The Soldier: Escape Vector

by Vaughn Heppner

  Cade fully released the Rhune’s reddened throat, giving the man a significant glance as he did. “I’m taking the sky-raft,” he told Regor. “Do you agree I won it fairly in battle?”

  “I surely do,” Regor said. “I’m not sure Captain Velia will agree.”

  “Velia?” Cade said. “Can you hear me?”

  She turned a pale, sweaty face toward him. Maybe she could hear and understand.

  “It’s your choice,” Cade said. “You can remain as captain of the Day Star, or you can come with me and help with the sky-raft.”

  “Why would she go with you?” Regor asked.

  “I’m giving her the choice,” Cade said. “You might not have noticed, but Velia crossed the plank and boarded the sky-raft while the rest of you stood like sheep for slaughter.”

  “She did?” asked Regor.

  Velia moistened her lips, perhaps to attempt speech and an explanation to Regor and the airmen behind him.

  “I think she went to plead for your lives,” Cade told Regor. “I think she was offering her life for yours.”

  Regor stared at Velia with astonishment.

  The Rhune stirred, perhaps also wishing to speak.

  “Say a word,” Cade told the Rhune, “and I’ll kill you.”

  “Why do ye silence him?” Regor asked.

  “So he can’t cast spells upon us,” Cade said.

  Regor swore with understanding. Then he said, “Let me kill him. I’ll do it with a bullet to the brain.”

  The Rhune stiffened.

  “No,” Cade said sharply. “I can use him better alive.”

  The Rhune eyed Cade.

  “I want you alive,” the soldier told the Rhune in a heavy voice.

  “Are you going to torture him?” Regor asked.

  “If he doesn’t do exactly what I say,” Cade answered. “Look, Captain Regor, we can’t stay here like this for long. The Day Star is drifting. The sky-raft…I don’t know how it’s doing what it is.”

  Captain Regor. In reality, he was the first mate. Cade had said what he had on purpose, as the soldier wanted to stir Regor’s ambition. What airman wouldn’t want to be captain?

  Regor took his time kneeling beside Velia. He must be stiff or had bad knees. Regor put a scarred hand on her right shoulder. “What are yer wishes, Velia?”

  Cade noted that Regor hadn’t called her captain, even though the first mate usually did.

  “Stay…here…” Velia whispered. “Rhune medicines…” she added.

  Regor didn’t argue but worked his way upright. “Do any of you wish to stay with Marcus Cade?”

  No airman raised a hand or said he would.

  Regor faced him. “Are ye willing to take the sky-raft alone with Velia and this damned wizard?”

  “I am,” Cade said.

  “Ye wish to rescue your friend?”

  “Yes,” the soldier said.

  Regor shook his long face. “If anyone can, by Cletus, it be you. I never seen anyone move the way you do.”

  Cade inclined his head, accepting the compliment.

  “Yer right,” Regor said. “It’s time to part. I wish ye luck, Spaceman.”

  “I wish you luck, Airman.”

  The two men shook hands. Then Regor summoned his crew and they began crossing back onto the Day Star over the wide plank.

  As the others filed off the raft, Cade aimed the blaster at the Rhune. “Help her into the cabin. If I feel you trying to influence my emotions, I’ll kill you. Is that clear?”

  The Rhune nodded.

  “No,” Cade said coldly. “Tell me you understand.”

  “I understand,” the Rhune whispered.

  The Rhune stood, and he put his hands under her armpits, beginning to drag Velia into the cabin.

  She moaned in pain.

  “Stop,” Cade said. “Carry her.”

  The Rhune shook his head. “I’m not physically strong enough to do that.”

  Cade scoffed. “What cyborg ever lacked physical strength?”

  The Rhune cocked his head. “You believe I’m a cyborg? I’m surprised. How did you conclude that with such slender evidence?”

  The question struck Cade. He thought about it—he squinted at the Rhune. The dark eyes shifted back to him. Did Cade see something odd reflected in the eyes or was it something else?

  The soldier spun around in time to see a fantastic, possibly supernatural, sight. The main Rhune, the one he’d shot mid-torso earlier with a flintlock pistol, rose from the deck where he’d been lying. There was bright red blood on his robe, but the parchment-skull face showed serenity. The Rhune stood, raised his hands and began to levitate off the deck. He simply rose upward. There was a soft whine—

  With shock, Cade realized it came from the Rhune’s feet.

  From the Day Star, airmen shouted in horror and superstitious dread as the Rhune gained height.

  Cade brought up the blaster, sighting on the levitating black-robed man and fired. As he fired, the Rhune in the cabin crashed against him, jostling his arm. The line of energy sizzled past the levitating Rhune, missing.

  Cade smashed an elbow back against the Rhune’s face. There was a crack, a groan, and the Rhune thudded onto the cabin floor. Cade glanced at him, to make sure he was out—the Rhune was—and he focused on the levitator.

  That one had risen fifty meters off the sky-raft and to the left. That one pumped his right fist once, twice—on the third pump, a blazing fireball erupted, sizzling at the airship.

  Cade watched in disbelief. The fireball struck the gasbag, and that area exploded into fire, growing with more hydrogen and eating into more gasbags.

  Cade raced to the wide plank joining the gondola and sky-raft. He thrust the blaster into his belt as he ran. Upon reaching the plank, he tore it off, lifting bracing hooks from raft slots.

  The growing heat from the burning gasbags scorched his flesh.

  With an oath, Cade freed the plank, backing away, blocking his face from the intense heat with his arms.

  The freed airship—gondola and burning gasbags—moved faster away from the sky-raft since they were no longer locked together. The rushing free and burning hydrogen propelled the airship away from the stable sky-raft.

  Airmen screamed from the gondola.

  One had leapt at just the right time, sailed across the gap and was clinging to the edge of the sky-raft. Braving the heat, Cade staggered to the man and dragged him onto the raft.

  A new sizzling fireball from the airborne Rhune barely missed the two of them.

  Cade spun around and looked up.

  The levitating Rhune was one hundred meters higher, still climbing and attempting to target them with his magic.

  Bringing up the blaster, feeling surreal, Cade tracked the bastard and fired. The line of energy missed. He shot again, and this time hit the Rhune squarely.

  There was a shout of pain, a flash—the Rhune plummeted, gaining speed as he dropped. He struck the edge of the raft, bounced and tumbled toward the ocean.

  Cade rushed to that edge and peered over, seeing the Rhune strike the waters. The man, Rhune, cyborg, did not move, did not struggle. He began to sink, dead.

  Cade straightened, and with a leaden step watched the end of the Day Star. Men had leapt and still leapt for the ocean, but the blazing airship followed. There were screams, the blaze of fire and intense suffering in the water.

  The soldier glanced at the airman panting on the sky-raft deck. He remembered the unconscious Rhune in the cabin and the badly injured Velia. It was time to see if he could control this craft and see if he could save any surviving airmen in the ocean.

  Chapter Nineteen

  In the control cabin, Velia wept softly, and nothing Cade said or did could console her. He would have examined her burn more closely, but if he acted quickly enough, he might be able to save some of the airmen who would otherwise drown. He went to a central control panel, but it wasn’t immediately obvious which toggle produced what event. Because he didn�
��t want to dump them in the ocean, he went to the unconscious Rhune.

  Cade stared at the thin man, the possible cyborg. Hadn’t the man admitted to being a cyborg? Yet, if that was true, how could he lack the strength to carry Velia? From everything that Cade had seen during The War, cyborgs had greater strength than any Ultra or man he’d ever known. However, cyborgs did not fly, at least, not without jetpacks or bulky antigravity units.

  Cade hoisted the unconscious Rhune so he was upright and slapped his face until the eyelids fluttered. Cade then dragged the Rhune to the controls.

  “What do you want from me?” the Rhune whispered.

  “Teach me how to fly the raft.”

  “Why? You’ll kill me afterward.”

  “Not unless you give me a reason.”

  “You don’t need a reason. You think we’re cyborgs, and you obviously hate them.”

  Cade gripped the back of the Rhune’s neck and squeezed until the man whimpered. “Listen to me,” he whispered in the Rhune’s left ear. “I can make your existence miserable unless you obey me.”

  “No you can’t,” the Rhune whispered. “I can cease existence with a thought. Meaning, I will not permit you to torment me.”

  Cade laughed harshly and then cried out, springing away from the Rhune. A zap or shock had just emanated from the creature.

  “Pathetic man,” the Rhune whispered, turning, with his eyes alight. “You don’t understand—”

  Cade hit him in the mouth with too much force. The Rhune catapulted over the controls to land in a ragged heap on the floor on the other side. Cade came around the controls, and he saw the eyes as if they burned with inner fire. The soldier sensed that he was seconds from death and kicked the Rhune in the face as hard as he could. There was a crack, neck bones perhaps or some of the facial bones. The fire in eyes ceased as the man groaned. There was another loud zap, and the black robes burst into fire.

  Shouting in alarm, Cade jumped back and looked around. He spied an extinguisher hanging from a wall, tore it off and sprayed foam upon the burning man until the fire guttered out.

  Standing back, studying the creature, Cade moved forward and toed him with a boot. There was nothing. The Rhune was dead.

  Cade spun around, hurrying to the outer raft. He peered over the edge at the waters eighty or so meters below. There was splashing. Some of the airmen still survived. A few waved to him, perhaps shouting for help.

  Cade heard stealthy footfalls from behind and turned to see the airman he’d saved. Was that a cunning look upon the man’s face, the hands held up to give him a push from behind? Cade wasn’t sure. Maybe the Rhunes were making him paranoid.

  The airman lowered his hands, smiling insincerely and saying, “We must save them.”

  Cade didn’t want to kill or distrust the airman. There had been too much death the last few minutes.

  “Can you fly the raft?”

  “Me?” the man asked.

  “What’s your name?”

  The man hesitated before saying, “Felix.”

  “Just Felix?”

  The airman nodded.

  This was getting more suspicious by the second. “You had great presence of mind to leap for the raft. I’m impressed.”

  Felix’s shoulders hunched. “I’ve been in an airship battle before. It was ghastly, with exploding gasbags and burning men. I’ve feared a fiery death ever since and would do anything to avoid it.”

  It was on Cade’s tongue to say Felix should have quit serving on airships if he felt that way. Then he realized this was something Dorian Blue might have said. Was there a connection between Felix and Dorian, other than the obvious one that they’d both served on the Day Star?

  “Surely, you can fly the sky-raft,” Felix said. “You’re a spaceman, and you’ve achieved marvels today.”

  Cade shook his head. “I can’t levitate or cause energy to sprout from my fists.” He should question the man further. First, he wanted to save those below. “Search the vessel. See if you can find any long rope. That could help us pick a few men up if we learn how to lower this thing.”

  Felix nodded, turning, looking.

  Cade returned to the control cabin. It stank of burnt flesh, a nauseating stench he hated. He steeled himself and dragged the dead Rhune onto the outer deck, leaving him there. Felix was walking around, still searching for rope. On impulse, Cade checked the corpse, looking for anything useful. It proved useless, as the man had been wearing nothing but his black robe.

  Once more returning to the cabin, the soldier studied the control panel. Maybe he should experiment. Waiting—doing nothing, in other words—as the Day Star crew drowned grated on him.

  His big hand hovered over the board. The toggle to the left looked promising. With a click, he moved it.

  There was a horrible whine from outside. The sky-raft shook and suddenly shot up, causing Cade to grab the panel to steady himself.

  From outside, Felix shouted, and his continuing cry dwindled as if he’d fallen off the raft.

  Gritting his teeth, controlling the impulse to tap madly, Cade flicked the toggle he’d just moved, switching it the other way.

  The sky-raft began sliding sideways as it continued to climb.

  Cursing, Cade tried several different toggles.

  Abruptly, the raft ceased climbing and stopped sliding sideways, although it vibrated as if ready to shoot off in another direction.

  Cade waited. The vibration slowly stopped as the sky-raft steadied. He ran outside, searching. There was no sign of Felix. Had he killed the man? Had it been an unconscious act to rid himself of a likely troublemaker? Cade went to an edge and peered around. There was no sign of Felix. Far in the distance, he spied the speck of the guttered, smoky Day Star.

  This was bad. At this point, he needed to save lives, not take them. Could Velia fly the raft? He hurried to her and asked, but she was delirious, mumbling nonsense answers.

  What was the correct choice? Walking outside, looking around—

  The Rhune corpse was gone. It was too late to secure the body. Cade went inside and carried Velia to a chair, strapping her in. She moaned in agony, but at least she wouldn’t flop around or sail against edges and kill herself if he made more mistakes.

  Cade stood before the controls, remembering what he’d done moments ago and began to experiment once again. The raft sank at speed toward the ocean. The raft stopped dropping but spun in circles. The raft leaned hard to one side and then the other. But by dint of experimentation and logic, Cade began to perceive how to fly the sky-raft. The vessel used a type of gravity dampener. Where the motive power to go right or left in the various directions came from, he had no idea. Invisible rays must propel the craft.

  By the time Cade learned how to fly the sky-raft, he’d lost all sight of the crashed Day Star. The guilt of that and dumping Felix ate at him. However, feelings of guilt wouldn’t help him save Halifax or help him leave Coad so he could find his wife. With a ruthlessness gained from a hundred battles, he suppressed the guilt. He would have saved the others if he could, but he hadn’t been quick enough or deft of mind to do so. At least the airmen’s enemies, the Rhunes, had all lost. That would be the Day Star’s epitaph—the best he could give the fallen crew.

  The sky-raft presently hovered forty meters above the ocean, as stable as before. Velia lived and so did he. He tried to understand how the Rhunes had done what they had: the levitating, mass hypnotizing, shooting fireballs and zapping. The one said he’d been correct in assessing Rhunes as cyborgs. Yet, cyborgs had strength and speed, not—

  “Oh,” Cade said.

  It struck him how the Rhunes might be a type of cyborg. Maybe they carried equipment inside their bodies. Was that why the one had sunk instead of floated: because the creature carried heavy metal inside himself? If Rhunes did have machines or machine parts in their bodies, that made them cyborgs after a fashion, as a cyborg was part machine and part human.

  There was something else to consider—the mobil
e base at the nearest gas giant. The mobile base was direct evidence that cyborgs had reached the pocket universe. The Rhunes—were they a special offshoot of the cyborgs? He’d never heard about Rhunes or creatures like them during The War.

  Cade drew the Lupus 19 Energy Gun. He’d seen models like this before. Tucking the blaster back under his waistband, he went to Velia and crouched before her.

  “You need to drink water,” he said. “You’re in shock and dehydrated. Is there any healing balm around?”

  She raised a sweaty face to squint at him. “How would I know that?” she whispered hoarsely.

  “The Rhunes failed to hypnotize you… They must have hypnotized the crew for your sake. You came to report in person, crawling on your belly to your master. By summoning the sky-raft, you as good as slew the entire crew.”

  She laughed hoarsely, wincing at times. “You as good as killed the crew when you slew Dorian Blue. Or did you think the Rhunes would allow you to slay their plant with immunity?”

  Did Velia have cyborg devices inside her? Cade considered it possible. Could Rhunes back at base see or hear through her? No antenna sprouted from her skull, and she’d said before that she had to radio in.

  “You’re badly hurt,” he said, using tactics again. She was hurt, but not unto dying. He’d survived worse energy burns back in the day. Sure, he could heal faster than an ordinary person…

  “Damn you,” she whispered. “The pain is intense. I want it to stop—I need it to stop so I can think.”

  “I can help you with the pain, but first you have to help me.”

  She squinted at him, moaning afterward. “I can’t bargain with you.”

  “You’d better if you want the pain to stop.”

  She panted, her right hand hovering over the side torso burn. “Have mercy on me,” she finally pleaded.

  “Like you had mercy on the airmen?”

  “I already told you—”

  “Velia,” he interrupted. “You’ve had the advantage for so long that you’ve forgotten what it means to be needy. I can help you, but I won’t until you help me.”

  “Help you how?” she whispered.

  “Where’s the nearest Rhune base?”