-28-
I reached the footpath and began to hoof it hard, soon panting. I tried not to dwell on the situation. By that I mean, I would not allow myself to realize I was on an alien world. There could be dinosaurs here. By the elephant gun the ape captain carried, I was pretty certain Nerelon Brontios believed dinosaurs lived on this planet.
As should be obvious, I dwelled on the fact far too much. It was sapping my morale and making me hungrier.
“I need something to eat,” I panted.
“I know,” Rax said. “I am monitoring you. There is a stream ahead, but it will be dangerous.”
“Predators?”
“Exactly. In fact, I believe one of the smaller dinosaurs has already detected your scent. It has begun to hunt for you.”
“How small is smaller?” I asked.
“Three meters tall.”
I did some mental calculations. “Nine feet?”
“A little more than that. One meter is more than three feet.”
“Is it a raptor?” I asked.
“No. It is something worse.”
“I want to go home. I want to sleep this off for a month. I hate this place.”
“We are in a dangerous spot,” Rax said. “But we have been in dangerous spots before.”
“Not with brilliant dinosaurs hunting me in a Jurassic jungle. Can’t you do something?”
“What would you suggest?”
“Yeah. I don’t know. Okay. We have to kill this thing.”
“Agreed. I expect it is not familiar with laser rifles or your Polarion facsimile.”
“No. Do you have an ambush site in mind?”
Rax gave me one, and I won’t waste time giving a blow-by-blow account of what happened next. I ambushed the murderous dinosaur, killing it with a beaming shot to an ugly head full of teeth. It kicked its great big hind legs longer than I wanted. I had to wait, which I couldn’t afford. But I was hungrier than ever. I couldn’t go much longer without food.
Some of you must be wondering how I could eat alien protein. The quick answer was that I couldn’t. That should answer the next question. It wasn’t alien protein, but reptilian meat like a rattlesnake or a monitor lizard. Naturally, the third and most interesting question was how Earth-type protein was on an alien planet possibly hundreds of light-years from our world. The portals were the answer.
In any case, I burned off a chunk of meat, letting the heat from the Polarion ray char my food. I lacked a knife and time to build a fire. I ate the hunk of dinosaur meat on the run, devouring the half-raw flesh and deriving immense satisfaction from it. Fortunately, my Polarion garb did not soak up the drips of grease and blood.
I halted at the stream and drank on my hands and knees like a dog, slurping up great gulping swallows. I drank as much as my stomach could hold. For some reason, the other predators had fled at my approach.
I felt drowsy soon thereafter and only walked for a time. My altered metabolism began to kick into gear, using the substance I’d given it to help repair tissue damage.
Had the stream not been dangerous, then? I’d killed two smaller hissing dinosaurs that had investigated me. As long as the Polarion rifle carried a charge, I should be okay if the locals came at me one or two at a time.
The tedium of the long and grueling race through the jungle took its toll. The sun set in time and two big moons took its place. The illumination allowed me to navigate at night.
Despite that, I was staggering by this time. I had also wrestled with a problem for hours. I finally found a hill with rocks, climbing them and allowing myself a moment to catch my breath.
“The enemy is closing in,” Rax said.
I didn’t bother nodding. I rested against stone, breathing in and out.
“How long do you estimate you will stay here?” Rax asked a few seconds later.
“Why didn’t Ailuros bring an air-car through the portal?” I asked. “Why go through all this hassle of hiking on foot?”
“She likely did not have time to acquire an air-car.”
“Okay,” I said. “Do you know how much farther we have to walk to reach this temple?”
“If we walk all night, we should reach there by morning.”
“How far are the others behind us?”
“Ten minutes at the most,” Rax said.
“I wouldn’t figure giant great apes could move so fast for so long.”
“It is a mystery,” Rax agreed. “Perhaps Nerelon gave them drugs to ensure greater stamina. He most definitely desires your capture. I would imagine he wants it more than ever.”
“Because he fears we can reassemble this super-science weapon?”
“Exactly,” Rax said.
“Why wait all this time to make it?” I asked. “Why didn’t Ailuros—she didn’t know about the weapon until now?”
“Perhaps Argon caused her to forget. Perhaps the computer caused her to remember. I do not know the exact reason. The weapon is more than just…dangerous. It can upset the fabric of reality if used too much or used incorrectly.”
I could feel the drugged-up Gigantopithecuses shuffling on all fours after me. Night fighting would likely aid them more than it would help me. I had a night march to do.
“Let’s go,” I said, working down the rocks.
The path widened an hour later. I beamed two predators that would have made supper out of me except that Rax gave me enough warning. Otherwise, I jogged, walked, jogged again and continued the grueling march. One thing helped. I just couldn’t accept big simians outlasting me, a Marine, in an alien jungle. I was built for endurance. They were built for strength.
I had to pass on a jungle pond even though I was parched again. Rax informed me about hidden predators, while land predators waited around it for prey to come and take a sip.
“Will the Gigantopithecuses be able to drive the predators away from the pond?”
“I would say yes,” Rax said.
“Well, they’ll have to stop to drink. I’ll use the extra time.”
The night passed as the stars slowly wheeled overhead. The two moons sank into a dark horizon, while a bigger one rose to give me even more light.
“Say,” I panted later. “How long until the sun rises?”
“Another hour, I think.”
That seemed too soon. “Does the planet have a twenty-four-hour cycle?”
“Sixteen and a quarter hour cycle,” Rax said.
Maybe a half hour later, Rax had to shout three times to alert me about dinosaurs sniffing my trail. I shot and killed one of them. The others halted and feasted on it.
As the last moon departed the sky—and I could no longer hear the quarreling dinosaurs—I climbed a large tree and waited. The stars alone didn’t provide enough illumination for me to safely trek. Twenty minutes later, sunlight peeked up over the horizon. Except for this tree stop, I had been marching all night and was exhausted.
I climbed down the tree and continued trekking. “Is the temple near?” I asked.
“A moment,” Rax said. “Ah. Do you see the crest of land to your right?”
I turned right, noting a fern-lined slope. Feeling the burn in my thighs—the tree-stop had caused my muscles to tighten—I trudged uphill and finally crested it, pushing a fern out of my way.
What I saw amazed me.
-29-
In a valley, in the dawn-light, a giant ziggurat gleamed like a veritable mountain of gold. A crystalline stream with purple-colored ferns lining both banks flowed through the valley. There were cyclopean stones embedded in the ground that made a twisty road paralleling the stream until it neared the ziggurat. The road then curved around the temple and presumably came to the foot of the ziggurat on the side farthest from me. The floor of the valley was covered with a carpet of grass that looked better kept than an elite golf course.
“That’s the temple?” I asked.
“What else could it be?”
“Is it really made of gold?”
“Yes.”
“What do you think ‘yes’ implies?” Rax asked.
I eyed the giant structure. As I’d said before, a ziggurat was made like a square wedding cake, with each higher, smaller level resting on the one below it.
“Where did they hide the super-science weapon?”
“Why are you asking me obvious things?” Rax said. “The weapon is in the top structure, of course. Where else would you keep it?”
“And…it’s been there all this time, thousands of years?”
“The planet’s energy field is intact. That implies no space pirates have breached through and landed to rob it.”
“Do others in this sector of space know about the weapon?” I asked.
“Firstly, it is not ‘the weapon,’ but a piece of it,” Rax said.
“You called Ailuros ‘The Keeper of the Prometheus Stone.’ Is the first piece shaped like a rock?”
Rax avoided answering by saying, “According to my scans, the enemy is gaining on us. I suggest that haste is in order.”
“The ziggurat is still miles away.”
“Thus,” Rax said, “the sooner you begin…”
I inhaled deeply, studied the descent and the overgrown, tangled way and searched for the footpath. There it was in the distance. I could double back and—
I plunged straight downslope into the tangled growth, slipping between vines, tree trunks and ferns. I had been getting better at this throughout the night. Now, I put the newfound skill to use, weaving my way downslope toward the curving path.
It was hard to imagine a world with such a construct like the ziggurat devoid of an intelligent race. Clearly, there must have been people or aliens on this world before. The Polarions would have used workers to make such a temple. Had the workers died out? Were they all in stasis some place? I figured that was the most likely thing. Polarions and the former Starcore seemed addicted to putting others into stasis.
How long ago had it been since a Polarion had walked this planet? Had others forgotten the existence of this world and temple? Was it a sacred place? Did walking on the surface incur a gruesome death penalty? There was too much Rax had kept hidden from me. I couldn’t ask now, as I panted and wheezed. Going downhill helped me some, but the tangled undergrowth I had to negotiate—
I heard an animal-like screech. It came from above. I looked up but could spy nothing in the canopy of leaves. I heard it again. My eyes narrowed. A third screech confirmed my suspicion. The sound seemed to come from a flying creature. The thick canopy hid me from it—or them.
“Rax,” I hissed.
“I am scan—” The crystal fell abruptly silent.
That struck me as ominous, so much so that I ducked my head as I slowed my descent, using the leaf and fern canopy to keep hidden from whatever was flying up there. I heard more screeches, as if several flying aliens or animals made the noise, frustrated at being unable to spot me.
“Logan?” asked Rax.
“What just happened to you?”
“I am uncertain. But a wave field…yes, I believe a wave field disrupted my processes. I went inert for a time.”
“Are you okay now?”
“I believe so. Logan, there are aliens in this world. The station computer must have deliberately left out certain warnings.”
“If these aliens possess a wave-field generator, why couldn’t they locate you?”
“I am unsure. But… Logan, listen closely. If the aliens render me inert again and possibly for a longer period…can I trust you?”
“Always,” I said, maybe too glibly for his liking.
“That was not a comforting answer.”
“Hey, Rax, are you remembering all the times you double-crossed me or kept me in the dark?”
“You are exaggerating. Remember, I did not know the portal location to this world until I found it on the station computer. Other secrets, Argon forced me to keep from you.”
“How did you bring us to this world?”
“That should be obvious. I entered the needed coordinates as we plunged through the portal. It ejected us into this world. The closest Gigantopithecuses followed the same path. After we passed, the coordinates would have gone back to zero. These others and Ailuros must have discovered the coordinates. Such being the case, that tells us Nerelon and Ailuros gained the data from the computer. I had originally believed that this world had remained hidden for eons. The flying aliens just now…I must have been mistaken. Clearly, though, Nerelon must realize why I came here. But none of that was the point I wished to make a moment ago. There are ancient warnings regarding the ziggurat. Perhaps the flyers are not a new danger but the locus of an ancient threat.”
“So, what’s the plan, then, given the flyers?”
“I am beginning to think that we should allow the others to take the lead.”
“And grab the loot before us?” I asked.
“Loot?” Rax said.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “It’s my D&D days coming back to haunt me.”
“Please elaborate.”
“D&D, Dungeons and Dragons was, is, a roleplaying game. I was in a group in high school. The way we played, we killed all the monsters and stuffed our pockets with loot, treasure. The more you got, the stronger and higher level you became. The key was to always be first to the treasure. We can’t let the Gigantopithecuses get to the ziggurat first.”
“We can if the latent threat—the ancient danger—kills the great apes and Ailuros for us.”
“Or if the Gigantopithecuses kill the flyers for us. Rax, that’s diabolical, and clever. But aren’t the apes trailing with orders to capture us?”
“Will they continue to do so once they see the ziggurat?” Rax asked.
I thought about that as I broke through the undergrowth and stepped onto the downward-slanting path. I searched the skies above but did not spot any flyers. I looked in the direction of the golden ziggurat. There, in the distance, I saw flying creatures like giant pterodactyls with long tails.
“Are you scanning them?” I asked.
Rax did not reply right away. “Sorry,” he finally said. “The Gigantopithecuses are scanning for us. I scrambled our position, but they are near. We must hide and let them pass.”
“If they’ll do that. Remember, Nerelon ordered the ape captain to capture me.”
“I heard it, and it might be true.”
“Right,” I said. “This is about playing the odds, huh. We’re never going to reach the ziggurat ahead of them. Yeah, your idea makes the most sense then. Now, let’s see if can find a hideaway.”
-30-
I found a spot a good way off the trail, climbing a huge tropical tree, lying on a large branch and hiding behind a leafy frond. By the time I situated myself, bringing the Polarion rifle up, I saw the first Gigantopithecuses.
The big apes traveled like you would expect gorillas to do, using all fours. Just like an overgrown gorilla, a Gigantopithecus used the knuckles of his hands for extended locomotion.
The flyers—three of them—had flown behind the great temple. Had they turned and landed on or inside the ziggurat?
The small red sun was climbing the beer-colored sky. No moons were in evidence. There were four, small pink clouds. It looked like it was going to be another hot day in paradise.
The two ape scouts halted approximately where I had left the footpath. They straightened the best they were able and unlimbered their laser rifles. One scanned left. The other scanned right. By this, I do not mean they used electronic gear, but their beady ape eyes.
I tensed, even though I doubted they could see me. They were much bigger and I knew where to look for them. I was smaller, hidden and—I glanced away. I suddenly feared they might be able to feel the intensity of my gaze. I kept watch with my peripheral vision.
“Well?” asked Rax. “What do you think? Will they turn toward us, or will they head for the ziggurat?”
“I thought you knew.�
��
“As you said earlier, this is a calculated risk. If you feel they will track us no matter what, perhaps you could attempt sniper shots and take them both out.”
I rejected the idea as I saw the rest of the troop approaching the two scouts.
“The moment of truth,” I said.
The ape captain approached his scouts, listening to them. I figured they were explaining as they gestured everywhere with their huge hairy arms.
“I should have set you down beside the trail,” I told Rax. “Then, you could have recorded their conversation.”
“A dubious ploy, at best,” Rax said.
Ailuros sauntered her way to the three. I wondered about her standing in the troop after her luring attempt had failed to catch me.
It must not have hurt it, for the ape captain listened to Ailuros. They remained like that for a while. She indicated the golden ziggurat. He swept his right arm outward from time to time. She put her hands on her hips and thrust her chin at him. Was she scolding the ape captain, calling him a fool, or something else?
I would have liked to know.
My arms became prickly as I waited. I didn’t like this. I should have kept going. I adjusted the rifle, making sure I had a clear field of fire just in case.
I would not have considered making a sniper shot from this distance, but I had a beam weapon. That gave me several advantages for long-range fire. A beam would not drop, but drill directly to the target. Secondly, I would watch a beam and make adjustments as I fired. It would be like having tracer fire.
A tracer was an incendiary bullet that made a visible path as it traveled from the gun barrel to target. If every sixth or seventh bullet was a tracer from a heavy machine gun, a gunner could visibly adjust. The Japanese of WWII had loved tracer fire in the jungle. WWI biplanes had also used tracer fire.
“They are taking too long,” Rax said. “Logan, kill the ape captain. Then, kill Ailuros.”
“I’m not killing Argon’s wife, not unless she’s about to kill me and I have to do it in order to remain alive.”
“That is pure sentimentality. It will get you killed. Worse, it will cause mission failure.”
Invaders: Dreadnought Ocelot (Invaders Series Book 4) Page 14
