"Well said," agreed Burt. "Most of the plan worked. Our sticky little wicket isn't quite so bad as it could have been. I say let's think this through while we have that luxury. Step one is eat food and hydrate, as we haven't done that in over 24 hours. Then we need to set a watch schedule and get some sleep. Let's get out the gear we'll need to stay comfortable tonight and go from there."
"That sounds like a good plan, Burt. Even though we slept for about 24 hours, drugged sleep isn't the same as natural sleep. Once all systems are go again, we should be able to come up with a plan to get ourselves out of here, find out where the others are and how to proceed from there," said Tarafau.
The entrance to this cave is pretty defendable with weapons from our MDPs and the Lizziebot and Fidget, who were not captured, based on the fact they are now in two way communication with us, which should help. They will wait for orders. We also need to put something across the cave opening to insure we aren't leaking light. That would be like setting up a big sign that says, 'Idiots in a cave. Come and get us.'"
They all set to their tasks and in a short time they were all wolfing down rations, not caring that they weren't heated. After cleaning up any stray crumbs so as not to entice the crawlies in the area, they set up cots, Lyra took first watch at the cave mouth along with the two bots outside the cave and Tarafau turned off the light. Lyra would do her watch in the dark so as not to compromise her night vision. It would be lonely, but short. They decided to split the watch into five two hour shifts. Which meant everyone would get a good amount of natural sleep. Jenny volunteered for the last watch and, even though she didn't expect to sleep a wink, the next thing she knew Tarafau was gently shaking her awake.
"Your turn," he sent to her. She rubbed her eyes. The interior of the cave was no longer pitch black as the sun had already risen. Only the sleeping bag they had used to block the entrance kept the cave as dark as it was. Tarafau laid back down on his bed and Jenny sat on the boulder by the entrance, pondering what could possibly be done for their situation.
Breakfast was rations again, but Jenny didn't even consider complaining. She found herself incredibly grateful for the preparations they had made for this trip. She could easily survive a few weeks on the amount that was stored in her MDP. And, if she needed to survive for longer than that, she could fall back on the survival training her hiking club had sponsored every year, and she would stretch the rations much farther than that by supplementing with the fruits so abundantly available in the jungle.
She knew that she couldn't be complacent, but she felt a lot more optimistic, being out of Sam's clutches once again. When would she ever be rid of her? It was becoming clearer every day that there was only one way to do that. She must defeat Sam once and for all.
When they had cleared up and packed everything but the lamp and the sleeping bag over the door into their MDPs, they sat cross-legged in a circle on the floor of the cave.
"Have you heard anything new from Gariel or anyone from Sanglarka?" Jenny asked Bob.
"Not yet, but the bots are still gathering data and my drones await our command once they have located us. Based on the last images they sent us, the Groga are not showing up on any of my tech. Their camp is a ghost town. Our command center is also deserted, and I only see one of the hover cars, which hopefully bodes well. I believe radio silence will probably be lifted in the next 24 hours, as long as the drones and bots don’t detect any further movement.
And before you ask," he said, holding up a forestalling hand, "No. Neither our drones nor the bots have found us yet. There is some interference that is keeping them from being able to find our bugs. I think it has something to do with the frequency of the Groga portal. They will have to come closer before they locate us. The GPS seems to be working, however. They appear to be running a search pattern at the moment."
"OK," said Jenny. "That at least gives us something to work with and information to plan from. Burt, what do you recommend, based on this intel?"
"We stay put for the next 24 hours. I don't recommend we even put our heads out, at this point. The door of the cave is defendable. One person could hold off an army from here. The only concern would be if they tried just blowing us up. But, if they don't know we're here, that's unlikely. So, we wait.
Once we get in touch with the drones and bots, we can also get in touch with Sanglarka, so they know where we are. They will know that Jenny is still alive, since the Gatekeeper key is still active and hasn't passed to another."
Jenny took it all in and sighed. She really did hate waiting, but she didn't see an alternative based on the facts in their possession.
"OK," said Bob, "who's up for a game of Spades?"
They all laughed and, in good humor actually took him up on it.
She quickly discovered that Lyra was highly competitive and evidently, she had picked up the game while they had been in Sanglarka from Burt and Bob. Tarafau confessed to have played with Lizzie during downtime in their suites at Alliance headquarters. Jenny hadn't played in a long time, but it was a game they often played as a family when she was growing up.
After a bit, the game and the socializing had calmed Jenny down considerably and it gave time for her mind to wander. What now? She hoped the Troopers had been successful in defeating the Groga on the other side of the portal. Obviously, the portal would have to be put under guard, to prevent access to earth and hopefully the portal control device had made it successfully to the Alliance.
They had two options, as Jenny saw it, to create a permanent base by the portal, although it was unlikely that it would go unspotted, or they would have to disable the portal. That, of course, assumed the scientists at the Alliance could figure out a way to do that.
In the meantime, Sam was presumably still out there.
She threw the question that occurred to her out to the group.
"Do you think the Groga portal is a natural portal, like the gateways, or do you think they have a technology to create portals?"
She could see the wheels in Bob's brain turning at light speed and the rest looked both thoughtful and somewhat startled at the question.
"I suppose, it is theoretically possible to create a gateway like those that occur naturally. There has been a lot of study by physicists into wormholes, for instance, by introducing exotic matter into a wormhole in an attempt to stabilize it. Wormholes are still a mystery, but some have theorized that wormholes may give entrance to other universes or dimensions. We just don't know enough about how all of it works. And from what I understand from my discussions with Alliance techs, they don't really completely understand how it works either," Bob said.
"It is still very much of a mystery," Tarafau agreed. "All of the scientists of the dimensions who are aware of their gateways study the phenomenon of gate travel constantly. They concur that it has to do with certain vibrational and magnetic forces, but although, at some point eons ago the gateway network was developed by beings far advanced from us, those origins are lost in the mists of time as we know it. The network only connects known gateways. It doesn't create them.
We operate a machine that we do not completely understand. The gates have their own laws, which the gateways follow, but we don't know enough. We follow the protocols for their use carefully, mostly by tradition. We know, if somehow we violated one of those laws, the entire system might collapse and the access to the gateways would become random again and allow forces, such as the Groga, to reign in blood and terror across the multiverse."
The card game had come to a screeching halt with this discussion. All looked thoughtful. There was a long silence.
"We should eat and rest," Lyra said, breaking the moment. "I, for one, want to be ready to get out of here." All of a sudden Jenny realized that Lyra had not been her usually buoyant self, as she had always been, even when things had been difficult. It occurred to her that Lyra didn't know the fate of her companions.
Jenny covered Lyra's hand with her own. "I'm sure they're all right. They prob
ably left with the rest of the team. I'll bet they're in the library with Lova right this minute trying to figure out how to rescue us."
"They'd better be," Lyra growled with a very non-Lyra-like scowl. "I don't want to have to break in a new team."
Jenny reached across and hugged her. Lyra looked up in surprise. Her face softened. "Thank you, Jenny." Jenny surprised herself. She realized that she had become a hugger, something she had never really been before. So much about her was changing so rapidly, but she supposed that if changes were happening, the hugging thing was a pretty good one.
Jenny laid down on her cot after another meal of cold rations. She hadn't intended to sleep, but she drifted off almost immediately in the quiet.
She was walking along a long path among towering sequoias. The usual peace she was always able to find among the ancient trees seeped into her bones. The path beyond her was dimly lighted except at the end, which seemed to lead to a meadow and glowed brightly ahead.
As she strolled, her mind tried to remember why she had felt so tense, but the thought drifted away into the green serenity that surrounded her. When she finally stepped into the meadow, she saw she was not alone. Dressed in a flowing white gown, with wildflowers in her hair, was Miriha. As was her wont, she held out both hands to Jenny with a warm smile.
Jenny reached for her and Miriha pulled her into a fierce hug. Drawing back, she looked intensely into Jenny's eyes. "Once again you are up to your ears in alligators, it seems," she said with a smile. "I wish I could bring you comfort and tell you that you are over the worst, but I come to you with a message: When you awake, you and Tarafau must leave the cave without your companions. This will send you into deeper danger than you have yet experienced, but, if you do not choose to do this, all of you will perish and the consequences will reach into every dimension across the multiverse."
"A message? From who?"
"This comes to me as part of my calling. I am what some would call your guardian angel. The Higher Power would have you know this. One of my responsibilities is to communicate these things to you."
"What? And what are Tarafau and I supposed to do when we leave the cave? Sam is out there and whatever minions she may have recruited. What can just the two of us do?"
"You are to return to the Groga camp and to the portal."
"But I don't have a device to access it and, even if I did, I don't know how to use one."
"A way will be provided. I cannot tell you more. This mission must proceed due to choice and not by direction. This is no dream. When you awake, Tarafau will also be awake. The exigency that allowed him to be Tarafau on earth is past. He will now be Tidbit, as before and may not return to his true form until your mission is complete. Your key will be warm and will continue so until you leave the cave. By this you will know that this message is a true one. Your companions have all drifted into sleep and will not wake until you leave, unless you make the choice to stay."
Jenny peered up into Miriha's sparkling green eyes. "So, it is my choice? And this will help us eliminate the threat to earth and save the gateway network?"
"It will. Your road is yet long and neither you nor Tarafau will emerge unscathed. Will you do this?"
Jenny straightened her shoulders. It was her choice. And somehow she knew that Miriha spoke the simple truth.
"I will."
Miriha nodded and placed one hand on Jenny's head. "May the blessings of the Creator of All Things go with you. You will find a new item in your MDP. You will not need it just yet, but when you find yourself on the brink of destruction, it will be a shield to you. You can only use it once, so choose wisely." At that, there was a flash of brilliant light and Miriha was gone.
Jenny started awake, sitting bolt upright on her cot. All was completely still around her, with the exception of Bob's gentle snore and the purr of the black cat sitting on the floor of the cave next to her.
"Are you ready?" Tidbit sent to her.
"I am." She rose quietly, donned her boots and walked past her sleeping companions, including Burt, who was asleep at his guard post by the door. Jenny knew he would feel guilty about that.
"Should we leave them a note?" she sent to Tidbit.
"Miriha will have taken care of it. She has quite a different mission for these three."
Chapter 35: The Road Less Travelled
Jenny and Tidbit stood quietly on the edge of the deserted camp. Most of the enemy tents had collapsed and those that remained, often as not, had gaping holes in the canvas or were askew on their poles. In the center of the circle of ground that had been used as a gathering place for the enemy soldiers, lay a pile of cloth, evidently a banner of some sort. Abandoned weapons lay here and there, but there were no signs of bodies or anything living.
The lively sounds of the jungle surrounding it mocked the silence of this place where once three thousand or more bustled about their chores and other activities.
She stepped as noiselessly as possible onto the grounds, not entirely sure what she was supposed to do next. She almost felt foolish, acting on what may have been only a dream, but her key had warmed, as Miriha had said it would and Tarafau was once again Tidbit. Trust was becoming more and more difficult with the betrayals she had experienced lately, but if she could trust anyone, she felt she should be able to trust Miriha.
As she neared the place where she knew the portal lay, she couldn't see any trace of it. Another thing she must take on trust. The bots had shown soldiers coming and going through it, so she guessed she would just need to be patient and alert and wait to see what came next.
She halted a few feet from where the footprints of heavy boots simply cut off in the dirt ahead of her. It appeared that the portal was large enough to allow several soldiers to go through shoulder to shoulder. She wondered if the width of the gateways was really the size of a doorway or if that was just a convenience for visualizing the gate.
"Tidbit, can our gateways do this? Expand to suit larger groups to go through at once?"
"Remember your instruction, Jenny. The doors are simply a visual representation. A draconic Guardian, for instance, would probably see an entrance 20 feet tall and a dozen paces wide. A guardian from Ingot's race would see an entrance considerably smaller, but either one of them could go through the other's gate without any problem."
She heard a sound ahead of her. The last person she ever wanted to see again was striding from behind one of the tents that had not collapsed. She steeled herself not to flee, squaring her shoulders and looking defiantly into Sam's alien eyes. She continued, even within the confines of her mind, not to give her the courtesy of her real name. One small victory, but for now it would have to do.
"So, did you lose your little pals? The jungle can do that. And what have we here? Here, kitty, kitty!" she added in a mock little girl's voice. "I have cat treats."
Jenny continued to gaze at her scornfully and, without looking, she knew that Tidbit had leveled his golden eyes at her, unblinking, waiting.
From behind Sam, a dozen large Groga soldiers marched from their hiding place inside the tent.
"Are you ready for a sight-seeing tour? I'm going to take you home to meet my parents. That's what besties do, after all, right?"
To her amazement, Jenny's key warmed again. Was that a prompt? Was this how Miriha could communicate with her?
Jenny kept her policy of silence, for now. When she said nothing, Sam spat on the ground. "Take them," she commanded the Groga.
Tidbit surprised Jenny. He allowed himself to be picked up by one of the soldiers, looking at Jenny the entire time. His message was clear, so when she was grabbed firmly by her arms on either side by a stocky soldier, she did not resist or speak.
They followed Sam through the portal, the other soldiers plodding behind them.
They emerged into darkness. As her eyes adjusted, she realized that it was not fully dark. The sky was dark gray, tatters of darker gray clouds skittered along, highlighted by twin moons.
"Home
sweet home," Sam sighed, stretching her arms out as if to encompass the entire scene before her. Ahead of them on a rise loomed a large black stone building. It was a big cube, probably about 20 stories tall, with few windows. There was no decorative stone work or embellishments of any kind. The stone appeared to be rough cut out of a single piece, window slits hewn out and almost randomly placed.
From this distance she could see only one entrance, at least on the two sides facing them. There were no trees in sight, but they weren't walking on sand or grass, either. As far as she could see the barren land stretched far and away with no identifying features. The surface they walked on was spongy, like some kind of moss, and grey like everything else that wasn't black. She could see no constellations or any other lights in the sky other than the two moons. Either, it was too early in the evening or morning (which time it was wasn't clear) or they were on the farthest edge of some galaxy where starlight didn't reach.
They marched along in silence. It seemed to take forever before they got any closer to the building. The distance was apparently distorted by the lack of landmarks. When they finally began to make their approach, she realized she had vastly underestimated the size of the building which now seemed more of a small mountain than a building.
The entrance, which had appeared to be of average height now seemed to be three stories high. On either side, just inside where they could not be seen from a distance stood two beings the size of what she imagined a troll would be. But instead of the clubs usually associated with such creatures, these carried alarmingly large versions of the blaster rifles of the Groga and their eyes bespoke cruel cunning.
The House on Infinity Loop Page 34