by Gray Lanter
Tarum stood silent for a minute. The grays eyes muddied even more and turned a darker gray. The eyes moistened. I wondered if Cappnids often cried. He was close to it. After another minute he spoke.
“Yes, I would.”
“Then why don’t you do it? Cajun, get up here.”
In a split second she stood by me. I kept the gun pointed at Tarum. “I want you to check and see what he does. In fact, he’s going to give you a quick five-minute course on how to use the time belts. Learning the intricacies of time travel might take a while, but a time belt should be simple enough to use. Then we’re going to test it.” I put the gun barrel against Tarum’s skin. “If you lie to me one more time, I’ll kill you.”
I stepped back and waved the gun.
“Do it,” I said.
Either Tarum was a good teacher or Cajun was a quick learner. Probably the latter. In five minutes she walked back to me and nodded.
“I know how to work them, major.”
“Tarum, I’m guessing all the other belts have to be modified too.”
“Yes.”
“Then first we will send Blackjack into the past. If he comes back, you and I will have a discussion. If he doesn’t come back, we’ll say a brief eulogy for you.”
“Your soldier will return,” Tarum said, in a strong voice.
Chapter 13
Blackjack did blink back a minute after he left. All in one piece, thank goodness. He reported it was a fine, sunny day in the past. His landing point was only about ten yards from the forest. He could see the castle in the distance.
I retired with Astrid, Cajun and Tarum to a small room. I sat across from him at a table while Astrid and Cajun pointed their guns at him. I laid my Desert Eagle on the table.
“So was the plan to maroon us in the past, or kill us on the way?” I said.
“It was to maroon you and your squad. The man whose orders I followed wanted to kill you personally and watch you die.”
“He likes the personal touch, does he? Who’s the man who gave the orders?”
“He told me his name was General Conbor. He came with the Soltarians.”
I grunted. Sometimes in life you have to deal with the unexpected.
“I should have tracked him down and killed him long ago. Well, live and learn. I won’t make the same mistake twice. But first things first. Where exactly were you going to beam us to?”
“About thirty miles from the castle there is a valley surrounded by mountains. I was told to beam you to the valley. General Conbor planned to have his armed force on the mountain passes. They would open fire as soon as your squad materialized. You would have no cover, no place to hide. The battle would have been over within a minute... except for you.”
“What did the general have planned for me?”
“If possible, you were not to be harmed. He wanted to kill you personally. A knife fight. One on one.”
I frowned. “If I recall, on Vanodor, Conbor did wear a couple of knifes on his uniform. For a high-tech man, he liked more primitive weapons. The natives said he was skilled with them. When he wanted to execute someone, he or she was tied to a pole and he would toss his knife at them. Rumor was he could hit the heart almost every time.”
“He said he was your sworn enemy and you would die by the knife.”
“To paraphrase Cardinal Richelieu, I have no enemies, the Federation has enemies. Freedom has enemies. But if I had any, he’d be at the top of the list.”
Astrid had her gun pointed at Tarum. She eased it up until the barrel was pointed at the ceiling.
“Why did you do what he ordered? He’s the man who destroyed your race,” she asked him.
“Because the remnants of the Cappnid race are being held prisoner three hundred years in the past. Conbor and the Soltarians did manage to take some of their weapons to the past. They carved out an area in the northern hemisphere, which is where they are now. The ones of my race who survived are being herded into camps, but he said he would not exterminate them if I did what he ordered. He said my ancestors can have half the planet; the southern half. He will build up his forces and, when they take off into space to conquer other planets, they will leave and my race can stay in peace. The Soltarians will leave and not return if we do what he said. And if I deliver Major Ryvenbark to him.”
“And you believed them?” I said.
Tarum shrugged. “We had no choice. Our planet was devastated by their attack. Before we could get to the past, eighty percent of our race died. I wanted to save the rest.”
“How many of the invaders died when you modified the toxin?”
“Many. But I don’t know the numbers. There are thousands in the past, both men and women. But as I told you, they breed fast. In a generation or two they can repopulate the planet. There are also at least three other humans with the general. One is a military man. The other two are scientists. With the robots and the knowledge they have taken into the past, they would be a danger to your race. I said fifty years before, but that might have been a pessimistic prediction. Certainly within a century they will have the capacity that your civilization has today. That will include space travel and powerful weapons. Two hundred years in the past, I don’t think your race would withstand them.”
“I wouldn’t want to take the chance. Is what you told us about the castle true? The Soltarians have their base there, their weapons and their scientific information are stored there?”
He nodded. “They are in no danger from the population. Not three hundred years ago. We had no weapons back then. When they have built other facilities I’m sure they will move some of their equipment, but right now everything is in the castle.”
“Good.”
“What do we do?” Cajun said.
“If there are no other major surprises, we follow our basic plan. Tarum, do you know how many soldiers Conbor took with him to the mountains?”
“Close to a thousand.”
“He certainly wanted the odds on his side.” I looked at Astrid and Cajun. “We travel back to the past, take out the Soltarians at the castle, destroy their weapons and their scientific capabilities and then wait until the soldiers return and destroy the rest of their forces. As for the rest of the scattered Soltarians on the planet, we’ll let the Sandeling winter take care of them. Tarum, there won’t be any more major surprises, will they?”
“No, major.”
“Good, since you were trying to do your best to save your race and because none of my men were killed, I’ll overlook your previous questionable behavior. If you stay honest with us, we should be able to save your race. Any more deceptions and the game is off, understand?”
“Yes.”
As we filed out, I motioned to Blackjack; he walked over and pointed to Tarum, his back toward me.
“Keep your eye on him. I don’t trust him, not a hundred percent anyway.”
“Sure will, major. Don’t worry about a thing.”
We walked to the transporter.
“It’s easier if we split the group into thirds,” Tarum said. “Would your squad like to go first, major?”
“That will be fine.”
Chapter 14
Fifteen men and women, including Astrid, joined me in the center of the room. When I signaled ready, a low whiz of a noise flowed through the chamber. The world turned black for a moment then we found ourselves in a sunny field. The wind blew some type of Sandeling dust at us; large, puffy grains that floated gracefully through the air. To our right the forest stood. Large brown trunks partially obscured by the dark green of the leaves on the drooping branches. Nothing human or alien moved north or south of us. In the distance I saw the faint black outline of the castle. I waved my arms toward the trees.
“Let’s go.”
The squad ran over and we took positions behind the trees. I didn’t know what type of goggles they had at the castle, but I didn’t want us spotted by the defenders. The cousin of an Earth owl whooed in the distance. A brown, four-legged creat
ure scurried ten yards away from us. A blue bird set on the branches above us and looked down curiously.
Everything else was still. Leaves swirled slightly in the wind. But besides the brown forest dweller nothing else moved on the planet. There was nothing in sight. Which was a good sign.
Tyson focused his long-range binoculars on the castle.
“There’s a lot of Soltarians guarding that wall, sir. But there’s not supposed to be anything on the planet to guard against,” he said.
“That’s true. How many guards are there?” I said.
“Looks to be about two hundred and it’s a really big wall.”
I grabbed a pair of binoculars and aimed them at the castle. The word ‘castle’ did not do it just. The binocular screen revealed it was a mile long and a mile wide. About ten yards thick. Higher towers on each corner. In the two upfront, two ugly-looking Soltarians peered out toward the landscape. I felt a sense of unease. Tarum hadn’t gone into detail about his race’s history, but if the Cappnids had a rural economy and rustic existence, who built this thing? Then again, Europe had something of a rural life in the Middle Ages but it did have a lot of castles, although none to my understanding was as large as this one. Due to the high walls, I couldn’t see much of the insides. I lowered the binoculars.
“Mr. Tyson. That’s a little larger than we were thinking. Can your drones take that out?”
“Think so, sir. The range of a neutron bomb is more than a mile. I don’t think it should be a problem.”
“Can you get a bomb on a drone?”
“Sure, I can. Really big explosives come in small packages nowadays.”
“A neutron bomb can take out humans. Will it do the same to Soltarians?”
“It should, although I can’t give you a hundred percent guarantee. Ninety-five percent, maybe. But we have backups if the neutrons don’t work.”
I glanced toward our landing area.
“Where’s our second squad?”
“Don’t know. They haven’t arrived yet,” Astrid said. She was at my elbow. “Something could have gone wrong.”
“I told Blackjack to keep an eye on Tarum. That guy still worries me.”
“By the way, how did you know he was double-crossing us?”
I shrugged. “There was no moment of revelation. I just had an uneasy feeling about it. Plus, the more I thought about it, the more that lizard guy looked like the aliens we tangled with on Vanodor. Put one and one together and I came up with ‘there’s something fishy about this.’”
“Wow. That’s why they pay you the big bucks.”
I sighed and looked again at the landing area. “They should be here by now.”
“I can go back and check.”
“Not yet. Give them about five more minutes.”
There was silence for four minutes and then Ritter spoke up.
“Major, we may have a problem.” He was looking into his scanner.
“What type of problem?”
“There’s a large force approaching us from the south. Looks like about two thousand soldiers. I’m reading weapons, difficult to say just what type. I’m guessing they’re just normal laser weapons. Also, sir, just on the edge of my scope it appears another force is heading toward us from the east.”
“How many?”
“No definitive readings yet, but I’d say about a thousand.”
“How far away are they?”
“Currently about eight miles.”
“Walking, I hope.” I said.
“Yes, it looks like a convoy on foot,” he answered.
“That gives us some time.”
We could bounce back to the future and save the attack for another time. But we needed to take out the Soltarians as soon as possible. If we bounced back and allowed three hundred years of history to proceed, the planet might be a very different place when we reappeared in the future. It’s a paradox that when playing with time you never know how much time you have. If we left now, what would the future look like?
And if we stayed, we could be pinned against three armies. I needed the second squad. Our drones and other heavy weapons were coming in the second and third time jump.
“Major, the gates of the castle are opening,” Tyson said, as he stared through his binoculars again.
“They’re putting up a welcome sign?”
“No, sir. Soldiers are marching out. Columns of five, looks like.”
“Darn. I didn’t think we sent out invitations.”
“They’re not carrying white flags, so I don’t think they’re going to surrender.”
“Shucks, there goes my first option. I was going to accept the surrender.”
“Better go to your second option, sir.”
I didn’t tell Mr. Tyson that there was no second option. We had one plan – attack the castle. I didn’t expect three armies to be marching toward me with only one-third of my s quad. I wondered if Tarum had been lying again. Or possibly General Conbor had covered all his bases. He was a nasty character, but he was very intelligent.
“Mr. Tyson, can you see what type of weapons they’re carrying?”
He looked through the binoculars again. I was hoping for some good news.
“It doesn’t appear like they have any long guns, major. They do have sidearms, but I can’t tell what type they are. Regular speed. They don’t appear to be in any great hurry.”
No, they wouldn’t. The Raiders had no place to go. Retreat was cut off, plus we couldn’t zoom east. If we headed west, we’d be in an open field with one army in front of us and two behind. We’d be squeezed to death.
I looked up. “And there are no drones in the sky? No air weapons of any type?”
“No, sir.”
“Ritter!”
“Yes, sir.”
“Set up a defensive perimeter. We do have long guns. If they charge up we should be able to take them out before they can reach us.”
I took one look through the binoculars at the Soltarians. They were as ugly as ever. But where did the lizard guy come in? At one time General Conbor had two-legged lizards as his allies. Where did he pick up the Soltarians? Besides, the Soltarians didn’t like any outside contact. How did the general become their leader? Not that the guy didn’t have some basic charisma. He did, as most dictators do. But I doubted human charisma influenced the hairy Soltarians. Something was amiss here...
“What are you thinking? Making this our battleground?” Astrid said.
“Yes, at least we’d have a defensive position. If we have three armies converging I don’t want to fight them on open ground. They would have the advantage. But if we establish a defensive posture we might be able to take out about ninety-eight percent of them while they charge.”
As the Soltarians marched closer, I hoped they knew very little about combat, or at least about the combat they were about to engage in. In this age, armies did not clash by night, or at noon. In the space age, high-tech weapons had ended such fiery engagements. But it appeared there might be some old-fashioned warfare if the three groups kept heading our way. Perhaps their commanders didn’t know the results of a battle when armies charged a well-defended position. World War I generals had learned that lesson. Or at least some of them did. A few stupid ones didn’t. Gen. William Sherman had learned that long before the First World War. He never wanted a one-on-one engagement. He kept maneuvering his army so the Confederates could not dig in. Maybe the Soltarians last ground battles were three hundred years ago and hopefully they had forgotten the lessons of history.
Even without binoculars I could vaguely see the black-clad soldiers marching from the castle.
“Where are our other two squads?” I said.
Rab had the second squad. If something had gone wrong he would have sent one soldier back to inform me of the problem. But no one had appeared.
We stripped ourselves of guns and jetpacks. Three Raiders used their lasers to slice through tree trunks. When the trees fell, it sounded like thunder as the grou
nd shook a few seconds. We sliced off the branches and used the trees as barricades. It would not be a solid fortress, but the wall of trees would be the best we could do in the time we had. We were all sweating after three minutes of the labor. Sweat poured down my face. I began to miss the frozen emptiness of Sandeling, three hundred years in the future. I kept looking toward our landing spot, about twenty yards away, hoping to see the second squad materializing. But nothing.
I checked the scanner. The closest army was still about six miles away and we had some of our barricades up. There would be holes in our defenses, but the wall of trees was not specifically for keeping the enemy out. I hoped no Soltarian soldier would ever get close enough to leap over the wooden wall. I hoped we’d kill them before they got within six feet of the wall. But the wood would deflect their shots.
I didn’t think the general lived up to his name. Perhaps even Conbor, for all his brilliance, didn’t know anything about ancient warfare. But if we didn’t materialize at the valley, we’d have to take a chance. We’d have to hope they only brought sidearms.
We had laser riflers instead. Which meant the Raiders could kill their enemies a long way off. A mile away a Soltarian soldier might be marching swiftly one minute and have a hole blasted into him the next moment. Unlike the Americans dug-in on Bunker Hill during the Revolution, we didn’t have to wait until we saw the whites of their eyes.
If all went well, the Soltarians would represent the Confederates and we would represent the Union on this space version of Gettysburg. But ever since we had landed on Sandeling, things had not gone well.
“Rab, where are you?” I said.
Chapter 15
In the cavern three hundred years in the future, Cajun aimed her laser rifle at a seven-foot-tall Soltarian. When she fired, the laser bolt blasted a hole in the hairy combatant. Blood and orange hair flew through the air. With their surprise attack, a few Soltarians had breached the Raiders’ lines. As her gun was knocked away by a blood-drenched hand, Cajun whipped out her knife. A second later she embedded the blade in a hairy throat. The Soltarian gasped and died. She picked her rifle as she watched Rab send laser blasts into a group of charging orange-soldiers. When he stopped firing, only one was left standing, bleeding from two laser blasts. He tried to make one more step with an orange paw, but his legs buckled and he fell to the blood-stained ground.