by T. R. Harris
15
Robert sent Adam and Sherri back to their room, escorted by the two AN-9 robots. Down the long corridor to the huge showroom, the red laser points remained on Sherri’s back, giving Adam pause on implementing any escape plans he may be contemplating. But that didn’t mean he did have one.
As the small entourage passed through the wide portal and into the main cavern, Adam was already well within the process of gathering up a wind storm using his newly discovered skill at telekinesis.
Sherri felt the wind rush across her face as the air was sucked past her to form up in a ball to her right. She looked over at Adam and frowned.
What are you doing? she asked telepathically.
Getting us out of here. I just don’t know how much force it’s going to take to destroy the robots.
Then maybe you should—
Her thought was cut off when Adam raised his right hand to innocently scratch the back of his neck…before sweeping his arm down and across his body, directing a near-solid torrent of air at the two automatons behind them. To his surprise, the robots were swept across the floor in a blur and smashed against the rock wall on the opposite side of the room. The force was so great, that in the split second before rock fractured and half the ceiling caved in, Adam saw the AN-9’s as just foot-wide pancakes of bent and sparking metal.
But now they had to contend with the cascade of stone falling fifty feet away. They were thrown to floor by a mini-earthquake, just as a dense cloud of dust and debris billowed towards them. Adam rolled on top of Sherri, his body now in full mutant mode. A few of the leading stones slammed into his back, but he shrugged them off with indifference. When the cloud began to thin, he jumped to his feet, Sherri held against his body by an impossibly strong right arm.
“You ready?” he asked.
Her face was so close to his that her eyes had to cross to focus on his mouth and the words she just heard. She was dazed by the rumbling around her and the thick dust filling the room.
“Ready for what?”
Adam ran off for the force field covering the hundred-foot-wide opening, which was still in operation in spite of half the ceiling crashing to the floor. Sherri was now cradled like a sack of potatoes in Adam’s right arm. He sprinted through the force field and onto the wide, circular platform outside. The frigid temperature was a shock, colder now from the early onset of nightfall. Adam was nearly to the edge of the balcony when Sherri realized what he had in mind.
“Hell no!” she cried out. “You can’t be thinking about—”
Adam raced to the edge of the platform and jumped off, sticking his left arm out in front of him—Superman-like—as the pair fell into the frigid dark of the four-thousand-foot high cliff outside the Klin fortress.
Adam pulled Sherri closer and rolled to his left, with his back now facing the direction of the fall. Immediately, he saw ribbons of light blue swirling through the air towards them. A moment later he felt the welcoming pressure of the invisible cushion of air against his back. They slipped through the night on a magic carpet made of wind, leveling out before making a sharp turn to the right.
It wasn’t that they were riding on a dense cushion of air thousands of feet above the ground that was the problem. It was the fact that the cushion was made of sub-zero night air, and with the wind chill created by their hundred-mile-per-hour flight to safety, it was more like they were riding a block of ice rather than an Aladdin-style magic carpet. Sherri was dressed in only a pair of jeans and a thin blouse, with an equally thin military-style jacket over it. Adam could feel her shaking uncontrollably, even as his mutant healing powers fought to keep him from being overtaken by the severe cold.
They couldn’t keep this up for long. If they did, Sherri would die, and probably Adam, as well.
Adam angled the air cushion downwards, toward the base of a nearby mountain. The snow here looked deep and soft, having yet to develop a crust of ice, as it surely would the deeper night fell over the mountain range. A moment later, they crashed into the drift, sinking fifty feet or more before coming to a stop. Adam waved his hand through the snow and immediately a round chamber was created by compressed air. He brought half a dozen static electricity balls into existence and compressed them so they gave off significant heat, along with light. He brought them in close to Sherri’s unconscious body, which he held effortlessly in his arms.
He looked around the small ice cave and saw torrents of water streaming down the walls, with a growing pool of ice water covering his feet and beginning to climb up his legs. Frigid water dripped from the ceiling. He created a small umbrella of compressed air above his head. It helped, a little. But with the rising temperature in the chamber, it wouldn’t be long before the snow bubble filled with water.
Sherri was trembling as she regained consciousness. She tried to speak but found her cheeks too cold to allow her to form words through her chattering teeth. She resorted to telepathy.
Where are we?
In a snow bank, but not for long. The balls are melting the snow. Hold on.
With effort, Sherri wrapped her shaking arms around his neck, before Adam—using just his mind and not a wave of his hands this time—directed a blast of air into the side of the chamber. A tunnel formed in the snow he could walk through.
The static electricity balls came with them, helping to warm the tunnel, but also melting the walls of the narrow channel. He pressed on another hundred yards before coming to a rock wall—the side of the mountain—covered in ice and snow. He moved to his right, using his control of the air around him to clear the rock. He was looking for a cave, but soon an outcropping became an acceptable alternative. It was just a slight depression in the rock with a small overhang and a stone floor about ten feet wide.
He set Sherri down on the rock floor before using his mind to clear away the remaining glacial ice from the rock. The electric balls grew in intensity, bathing them in life-saving warmth.
Adam stepped away from the rock wall and looked up, directing a narrow blast of air up through the snow. It traveled about a hundred feet before breaking through the snow to form a ventilation shaft. Melting snow from around the outcropping formed streams of warmer water that disappeared into tunnels cut in the ice beyond the shelter. They would stay dry and warm, at least for the time being.
Riyad! Adam cried out in his mind. He applied all the intensity his mutant-enhanced brain could muster, but it didn’t make a difference. Riyad was off the air.
“Is there a way our minds can combine to send out a stronger signal?” Sherri asked. She was up and moving around in the brightly-lit shelter.
“I can’t see how. I thought they were right behind us,” Adam said. Riyad! He mentally screamed again. Arieel! He tried the Formilian, knowing she had the most experience with ATD communication. Still nothing.
Kaylor! Jym!
He felt a buzz in his head, a slight tingle from…outside.
Jym? Can you hear me?
Can I hear…hear what?
My thoughts, dammit! Are you hearing me or not? It’s Adam.
Adam! Adam Cain?
What other Adam would be speaking with you by ATD?
Yes, of course. Adam…where are you?
I’m not sure. Are Arieel and Riyad with you?
In another room; I will get them.
Adam’s expression told Sherri what she needed to know. “You’ve made contact! Where are they?”
“I don’t know. I’m hooked in with Jym.”
“Jym? Why him?”
Adam shook his head—
Adam, it is Arieel. I am linking through Jym’s Gift—ATD.
Why is it I can link with Jym but not you? Adam asked.
Certain species have natural telepathy abilities, at least on a sensitivity level. Jym must be one of them. Yet I would not worry about the how at this point. Where are you?
Not sure. The natives are called V’casin. I don’t know what they call the planet.
We will check the Library.<
br />
The link was quiet for a moment before Riyad’s voice came into his mind.
I have it. The planet is called Corfer. We’re about a light-year out.
Good, Adam thought. When you get closer lock onto my mental signal. That will show you where we are. Then come to the planet from the opposite direction. The Klin are in the mountains. Come in low and slow from the valleys otherwise they’ll spot you.
We’re in a five-hundred-foot-long freighter. You don’t think they’ll spot us anyway?
I’ll see what I can do about their detection equipment. What’s your ETA?
Could be six hours, maybe longer if we have to sneak up on you.
Just get here as soon as you can. You’re not going to believe the story I have to tell you.
Robert McCarthy and the Klin Senior Fellow Sumonis Fer stood near the edge of the exterior platform, dressed in thick coats to protect against the bitter cold, staring out at the darkness below. The canyon floor was four-thousand feet below, nearly straight down. No one could have survived such a fall.
“They’re alive,” Robert said with confidence.
The Klin shook his head. “You keep saying that, but I do not see how.”
“I know Adam Cain. He deliberately ran for the edge and jumped. He wouldn’t have done that unless he knew he would survive.”
“Again, I ask how?”
“I don’t know, not yet.”
Robert had watched the security feed a dozen times, confused by the wave of Cain’s hand and the subsequent disaster within the ancient V’casin worship room. Something powerful—and invisible—had smashed the AN-9s with such intensity that it nearly collapsed the entire chamber. Then Cain scooped up Sherri Valentine and together they jumped from the ledge. His actions were deliberate and decisive. He knew what he was doing, and it certainly wasn’t an act of suicide
“We have scouts searching the canyon floor, but we cannot draw much notice to our activities if we wish to keep our location a secret,” the Klin was saying.
“Your location has already been compromised, Sumonis. You should begin making arrangements to evacuate the population to the secondary location. Cain and his people may not be able to target all the Klin at one time, but they surely won’t hesitate to take out those they can.”
“You have a lot of confidence in the abilities of your fellow Human.”
“Are you not aware of the history of Adam Cain, especially when it comes to his interactions with the Klin?”
“Yes, I am aware. But with our current operation and the precautions we have taken, the allied forces of the Expansion and the Union are no longer a threat. How can one Human make a difference when an entire galaxy stands helpless?”
“That remains to be seen. But the biggest mistake you can make is to underestimate Adam Cain.”
“You mean the recently deceased Adam Cain?”
“Yeah, whatever.”
16
“That has to be the place, half of it is covered in snow,” Copernicus Smith said, looking at the long range scanner.
Riyad straightened up and looked out the huge, three-sided viewport on the bridge of the Nautilus. “Kaylor, bring us in star-side, and then aim for one of the two moons. We may be able to cover our approach.”
Riyad had worn a perpetual frown for the past week, ever since losing contact with Adam and Sherri. Now that he had a bead on them, he wasn’t feeling any better. There were twenty thousand Klin on that planet, and all he had was a rag-tag team of five and a seventy-year-old freighter with minimal weapons.
“Adam is broadcasting a beacon,” Arieel announced. Her expression mirrored Riyad’s. The only member of the team who seemed enthusiastic about reaching the frozen planet was Jym. He was feeling cocky now that he had the hang of his ATD. He’d perfected the creation of static electricity balls and was making them pop into existence at the most inappropriate times. He was also very good at telepathic communications, to the point where he could invade other people’s private thoughts. Fortunately, the rest of the team had learned the tell-tale signs when he was doing this and told him in no uncertain terms to knock it off. The words airlock and jettison were often used in these admonitions. For the time being, Jym was behaving himself.
Arieel placed a locator marker on Adam’s location, which Riyad displayed on the main screen. He was on the other side of the planet, so Kaylor brought the huge freighter into the atmosphere four thousand miles from the beacon and began hugging the ground at over three thousand miles per hour. When they reached the verdant valleys at the foot of the towering mountain range, he slowed the ship and targeted a particular valley that would get them to their destination, hidden between jagged peaks.
That’s when they noticed Adam’s beacon was moving. A moment later, they got their first direct ATD link with Adam.
Prepare the sickbay with heating blankets. I’m on my way.
Did you say heating blankets?
Yes. Hurry. I’ll be there in three minutes.
Kaylor set the huge ship down in a field of soft snow and opened the portside landing bay doors. By the time the crew made their way aft, Adam was already in the cargo bay and the door was closing. Sherri was unconscious in Adam’s arms. He raced past the others, heading for sickbay.
He placed her on an examination table and began breaking open the sealed pouches holding the heating pads. Space was a cold and dangerous place to make a living, so all starships carried emergency provisions to combat the threat of hypothermia. Helping hands wrapped Sherri in the blankets, and moments later her pink glow returned, replacing the pale blue from before.
“I couldn’t block their scanners,” Adam explained. “They have constant reboots going. And their patrols are out in force with daylight only an hour away. I couldn’t risk them spotting the Nautilus.”
“But how…how did you?” Arieel asked, before letting the question trial off.
“I’ll tell you later.” Kaylor, Adam called out through his ATD. Get us out of here the way you came, and then bolt for space. Get us into a deep-well as soon as you can.
Already underway.
Sherri was sitting up on the table by now, Copernicus hugging her, adding his warmth to that of the blankets.
“You know,” she began through chattering teeth, “I’m going to need a long vacation someplace hot and humid when this is over.”
“I know just the place,” Coop said with a loving smile. “If someone doesn’t send armed sailors after us…again.”
The comment was directed at Adam Cain.
They made it into space and bolted away above the ecliptic. The home of the V’casin—the planet Corfe—was located at the edge of the galaxy, so it was just a short hop before the Nautilus was transiting at full gravity-drive through the fringes of intergalactic space.
The team was assembled on the huge bridge, which provided plenty of room and amenities for the seven of them. There were well-worn leather couches and two plush recliners, plus a full food and beverage prep station. The former flight crew of the freighter wanted to make sure their long transits were made in comfort. Adam and his crew weren’t complaining.
“You. Are. Shitting. Me!” Riyad exclaimed, punctuating each word. “Nigel McCarthy’s son? What are the odds? This is a frigging galaxy after all. You don’t just run into people you half-ass know.”
“It was more than chance, buddy,” Adam explained. “He’s been watching me—and as a consequence, all of you—for quite a while.” He looked at Arieel. “He even has the O’lac Building bugged from top to bottom. He knows what the allies are going to do even before they do.”
“I surmise bugged means surveillance?”
“Exactly.”
“Then I must contact my security personnel immediately and have the building un-bugged.”
Adam nodded, while giving her a wide, warm smile.
“Where do we go from here?” Kaylor asked. “From the story you have just told, the Klin are too disbursed to be eliminated effectivel
y, and the son of Nigel McCarthy is planning attacks on planets far into the Expansion. What can we do to stop him?”
Adam looked at his Belsonian friend and shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. But one thing’s for sure, we’re going to need some help.”
“Help?” Jym asked. “From who…or is it whom in Human-speak?”
“What kind of help?” Arieel asked. Adam could tell by her tone she already knew the answer.
Sherri spoke next. “Mutant-type help, right?”
“And exactly how are you going to make that happen?” Riyad asked. “They disappeared a couple of years ago and haven’t been seen since. You would think if they were in the Milky Way they would have come to help long before this. Lila’s not about to let her mom and dad get hurt, not if she can help it. And you know Panur will do anything she wants. He’s the most pussy-whipped immortal mutant genius I’ve ever met in my life.”
“And how many pussy-whipped immortal mutant geniuses have you met?” Adam questioned.
“Enough to know.” Riyad flashed his trademark smile.
“They’re probably in another dimension and unaware of what we face,” Jym stated.
“That’s why we’re going to Earth,” Adam announced.
“How is going to Earth…the TD ship!” Sherri said.
“That’s right,” Adam confirmed.
“But it doesn’t work,” Coop pointed out. “They rebuilt most of it, but they still can’t get the power supply right.”
“Then we’re just going to have to fix it ourselves.”
“They won’t let you have it, Adam,” Riyad said. “They consider the technology on that ship—even broken technology—to be the greatest threat to the galaxy. I tend to agree with them. The Klin are bastards enough. Imagine what they could do—or the Nuoreans—if they had trans-dimensional travel technology. They could pop in and out of the galaxy on a whim and no one could stop them.”