The man put his hands on the sarcophagus’s stone edges and pushed himself out of his make-shift bed, or whatever the hell it was.
A large golden sword the length of Ozzy was sheathed to his side, and gold armor covered him from chest to toe and clanked when he took a hefty step forward. A gun with two barrels was holstered to his other hip.
Was Ozzy looking at one of the Ancients?
The giant unsheathed his sword. He took a deep breath and plunged the sword into the ground, pushing it several feet in, and went to one knee, bowing his head. He pressed a device on his chest. It beeped. He brought his eyes to Ozzy and Jozi. “I am Garen from the Land of Kosten. The once lush and mighty, now the red and barren.” His words didn’t match his mouth’s movement. Ozzy figured the device on his chest must be a translator of some type. “I have been in suspended animation stasis for some time. You have awoken me. How—”
Another blast rocked the capsule.
Garen pulled his sword out of the ground and stood. “What is the manner of this?”
Ozzy stepped forward. He touched his own chest. “I’m Ozzy.” He looked around. “Ozzy of Gale Crater City.”
Garen gave Ozzy an odd look and furrowed his brow. He calmed, then smiled. “I’ve never heard of such a place. Tell me all about it.” He sat with his legs crossed like a child ready to hear a story and rested his sword on his thighs.
Jozi spoke up. “We are in a hurry. We have followed a map to this location to find a cure for a deadly disease rampaging our world right now. If we don’t find it, all of our race will be lost.”
Garen’s eyes softened, compassion drawn on every crease in his face. “What disease, child? There is one that hits Mars every few hundred years. It comes from insects and spreads through the animals and finally to my race. It can kill in a week’s time.” He shook his head. “My race is no longer. I am the last from a long war, here to help any race who wishes to use my planet as their home.” He cleared his throat. “Is that the disease you speak of?”
Ozzy didn’t know if it was the exact disease, but it had to be.
“It is,” responded Ozzy.
The capsule quaked.
Garen turned. “Is there a war waging, young sir?”
Ozzy nodded. “A race doesn’t want us to survive. They have forced us off our planet and to this one. Now they fight us here.”
“You are from Earth, no?” replied Garen.
“Yes,” Ozzy didn’t want to be a dick, but he had to get this thing moving. “Can you point us to the cure?”
Garen pushed himself up. “Yes, yes. I apologize. I come out of stasis once in a while to care for this garden, but I haven’t spoken to anyone in a long time.” He walked over to a horde of plants and sat. “I’m afraid only a few of your race will survive. There aren’t enough plants to cure the whole lot of you.”
Jozi dipped her head. “We have a way to replicate the plants and quickly. We naturally clone millions in a matter of minutes and can turn them into the mixed oils we need to give to those who are diseased.”
“Easy enough,” responded Garen, as if he’d known such technology his entire existence. He picked a woody plant with evergreen-colored, needle-like leaves accompanied with pink flowers. “Rosemary,” he blurted out and handed it to Ozzy. He pointed to a tree. “Young lady, please grab me one of those yellow hanging fruits. That’s lemon and part of the cure.”
Jozi walked over to the tree.
A hefty cracking sound erupted, and the plants vibrated. A soft beeping sound pulsed on Garen’s chest plate. He gave Ozzy an ominous look. “Someone has entered the upper stairwell.” He pushed a button on his forearm armor. The open wall they had entered quickly shut.
“Is the teleporter on?” Ozzy asked, his voice hasty, his mind in panic mode. If the Dunrakee had gotten into the stairwell, there wasn’t telling how long they had until they broke into the capsule.
Jozi picked the yellow fruit. “Yes, it’s set up and ready.”
Garen stood and walked over to several different types of trees. Ozzy followed him, wanting to hurry things up. This man, although generous and probably a kind individual, was a little too nonchalant about things. During his long sleep, he must have forgotten about death and that it could be lurking in the form of photon blasts at any minute.
“Here,” Garen said, picking a long green leaf. “Eucalyptus.” He moved to the next tree and raised his sword. He scraped off the woody bark and cut into the inner bark, handing a piece to Ozzy. “Cinnamon.”
A loud concussion reverberated against the walls and jungle. The Dunrakee were now at the wall, trying to get in.
Ozzy looked over his shoulder at Jozi. “Get under the tree and next to the teleporter. Tell Connie we’ll be throwing in a few plants. And get your helmet on. When the Dunrakee get through, all oxygen will be sucked out.”
“I’m on it,” replied Jozi, running toward the willowing tree.
“And clove.” Garen dropped a green bud from an evergreen tree into his hand. “You best get to your friend and put on your helmet as well.”
Ozzy shook his head. “But there is one more ingredient.”
“One you’re not allowed to see.” He shifted his gaze to the tree Jozi ran under. “Get yourself over there, and I’ll hand you the last ingredient.”
Ozzy rushed over to the tree, brushed the hanging limbs out of the way, and slid to Jozi. She was speaking with Connie while pushing a lemon through the teleporter.
The lemon landed on Connie’s table.
Ozzy leaned forward, tossing the rest of the plant material through.
“Thank you, guys. I’ll get right on it.” Connie went to turn off the teleporter.
“Hold on. One more is coming,” said Ozzy, nearly pushing himself through the teleporter to get her to stop.
Connie jerked back. “Okay, standing fast.” She looked at Jozi, sadness in her eyes. “Are you going to make it?”
Jozi put on her helmet. “I doubt it. So, do me a favor? Get that cure working, okay? Do it for me.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Jozi pushed off the ground. “There is no doing your best. You’re going to do it. Do you understand?”
Connie nodded sadly. “Understood.”
Garen’s heavy steps echoed across the capsule. “Ozzy of Gale Crater City, I have your last plant. May the Great Spirit guide you to the curing of your race.” His large hand parted the branches and leaves. He held a stem with a large purple and bulbous fruit hanging from it. “This will guarantee that the cure works.”
Ozzy reached for it just as a tremble rippled across the ground.
Krrrrakakow!
A shockwave threw Ozzy on his back, tumbling him head over heals and against the base of the tree. He pushed himself up. The giant was on his side, the fruit still in his hand.
“No,” cried Jozi, sitting up. “The teleporter.”
Ozzy turned. The teleporter was torn apart and smashed against a rock. A stream of smoke flit off of it and rose toward the branches.
The damn teleporter was out of commission.
32
Moonshinka Rock Near Dawes, Mars
Ozzy rushed to his helmet and slid it over his head. He clamped it shut onto the collar of his jumpsuit. “Can you set that teleporter back up and get it working?”
“I can try.” Ozzy could hear the doubt in her voice.
Jozi snatched pieces of the teleporter into her gloved hands and began putting it together.
Ozzy pulled his photon rifle off his shoulder and held it out, pointing from where the concussion sound came. He walked toward Garen.
Ozzy’s body was becoming lighter and lighter with each step. The gravity and oxygen were being sucked out of the capsule.
That meant Garen wouldn’t be able to breathe. Ozzy’s eyes were alert and his body tense. He picked up his pace.
Garen was on his side, sucking in air. He held out his hand, reaching for Ozzy. Garen was mouthing something, but Ozzy couldn’t
make out what.
“Garen, hold your breath.” He reached for his oxygen tank on his back and grabbed an oxygen tube. “I can get—”
Garen’s eyes rolled back, and his eyelids shut. His arm dropped to the ground, and his skin faded to ashen blue.
The giant was dead.
“Oh my Mars,” said Ozzy, bending down and grabbing the bulbous fruit out of Garen’s hand. The fruit was intact, but wouldn’t be for long. Soon the plants would freeze, and the soil’s moisture would evaporate from the growing carbon dioxide currently getting inside the capsule.
Wapooh!
Ozzy ducked and somersaulted to the side. A blast punched a divot in the ground next to him, and dirt splattered all around.
He went to his stomach and aimed. “You almost have it put together, Jozi?”
“Yes. Almost got it.”
“Good. I’ll be your cover fire.” He scooted over to a rock, using it for his own cover. He couldn’t see any Dunrakee, but he knew which direction they were coming.
He set the fruit next to him, gathered himself, and pulled the trigger. The rifle butt pushed into his shoulder, and a photon blast ejected out of the muzzle. He pressed the trigger, again and again, sending shots through dense brush. Maybe he’d tag a few Dunrakee legs and feet.
“It’s fixed,” Jozi shouted. “I just need the last plant. Do you have it?”
Ozzy shot another burst. “Over here.” A photon beam flew over the top of him.
He pulled the trigger. A small eruption lifted a Dunrakee soldier into the air and against the wall. The grunt fell limply to the ground.
Ozzy figured he must have hit the energy charge on the Dunrakee’s weapon. What else would send the bastard flying?
A photon bolt zipped by Ozzy. “I’m pinned down.”
“Where are you?”
He looked around. “Just past the tree’s branch line.”
“Okay, I see you.” She dove through the leaves, parting them, and landed next to Ozzy. She pulled the fruit into her, cradled it, and twisted around. She crawled away, then screamed. “I’ve been hit.”
Ozzy turned.
Jozi had a gash on the back of her EVA pants. The shot cut right through her jumper to her skin, leaving a black mark. “Is it bleeding?”
“I can’t tell.”
Jozi lay on her side. She poked her finger through the hole and pulled it out. She looked at her finger. “Damn. It’s bleeding. It feels like a major cramp.”
“Hold your finger over the injury. Don’t move it,” yelled Ozzy. If she did, there was no telling what damage would occur throughout her body from the deoxygenated blood. In two minutes, she’d be dead.
He took shot after shot, riddling the area in front of him, making sure the Dunrakee ducked back for cover.
He dropped his rifle and raced over to Garen. He searched frantically for something he could rip off and tie around her leg, hopefully making her suit airtight again.
He touched the sword sheath. His eyes widened when he saw it. A belt made from something that resembled hemp or cotton.
He pulled the wide and thick belt off the giant’s waist.
Wapooh! Wapooh!
He leaped out of the way with the belt in hand, avoiding several photon blasts.
He hustled over to Jozi and crouched low. “Take your hand off,” he ordered. When she did, he wrapped the belt around her injured leg as fast as he could, pulling tightly and slipping the buckle’s prong through one of the many holes. It worked almost too well. “Go, go.”
She grabbed the fruit and crawled off, grunting loudly.
Ozzy moved forward on his hands and knees, making it to his rifle. Dirt from a photon blast kicked up and tagged him in the visor.
He picked up his rifle and rolled. He took shot after shot, shooting blindly, but it was better than not shooting at all.
A Dunrakee’s helmet lifted above a throng of bushes.
“See ya,” blurted Ozzy, shooting just wide. He gritted his teeth. He needed more target practice.
A thud next to him startled Ozzy.
It was Jozi.
She was on her stomach, aiming her rifle.
“This damn wound stings like hell,” she complained while blasting photon bolts in the direction of the oncoming troops.
“Did you get the fruit through?”
She nodded. “I did.”
A weight lifted off of Ozzy’s shoulders. Maybe his daughter might survive.
He squeezed his trigger as hard as he could, riddling the plant jungle in front of him.
“Can we slip through that teleporter?” asked Ozzy, knowing the answer.
“I told you. Our weight is too heavy. We’d be sliced in half.”
She didn’t tell him that—not in those details. But now he knew.
A Dunrakee jumped behind a nearby tree, hiding.
“I’m a crack shot.” Jozi targeted the area. “Keep firing. I’ll take this guy.”
Ozzy sent blasts all around, doing his best to keep the pricks at bay.
Jozi took a shot. “Dead.”
Ozzy glanced out of the corner of his eye. The Dunrakee was slouched face first over a rock. He wasn’t moving.
She was good.
Several soldiers jumped into view and quickly ducked down for cover. They would be overrun soon. There was no doubt about it, but Ozzy was going to fight until his last breath. And he knew Jozi would as well.
“Did you see those soldiers?” Jozi said.
Ozzy nodded. “Well, they keep coming. Let’s hold them off as long as possible.” He didn’t know how long that would be. Where they saw dozens of enemies, Ozzy guaranteed there were a dozen more they hadn’t seen.
“It was nice knowing you,” said Jozi.
“I guess you could say that,” Ozzy blurted, being a sarcastic ass.
“Yeah, we didn’t know each other too long, but what I do know is that you’re still an a-hole, even till the end.”
“I am what I am,” responded Ozzy, taking another shot. “But let’s just hope they get the cure to the people.” He flinched with the thought of never seeing his daughter again. “And I hope to Mars that my daughter is saved.”
“I have faith in Connie Willis. She’ll get it done. But we don’t have much time, Ozzy. You make your peace with your maker yet?”
Ozzy pulled the trigger, ignoring her question. He only wanted to see his beautiful daughter again, not any maker.
A rash of soldiers popped up, shooting wildly. They rushed Ozzy’s and Jozi’s position.
“Here it comes.” Ozzy went to stand, to poke holes in as many of these bubble-heads as he could, knowing he’d only have seconds before they did the same to him.
He jumped to his feet, squeezing the trigger, slamming photon bolt after photon bolt into as many oncoming troops as possible.
Their arms flailed, and they jerked back and forth.
A loud concussion vibrated across the capsule, shaking it to its core. It knocked Ozzy off balance, and he fell to his back.
Another blast rocked the capsule, then a third cracked the ceiling. White debris fell, and the ceiling’s inner glow blinked off.
Darkness.
Then another blow rattled the area. More debris fell.
“What the hell is happening, Jozi?”
No response.
Shit.
33
Moonshinka Rock Near Dawes, Mars
A hand grabbed Ozzy’s shirt, pulling him to his feet. “They can’t see us. Move back as far as you can.”
It was Jozi. She pushed him in the opposite direction of the Dunrakee. He tripped over a stone and landed on his chest. He stood and blindly ran, not being able to see an inch in front of him.
He smashed into a gang of plants, then face-planted into a tree. He bounced off of it, pushed himself up, and continued forward.
Jozi’s heaving breaths pounded against his ear.
“Are you still with me?” she asked.
“I’m still running,
but I’m not sure I’m still with you. I can hear you, but I don’t know where the hell you are.”
Photon blasts echoed in the capsule, and Ozzy looked over his shoulder, intently listening as he furrowed his brow and was able to see silhouettes from the blaster fire. The Dunrakee weren’t firing at Ozzy or Jozi. They were shooting at something else, and a bit of light was coming from the blasts.
“You see that?” Jozi asked.
“I do.”
“It must be Dizzy,” she said.
But there wasn’t just one weapon returning fire on the Dunrakee. There was a handful.
Ozzy’s com line crackled. “We have blown a large portion of Dawes City to dust. The graviton shields surrounding the city have failed. We don’t think any of them will survive, and the Dunrakee still in here surely won’t either.”
Was that Gragas? If it was, how did he and the rest of the Galactic Knights survive?
Ozzy slid to a stop and ducked, holding his rifle close to his chest. “Gragas?”
“Yes, it’s us, Ozzy. We’re sorry we let the troops in, but we needed you to be a distraction while we set Dawes ablaze. My apologies.”
They let them in? Bastards. He shrugged, but the tactic had worked.
“Gragas,” said Jozi. “Keep firing. It gives us light. We’ll flank them and end the Dunrakee where they stand.”
“You took the words right out of my mouth,” replied Gragas.
Ozzy went to his feet and slowly rounded the Dunrakee.
From the brief flashes, he could see Gragas pinned behind several trees.
Ozzy stopped. “Whoa!” A Galactic Knight, one he hadn’t observed while flanking the enemy, dropped from a tree, his arms out, large swords in both hands. He disappeared into the foliage.
There was a pause in the fire, and Ozzy cocked his head to the side like a curious cat. The Galactic Knight emerged and leaped from the fight. He rolled to the side, pulling out two side-arm photon guns and ran backward, sending bolt after bolt at the Dunrakee.
Ozzy kept moving, jumping over a plant and sidestepping a skinny, spindly tree. He aimed and pulled the trigger, sending photons of death toward the bubble-heads.
Martian Quadrilogy Box Set Page 19