A quick search of the giant didn’t turn up any keys, nor did K-Mart see any places where they might have been. “I don’t see them,” said K-Mart. “If they are in a front pocket, I don’t think I’m going to be able to get them. I can’t lift him; he’s too heavy.” K-Mart went over to the cell. The bars were too close together to allow either him or the box to squeeze through. He turned the box in several directions, but it still didn’t fit. “Crap,” he said, “I don’t think this is going to work.”
“Well, then you should go back and save whomever you can,” said Bordraab. “Without my help, your friends will be dead within minutes.”
“Give me a second,” said K-Mart. “There’s got to be a way we can do this…I’ve got it. If you could move to one side of the cell, I will run toward the other side. When I get to the bars, I will push the button on the box and go to the other universe. Since we’re on the second floor here, I’ll be up in the air there. Once I materialize, I will push the button again and come back into this universe, but I will then be inside your cell. If I time it right, hopefully I can jump high enough that I won’t be embedded in the floor when I come back.”
“Can you do that?” asked the dragon. “Forgive me, but you do not appear very athletic, and there are many lives at stake.”
“I think I can do it,” replied K-Mart, “and the bottom line is we don’t have much choice. Once I’m in with you, I can climb on your back and activate the box again. Hopefully, you can fly a little bit or something to break our fall. Once we’re safely on the ground in your universe, we’ll move to where my friends are, and transport back in, taking the Jotunn by surprise.”
“I will be nearly as surprised as the Jotunn if all of that goes according to plan,” replied Bordraab. “Still…it is better than anything I can come up with at the moment, so I am all for trying it. Hopefully, you’ll at least get the box in here so I can escape, even if you kill yourself in the attempt.”
“You’re just a bundle of optimism, aren’t you?”
“Getting free is a positive for me,” said Bordraab. “I am being optimistic…from my point of view.”
“Never mind,” said K-Mart. “If you would give me a little bit of room, I’ll give it a try.”
“Now who is not being optimistic?” asked Bordraab. “There is no trying, there is only doing. You can either do it, or you can’t.”
“Yeah, right,” muttered K-Mart, steeling himself for the attempt. “I think I’ve heard that before.” He crossed to the other side of the passageway and took a breath. As he let it out, he started running. The bars of the cell came up fast, and he jumped and pushed the button. He vanished…
Wendar, Day 13 of the Second Akhet, 15th Dynasty, Year 14
…and materialized in the other universe. As he had figured, he was in the air, and he began falling. He pulled his knees up to gain a little space and pressed the button again, rolling in the air…
Jotunn Jail, 14 Herculis ‘a,’ Unknown Date/Time
…to crash down onto the floor of the cell on his back, the box cushioned safely on his stomach.
“You made it,” noted Bordraab. “Is the box okay?”
“I’m fine; thanks for asking,” grumbled K-Mart, slowly getting to his feet. “No more than a broken rib or three. And yeah, I think the box is good too.”
He turned to find one of Bordraab’s eyes inches away from his face. The dragon seemed much bigger up close, especially the dragon’s eye, which was bigger than K-Mart’s entire head. K-Mart realized he wouldn’t make much of a snack to the dragon; the creature was enormous!
“Hey, umm…we’re still friends, right?” asked K-Mart.
“I have no intentions of eating you, if that is what you are worried about,” replied the dragon, its breath smelling strongly of chlorine. “We are in a hurry, climb onto my back and let us get going.”
“I never thought to ask,” said K-Mart, sitting down in the space between its wings, “but you can fly, can’t you?”
“I could fly quite well before my time in the prison cell,” said Bordraab with a sniff; “however, I am sure my wings have atrophied somewhat since I have been caged. They should still work well enough to get us down.”
“Ready?” asked K-Mart.
“I have been looking forward to this for some time,” Bordraab replied.
“Here we go, then,” said K-Mart. “On three. One, two, three!” He pressed the button, and they transferred to the Jinn Universe. The dragon’s wings unfolded to their full 130 foot wingspan and flapped once before the pair crashed to the ground.
“Guh!” moaned K-Mart as Bordraab’s bony spine was driven up between his legs.
“Sorry,” said Bordraab, “it appears my wings have atrophied more than I realized. Hmm…it also appears I am not immune from some measure of hubris.”
“Yeah…kind of…noticed that,” gasped K-Mart, fighting back waves of nausea. “I—”
Pop! Pop! Pop! Bap-bap-bap-bap-BAP! The sounds of several guns firing interrupted K-Mart, followed by the sounds of high-speed projectiles hitting Bordraab in the chest, before whining off.
“If you would please dismount,” said Bordraab, “I am capable of dealing with this.”
K-Mart slid from the dragon’s back, and Bordraab charged off in the direction of the shots. His bulk hindered K-Mart’s view of what was happening, but to judge by the way several screams were cut off suddenly, he appeared to be winning.
It was over in less than five seconds, and Bordraab returned to where K-Mart waited, still hunched over. “Don’t attack a dragon unless you’re very sure you can kill it,” said Bordraab.
“Important safety tip; thanks,” said K-Mart. “I’ll make sure I remember it. Umm…it looks like you have part of a…leg, I think, sticking to your upper lip.”
Bordraab’s forked tongue snaked out and removed the offending matter. He flapped his wings to circulate the blood, and hurricane force winds blew leaves and twigs in all directions. “I feel better!” the dragon roared. “Hurry! It is time to kill Jotunn!”
Task Force Calvin, Efreet Ship Spark, Ashur Orbit, Unknown Date/Time
“Dude,” said Sergeant Jamal Gordon, his voice muffled by the confines of his dead suit. “Did anyone, like, get the license plate number of the bus that hit me?”
“Our suits are dead,” said Calvin, removing his helmet. “So are our weapons and implants. I’ve seen this before. The barrel the Efreet just detonated was some sort of explosively-pumped flux generator.” In counterpoint, all the suits beeped. “Those beeps are from the suits’ emergency backups. We’ve got two hours until the containment fails, and our suits blow up.”
“Blow up?” asked Sergeant Tomaselli.
“Yah, mon,” said Sergeant Andrews. “In two hours, the antimatter in our suits is gonna meet the matter surrounding it and then ka-boom! We all go bye-bye.”
“Back-up weapons everyone,” said Night, shrugging out of his suit. Most of the squad was doing the same. “Pile up the suits; we’ll use them for protection.”
“Urr…” said a voice from behind Calvin. He turned to find Sergeant Graham leaning face-first on the doorway. She wasn’t moving. “Graham, are you okay?” he asked. “Medic!”
“Not…okay,” said Sergeant Graham as she slowly straightened. “Operating on…battery back-up. Primary life support…and systems…fried.”
“What can we do?” asked the squad’s medic, Corporal Higuchi, as he ran up.
“Nothing you…can do,” said the cyborg. “Need specialists that…not here. Eight minutes…battery power…remaining.”
The lights in the passageway came back on, illuminating the shapes approaching the Terrans.
“Efreet!” yelled Sergeant Lancaster, throwing himself to the floor. “Down!” Several flechette throwers fired, and a wall of metal hit the squad.
Corporal Higuchi fell forward onto the cyborg and slid to the deck, at least six large flechettes in his back. Calvin felt for a pulse.
There was
none.
“Jones, Lancaster, get that door re-wired, now!” said Night. “We’ve got to get in there, ASAP!”
“Love to, sir,” said Sergeant Lancaster, unconsciously ducking as a flechette ricocheted off the bulkhead next to him. “There’s only one problem. It’s fried too. There’s no way we’re getting in there with what we have available. We need something to power the board, and I don’t have anything.”
“Take…this,” said Sergeant Graham. A panel swung open revealing an Alliance battery pack. She pulled it out and handed it to Sergeant Lancaster.
“What’s that?”
“Emergency…life support...power,” said the cyborg. “Won’t last…long…anyway.” The cyborg turned and slowly threaded her way through the troopers firing at the Efreet.
“Hey, where are you going?” asked Lancaster, who had appreciated having her bulk shield him from the flechettes as he worked.
“Going to…give you…time,” said Sergeant Graham. Her Mrowry autocannon and her primary targeting systems were dead, but the shotgun in her right arm was still functional, as was the manual sight in her right eye. She fired several shells into the nearest Efreeti, whose head exploded under the double ought buckshot loads. She continued down the passageway, firing every few steps. Flechettes slammed into her proto-flesh and ricocheted off her exposed metal parts, but she continued down the hall.
Her life support system out, each step took more of her flagging willpower as her brain died from oxygen starvation. Operating on sheer determination, she reached the next intersection and fired a burst of shells into each of the Efreet hiding there. The last Efreeti dove into her, trying to bring her to the ground, but her bulk was more than he expected. Her combat knife extended from her left wrist and stabbed down into the top of the Efreeti’s head. The enemy dropped to the floor.
She looked up just in time to see the laser beam that killed her.
Chapter 40
Jotunn Jail, 14 Herculis ‘a,’ Unknown Date/Time
Like the tide, the advance of the Jotunn this time was slow but unstoppable. Chomper knew it was a factor of the Terrans’ weapons; they weren’t big enough. They needed something bigger if they were going to stop the Jotunn…like maybe an M1A1 tank. Too bad there were never any tanks around when you needed them.
Demonstrating that even the Jotunn can learn if you kill enough of them, two giants had gone back to their armory and returned with oversized sheets of metal, which they used like police riot shields. Rectangular, and curved to shed thrown objects, they were strong enough to resist the Terrans’ lasers and tall enough to go from the floor to above where the Terrans could see anything to shoot at.
The Jotunn with the shields advanced while the ones behind them provided covering fire. Both the Sila slug-thrower teams were down, proving that having to stand in the open to fire your weapon wasn’t conducive to your long-term health in a combat environment.
Only the Terrans were left to defend the women and children, and Chomper saw that the only way they were going to stop the last six giants was to go around to the back of the shields. That meant exposing themselves to the Jotunn laser fire, which had already killed the slug-thrower teams. There was no good choice, Chomper knew; the Terrans could either wait and be overwhelmed, or they could attack and be shot once they came out of cover.
As he fired, Chomper could hear one of the Sila children crying. The child’s mother tried to comfort him, but she was too scared to be very good at it. The giants were almost upon them.
Chomper looked over to Rock, who was trying unsuccessfully to bounce a laser bolt off the floor and under one of the Jotunn shields. “You go right, and I go left?” he asked.
“Might as well,” grunted Rock. “I’m not having any luck doing it this way.”
“Ready?” asked Chomper.
“Does it matter?”
“Not really,” said Chomper. “Go!” He jumped up and ran to the left of the advancing Jotunn. The giants saw Rock move first, and they turned to defend themselves from his laser, leaving them unprotected on Chomper’s side. Before they could turn back, Chomper shot the closest giant in the head, and it began its long fall to the ground.
As he turned toward the second giant with a shield, a glancing hit from a Jotunn laser burned through the left arm of his suit, searing his arm and causing him to miss his shot. The giant lifted his shield and slammed it down on Rock, smashing his head like an overripe watermelon.
Chomper fired again, hitting the Jotunn in the head with a long blast. He fell. Chomper started to turn toward the laser-armed Jotunn, but a battle axe struck his rifle, shattering it beyond repair and throwing him to the floor.
He tried to push himself up, every fiber of his being yelling, “Run! Escape!” but his left arm wouldn’t function properly. Chomper looked down and saw the battle axe hadn’t just destroyed his rifle, it had also removed the lower part of his arm. Blood spurted from what remained of his arm, which now ended just below the elbow. The pain hit, and everything went black for a moment. As his vision cleared, he looked up to see a giant standing above him, and Chomper watched in horror as the Jotunn raised his axe in preparation for the blow which would end Chomper’s life.
Before the blade could fall, a mass of black fluid struck the giant from behind, and the Jotunn screamed. Some of the spray landed on Chomper, and he watched in rapt fascination as it began to eat through his suit. The burning sensation when it reached his skin caused him to forget about the pain of his missing arm, and his screams echoed the Jotunn’s.
The giant threw himself to the ground, trying to put out whatever was burning his back. Chomper watched through graying vision as the Jotunn thrashed back and forth, until finally a massive claw appeared to pin him in place, and a silvery head leaned in to tear out his throat.
A smaller shape came into Chomper’s view. He could hear a voice although he couldn’t make any sense of it. The form shook him, and Chomper tried to focus. The voice became a little clearer, but still sounded like it came through a foot of water. “Hold on,” said K-Mart. “We’re here to help you.”
“Took you…long enough,” wheezed Chomper.
He closed his eyes and died.
Bridge, Efreet Ship Spark, Ashur Orbit, Unknown Date/Time
“The marines confirm the device destroyed the enemy’s suits,” said the intelligence officer, looking up from the claw-held radio he was talking into. “The marine commander reports they have brought up one of their combat laser systems and are making great progress. He warned us to stay away from the door and says he will have the enemy destroyed within moments.”
Task Force Calvin, Efreet Ship Spark, Ashur Orbit, Unknown Date/Time
“Ziiiiiip-PEW!” The laser system that killed Sergeant Graham fired again, striking Sergeant Lancaster in the back. As he slid to the floor, Calvin could see a three centimeter hole all the way through him.
Calvin had seen the device as it turned the corner. It looked like a seven foot tall box on a tracked wheel system. It had to be a robot or something similar; Calvin didn’t think there was enough room inside it for one of the Efreet. From the front, all the Terrans could see was a rounded shield which protected the machine behind it. A small firing slit was cut into the shield for the laser to fire through. Bullets from the Terrans’ guns whined off ineffectively from its shield.
Gunnery Sergeant Bryant was down. Mongo had tried to charge the robot and had died with a laser shot to his chest.
“We’re screwed sir,” said Sergeant Jones from the door. “The laser bolt that killed Lancaster also struck the door control panel, and it’s fused into a solid lump. We aren’t getting in this way.”
“Is there anything we can do?” asked Calvin.
“No, sir,” replied Sergeant Jones. “Like I said, we’re screwed. I can’t do anything with the door.”
“Ziiiiiip-PEW!” Sergeant Hiley’s head exploded as the next laser bolt struck.
“We’ve got to get out of here, sir,” said N
ight. “We can’t stay here and take this.”
“I know,” said Calvin. “Let’s try to break out and make it back to the shuttle.”
“I’ve got this, sir,” said Sergeant Tomaselli. He dodged as he ran down the passageway, arming a grenade. A flechette round struck him in the right shoulder, and he was spun around and knocked to the deck.
“Ziiiiiip-PEW!” The laser fired, the bolt going through the space where Tomaselli would have been, had the flechette not hit him.
Tomaselli scrambled forward, rising as he continued toward the robot.
“Ziiiiiip-PEW!”
Tomaselli fell as the next round hit him in the chest, the grenade rolling free from his lifeless hand to roll up against the bottom of the robot’s shield. It detonated.
“Ziiiiiip-PEW!” The laser fired again, and the machine rolled forward, seemingly unaffected by the blast.
“Terrans! We are leaving,” yelled Calvin as the ship shuddered noticeably. “Back to the shuttle on three. One…two…”
Before Calvin could say, “Three,” the door to the bridge slid open. All the Efreet inside had their claws up. They were in.
Bridge, Efreet Ship Incinerator, Ashur Orbit, Unknown Date/Time
“Well, sir, you know I was a little disappointed when you left me behind,” said Master Chief, “but then I realized you must have done it for a reason. I asked myself, ‘Now Ryan, why would he have taken your squad and left you, his best assault tactician, behind?’ The only thing I could come up with was that you were probably going to get yourself into trouble like you always do, and I would have to do something to save you, like I always do.”
“I seem to remember you being in the jail cell next to mine when we were down on the planet,” noted Calvin.
“True,” said Master Chief; “very true. However, in my defense I’d like to point out the only reason we were in jail in the first place was because of you; I didn’t want any part of coming to this universe.” He paused. “I’d like to go get my ribs taped at some point today, sir. May I continue?”
The Search for Gram Page 26
