Primal Link 2

by L Bowers

  “Is that you guys?” Angela asked over our private channel.

  “Sure is,” I replied. “The hallway is a dead end with no side passages.” I told her about the illusory wall. “So, what do you think?”

  “I think there has to be another way around,” Angela replied. “The machine that attacked had to get here somehow. We just have to find it.”

  I spotted Angela laying on the top of the drop ship with her rifle to her shoulder as we got closer. I waved, and she returned the greeting. Her arm stopped waving, pointing straight up.

  “Ray,” she said with more than a little trepidation in her voice. “The hallway just vanished.”

  “What?” I spun, looking for the door we just came through. It was gone.

  “What kind of funhouse hell is this?” Kopf asked. “First a hallway that isn’t there, and now disappearing doors? What’s next?”

  “Dude,” I said. “You of all people should know better than asking that question. Do you want giant robot killer clowns to pop out of the walls next? Because you’re damn near handing them a personal invitation.”

  “I don’t know if I should laugh or be terrified by that,” Kopf said. “But point taken. no more jinxing us.”

  “Too late,” the silent guy said. “Look.” He pointed to a wall on the far side of the chamber.

  We pulled our rifles to our shoulders at a glacial pace as we waited to see what horrors the new door would reveal. The answer turned out to be darkness and nothing else.

  “Keep an eye on that hatch,” I said. “We’re going through in a moment; I want to grab something really quick.”

  “You got it, boss,” Pruise said. She led the charge to get to the new opening while I went back to the ship.

  Finding what I wanted didn’t take long. A few minutes later, I was on top of the ship standing next to Angela. “Figured I would come by to say hi since we were back,” I said.

  “That’s great,” she replied. “If we didn’t have to wear these suits, I’d kiss you. Since I can’t—hi, I guess?”

  “I didn’t think this through,” I replied. “I wanted that kiss, but yeah, that’s a non-starter.”

  Angela laughed. “Would you go so we can get back, and I can claim my kiss for heroism in the field?”

  I laughed, and the resulting smile stayed plastered to my face. “Is that what’s going to happen?”

  “Not if you stay here bumping your gums when you should be out there kicking ass. Go.”

  I nodded before climbing back down. The smile remained in place as I ran to my remaining team members. I received a few strange looks, but I wasn’t sure if they were in response to my grin, or the item I held.

  “Cover me,” I said. As the three Marines held their rifles pointed at the entrance, I approached from the side. Kopf lowered the muzzle of his weapon to let me know I had entered his field of fire. That was okay since I wouldn’t be there long.

  The item I carried was a simple pry bar taken from the dropship’s tool storage. At two inches in diameter and four feet long, I figured it would keep the hatch open if it tried closing again. To that end, I set it on the floor lengthwise. There was a gap of three inches on one side, but that would be gone shortly after the hatch tried to close.

  I stood. “Let’s move. Same formation as before. I’ll place drones to extend our communications network as well.”

  No one spoke as we took our places and marched into the darkness. My faceplate went black briefly before night vision activated.

  "So this thing is blacked out now?" I looked back at Pruise. That turned out to be a mistake. She covered her faceplate with her arm as she suffered the same fate from my maneuver. The infrared lights on our suits shone bright and blinded us both.

  "Yes, Sergeant," Pruise replied. "As long as we don't shine our IR lights at one another, the screens will protect us from bright light."

  "I've always wondered about that," Kopf said. "How is it that the faceplate filters out every other light, regardless of spectrum, but shine a suit light from another Marine at it, and suddenly we're blind? Doesn't make sense."

  "The lowest bidder," another guy said.

  "Huh?" Kopf asked.

  "The suits," the other guy said. "Along with everything else we use, they were manufactured by the lowest bidder. There are bound to be imperfections."

  “Yeah, but—” Kopf started to say, but a loud roar cut him off.

  15

  Goshawk

  “What. The. Hell?” Kopf asked. “I think I would have preferred clowns.”

  “Those aren’t the cards we’ve been dealt,” I said. “Everyone be ready. We have company this time around.”

  “Good,” Pruise said. “The last hike was boooriiing.”

  “Enough chatter.” I felt like a complete dickbag for doing it. “Time to be serious. Maintain radio silence unless something critical has to be said.” A chorus of “Aye, Sergeant,” came back.

  Kopf took the lead, moving down the hall and away from the safety of the dropship. The roar didn’t come back as we traveled. Twenty feet in, the passage ended.

  “Dead end, boss,” Kopf said.

  “What?” I said in surprise. “So soon? we haven’t even lost comms with the dropship.”

  The hall ended in a wall that was only visible when I was within a few feet. That was odd, since our suits’ IR lights traveled farther than that. I checked my map, and used the pad on my arm control, the map now visible in my HUD. It showed me what I suspected I would see.

  “I think it’s an illusion.” I pressed my hand against the wall. My arm kept going, and the wall rippled. I quickly pulled my hand back. I didn’t have to be a horror movie paranoiac like Kopf to want to be cautious.

  Kopf moved to stand next to me facing the faux wall. “Should I go in?”

  “Hold tight.” I went to work on my pad and HUD.

  A link to one of the drones was established. I reached back to pull it off my waist and winced. The pain from my neck and back had subsided, but they still hurt. I moved slower as I pulled the drone from my suit and pushed it through the illusion.

  I didn’t dare do an active ping, not after what happened to all the drones on the planet. It was set for passive audio scanning. Since the hall was silent, there was no input. I bent at the knees and let the drone fall from my grip when it was a couple of inches off the ground. It clunked as it hit and rolled forward, then disappeared from sight.

  Dropping it worked. The sound bounced down the hall and built a picture of what was in the path of the sound waves. The black-and-white image contained my three Marines and me. Aside from the walls, deck, and ceiling, there was nothing else. “Coast is clear,” I said. “Let’s move out.”

  Kopf passed me as I bent to retrieve the drone. I felt another sharp stab of pain as I stood with the machine cradled in my arms. “Hey Aspen,” I thought. “I thought you healed me. What gives with the back?”

  “I don’t know,” Aspen replied. “I don’t feel as strong as normal, but that shouldn’t stop my energy from infusing you with healing power.”

  “Damn. We’ll have to figure it out another time.” Keeping up was becoming a struggle. My suit’s weight was almost nonexistent in the low gravity, but the drones pulled against my gear in a way that put additional pressure on my back. The only options I had were to suck it up and move on, or suck it up and move on. I chose Option Two.

  Forty feet and a couple of minutes later, we hit another end. This one branched off to the left and right. My map had the right path ending not too far away in a small chamber. The left went farther in, and possibly to the center of the dragon.

  “Go left,” I said. “I think our objective is close.”

  We moved quickly. Having a map that matched our surroundings was almost as invigorating as being so close to ending this trip. Never had I longed so much for my tiny bunk on the ship. What I wouldn’t give to close my little privacy curtain and be surrounded by silence.

  Try as I might, gett
ing the explorer in me to shut down and let me work was difficult. The inside of the dragon ship was like an ancient temple straight out of a Gregory Anders film. The illusory walls, using my gadgets in new and creative ways, having a woman to get back to—it was like someone was sitting behind a keyboard and writing the script of my life for the big screen.

  “Contact front,” Kopf said, and stopped.

  He took a knee while holding his rifle to his shoulder. I went around Pruise, and she shifted to point her rifle away from me. I knelt next to Kopf and tried to see what he did.

  Fifty feet ahead, the glow of a blue light softened the darkness inside a room. A shadow moved across the light, but whatever cast it didn’t. “Did you see it?” I asked.

  “Negative,” Kopf said. “Only the shadow moving around the floor. Whatever it is isn’t staying still, but it’s not crossing my line of sight.”

  I looked back and up at the object that figuratively burned a hole in my back. The drone was made for scouting out situations like this, but if I lost it, there was no sending for backup. The broken drones were good for acting as communications relays, but not much else. Unless…

  “Let’s move up cautiously,” I said. “I need to get closer to see what that is without us crossing the threshold.” I pointed at a drone to emphasize my point.

  “Yeah,” Kopf said. “Why walk blindly into the lion's den when you can peek first? Better for coming in hot and taking out the target quick.

  “Something like that,” I replied.

  “None of that will happen if we sit here chatting about it,” Pruise chimed in. “So, are you ladies done gossiping? Because there’s something in there that could probably use a high-speed lobotomy.”

  “When she’s right, she’s right.” Kopf said. He rose and slowly walked down the hall with his knees bent and his center of gravity low. I followed in the same lowered posture.

  Kopf slowed and looked down at his arm. He tapped his screen for a second, then returned his eyes to the front. A moment later, I received a ping which amounted to a request for direct chat, or DC.

  “What’s up?” I asked him.

  “What do you think about Pruise?” Kopf asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What do I mean? Dude, have you seen her? Not only is she hot, but she has the body of a goddess. I mean, full-on hunting some legendary deer by the light of the full moon, barefoot with Roman armor and a glowing bow and arrow. Totally hot.”

  “I’m glad you think so.” I pictured Jones in the same getup and situation. We were going to have a serious conversation about role play when I got Angela back to the ship.

  “To top it off,” he continued. “Her personality is perfect. For me, anyway, and I think this should be close enough.” He stopped and made enough room for me to stand next to him.

  I knelt and pulled a drone from my armor. “Do you think I have a chance?” Kopf asked while I tapped on my pad to prep the drone.

  “I don’t know. There’s only one way to find out.”

  “What?” Kopf said in a high-pitched voice. Then he laughed, which turned into a giggle. Finally, he cleared his throat before speaking again. “No, seriously,” his voice was still higher in pitch than usual, so he cleared it again. I sent the commands to the drone as he spoke. “Don’t get me wrong, I want to, it’s just… I mean… What if… What if she says no?”

  My hands froze a few inches from the drone. I looked over my shoulder, but all I saw was the darkened faceplate. “Shit, man. I don’t have an answer for that. Life goes on, I guess. Plenty of fish in the sea, and there is someone out there for you?”

  “You sure you don’t want to take a few minutes to remember more clichés?”

  “Sorry.” I sighed and stood next to him. Facing Kopf would have been preferable, but the IR lights made that impossible. “All bullshit aside, if you like her, you have to go for it. There’s a chance she could say no, and it would suck if she did. If you don’t go for it, then there’s no need to worry about getting hurt. And there’s no way you could see what life could be like with Pruise in it, if she says yes. My experience says it’s worth the risk. I vote, you go for it.”

  “You guys having a moment?” Pruise asked over general comms.

  “Uh, no,” Kopf said in a rush. “Just strategizing. We’re about ready to roll.”

  “Is that what you guys are calling it these days?” Pruise asked. “We can back off and let you guys have a few minutes, if you like.”

  “I think I see what you mean,” I said to Kopf over our private channel before changing to general comms. “I’m going to try for an image of the room before we head in. Give me a sec.”

  Two feet before reaching the threshold, I let the drone do a soft drop. Like before, the sound painted a picture as the sound waves bounced around the room. That picture included something large right next to the hatch.

  The machine creature roared and turned the corner. Most of it was too big to squeeze through. One massive front leg and paw stretched out, hit the drone, and sent it flying. I dropped back onto my rear to let the drone narrowly miss my head. Rounds bounced off the machine as the Marines at my back fired.

  I was careful to stay low as I scrambled back. The last thing any of us needed was my suit being compromised, or me getting a few new holes. When legs surrounded me, looking like a spacesuit-covered forest, I stopped. My rifle came free, and I joined them.

  The beast moved its massive arm up to cover its head, which put its arm in a position that covered most of the opening. It roared while backing away. Once it was out of sight, we stopped shooting.

  “Press the attack,” I said. “Let’s take this bastard down while it’s retreating.”

  My Marines ran forward with weapons ready. I scrambled to my feet and followed. One after the other, they paused at the hatch to peek at what lay beyond. Then they dashed into the room. Rifle fire transmitted over our comms, accompanied by bright flashes filling the area. When I reached the hatch, I rushed in. Three sets of eyes had already scoped out the situation and were laying down fire.

  More than bullets filled the air. Pruise manifested her gorilla-like arms and smashed them down onto the beast’s flank. It jerked to the side, and its arm came down for balance. Several rounds bounced off its face before one found a new home in one of the multiple eyes. It sparked, and the orange glow emanating from it died. The beast roared again and reared up on four hind legs. Four more legs made up the front set, and each ended in a massive paw that could crush us with ease.

  “Get back!” I shouted. Pruise was too close and wasn’t able to jump back far enough with the rest of the team. She crossed her gorilla arms in front of her, which allowed them to take the brunt of the attack. The impact threw her back. Kopf stepped into her flight path and tried to catch her. He did, but her momentum carried them both back. Kopf landed on his rear with Pruise in his lap. He let out a high-pitched shriek. I groaned as my imagination filled in the sensation of my nuts being crushed like his had been.

  “I fail to see why you react as if you are in pain, when it was the foolish one who was struck,” Aspen thought to me.

  “It’s a guy thing. I’m not sure you would understand.”

  “When the situation is less dire, I would like to try and understand,” she replied. “For now, destroy this abomination that stands in our path.”

  “I’m not one to say no to a lady,” I thought back with a chuckle.

  The pain in my back and neck had lessened by a large degree. I took that as a good sign for my use of Aspen’s powers. I leaped at the beast, and let my wings spread out and push. I hit the beast talons-first and tore out a large chunk. The momentum of the jump kept me moving forward, which I hadn’t anticipated, nor did I compensate for it. I bounced off the machine and flew back in the lesser gravity. When I attempted to use my wings to right myself, the result was an uncontrolled spin. Then there was an abrupt meeting with the wall, followed by slamming onto the deck.

  Pru
ise was there as soon as I stopped. She grabbed me with one of her gorilla hands and pulled me off the deck, then set me down on my feet. “Maybe you should stay on the ground until you get some zero-g training with those wings, Sergeant. Yeah?”

  “Good call,” I replied. “Any thoughts about how to put this thing down quickly?”

  “If I knew that, I’d probably outrank you.”

  “Fair enough. Kopf!” I shouted to get his attention. “Do that thing you do, and let’s get you in nice and close. We need to deliver something special to this jackwagon and be done with it.”

  “I’m all out of—”

  “Got you covered,” Pruise interrupted Kopf. “These should do.” She handed him a couple of frag grenades. Kopf smiled as he vanished with the package in hand.

  A smile spread across my face at the thought of beating the big machine. I held my breath as I waited for Kopf to appear and announce, “mission accomplished.” Instead, the beast’s head snapped to the left, then it swung its arm impossibly fast. Kopf appeared in the air as he leaped over the swing.

  “Shit!” he shouted. “This thing can see me.”

  I leaped and pushed with my wings. The low gravity allowed me to build speed quickly. Instead of slamming into the beast, I flew over its arm and sliced it off with my talons. It hit the deck with a loud clang.

  Kopf capitalized on the opening I gave him by jumping forward and slamming the grenades into the damaged eye socket. At the same time, my pad beeped to inform me of incoming data. I ignored it as I used my wings to stab into the wall behind the beast. My wings dissipated and I fell. As I dropped to the deck, I decided to use the bulk of the machine for cover and placed my arms over my head and my legs together.

  The grenades went off with a bright flash that lasted a second. I felt a wave of concussive force wash over me as the muted sound hit my helmet’s sensors. A loud clang and thump followed as what was left of the beast fell to the floor.

  “Who’s your daddy, bitch?” Kopf yelled.

  “Did you really just use a one liner?” Pruise asked while I climbed to my feet.