by Andy Kasch
Jumper noticed the weapon racks in the rear of the shuttle. He wondered if they would each be taking one when they landed, for protection from the Science Complex creepers.
The shuttle circled around a tall tower that was connected to a green tube at the top before hovering and landing in front of a large, octagon-shaped building complex. That must be Research Lab 71.
Brandon retrieved two hand-lasers and two rifles from the onboard armory. He gave the hand weapons to Alan and Kayla, and one of the rifles to Jumper. The Banorian soldier on board was already armed. As they exited the shuttle, Brandon swung his rifle over his shoulder.
“Is this a REEP rifle?” Jumper asked when they were outside.
“Erob no,” Brandon replied. “Any resistance we run into here figures to be from individuals—or a small group of poorly organized vagabonds at best. Hopefully, the mere sight of our weapons will serve as a deterrent. You and I can set these down once we get inside. Lieutenant Tun2 here will guard the shuttle and buzz me if he needs any help.”
The two Banorian pilots climbed out of the cockpit and closed the doors. Professor Yob3 fumbled with some instruments he brought along in a leather case. Jumper then noticed that the entire building in front of them was glowing with a red-tinted light.
“What type of force-field is that, Uncle Brandon?”
Brandon laughed. “A highly sophisticated one. Pick up that rock next to your foot and throw it at it.”
Jumper looked down and saw the jagged stone Brandon was referring to. He picked it up. It was heavy for its size. He and Brandon moved closer to the building. Jumper launched the rock with a considerable amount of force. It bounced off the red light in an unremarkable fashion.
“Again,” Brandon said.
Jumper shrugged, retrieved the rock, and threw it again. This time, the spot on the force-field where it hit turned white for a second and sparks flew. There was also a zapping sound when it hit.
“Did you throw it harder that time?” Alan asked.
“No.”
“Once more,” Brandon said. “And stand back. You too, Alan.”
Jumper threw the rock again, but at a different area. There was a brilliant flash of light where it impacted and the rock held in place there as if it were frozen. It then exploded into many small stones erupting in every direction. The force-field returned to normal.
Yob3 spoke. “This is a nuclear-memory protection fence. Military grade. It records the molecular structure of whatever—and whoever—it comes into contact with. Hopefully, the trespasser gets the idea when they are fiercely shocked upon their second attempt to breach it. If that fails to dissuade, it’s difficult to drum up any sympathy for them.”
“Wow,” Kayla said.
“We’ll have to remember what this one looks like,” Alan said to Jumper.
Brandon overheard him and said, “Please do.” He then took the cylindrical object—that he earlier referred to as a key—out of his coat pocket and pointed it at the building. A small red laser beam fired from it and connected with the force-field. The spot where it joined turned white, and then the entire force-field turned white. In another moment, it vanished.
“All right, we can go in now,” Brandon said. “You kids follow along. No wandering off unattended, and please don’t handle anything unless directed by one of us.”
Everyone except Tun2 accompanied Yob3 through the front door. Yob3 kept tapping his lightpad as they walked and lights came on everywhere around them. Brandon and Jumper set their rifles down in the reception area. They then went through several corridors and finally entered a laboratory with two dozen or so coffin-shaped tanks inside. Jumper had seen images of them at the university and knew they were cryonic preservation chambers. They were all on adjustable-height rollers and were stacked two or three high with tubes and cords connecting them to each other. Jumper and Kayla decided to get a closer view.
“Humans,” Kayla said while peering at the bodies in the tanks. She had a talent for stating the obvious.
“All but one,” Brandon said. “Professor, how’s the network status?”
Yob3 inspected the graphs on a machine against the back wall. “Stable,” he said. “Our culture is in good shape as well, showing signs of maturity. I still think it’s too early to inject it, but I admit these readouts are boosting my optimism.”
“Good. Excellent.”
Yob3 wheeled a cart with some gadgetry on it away from the wall. It was connected by several cords to the larger machine and had tubes dangling from the front end.
“The agent will make its way through the network sequentially,” Yob3 said. “Do you have a preference as to which side we start from?”
Brandon pointed. “There, next to Kayla. She seems lucky.”
Kayla stepped back and Yob3 connected the tubes to the chamber she had been closest to.
Yob3 straightened up. “Well, here goes.” He turned a few levers on the devices on the cart and then went back to the main machine against the wall. The two shuttle pilots came over to the cart and watched the gauges on it.
“Good so far,” Yob3 shouted. He sounded excited. “The contaminant is dissipating! It’s retreating from our agent. It’s working! Remove chamber 17 from the network.”
The two shuttle pilots disconnected tubes from the tank next to the one the cart was attached to and pulled it away from the group.
At that moment, a fast beeping sound came from inside Brandon’s jacket.
“That’s Tun2’s alarm!” Brandon said. “Jumper, Alan, Kayla—come with me! Professor, keep working. We’ll handle whatever’s outside and I’ll seal the compound again if necessary.”
Brandon ran back to the reception area with the kids on his heels. Jumper and Brandon picked up their rifles.
“Exit carefully!” Brandon said. “Stay low!” He led them outside hunched over. Jumper and his two friends followed in like manner. Tun2 was kneeling on this side of the parked shuttle. He had his rifle leveled at his shoulder. Jumper followed Brandon to his side, but Alan and Kayla ran to the rear of the shuttle and crouched down.
“Report,” Brandon said to Tun2.
“Insurgents—three or four of them behind the structure. Armed, and taking potshots at the shuttle.”
Jumper saw where Tun2 was aiming. It was the only structure between them and the tower next door; kind of an artsy sculpture-type thing made of three large boulders all leaning against each other. A circular waist-high wall surrounded it.
“What part of the structure?” Jumper asked.
“There,” Tun2 said and fired his laser. It nicked the top of the wall on the right side.
“There,” he said again, shooting a different part of the wall, “and there.” He shot the side of the largest boulder on the left of the formation, breaking off some pieces.
A laser then fired back from between the boulders but missed everything widely. Alan and Kayla instantly returned the fire from the rear of the shuttle with two beams of their own. One of them was spot on where the shot came from.
An overhead buzzing sound caused everyone to look up. A tiny metallic aircraft, no longer than Jumper’s arm, was flying overhead. No, wait. There was another. And another. Three of them.
“What the extat are those?” Brandon asked.
One of them dove on the shuttle and released a small red ball of light.
“Mini-drones!” Tun2 shouted. He shot at the dive-bomber, but it quickly zigzagged away avoiding the fire. Jumper tried to get a shot off himself, but the drones were out of range fast.
The red ball of light impacted on the roof and detonated. The shuttle rocked slightly from the small explosion. Two lasers then fired from behind the structures, both briefly connecting on the exposed side of the shuttle. They went out immediately when five beams shot back at them.
The buzzing noise from above came back, louder this time. Jumper looked up. All three drones were coming in fast, making another dive run at the shuttle.
Kayla’s voi
ce shouted from the other side. “Keep firing at the structure! I’ll get these extact things in the air!”
“Kayla, no!” Alan yelled. But it was too late. She ran out in front of the shuttle. A laser shot at her from behind the wall. She avoided it with a somersault; coming out of it crouched on her two feet with her legs wide apart. Four beams from the shuttle shot back to the wall and boulders, three from the rifles in front and one from Alan’s hand laser in the rear. They all stayed on this time. The attackers dared not fire back under the steady barrage.
Kayla fired her first shot in the air and connected on a drone. It exploded. She fired another shot. Another connection, another explosion. The last drone was coming in from the side. She ran towards the front of the shuttle, stopping just before the laser beam coming out of Tun2’s rifle, and took her third shot. Another direct hit. The last drone caught fire and spun off into the wall of RL-71where it crashed.
Kayla then fired a beam at the wall while running back to Alan’s side. Everyone stopped firing.
Brandon went to the shuttle cabin door, opened it, and climbed inside. He emerged again with a different rifle in his hand, a slightly bigger model, and came back to Jumper and Tun2’s position behind the shuttle nose. There he stood, upright, aiming the new rifle. A low sonic boom sounded, causing Tun2 to cock his head.
The structure of boulders burst apart. Huge pieces fell. Smaller pieces splintered and ricocheted in every direction. A small dust cloud bloomed. Two figures from behind the wall stood and retreated, joining two more figures that emerged from behind the boulders. They all ran off. One of them was limping.
Tun2 stood and extended his arm towards Brandon, who handed him the new rifle.
“You know,” Tun2 said, “that’s all I really wanted, was for someone to fetch me the REEP gun while I kept them covered.” He looked to the air, and then over at Kayla. “But I suppose it was good to have help. Thank you.”
Brandon walked over to close the shuttle cabin door and waved for Alan and Kayla to come to him.
“Buzz me again if you need us,” he said to Tun2.
Jumper felt his heart racing from the rush of his first battle. “We can stay out here and help guard the shuttle, Uncle Brandon.”
“No, you three come with me. Tun2 is a professional soldier, and a good one at that. He’ll be fine. I have a responsibility to watch after you kids.”
Back in the laboratory, right away Jumper could tell something was wrong. Professor Yob3 was standing before the big machine shaking his head. Five of the chamber tanks had been disconnected and pulled away from the others. The two scientist-pilots were standing idly.
“What happened?” Brandon asked.
Yob3 slowly turned around. “It didn’t work, Brandon. It was too soon. The contaminant was much stronger than I suspected. It mutated after retreating, strengthened itself, and then attacked our culture and overwhelmed it. We managed to get these five safely out of the network. But the rest are now in just as bad as condition as before, possibly worse. I’m sorry.”
Brandon plopped to the floor and buried his head in his hands. He stayed that way for several minutes. No one in the room said anything. The two shuttle pilots stood above him and seemed sympathetic. One of them eventually leaned down and squeezed Brandon’s shoulder.
Brandon stood up. His eyes were red.
“My fault,” he said. “It’s my fault. I rushed it. I knew the risks. I felt I had to take the chance. Please don’t console me. I’m okay. One cannot fault their decisions when they understand the risks in advance and choose to live with the results.” He wiped his face with his forearms.
“What happened outside?” Yob3 asked.
“We had a scuffle with some locals and the shuttle was hit with weapons,” Brandon said. “It may be damaged.”
“We’ll check it out,” one of the pilots said. The two of them hurried out.
Yob3 stepped forward. “These five can be revived, Brandon. The facilities here are all operational. Same way we did it 25 years ago, if you like.”
Brandon nodded and walked around to the backside of the cryonic chamber network. He pulled at a tank on the bottom level. It wheeled partway out. The figure inside seemed much larger than all the others.
“What about him?” Brandon said.
Yob3 frowned. “I was afraid you’d ask that.”
Chapter Five
“The hull shield is too badly damaged for interplanetary travel. Not capable of atmosphere re-entry. Everything else is all right, though, so we can get around Amulen.”
“Okay, thanks,” Brandon said to the shuttle pilot. “Our task here is only minimally successful, but we’ll move forward with the resuscitation of the five subjects we managed to save. I have an errand to run, unfortunately, so we’ll move the bulk of the food supply from the shuttle into the lab and seal the building again while I’m gone.”
“What about us?” Jumper asked.
“You kids come with me.”
Jumper was happy to hear that.
Yob3 objected. “Brandon, you know this process goes a lot easier when another Earthling is here to help administrate.”
“I’d stay if I could, Professor. Believe me. You’ve revived twenty-five of us with no human administrators, and we all turned out fine—except for Derek, or course.” Jumper cocked his head but straightened it when Yob3 laughed.
Brandon’s lightpad beeped. He activated it, read a message, and chuckled.
“Mip7 has booked me a ride on a hostile alien shuttle with a rebellious militia leader, in an attempt to stop a war. Sounds perfect. Just like the old days.”
Yob3 stopped laughing. “Why do I have the feeling we’re going to be stranded here?”
“You won’t,” Brandon said. “I’ve let both Mip7 and Olut6 know our situation. Worse comes to worse, one of them will see to your transportation needs. Derek also knows you’re here, and you have your lightpad. Tun2 will stay with you. He might come in handy.”
“The three of us can handle everything in the lab,” Yob3 said. “You sure you don’t need the soldier with you?”
“I’m sure. Where I’m going, he’d only be a burden. I should be back before the new subjects are ready to be transported.”
“That would be nice.”
Brandon and the two pilots moved cartons of food and equipment from the shuttle to the laboratory, along with a few weapons. There was no more trouble outside. When they were finished, Brandon reassured Yob3 that he would soon return before leading Jumper, Alan, and Kayla back out to the shuttle. Tun2 was waiting for them. It was getting to be late in the day.
“Have Yob3 reactivate the force-field from the inside,” Brandon said to Tun2. “I’m going to hover until I see it come on. Please don’t make me wait around until more of those mini-drones show up.”
Tun2 looked concerned but agreed. The thought crossed Jumper’s mind that he took orders from Brandon as if Brandon was his commander. But then, soldiers were conditioned to receive orders from people who sounded authoritative. Jumper knew that’s why he could never join the military. Not unless they let him in as the High General.
Jumper climbed into the copilot’s seat with enthusiasm, never having been in a real cockpit before. He enjoyed the few flights he’d taken on the commercial shuttles in the past, but these small private crafts were a different experience. Jumper looked behind him to watch Alan and Kayla settle in. When they were securely in the cabin with the door closed, Brandon fired up the hover engines.
“When’s the last time you flew one of these, Uncle Brandon?”
“Trust me—you don’t want to know the answer to that.”
Jumper smiled widely at his response. He knew Alan and Kayla overheard it and were probably nervous as a result, which made it even better. As far as Jumper was concerned, life didn’t get any better than this moment. He was out of the Earth colony, away from the university, and embarking on an adventure with Uncle Brandon, who was famous among humans for his adventures. Her
e Jumper was right next to him in the copilot seat. The fact that Uncle Brandon was flying, and admitting to being a little rusty at it, perfected the scene.
Tun2 waited until they were off the ground before entering the building. Brandon ignited the thrusters, and apparently decided to get re-familiar with the shuttle controls by diving and swooping all around RL-71. He was obviously out of practice, as the motions of the craft weren’t smooth. Jumper laughed like an infant being thrown in the air by his father as he gripped the handle over the copilot’s door. He glanced in the cabin and saw his two friends both clinging tight to the overhead railing. Kayla made eye contact with him.
“Oh, Jumper’s having waaaayyy too much fun,” she said.
The wall around RL-71 finally lit up in red. Brandon quit fooling around and took the shuttle up and out in the direction of Continent-3. He flew it steady from there and the engine noise quieted down enough for everyone to talk in a normal tone.
“I was beginning to wish we brought the float suits back there,” Alan said from the cabin. He then mumbled something under his breath that Jumper thought sounded like, “Still do, actually.”
“About that,” Brandon said. “Why don’t you and Jumper now tell me what really happened on your overnight mountain trip.”
“What do you mean?” Jumper asked.
“I mean the real story, not the padded version you both gave your fathers. Not that I blame you. The area you were in is close to a hotbed of recent activity, and I may have need of the information you can give me.”
Jumper hesitated. “We…”
“Yes?”
“We didn’t pad it too much. We stayed out overnight because of trouble with our cruiser. I’ll confess that we tested Dad’s new suits on steeper ground than was probably wise, but only after we had good results on the shallow slopes.”
“That still sounds like the padded version,” Brandon said.