“Brice, are you seeing my video?”
“Yes. What are those things?”
“Robots from Meier’s research section. They don’t see me, so I’m going in behind them for Meier. But your job just got more difficult.”
“Well thanks very much. Any idea how to take them down?”
“No, but Harry might have. What can you tell us, Harry?”
“My assessment, Commander, is that those robots are acting in an autonomous role programmed, it seems, by Avantek and Meier to protect. Their exterior is similar to titanium and highly resistant to conventional gunfire. The computer core is in their torso where there is the most protection.”
“That’s terrific, Harry. Impossible-to-kill robots entering a firefight that isn’t over. Any more good news?” shouted Brice.
“Not at the moment, Brice. If they were outside, I believe the guns from the B2 or the B1 would be enough to stop them.”
“We’ll have to work on that, I guess.”
What was that? Meier asked himself. Sounds like gunfire, but how can that be?
As he turned down the soothing music playing in his underground apartment, Meier rose from his comfortable chair and turned to his security monitors only to see his fears confirmed. There were armed men in the compound! This cannot be! But the truth was obvious; he had been discovered, probably by that damned man, Childs. But he still had a few tricks up his sleeve. Walking as briskly as his tortured legs would carry him, he went to a wall and pushed a button opening a secret door, and then he disappeared.
With gunfire continuing in the cavern, Van moved to the entrance to Meier’s apartment. He quickly pushed open the door and scanned the rooms beyond. The German definitely was not here, and he hadn’t left by his front door.
Suspecting a private exit, Van began scanning the walls of each room. In the bedroom, he found what he was looking for—a partially opened wall panel that likely led out of the room and maybe the cavern. He pushed it completely open, raised his MP5 to the ready position, and stepped forward. What he found was a lighted passage leading down some carved steps. He swiftly descended the stairs, all the while looking for signs of Meier. At the bottom was a landing and a dock with water that probably led out of the cave, and that now covered the escape of a swiftly submerging miniature submarine. Immediately Van knew Meier was headed for the Argos. It had been his emergency escape route after all.
Running back up the steps into Meier’s apartment, Van hailed Harry.
“Meier is escaping in a minisub, probably heading for the Argos. Can you transport me to you and the B2, like now?”
“Yes, Commander. The overhead rock is not enough to prevent the transfer.”
“Then do it now!” And Van almost instantly found himself in the B2, Harry standing by.
“Get me to the Argos fast. Drop me off and then get back to help Brice any way you can. If he asks where I am, tell him I went back through the vents and am now on my way to the Argos.”
“We are on our way now, Commander. I have detected the submarine, and as you suggested, it does seem to be headed for the Argos. I will drop you off and leave the B1 circling the Argos to give you progress on the submarine’s approach.”
“Harry, we have the guards taken care of, but we can’t stop these robot things. What’s more, they seem like they know where we are,” shouted Brice.
“May I suggest, Brice, that you lure them out of the cavern, where I will be waiting in the B2?”
“Great suggestion, Harry. I only hope we make it in one piece. We already have two wounded and one dead. I would prefer that we not take any more casualties. We’re on our way.”
With that conversation concluded, Brice and Ross started leading their teams out of the cavern, carrying their wounded and dead with them.
On board the Argos, Van made a quick stop by the crew’s mess, where Dick and Barbara had the crew still safely contained.
“Make sure none of these people get out of here. Meier is on his way here in a submarine, and I’m on the way to meet him.”
“I’ll go with you,” Barbara said.
“No, we need both of you here as guards. They might easily overcome one, and we don’t want to be dealing with the crew at this moment.”
Barbara reluctantly nodded her head and stepped back to her guard position. Van disappeared down the passageway and then down to the lower decks, all the while searching for a likely docking space. He eliminated the engine room and everything aft of that because there would just be no way to create an entry large enough to accept a submarine. That left the three forward cargo holds. The first one was empty, and he could see bilge water below the lowest deck plates. On to the second.
The second hold, though smaller, was also empty, and Van was about to proceed forward to the last hold when he noticed something. No lower deck plates or bilge water were present. He climbed down the maintenance ladder to the base of the hold. When he looked around, he saw that the base of the hold dropped off on either side. Going to the edge, he looked down and saw a catwalk about ten feet below and a hatch leading into an enclosed space. He checked on his HUD for the progress of the submarine and was surprised to see that it was just getting ready to pass under the Argos. Time was moving fast.
CHAPTER 41
“Here we come, Harry, and those damned robots are right behind us.”
“When you come out, Brice, keep running straight ahead. I am positioned just outside the door, perpendicular to your path and with stealth mode off so you can see the B2. I will fire on them as soon as they expose themselves.”
“Roger that, Harry. They’re all yours!”
Brice’s and Ross’s teams hurried out of the cavern and past the hovering B2. Right behind them were the four robots, which Harry knew were the ones Meier had found in the Chad site. Somehow he had discovered how to reprogram them for self-defense—or offense, depending on how you looked at it.
In any event, the robots were no match against the twin 30mm cannons on board the B2, and in fewer than a thousand rounds of brilliant gunfire, there were only small parts of the advanced robots left to be seen.
“Brice, you are clear to reenter and take possession of the cavern. If any of your wounded need help, I will land and give you access to the life-support capsules.”
“Thanks a bunch, Harry. That was close! Our medics are taking care of the two wounded, so I don’t think they need the life-support capsules.”
Now down on the catwalk, Van walked quickly and opened the hatch in front of him. What he saw both confirmed his thoughts and impressed him. There in the center of this large room was a moon pool. Sometimes called a “wet porch” by divers, a moon pool is an underwater access feature normally seen on marine drilling platforms or underwater exploration ships. It is an opening in the hull that allows water to enter the pool but still be contained by a surrounding wall high enough to be above the waterline of the vessel. It provides shelter and protection from rough seas and allows divers and small submarines to enter or leave the water easily in a protected environment. In this case, however, the pool provided clandestine access to the Argos by Meier when needed. There was an overhead crane and cradle to house the submarine and a small catwalk that would allow the submariner to leave the sub and easily climb into the ship.
Van waited with his Ruger SP101 for Meier to arrive. It was an old weapon by some standards, but it was his favorite, and it felt like just the right one to have at this moment. His waiting was soon rewarded when the top of the small orange submarine surfaced in the large pool. When it stabilized, the plastic cockpit hatch raised, and a short man with thinning red hair emerged. Meier was apparently too busy getting out and securing the sub to notice Van standing at the end of the catwalk with his helmet visor opened. Van wanted Meier to see him and realize who he was and why he was here.
Satisfied that the sub was secure, Meier stood up and turned, prepared to walk down the catwalk and into the ship. But he stopped after the first shaking step, s
eemingly paralyzed by what he saw. Or who he saw.
“Hello, Peter. Going someplace important?”
“Apparently not, Mr. Childs. But as owner of this ship, can I offer you some refreshment?”
Van was a little taken aback by Meier’s casualness, especially when confronted with an armed enemy.
“Not today. But I will offer you my hospitality on this ship, which I now control.”
“So you have taken my ship. A good move on your part, but you apparently failed to take all my crew. Like Horst there behind you.”
“An old trick, Peter, but it won’t work here.”
“Then say hello to Mr. Childs, Horst.”
In a low, gravelly voice, the word “Hello” came from behind Van. How had he missed this man? How had the team missed him when they’d searched the ship?
“Horst likes living down here and seldom mixes with the rest of the crew. The moon pool is like a sanctuary for him, and he takes very good care of it. Horst is old-fashioned and does not think modern weapons are much good, so he keeps an old doubled-barreled shotgun that his father gave him. It is pointed at your back right now.”
“Such a weapon has a broad pattern. He may shoot you as well.”
“Not from the distance he is standing behind you.”
As he had learned from Brice and the learning chair, Van dropped and rolled to his right and fired one shot at Meier. It struck Meier in the chest, and he was propelled backward into the moon pool and sank. But before Van could reorient himself toward Horst, two close-range shotgun blasts hit him in the side of his combat suit, rolling him to the edge of the moon pool.
From the sound of the shotgun action breaking, Van knew Horst was reloading, and with all his strength he rolled away from the pool and fired two shots. Both shots hit their target just as the dying Horst pulled both triggers on his shotgun for the last time.
Fortunately for Van, Horst could not aim well in his condition, and the majority of the shotgun blast went into the catwalk around the moon pool. A few pellets ricocheted, however, and hit Van in the forehead. Lots of blood, but not much damage. But it hurt a lot.
Van just sat there for a few moments, taking in the realization that it was all over. He and Harry could get on with what they’d started—preparing for the Arkon.
Just then the compartment hatch flew open and Barbara rushed in. She froze when she saw Van half lying and half sitting on the catwalk with blood flowing down his suit. She wanted to scream but instead ran to his side, grabbed his helmet, and twisted it off. There, looking up at her, was Van’s smiling face.
“We won,” he said. “And we’re going home. Wanna have dinner?”
Later, a medic from Ross’s team showed up and looked Van over. Barbara had already helped Van to the captain’s quarters and cleaned up his face with a cool towel. Much of the bleeding had stopped, and the medic put a gauze patch and wrapped some bandage material on Van’s head to keep pressure on the patch and the wound. As for Van’s side, he likely had one or more broken ribs where the close-range shotgun blasts had hit him, but none had penetrated the suit.
With Ross’s team now on board to take care of the crew, Dick entered the small captain’s cabin, shaking his head.
“You really know how to get in a mess, don’t you?” Dick said to Van.
“Trouble seems to follow me everywhere. I don’t have to go far out of my way to find it.”
“That’s true. As Barbara may have told you, Brice has control of the island and all it contains. The question is, what do we do with it, and this ship for that matter?”
Barbara spoke up. “Why not keep the island and use it as a storage and staging area? Everything is in place. All we have to do is move in.”
“Not a bad idea,” Dick said. “You never know when you might need a place like this for reasons we can’t imagine at present.”
“But we can’t man it all the time,” Van replied. “I’ll talk to Harry about automation and remote controls. There may be a way to use it after all. What about the Argos?”
“She is an interesting ship. Faster than you would think, due to significant upgrades, and comfortable. Plus, there is the moon pool. Brice likes that for sneaking in and out of various places and feels his goal of being smothered in technology has finally come true, at least for now. If you don’t mind, the Carson Group would like to keep it, if we can shift the registry and ownership. Do you think Harry could help there?”
“Of course. Knowing Harry, he has probably already started. You can also use the pier and the facility all you want. You can even use or sell much if not all the weapons and material in the cavern. Let us know if you need some additional funding. Thanks to Meier, we have some money to spend on doing what we originally planned. Right now, however, I want to get back to Arizona, get cleaned up, and maybe get a little medical attention. Then I have to take someone I know to dinner.”
Van now believed he and Barbara both wanted each other again. Maybe he didn’t have to be alone. More importantly, he was hopeful that he could once again prepare for the Arkon with distractions put behind him.
EPILOGUE
The small scout ship droned on through uncharted space. Its mission was to discover new civilizations to enslave—new sources of labor and new technologies. The empire was growing and needed more of everything to survive. Other scout ships like this one were even now exploring past the edges of other sectors, charting as they went.
This was Sector 20, and for reasons unknown to the crew of the ship, the leadership of the empire was pressing for results more ardently than ever before. Find something now or suffer the consequences! So the small ship and crew pressed on, unaware that they were headed toward a system of eight planets around a G-type main-sequence star called Sol.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis. He served a career as a Navy combat pilot and in senior positions on staff in Washington, D.C. Following his military service, he filled a number of positions in aerospace systems engineering in several Fortune 500 companies. In a desire to help people develop, he earned a PhD in Organizational Leadership and started a leadership development company for coaching and training
Writing was a survival process in his doctoral work and from that came the well-received non-fiction book Leaders are Made Not Born. That writing and publishing experience lead to his desire to write fiction which he now enjoys in his free time… when, of course, he is not also enjoying salt water fishing.
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CONTACT MIKE:
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COMING NEXT
In this second book of the Host Saga, Van Childs faces a new and more difficult decision. To continue the path he reluctantly started with no turning back and the prospect of facing a lonely, immortal future. Or, opting out and allowing mankind to fend for itself. With his previous enemy defeated, it is possible he can now continue plans to prepare mankind to meet the Arkon if he chooses. New to him is the revelation by the caretaker AI that there is another base on the moon with even more technology. What Childs doesn’t consider is the possibility that individual, state and even extraterrestrial forces might act against his efforts and the interests of mankind.
“Immortal Guardian continues the engaging and thought provoking Host saga. A great read.”
—Bob Mayer, New York Times Best Selling author.<
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See www.michaeljfarlow.com for updates to the launch of this book.
OTHER BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR
Leaders are Made Not Born: 40 Simple Skills to Make You the Leader You Want to Be.
“…straightforward, zeros in on key leadership skills, and exceptionally practical. I like this book.”
— John Ryan, President and CEO,
Center for Creative Leadership
There is no such thing as a leadership gene. What you need instead are the forty principals and easy-to-apply skills in the book. Clear, concise, yet comprehensive, Leaders are Made Not Born provides the skills; you do the rest.
Genre: Business/Leadership
Audience: Ages 18+
Publisher: LinkUp Publishing
ISBN 978-0-9826746-8-0 – Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9781483534855 – eBook (ePub)
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
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
Future Discovered: Host Saga Book 1 Page 27