by Isaac Hooke
The dinosaur’s neck exploded in a shower of gore and the massive creature collapsed dead.
Shaw heard more squawks and thundering footsteps, and then two more T-Rexes came running into view, the foliage breaking before them. The deadly pair spotted their fallen companions and roared in outrage.
Nemesis aimed its dual grenade launchers at the newcomers and fired once more. Two frags dropped into the open jaws of the still roaring carnosaurs; the first made a choking sound, and the second reflexively slammed its jaws shut.
The grenades detonated.
The throat area of the first burst open in a spray of muscle and lung tissue. The lower jaw of the second came flying right off. Both T-Rexes dropped to the ground and didn’t get up again.
Nemesis swiveled towards Shaw and activated its jumpjets, landing next to the log. The hatch in its torso dropped open expectantly, providing a bridge between the log and the cockpit.
Shaw pulled herself through the jagged hole in the log and paused to shake of the insects. Then she dashed into the waiting cockpit.
The inner actuators closed around her and the video camera on the head linked with her Implant so that she viewed the world from the height of the mech.
“It’s nice to see you, Shaw,” Nemesis said.
“And you, my friend,” Shaw said breathlessly. “I can’t tell you how good it is to see you, Nemesis.”
“It’s actually me, Surus,” the AI replied.
“Nice,” Shaw said. “Didn’t Rade tell me something about the universe not allowing copies? And so did Zhidao, come to think of it. But then again, Zhidao was able to come back to the same time period. Assuming he didn’t lie about when he sent me.”
“Phants are treated slightly different by the universe,” Surus said. “I may return to the same time period I’ve visited previously, as long as I’m inside a different host. But I must stay inside the AI core of Nemesis. If I emerge, I will cease to exist.”
“Weird,” Shaw said.
“Where is Alex?” Surus said.
“Glad you asked,” Shaw said. “I’ll take you there.”
She took one step forward, then another, and the inner actuators caused the Hoplite to mirror her movements. It had been a while since she had last ridden, but she remembered the controls as if it were yesterday.
On the overhead map, she saw that Alex hadn’t moved from his spot thirty meters away.
A proximity alert sounded.
Shaw was abruptly flung to the ground. She realized there was still a T-Rex out there she hadn’t noticed, and it had come upon her completely unawares and pinned her to the earth with its jaws.
She rammed her grenade launcher down its throat and squeezed the trigger.
The T-Rex released her and staggered backward, apparently stunned by the sensation of the bomb hitting its throat and passing down its gullet.
The dinosaur’s belly split open as the grenade exploded a moment later. It lay down to die.
She saw another one racing toward her, slightly smaller than the last. She folded her shield into her left arm, and a cobra into the right. She targeted the eye region but before she could fire the T-Rex reached her; she bashed away its head with the shield, stepping to the side. Then she triggered her jumpjets and broke through the branches above her as she arced above the T-Rex.
She thrust downward full force and rammed her shield into the neck as hard as she could, cutting a quarter of the way through with the bottom edge. She lifted the shield and rammed again and again in a rage. It took four strikes until she had severed the head entirely.
She leaped away as the headless body collapsed.
“Brutal strategy,” Surus said.
“I know,” Shaw said. “But these things piss me off.”
She felt a sudden guilt as she gazed down at what she had done. Surus was right, she didn’t have to treat the dinosaur so cruelly. She could have fired her cobra and given it a quick death.
Her shield dripped blood as she hurried through the foliage toward Alex’s position. She reached the thick wall of ferns and slowed to a walk. She reached down, parting the plants, and saw Alex cowering there, looking up at her with fearful eyes.
She activated her external speakers. “Alex, it’s—”
But Alex instantly stood up and ran away.
thirty-two
She realized it had been a mistake not to show her children the Hoplites before. She had been trying to shelter and protect the twins from anything having to do with the navy. To her, the war machines were the embodiment of everything military, and she had wanted to hide them from the kids for as long as she could.
As Alex vanished into the undergrowth, she realized that yes, it was definitely a big mistake.
Shaw opened up the cockpit and leaped down.
“Alex!” she said. “Alex stop. It’s me!” She glanced at the Hoplite. “Follow twenty meters behind. Stay out of sight until I call you.”
Shaw dashed through the underbrush after her son.
“Alex!” she said. “Alex!”
She glanced at the map; she was quickly closing the distance.
And then Alex just stopped.
Good, he had finally come to his senses.
Shaw emerged from the foliage and into a small clearing. She smiled when she saw Alex standing just ahead of her with his back to her, his attention apparently rapt by something overhead
Shaw followed his gaze and the smile immediately fled her lips.
Alex stood before three towering T-Rexes. Their jaws were steeped in the blood of a freshly killed Orodromeus, according to the label her Implant gave the feathered carcass. All three dinosaurs had paused in their feeding to glare at Shaw and her son.
Shaw closed the distance to Alex and protectively wrapped her arms around him, scooping him up. Then she slowly backed away.
She hit something hard. For a moment she feared she had backed into the tree trunk leg of yet another T-Rex, but when she looked up she realized it was Nemesis. Both of its cobras were aimed at the T-Rexes.
“Wait, Surus,” Shaw said. “We’ve killed enough for today.”
Several tense moments passed.
The T-Rexes finally returned their attention to the Orodromeus and continued feeding.
Shaw slowly repositioned Alex so that he could properly wrap his arms and legs around her, then she pulled herself onto the rungs of the mech’s right leg. She kept her eyes on the carnosaurs as she climbed, and when she reached the open hatch she turned around to back into the cockpit.
“Mommy, the iron monster is our friend?” Alex asked.
“Yes,” Shaw said. “Don’t be afraid when the door closes. It’s going to get dark.”
The hatch sealed with a thud, plunging the interior into darkness. The inner actuators would only partially deploy while Shaw had Alex with her, so she had to rely on Surus to control the mech. Shaw didn’t have a light of any kind on her person, and there weren’t any glow bars built into the cockpit, so the inside was pitch black.
“Mommy I’m scared,” Alex said.
She bobbed him up and down slightly. “You’re safer now than ever before.”
Apparently her voice portrayed the calm she sought, because Alex became suppler in her arms.
She knew that the Hoplite was moving because of the way she was jerked about, so she piped in the feed from the head camera into her Implant. Alex wouldn’t have access to that, unfortunately, but at least Shaw could watch as Surus piloted the Hoplite back toward the recall site.
“I’m going to talk with our rescuer now, okay honey?” Shaw said.
“Okay mommy,” Alex said.
“Surus, we have to retrieve the AI cores of the Centurions,” Shaw said. “I’m relaying the last known positions from my map.”
“I already have their positions,” Surus said via the AI core. “Or some of them... those robots that were wearing PASS devices, in any case.”
“Well here’s all the data I have.” Shaw dispatche
d the location information.
“Got it,” Surus said a moment later.
“So what’s the story?” Shaw asked. “Why did Rade send you so late?”
“When the Centurions failed to return,” Surus replied, “Rade feared an ambush of some kind, so he sent me to arrive at a later time. Nemesis was the only Hoplite left he could send back, first of all because none of the other Hoplites had returned, and second of all, because Nemesis hadn’t come back to this time period yet. In any case, you were out of signal range, so I had to use the Hoplite’s tracking abilities to find you. I’m glad I reached you in time: I have to be back at the site in half an hour.”
“All right, that’s all well and good that you found me in time for your own recall,” Shaw said. “But you do know Alex and I can’t go back, right? Zhidao apparently set the recall interval to an hour. And I missed my own recall already.”
“Yes, I noticed your recall time on the Selector,” Surus said. “But I believe there is another way to bring you and your son back.”
Shaw was cautiously optimistic. “How?”
“There is a loophole in the recall procedure that Zhidao doesn’t know about,” Surus said. “The Greens were the last in possession of the Time Acceptors, and had ample opportunity to study them and document their features. Normally, a traveler can’t take anyone or anything back to the future with them. But according to my vague recollections on the matter, if another individual from the future resides with the traveler and is stowed inside a container also from that same future, then the return is made possible.
“Since a mech is, by definition, a container, I can take you and Alex with me as long as you both remain inside my cockpit at the recall time. All the other rules still apply: I have to be standing on the recall site and so forth. The loophole is similar to the rule that allows a Phant to return multiple times, as long as the Phant does so while in possession of a different host.”
“All these strange rules,” Shaw said.
“Yes,” Surus said. “This is somewhat theoretical, by the way. The Greens tested it on inanimate objects such as robots, but never on an organic, so it might not actually work. But we have to try.”
“We do,” Shaw said. “Thank you for doing this for us.” She squeezed Alex in her arms.
“I’m not sure if you noticed,” Surus said. “But the Centurions sent back before me had a container with them. It was meant to hold you and Alex.”
“No, I didn’t,” Shaw said. “So you say we have about half an hour to get back to the recall site?”
“That’s correct,” Surus said.
“Too bad,” Shaw said. “I was kind of looking forward to surprising Rade in the past here. What about Zhidao? Did you encounter him inside Cora along the way?”
“Briefly,” Surus said. “I camped out at the recall site, hidden in the branches of a nearby tree, intending to capture and interrogate him about your location when he returned. But he timed his arrival so perfectly, that the moment he dashed into view and appeared on the Acceptor site, he vanished. I proceeded outward in a sweeping pattern, and soon detected the PASS devices transmitting from the fallen Centurions, and when I got to them I spotted the route you had taken through the undergrowth. I followed it, and shortly after, your PASS signal appeared, along with your comm node beacon. I realized you had probably given your PASS device to Alex, and I wasn’t sure whether to approach him first, or you. But when I noticed you were under attack, the decision to go to you became easy. Especially considering I was uncertain if I would frighten the child.”
Surus returned to the disabled Centurions in turn, and Shaw dismounted to quickly gather up the AI cores, placing them in Nemesis’ storage compartment after confirming with Surus that it would still qualify as “inside a container” for the strange rules of the return trip. Alex watched curiously from the open cockpit, sometimes asking questions that Shaw tried to answer as reassuringly as she could.
After collecting the last of the AIs, Shaw loaded into Nemesis for the trip back. Surus piloted the mech to the recall site to wait out the remaining few minutes.
“What if this doesn’t work?” Shaw asked.
“Then the mech will simply disappear,” Surus said. “And you’ll fall to the ground.”
“Well, if that happens, on the bright side we get to see Rade one last time,” Shaw said. Assuming she and Alex survived that long...
Hoping to soothe Alex, she sung a gentle lullaby as she waited for the recall to take place. She alternately cycled between the front, left, right and rear cameras as she sang, keeping an eye on the jungle, wary of more dinosaurs coming to attack. Nemesis would alert her if any tangos appeared of course, but still it felt comforting to watch the feeds on her own.
“Ten seconds until recall,” Surus announced.
Shaw continued to hum her lullaby, caressing the hair of her child.
“Five seconds.”
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
The steel bulkheads of the hangar bay replaced the jungle.
“We have arrived,” Surus said.
Shaw slumped in relief.
The Acceptor was still located on top of the shuttle, with the Argonauts assembled on the deck below.
The video feed abruptly clicked off and the cockpit fell open. Shaw, carrying Alex, stumbled outside onto the hatch.
Rade jetted up onto the Acceptor in his jumpsuit. He had removed his helmet so that his face was readily visible.
“Daddy, Daddy!” Alex said. He pulled away from Shaw and reached toward his father.
Rade held out his gloved hands and took Alex from her.
“We saw monsters daddy!” Alex said as Rade held him aloft.
“They’re gone now,” Rade said, lowering the boy to shoulder level. Alex wrapped his arms reassuringly around Rade’s neck.
“Not the iron monster!” Alex said excitedly. “It helped us!”
Shaw was smiling so wide as she watched, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks.
Rade reached toward Shaw with his free arm and she eagerly embraced him. She rested her head on his chest assembly, next to Alex.
“I love you,” she told Rade.
“And I you,” Rade replied.
She just wanted to hold him forever and never let go. The joy was gone, replaced once more by relief. Sheer and utter.
She had survived.
And she had protected her little boy.
That was all that mattered.
She couldn’t help but sob as a fresh burst of tears came to her.
“It’s over,” Rade said. “It’s done.”
He was crying, too.
DRESSED IN FATIGUES, Rade resided in the cargo bay with Alex and Shaw, where Surus had raised a temporary glass-walled container to serve as a decontamination ward. Since Rade had openly come into contact with Alex and Shaw after their return, he had elected to quarantine himself along with his family until Bax cleared them all for duty. Black curtains situated around the container provided them with a modicum of privacy.
The Argonauts visited at least once a day, usually in pairs. Dora, repaired after the attack, brought Sil to visit daily as well. Cora had also been fixed, but she was kept away from the children for now, who were yet traumatized by the Centurion’s perceived betrayal.
Lui tapped in. “I have an update on the destination of the custom Hellfire Zhidao is hitching a ride on.”
Hearing that name made a fire burn inside Rade. Shaw had told him everything Zhidao had said and done to her and Alex. Needless to say, Rade wasn’t happy with what he heard.
“Do tell,” Rade said.
“It appears to be heading toward Ceres V,” Lui said.
“What do we know about the planet?” Rade asked.
“Well, for starters, it has a population of over three billion,” Lui said. “We’ll never find the Phant once it gets there.”
The blazing fire diminished to a lingering smolder inside Rade, and
he sighed. “Probably not. But we have to try.”
“You know the orbital defense platforms will destroy that Hellfire before it even comes close to the planet, right?” Lui said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Rade said. “The Phant will continue toward the planet at the same momentum, eventually landing, none the worse for wear. What’s the status on our engines?”
“Still offline,” Lui said. “But TJ tells me we should have one or two online within the next four hours.”
“Give me an update on Surus and Bender,” Rade said.
“They’ve been in contact from the Mayflower,” Lui said. “The mercenary crew seems to be following Surus’ orders.”
“After the money Surus promised them, I’m not surprised,” Rade said. “How far behind are they?”
“Their Marauder will reach Ceres V about two days behind the Phant,” Lui said.
“All right,” Rade said. “Set a course to join them as soon as our engines come back online.”
“You got it,” Lui said, disconnecting.
Rade stared at Shaw and Alex. Shaw was lounging near the child, who slept. Her eyes were defocused—she was inside her Implant, engaged in a VR experience.
He had come so close to losing those two. So damn close. Maybe it was time to hang up his fighting hat and leave the security consulting business behind for good. Dragging one’s family around the universe while working for an alien client probably wasn’t the greatest idea in the galaxy. Then again, he couldn’t see himself doing anything else. It was certainly a conundrum: he loved his work, and he loved his family.
Just a few more missions, he told himself. Then I’ll hang up my hat.
Unfortunately, that was what he always told himself. He was beginning to resign himself to the fact that he would be doing this for the rest of his days, however short or long they were.
Rade cycled between the ship’s different internal cameras, something he did often throughout the day. He lingered on the feed from cargo bay seven. There, a storage rack held the cylinders of the recovered AI cores. On Ceres V, the team would have to purchase new Hoplite and Centurion frames for the AIs. An expensive proposition, but Surus would bankroll it.
