Jeff suggested that they spend the night at the clearing because the caves were still over a mile away. He told them not to light any fires because they didn’t know what they were facing yet. Jeff was nervous about the whole situation and couldn’t sleep anyway, so he took the first watch while the others slept.
The night was uneventful and by the time they reached the caverns it was near noon. Jeff instructed them to wait at the entrance while he investigated a cavern with Dormiton. He lit a torch and handed to his comrade. The human went first, prepared to fire his laser if he needed to. They came to two tunnels that went in alternate directions. “Wait here,” Jeff told him. “One of us should stay here in case we need to warn the others.”
They entered the tunnel on the right, and Jeff noticed a concentrated white cool gas with no odor and nonpoisonous. The tunnel was made of metal that he wasn’t familiar with, and it was well-lit. Someone constructed it, and he knew it couldn’t have been the lingworts.
Jeff came upon two metal doors at the end. He must have accidentally tripped them, because they opened and revealed another hallway. Startled, he gripped his laser tight and was cautious to look in
all directions. He decided it was clear, and entered the hallway on his right until he reached another door. He should have gone back and told the others, but his curiosity grew as he ventured further. The door didn’t open at first, but after he pressed one of the four buttons on the side panel, it responded.
There was a flight of metal stairs, which led to a huge control center. He never saw such an array of computers in all of his years as an astronaut. There were men, or at least they looked like men running them. He couldn’t tell because they were all wearing helmets.
Looking beyond the machinery, he saw several large spaceships, much like the ones he had seen on Pluto, and over the ocean. They were black and spherical, with fins on their sides. There were too many of the aliens wandering around for him to do any more exploring at the moment.
Jeff wondered why they wanted to build a base on their planet. Perhaps it was a scientific research station? An alien race could learn something from the geographical features and the climate. On the other hand, if it was a battle outpost, nothing could be gained by landing here; there was really nothing to conquer. The only possibility he could surmise was that they were hiding from an enemy force. Sooner or later, they would discover the village and no one knew if they were friend or foe. Jeff went back to where Dormiton was, careful not to be spotted. He grabbed the torch from the amphibian’s hand and gestured for him to leave the cave.
“There’s an alien complex down there,” he told his friends.
“How long it’s been there, I don’t know. I’ll help you escape, but once I know you’re all safe, I’m going to try to find a way to pilot one of their ships and leave this place. I’ve got to get back to Mars. I’ll miss you guys, but it’s really for the best. I need people.”
“Why don’t you just ask them if they’ll trade something for one?” asked Milgic, unaware of the seriousness of the situation.
“Because I have no indication of whether this race is hostile or not,” Jeff answered. They may kill all of us if they find us. No, the best thing is for all of you to get out of here until I find out what this is all about.”
“Where will we go?” asked one of the Lingworts.
“We’ll need to build rafts and get you off this island,” Jeff told them. “You’ll be safe that way.”
“And what will you do?” Dormiton asked, quite worried.
“You can’t just leave us,” Milgic snapped.
“What do you expect from me?” Jeff asked. “I’ve shown how to
build, grow your own food, and fight if you need to. The time has come to return to my own kind. Your people have to defend yourselves. What would happen if I died? You’d have to fight. I’ve shown you how to make spears, bows, and arrows, but it’s up to you to use them.”
Lingwort was very grateful to Jeff, and it seemed hideous to leave them vulnerable to attack knowing that moving to another island was only a temporary solution. However, he had needs of his own to attend to. He was homesick, and didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with aliens. This may have been his only opportunity to escape this world and get back to his own kind, wherever that may be. He didn’t believe he was being unreasonable.
“We want to go with you,” cried Dormiton. Jeff could tell how much Dormiton loved him and respected him.
“Absolutely not!” he retorted. “You couldn’t survive in space with me. It’s full of unknown dangers and hostile environments. I have no guarantee that I’ll even reach my destination. Do you really believe a being of peace, such as you, can survive in an environment of war?”
“I’m no longer afraid to take risks,” Dormtion stated. “I won’t let you leave by yourself! It’s too dangerous, and you need someone to help you!”
Dormtion was right about that. Jeff couldn’t very well charge into the complex and steal a spaceship without being seen. An operation of this nature needed planning and at least two people, if not a whole army. He saw no other alternative than to agree with him.
“Very well, “he said. “I’ll take two, and only two of you with me. However, the minute I hear any complaints I’m gonna throw you in the ejection capsule and send you to the nearest planet. The rest of you can get off this island somehow; perhaps we can build a raft and launch it from the back cove. Once you’re off the island, you’ll be safe. Right now we have to find shelter, so follow me.”
Jeff was just leading his troop back into the jungle, when he heard a noise from the rocks above. Someone fired a weapon, and Jeff’s weapon flew from his hand. He grabbed his hand, stinging in pain.
“Don’t move!” a voice called from above. Jeff turned, confronting an army of the same beings he saw on Pluto. He wondered what type of gas they were breathing. He knew it wasn’t oxygen because they wore spacesuits and tanks on their backs. The leader gestured for two of the men to grab Jeff. They each grabbed one of his arms and yanked
them behind his back.
“Who are you?” he asked, as he walked down from the hill. The lingworts were frozen in a state of shock at these militant beings, too scared to fight or flee. They always thought Jeff was invincible and god-like, and to see him in a compromising position was shocking to them. The leader walked over to him and examined him thoroughly.
“I asked you a question, human,” he sneered. “A spy for the Galactic Republic no doubt.” Jeff wasn’t overjoyed about the fact that he suspected him of being a spy, but had no choice but to listen to what he said. When he didn’t answer, the creature struck him across the jaw. Jeff was weakened from struggling to get loose because the aliens were stronger than he was. He wasn’t sure he could take one of them, let alone three.
“You’ll talk sooner or later, when your friends die off one by one,” he threatened.
“Wait!” Jeff pleaded. “I’m not a spy; I’m an astronaut for the Martian space academy! I’ve been stranded on this island for two years! I don’t even know how I got here!”
“Lies” the leader screeched. He raised his laser towards Jeff’s friends. Jeff struggled as he fired, and two of the Lingworts vanished instantly in a flash of light, leaving only smoke where they had stood. The others watched in disbelief and fear. “Maybe now you’ll talk?”
“All right,” Jeff pleaded. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, just don’t kill any-more of my friends!” He approached the human, and pointed the gun in his face.
“What do you know? Perhaps you are a Republic spy? What can you tell me of Mars, Human? You cannot survive on such a planet without oxygen. You are lying. Why are you here? What brings a human this far out?” He knew that Jeff was telling the truth. It was obvious to Jeff he was playing a malicious game of some kind.
“I was marooned on this planet for two years,” Jeff explained. “I have no ship because your men destroyed it. I live with these beings, and we a
re peaceful. We are no threat to you.”
“If you are not Tolarion, you are a threat to us,” he grunted and shoved the gun in the human’s mouth.
“We just want to live in peace!” Jeff insisted one last time, the coldness of the steel weapon against his lips.
“Peace is for the weak,” the cyclopic alien laughed. “Take them to the complex for extermination; all except Major Walker. I want to have a talk with him.” Walker wasn’t surprised the leader knew his
name due to the incident on Pluto, and he would probably be executed along with his friends. Jeff watched, as the lingworts were pushed into the tunnel like a herd of cattle.
Tears ran from Dormiton’s cheeks as he stared at his companions in fear. They didn’t understand what was about to happen to them, or understand why the newcomers behaved in such a manner.
Jeff was unable to determine what his captors had in store for him, or where he was being taken. They directed him down a passageway with four doors, until they came upon the last door. He didn’t see any writing on the doors, which made it difficult for him to know where he was going when he needed to escape. They entered the doorway, which opened on its own into a laboratory. He scanned the room, which contained equipment that was unfamiliar to him. The containers they used to hold specimens were flat and circular. There weren’t any test tubes visible; only round, glass balls. The leader spoke in a foreign tongue to his followers, gesturing for them to leave the room. He still kept his laser pointed at Jeff, and removed his helmet. He was wearing some kind of mask over his nostrils and mouth, but Jeff could still hear his voice.
“Sit down,” he said, pushing him into the chair. “I’ll spare your friends-if you tell me the location of the Sentronian base and your own planet.”
“You’ve already found my planet,” Jeff responded, as his mind raced for an avenue of escape. The odds were more even now, and he was sure he could overcome their leader.
“You are lying! You are not from here, you are from Mars! I need to know where the Martians have hidden their race.”
“Why?”
“That’s for me to know,” he laughed and bared a wicked grin, which Jeff saw through his transparent respirator. “Forgive me, Mr. Walker. I have been rude to my guest. I haven’t introduced myself properly. Balta is my name, imperial leader of the Tolarion Army. I already know who you are. You are Major Jeff Walker, of the Martian colony. You shouldn’t be surprised that I know you. After all, it was you who killed two of my best agents and pilfered their ship. To me, it’s small offense, but still unforgiveable. Well, your people are no longer on your puny red planet. They have left, and I want to know where they have gone!”
“Why punish others for what I have done?”
“Because it is insurance that you will tell me what I need to know.
If you don’t, your friends will die.”
“Why should your kind rule the galaxy?” Jeff asked, as he reached for one of the glass balls behind him.
“Keep your hands where I can see them!” Balta barked, and pointed the gun at Jeff’s chest “I won’t tolerate anymore defiance!”
“I don’t suppose you will,” the Martian said, as he struggled to take the laser from Balta’s hand. With his free hand Jeff grabbed a glass ball which contained acid, and smashed it on the alien’s hand. He fell to the floor and clutched his hand in severe pain. Jeff grabbed his laser and struck him over the head, which rendered him unconscious. Jeff fired the laser at the door, blasting a huge hole in it, providing his means of escape. The two guards were on the floor, and Jeff ran down the corridor until he came upon a large red door. It was partially open, revealing four guards in front of a brig of some kind. Dormiton and Milgic were the only prisoners in it, both of them frightened and crying.
He knew he was outnumbered, so he had to think of a good plan. He thought about the direct approach, but also thought that all of Balta’s men would come down, and abandoned that idea. There wouldn’t be much of an escape if the alarm was sounded. Jeff quietly backed up in the corridor, took a stone he picked up from the cavern floor earlier and threw it in the opposite direction than where he was. Two of the guards heard the sound and headed down the corridor, and Jeff came up from behind and smashed their helmets together which dazed them, and they fell to the floor. The other guards heard the commotion and opened fire. Jeff fired back at them, rolled his body across the floor, just missing a blast. He fired back, hit one of them in
the head and shattered his skull like a crushed pineapple. The other
one escaped and set the alarm off. He fought them off for the moment, but more would be on the way. When he reached the brig, he immediately destroyed the force field controls with his laser, and released his friends.
“Jeff!” Dormition yelled in relief. “You’re all right!” He grabbed him around the waist in comfort.”
“We have to get out of here,” Jeff stated, as he grabbed his arm. Milgic quickly followed.
“Grab their guns!” Jeff commanded. The lingworts stared at him, unwilling to comply. Neither one would touch them. “Never mind, let’s just get out of here!”
They heard the loud ringing throughout the complex, as the trio headed down the corridor, unaware of where they were headed. Jeff kept his laser ready, as the sound of footsteps could be heard behind them, getting closer and closer. They ran faster until they came to two very large doors, and Jeff pressed the button that opened them. He had to buy some time, so he ran to the nearest door panel and pressed the main door lock. It would take them a while to cut through the thick metal, working to his advantage.
The controls were written in English, which didn’t make much sense to him. Why would a race so far away from Earth or Mars, write English and speak English as well as their own native tongue? Maybe they had been watching humans for some time. They piloted spacecraft much faster than anything humans developed, and their computers were far more advanced than any he ever saw, but weren’t impossible to decipher, for Jeff had extensive knowledge of computer systems. The ringing sound of the alarm made his hands a little jumpy, but after a few minutes, he felt a little calmer. He tried to tap into the mainframe, but was unsuccessful, and he didn’t have much time to play around, so he abandoned his efforts and moved away from the machine.
“Stand back!” he told his friends, and aimed his laser at the computer. He fired, and it exploded and smoked. He pointed to an air duct and blasted the grating with his laser. He gestured for them to get in the air duct, bent down, and allowed them to climb on his shoulders. Jeff threw his gun up to them as the sound of the guards cutting through the door intensified. They worked themselves down the duct until they were well out of distance. They would be safe until they reached the end, where there was sure to be a welcoming committee.
Jeff’s grandfather once told him that fear could either help
someone or hurt someone, depending on what the situation was. He claimed that when a man was cornered, he was no different than a wild animal, and fear could be used as a dangerous weapon. Death was not something to be afraid of, and it was just a final phase in the cycle of life; a bridge to the hereafter.
Jeff always dreamed what it would be like without war, disease, or famine. Living in Lingwort was just about as close to this dream he would ever get. Even this peaceful world seemed to become a battleground when the mood was set. Jeff himself didn’t realize it at the time, but he had already poisoned their little peaceful community.
He already shown them the first step of what it means to be human-he taught them how to kill.
CHAPTER TWO
It was early evening by the time they reached the end of the air duct. There was a metal grating at the end that overlooked a heavily guarded spaceship hangar deck. They were near enough to the floor for Jeff to jump down, and at the moment no one was looking. The spaceships were not far from him, perhaps three hundred feet at the most. There were at least twenty aliens near them, and another thirty were moving freely about the dec
k. To steal a ship, he needed a plan, and quick.
He drew a deep breath, and sat there thinking for what seemed an eternity. The sweat was pouring from his forehead from the heat of the vent behind him. There were too many of them for him to charge them, so that approach was out of the question. He eyed the room carefully, but saw no way out. The only possible alternative he saw was a small, black tank on the far side of the deck, which contained some kind of concentrated gas. He turned to his friends with an idea which would be crude, but effective.
“Guys,” he whispered to them. “After I remove this metal grating, I want you to stay here until I shoot at that black oval object over there. After I do, I want you to run as fast as you can to the first ship on the right. I’ll be right behind you.” They backed up, while Jeff got ready to kick the grating. After he kicked the grating off, he jumped down and fired his laser at the tank. The tank exploded before the aliens could fire back at him, sending a plume of flames and smoke through the deck, and killing at least half of them. The explosion
knocked Jeff to the floor and Milgic and Dormiton out of the vent. They rose to their feet, dazed.
“Run to the ships!” Jeff yelled, as an alien grabbed his arm. He punched him with his right hand in his stomach. He fell, and Jeff reached for his laser. Another guard ran towards him, only to be obliterated by the blast of the laser gun. Milgic was shot in the leg by one of the aggressors and screamed in agony, as his amphibian friend dragged him in haste into the spaceship. .Jeff followed closely behind, and there was a barrage of laser fire. The hangar deck was in flames, and half of guards tried to extinguish it.
The other half tried to stop Jeff as he ran towards the craft and jumped in, pressing the hatch door button. The inside of the craft was considerably different than his. It was hemi- spherical shape, and had many more controls. The one thing that surprised him was that everything in it was written in English as well as hieroglyphics. Jeff didn’t see any problems learning how to pilot it. The majority of the ship was set up like his own, with a helm and weapons system. There was seating for three, and a main screen area. It covered with computers, except for the rear, where the sleeping quarters and storage was. The interior was rather large, at least one hundred and ten feet in diameter. There was also a surgical area, with a table in the middle of it, where Dormiton placed his friend. As he sat at the helm, he heard their pursuers cutting through the door with their lasers. Jeff himself started to get nervous as he tried to figure out how to switch on the engines.
Dimension Lapse (Dimension Lapse Series Book 1) Page 2