The Search for Gram

by Chris Kennedy

  “K-Mart, you’d better hurry,” commed Chomper. “I think they know we’re here!”

  Task Force Calvin, Efreet Ship Incinerator, Ashur Orbit, Unknown Date/Time

  “Really? You can’t tell?” asked Mongo. His voice was muffled coming through the faceplate of the helmet. Mongo and the squad’s medic, Sergeant Burt Yankiver, were wearing the two Efreet spacesuits, as they were the two biggest men in the squad, and the two best able to simulate the size of an Efreeti.

  “No,” said Calvin. “I can’t see your face. Not very well, anyway. The anti-glare coating on the facemask makes it difficult to see through unless you are up close and really looking.” He turned to look at the medic. “You look good too, Doc. All you guys have to do is hold them for a couple of seconds. We’ll be right behind you.”

  Mongo looked at the medic. He hadn’t said anything since he put on the suit, but then he didn’t say much at the best of times, either. He just got the job done. He slapped Sergeant Yankiver on the shoulder. “In that case,” Mongo said, “we shouldn’t have any problems. Let’s go; the queen is waiting for her pilots.”

  Yankiver nodded once, signaling his agreement. It was more of a bend at the waist, as the Efreet suits didn’t have flexible neck joints.

  Mongo started walking. “Hey, you’re going the wrong way,” said Calvin. “The Efreet are this way.” He pointed in the opposite direction.

  “I know,” said Mongo. “I wanted to get a running start. They will probably be expecting us to be hurrying, and it will cut down on the time they have to shoot at us. All we need is a moment’s indecision, and we’ll be on them.”

  “Good plan,” said Calvin.

  “Ready?” Mongo commed.

  “Yep,” replied Sergeant Yankiver.

  “Here we go then,” said Mongo. He started forward and then picked up his pace. He hoped a casual Terran jog was the same as an Efreet jog, but whether they even jogged at all was unknown. Yankiver caught up to him in a couple of steps, and they rounded the corner together, right into the line of sight of three Efreet standing shoulder to shoulder across the passageway with drawn weapons. Mongo could see more Efreet behind them, looking the other way.

  One of the Efreet yelled something, and the two Terrans slowed, coming to a walk. They naturally put their hands up in the Terran display of surrender. Although it seemed to work at first, and the Efreet began to lower their weapons as they recognized the spacesuits as being of Efreet origin, Mongo watched as their eyes went toward the rifles they were holding. Terran laser rifles, they were neither the same shape nor color as the ones the Efreet were holding. He was close enough to see their eyes blink several times, and their weapons begin to come back up.

  “We’re blown!” Mongo commed as his rifle tracked back down.

  The Terrans fired at the same time the Efreet did, while diving to the sides of the passageway. Mongo hit the wall on the left and continued firing. Two of the Efreet were already down, and he shot the third twice in the chest.

  A volley of laser bolts passed over his head to kill the other Efreet in the passageway as the rest of the Terran forces arrived, several with flechette wounds. Mongo rose and went to assist Sergeant Yankiver to his feet, but the medic waved away the offer of help. Blood covered his chest and midsection. “Didn’t dive fast enough,” Yankiver commed. “I caught…most of a flechette blast…it’s not…good.” His hand dropped to the deck.

  “Medic!” commed Mongo automatically. Realizing his error, Mongo knelt down next to him. “Talk to me, Burt,” he commed. “What do I need to do?”

  “Leave him,” commed Calvin, looking at his monitor; “he’s gone.” Firing could be heard from the interior of the shuttle as the remaining members of the squad assaulted into it. “I need you and Zoromski, along with Corporals Dunn and Lopez, to set up a perimeter,” continued Calvin when the firing had slowed. “No one gets through.”

  “Got it sir,” said Mongo, standing up. “No one through.”

  “Sir, you better get in here,” Master Gunnery Sergeant Hendrick commed. “We’ve got the queen, I think, but…well, you’re going to need to see this.”

  Calvin nodded to Mongo and turned toward the shuttle. He immediately noticed the shuttle was different as he strode into the interior. It was the most opulent spacecraft he had ever been in. Come to think of it, there wasn’t any ornamentation on any of the spacecraft he had ever flown on; they were warships. They barely could have been considered “comfortable,” much less anything along the lines of “showy.” Comparing the queen’s shuttle to the shuttle they had flown up in was like comparing the Ritz Carlton to a fleabag motel somewhere on the wrong side of town.

  There was no bare metal showing anywhere; the deck and the bulkheads (and the ceiling, too!) were covered in some kind of felt-like material in a variety of blues and oranges. It was beyond compare and almost beyond description; it was so garish that it was hard to look at.

  He made his way to the passenger compartment to find…something… on the deck. Larger than the males he had seen, the eight-foot long creature looked vaguely like an obese Efreet, but out-massed the males by at least several hundred pounds. It was nearly round, with arms and legs only sticking out from the mass of flesh from the elbow joints down. While the males had some vestigial webbing between their claws, the creature’s hands and feet were fully webbed, and it had a fin on the top and bottom of its over-sized tail. The queen’s eyes were closed, and gallon after gallon of murky fluid spewed from underneath its tail, coating the felt of the floor and puddling behind the creature. A dead Efreeti lay nearby, and the creature on the floor pulled a strip of meat from the corpse’s leg and popped the flesh into its mouth.

  It was the most disgusting thing Calvin had ever seen in his life.

  “I think it’s laying eggs,” said Master Gunnery Sergeant Hendrick, “…or something. I’ve seen a lot of sick shit in my 27 years in the Corps, but this is the most disturbing. It’s even worse than when the company captured the sheep and…uh, never mind. This is just damn gross.”

  Calvin was at a loss for what to do with the creature. Before he could decide, an incoming call arrived.

  “Hey sir,” said Master Chief O’Leary, “Have you guys captured the queen yet?”

  “Yeah, I think we just caught it…or her…or whatever it is,” replied Calvin. “Why?”

  “Because you need to get up to the bridge ASAP,” commed Master Chief. “It looks like we’re going to have company.”

  Chapter 35

  Bridge, Efreet Ship Incinerator, Ashur Orbit, Unknown Date/Time

  “Did you have any problems getting up here?” asked Night.

  “No,” said Calvin. “Once you made the announcement we had captured the queen, all the Efreet stopped fighting. It’s almost like there is some sort of cultural imperative to defend the queen at all costs, even if that means doing nothing that would endanger her.”

  “Well, that’s good to hear,” said Night. “We’re already outnumbered, and it looks like it’s about to get worse.”

  “Master Chief said we’re going to have company; what’s going on?”

  “There’s some sort of cargo ship inbound,” said Night. “It jumped into this universe about five minutes ago. No idea if it came from our universe or somewhere else, but if it came from our universe, the Terra didn’t do a very good job of stopping it. When the ship checked in, they didn’t mention any problems or issues.”

  “Okay, I’ll ask,” said Calvin. “How were you able to find that out?”

  “We had help,” said Night. “Once you captured the queen, the Efreet became a lot more cooperative.”

  Night nodded toward a small alcove off the bridge that Calvin hadn’t noticed before. Inside were two Efreet under the watchful eyes and ready weapons of two troopers while the vizier and Master Chief spoke to them. The alcove was unlit, and the dark-skinned Efreet blended into the shadows.

  “None of the bridge crew survived the initial assault, but we bagg
ed these two right after the attack. One knew how to operate the radio, and the vizier listened in to make sure he didn’t warn the ship off. The vizier admits he doesn’t know much about military communications, but the conversation seemed all right to him.”

  Calvin walked over to the alcove. “Have you been able to learn anything?” he asked Master Chief.

  “Not a whole lot, sir,” Master Chief replied. “They’re both pretty junior. All they knew was that the freighter was bringing something for the ship, and their CO was looking forward to having it.”

  “Have we found out where the CO is yet?” asked Calvin.

  “Unfortunately, yeah, we have,” said Master Chief. He turned and pointed to the bodies by the chair in the middle of the room. “I think he is the one with purple stripes on his uniform. He took three laser bolts to the chest at the start of the fight; we’re not going to be getting any answers from him or anyone else in the command group. They’re all dead.”

  “Shit,” said Calvin under his breath.

  “So, what are we going to do with the freighter?” asked Master Chief.

  “I don’t know,” said Calvin, “but give me a minute, and I’m sure I’ll come up with something.”

  Jotunn Jail, 14 Herculis ‘a,’ Unknown Date/Time

  K-Mart transferred back to the Jinn universe and hurried to where the workshop was in his own universe. He ran as fast as he could, knowing the Jotunn would soon notice the absence of the women and children. “If I…live through…this…” he puffed, “I’m going to…get in shape…when I get back.”

  He stopped at the transfer point he had marked out and waited to catch his breath. It wouldn’t do to be panting so hard the giants could hear him.

  “You there!” a voice called. “Don’t move!”

  K-Mart’s head whirled around to see a squad of men dressed in black approaching. The enemy’s color. One fired a weapon, and the slug slammed into the tree next to him. Without thinking, he pushed the button and disappeared.

  He reappeared in the workshop, which was noticeably less crowded than on his earlier visit. Only one Jotunn was present, and it stood in the doorway watching two Sila. The giant was armed with an enormous rifle and had a small metallic box dangling from a strap that ran diagonally across his chest.

  Still trying to control his breathing, K-Mart tip-toed to the Sila furthest from where the giant stood.

  “Don’t say anything,” whispered K-Mart into his ear. “I am here to help you.”

  The Sila jumped and looked around wildly.

  “Keep working,” K-Mart added.

  The Sila gave a small nod and went back to tinkering with the device he had been working on. His eyes shifted back and forth, looking for the source of the voice while trying to watch the guard and work on the metallic object all at the same time. It didn’t work well, and the screwdriver-like tool slipped and scratched across the object.

  “Easy,” whispered K-Mart. “I’m going to get you out of here.” The male’s head snapped up, and he opened his mouth to speak. “Your family is safe,” K-Mart added; “don’t worry, I’ve already freed them from their cell, and we will join them shortly. Before we go, I have a request.”

  The Sila made a face; his annoyance obvious.

  “I’m sorry,” said K-Mart, “but there are more people here that need rescuing than just you and your family.” The male appeared to understand, and his face relaxed. “Are you the person working on devices to transfer across to the other universe?”

  The man nodded.

  “I need a device which can transfer a large number of people at one time, and one that can transfer a really large creature. Do you have something that can do these things?”

  “How many people?” asked the Sila under his breath.

  “As many as I can,” replied K-Mart. “There may be 100, and I would like to make the fewest number of trips possible.”

  “The large creature,” said the male. “Is it the one on the level above us? Silver with scales and wings?”

  K-Mart nodded, then added, “Yes,” when he realized the male couldn’t see him.

  “I saw him once, and he speaks to me in my mind, sometimes,” said the male. “I would like to free him, too, but there is a problem. The giants took all the transporters which can be used for large individuals yesterday. I don’t have any more that are functional. I only have one, and it’s broken.”

  “Damn,” said K-Mart, “I really want to get him out.”

  “Me, too,” said the Sila. “Let me think.” He didn’t say anything while he continued to work on the equipment. “I have an idea,” he said finally.

  “What is it?”

  “I can use parts from the ship transporter to build a new transporter for large creatures, but the guard is never going to let me have it.”

  “How long would you need if you had access to the parts?”

  “About 10 minutes,” replied the male. “It isn’t hard, but I can’t rush it.”

  Gunfire sounded in the distance, and the giant turned toward the sounds, listening intently. A voice could be heard from the box on his harness. A radio. K-Mart set the transportation rod down on the table and became visible. The Sila said nothing as K-Mart calmly aimed his laser rifle and fired twice, hitting the giant in the side of the head with two long blasts. It crashed to the floor.

  More gunfire sounded in the distance. As it died, Chomper called on the comm system. “K-Mart, you’d better hurry. I think they know we’re here!” K-Mart looked at the Sila. “We need to hurry,” he said. “Our time just ran out.”

  Chapter 36

  Bridge, Efreet Ship Incinerator, Ashur Orbit, Unknown Date/Time

  “The freighter Spark is asking if the captain is available to come to the radio,” said the vizier. “What do you want me to tell them?”

  “Tell them his second-in-command is standing by and ask what they want,” replied Calvin.

  “The Spark said they are running behind schedule and will have to avoid an enemy warship on the way back. The Spark wants to know if we can send a shuttle to get our things, or if they should use their own shuttle. They would prefer that we send our shuttle so they can leave sooner.”

  “Tell them we’d be happy to send our shuttle,” said Calvin, a smile brightening his face for the first time all day. “We will send it as soon as we are able.”

  “Sir, you’re not thinking of doing what it sounds like you’re thinking of doing, are you?” asked Master Chief. “We really don’t–”

  Calvin held up a hand, silencing him. “Ask the Spark what they have for us.”

  The vizier translated Calvin’s request, then answered, “They have some supplies, payroll for the crew and the new modules for our engines which will allow us to jump to the other universe and back.”

  Calvin turned back to Master Chief with a gleam in his eye.

  Master Chief sagged. “Yeah, I know,” he said in a defeated tone of voice. “We have to go get them.” He sighed and then straightened. “Okay, so how exactly do you propose we do this? I may not have been to all the math classes you have, but I can count. We’ve got 27 effectives, 33 if you count the Mrowry and the Aesir. If the Efreet decided to mutiny right now, we’d be hard pressed to stop them. The only thing we have in our favor is Sergeant Graham; the Efreet don’t have a lot that can stop a cyborg.”

  “That’s true,” said Calvin, “but she’s coming with us to the freighter. If things go badly, we’ll need her fire support.”

  “If things go badly here,” said Master Chief, “we might come back to find out we no longer control the ship. I don’t like our chances if the Efreet bring this ship’s weapons into play. They outgun everything else in this system put together. They could also wipe out all the Sila on the planet. We can’t lose control of the ship.”

  “I know,” agreed Calvin. The smile was back. “That’s why I’m leaving you here as Lieutenant Rrower’s second-in-command. I know I can count on you to make sure the ship stays in our h
ands while we’re gone.”

  “Me? Stay here?” Master Chief asked. “What do you mean, I’m staying here? I’m the most qualified person you have to lead an attack on an enemy ship. Who has more training than I do?”

  “No one,” admitted Calvin.

  “Damn right,” huffed Master Chief.

  “You also have more experience with guerilla warfare, booby traps and leading a small force against a much larger one. I’m leaving the lieutenant here to figure out the workings of the ship; you’re staying here to lead its defense.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better to destroy this ship and take everyone over to the freighter?” asked Master Chief, trying a new approach. “That way we bring all of our combat effectives to the fight and don’t have to worry about losing control of the destroyer. Besides, who are you going to take with you in the shuttle to talk to the freighter? The vizier?”

  “Hmm…I hadn’t thought of that,” said Calvin. “We need someone on the ship to talk to the freighter if they call, and we also need someone on the shuttle to talk to them. We definitely need someone on the shuttle, because we’ll need guidance for getting to the docking port.”

  Captain Nightsong cleared his throat. “I am a little rusty, but I can speak a bit of Efreet. I haven’t spoken it in a couple of millennia, but I’ve been listening to the vizier, and I think I can pull it off.”

  “Perfect,” said Calvin. “Captain Nightsong will stay here to talk to the freighter if needed, and we’ll take the vizier with us because we’ll be doing more communicating. If we do it this way, we’ll be able to keep the destroyer to help defend the Sila, and we will still have enough troops to go to the freighter.”

  Master Chief could see he was beaten. “Who are you leaving me with?”

  “I’m going to leave what’s left of the Ground Force, as well as the Mrowry and the Aesir. The Aesir are about out of nanobots, so they are less effective than when we started. Captain Nightsong will be in overall command; you’ll have the nine members of the Ground Force, the other four Aesir, Lieutenant Rrower and yourself. That’s 16 total to hold the ship. Hopefully, as long as you have the queen, the Efreet won’t get uppity.”