“But where is Caroline?” Tyler asked.
“I saw her chasing two of our attackers over that way.” Masters said. “But with all that was going on I didn`t see what happened afterwards.”
Masters had kept his head down while the arrows had flown to and fro, but he had kept his spear ready to protect his life and that of Parsons, but he was not a Neolithic warrior as Appolon and his friends were, so had not joined in the action. Appolon was quickly on Caroline`s trail.
“There is a dead warrior hear, Caroline`s spear took his life.” Appolon cried out proudly.
The Troglodyte warrior looked like any other man except for his pale skin. He was short too for a native of Orion, being only about five feet tall. His head was shaven and his physique quite undeveloped for an adult man. It was his eyes though that set him apart, for they were larger to cope with the darkness down in the underworld.
“And here is her spear, by this hole, she must have fallen down it!” Appolon exclaimed in surprise.
**********
Caroline had chased two terrified warriors through the rocks, her blood curdling screams chilling their blood. She had seen too many of her friends die during the last few days and needed to relieve all her pent up emotions, unfortunately for these two creatures of the underworld. Soon Caroline got into spear throwing distance and raising her arm she hurled her spear forward. It sped faster than she could run, to bury itself into the back of the nearest creature of the underworld. Caroline whooped all the more causing the remaining warrior to even greater speeds. Caroline saw him disappearing amongst the rocks and pulling her spear free from the dead body of the Troglodyte she gave chase, not noticing the ground beneath her feet. Suddenly she felt the ground give way and she found herself falling thirty feet into a pit. She expected to break a leg when she hit the ground below her, but luckily the centre of the pit was a deep pool of cold mountain water. She sank quickly down to its bottom and when it came she thanked god, and pushed upwards towards the surface. She soon arrived back at the surface of the pool and swam gratefully to the side. Caroline checked her weapons, her spear was missing but she still had her knife, but how to get out of this deep hole, she looked up towards the small circle of blue sky, seeking a way out, and engrossed as she was she didn`t hear the soft footsteps that came from the dark tunnel behind her. She felt the sudden pain at the back of her head, and then she was falling away into blackness.
The large hole had been covered with small branches and dried grasses as a trap for the unwary. It was a natural entrance way to the world peopled by those who spent most of their lives in the tunnels and caves of the underworld, and beneath the ground which was trod by those who preferred the light of the sun. A long time ago the roof of a large cave had given way to let the light into this section of the underworld. Caroline would normally never have fallen into it, but her blood was up and she wanted revenge for some dead friends. Other friends looked down into the dark pit now, but they could see no sign of her below.
**********
“George, you go on with the Appolon to tell the colony about the aliens, I will go down there and find Caroline.” Tyler said indicating the deep pit.
Masters knew what Tyler didn`t know, that Tyler`s feelings for the cave woman, as Masters thought of Caroline, had grown rapidly in a very short space of time.
Appolon was also for going down into the hole before them along with Tyler, but Tryon interjected.
“No Appolon we two must go onto New Eden with George and John Parsons. It is urgent that we tell them about the alien warriors. Tyler has proved himself a warrior of the bravest heart on numerous times; let him now prove once again that he is a warrior of the first rank, the one our legends foretold.”
Appolon fell to his knees with his head in his hands agonising as to what course of action he should take. Save his sister as his heart demanded, or warn New Eden of the imminent alien attack of their town. The aliens were more than capable of wiping out all those who lived on Orion; by himself he could not protect his village, let alone his wife and family. What use were bows and arrows against the four powerful ships that the aliens had, let alone the one thousand heavy armed soldiers that he had seen with his own eyes. If Cimon or Argo had not been wounded he would have entered the tunnels before him, and with his friend Tyler defeated any that tried to stop him from saving his sister. Appolon reached a decision that tore at his heart, he would leave Tyler to complete this task, and hope that maybe Tryon was correct in his thinking, and that Tyler was the Legend sent to help them, and more importantly, to save his sister.
“Cimon, Argo, tell the people of the golden hills to send word to our village for our warriors to come here and tear this mountain apart, they are not to stop until they find my sister and my brave friend Tyler.” Cimon and Argo both pledged to do this deed with the utmost speed that their injured bodies could manage.
“I must journey to New Eden to tell the people there of the aliens that have entered our land, so that they can ask Earth to protect us. Then I will return here to find my sister.” Appolon didn`t need to add that as his journey to the town and back again would take three or four days, he would be too late to save his sister, if Tyler failed to do so.”
Turning to Tyler, Appolon said to him.
“I leave the fate of my sister in your hands my friend, if you are the one that our legend speaks about then I do not need to worry, if not then I know that you are indeed a brave warrior.” Appolon said bravely, but the anguish he felt was plain to read on his face.
“Have no fear Appolon, I will find Caroline and bring her back to you.”
Tyler took off his jacket. “Look after this for me George; I think I need to be stripped for action.” Tyler said and handed it over to George Masters.
“Don`t worry Tyler I will look after it for you.” Masters said weakly as he watched the young man he had become fond of, drop his spear together with his bow and quiver of arrows down into the deep pit. Tyler had purposely dropped them to one side so that should he fall, he would not drop onto them and damage them.
“Appolon, can you make a torch of some kind, it looks to be rather dark down there?” Tyler asked his friend who immediately began to gather what he would require to make the torch.
Masters with a desperate feeling welling up inside of him feared to try and say anything, so he could only raise a hand to wave a weak farewell to his companion.
Tyler looked up at the bright sun that was already beginning to dip behind the mountain, the evening breeze had sprung up and was already beginning to cool him, and then he dropped to the ground and slipped slowly down into the cavernous pit. He climbed down a foot at a time, his feet searching for a place that would support his weight, his hands holding tight onto the roots that had forced their way through the rock walls. The cavern was some thirty feet deep, and he had got to about half way when the roots he was suspending all his weight on, while his feet searched for a ledge, broke. Tyler dropped the rest of the way down to the bottom of the pit, but instead of a solid thump he hit with a splash. The bottom was not the solid ground that he thought it to be, but deep water with a green covering of algae giving it the look of green grass. Tyler shot to the surface and called up to his friends.
“Don`t worry my friends, I am fine.” He dragged himself from the slime that covered the surface of the water and stood up. Before him was a long dark tunnel, black as pitch except for where the thin beam of sunlight reached it. Looking up Tyler called to his friends.
“Tyler” Tryon called down. “Here is some of the food and a water flask for you; you don`t know how long it will take you to catch up with us.”
Appolon quickly fashioned a torch for Tyler, made of the grasses and twigs wrapped around a small broken branch of a tree and tossed it down to his friend. Tyler lit his makeshift torch with the cigarette lighter that his friend had left behind in his flat, then he gathered his weapons and with a final glance up, bid his friends farewell.
**********
There were two tunnels that he could choose from, one he saw ended only after one hundred yards, he could see the light shining into it and it was this one that he tried first. The tunnel rose quite sharply but it ended abruptly overlooking the valley far below him. To climb out of here was impossible for below him was a sheer rock face that fell hundreds of feet to the valley bottom, there was no way that Caroline could have gone this way, and if she had, then he would be able to see her. The track that they had come along must be just above his head but there was no way that anyone could climb up to it, the rock was smooth as glass and devoid of any handholds. Left with only one other alternative Tyler walked back to the green pond and the second tunnel.
************
Before leaving for New Eden, Appolon needed to tend to the body of Tocra. He and the others made a funeral stack upon which they put the body of their dead friend. Then, John Parsons said a prayer over the body while Appolon set fire to the stack, they then said good bye to their fallen comrade.
Now there were only four of the friends left to get news of the alien presence on Orion through to New Eden, Appolon and Tryon along with Parsons and Masters.
Cimon and Argo, with arrows still sticking from their battle scarred bodies were limping back towards the village of the golden hills at a very slow pace due to their wounds. The arrow heads had to be left in, for to have removed them would have made the blood flow from their wounds, but their wounds ached so much that they were forced to rest more than they wanted to.
***********
The Shuttle landed in the central square of New Eden from the Earth ship currently orbiting Orion. President Michaels walked down its short ramp to the cheers of the colonists who now crowded round it. Bishop John Sinclair walked forward to greet him and thank him for his timely arrival.
“We are very happy to see you here at our small outpost, your presence here will have certainly chased away any survivors of the pirates who recently attacked us.”
“Think nothing of it, I also have a further piece of good news for you. At this very moment Captain Stalker is already getting ready to launch a replacement satellite into orbit above your lovely town. Colonel Bragg told us that your original satellite had been destroyed in the space storm that wreaked havoc around your delightful planet.
Sinclair could have hoped for nothing more, for now he could get back into contact with his colonists spread all over the continental land mass of Orion. Colonel Bragg kept to the shadows in front of the temple building, he was a soldier and not a politician and it was going to get very political very soon.
“Bishop may I talk to you and Professor Jameson, preferably in the privacy of your offices in the temple?” President Michaels asked. Richard Jameson was also there to greet the President, for he wanted the President to instruct Colonel Bragg to let him resume his Time experiments, so he was delighted at the chance offered by the President to speak with him.
“I will be delighted Mr President, for there is a matter that I wish to talk to you about. Maybe Colonel Bragg had better join us as well.” Jameson said with a glance over to Colonel Bragg.
“I was about to invite the Colonel anyway, so your wish in this case is my command.” President Michaels said with a smile on his face, for he had always wanted to use this very old and tired phrase.
For some reason that the Bishop of New Eden didn`t understand, they were also joined by two other members of the Presidents party, who looked as if they would be more at home in Colonel Bragg`s Space Marine Corps than as advisors to the president.
The President did not waste any time in small talk, he came to the point immediately they were all seated in Sinclair`s large plush office on the first floor of the temple.
“Because of the attack by the space pirates I have decided to take the Time Machine back to Earth, it can be taken back on the Revenge, which is the ship now in orbit above Orion.”
Jameson exploded when he heard the President`s words. “There is no way that the Government of Earth is getting its hand on my Time Machine, you will only get it over my dead body.” Jameson now looked over to Sinclair and Bragg. “Did either of you know about this attempt to steal my Time Machine?” From their reactions to his accusation he knew that they had known about the president`s plans.
“Richard, I didn`t know that the President was on his way here, or of his plans, but I for one think it would be a very good idea to remove the Time Machine from our small planet. For one thing the native population would also be far happier if it left Orion, they have been getting a little unsettled by the prospect of many more earthmen arriving to settle here, just so as to be near to it. The colonists will also be a lot safer if so valuable invention was moved to a more secure environment, don`t you agree Colonel?” Sinclair quickly answered, maybe a little too quickly. Colonel Bragg then answered the charge brought against him by Jameson.
“I did know that it was on the cards, and I suspected that there was more to the President`s visit than just to say hello to the smallest planet in the Federation.”
“So you two will not back me up, I might have guessed.” Jameson sneered as he stood up. “Well Mr President I will not agree to your taking my invention aboard your ship. For all I know the android pirates may have been sent by you to give you just such a pretext to allow you steal it legally.”
President Michaels smiled patiently and as if he were dealing with a naughty child said.
“Now Professor, I am sure that you did not mean to insult the office of the Presidency.” As he spoke the two other members of the Presidential party who had not been seated moved one step nearer to Jameson. “Did you?”
“Are you threatening me?” Jameson stormed.
“No I would never do such a thing, but I will have no dissension regarding this matter, if that device were to fall into the wrong hands the consequences could be catastrophic.”
“Catastrophic? You know that we cannot travel forward in time, and we cannot change past events, how can it be used to endanger anyone.”
“It nearly destroyed our Town.” Sinclair said angrily, interrupting the discussion between President Michaels and Professor Jameson.
“But you know we are putting safeguards in to prevent such a thing ever happening again. You even agreed with Brian Goddard when he demanded that we do so.” Jameson protested.
“Professor Jameson, the discussion is over, I have made my decision and that is final.” President Michaels said.
Jameson went to storm out but the two men that accompanied the President stopped him from leaving.
“I think that you had better remain here until you have had time to reconsider your position Professor.” The glare that Jameson sent towards President Michaels would have cut glass.
“But is this really necessary Mr President?” Sinclair protested.
“Yes Bishop,” President Michaels answered looking across to Jameson. “I think it is. Professor Jameson you will be taken aboard the Revenge where you will be held in one of the guest quarters. The technicians aboard the Revenge will come down and arrange for the transfer of the Time Machine.” President Michaels wanting to finish on a high note added, “But of course the fusion reactor will be staying here to hopefully help this planet and your people to flourish.”
Colonel Bragg had said nothing, for he was the President`s man anyway, and with the Time Machine being taken away from Orion it looked like it would be a very quiet planet. His squad would no longer be required now and so he would be going home, and that also suited him.
On the other side of the mountain range Divilio knew nothing of these developments, he only knew that until his fleet was ready he had to skulk there and hope that no one saw him.
Up in space on the Indefatigable, Captain Kruger now had a fully operational ship but he too had to skulk behind the fourth planet, as his ship was no match for the President`s large space cruiser.
Chapter Fourteen
June 25th the Year 2494
Into The
Underworld
Tyler moved forward along the second tunnel and into the stygian darkness of the underworld of Orion, he held his torch in his right hand, his bow and quiver of arrows were over his right shoulder and his spear was in his left hand. As he moved slowly ahead with his torch throwing a cone of light before him he felt a deep fear consume him, would he be in time to save Caroline or would he get there too late. A week ago he sat behind a desk, now he was a warrior; a few days ago he was made redundant, now he had the job of rescuing a Neolithic princess. If he found Caroline would he be up to the task of rescuing her? The tunnel went on forever before him, but he wouldn`t allow the fear of getting lost down here in this labyrinth of eternal night to affect him, or he would never succeed in his mission. In any case he was following a mostly straight tunnel with a strong breeze blowing down it, one that had been beating cool against his back from the moment that he had entered the tunnel out by the deep mountain pool, and he was certain that it would take him to where he wanted to go. He had come across numerous side tunnels and thought that he had probably missed others, but he had always followed the direction that breeze was blowing. Tyler had been in the tunnels for some twenty minutes when he thought he heard hurried footsteps behind him.
Tyler quickly extinguished his torch and stepped into one of the side tunnels that luckily had appeared just at the right moment, to await his tracker. Twenty seconds later and he heard the heavy breathing of someone coming quickly along the tunnel. Tyler decided immediately that if it were a Troglodyte tracking him then he would have to kill him. He couldn`t allow anyone to get in the way of his mission to save Caroline. The main tunnel suddenly became brighter as the Troglodyte warrior approached the side tunnel where Tyler was concealed, and then the warrior stopped immediately in front of Tyler, Tyler could see him clearly in the light of the man`s torch. The warrior began sniffing the air for the scent that he had been following since he had entered the main tunnel. Tyler knew that with all of his recent exercise, and the swim in the deep algae topped pool, that he probably smelt some. The warrior`s eyes swivelled round in surprise, but this soon turned to agony, for Tyler did not wait to give the warrior a fair chance, he thrust violently forward with his spear right into the troglodyte`s throat. Tyler didn`t want the warrior crying out and alerting his tribe, for that could prove fatal not only for him but also for Caroline, for then there would be no one to save her. Tyler pulled back on his spear and thrust again, this time in the general direction of the warrior`s heart, assuming that it was in the same place of an earthman`s heart. The torch that the native carried fell to the floor and then the warrior`s weight dragged the front end of his spear down as the warrior collapsed dead upon the ground.
Time Storm Page 15
