by Paul, Alan
“Really?”
“Really,” Jason replied
“I do need to replenish my nutrients, and recharge in my chamber daily.”
“OK, when you get finished doing that you can come sit up here or move about the ship freely.”
“Whenever I want?” Sofia asked.
“Yes, whenever you want.”
Sounds of sniffling began to emanate over the Chameleon’s sound system. “Sofia, why are you crying?”
“Because I am so happy,” she replied while touching his shoulder.
Her soft touch startled him, causing him to jump. “I thought you were still in your Command Pod.” He gazed on her shimmering figure slinking down into the co-pilot’s seat, and continued saying, “You can take yourself off Intercom Mode, at least while we’re in the same room together.”
“Yes, Jason,” she compliantly obeyed before asking, “Could you please help me secure the safety harness?”
“Sure.” Jason then reached over her lower stomach, and said, “Sorry about that.” He blushingly apologized for accidently brushing up against her breast while snapping the spider harness together.
“You do not need be apologetic, Jason.”
“Well, I didn’t want you to think I was getting a cheap thrill.” He spoke respectfully.
“Jason.”
“Yes, Sofia.”
“Would you please secure yourself? Safety first is by far my greatest concern, and we are traveling over two-hundred miles per hour.”
“You don’t have to convince me…I know you’re the voice of reason around here.”
The relationship between the two seemed to be changing, Jason soon realized, and he began to see his SYN in a different light. She was not just his property to slave under his regime. Sofia was becoming a living and caring entity in his own mind. Jason’s frustrations over her wavered as he truly started to enjoy her company for the first time.
“Collision imminent, brace yourself!” Sofia screamed, and the Navigational Collision Warning Siren began blaring; thrusters turned direction and fired at full power, causing the Chameleon to abruptly veer right in an attempt to avoid the imminent collision.
Jason’s face strained to hide his anxiety but his panicky tone exposed all his fear when he yelled out, “There’s nothing there! I don’t see anything!”
And as soon as Sofia’s powerful sensors reconfirmed the present danger, the Chameleon slammed into the side of a large object. The tri-level craft launched up in the air rolling over. Sofia compensated for the power outage when two of the front hover pads shattered to pieces. Jason’s knuckles turned white gripping his seat straps as he watched his world turn upside down. The interior display of the Skin crackled and blinked before going dark. Sofia’s power adjustments, combined with the physics of forward motion, easily allowed her to bring the Chameleon upright again.
“I have a dead stick!” Sofia yelled when the Chameleon finally lost all power, nosing the ship down into the compact surface, displacing dirt, and showering debris along its axis of travel as it powered forward under its own kinetic energy. Finally skidding to an abrupt halt, the immobilized Chameleon sat motionless.
Jason gazed up at the distressing red glow of the emergency lights, and his head swam with confusion as he upsettingly mouthed, “Sofia, what in the hell was that?”
“It seems we have hit a cloaked object, Jason.”
“Systems, Sofia?”
“All systems are offline except Emergency Power…I am trying to boot up all systems,” Sofia replied.
“Hurry, I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Jason jumped up, and began to don a bio-suit.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going out to visually inspect the damages.”
“I can do that from in here.” Sofia spoke with a tone of caution.
“We are exposed and I need to visually see what’s going on outside, Sofia.”
Jason manually unlocked the hatch and breached the inhospitable landscape. The suit felt cumbersome as he stepped over the mound of dirt that was pushed up by the Chameleon’s nose. Although the suit’s internal heads-up display generated a clear view, Jason was feeling a bit claustrophobic. Despite the feeling, he would never make the same mistake twice by not wearing the self-sufficient outfit while venturing on the surface. Using a hand lantern to light the way, Jason walked around the ship. He could not see the damage caused by the unknown object because the front end of the Chameleon was partially buried into the ground.
“Where are you going?” Sofia asked while monitoring Jason walking away from the ship.
“I want to see what we hit.”
“Jason, by scanning my memory bank, a residual trace indicates that we hit a cloaking tower.”
Jason stopped dead in his tracks and thought about the implication of what she said. “Sofia, we need to get out of here but fast!”
“Jason, there is a breach in the outer shell and damage to the main power unit. We can access the damage from the Integrated Equipment Room to make necessary repairs.”
Jason slammed the door shut and placed his suit in the decontamination unit before entering the Integrated Equipment Room where Sofia stood looking at the large piece of metal protruding through the top of her Command Pod, and she spoke. “That would have ended me, Jason.”
“Lady Providence is smiling on us, Sofia,” he replied, distraught.
“You saved my life.” She turned and gently kissed him before saying, “Thank you, Jason.”
“I guess we’re even now… huh?” Jason blushingly replied.
The two worked feverishly in pulling apart the damaged power unit. “She’s surprisingly helpful with only having one hand,” Jason thought.
“This is the main culprit.” She held up the coefficient relay-inverter, and continued saying, “We can get the Chameleon running if I had a replacement part.”
“She’s done for then…” Jason sweated under their dire situation, and continued, “Our only options are…we wait here to be killed by the Vril or we take our chances and set out for the Pipe on foot. Maybe we’ll be able to hail a ride if we get closer. Three hundred miles; we will never make it alive. Do you have any other ideas, Sofia?”
“The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.”
“That sounds great, Sofia, but what does it mean?”
“We disrupted the cloaking station by side swiping the side of its array.”
“That gives us more reason to get the hell out of here but fast,” Jason returned.
“Do the unexpected. Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go first, and then seek to win.”
“Please, Sofia…my head hurts from all this ancient riddle talk.”
“When they come looking for us, we will then ambush them, and seize their ship.”
“Yes, we’ll take the part we need from them… however, the part may need some modification but it should work.”
“We can use an anti-gravitational MAG-retarder to stop them,” Sofia added.
“We don’t have such a weapon, Sofia.”
“I can use the EMPMs to create a crude version… We’ll require the ship to be lured between the MAG-retarders though.”
“It will be light in a couple of hours. Let’s get started, Sofia.”
CHASM FAT BOY
“We have a break, Learner!” thundered Mitchell Thacker.
“What you got, Mitchell?”
“Here…a blip on the map.” Mitchell pointed at the screen, and continued to speak. “Let me rewind and zoom in on this sector.”
“How old is this footage?” Learner asked.
“Over two hours.”
“Look at that; the entire Chasm exposed,” Learner exclaimed looking at the infrared satellite imagery showing a large hidden military complex deep within the Pacific Abysmal Plain called Chasm Fat Boy.
&nbs
p; “His vehicle must have disrupted the cloaking array,” Mitchell speculated.
“Really, Mitchell, thanks for the heads up,” Learner sarcastically replied. “The Polaris Corporation is going to have field day with this.”
“There you are, Jason Bjorn.” Mitchell froze the satellite imagery above the Chameleon.
“What a bird’s eye view…great job, Mitchell!” Learner verbally patted him on the back.
“Have you ever seen a bird in person?”
“Many years ago, I saw them on Mars when I was stationed there.”
“I wish I could see a bird.” Mitchell’s over active mind drifted while he scanned the encrypted frequencies and satellite imagery.
“We have a unit on route from the Chasm; they’re heading out to investigate what caused the temporary disruption.”
“Hail them, and let them know that I want Jason Bjorn alive.”
“We would have to de-cloak, sir.”
“What does it matter now? He’ll be on foot by the looks of their ship.”
“He’ll die out there on foot,” Mitchell added.
“Not before I kill him first, but don’t underestimate Bjorn, he’s a real tough son of a bitch.” Learner jested with deadly intent.
“We need him alive, sir.” Mitchell’s concerns were regards to opening the Phase Five Spider Lock and securing the payload they had in tow.
“Yes, I know, Mitchell. Either way, we know where they are,” Learner reiterated.
The temperature read 138-degrees inside on Jason’s heads-up display of his power suit’s exoskeleton. Being state of the art technology, the self-sufficient suit kept him cool and safe from radiation, as long as the batteries held out. It was strange for him to gear up inside an exoskeleton again. The whole experience brought back old memories of the fight for Titan. The bulky suit projected a cloaking field of its own, causing him to disappear. He peered out the spider hole he had hastily dug, and he squinted through his weapon that sat on top of the soil. The bipod held the end of the plasma rifle up, making it easier for him to zero in on the makeshift MAG-retarder. They had placed three makeshift anti-MAG retarders far enough apart to create the greatest effect but close enough to trigger a chain reaction, when detonated.
There were two plasma rifles aboard the Chameleon but Sofia’s programming prohibited her the use of these types of weapons. However, it did not stop her from using her mind. Jason was absolutely stunned at the brilliant plan she had devised. “When the enemy thinks you are weak, attack. This is something the enemy will not expect.” He thought about her philosophical approach, and concluded, “She was most amazing.”
“Jason, we have incoming.”
“Thank you, Sofia, but radio silence please.”
Through the plasma rifle’s scope, Jason observed the Vrilion ship approach the Chameleon. It had stopped a few hundred feet short of their well-placed trap. He was worried if the Vril carefully searched the area, they might be exposed. “It’s an unarmed a scout vessel,” Jason excitedly thought while staring through the crosshairs of his high-powered scope. “Come on, just a little closer,” he thought as he placed his itchy finger on the trigger.
The wind started to blow, filling the morning air with a dusty haze. Gusting caused Jason’s view to occasionally obscure around the makeshift MAG-retarder. In spite of this, it was not any sooner when he asked himself, “What are they doing?” Before he considered, all was lost, the glowing hover pads powered the Vrilion ship forward. Yet, just before entering the range of MAG-retarders it veered left. “Son of a bitch,” thought Jason while anxiously tightening his hold on the pistol grip.
The Vril circled wide around the Chameleon and it soon became clear to Jason, they had to do a visual check on the area because their scanning technology did not work under the dome of the large cloaking array. This revelation filled Jason with enormous confidence; he now knew that they would have to get up close and personal with the Chameleon; giving them the most optimal chance to succeed.
When the Vrilion ship swung behind the Chameleon, it slowly edged forward; and Jason could feel the pressure waves blasting from the ship’s pads as it passed next to his position.
“I love you, Sofia,” Jason echoed cheerfully when he squeezed the trigger. Blue heat exploded out the barrel of his plasma rifle and on meeting his target, the tip of the warhead detonated in a load, “BOOM!” causing a chain reaction. Three separate but near simultaneous explosions radiated out in shockwaves of blinding white lights of energy, causing the Vrilion ship to violently drop to the ground.
Jason’s heads-up display blinked, and then disappeared altogether. The crude weapon was more powerful than they had anticipated. His power suit was nearly frozen, he could barely move his arms and legs; but what amazed him the most, was how fast Sofia moved. He watched her jump out of the Chameleon like a cat, run to the immobile ship and place a Phase Five Spider Lock on its hatch; and before running back inside the Chameleon for cover, Sofia set the timer on the modified spider lock for 5 seconds, all with one hand. The modified lock now acted like a shape charge. “BOOM!” The explosion blew the hatch off with ease.
Sofia leapt from the Chameleon and was on board the enemy vessel in seconds, ready to slay the Vril inside. On after entering, she quickly realized there was no one left to dispatch. She was stunned by the carnage the explosive lock had caused to the occupants; splattered blood and flesh stuck to all surfaces. “Jason, we have their ship.”
He didn’t answer her communication and she knew immediately that something was wrong.
Slowly scratching at the hard surface, Jason struggled to climb out of his spider hole. Fingertips dug into the ground, and legs pushed up off the sides with futility. He wrestled with the task for what seemed like minutes, and was contemplating abandoning the exoskeleton suit when he heard Sofia’s voice say, “Their ship is secure!” Sofia then reached down and picked him up.
“Fantastic job, Sofia.” His words muffled through the helmet’s lifeless speakers because the power suit’s energy was depleted when the MAG-retarders exploded.
“I think the entire array is down, Jason.”
“It doesn’t matter now. Let’s pull the coefficient relay-inverter out of their ship but fast.”
The satellite imagery and information electronically arrived in delayed packets between real time Hacks. Mitchell’s equipment worked hard at collapsing the gaps into one continuous feed of data but the intense frequency hopping the Polaris Security Systems deployed, nearly made it impossible for his antiquated equipment to keep up.
“Wow, look at that…we have an event. Chasm Fat Boy is completely exposed, Mister Rotterdam.” Mitchell animatedly spoke while staring at the screen.
“Zoom in on the Chameleon,” Learner stiffly commanded; his displeasure was apparent by the tone of his voice. “Something went wrong.” He watched Mitchell focus the real time satellite image on the Vrilion scout ship; there was no movement, and Learner spoke again. “Can you quickly access the memory data-base, and rewind the footage before we get bumped?”
Without answering, Mitchell feverishly typed into the keyboard but before he could get a response, the satellite uplink was cut, and the image went black. “What happened?” Learner furiously asked.
“I think the cat’s out of the bag,” Mitchell replied while trying to restore the uplink but as he feared, the Polaris Corporation shut down all non-essential traffic from their extensive satellite network.
“What is a cat’s bag?” Learner impatiently asked.
“It’s just an old metaphor, sir.”
“Then speak clearly, Mitchell!” he furiously asked.
“The Polaris Corporation is spoofing the entire area.”
Sofia held the replacement coefficient relay-inverter in place while Jason frantically peeled back the three-inch thick wire’s insulated covering; the hard coating was difficult to cut through. Albeit, the Vrilion part’s connector pins differed from the Chameleon’s, they had to splice the ends
together to make it work.
“Jason, I just picked up a residual satellite packet. Another Vrilion ship is closing in on our location.”
“From what direction, Sofia?”
“From the direction of the Fissure Point Pipe Portico.”
“Learner!” Jason loudly growled before continuing. “Can you estimate their ETA?”
“The packet is twenty minutes old. I calculate they will be here plus or minus fourteen minutes.”
“We’re going to need another twenty to finish here, and another four to five minutes to power up all systems…we’ll never make it, Sofia.”
“The best offense is a good defense, Jason.”
“I understand that one, Sofia, and I’m totally with you…let’s hope we are successful again,” said Jason. The two then discontinued the repair, and with post haste, they exited the Chameleon’s Integrated Equipment Room.
Racing across the barren wasteland, the hover pads angled pitching for maximum directional wave-thrusts. Learner’s ship advanced to what seemed like a desolate area of the Pacific Basin but was actually teaming with Vrilion covert military activity; cloaked in blankets of lies and deceit, they had plans within plans; and nothing would stop them from over-throwing Polaris sovereignty. The secret base was well outside of the Devonian Enclave, making it easy for them to claim plausible deniability. However, according to the Office of Polaris Security Services, and albeit the Devonian’s official stance on the subject claiming they are not supporters of the Vril, reports suggested otherwise; the Devonian administration secretly coveted the fanatical group.
“What’s that, Mitchell?” Learner pointed at the heads-up display.
“Looks like it’s Jason Bjorn’s SYN… Maybe he’s dead,” Mitchell added.
“Can you pick up any other life forms yet?” Learner asked.
“No, the Corporation is jamming all frequency wave lengths.”
