Also, with every step he was convinced the Pharons would come swarming out of the building below and literally blow him out of the air.
Yet they didn’t appear.
He felt exposed.
Deathly afraid.
And dizzy.
One step after another, as fast as he could make himself go, he followed Stephanie to the other side, finally gaining the seemingly more solid ground of the large room in the new building.
“That was no fun,” he said.
“We there?” Stephanie asked.
Private Cort laughed. “We’re there, Doc. Okay to open your eyes.” He made sure Stephanie was facing inward, away from the ramp.
She let out a huge breath, as if she’d been holding it all the way across, and slowly opened her eyes. She glanced around, then smiled. “Thanks.”
Cort nodded and moved off.
Stephanie turned to Hank. “You all right?”
He could feel the sweat dripping down his face, but he was okay, now that he was back on a surface he could see under his feet. Amazing how visual humans were.
They turned around and watched as Kelly Bogle, his tall frame moving slowly, came across the invisible bridge, followed by Stanton and Sergeant Malone. It was odd, watching them walk on what seemed to be thin air. It was like a bad movie effect. Only this was real.
Too real as far as Hank was concerned.
“So what were the builders of this place thinking?” Stephanie asked. “They must have really loved the wide-open air, that’s for sure.”
“Seems that way,” Hank said, glancing around at the transparent walls of the floor they were on. “And they had no fear of heights.”
“Lucky them,” Stephanie said.
Bogle was also sweating when he finally reached the safety of the new building.
“Find the stairway and get the door held open,” Malone ordered a pair of her men.
Hank watched as two more of Malone’s people came across, then said, “There’s no place to hide explosives on that walkway. How do you plan to handle that?”
“Shaped charges aimed down the sky bridge,” she said. “Placed right here.” She pointed at the opening to the bridge. “Enough to blow a hole in the far side of that building over there.”
Hank only nodded. With luck, that might take a lot of the Pharons out. If nothing else, it should slow them down some.
“Okay, people,” Malone said, “start up the stairway to the next sky-bridge level. Keep a good pace. Twelve stories.”
Hank turned, then he and Stephanie made their way through the ruins to the stairwell door now visible and open.
Behind them Malone watched as her two men started setting the explosives to blow up the bridge.
Fifteen very long minutes later, they emerged onto the forty-sixth floor of the building. It was similar to the one they had just left, with debris scattered around and another sky bridge leading off the west corner. Waters had used an open area near one side of the room to set up the motion detector.
Hank went right over to him. “Where are the Pharons?”
“Moving slow,” Waters said. “Lead warrior has about thirteen more floors to go. They’re scattered over three floors.”
Hank nodded and moved over to where Stephanie stood, staring out at the sky bridge below, which the Pharons were going to have to cross to get to this building. There was no other bridge, so if they didn’t come across there, they would have to return to the ground level and start up through another building.
And that would slow the aliens even more. Maybe long enough for Hank and the others to get to the energy source inside the debris barrier, whatever it was.
Edaro and Dr. Bogle joined them, followed a few moments later by Stanton and Lee. Hank was startled at how differently each of them was taking the experience. Edaro seemed almost unfazed, his golf ball an almost constant companion. Bogle seemed focused and serious, his face always set in a contemplative frown. Lee always looked like he was enjoying himself, while Stanton sweated so much, Hank was amazed he had a drop of liquid left in him. Hank was afraid, but nowhere near as much as Stanton was.
Bogle looked down at the sky bridge. “Looks so damn solid from up here.”
“Even painting a line on the floor might have helped,” Edaro said, setting up his equipment.
“Maybe there were lines there when this city was inhabited by the people who built it,” Bogle suggested.
“More than likely,” Hank said. “I’m not looking forward to crossing the next one, that’s for sure.”
And he wasn’t. The next time he just might close his eyes, put his hand on one wall, and walk until he tripped on something in the next big room. Far less traumatic on his nerves.
“I thought it interesting,” Edaro said. “Not something we’re used to by any means, but imagine working in a building like this and going out for a walk next door.”
“Don’t even talk about it, would you,” Lee said. “I’m getting dizzy again just thinking about it.”
Edaro laughed and flicked on his instruments for detecting the molecular stability of the island.
“It’s been over two hours since the earthquake,” Stephanie said, crouching beside Edaro. “We due for another?”
“Of course we are, eventually,” he said, again. “But let’s just hope we’re off the island when it happens, since I’m betting the next one will shift this place to a new location.”
“I don’t think I’ll take that bet,” Bogle said.
Hank didn’t like the sound of that at all. At the moment they were a long way from their departure point.
“And we wouldn’t survive that, would we?” he asked, thinking he already knew the answer.
“I doubt it,” Edaro said. “If what I think happens actually does happen, it would more than likely short-circuit every electrical impulse we have in our bodies.”
“So how do the Sand do it?” Bogle asked.
Edaro shrugged and glanced at Stephanie. “You have an answer for that?”
She chuckled, then said, “Give me one for about six months of tests and I might. No, make that a year.”
“Hey, look at that,” Edaro said, surprise filling his voice.
Hank knelt beside Stephanie and looked where Edaro was pointing. It was a shallow spike on the running graph.
“That spike,” he said, “occurred right at the moment we attacked the Pharons.”
“Pharon priest phasing back out of danger?” Hank asked.
“They use a phasing generator to help them move around quickly,” Stanton said. “So that could be it.”
“More than likely,” Edaro said. “Which, if true, means that the power that shifts this city around the Maelstrom is very, very similar to the phasing power the Pharon priests use. Only magnified a hundred thousand times.”
“So now maybe we know why the Pharons are here,” Bogle said.
“With them,” Stanton said, “it’s always unhealthy to impute motives other than death and fighting.”
Sergeant Malone came over to stand looking over the shoulder of Private Waters. Hank turned so he could hear what she was saying.
“Make sure we blow it before any of them get across,” Malone said.
Waters nodded. “Three warriors in the big room now.”
Malone spoke into her commlink. “Get set, people. On my command blow the bridge.”
Hank glanced back at the other civilians. “About time for fireworks,” he said.
They all gathered closer to the edge where they could see the solid-looking sky bridge below them. Hank had no idea how something that looked so solid could be so invisible from the inside. A level of light control that was far above anything humans had reached, that was for sure.
“Four on the sky-bridge level,” Waters said. “First one at the sky bridge.”
“Wait until they start across,” Malone said.
“First one starting across now,” Waters said. “Another right behind the first.”
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“Blow it now!” Malone ordered.
Hank saw the explosion before he felt it. Dust shot out into the air from the sides of the sky bridge as if under high pressure.
Then the building they were in began to shake. Dust fell from the roof like a fine mist as the concussion from the explosion traveled up the building.
At first Hank didn’t think Malone’s people had used enough explosives to destroy the bridge. But then, below him, as if in slow motion, the bridge separated from their building and swung back toward the one holding the Pharons.
Then that side also broke loose as a massive cloud of dust filled the air, pouring out of the building like smoke from a five-alarm fire.
“Oh, man,” Bogle said. “That’s got to hurt.”
Hank watched as the sky bridge broke apart on its long fall to the street below. When it finally hit the street, the sound must have been deafening. Forty-six stories in the air, Hank couldn’t hear it at all at first. Then a low rumble shook them, like a distant clap of thunder.
The dust continued to pour from the opening in the building where the Pharons were. He watched it for a moment, then turned and went to join Waters and Malone.
“Success?” he asked.
“Took out the four on the sky-bridge level,” Waters said. “And from what I can tell, another just inside the staircase. The rest are starting back down.”
“So how many does that leave?” Bogle asked.
“Ten of them,” Waters said.
“Too many,” Hank said.
Frighteningly, Malone nodded in agreement and said nothing.
16
Time: 3:14 P . M . Pacific Time
13 hours, 43 minutes after Arrival
Sergeant Malone watched as the readings on the motion sensor being held by Waters showed the Pharons moving back down the stair core of the building across the street. Blowing the sky bridge had taken out five of them and bought her a little time. But nothing else. And just then she and her people were sitting ducks for that Pharon ship if the priest decided to call it in for some kind of air attack. She had no idea if the Pharon ship had weapons or not, nor what kind of cover the Union forces could give against the alien ship.
Either way, she didn’t want to wait around to find out.
Up there, forty-six stories in the air, they were too much out in the open, easy for a Pharon ship to target.
And she had to get everyone across and down fast.
“You’re sure none of them made it across into this building?” she asked Waters.
“Positive, Sergeant,” he said.
“Good. Keep an eye on that motion detector. I want to know if anything moves anywhere around us. Any chance of it spotting the Pharon ship?”
“No,” Waters said, “not unless it comes within three blocks and hovers. More than likely it will come in too fast for me to give you any good warning.”
She nodded, turned, and faced the civilians. “Okay, we’ve got another sky bridge to get across. And we have to do it fast.”
“Problem, Sergeant?” Dr. Downer asked.
So far he’d been the most levelheaded of them all, for which she’d been thankful. So she didn’t mind answering his questions, keeping him working along with her instead of against her.
“We’re in a vulnerable position up this high,” she said. “I want us across and headed down toward that energy source as soon as we can get there.”
He nodded.
“Down into the area where the Sand creatures are,” Dr. Stanton said.
“That’s right, Doctor,” she said, turning to glare at him directly. She hated weakness, and he was obviously weak and afraid. “Should be a good chance for you to study an alien race up close and personal.”
Stanton paled visibly, and she turned back toward Dr. Downer, who looked as if he just might laugh.
“Two by two across the bridge. Jenkins, Vasquez, take point. Make sure the down stairway over there is clear.”
Without even so much as a “Yes, Sergeant,” the two turned and headed toward the corner of the room that connected with the sky bridge.
“Follow them, people,” she said. “Move it, move it, move it.”
She waited until all six of the civilians had started across. Dr. Downer with Dr. Peters, Bogle and Edaro together, Private Marva again with Dr. Lee, and Dr. Stanton making it on his own just fine.
Walking on a transparent bridge hadn’t bothered her past the first few steps on the last one, so she used the time crossing this one to study the sides of the building toward which they were headed, as well as the barricade below them. It was a perfect vantage point. But far too vulnerable to air attack.
She studied the barricade. The building they were headed toward was inside the barricaded area. And there were two other intact-looking sky bridges above her, leading from it to other buildings also inside the barricaded area. But none led to nearby buildings outside of the area. Good. That meant if she could plant some explosives on this bridge and if the Pharons were stupid enough to try to follow them again, she’d make them pay again.
She did a quick study of the sky bridges she could see from there. She was going to have to get these people out from the barricaded area at some point. And doing it this way had worked out fine so far. If they blew up this bridge, there were others to the south that would lead them out.
She studied the condition of the skyscraper toward which she was walking. It had two holes in the side, one about two stories below, forty-four alien floors off the ground. She examined it as best she could, noting that it was large enough to shoot through, but small enough to make a hard target from the street below.
There was another hole in the building just five stories off the ground. Too close, too open. The one two stories down just might give her a chance at one more attack from above on the Pharons. It looked out over the street and onto the front of the building the Pharons were in. Another Arrowhead missile just might cut them down to size a little more.
“Waters,” she said into the commlink, “location of Pharons?”
“Between the tenth and fifteenth floors, moving down.”
There was time. A good Arrowhead missile and maybe a few well-tossed frag grenades just might do some more damage. And at this point, if they ran up against those Pharons face-to-face, she wanted the number of aliens down substantially.
She had no problems attacking where and when she could. She’d be damn stupid not to take any chances she got to cause casualties among the Pharons. Now, just maybe, she might have one more.
She strode across the big room to where the scientists were standing, clearly trying to recover from the sky-bridge ordeal. “No time to stop here,” she said. “I want you to take the stairs down two by two. Move quick, but don’t try to run. Stop on the tenth floor unless you hear otherwise.”
“Let’s go,” Dr. Downer said to Dr. Peters, turning and leading her toward where Vasquez had the door to the stairwell open. The other four civilians followed.
She turned her back on them and looked back out at the sky bridge while clicking on the commlink. “Vasquez, Waters, and Marva, flank the civilians down the staircase. Hawk, take point. Jenkins, bring up the rear. Stop and secure the tenth floor.”
She turned to Cort just as he was coming across the bridge. “When everyone’s across, I want shaped charges set here to blow the bridge. Then get down to the tenth floor.”
Cort nodded, put his pack down, and started setting the charges.
“Harden, Raynor, you’re with me at the opening two floors down. Get the Draco launcher ready.”
Malone didn’t expect any answers from any of her men, and she got none. What she did expect was action, and that was what she was getting.
Harden and Raynor were coming at a run across the bridge, the last over.
Waters had the motion sensor out so he could track any movement around them, secured against his chest. That left both hands free as he set off with the doctors.
Mal
one followed the civilians down the stairs to the forty-fourth floor. It was cold, with a good wind swirling through the interior. She grabbed a hunk of debris and shoved it in the door to prop it open, then strode over to the hole she’d spotted. There was a good chance they were going to have to make a quick escape.
Private Harden was right behind her, with Raynor right behind him.
“First Pharon nearing the second floor,” Waters said over the commlink. “The others are spread up four floors.”
Down in the canyon below her she could see the opening in the building where they had gone in, and where she would wager the Pharons were going to come out. She could also see three of the four corner doors of the building if they came out there. There was only one way out of that building she couldn’t see, and it was on the opposite corner.
Harden moved in beside her, the launcher cradled in his arm. “Ready.”
“Good. Think you can put one right through that hole in the bottom of that building?”
Harden snorted. “Give me something hard, Sergeant.”
She turned to Waters. “I want to know when two of them are on the ground floor.”
“One reaching it now,” Waters said over the commlink. “Another not far behind.”
“On my mark,” she said to Bradley.
She watched that hole like a cat watching a mouse hole. An Arrowhead missile exploding in the big, open, ground-floor area of that building ought to take out anything in the room, as well as do damage up the ramp system to those above. At least it was worth another shot. They’d only brought four Arrowhead missiles, but she figured this was worth the loss of one.
“Two on the ground inside,” Waters said. “Another on the ramp coming down.”
“Do it,” Malone said.
The next instant the Arrowhead was streaking at the hole. Harden’s shot was perfect, the missile almost seeming to duck under the top edge of the hole in the wall.
The next instant the hole looked like a dust-and-smoke geyser. The explosion’s muffled sound and the faint rumble from it reached them a moment later.
“That’s got to smart,” Raynor said.
Suddenly Malone caught a glint of something reflecting light out of the corner of her eye. About fifteen blocks over and above them.
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