Dys: 05 Hrs: 13 Mins: 12
The next obstacle was a rocky gorge over a mile wide. Jason studied the terrain ahead and searched for an easier way to cross it, but it zigzagged from one horizon to the other—casting a brutal scar across the landscape. What made this gorge more of a concern, above and beyond its sharp rocks and deep canyons, was the constant expulsion of steam from below that was rising up in the air. Whatever lay at the bottom of the gorge was more than a little hot. But staring at it all day wasn’t going to get anything accomplished. The actions he and his team took over the next 48 hours could very well determine the fate of mankind.
Jason joined the assault team where they had converged in the clearing. Everyone was back in battle gear with helmets on. Orion was giving an impromptu demonstration of the multi-gun weapons system. Jason listened and followed along with her instructions on how to access menu selections quickly, as well as how to set default favorites ahead of time.
When Orion completed her overview and answered everyone’s questions, she looked over to Jason.
“It’s time we head out,” Jason said. “Pair off and stay alert.” Dira and Morgan were paired off again. Morgan had removed his helmet and Dira and Billy were looking at something on his neck.
“What’s the problem over there, Lieutenant?” Jason inquired, moving closer and taking in Morgan’s exposed shoulder and lower neck area.
Dira said, “Morgan has some kind of parasite growth.” Now seeing his bared skin up close, what surprised Jason—beyond the fact that the growth seemed large, easily an inch thick and irregular in shape—was that it showed signs of movement under Morgan’s skin. “Can’t really remove it at this time—dangerously close to his carotid artery. I’ve taken a sample and it’s being analyzed.”
Billy asked, “Does it hurt? I mean can you feel it wiggling around like that?”
“Yes, I can feel it wiggling around—it’s doing fucking cartwheels on my neck!” Morgan spat back, frowning at Billy.
“Where could he have picked up something like that?” Jason asked Dira.
She shrugged and then opened her eyes wider. “I imagine the pool.”
“Okay, everyone, take a few minutes and check yourselves,” Jason said, wasting no time in activating the release mechanism to his own battle suit. The others did the same. As it turned out, no one else seemed to have picked up a parasite. Morgan was uncomfortable, but it hadn’t adversely affected him otherwise, at least not yet. Once all were suited up again, Jason ordered the team to phase-shift back down to ground level, and they quickly complied.
They marched in pairs in the direction of the gorge expanse ahead. Jason’s HUD showed the outside temperature was rising steadily. Each battle suit was equipped with an internal climate control, but Jason wasn’t sure what extremes it was capable of handling. He opened a direct NanoCom channel to Ricket, who walked by his side.
“Ricket, what can you tell me about our suits ability to withstand heat?”
“The materials themselves are nearly impervious to extreme heat. How the suit will compensate and maintain survivable levels, I’m not sure. I’m reading extremely high temperatures below ground.”
They’d reached the gorge. The terrain was even more perilous than Jason had thought. Thousands of jagged spires pointed toward the sky. In between were crevasses and deep canyons. In some spots, he couldn’t even see bottom.
“Looks like some of this terrain will be impossible to traverse on foot. For those areas, we’ll phase-shift to suitable flat areas. Like stepping stones. Who wants to go first, show us how it’s done?”
Jason was not surprised when Orion moved to the edge with her hand raised. “Let me give it a try, Cap,” she said. She took a step back and assessed the gorge, eyeing places where she’d phase-shift to and the areas where she would climb or walk. Then she was gone. Twenty yards into the gorge, Orion was already walking across a rocky plateau before disappearing from sight.
“Who’s next?” Jason asked. “Follow where Orion is going. Watch where she’s phase-shifting to and where she’s walking and climbing.”
“I’ll take Morgan across,” Dira said. They both walked to the edge and disappeared. One by one, everyone did the same. Jason and Ricket brought up the rear.
Jason hailed Orion.
“Go for Gunny, Cap.”
“Where are you, Orion?” Jason asked.
“Three quarters the way across. Moving a little slower now—terrain is worse here. I’ve used all but one of my five phase-shifts. I was going to hold here for a while and recharge.”
“Good idea. The rest of us will get close and hold for a recharge as well—good work Gunny,” Jason said. Now, looking across the gorge, he saw his assault team—some in pairs and some a distance apart from each other—but all were slowly making their way to the other side. The six remaining rhino warriors seemed to be having a difficult time finding adequate locations to shift to, capable of holding their substantial girth.
Four hails came in at once. “Go ahead, Rizzo,” the first one to make contact.
“Captain, something’s happening below. It’s heating up and there’s lots more steam. My HUD readout says it’s close to three hundred degrees.” Jason received virtually the same information from the other three hails. Jason and Ricket were now halfway across the gorge. Most of the others were almost even with Orion, three quarters the way across.
“Captain,” Ricket said, “It’s now clearer to see that we are traversing a volcanic river of lava, and apparently it has tides. The lava is steadily rising and at its current rate we will be vaporized within seventeen minutes.”
Jason did the calculations in his head. No one had more than one phase-shift left and none was close to either side of the gorge.
“Get moving everyone; do whatever you can to get to the far side. Move it!”
One sure thing about a life and death situation was getting that boost of adrenalin coursing through your veins. The capacity for almost superhuman feats kicked in. Everyone was moving quickly now. One glance downward and it became apparent the lava was rising—fast. Beneath billowing clouds of white steam, glowing red lava flowed mere yards below their feet. Heat rose in waves, distorting visibility. Jason hopped from the ledge of one rocky spire to the next and helped Ricket along the way.
Fifty feet ahead, but at an elevation lower than Jason and Ricket’s, a rhino warrior was frantically looking around. He was trying to find a way to move higher. Without full battle suit gear, his leather-thong sandals had begun to melt. Then one caught fire. Jason opened his visor and yelled directly across the divide: “Phase-shift back to us—you can make it!” He pointed to an open area close by. The rhino-beast turned in their direction and immediately started to input coordinates onto his wristband. Come on, come on, hurry up! He was taking too long, looking up and then back at his wrist several times. Just as it seemed he might have figured it out, the red glow of lava appeared all around him. He screamed in agony as molten rock flowed over the tops of his large feet. As if melting, the rhino-beast’s legs merged with the fiery molten river. He toppled over, hands outstretched to break his fall, only for them to disappear into the lava as well. The echoes of the rhino warrior’s screams lingered as his entire body caught fire, disappearing into the molten lava. In seconds, the rest of the assault team would face the same fate. There simply was nowhere to run, no place to hide. Jason picked Ricket up and placed him on his shoulders. In the distance, he looked for Dira. Had she already succumbed to what their fate might inevitably be?
A cloud passed overhead. Both Jason and Ricket looked up. Not a cloud. Two boxy mail truck-looking crafts were lumbering along in the direction of quadrant 2, a mere thirty feet overhead. Calculating the flat space on top of each vehicle to be about fifteen feet by twenty, Jason was encouraged. He opened a channel to the group.
“Look up! We’re going to phase-shift to the roof of those feeding drones. One at a time. Jump to the middle—once you’re up there, get over t
o the sides. We don’t want to phase-shift right on top of each other. Let’s start with you first, Orion,” Jason commanded.
One by one, starting with Orion, they phase-shifted onto the top of the drones. With the weight of each additional person, the drones lost a little altitude. Jason noticed that the rhino warriors were not phase-shifting as their turns came around. Jason and Ricket were the last to make their phase-shifts. Weighted down, both feeding drones barely skimmed above the tops of the rocky spires. Once above solid ground, everyone jumped from the drone rooftops. Within seconds, the drones rose back up and slowly continued on with their deliveries. At the edge of the gorge, Jason and the others looked back to the remaining rhino warriors. Two separate screams of agony were immediately followed by two more bright bursts of fire. Only three rhino- beasts, those fortunate to be on higher spires or plateaus, remained.
Chapter 15
The Lilly was back at the freighter's starboard side. Lieutenant Dak had assembled the few remaining SEALs still onboard, as well as the med tech, Allen. Perkins watched the display with the various segmented helmet cam POVs. The team had used the shuttle to ferry over to the freighter and was currently in the process of clearing their airlock. Something about this situation made Perkins uncomfortable. Why only three survivors? Sure, there was damage, but nothing so catastrophic to the point that so many hands would have been lost. And why hadn't the pirates taken the ship, or destroyed her? By the time Perkins had connected the dots—dots that led to one singular conclusion, it was too late. It was a trap.
"Signal general quarters," the XO yelled.
* * *
At the sound of the klaxon, the solemn seaman was ready. His instructions had been clear. Trigger the three devices simultaneously. Only two remained, but that would be more than enough for their purposes. The only deviation he would make was to ensure that he would be there to greet them. With The Lilly AI now completely at his control, and with the impending breech, he was aware of something unfamiliar: A feeling of confidence. He walked with his head up, taller. A feeling of importance engulfed him. He reached into a small pouch at his side, found the square object, and let his thumb roll over the smooth protruding button. Not yet.
He picked up his pace, entered the DeckPort, and emerged on Level One. His two devices were well hidden and he was sure hadn’t been discovered. How that annoying little girl had found the one on Deck 5 was still a mystery. The AI had been reprogrammed—there was no way she could have told that little brat the location. I’ll figure it out. He brought his hand up and let it gently slide across the bulkhead as he walked. His bulkhead. His ship. The arrangement would have to be changed. There was no way they were going to hand this ship over to the Craing. Who was doing all the heavy lifting here? Their new high priests were nothing but conniving little shits. No, his brother had promised he wouldn’t let that happen. He’d already killed the three Craing dissenters for them. Whatever the Craing were paying for this ship, it wasn’t enough. Maybe he’d rename her. What kind of name is The Lilly, anyway? Too girly. No, he’d change it to something appropriate. Like The Guardian. Yeah, I like the sound of that.
Two crewmembers were running down the corridor toward him; they both looked at him. “What are you doing? Where you going, Bristol? Get back to Engineering—don’t you hear that fucking alarm?”
Bristol continued down the corridor. The first of his devices was secured to the bulkhead behind a protruding ventilation duct. Bristol stopped in front of the duct and reached a hand above his head to the narrow open space behind it. There you are. He brought his hand down and looked thirty yards further down the corridor. There, up above, behind a similar duct, was the other device. They have no idea of its complexity. Simply elegant. Sure, Ricket did the lion’s share, building those crazy phase-shift belts. But who came up with this implementation? And the best part was that the ship, his ship, would not be damaged. Bristol continued on down the corridor until he was midway between both devices. He brought out the small transmitter and fingered the smooth button again. If everything went as planned, both devices would activate at the same moment. Two ten-yard radius sections of the ship would disappear for one hundred and twenty seconds—briefly phase-shifting to a parallel layer in the multiverse somewhere. The Lilly would never be completely exposed to open space. They’d thought of that. The pirates would have more than enough time to bring their vessel alongside and then access the ship. Then those same sections would return. No harm done. Bristol was ready. It was time. He pressed the button.
Chapter 16
It took another two hours for the remaining rhino warriors to rejoin the group. Jason was happy to see Traveler was among the living. Tired as they all were, Jason wanted to continue on—at least until they made their way out of quadrant 2 and into quadrant 3. Dira was finishing up tending to the scalded feet of one of the rhino-beasts.
Morgan sat off by himself on a rock. He was having trouble securing the top of his battle suit over the now substantially larger growth on his neck.
“Come to gawk at the freak?” Morgan asked him without looking up.
“What did the test results say?” Jason responded.
“They came back inconclusive. Dira said something about her portable diagnostic device having limited capabilities.”
“Let me see it,” Jason said, gesturing towards Morgan’s neck. Reluctantly, Morgan pulled the field dressing away enough so Jason could peer beneath it. “Has anyone looked at this in the last hour or so?” Jason asked, trying to keep his face as expressionless as possible.
“No. I think Dira is heading over here next. Why? What’s wrong? What’s it doing now?” he asked, craning his head to do the impossible: see the back of his own neck.
“Stay calm. I was just wondering if—maybe it had grown—you know, a tad more.”
“Grown a tad? Holy mother of God, what the hell does that mean?”
Dira arrived and wedged herself in between Morgan and Jason. Seeing Morgan’s state of anxiety, she furrowed her brow at Jason as if to say What did you say to him?
She untaped the dressing and exposed the parasitic growth. Both Dira and Jason had to fight the urge to jump back. It was moving beneath the skin. Something dark—a complex shape. “I don’t get it” Dira said to herself. “His nanites should have extracted this abnormality from his body. That’s one of the things they do, remove foreign matter from the body.”
“Well? What is it? What are you looking at?” Morgan asked, closely watching Dira’s expression. “Did it grow a little?”
“You could say that,” Billy said, leaning in from above.
“Just back away, Billy,” Dira said, holding her hands out and gesturing for him to give more space. Ricket was now inspecting Morgan’s neck as well and started to poke at it with his finger. It moved.
“I can feel it moving. I can feel it moving all around there,” Morgan said nervously.
“And you say it’s grown over the last few hours?” Ricket asked, looking up at Dira.
“As much as two hundred percent. That’s in the last hour alone,” she replied. “Truth is, I think his nanites are leaving it alone because they don’t consider it a foreign body. From the few tests I’ve taken, the only DNA I’m seeing is Morgan’s. Not really sure how that’s possible.”
“It needs to come out,” Ricket said.
“I don’t have the proper instruments here to conduct that sort of surgery,” Dira replied with incredulity.
“I will do this myself. Please sterilize and provide an anesthetic to the localized area. I’ll prepare myself.” Ricket turned and hurried off toward his backpack.
Morgan looked up at Jason. “Shouldn’t the doc … Dira, be doing this, Captain? I mean,
is that robot equipped to be digging around in my neck?” Morgan asked, watching Ricket in the distance.
Jason was no fan of Morgan, but he certainly wouldn’t wish this parasitic growth on him or anyone. “Don’t underestimate Ricket. He brought my daughter b
ack to life, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, only after shooting her in the first place,” Morgan replied shrugging his shoulders, which only seemed to agitate the parasite. The dark mass beneath his skin scurried from his lower neck to the middle of his shoulder and then back up again.
Dira had her medical pack open and had retrieved a small device. Being careful not to inject into the mass itself with the anesthetic, she began numbing the area around his neck and shoulder.
“Okay, let that take effect for a while. Just sit tight, Lieutenant, while Ricket gets prepared.”
Morgan nodded, but said nothing. Dira stood and gestured for Jason to follow her a few steps away. “I didn’t want to alarm Morgan, but his condition is worrisome.”
“Seems so,” Jason said. “But we’re going to cut that thing out of him and he’ll be done with it, right?”
“It’s not that simple, Captain. According to the scans, that organism not only shares his blood stream, but his nervous system as well. What’s interesting is I didn’t pick up any foreign DNA indicators.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that thing is more of a growth than an actual parasite. Still—something, perhaps an organism back in that pool, infected him. I don’t know. As of right now, with the amount of nerve clusters tied directly to Morgan’s brain stem, I don’t see how Ricket will be able to do anything without killing both him and that thing. I just wanted to mention that—if it were up to me—I’d let it stay along for the ride, so to speak. At least till we get back to Medical on The Lilly.”
“Noted,” Jason said. “Let’s just see what Ricket comes up with. Here he comes now.”
Ricket was back at Morgan’s side and poking at his neck again. “Umm, this is better. The effects of the narcotic has also effected the organism. It seems to be sleeping,” Ricket said.
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