness of mutant-enhanced skin also helped. Still, he was badly hurt. He could feel broken ribs and his heart had been affected temporarily by the strong electrical shock, causing it to beat wildly. He leaned against the wall, breathing heavily and feeling lightheaded. After a moment, the aching pain in his chest began to subside. He firmed his jaw and set off down the hallway. He had to find Volic before he could send the signal again. The fate of Earth depended on it.

  The signal! It had to be sent through another CW link, and the equipment necessary was something he could track with his ATD. He made his way into another deserted room and sat on the floor, his shoulder against the wall rather than his burning back. His ATD was doing strange things at the moment, having been affected by the strong electrical shock of the level-one flash bolt. As he concentrated, he was receiving bright bursts of energy that filled his mental vision. This was not from any external sources. The device was shedding excess energy to keep from burning out. Sherri’s ATD had been destroyed by a direct hit from a flash weapon. He prayed his wasn’t out of operation. He needed it now more than ever.

  A moment later the mental flashes ended. He didn’t know if that was good or bad. He tested the unit on the local sliding door. He could identify the control module, displayed in his mind. And then it disappeared. He concentrated again, and only reluctantly, did the signal return, but only vaguely. His ATD was working, just not very well.

  Adam reached out with his mental awareness and imagined running along the outer skin of the arm, now a fleeing spaceship many thousands of miles from the research station. He picked a number of flickering electronic signals, flickering from the sporadic nature of his ATD. But what he didn’t find was a CW array. Either Copernicus was wrong about each section having its own facility, or Volic hadn’t energized it yet.

  Adam got up off the floor. If he couldn’t find the facility through his ATD, he would have to find it the old fashion way, by searching each room along the curve of the corridor. He stood up, feeling a little better now. The pain was still there but manageable. He began to cautiously open each door he came to.

  He opened the fifth door and squinted into the darkness. Lights had come on automatically in all the other rooms he’d checked, but not this one. He moved to the side of the doorway just as he was greeted by a blinding flash and another burning pain, this one to his chest. He’d been shot again, but this time by a lower-intensity bolt..

  The light burst on in the room and he spotted two Gracilian scientists holding flash weapons, with Volic behind them. Adam took aim with his bolt launcher and laid two quick shots into the chests of the aliens guarding their leader. Yet, just as he was about to pull the trigger on Volic, he succumbed to the pain and shock and collapsed to the floor. Volic ran forward and took the weapon from Adam’s numb hand and another from his waistband. Then the alien stood back and smiled.

  “Are you going to live, Mr. Adam?” the alien asked cheerfully.

  Although painful, the level-two bolt wouldn’t normally have had such an impact on a Human. But coupled with the effects of the level-one still coursing through his body, it was nearly fatal. Adam’s pain threshold was helped by the training his brain had received from Panur’s mutant cells, otherwise he would have given up by now. But he fought for consciousness, letting the importance of his mission give him strength. He got to his hands and knees, groaning from the effort.

  Volic leaned against a computer console, watching Adam with undisguised satisfaction. “You have made a valiant effort, Mr. Adam. This adds credence to all the stories I have heard of you throughout the years. Yet, I am sad to say, you are at the end of your journey. I have your weapons and you are in no condition to oppose me. You are aware that the signal to Earth was sent out earlier, just by conventional means. That will still be enough for me to reach my goal. But now I will activate another CW station. You may—somehow—be able to override the system. But soon you will be either dead or unconscious. At that point I will simply reenergize the circuits and send my message. As with your unmasking of the DMC earlier, all your actions have served is to delay the inevitable. Now I will live on, as will all my plans for galactic domination.”

  “Not so fast, asshole.”

  The room was filled with a brilliant flash. When Adam’s already fading vision cleared, he saw the sizzling hole burnt in Volic’s chest. His eyes were open and his expression one of shock and confusion. His head bent over, just enough for him to see the blacked cavity. A hand reached up but never made it. His body crumpled to the deck.

  Adam was fading fast, but he was sure he recognized the voice from behind him.

  “Sherri?”

  Soft hands were on him. “I’m here.”

  “Here…how?”

  “Don’t worry about that now. Let’s get you some help.”

  Sherri stepped to the energized CW station. Adam heard her speak but the words were muddled in his mind. He slumped face down to the cool metal of the deck, letting out a long breath as he did. Sherri was here. He would be fine.

  And with that, Adam promptly passed out.

  29

  When he awoke, Adam was in a hospital bed, covered in a light sheet and hooked up to IVs and monitoring equipment. He recognized the room as one of the many medical suites in the Klin Colony Ship. There was a familiar vibration coming from the walls and deck, telling him the ship was underway.

  He glanced to his right and saw Arieel Bol in all her magnificent glory asleep in a chair at his bedside. He shifted his position slightly and grimaced from the pain coming from, well, everywhere. Arieel woke up.

  “Adam, you are awake, how wonderful!”

  “The Earth…what happened to the Earth?”

  “Your planet, it survives. The message was received and acted upon. Riyad wishes to give you more details.” She ran to the doorway and called out to unseen people outside.

  A moment later the room was filled with…everyone.


  “So he survives another great adventure,” Riyad said through his trademark brilliant smile. “You know this is getting old. No one’s going to believe you can survive this many close calls.”

  “Hey, I’m the hero. I’m supposed to survive.”

  “Is that how it goes? I’ll have to remember that when I get my own series.”

  “What happened on Earth.”

  “I can tell you there’s a new crater in Arizona. General Sharp found our energy tycoon and confiscated the dark matter generator. They got the cubes separated, although they couldn’t tell which one was set to explode. It ended up being the one they placed in the desert near Winslow. I’m sure the dark matter crater will soon become the newest tourist attraction in the area.”

  Sherri stepped up to the side of the bed and took his hand. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I’ve been shot by a couple of flash bolts and nearly died.”

  “That just about sums it up.”

  “But you were there. How?”

  “I came over from the Klin saucer in a spacesuit, hoping to lend you guys a hand. I sneaked in through one of the chem drive exhaust ports in the arm you were in. Coop and I discovered the way while figuring out how to get to the dark matter collector. I got there just before the damn thing broke away and fired up. I thought I’d really screwed up until I heard you blow up that Gracilian in the hallway. After that, I just followed the trail of blood until I found you.”

  “And Volic?”

  “Yeah, I never really liked him very much. Dude never even saw it coming.”

  “Thank you,” Adam said, squeezing her hand a little tighter. “You saved the day.”