Land of Nod, The Prophet (Land of Nod Trilogy Book 2)

by Gary Hoover

  Rasp made a quick movement toward the dog, and it turned and ran.

  “One more time, and I’ll blow a hole right through your ugly face.”

  Dave and Jeff both turned to see Nahima, who was about twenty feet away, pointing her gun between the eyes of a short, heavy bald man who had apparently gotten too close. The man held his hands up and smiled. Nahima took a step back and began to lower her gun, but as she was doing so, the man made a quick motion and snatched her gun from her. His grin grew broader as the people around them began to back away.

  Dave and Jeff both started toward Nahima at a run. As they approached, Benji, who had been approximately thirty feet away from her, bounded with a quickness that was difficult to believe for an animal of his size. He was on the man in seconds. The man flew back several feet as Benji collided with him. The gun flew out of his hand and slid along the dirt.

  The man seemed dazed as he tried to push himself up. He started to rise shakily but wavered and fell back to the ground. Benji approached him. He was much calmer than he had been moments before, but he didn’t seem any less dangerous. He approached the man, leaned over him and pushed a hand against his chest. Benji leaned closer and closer, growling as his snout approached the bald man’s terrified face.

  Benji held his position, increasing the pressure of his hand against the man’s chest, until he wheezed and seemed on the verge of passing out.

  “I think it may be time to go,” Dave said to Jeff.

  Jeff nodded.

  After calming Benji down and collecting the others, they headed back toward Princess Trina. As they made their way, they walked through an aisle of games that were glitzier than would be found at a typical carnival, but not at the level one would find at a Las Vegas casino.

  Dave stopped in front of a booth that had some sort of vehicle on a lighted, rotating turntable. Jeff inferred that it was a flying motorcycle of some sort. It looked similar to a Jet-ski with a conical cowl.

  “Win a Jump-Scoot!!” invited a flashing, lighted sign.

  “How much?” Dave asked.

  “Five MMUs for one swing,” the unshaven attendant answered without looking up from an electronic reader.

  Dave examined the set-up. There was a long, heavy horizontal arm attached to a circular, chest-high target. The arm was attached to a system of other arms, gears and pulleys that transferred the motion to a vertical scale and pointer that had various point values. There was a drawing of the vehicle at the very top of the scale.

  Dave lifted the heavy mallet beside the arm. He moved it up and down, gauging the weight and then reached into his pocket and handed the attendant a plastic card.

  He got a good hold on the mallet and rested it on his right shoulder. The group watched as he took a few light practice swings across his body to get a feel for it.

  When he felt he had a feel, he wound up and brought the mallet around with a frightening speed and force against the target.

  The pointer rose to about half the height of the scale.

  The attendant glanced up briefly then went back to his reader and said in a monotone: “Very good, you’re almost there. Would you like to try again?” He pushed a button, and the pointer dropped back to the bottom.

  Dave considered then reached into his pocket and handed over another card.

  He had a look of intense concentration, and he gritted his teeth as he wound up again.

  Jeff cringed as he anticipated the impact, and when the mallet met the target, he thought the force of the impact might bring the whole thing down.

  The pointer rose to a point slightly higher than it had been before, and Dave dropped the mallet in frustration.

  He looked at Jeff, who, partly from nervousness, had trouble suppressing a grin.

  “Well, why don’t you try it... Raja?” He reached into his pocket and then thrust a card into Jeff’s hand.

  Jeff looked down at the card. “Oh, no, I can’t do that.”

  “Oh, I forgot,” Dave said grinning, “you’re too flowery.”

  Jeff was getting sick of hearing that. He handed the card to the attendant and glared at Dave as he wrapped his hands around the handle of the mallet.

  As he yanked on it, he realized he could barely move it.

  Crap!

  He bent his knees, got a better grip and lifted the mallet but realized he had little chance of doing much. The mallet was so heavy that he knew he wouldn’t be able to do much more than heave it limply toward the target and hope it might actually make some contact before falling to the ground.

  He looked around and realized he had a large number of eyes on him; not just the members of his group, but some curious onlookers had stopped to watch his attempt. What are my options here? Can I say something funny that will make everybody laugh and walk away?

  Damn it! Why is it so hard to think of something funny when you really need it?

  He looked down at the baseball bat hanging from his belt.

  “Would it be okay if I used this instead of the mallet?” he asked.

  The attendant looked around his reader and rolled his eyes. “Sure. Whatever.”

  Jeff raised the bat over his shoulder and got into a good position. He took a few practice swings.

  Let me just do enough to not make a complete idiot out of myself.

  He clenched his teeth and swung with everything he had.

  He felt a sharp stinging in his hands as the bat made contact, but he also felt some movement in the target.

  The pointer rose up through the scale past where it had stopped for Dave!

  It didn’t stop until it hit the top.

  Lights flashed and bells clanged. A small cheer went up from the crowd, and Jeff, Dave and the attendant just stared.

  A side door behind the display opened and a tall, heavy man with a thin mustache and long black coat emerged. He looked at the attendant with a sour expression, and the attendant just shrugged. Then he headed toward Dave and extended a hand. “Congratulations sir. You are a winner.”

  Dave looked at his hand then looked at Jeff. “I didn’t do it, he did,” he growled.

  The man looked at Jeff with a puzzled expression then extended his hand to him.

  As he shook Jeff’s hand, the man looked over his shoulder and glared at the attendant.

  Chapter 24:

  Jeff held onto Nahima as she piloted his new jump-scoot back to Princess Trina. There was a brilliant sunrise on the horizon, and Jeff realized they had partied through the night.

  Nahima brought them down near the larger vehicle, and she dismounted. Jeff began to stand up, but she stopped him. “Stay on a minute, and I’ll show you how it works.”

  She gestured for him to slide up, and he shifted himself into the driver’s position. He put his hand on the steering bars.

  “Feel how the yoke moves?” Nahima asked as Jeff wiggled the bar that looked and felt similar to a thick set of motorcycle handlebars, but they didn’t just move left and right. They were mounted on a ball joint that allowed them to move in all directions.

  “You want to go left, turn the yoke left.” She twisted his hands and the yoke in a direction that would have turned a motorcycle wheel left. “You want to turn, right, turn the yoke right.” She reversed the motion.

  “Up, up, down, down.” It’s very intuitive, once you’ve done it a little bit.

  Dave and the others were just arriving, and Jeff suddenly felt nervous. Nahima’s manner had been very calming when they were alone.

  “Speed is controlled by your right foot.” She walked to the right side and pointed down. There were floorboards for the pilot’s and passenger’s feet, but there was a break at the front where a small, independent section moved under the pilot’s foot. Jeff rocked it back and forth a few times to get a feel.

  “Wee zola! Is the kid gonna fly? This I gotta see,” Dave said with a broad grin.

  Jeff cringed as the others gathered around to witness the event.

  Nahima ignored them and conti
nued. “Pushing the pedal forward will give you acceleration, pushing with your heel will slow you down.

  “Once you’re at a certain speed, keeping the pedal in that neutral position will maintain a constant speed. The farther you push it one way or the other, the greater your acceleration or deceleration will be, so be careful with that. A lack of smoothness on the accelerator pedal is the thing most likely to get you into trouble.

  “These two buttons will get you going.” She pointed to a button labeled ‘Start/Stop’ and another labeled ‘Hover/Land’. “The ‘Start/Stop’ turns the whole system on or off, and if you’re on the ground, the ‘Hover/Land’ button will raise you to a level of about half an SLU. When you’re ready to land, bring yourself to a stable position and push the button again, and it will lower you gently to the ground. Then just push ‘Start/Stop’, and it’ll shut down.

  “Those are the basics. Why don’t you hop off? I’ll show you how it works when you put it all together, and then you can try it yourself.”

  Jeff climbed off and Nahima took his place. She pushed the ‘Start/Stop’ and some lights and indicators came on and there was a quiet whirring sound. She pushed the ‘Hover/Land’, and the jump-scoot lifted to a height of about 20 inches and hovered.

  “Now I’m ready to go.” She moved slowly forward and ascended at a shallow angle. Once she had showed Jeff the basics and put some distance between herself and the group, she started to show off and have some fun. She shot straight skyward but then came to a dead stop at a couple of hundred feet above the ground. She allowed herself to free-fall for a bit then regained control and accelerated.

  The jump-scoot was very light, and it accelerated and changed directions like nothing Jeff had ever seen. Nahima was doing loops and barrel rolls, and when she was within visual range, Jeff saw she had an enormous grin.

  “Is there anyone else who isn’t incredibly turned on right now?” Dave asked.

  Baldwin raised his hand meekly.

  Chapter 25:

  Jeff eased off the ground and moved slowly forward and upward. It was an amazing feeling, and he felt the muscles in his face straining from the uncontrollable smile.

  Slow, steady movements. He heard Nahima’s voice in his head. Nothing too abrupt.

  He was about 100 feet off the ground and looking down at the trees. The sun was now bright and had clearly crested the horizon, though it was still partly obscured to those on the ground.

  Jeff’s body was tense. Though the jump-scoot was behaving very predictably and it felt easy to control, he realized that one wrong move could send him tumbling.

  A fall from this height wouldn’t feel great.

  He did a few gentle turns, and each move gave him a bit more confidence. He pressed down on the accelerator pedal and felt an invigorating rush of speed. As he passed over a large clearing, he suddenly realized just how high he was and decided he should bring it down a little. I should probably head back soon. I don’t want to be too far from the others if something goes wrong.

  He brought it down to about twenty feet and skimmed over the grassy field. As he approached the trees on the far end of the clearing, he began a smooth, gradual turn to bring himself around and start a course back to Princess Trina.

  Halfway through the turn, there was a loud and ghastly roar. A huge creature charged from the trees, bending and breaking some of the smaller ones as he passed over them.

  It was the general size and shape of a rhinoceros, but had a bony, horned crest around its collar and two side-by-side horns protruding forward on its snout. It had a large mouth, lined with sharp, jagged teeth, and it had a thick, leathery skin.

  The creature startled Jeff and disrupted his smooth movements. He was able to stay on his seat and complete his turn, but he found the jump-scoot bucking under the stress of his uneven moves.

  He pressed down on the accelerator and shot forward so quickly that he was in danger of losing control. Jeff pushed on his heel and slowed nearly as quickly. He had put some distance between himself and the animal, which was in hot pursuit, but now his ride was lurching and off balance. In response to an uncontrolled drift to the left, he turned the yoke right but did so too suddenly. He began bouncing from one side to the other as he tugged the yoke back and forth desperately trying to regain control.

  I’m going down. No way to prevent it now. Best to try to make my dismount as smooth as possible.

  He brought himself down close to the ground, and it seemed he might be able to settle in and regain control. Just as he was starting to calm down and get some confidence, the front end impacted with a small rise in the terrain, and he flipped over the top and rolled about 20 feet.

  He lay on the ground for a moment, bruised and dazed. He realized he didn’t have the luxury of recovering and collecting himself, and he tried to force his mind to alertness. He got to his feet and could see the beast about 200 feet away, watching him from the top of a small hill.

  Jeff went back toward the jump-scoot watching the animal the entire time. As he was nearly there, the beast started toward him again, picking up speed with each step. Jeff realized he wouldn’t have time to right his ride, get it started and off the ground before the animal reached him, so he pulled his gun from its holster, dialed the power to maximum and took aim. He had thought he would have to wait until the creature was within range but realized, with some shock, that it had already closed to about 100 feet.

  Jeff aimed carefully and squeezed the trigger.

  Direct hit!

  Jeff’s enthusiasm was short-lived as he realized his shot hadn’t done much more than throw the beast slightly off its rhythm. He fired again and again hit it directly in the center of its broad frontal surface, but this time the creature didn’t even seem to flinch.

  Panic swept over Jeff.

  He fired a couple more desperate shots, but it was clear they weren’t doing anything.

  He tossed the gun aside and pulled the baseball bat from his belt. He had used it before against some indigenous animals but never anything as large or powerful.

  He squared his left shoulder and pretended the animal was an approaching fast-ball, but he didn’t have time to do or think more than that before it was upon him.

  The animal had its head lowered and horns aimed. Jeff waited until the last possible moment and then took two steps backward and swung with every bit of strength he had against the beast’s nose.

  There was a violent impact, but Jeff didn’t feel horns piercing his flesh, instead, he felt himself flying backward and landing with a jarring contact against the ground.

  The bat flew out of his hand, and for a few desperate moments, he couldn’t locate it. He jumped to his feet, looked around, and then saw the bat five feet away.

  He lunged for it desperately.

  Only after he had it in his hands did he check to see what the animal was doing.

  Amazingly, it seemed to be stunned, and it was shaky on its feet. It moved to its right, stumbled a bit, then seemed to regain its bearing and focus. It was about twenty feet away, and its eyes locked on Jeff. It lowered its head and started toward Jeff again.

  It moved slowly at first, but picked up speed with each step and was moving at a good speed – though much slower than its initial attack – when it approached Jeff’s range.

  Jeff prepared to hit it again, but he could tell his strength wasn’t up to where he would have liked it.

  When it was close enough, he swung again, hitting it squarely on its nose. Jeff was able to stay on his feet this time and was surprised with the intensity of the impact.

  The animal stopped, stumbled backwards a few steps and then actually fell with a ground-shaking thud.

  Jeff was agape as he watched the enormous creature struggling on the ground. Up until that moment, Jeff had not really had the time to consider its size, but now that he had a moment, he could see the thing was nearly as high, lying down, as Jeff was standing.

  Jeff backed away, keeping his eyes on the beas
t and his bat raised. The animal rose shakily to its feet. It kept its eyes on Jeff but didn’t move. When Jeff was about thirty feet away, it turned and headed back toward the trees at a slow trot.

  Jeff found his gun and holstered it, then found and rolled his jump-scoot into an upright position. He threw a leg over it and powered it up. It seemed undamaged. He lifted off and headed back toward the others.

  He found them, landed and dismounted.

  Dave looked at him. “D’ya run into some trouble?”

  Jeff and the jump-scoot were battered and dirty. “No. No problems.” Jeff said as coolly as he could manage.

  Flowery my ass.

  Chapter 26:

  “I really wish you would have come to me with your concerns before taking it to the media.”

  Duanan’s hands were clasped on his desk, and he shook his head with what Artimus felt was an overly theatrical expression of disappointment.

  “I DID come to you with my concerns,” Artimus said with a note of anger and frustration. He was tiring of the mock civility and political propriety.

  There was an uncomfortable pause as Duanan raised an eyebrow.

  Then he broke into a broad smile. “Artimus... friend. Let’s see if we can find some way to work things out. Now you clearly seem to have some... fear... that the pheerions, who are on the other side of the world and have limited technology and little mobility, are some sort of threat. I, on the other hand, don’t feel they’re a threat. We are a strong people. Even if they attempt some attack of some sort, I’m confident we’ll prevail.

  “Since we aren’t likely to come to agreement on the nature of the threat, let’s put that aside for a moment and talk about options. Assuming you’re correct, what do you propose?”