by Chris Hechtl
Princess Rescue Inc.
By Chris “Jekyll” Hechtl
Copyright:
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional. Any resemblance to living people is purely coincidental. Any resemblance to real or fictional people are in parody.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book and or portions thereof in any form.
Copyright 2013 by Chris Hechtl
Edited by Gord Archer, Jacob Larson, Brandon Bynum, Thomas Burrows, and Chris “Mechmaster” Smith
Cover art Copyright 2011 by Chris Hechtl
Some 3d models are stock Inspire 3D assets. Some are stock Daz 3D assets. A few models and outfits came from Renderocity or shareCG. All others by Chris Hechtl.
Textures from Inspire 3D, my own works, and the web.
Dedication:
To the fans for putting up with my writing style and horrid editing skills. Thanks for hanging in there folks. :)
Author's note:
Nope, this isn't a rewrite of Bootstrap Colony. This started with a couple of scenes and then I tied it together with a “what would I do with a Stargate Scenario?” That tied in with the... “What if they went and found they weren't the first people? How would someone from the past survive on an alien world? Survive and thrive?”
This book was written years ago and I'm just now getting around to cleaning it up, adding more perspectives and getting it off to the guys to edit. Warning, it has a couple of graphic adult scenes in it... and a few gory deaths. Not nearly as bad as Afraid of the Dark, but you get my drift.
I hope you enjoy it.
Table of Contents:
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Author's afterward:
Appendix:
Sneak Peek:
Prologue
Herod looked over his shoulder nervously. From the look of the approaching dust cloud it wouldn't be much longer. He turned back to his people. He was the village headman, and he cursed the fate that had brought them here. Fate and his overweening pride. His children were going to pay for it, pay with their blood.
“Father what should we do?” his eldest son asked, tugging on his stirrup. He turned to look down at the lad. Black hair and wide, frightened brown eyes looked back up at him.
“I don't know son,” he said turning to view the others once more. He and the hunters were the only ones armed with any sort of real weaponry. The rest had spears or hunting bows with blunts for arrows. A few of the men and a couple of the stout older lads had clubs and kitchen knives but little more. He turned. They had three branacks, a plough mule, and a couple of cows, All but his branack Lightfoot had been hitched to a cart or wagon. The animal's flanks were raw from being driven over the overgrown path in such haste. He bit his lip. At this rate they would founder soon, white foam crusted their nostrils and sweat dripped from their flanks. Something had to be done. He turned to look back, surveying the group. Damascus and Richard caught his eye and nodded. The older men were ready to fight but knew the odds were against them.
Herod turned. They were near the hill top, boulders were on either side. The orange ball in the sky was full which made moving about at night much easier, which was a blessing. The footing on this path was treacherous. He knew one false move and someone would twist an ankle or worse. When his branack reached the peak he paused and turned to the side of the path, letting the women and children pass. What he saw truly frightened him. Frightened and enraged.
He could see black clouds of smoke rising in the distance, most likely from their once small but growing village. Oh it had seemed safe all right, the wall had been the hardest to build, he still had the calluses but it had proven effective at keeping the basilisks and other monsters at bay. He shaded his eyes with his hands and tried to focus on the dust cloud. It was a few leagues too close for comfort.
Theirs had been a border village, guarding the river crossing into the thrice cursed enemy's lands. He wished, oh how he wished that the bridge had been made of wood not stone! Had he had but an hour's warning he could have flamed the bridge and then laughed on the other side.
But no, it was not to be. Even if he had thought to pile hay and brush on the bridge to weaken it and slow the approaching army it was not to be, the vanguard had been sent ahead to ford the river further upstream and then capture the bridge and then the village.
He'd had only a moment's warning, old Yensi had stumbled in on his lathered branack with arrows stitching his back. He'd collapsed out of the saddle and gasped out a warning of the army before he'd died. Yensi's branack had fallen as well on the march. He missed the beast, missed it sorely now.
“Abandon the goods here,” he said turning. “Perhaps it will slow them,” he said turning in place with his branack Lightfoot. Lightfoot danced, unsure of all the activity. “Easy now,” he said patting a flank. “Easy girl.”
“Lad that won’t slow them much if at all,” Richard said, coming over to him. He looked down at his son and then to his uncle. The others were abandoning the carts and goods but keeping their packs. He frowned but turned away.
“I know, but it's all we got.”
“Not quite all,” Richard said. He was game, lamed by a basilisk but he'd still kept up, staying off the wagons and carts and hobbling along. “I'll stay and delay them,” Richard growled eyes glittering.
The boy gasped. “Uncle!”
“Be good to your sisters lad, take care of them,” Richard said, voice rough with emotion as he ruffled the lad's hair. “Now go on,” he said.
“I'll remain as well,” Damascus said. Herod looked into his gray bearded friend's face and then nodded reluctantly. Most of the older folks were now volunteering to buy the younger set time to escape. Tearful hugs were exchanged and murmurs of love and support. “His Majesty must be warned,” Damascus growled, eyes glittering as he held his staff. “Your bow lad,” he said holding up a hand. Herod took it off and then the quiver of arrows. He handed them down and then pulled the two quivers off Lightfoot's packs.
“We'll kill as many of the cursed bastards as we can. Get the others to safety,” Richard said, overturning a cart to block the path. Goods tumbled and fell including Herod's two precious anvils. He regretted bringing them now, useless dead weight that had only slowed them down. “Now go!” he said turning and slapping Lightfoot hard on the flank. The branack started and lunged forward.
“We will not forget you!” the lad said turning away. A few of the women were snuffling and whimpering. Tears pricked and stung Herod's eyes as well. He saluted the courageous men and women behind them as he moved out. “Good luck,” he said. He watched Damascus pass a flagon among the doomed and then motioned to another to dump the other flagons out ahead of them and on the road. A torch was handed off and stuck in the ground. Herod's heart twisted. They were going to use the alcohol as a last resort, to set fire to the road and hopefully buy the others
precious time.
“Go!” Damascus yelled as he drew the bow and turned.
Herod fled into the night with his people.
Chapter 1
“Is this going to work Ryans?” the general asked eying Ryans. Ryans was ruggedly handsome, tall, and brilliant, but he was also a pain in the ass. He wasn't at all happy about all the shenanigans the thirty year old genius had pulled here, he was fairly certain he wasn't the only unhappy one as well. This last escapade was a doozie. Either it was the biggest hoax in the world or Ryans had just cornered the only functional portal to another world on Earth. Of course that didn't mean he'd remain in possession of it for long... the general thought darkly.
Eugene Ryans, owner of Futuretech smiled. “It already has General, quite a few times actually.” He pointed to the vortex. “We didn't make it, we just contained it.”
The general looked at the vortex but his eyes inevitably tracked back to the waiting camera crews. “You just had to involve the media didn't you?” he asked sourly. He didn't like having the media in on this. The president and most of the world leaders were unhappy about that little thing too. It was a lot harder to take military control of a situation when the cameras were rolling. He hadn't planned on them being here and therefore didn't have the scrambling gear to shut their broadcasts down while he took over. That sort of put a crimp in his plans.
Eugene Ryans smiled a slight half smile. He knew what the three star general was thinking right now. “Best way to keep things on the up and up and completely open. I have to protect the capital we've invested in this project General,” Ryans said as his lips twisted in another smile. His smile didn't touch his eyes though. Those same hazel eyes met the general's and locked on. “After all, I don't want any chain of command problems General. You of all people should understand that. My people did the grunt work, got our foot in the door.” He pointed to the vortex and waved his hand broadly to the people working around the area.
“I have no intention of letting anyone steal our thunder. Now or ever,” he growled. The general gave him a cold look and then walked off to his aide and Colonel Richards standing near the entrance.
<==={}------------>
“Is this for real General?” Colonel Richards asked, eying the light show in the vortex room. There was a group of techs fiddling with something. Engineers and techs were doing last minute service work on the vehicles they were supposed to ride in. For a Stargate there didn't seem to be any ring or anything. A lot of machinery but no ring. The kawoosh was there, going on and on like some giant horizontal flush. He wished the damn thing would stabilize or something.
The general nodded grimly, keeping his back to the damn thing. It was distracting to look at. “You bet your ass. We've confirmed it. They've been sending probes through for a couple of weeks. We even sent one of ours through. Damnedest thing,” the three star general said. He shook his head.
“So why isn't this a government show sir?” the major asked quietly. The Colonel flicked a glance over to the major and then back to the general.
The bull necked general looked around to make sure there were no camera crews inconveniently nearby. “Because no one but a nutcase billionaire believed it was true or even possible. Or had the chops to get a team together to pull this off.” He waved to indicate the room.
“So why... Why didn't we come in and take over when he proved it worked?” the aide asked clearly perplexed.
“Well, first we're on a platform in international waters. Second, he invited us,” the general sighed. “Believe me; we thought about it, many people talked about it, way above my pay grade, when we finally realized he was telling the truth. Hell, we didn't take him seriously till he made that damn news announcement!” Disgust was written all over the general's face and body language. “That live shot of a UAV going through the vortex by CNN got our attention,” he snorted wryly. He'd seriously thought it was a hoax, a crock of shit someone was going to call Ryans on. The net was alive with crap like that after all. Most of the Pentagon had chocked it up to Hollywood special effects until they had started getting hysterical calls from the Washington elite. That had gotten them moving.
Not soon enough though, he'd been a little put out that Ryans had help in the senate arms committee. Pretty strong help, apparently, a couple of prominent senators who should have known better had slapped a few hands. The military had been firmly told to back off or there would be hell to pay. He scowled. Apparently Ryans had been smart enough to buy the damn Senators and Representatives off with campaign contributions. He shook his head, flexing his jaw. He didn't need to break any more damn teeth over this. “By then all thoughts of coming in and wrapping it up in an NSA blanket went out the window. It's hard to do that with the media breathing down our necks.” He indicated the camera crews nearby.
“Rather impolite of us to show up in force and shut them down all live on national TV,” the Colonel said dryly. Which had been another point, if the military came in with force then other governments would raise holy hell. Keeping the site neutral was therefore beneficial.
Of course there was the other little matter of a back door warning from Ryans to the movers and shakers in the beltway. Any attempt to take the platform by force would force him to push the button and let the thing loose. And if anything happened to him beforehand the platform self-destructed on its own. Ryans and his damn AI. NSA had taken one look at his firewall and given up right away. Ryans had physically firewalled the systems off from the net.
The colonel nodded. “So the joint op?” Major Stark the general's aide de camp asked. “Are you sure about the team?”
The general shook his head again as he looked at his aide. “Winston, listen to me, Perry's going. He's green, but he's the best we have in the time available. I'd send you but you've got a family and this is most likely a one way trip,” the general answered. Colonel Richard's face scowled for a moment before clearing.
The major nodded. “Thank you sir. Andrea will thank you as well,” he said with a note of relief in his voice. The general smiled. “So Perry is the exec and the colonel here is in command sir?” the major asked.
“No, it's complicated. He's in charge,” he growled. He waved to the billionaire talking with the cameras. His subordinates turned to where he was waving and then back to him in surprise.
“From here sir?” the major asked in disbelief. He knew about the dangers of micromanaging from a distance but knew better than to voice such concerns in the present company. The general shook his head.
“Oh no, we’re not having a repeat of NASA's micromanaging from a hundred thousand miles away, no, he's going too. Or so he said,” he grimaced. “He's not about to send his people into the unknown alone.” The general shook his head in grudging amusement. “Got to admit the guy's got balls to spare.”
The major snorted as he saw the impromptu news conference. “Yes sir. That he does...”
<==={}------------>
The he in question was standing in front of the gate room wearing his shiny Mylar protective wear. The vortex was enclosed in a series of powerful electromagnets set up on each x,y, and z axis. Smaller electromagnets were embedded in the walls to help contain the anomaly.
“We're not sure where we're going, beyond it's an Earth like planet,” Ryans held up his hands as the babble of questions from the reporters rose over the hum and buzz of the machinery around them. Since he was six foot five he topped just about everyone in the room.
“Please, let me finish. We had plans to bring an astronomer but he had a last minute change of heart. His alternate and their equipment were unavoidably delayed,” he smiled a charming, thoroughly disarming smile. Most of them knew about the customs crap he'd been going through and the storm that had added to the delay. Reporters were covering that, giving the government a huge black eye over that as well. “This is an international joint command effort thrown together at the very last minute folks.”
“Why go now? Shouldn't you know more?” someon
e in the back shouted.
“I'm not... oh hell, yes, I was planning on answering that,” he said and then grimaced. He ran his hand through his hair for a moment before answering. “The reason is the window. The anomaly, wormhole, gate, whatever you want to call it fluctuates with the Earth and Sun's gravitational and magnetic forces. In a couple of hours it will expand to its largest diameter and we will be able to pass through. Any mass passing through it changes it, making it oscillate more or collapse in on itself for a period of time proportional to the mass of the object. We're still figuring the math out. I've got a couple of poor man's super computers crunching away. I know a couple of universities are trying different approaches as well.”
“From what we understand it's linked to the Earth's gravity and somehow linked to solar activity, so there's some possible link to the Sun's gravity as well,” he explained and then shrugged. “The wormhole, vortex, whatever, is too small for much of the Earth to pass through it when it opens fortunately. But what we do know is that when something does pass through it then it shrinks down to damn near molecular size,” he said, using his fingers to approximate size. “Dat's just a tad too small for me to fit through,” he said. The reporters politely chuckled at that dig. He grimaced slightly.
“Which pretty much rules out radio communications when we first cross over. So we will be on our own when we get there,” he explained. He didn't bother explaining that most of their equipment would have to be abandoned when they returned, if they returned. That part wasn't so well thought out.
He waved to the back wall. “About a hundred meters that a way is a trio of rooms filled with a poor man’s super computer network. We've got thousands of PC’s, raspberry pi microcomputers, and PS3's crunching at the data... and since we've opened up to the international community they too have added their resources.” He shrugged. There were already stories of grants and prizes funded by Futuretech and other companies to crunch the data and get some worthwhile answers. So far no one had come up with anything beyond tentative hypotheses that had yet to be proven out. “We'll get answered when they do folks... If we can understand them.” He shook his head and smiled a little. “I've got a room chock full of eggheads scratching their heads bald at this rate.” The group chuckled at that.