by Jack Castle
Mac knew she had to choose her words carefully. “You do know that they are not really gods? I mean, you do know that they are just some sort of advanced race of aliens, right?”
“Just because I was born two centuries before you, doesn’t mean I’m stupid,” Harry said defensively. “I knew in my heart that Khaos wasn’t my god the moment he killed my friends.”
“Good. Because I’m going to meet the gods and ask them to help us get back home.”
Harry stopped digging and stared at her. “Are you crazy? Weren’t you listening? They killed my friends.” He practically shouted at her.
“I know, but if they’re nothing more than astronauts, I figure they can be reasoned with. It’s the only way for my crew and me to get back home. If you could get back home to your family, wouldn’t you at least try?”
Harry removed his flight gloves and pushed his right hand through his thick hair, as he often did when he was frustrated. “Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. Right up until they murdered my friends.” He stabbed his shovel into the dirt. Before Mac could reply, he added, “You know, they’ll kill you and your men if you go to them — maybe worse.”
“I know, but I’ve got to try — for the sake of my daughter, I’ve got to try.”
For the rest of the day they worked in silence and only spoke to one another when it was necessary for the task at hand.
Chapter 23
Mook Attack
Before the sun set in a vibrantly painted sky the following day, they had cleared a path to the plateau and taxied the two planes onto the runway. Mac and Harry checked the engines one last time before they turned in for the night. Everyone else was back at camp.
“Purrs like a kitten,” Mac said loudly enough to be heard over the engine’s roar. She crouched on the wing of the lead plane while Harry ran up the engine. He ran it up one more time and switched it off. Mac noticed that he had fastened the emblem from his old plane onto the Avenger’s console.
As the props came to a halt, he smiled with satisfaction. “Okay, that’s it for today. We’ll get a good night’s rest and then strike camp and head for Joppa-Cal first thing in the morning.”
“Sounds good to me, Captain.” Mac beamed. It had taken some doing, but the planes were ready for takeoff.
They had decided that Harry would fly one of the planes with her and Tae, while Leo flew the other with Brett and Stein. They were heading back to Enoch’s castle, so Harry could rescue his friends. He had made it very clear that if they still wanted to wait around for the gods, they were on their own.
#
While Harry and Mac readied the planes, Leo strolled happily through camp. He thought about the hero’s welcome he would receive when they got back home. He could see the headlines now: “Lieutenant Leo Dalton Solves Mysteries of the Universe.” He completed a mental checklist. Builder of the Pyramids? Found. Lost Patrol that disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle? Found. Theory of wormholes? Ah, best leave that one to Tae. Extraterrestrial contact? Check. And he could also chronicle everything they had seen and done. There had to be a multi-billion-dollar video deal in there somewhere. Best of all, he and Emma could finally get married and not worry about what anyone would think because they’d be rich beyond their wildest dreams.
He walked past Brett, who had just finished giving the .60 a thorough cleaning. “Hey, Brett. How’s it going?”
“Good,” Brett said as he reloaded the weapon. “So when’re we leaving?”
“First light.”
“Sounds good to me.” Brett racked a round into the heavy machine gun to keep it ready for action.
Leo found his backpack where he had left it, up against the old truck. He opened it up and took out the last piece of fruit he had pilfered from Joppa-Cal. As he took his first bite, he saw Tae about fifty yards away, walking out of the bowels of the UFO. No, Tae was running. Leo took another bite and wondered what the engineer was so excited about. He must’ve found something good, Leo thought.
Just then, Leo noticed a Mook warrior, with a painted face and a bone through its forehead, standing in the middle of the camp. Oblivious of Leo, it poked at Stein’s backpack with a small spear and took a few tentative sniffs. When it finally noticed Leo, it immediately raised its spear at him and growled menacingly, like a small dog.
When Leo looked back at Tae, he saw a small army of Mooks flooding after the engineer.
#
Harry and Mac were walking back to camp, sharing a laugh, when they heard the heavy thumping of the .60 caliber.
“That sounds like the .60,” Mac said.
Harry’s eyes went wide with worry. “The Mooks!”
They started running toward the camp, but Harry grabbed her by the arm and stopped her. “Mac, listen to me. Go warm up the planes.”
She opened her mouth to object but closed it again as he watched the reality of the situation settle in on her face. She nodded and turned back for the planes.
Harry sprinted the rest of the way back to camp. When he got there, the camp was overrun with Mooks. Leo grappled with a Mook on the ground over a spear; Stein sliced and diced Mooks left and right with his knife, and Brett fired away on the big gun.
Harry arrived at Leo’s side first. He removed his .45 and shot the Mook in the head. After he helped the young astronaut to his feet, he said, “Leo, go help Mac prep the planes for take-off.” Leo started to object, but Harry cut him off. “Don’t argue. Just do it.”
Leo nodded in compliance. He quickly grabbed his pack and ran to the airstrip.
Tae arrived in camp with scores of Mooks a hundred yards behind him. Harry leaped into action. He uncovered the second .60 caliber and let her rip. He cut down several Mooks running into the camp, and then, spying the old Ford truck near the advancing Mooks, he fired several rounds into it. The truck burst in shower of flaming parts, scattering the nearest hoard of Mooks.
The Mooks retreated for the moment, but Harry knew it wouldn’t be long before they regrouped and returned. It was now or never. It was time to go.
Brett, who had so many blow darts sticking in him that he looked like a human pincushion, fired the first .60 until it went dry. “I’m outta ammo!” he shouted.
A Mook scout leaped over the bunker wall behind him and buried a hatchet in the commando’s back. Brett’s vest slowed the blow down but didn’t stop it. “You son-of-a-bitch!” he yelled. He grabbed the Mook and broke its back over one knee. He pulled the ax out of his back just as another Mook came over his makeshift bunker wall. Harry watched Brett bury the newly acquired ax in the Mook’s face.
Harry was about to go grab Brett, but Tae shoved him out of the way. A Mook with a club had leaped off of the wall behind them. The creature’s club was coming down even before Tae had pushed Harry out of the way. The engineer took the blow to the head instead. His body went down like a rock.
Harry swung the heavy gun around on the tripod. He squeezed both triggers and shot the Mook point blank, blowing it in half.
“Stein!” Harry shouted at the big commando, who was covered in Mook blood. “Go grab Brett. I’ll cover you.”
Stein looked at the wounded commando, who was bleeding in several places and riddled with blow darts. “He’s already gone,” the German said, but Brett rolled over and moaned.
“No, dammit, he’s still alive,” Harry yelled as he finished reloading the .60 with the last box of ammunition.
He heard the familiar sound of the Avengers’ engines. He covered the German commando and waited for the next wave of Mook attackers, the Mooks were busy regrouping again.
Stein moved past him with Brett’s arm over his shoulder, and the two commandos hobbled toward the airstrip. Brett was seriously injured, but it looked as though he was going to make it.
Harry squeezed off more rounds and scattered a few more Mook scouts, which he hoped would buy them at least a running start for the a
irfield. At his feet, the engineer was still unconscious and bleeding from the back of his head. Harry scooped Tae up and onto his back in a fireman’s carry and made a run for it.
He caught up with Stein near the end of the runway. Stein was making slow progress while carrying the heavy commando, so Harry sent them to the closest plane. “Stein, you two take the rear plane; Tae and I will take the lead.” Harry then broke off to head for cover alongside the runway.
#
Just after Harry left them alone, Brett’s legs gave out. Stein couldn’t hold the man who outweighed him by at least forty pounds and dropped him heavily to the ground.
Stein looked down at Brett. One of Brett’s eyes was swollen shut, but his one good eye focused on him. “I can make it,” Brett said, coughing up blood. But Stein knew neither of them would make it — not with him carrying Brett, anyway.
Three more Mooks jumped out from the surrounding alien wreckage not thirty feet behind them.
“Stein, I can make it,” Brett said. He rolled onto his belly and then to all fours.
But Stein’s legs backed away from his fellow commando and led him to the waiting planes. The German aimed and shot his pistol at two of the advancing Mooks but missed the third, who was now almost upon Brett.
“Stein. Stein, I can make it,” Brett said. He stumbled to his feet, his wounded arm hanging loosely by his side.
The Mook that Stein had missed tackled Brett to the ground just after the farm boy had stumbled to his feet. Stein finally stopped, not twenty feet away. He took aim and pulled the trigger, but the hammer landed on a dry chamber. The Mook raised its ax for the kill.
“Stein, wait,” Brett pleaded. Those were his last words. The Mook’s ax hit the back of his skull with a sickening crunch. A half a dozen more Mooks ran up from behind and swarmed over his body. Stein watched for a second as they began ripping it apart with their bare hands. Then he turned and ran.
#
When Stein arrived at the airfield, he saw Harry loading Tae’s unconscious body into the lead plane with Mac’s help. He told himself there was nothing he could have done for Brett and jumped onto the wing of the rear plane.
“Where’s Brett?” Leo asked him while focusing on the Avenger’s controls.
“He didn’t make it.” Stein slipped into the tail gunner’s seat.
A wave of grief swept across Leo’s face. The young pilot swallowed. “C’mon, strap yourself in, and pray I can fly this antique.”
Leo’s plane began to taxi down the runway as several Mooks ran up alongside its tail section.
“Go, go, go!” Stein shouted. Then, for the first time in his life, he froze in combat. Looking at the edge of the airfield, he watched one of the Mooks raise Brett’s severed head on a pike. One of Brett’s eyes was open and seemed to stare right at him.
Stein didn’t even realize they were safely airborne until Mac’s voice crackled over the radio. “You guys okay back there?”
Leo, his hands strangling the controls, carefully picked up the throat mic. “Mac,” his voice choked up, “Mac, Brett didn’t make it.”
For a moment, there was only static over the airwaves, but then Harry’s voice came over the tiny speaker. “Leo, you listen to me. You concentrate on flying that plane. You hear me? We already lost Brett today, and I don’t want to lose you, too. Drop in on my wing, and let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Aye, sir,” Leo said. He dropped the microphone into his lap and wiped away his tears. Stein didn’t say a word for the remainder of the flight.
Leo maneuvered the torpedo bomber plane in on Harry’s wing and followed Harry as he circled over the downed UFO in a fly-by salute to the final resting place of the Lost Patrol and Commando Brett Harper.
In the canopy of the lead plane, Mac finished bandaging Tae’s head and laid him back in his seat. The young engineer was breathing, and she was thankful he was still alive. She turned in her seat and looked down at the ruins of the crashed spaceship, which slowly grew smaller behind them.
Brett gone. She wasn’t even sure how she was going to process that one. She didn’t know him for very long but their adventures together had seemed like a lifetime. He was a good man, the best of men. And now he was gone. The fact that he was sweet on her only made his death harder to bare.
“Good-bye, Brett,” Mac said silently and after wiping the tears from her face she put one hand on the canopy. “Thank you for saving our lives.”
Both planes headed due west, into the sunset and toward Joppa-Cal.
Chapter 24
The Oasis
In less than an hour, they saw Joppa-Cal on the distant horizon.
In the lead plane, Harry was within two miles of the city when he saw a glittering palace the size of a small mountain perched above the old, tattered city like a vulture above a carcass on the African savannah. The gods’ palace, which combined every great feat of architecture on Earth and more, had returned.
This changed everything.
Captain Reed knew that he was too late, too late to save his friends. He gripped his throat mic with one hand and veered off his plane with the other. “Break off! Break off!”
“What’s wrong?” Mac asked. She leaned forward and saw the massive palace floating over the medieval city. “Oh, the gods are early.”
Leo followed Harry’s plane back to a long-abandoned quarter of the city. After making a few passes, Harry put the plane down right in the middle of one of the quarter’s main streets. He knew that even though the planes had backtracked a few miles, the slave quarter was still well within visual range of Joppa-Cal and the monstrosity that hovered above it, so he and Leo taxied and parked their planes next to a hovel at the edge of town.
Everyone climbed out of the cramped planes, including Tae, who had regained consciousness. “Anybody got any aspirin?” he asked. He grinned, clearly happy to be alive, but then the grin faded as he noticed the rest of their long faces.
“Tae, Brett didn’t make it,” Leo said before the engineer could ask.
“Yeah, so what did happen, Stein?” Harry asked. He hopped down from the wing of his plane. “The last time I saw you, you were both making a beeline for the runway. You should have been right behind me.”
“What is it you’re trying to say?” Stein shot back.
“I’m not trying to say anything. Just answer the question.”
Stein glanced between Harry and the others as the rest of them focused on him. “We got jumped by the Mooks, okay? Besides, he was already dead when they started climbing all over us. I was lucky to make it out alive.”
Mac, Leo, and Tae held Stein’s gaze for a moment and then moved off to unload the planes. Harry didn’t look away.
“This isn’t World War II anymore Captain Reed,” When no one responded, he shouted, “Oh, would you prefer that he had made it instead of me? Is that it? You can all just go to hell!” and he stormed off.
“Stein!” Mac called after him.
“Let him walk it off,” Harry said.
Later that night, the Palace of the Gods was lit up like a beacon, and it could be seen for miles. Looking at its glittering splendor, Mac guessed it could probably even be seen from space.
Stein had cooled off and rejoined them. Mac made a few attempts to reconcile with the commando, but he blew her off every time.
The five of them gathered around a campfire; Stein standing apart and glaring at the empty buildings that surrounded them. They had agreed that they would stow the planes in the abandoned slave quarter and walk to Joppa-Cal in the morning, and now they sat in silence. After what had happened to Brett, nobody felt much like sleeping.
Mac saw that Harry couldn’t stop staring at the glowing palace on the horizon.
“Harry, why don’t you wait here?” Mac asked. “If all goes well, we’ll come back for you.”
“No,
I’ve got to rescue my friends,” he replied without hesitation.
Behind them, Leo poked the fire with a stick. “Harry, if we don’t make it, and these ‘gods’ are as bad as you say, shouldn’t you wait a few days and then go after your friends? I mean, it’s going to be hard enough getting inside, but with the gods here, won’t it be next to impossible?”
Harry turned toward Mac. “Does that mean you’ve reconsidered?”
“No, I’m still going to make contact with the E.T.’s, but if I’m wrong, getting yourself killed isn’t going to free your friends either.”
Harry frowned. “That’s a chance I’m gonna have to take.”
“Captain Reed,” Tae said, “have you considered that your presence might agitate the E.T.’s and ruin our own chances of a peaceful first contact?”
Mac noticed that this line of thought affected Harry the most. It was clear from the look on his face that he hadn’t thought about endangering their lives. Mac wanted to tell him that she didn’t give a rip what the ‘gods’ thought and that he could come with them if he wanted to, but she sensed that they were beginning to sway him to stay, which she knew would be safest for him.
“Tell him,” Stein said as he stepped out of the shadows and into the campfire’s light.
“Shut up, Stein,” Mac said quickly.
“Tell me what?”
“Tell him or I will,” Stein threatened.
Mac gave the commando a hard stare.
“Maybe you should,” Leo added, much to Mac’s surprise.
“What is it?” Harry asked again.
Mac sighed. So this was it. As it turned out, it proved easier than she had thought. Once she started, the information that she had kept bottled up for so long just flowed right out of her. “Harry, I knew about your Awumpai because I read about it in your journal.” She saw Harry reach for the logbook that he kept in the pocket of his pants. “No, not that one — one we found on your body in a pyramid that lies beneath the ice of a moon that circles Jupiter.”
“That’s why it’s too dangerous for you to go with us,” Leo added.