Second Life of Mr. Hunt: Book 3: Failover
Page 17
“Yikes, what the hell happened here?” asked Ryan.
Kat pulled out her scanner and swept the wall and the C-Tec with it. “This is fascinating. Somehow the C-Tec interfaced with the ship’s wiring, which seems to have been engulfed by the crystal. I detect no life signs, but I am getting energy readings.”
Ryan moved part of the tattered robes to get a peek underneath.
“Holy crap,” yelled Ryan, jumping back when the C-Tec’s head popped up and started bouncing around.
Kat backed away, and the C-Tec’s cybernetic eye looked back and forth at them.
“Life signs detected…Hu-hu-humanoids…How may I assist?”
“Kat, this is your area of specialty.”
She moved closer. “I am Dr. Katalina of the OTKE Corporation. What happened here?”
“Intense battle…sh-sh-ship damaged…crashing. Neural interfaces ha-ha-have interfaced with ship to survive. Crystal City AI…has interfaced with me.”
“Can you tell us how you got here?”
“Ambushed by Wo-Wo-Woland battle cruiser while on patrol. Captain ordered wormhole jump. Woland caught in jump. Ships off course and exited near unknown planet. Battle ensued and ended on the planet.”
Some sparks shot from around the C-Tec’s body.
“Who was in the Crystal City?” asked Ryan.
“Explorers from another u-u-universe. Highly ad-ad-advanced, but not prepared for battle. Unable to defend themselves from aerial bombardment. Earth forces defended them. Lar-lar-large pulse of energy given off by city before it took more missiles and bioweapons from Woland. Ships crashed, tanks failed, and everyone di-di-died.”
Ryan thought for a moment. “What about—”
The C-Tec body started to violently flail, and Kat shoved Ryan out of the way. They fell to the ground as the C-Tec emitted large sparks of energy, and the crystalline compound around it shattered everywhere.
“I’m starting to hate this planet. It’s depressing,” said Ryan, getting up and dusting himself off.
“Yeah, I think I’m going to need some heavy drinking after this mission,” replied Kat.
Ryan swatted the smoke away from his face and picked up a piece of the crystal. “I’ll take this piece to analyze later. Let’s head back up to where we came in and camp there for the night.”
They sat in silence for about an hour, eating some food bars and water Ryan had brought in his adventurer’s backpack.
Kat was reviewing her scanner logs when her head popped up. “Did you hear something?”
Ryan, who had his eyes closed, sat up and looked around. “No, but it could be—”
They looked at each other as the ship vibrated in response to an odd, low rumbling sound. They waited in silence, and after about a minute, it happened again.
Ryan stood up, put his pack on, and peered out of the hatch. The moonlight of the twin full moons provided enough light for him to see. The remains of the Crystal City were glowing, and a sound radiated from the center outward every minute.
They exited the ship and Kat focused the scanner on the city. “I’m not able to penetrate the crystals or the ground in the area, but I am reading a high energy field being given off by the larger structures.”
Ryan kept a lookout while Kat continued scanning. Ten minutes later, the energy vibration stopped and was replaced with a low hum. The city and crystal structures were now glowing.
“I’m guessing someone turned something on,” said Ryan.
“You can say that. I—” Kat ducked and pulled Ryan down with her. She put a finger on her mouth, pointing at her eyes and then toward a path coming from the city.
Ryan peered at where she was pointing and was startled to see a patrol of four Woland soldiers. He pointed downward, and they both slowly climbed off the transport and unslung their rifles.
“What the hell are Woland soldiers doing here? I thought everyone died,” he whispered.
“Beats the hell out of me, but it looked like they were searching for something or someone.”
“Let’s double back to the forest.”
They headed back down the route they were taking and started toward the forest when Ryan came to an abrupt stop.
“Did you see that?” he asked, pointing to his right.
“See what?”
“There was a woman waving me to go that way.”
“Great. Don’t tell me you’re seeing things.”
“No, I swear it. We need to go that way.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Yup.”
“Fine, we’ll check it out.”
Ryan tried to move fast through the maze of crystal walls and old equipment. Every time he thought he caught up to the woman, she would vanish behind something. Seeing the forest in the distance, he slowed down as he neared some fallen crystal walls and peered around it with Kat leaning on him so she could get a view as well.
The open field was muddy with a Woland troop transport half sunken in the muck. About ten feet past that was the dead forest, and the area was littered with Earth and Woland soldiers’ remains.
“Over there,” said Kat, pointing towards the Woland troop transport.
The ghostly figure stepped from behind the vehicle, waved at them, and then disappeared into it. With that, other misty silhouettes rose from the soldiers’ remains and began reenacting a battle.
“Ryan, I will no longer question your ghost stories, and I no longer like your Halloween holiday.”
Before he could reply, sparks and the sound of ricocheting items bounced off the troop transport.
They ducked as four Woland spread out around the area, firing at the ghostly figures.
“They have high-velocity needle guns, which is newer tech than what was used in this battle,” said Kat.
“Joy, something new to kill me with,” said Ryan.
Kat pulled out her scanner and started surveying the area. “I’m picking up odd energy readings, but also a life sign inside the Woland transport.”
“Could it be the girl or Jessup?” asked Ryan.
“I can’t tell, but if it is them, they’re lucky to be alive.”
Ryan scanned the area. “How many rounds did you say you have left in the Glock?”
“Ten, but this little gun you gave me is not going to hurt a Woland. With the lack of the dark cloud in the area, I should be able to use my energy blasts instead.”
“All right, they seem to be distracted by the ghosts. Give me a few seconds to get to the trees on the other side of the vehicle and then blast anything that gets close to the transport. Give me your rifle since you won’t need it. The rounds in these things should be big enough to penetrate their hides.”
Kat handed him her rifle. “Be careful, I doubt there is enough energy left in your clothing to activate any of the survival tech.”
Ryan nodded and headed to the left, trying to keep to what shadows there were, but two full moons weren’t the greatest for sneaking around. Once he made it to the tree line, he knelt and took aim at one of the Woland heading toward him. This alien race still scared the hell out of him. They were over six feet tall, massive, and had a small horn on each side of their head. The last time he fought one, he put a few forty-five caliber rounds in its chest, and it laughed at him. So far, their only weakness was cold.
The Woland moved closer to the tree line, creeping slowly as it kept watch on the ghostly figures walking around the troop transport. Ryan took aim with the rifle and fired. There was a loud bang as the high-velocity round left the gun and nailed the Woland in the chest, sending it to the ground.
He dropped the rifle and grabbed Kat’s, watching as the Woland moved a little and then stopped. Slowly standing back up, Ryan was forced to drop when the trees near him started splintering from the Woland needle g
uns. He crawled around the other side of the tree for cover, took aim, and fired, but all he heard was a click from the malfunctioning weapon.
The Woland closed in as another ran to flank around the troop transport. Then the area lit up with red balls of energy.
Ryan quickly fiddled to get his rifle and load another round when a massive explosion sent dirt and debris flying in every direction. He fell back around the tree, and the Woland coming at him fell face first in the mud.
Not one to waste an opportunity, he charged out and swung the rifle like a golf club, slamming the stock into the Woland’s head as he tried to get back up. The rifle splintered into pieces. Ryan’s eyes opened wide in disbelief, and before he knew it, the Woland had popped up and tackled him to the ground.
The two slipped around in the mud as they tried to gain an advantage over each other. Laying on his back, Ryan reached out, found a piece of metal tubing, and swung it across his body. The Woland took another blow to the head and this time howled out in pain. Ryan pushed himself backward out of the mud near the tree line and got to his feet.
Blood oozing from a gash on the side of its head, the Woland got up just as quickly and pulled out a large combat knife.
The Woland moved in on Ryan and sliced at him. He jumped back, letting the knife go by, but before the Woland could swing with its backhand, Ryan dived in, blocked the Woland’s arm, and snapped a kick out to its knee.
The creature screamed in pain as its leg gave out, causing it to drop to that knee. Ryan slammed his left hand down on the arm holding the knife, shattering the Woland’s elbow and causing the knife to come loose. He immediately went to grab it, but made the mistake of bending too far forward and coming into reach of the Woland’s other arm.
The Woland grabbed him and tossed him to the side like a rag doll and back into the mud. Ryan shook off the fall and started crawling toward the troop transport, knowing the Woland would be soon coming at him.
He turned around to see the Woland limping and swatting at the ghostly images. A cold chill ran up Ryan’s spine, and he looked over his left shoulder. A ghostly Earth soldier had a hand on him and pointed to an area in front of him with the other.
Ryan followed to where it was pointing and found a Woland needle gun lying next to the Woland he shot earlier. He scurried over, picked up the gun, and fired it. A spray of needle-like projectiles whizzed through the air, penetrating the Woland’s chest and exiting its back. The Woland stood for a second and dropped.
Ryan slowly stood up and froze when he saw the fourth Woland from the patrol aiming its rifle at him, but before it could do anything, it went flying in the air after being hit with two large red energy balls. He spun around to see a muddy Kat lying across the Woland troop transport with her hand out. He took a deep breath and slogged his way over to the transport.
“You look cute covered in mud,” said Ryan. “What took you so long, and why are you bleeding?”
“First off, I look cute covered in anything,” Kat replied with a smile. “Second, it would seem my balls of energy will set off unexploded ordnance, causing debris to go flying about.”
“Ah, so that was you who caused the big boom. I guess the Woland didn’t survive?”
“He was standing over it when it went off. He never knew what hit him. The—”
The ghostly figures around them stopped and dissipated with the cool breeze.
“That’s creepy,” said Ryan.
“Yeah, it is. Let’s hurry up and open this thing and find out who’s inside before any other patrols come to check on the explosion.”
They moved to the rear of the vehicle and found a door partially ajar. Since they were unsure how close the person was to the door, they didn’t want to risk burning them with a breaching cord and would need to rely on brute strength. At first, the door didn’t budge, then it creaked before letting loose and sending them landing in the mud.
Kat rushed to the opening and found a woman lying there in the moonlight with a brown jacket wrapped tightly around her. She removed the coat to reveal a large crystal on top of the woman’s head.
“She’s a psychic adept,” said Kat.
“She looks like the ghost who was waving us over here. Is she alive?”
“Yes, but barely. We need to get her medical treatment.”
“Thank god, she’s alive,” said Ryan. “Finally, good news for a change.” He bent down, picked up the woman, and followed Kat back to town.
Chapter 19
Party of the dead
Kat made sure to turn off the scanner and the light balls once they hit the muddy crop fields. The sun was rising by the time they made it across the muddy field and into town.
Since it was a holy night, the townspeople weren’t surprised they made it back alive, but they were surprised that Kat and Ryan had found the woman pilot—a woman that must be touched by a god to have a huge crystal grown into her head.
Considering it too risky to transport her back to the OTKE facility, Kat scrounged up all the medical supplies they had and treated the woman in the town’s medical facility. She was severely dehydrated, malnourished, and had some infected wounds.
It took a few hours until Kat finally came outside to get Ryan.
He stood up when he heard her exit the facility. “Is she OK?”
“Surprisingly, she’s awake and talking.”
They went back inside. The woman was sitting up, sipping on some water.
“You are the other person who rescued me,” she said.
“Yes. I’m Ryan Hunt, and you are?”
“As I have specified to Dr. Kat, my name is…difficult to pronounce if you are not telepathic, but you can call me Gavesha.”
“Glad we were able to help you, Gavesha. Can you tell us what happened?”
“For decades, I traveled the galaxies researching where my people came from. I followed many leads until an old pilot told me a story of a planet with a ruined city made of crystal. My investigations led me here. Unfortunately, I encountered a cloud around the planet that knocked out my ship’s systems and AI, causing me to crash-land. The people who live here were hesitant to approach me, so I studied them from afar. Eventually, I moved to investigate the remains of the Crystal City.”
“Did you encounter any creatures?” asked Ryan.
“I knew I was being watched and could sense something lurking in the shadows, but it left me alone until I saw the other ship crash. Before I knew it, I was being chased by some creatures in the remains of the city. I eventually hid and got trapped in an old vehicle.”
Gavesha took a sip of water before continuing.
“Luckily, Adepts are capable of putting themselves into a deep meditative state to survive. Unfortunately, my wounds were festering and depleting my body’s resources faster than anticipated. If I had to guess, I had a few more days before passing. Then I sensed something…I sensed you, Mr. Hunt. You were like a beacon. So, I sent out an aura projection of myself to lead you to my location.”
“I’m sorry to say that the other crash was Jessup,” said Kat. “He came looking for you. Did you see him out there?”
Gavesha sighed. “I was supposed to contact him, and I wasn’t able to. The damn fool came looking for me. Is he OK?”
“We haven’t located him yet, but we are still looking.”
“Thank you. Sometimes he…” Gavesha grabbed her head.
“I think you need to rest,” said Kat.
“Yes, a meditative sleep would be good for me.”
“If you can handle one more question,” said Ryan, “how did you aura-project all those ghostly images of the soldiers?”
“I am not sure what you are talking about. If you will excuse me, I need to sleep, and don’t worry, it may be for a few days.”
“No worries. Sleep tight,” said Ryan, waving at Kat to follow him outside.
>
“I’m happy we found her, but Tucket’s brother is still missing,” said Ryan.
Kat watched some people go by with food. “We’ll find him, but will have to start from scratch, and since the town’s party starts at dusk, I think we should wait until first light to head out.”
“Tomorrow probably would be better, especially since they said tonight would be the worse night for the darkness, whatever they meant by that.”
“You don’t really believe there is any truth to their story about tonight…do you?” asked Kat.
“Since we may have seen a bunch of ghosts last night, I’ll believe anything right now.”
Kat looked at the floor and then at Ryan. “Ghosts…I need a drink.”
Ryan and Kat cleaned up and followed the trail lined with spirit guardians—or in Ryan’s opinion, jack-o’-lanterns—to a central area by a lake on the far side of town. Compared to last night, the dark cloud around the planet appeared darker, blocking out most of the light from the twin moons, forcing the town to use additional spirit guardians and long torches to light the main party area.
As Syl had explained to them, this evening, the townspeople would hold a festival in honor of their loved ones who had passed on, and they were definitely into it. There were drawings and pictures of loved ones placed around the area, along with music, dancing, food, and drinks.
The townspeople were happy that Ryan and Kat decided to join them and handed them endless fermented drinks and delicious smelling foods. Kat was pulled by some young girls to dance with them.
Ryan stood by a large tree that overhung the lake. He watched Kat smile and dance around in circles, and it was the first time on this planet that he felt relaxed. He had no idea if they would ever find Tucket’s brother. There were too many variables. The old city, odd townspeople, ghosts, shadow creatures, and the Uphir guy Vicki was afraid of. It worried him that a vampire feared a name.
Ryan’s thoughts were interrupted when he saw Syl coming over to him. He could tell she was feeling the effects of the fermented drinks.