"Prophet, I've entered the coords," the general said. "Please do DX stardrive now."
I did it.
The simport blacked out as we successfully launched into DX stardrive. Did it! I felt a great relief.
"I want damage reports," the general began.
Another alarm sounded, and a monitor filled with info.
"Pursuit!" Bird reported. "Something is following us in our DX starworm!"
"Damn it!" the general said. "I didn't know they could do that. Can we counter it?"
"Ship is autoacting," Bird said. "Leaving debris in our wake to destroy the intruder if it runs into it. Uh-oh, the intruder is gaining. Stand by!"
A deep boom rang out and the ship shook violently.
"Impact," Bird said. "It hit us."
Another alarm rang out, shrieking its message. "Warning, it says, starworm collapsing, exiting starworm!" Bird said.
With a deep shudder, we exited stardrive and the simport was full of stars.
"Get our position," the general ordered. Bird was already working on it.
"Look at that damage report. No good news I can see," the general said.
"Can we go back into stardrive?" Saka asked.
"We can try," Bird said. "If it's inadvisable, I believe the ship will warn us. Where do you want to go, General?"
"We need some time to…"
Another alarm. "Intruders, exiting stardrive, two four five saucers, exiting, we'd better go," Bird said.
"Get me coords for the nearest yellow world," the general said. The five enemy craft had evidently spotted us. They were coming at us, already launching. The missiles were on their way. I could see them, gliding over the screen, twenty little evil crimson specks, headed right for us.
"All right, coords set, go Prophet," Bird said. I activated DX stardrive, at about the same time as the enemy missiles reached our position. The simport went black just as the Golden Lotus shuddered from another hit.
STARDRIVE ENTRY UNDERWAY. SHIELDING INACTIVE. ANTIMAT DRIVE FAILING. The translations were burnt into the screen, and into my brain.
"Where are we going?" the general asked.
"Vezhedak, status yellow, recently captured by the Brights."
"Think we'll make it there?"
"Don't know."
"Attention all hands," the general said. "Our mission was one hundred percent successful. We annihilated the entire industrial complex, then engaged in combat with the defenders. We suffered several hits and have serious damage. We are in stardrive heading for a Bright world in hopes of eluding further D attacks. Our shielding is down. Our antimat drive is failing. We don't know if we’re going to make it. I'd like you all to know that it has been an honor and a privilege to serve with all of you. If we should crashland downside successfully, don't wait for orders – just abandon ship as soon as you can."
The ship shook, vibrating wildly.
"Prophet, check the DX stargate autofix," the general ordered. I did.
AUTOFIX UNDERWAY, it said. Great. My blood was icy in my veins. I knew we’d fight to the end, just as Bees had promised the gods. I thought of Honeyhair. I thought of Delta, all of them – my blood brothers and sisters. The thin black line. Invade our universe, will you? How do you like that, D's? Think you're safe from us in Mid Haven? Think again! Think we won't die for our cause? Think again!
Δ
STARDRIVE EXIT UNDERWAY. SHIELDING INACTIVE. ANTIMAT DRIVE FAILING. NINE MAJOR PENETRATIONS UNDER REPAIR. That was what the translations read on the instrument panel. The Golden Lotus was shaking, but she was holding. I was sweating icy sweat. Just a little longer, babe, I thought. Just a little longer. The simport filled with stars. There! We're out of stardrive.
STARDRIVE EXIT SUCCESSFUL. ANTIMAT DRIVE FAILURE. ON EMERGENCY POWER. The instrument panel was glowing red. There were so many problem areas it was getting very confusing to sort them out. The ship did not suggest a further course of action.
"All right, what do we do?" I asked.
"We go on momentum," the general said. "The emergency power should get us there at least." We could see our target planet out the simport. Vezhedak, seemingly covered in thick grey clouds. We were headed for it like a laser beam. The Golden Lotus was performing its last task.
"And once we're into the at, we control it with the antigrav?" I asked.
"The flight controls should work fine once we're in the at," the general said, "and the antigrav should allow us to touch down safely. Attention all hands. We are attempting an emergency landing on the Bright planet Vezhedak. Be prepared to abandon ship in event of a hard landing."
"Are you expecting a hard landing?" I asked.
"No, I'm expecting adulation and congratulations for the soft landing. However, it's better to be prepared for the worst."
"At least the D's are unlikely to follow us here, right?" Saka asked.
"That depends entirely on how bad they want to kill us," the general replied.
Another alert sounded. We were getting used to them. ALERT. INTRUDERS. We noted them on the monitor, four Demon IDAG saucers, exiting stardrive. Damn it!
"Not much we can do at this point except run," the general said. "With no shielding and no antimat, we're dead. They're still a good ways off. With luck, we may enter the at before they launch."
It was going to be close. We alerted Doggie and the rest of Delta and watched Vezhedak enlarge in our scopes and watched the D saucers coming at us. Finally they launched and we again watched far too many antimat missiles approach us as tiny red dots on the monitor. Then we entered the atmosphere and the Golden Lotus shuddered as she hit the thick blanket of air and cut through the clouds. The general played with the controls a bit to steer our entry away from the original course.
"This planet is controlled by the Brights, right?" I asked.
"That's what it says on the star charts," Bird replied.
Another alert shrieked at us. ALERT. MISSILES LOCKED ON. The general whipped the ship to one side, then up, then down. By that time we were red hot and flaming. I could see three missiles on the monitor, following us into the atmosphere. It was just like a nightmare.
An ear-shattering bang rocked the ship. And then another, slamming us around in our restraints. The general continued yanking the ship back and forth, heading for the deck. The instrument panel was solid red, the monitors were full of emergency notices, and my bloodstream was full of adrenalin. I kept my hands on the controls, to give us every possible DX advantage. MAJOR DAMAGE, REPAIRS HAVE FAILED, IMMINENT FAILURE OF AIRFRAME, RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE LANDING AND ABANDON SHIP, I managed to read on the monitor. Deadman!
"Attention all hands! We are under attack by Demon ships and have suffered catastrophic damage. We are landing under fire. Once we are down, activate all emergency exits and abandon ship and run from the ship fast as you can!"
I watched us approach the surface out the simport – a thick black forest of giant trees, tall rugged mountains, a clouded sky, antimats shooting past us and erupting in the trees, flash flash, mushroom clouds rising. We crashed right into those giant black trees, trees that looked like they had stood untouched for a thousand years, and we were snapping off great boughs and branches, disintegrating them, slicing the trees themselves in half, toppling those mighty leviathans. We ripped through the forest to a reluctant halt, balanced gently on the antigrav, a huge IDAG saucer, shimmering with faint agate colors, blue and green and pink and black, bearing the AC seal and the name Golden Lotus. The ship was flickering, flames bursting to life. Outside the simport, an IDAG saucer shot over us, firing antimats.
"Abandon ship!" the general cried out. He hit the landing controls and the emergency exit activation and the ship lurched downwards and the ramp popped out and emergency exits appeared all over the ship. An evac slide opened right by the cockpit and the general pushed us towards it.
"Go! Go!" he said. Saka and Bird and I hesitated a bit, then turned away from the slide and ran along the corridor towards the main entrance. A
giant hit rocked the ship. It burst into flame and the flames chased us along the corridor. Bees, Doggie, Scout, Arie, Smiley and Blackie were all standing by the ramp looking anxiously our way.
"Get out! Get out!" the general called out behind us. This time we all charged down the ramp to the outside.
Blackie bounded off the ramp first, onto a forest floor littered with rotting leaves and debris. The ship exploded, a mighty antimat blast, direct hit, catapulting us all into the forest, tumbling wildly in our A-suits. Another antimat hit right next to the ship, mighty trees crashing down in slow motion. I landed heavily on the forest floor and scrambled to my feet and ran for my life, away from the target, which was burning brightly, lighting up the forest. It was cold and dark, heavy clouds smothering the sky. I was stunned. Another antimat burst behind me. I couldn't see a thing. I snapped my visor up. The fact that it opened indicated that the atmosphere was breathable, although my thought processes never went that far.
Damn it! Saucers! IDAG saucers, shooting right over my head. I was on the ground, armored, unarmed, and it was freezing, my breath visible in the air. My visor was up. Why? I was in a forest. The saucers shot right over me, very low altitude, the faint metallic agate-like colors shimmering under a grey sky. A blinding flame crackled past the trees, not far off, dazzling my eyes. Damn, it was cold! More saucers. More! Now they burst upwards, climbing into the darkening sky. Count them, count them! Maybe four, six, more! Reinforcements! They were gliding along like they had not a care in the world. Arrogant bastards! Why was I unarmed, what the hell….
I must have been in shock because at that point, I was very confused and not sure what was going on. Concussion, maybe. I just staggered along through the forest like a drunk, wondering where I was.
Then the sky exploded in sound and light. Lightning split the dark, sharp cracks of thunder resonated over the forest. Something burning floated gently through the sky, just like a dream. It was beautiful – a slow-motion meteor, drifting downwards. I saw what it was just before it hit the forest and exploded like a nuclear bomb. A saucer – an IDAG saucer. What a lovely vision of destruction! Another ship shot past in its wake – a delta-shaped starcraft, heading for altitude, a shark, a lean and hungry cosmic shark, looking for more prey. Now there was a sight – who could ask for more, in the face of death? I kept looking up, looking for more flaming saucers, and more of those lovely cosmic sharks.
They cleaned the sky, near as I could tell. Another saucer went down in flames, disintegrating even before it hit the ground. Another delta ship swooped over it in victory. The rest of the saucers must have fled, for I didn’t see any more.
In the end, all that remained was the burning wreckage of the Golden Lotus and the burning wreckage of two Demon saucers, and whatever remained of squad Delta. It slowly dawned on me that I needed to search for my squadies. Nothing was more important than that. The antimat had hit the Golden Lotus when we were all running down the ramp. How had I survived? Had anyone else? I turned back to the burning forest. One of those conflagrations was the Golden Lotus. I snapped my visor down and activated my cloaking. I headed towards the flames. I had no E – I had left it in the cockpit in the confusion. Terrific.
The first site I came to was a horrific mess – several giant trees were down and burning and the undergrowth was alight and the torn-up wreckage of an IDAG saucer was glowing like a volcano. I found an A-suited Demon not far from the ship. He was lying in the burning undergrowth, still twitching, struggling for life in scorched armor. I wanted to shoot him but I didn't have an E. Fine – burn, suffocate, I don’t care. I moved on, heading towards the next fire.
Blackie came bounding out of the trees, barking, and jumped up at me in joy.
"Blackie!" I snapped my visor up, which deactivated my cloaking. Blackie seemed delighted to see me, smearing my face with wolf drool. I embraced him. He looked fine – not even scorched. "Where are the others, Blackie? Where?" He barked and danced around me, wagging his tail.
I put my visor down, cloaked once again, and Blackie accompanied me as I headed to the next apocalypse. I looked up. Delta ships were circling above, the sharks. Two, three of them at least. Brights. The forest was alight. Heavy black smoke rolled over me. I stepped into a spreading fire. Blackie held back because of the heat. Huge trees were down here, too. I could see part of a saucer, completely engulfed in bright white flames. Was this the Golden Lotus?
Fire licked up my armored legs. I spotted something smouldering underfoot. It looked like a small book, crackling and melting in the heat. I picked it up and strained to read the title: Holy Bible. I dropped it as if stung. That was Bees' book, I had seen her reading it. Bees! This was the Golden Lotus - I looked around for survivors. My heart was hammering. I tramped completely around the wreckage. No bodies, thank God for that. But what did it mean? We had all been blown away by the antimat. For all I knew, there could be bodies hanging from the trees. Or bodies blasted to bits by the antimat. I looked around, into the trees, desperate. Blackie rejoined me.
Hopeless, I staggered off. But by then my wits were slowly returning to me. I had been in a mindless daze, stunned and incapable of rational thought. Suddenly this brilliant idea hit me.
"Delta, Prophet," I said on the tacnet. "Any Delta, Prophet, please respond." I listened, but there was no response except for a loud hissing. Now what?
"Prophet, tacnet is down," Honey said. "It has been blocked by unknown technical means. I recommend no further conversation on tacnet as enemy may be monitoring."
What the hell? Our tacnet was supposed to be a highly encrypted quantum link and invulnerable to any enemy.
"Honey, locate Delta for me. They're not on the tacmap. Why is the tacmap flickering like that?"
"Prophet, the tacmap is down. It appears to be disrupted by enemy jamming. I cannot locate other Deltas."
"Well, what good are you!" I was furious.
"I can still relay sitreps on the condition of your A-suit." She sounded…hurt.
An offended tacmod was the least of my worries. A delta starcraft glided over me, just above treetops. And another. It looked like they were hovering now, settling into the forest, blowing branches and leaves around. Blackie was barking.
Finished, I thought. We are truly finished. I am alone, in an alternate universe, on an alien world, unarmed, about to be gunned down or enslaved by aliens who are certainly aware that I came out of that saucer ship belonging to their deadly racial enemies, the D's. I don't speak their language, should they perchance want to chat before shooting me. And I doubt they would believe me even if I was able to claim to be one of the good guys. We come in peace, I thought, in desperation. No, that won’t work. We're too heavily armed.
Delta! Where are they? Will I die without ever knowing what happened to my squadies? And Honeyhair. I was just getting to know her! And now it's the end. Of everything.
Movement, in the trees. I found a tree and went down on one knee beside it, clutching Blackie to pull him into my cloaking. They won’t see us. But I'm unarmed, stupid you, now I can’t even go down fighting. Blackie was tense in my arms, totally alert, looking out at the approaching Brights.
There were two of them, clad in silver armor that reflected a bright, dazzling light, probing carefully toward us, both carrying those glowing cylindrical lightning bolt weapons pointed in front of them. They were lighting up the forest – they were certainly not believers in camo.
The lead Bright stepped forward, heading right for me. I was cloaked – how could he see me?
The Bright lowered his weapon and made a gesture towards me. My cloaking went down. I was stunned, adrenalin exploding. I stood up, holding Blackie by the leash. All right – fine. Shoot me.
The Bright came closer, almost on me now. His armor was so bright that it almost blinded me. The first Bright opened his visor as his companion stood there. He was looking at my visor, seemingly right into my eyes. I opened my visor and the glow from the Bright's face was remarkable. I squinted m
y eyes in response. The Bright raised his armored right hand and held it open towards me, fingers up. All right – fine. I transferred Blackies's leash to my left hand and then reached out to the Bright with my right hand and touched his hand the same way, fingers up, palm to palm.
It rushed over me like a warm ocean wave, tingling throughout my body. Peace and love. No – a tidal wave, a tsunami of peace and love, shooting through my veins and arteries, a burning hot tropical injection of peace and love, from another universe, from another dimension. It almost knocked me off my feet. I was looking directly into his eyes. He was ageless and he understood, and he wanted me to understand as well. But I was getting too dizzy to understand anything. He looked very young but I thought he was very old, old and ageless and wise.
Blackie was barking. The Bright knelt down and gently pressed his hands around Blackie's head. Blackie stopped barking. When the Bright stood up again, Blackie seemed content. I stood there like an idiot. Peace and love, fine. Where was Delta? I didn't need peace and love, I needed Delta.
The Bright gestured for me to follow him. The second Bright accompanied us. I had Blackie by the leash. We walked through the forest, skirting the flaming wreckage of the D saucer that I had come across earlier. The Demon was still alive, lying there in his scorched armor, a whole slew of parasite worms crawling out of his open visor, abandoning ship. One of the Brights walked over there and blasted him with his weapon. Peace and love, right. The D's are enemies of peace and love.
We reached a ragged tree line and stepped out of the forest. I was a POW, a prize, a captive. I was facing an immortal lifetime as a freak, maybe as a display in a cosmic zoo or live museum. A U1 specimen and his pet. Bright kids would be amazed. Maybe they would feed us. Throw peanuts at us.
Several strange formidable armored aircars were hovering over a field of wild grass, and a couple of squads of armored Brights formed up around the tree line before moving into the forest. A brilliant delta starcraft was hovering not far away. What a beautiful ship. This was the cosmic shark I had seen downing Demon saucers so efficiently. Far overhead, two more Delta sharks were lazily circling the site.
Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) Page 42
