Or Malone. Or the others who’d died.
Hank wasn’t letting himself think about Vasquez getting hit, knowing it could just as easily have been him. He took a few, long breaths and tried to clear some of the dust from his lungs.
Vasquez had been a good soldier. So had Sergeant Malone and the others. Hank just hoped the data they’d gathered from the massive phase generator was worth good soldiers’ lives. Now they just had to get it off the damn island.
Marva and Waters lowered Private Cort down to a sitting position near Hank. Neither of them seemed to be panting at all. Or even the slightest bit winded.
Chop Edaro dropped down beside Hank, working to catch his breath. Then he got out his sensing equipment and studied it. Hank really didn’t want to know what he was seeing. There was no doubt they didn’t have much time left. That was all he needed to know.
He turned to Cort. “Anything on the motion sensor?”
“Trust me,” Cort said, “if there was, we’d still be moving.”
“Maybe they’re still in the energy building,” Bogle said. “Could we get so lucky?”
“I doubt it,” Cort said simply.
“Get through to the mainland?” Hank asked, changing the subject.
“Don’t know,” Cort said. “These buildings are still pretty high, but they might have heard me.”
“I hope so,” Hank said. “I’m not really up for swimming back.”
“They’re giving support,” Cort said. “Even though we can’t contact them. My guess is they’ve been dealing with that Pharon ship. They may not be able to contact us, but they know where we are.”
“You’re sure of that?” Hank asked, hoping Cort was.
“Very sure,” Cort said. “The Union takes very good care of its troops. Especially on a mission like this.”
“Can they get a craft into this narrow road to extract us?” Hank asked.
“Not easily, but it could be done.”
“I just hope they do it before the island jumps,” Bogle said. “I hate swimming.”
“If this island leaves suddenly, and we’re offshore,” Lee said, “we won’t be swimming, we’ll be surfing the tsunami.”
“Another one?” Stephanie asked.
Hank glanced at her. She seemed to be breathing normally again.
“Of course,” Lee said. “This island phases away and the water will come rushing into the void. Massive waves.”
“Just great,” Stephanie said.
“People,” Edaro said, “we don’t get off here soon, it’s not going to matter.”
“What’s happening?” Hank asked.
“I’m getting energy spikes,” he said. “My guess is the Pharons have killed a few of the Sand. These energy spikes are just like what happened when we killed those last ones.”
“You’d think the Pharons would have that figured out,” Hank said.
“Unless they’re not studying the generator so much, but instead are trying to figure out how the Sand are re-formed,” Lee said.
“That’s all we need,” Bogle said. “Nasty-smelling aliens who not only can come back from the dead, but re-form.”
That thought made Hank’s stomach twist.
“Who knows,” Edaro said. “But too many more of those and we’re going for a ride with this place.”
“Let’s move it,” Cort said, motioning for Marva to help him again. “We still have a way to go to get to the water.”
Within a few seconds they were again moving down the street, weaving in and out of debris, making the best time they could toward the ocean.
Two blocks later Cort tried to raise the mainland again.
This time he got a response.
“Take cover,” base control said. “Transport on the way, but enemy ship approaching. We’ll continue to try to hold it off, but it’s hard to say if we can.”
Those were not the words Hank had been hoping to hear. Not at all.
The Pharon ship had found them.
And it seemed the Union aircraft had been engaging it for some time without success.
“Take cover!” Cort ordered. “Scatter, everyone!”
Hank saw it coming from the east, the very direction toward which they were running. It was a small ship, more than likely a fighter of some sort. It was gold, with elaborate markings and symbols on the sides. It seemed to gleam in the Maw’s light.
As he watched, stunned, a Union jet flashed in from the left, firing a missile at the enemy ship.
It was a direct hit, but the Pharon craft just kept on coming. It was as if nothing had happened, and the craft seemed to drain off the energy from the missile explosion like water off a roof.
The ship was shaped like a sleek wedge, with a pointed-down nose like a bird’s beak. As it got closer they could see that its body was gold and chrome, with black trim. And like the Pharon armor, it had that same Egyptian feel.
“From the east!” Hank shouted, just as the thunder from the missile explosion echoed over the city.
The ship was suddenly almost on top of them.
Then it fired point-blank at Waters and Jenkins. Neither man had a chance as the energy beam exploded in the street in front of them, sending their bodies flying like rag dolls.
The ship’s momentum carried it over them as they all scrambled for cover.
Marva and Cort went for a large pile of rubble, while the rest were diving for anything even vaguely resembling protection.
The ship turned back.
Hank shoved Stephanie down a side street, then through a hole into a building. Edaro, Bogle, and Lee all piled in after them, scrambling away from the opening like rats from a sinking ship.
Outside Hank could hear the troopers blasting back at the ship, though it must have been like firing at a fighter jet with a peashooter.
“Mainland, come in,” Cort shouted into the commlink. “We’re under attack from a Pharon small fighter. Need help and removal immediately from the island.”
“Copy that,” the voice said in Hank’s ear.
The sounds of two Union fighters flashing overhead shook the building.
Then massive explosions shook the ground and filled the room with light dust. Hank hoped it was the sound of the Union planes downing the Pharon ship. But there were only so many planes that could attack one small ship at once. And the Pharon craft seemed to have a shielding that drained away any kind of energy.
Hank glanced around. The building where they’d taken shelter was, at most, eight stories tall. A few good direct hits by the Pharon energy weapons and they would be buried in there.
Outside, another massive explosion rocked the ground.
More return fire from Cort.
More roaring of jets overhead.
Outside the world was going crazy.
Hank scrambled back to the hole in the wall and watched.
Above the street the sky was filled with Union jets, at least a dozen, making run after run at the Pharon ship. Missiles were slamming into it, one after another.
Another large explosion sounded in the street as the Pharon ship fired down near Cort’s location. The Pharon ship was pounding them hard.
Still another massive explosion followed, this time against the side of the building they were in. It knocked him backward and head over heels.
Stephanie was at his side as he scrambled back to his feet.
“You all right?”
Dust swirled around them as he nodded. “Fine,” he said.
More explosions on the street outside. Hank had no idea how they were even managing to withstand such an attack.
Then, suddenly, as if the world had completely shattered, the ground shook and bits of the roof above them broke loose. The explosion was so loud that Hank wondered if he would ever hear again.
Then the fighting seemed to stop.
The echoes of the explosions faded off into the distance as they all stood in the dark, listening.
Hank was almost afraid to breathe.
Then suddenly a voice spoke in the commlink in his ear.
“Island team,” the base said. “Alien ship down. Stand by for extraction.”
“The Pharon ship is down,” Hank said to the others. “They’re coming to get us out.”
The scientists around him looked stunned.
Then he realized that Cort hadn’t replied.
“Cort, did you hear that?”
There was no answer from the commlink.
“Cort?”
Dead silence.
26
Time: 7:25 P . M . Pacific Time
17 hours, 58 minutes after Arrival
To Stephanie, the attack of the Pharon ship was almost the final straw. She didn’t know how much more she could take or how much longer she could even keep going. She’d never been in the military, never been around war before. She was a doctor, trained to save lives.
The explosions shook the building as she huddled against the base of the ramp, light off, trying to not move. Edaro had gone to the other side of the ramp while Bogle had gone to the far corner and Lee to the near corner.
None of them dared say a word.
None of them dared to move except Hank. He had poked his head back out the hole and was watching the battle.
Above her a massive explosion pounded the building, raining debris down on her like hail.
Hank had been knocked back, and she’d gone to help him. But he was all right.
Then the world exploded, the ground shook, and she was bounced hard off the floor. Her shin took a nasty hit when she came back down.
Something outside had blown up.
Something big.
Could Private Cort have managed to destroy the Pharon ship? She didn’t know how he could have.
Dust filled the air, and she coughed, but didn’t move.
They didn’t dare move.
Suddenly through the dust she heard Hank saying the alien ship was destroyed and it was clear.
Then a moment later, he said, “Follow me. Quickly. I think something’s happened to Cort.”
Hank ducked back out of the hole in the side of the building. Stephanie scrambled to her feet and followed him.
The street outside didn’t look anything like it had just a few minutes ago. Debris filled it, and two of the nearby buildings had completely collapsed.
The center of one building was on fire, and after a moment Stephanie could tell what was burning. The Pharon ship.
A half dozen Union planes were in the sky overhead. Then suddenly two Union war planes streaked past very low, their thunder ripping through the city.
Now she understood what had happened. The Union had downed the Pharon ship. She almost wanted to cheer those two planes like a schoolkid at an air show.
Hank scrambled back into the street, clearly looking for any survivors from the squad as Stephanie followed, shocked by what she was seeing. A part of one man’s leg had been ripped off and smashed against a wall. She didn’t even want to think whose leg it might have been.
Where Cort and Marva had been firing from was now a small crater in the street. There was no chance they could have survived that kind of direct hit. Dr. Stanton was also dead, curled in a ball and smashed by falling wall debris.
Stephanie could barely take it in. She felt numb all over. Not one of the Special Ops troop had survived. They had all given their lives for this mission.
And to keep her and the rest of them alive.
How could that be possible?
How could anything be worth that?
From over the top of one building to Stephanie’s right a Union Hydra transport appeared, lowering itself carefully between the two buildings, barely fitting in the street. Under normal circumstances, the pilot would have never tried that. But this clearly wasn’t a normal circumstance.
Not even close.
The ramp on the craft opened, and Hank shouted from beside her, “Everyone aboard.”
Stephanie climbed and stumbled over some rocks and piles of debris to follow Dr. Edaro into the transport. A soldier in there pushed her gently into a seat and helped her get her belts buckled. She let him, sitting there numb and feeling drained.
She would have thought she would be excited to be rescued. But at the moment she wasn’t feeling anything.
It was safer that way.
Hank, Lee, and Bogle all followed on board and got strapped into seats.
“That everyone?” asked the trooper who was strapping them in.
Hank nodded slowly.
“Shit,” the soldier said.
Then the transport door closed with a final-sounding thump.
They had been rescued.
Five civilians.
No soldiers.
The transport lifted, then turned and headed east, picking up speed.
Stephanie looked over at Hank, who was sitting there staring down at the floor.
Dr. Edaro was shaking, the golf ball gripped tightly in his hand.
Dr. Bogle was just smiling. A smile of complete shock that they had actually survived.
Lee looked as shocked as she felt, his normal smile completely gone.
She couldn’t even muster a smile for the moment of rescue.
Or a tear for all the good soldiers who had died.
So she just sat there, staring at the floor, trying not to think or remember anything. But Private Cort’s face kept coming to her mind.
And behind his face was Sergeant Malone’s. They had done their duty. They had died for it. Stephanie just hoped they had found peace.
“It’s going,” Edaro said, staring down at the open sensor on his lap.
Hank and Bogle both turned to look out the small window on the transport.
Stephanie didn’t want to watch. She didn’t want to even remember.
“Gone,” Edaro said. “Eighteen hours and twenty-one minutes after it arrived.” He was studying his instruments as he spoke. “Took that damn Pharon high priest with it. From the looks of the energy spikes, they must have killed a hundred Sand.”
“Serves the bastards right,” Hank said softly.
Stephanie said nothing. They had gotten out just in time. Only moments to spare. She couldn’t believe it.
Knowing the island was gone helped a little. She could feel the weight lifting. The relief edging in sideways.
She glanced out the window over Hank’s shoulder. The ocean was empty. But there was a bright, odd light seeming to fill the air everywhere.
The waters were swirling below, and lightning was flashing across the surface, just as it had done when the island arrived. Inside the transport, she couldn’t hear the thunder, and she was glad for that.
Then, as she watched, the lightning stopped.
And the weather below them seemed to clear.
The odd light faded and was gone, just as it had done when the island arrived.
But this time the ocean remained empty.
As it should be.
27
Time: 11:37 P . M . Pacific Time
6 Days, 3 hours, 45 minutes after Departure
Hank moved along the beach, the sand filling his shoes like it had a little less than a week before, the night the island appeared. Only this time, when Stephanie suggested a walk, he’d been smart enough to remember to wear his heavy coat. And his gloves and stocking cap.
And tonight he needed them all. A cold wind blew off the ocean, cutting through even his heavy jacket like a knife. The surf pounded on the shore, filling the air with the smell of salt and the rumbling sound of waves crashing against a beach.
He’d been surprised, and pleased, when Stephanie had suggested the walk, They’d both spent the last six days since being rescued sleeping and being debriefed by everyone who had even thought of a question. And, knowing the military, the questions were a long way from being over.
During the last six days Stephanie had been distant and aloof. Hank imagined he hadn’t been much better. What had happened out on the island wasn’t
going to be easy for either of them to put to rest.
He knew for a fact he would never forget it.
But the mission, even with such heavy casualties, had been a success. The information Edaro and Lee brought back would keep a small army of Union researchers busy for decades, Hank figured. And who knew how much benefit the Union, and all of humanity, would get from what they recovered from the alien city. Edaro even thought that the massive phase generator might be a way out of the Maelstrom.
Hank figured anything was possible from the island-city.
Still, as far as he was concerned, that was small consolation for all the lives lost. Sergeant Malone, Private Cort, and the others. Hank felt proud to have known them.
And damn lucky they’d been there to protect him and Stephanie.
He was sure Stanton’s expertise and fine scientific mind would be very much missed by the Union. It wasn’t until after they got back that Hank learned that Stanton had played a key role in the research on the Cache.
Stephanie reached over and took his arm, pulling him close as they walked. “Beautiful night, isn’t it?” she asked.
He glanced at the starless blackness of the Maelstrom night. “Sure is.”
“You just saying that?” Stephanie asked.
“Nope,” he said. “After this last week, walking like this on a beach with you will always mean I’m having a beautiful night.”
She laughed softly, but said nothing.
They walked slowly for a short time, then stopped and faced out over the blackness of the night sea.
“It’s never coming back, is it?” Stephanie asked.
“I doubt it,” Hank said. And he did. He was telling her the truth. The island wasn’t coming back, at least not to this spot. There were just too many places out there in the Maelstrom for it to appear.
But he wasn’t so sure about the Pharons. Since they’d returned to the mainland, he’d learned a lot more of what the Union had found in the Cache. His bet was that humanity hadn’t seen the last of those walking dead by a long shot. And they’d been damn lucky to escape them. Again, the fighting ability, bravery, and intelligence of Malone and Cort had been the key.
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