From behind the trunk of a massive tree, a Serapin sentry guard emerged. Startled, the Serapin froze in his tracks. Without hesitation, Traveler moved forward, pushing Billy and Jason aside. His thick, muscled arms came up—his fingers extended wide, encircling the Serapins neck—all in one fluid motion. The Serapin’s feet left the ground as Traveler slowly lifted the beast’s thousand-pound body into the air. As his grip continued to constrict, the Serapin’s tongue frantically flicked forward, his eyes widened. Without access to his airway, no sound escaped. The eyes lost focus and the tongue fell limp. Traveler continued to hold the beast in his grip for several more moments. He stared into now lifeless eyes, then casually let the Serapin fall to the ground in a heap. The team moved forward without exchanging a word.
They arrived at another large clearing, the size of several large football fields. Numerous small campfires encircled the area, with a larger campfire in the center. Several hundred Craing warriors knelt on the ground. Jason had seen this before. A repeating mantra had begun and droned in the background. Each Craing kept his head lowered, as if in reverence or submission. Just like weeks earlier onboard the Craing battle cruiser, there was a loud cracking noise—one that sounded like snapping twigs or small bones being broken. The sounds echoed into the night.
The Craing suddenly turned in unison and faced in another direction, bowing several times in rapid succession. When the sound came again, in unison they turned forty-five degrees and bowed again. They did this ritual four times—bowing north, south, east, and west. When the strange sounds stopped, the Craing sat up and faced a solitary figure standing on a raised platform several yards ahead in front of the fire.
With a stubby sword at his side and dressed in elaborate leather garments with reflective metal fittings, the figure addressed the crowd. Jason had no idea what he was saying; he hadn’t realized that when he retracted his helmet’s visor, the rest of his team members had followed suit. Not a problem, unless you needed to access any of the HUD readouts. Readouts that would have signaled the approach from behind of thirteen Serapins and the oversized net they carried between them.
When the net was cast high into the air and caught by another team of Serapins, there was no time to phase-shift away or to use their weapons. In mere seconds, Jason and his team were forced to the ground, immobilized.
Jason lay with his face on the ground. Billy, inches away, was still struggling against the netting and then stopped.
“Didn’t see that coming,” Billy said, smiling.
“Can you move? Anything?” Jason asked him, trying to see more of the approaching crowd around them.
“Maybe. My right arm seems to have some movement.”
Jason could see why. Traveler was on that side of Billy’s arm. His bulk raised the netting just enough for Billy’s arm to have some freedom of movement.
“If I could just reach my Ka-Bar,” Billy said as he moved his arm closer to his belt. “Another few inches …”
Struck in the head from behind, Jason never saw if Billy managed to get hold of his knife.
Chapter 20
When he awoke, he was naked. Naked and tied to a pole several feet off the ground. His head throbbed and something was wrong with his side. Looking down, Jason saw the flesh on his right hip had been ripped open. Is that my hip bone? The pain caught up with what he was seeing, and he moaned.
“That looks like it hurts,” came a voice close by. Jason turned his face as far as the leather straps holding his head back against the pole would allow. Billy, too, was strapped naked to a pole. Then, as his vision cleared, Jason noticed two more bodies propped up on poles: first Rizzo, and then Traveler, at the far end, who was secured to three poles. Arms and legs spread wide to smaller cross beams. Jason saw that each could move somewhat.
“Everyone all right?” he asked.
Billy answered first: “Couldn’t be better, Cap.” Then Rizzo, “I’m good, Cap.” Then Traveler, “This is not an honorable way to die.”
“Well, you’re not dead yet,” Jason said, turning his head in the opposite direction but not seeing another pole there. “Any idea where Ricket is?”
“I’m here, Captain.”
Jason heard the mechanical voice coming from below. Ricket, helmetless, seemingly unhurt and still in his battle suit, stood below him looking up. Behind Ricket, in a semi-circle, were at least one hundred Craing warriors, and behind them, just as many Serapins. A murmur of quiet talking filled the air.
“I could use an update about now, Ricket. What the hell’s going on?”
“They are deciding your fate as we speak,” he replied.
“Is there a reason I’m pinned up here on a pole with blood streaming down my leg, while you’re standing down there, perfectly fine?”
“First, they believe I am no threat. Second, they are intrigued by my … mechanical qualities. They’re quite intelligent, Captain.”
“Fine. What are they going to do with us? I don’t suppose you could reason with them?”
“Yes, sir, I’ve been actively doing that. Seems the killing of their sentry guard has complicated matters. Theirs is a clan steeped thousands of years in tradition. We have dishonored them. They fully believe in an eye-for-an-eye form of justice.”
“Perhaps we can give them something they want or need,” Jason said, seeing the same Craing who had spoken earlier making his way through the crowd. Jason then noticed in the distance other Craing beings—a handful of females with their small breasts exposed and small Craing children holding their hands.
“In speaking with their leaders, I found they need for little,” Ricket said. “I had noticed very few females lived among the tribe. When I mentioned this and that we had the medical capability to assist them with that imbalance, I detected elevated heart rates, although they showed no outward signs of interest. That same condition is borne by both Craing and Serapin.”
The Craing leader had joined Ricket at his side and was looking up at Jason.
“Can you translate for us, Ricket?” Jason asked.
“I will do my best. I’m learning this dialect as I go, sir.” Ricket turned to the Craing and spoke in a strange, highly-guttural language. The Craing listened and then slowly nodded his consent. They both looked up at Jason.
“I’m sorry for the death of your …” Jason paused: What the hell should I call him? “The death of your fellow …”
“No offense, but you’re kinda fucking this up, Cap,” Billy intoned with a wry smile.
Jason ignored him. “I’m sorry we killed your sentry. There is no excuse. We acted impulsively when he discovered our whereabouts. We are simple travelers and only wish to move on,” Jason explained.
The Craing spoke for an extended period of time, first looking at Ricket, and then up at Jason. Similarly to how humans speak, he used his hands in gestures and to emphasize his points. Jason and the Craing looked to Ricket for the translation.
“His name is Wik-ma—at least, that's the English phonetic equivalent. He says he is inclined to just kill the lot of us, me included. They are especially excited about the amount of meat that would be available from Traveler. He mentioned another tribe, the ones we saw on chariots earlier. They are currently not completely at war. He phrased it as a brief lull. That tribe has far more Serapins. From what I understand, Serapin are the lifeblood of a tribe. For many years now, the other tribe has possessed the singular female Serapin, the queen. Many times this tribe has attempted to abscond with her. All attempts have failed. The other tribe is too strong. He said if we could bring the queen here to his tribe, that it would go a long way towards getting us our freedom.”
“Like kidnap her? That’s ridiculous. He’ll just have to do that himself,” Jason said, while maintaining as much of an impassive expression as possible.
“I advise you to reconsider, Captain. He is quite serious about killing us. He fears the other tribe. Overtly breaking the peace treaty would be catastrophic.”
Jason’s mind w
ent to Mollie and Nan and the pirates. Time was running out. “Well, how does he see this working? We certainly can’t do anything tied to these poles,” Jason said, looking at the Craing leader.
“They’ll release three of you. But Traveler stays.”
Jason noticed the Craing leader and Ricket were looking at his private parts. What the hell are they looking at? No … not at his private parts … his injured hip. Over the last few minutes, the nanites had worked overtime; the wound had completely healed. Wik-ma turned and walked into the crowd, which parted, leaving a wide opening. At fifty yards out, the Craing leader turned back around and faced them.
Jason looked over at Traveler. “You going to be okay up there a while longer, Traveler?”
“Yes, I am fine,” he replied stoically.
“Listen, we’ll be rescued. Zebra team is no more than a half-day out, can you hang in there that long?”
"That will not be a problem, Captain,"
Thump thump. Two arrows, one in each upper thigh, pierced Traveler's thick grey hide. Blood spurted and flowed freely down his legs. He made no sound. He continued to look straight ahead, no indication of what must be excruciating pain. Jason turned to see that Wik-ma was now holding a long wooden bow and had knocked another arrow at the ready.
"Ricket, tell that son a bitch that if Traveler dies, or is further mistreated, all bets are off. He can just kill us all right now."
Ricket conveyed Jason's words to the approaching Craing leader. "Wik-ma says that no additional harm will come to the prisoner, but we need to make extra haste, for without attention he'll surly bleed to death within several hours." Jason realized that waiting for a Zebra team rescue was no longer an option.
* * *
Rizzo, Billy and Jason had their eyes on the proud rhino warrior secured to the three poles. "Ricket, keep an eye on him. The way they’re licking their chops around here, I’m not so sure he'll be alive until our return. Try to get him released from that pole, if you can. And one more thing: Look around for the portal. It has to be close by.”
“I’ll do my best, sir,” Ricket replied.
Jason's team was not allowed to go anywhere near their battle suits or weapons. Using an assortment of leather-like garments, similar to short skirts and strapped sandals, the three SEALs quickly made preparations to head out.
"We look ridiculous like this," Billy said. "Rizzo, so help me God, you mention this to anyone—"
"Why would I want anyone knowing we're wearing dresses?" Rizzo countered, looking equally humiliated.
"Knock it off, you two, we have bigger issues at hand," Jason said.
Earlier, Wik-ma, who seemed to be tribe leader for both Craing and Serapins, had made a crude map in the dirt with the tip of an arrow. He provided the location of the black-caped tribe in respect to their current location. After an extended debate between Ricket and the tribe leader, Jason’s team had been allowed to carry three of the tribe’s stubby swords. As Jason studied the lines in the dirt, he estimated the distance to be no more than eight miles, but he was only guessing.
Jason brought his attention back to Rizzo and Billy. "I don't like this—it's wrong at so many levels. But our priorities have to be saving Traveler, getting back to The Lilly, and ultimately defending Earth. So we'll grab their Serapin queen and get right back here, understood?” Billy and Rizzo nodded. “I've been in contact with Morgan via NanoCom. Seems they're making good progress crossing the plains. I’ve instructed them to avoid being captured—watch their backs as they approach the encampment.”
* * *
The three-man team moved quickly through the forest, following the same path out through the trees as they had taken in earlier. Once out on the open plains, they headed in the opposite direction they had come. The terrain was fairly flat and visibility wasn't a problem due to the multiple nearby planets high in the night sky. There were several landmarks they needed to watch for along the way—a large rock shaped like the letter "T", a snake-like river or brook, and an area where nothing grew. What Wik-ma described as scorched earth—whatever that meant. Supposedly, the enemy tribe would be close, within a few hundred yards back into the tree line.
Billy had taken point, Rizzo followed, and Jason brought up the rear. They were running fast, their pace consistent. Each one had been through the same SEAL training. They were in the ‘zone.’ They’d learned to move past exhaustion, past the pain.
Chapter 21
In the distance, the top of a large rock formation came into view. Only when they were even with it, at the crest of a small hill, did they recognize that the rocks were situated in a large "T" formation. Jason, relieved they were still headed in the right direction, focused on his teammates. Streams of sweat poured down the backs of both Rizzo and Billy. Without hydration, sooner rather than later, they would be hitting a wall. Something big moved. What had appeared to be large rocks or clusters of rocks, Jason realized, were actually massive animals. Heads down and grazing, they looked similar to bison, but larger. These animals had thick, fluffy, white sheep fur. Clearing the next hilltop, they discovered hundreds more of them—a massive herd grazing as far as the eye could see.
"What the hell," Billy said, dodging one of the animals. "Won't be able keep this pace up now, Cap."
Jason pointed. "Over there, to the right. Looks like a small river."
They altered direction, dodging several more of the large animals and bringing their run down to a slow jog. They walked the last few yards. Jason lowered to his knees and inspected the water. The last thing they needed was to get the trots from drinking contaminated water. It was more of a brook than a river. No more than six feet wide, but fairly deep. Lots of rocks and pebbles, and up the hillside there looked to be several small waterfalls.
“You going to stare at it all night, Cap, or you going to take a drink?” Billy asked Jason. He hadn’t hesitated before bringing his own cupped-hands up to his mouth to drink the water. Rizzo did the same … then smiled with relief.
“Nothing has ever tasted so fine, Cap,” Rizzo said smiling. “You forgot about your nanites, Captain?” Rizzo asked. “I think you’re safe.”
“Hadn’t thought of that—thanks.” Jason, too, began to drink.
Two minutes later they were jogging, then running again.
“So what are we looking for now?” Billy asked.
“Scorched earth, or a place where things won’t grow,” Rizzo answered.
They found it fifteen minutes later. The plains had flattened out and the grazing animals were nowhere to be seen. The grass-covered plains were gone, replaced by a near-perfect circle the size of a city block. The earth here was blackened and charred. They stopped running. Bent over, with hands on their knees, the three gasped to catch their breath. Jason knelt down and felt the charred soil with his fingertips.
“There’s nothing natural about this. Looks to me like something from a ship’s thrusters,” Jason said. He stood up and turned toward the tree line. “There’s a wide break in the trees. I think that’s where we’re supposed to go.”
Jason ran off in that direction. A moment later, Billy and Rizzo followed close on his heels. Several hundred yards into the forest, just as the Serapin leader had described, they found the other encampment. It had nearly the identical layout. A large stadium made from hewn and stacked logs stood to the right of the path. Several hundred of the two-man chariots were parked along the side of the structure. They reached the Serapin stables. Silently, they moved to the side of the first thatch-roofed structure.
“So, how do you tell a female Serapin from a male, anyway?” Billy asked in a whisper.
“Ricket told me the females have utters or teats down here, low on their bellies,” Rizzo whispered back, pointing to his own belly.
“So, how do we know where to find them?” Billy asked.
“The Serapin Queen will be kept isolated, in separate quarters, somewhere around here,” Jason replied.
Moving as quietly as possible and keep
ing low, the three SEALs scurried from one structure to the next. Similar to the stable area of the other encampment, these structures were also open at the front; multiple Serapin, curled up into tight balls upon hay-strewn floors, were seen sleeping.
After the twelfth structure, Billy whispered into Jason ear, "Cap, I don't see anything that looks like the Queen. These are all males."
"Let's skip over to the other side of that path." Jason gestured to another grouping of thatched structures in the distance. Jason led the way. Snap! Rizzo had stepped on a tree branch. Still out in the open with no place to hide, the three stopped in their tracks, motionless. Once they felt it was safe, they headed toward two small, and one slightly larger, structures. They split up, with Jason heading for the bigger structure. It was quickly apparent that Jason had hit pay dirt. He signaled for Billy and Rizzo to join him. Once at his side, Billy and Rizzo took turns peering around the corner into the corral's interior.
Rizzo made a face and mouthed the words, "Look at the size of that thing!"
Jason removed one of two things they had been allowed to bring along. At over six feet long, the belt had needed to be wrapped twice around Jason's waist. Ricket had convinced the Craing leader that without Traveler's belt and associated wristband, there was no chance of success. Jason flipped open the display he had secured to his own wrist. The return phase-shift coordinates had been entered at the other Craing encampment. Theoretically, all he had to do was position the belt around the Serapin Queen, confirm the coordinates, and, within twenty seconds, press the activate button. But several factors had complicated things. First was the sheer size of the animal. Easily two thousand pounds, she was a mass of flab and flopping teats. There was simply no way Traveler's belt would fit around that Serapin. Second, and of equal concern, the Queen had four baby Serapins suckling at her four teats. They took several steps backwards, away from the corral's opening.
HAB 12 (Scrapyard Ship) Page 13