by Tony Teora
The APRV moved into the action with Ace using his internal ocular sensor link. He drove the vehicle into position and saw five targets in tunnel one. They were bunched together—that was good. He launched grenade one. It exploded with dust and then human flesh shooting out of the tunnel hole like a cannon. Maybe I should have set the grenades a notch lower, but too late now.
Ace maneuvered the APRV to position two. Lots of smoke made it hard to see these targets. Ace turned on infra and spectral scanners. He got two targets—no, there were three. One was wearing a metal suit. A metal suit?
Ace launched the second grenade. It exploded with some delayed popping sounds this time. Must have hit a cache of explosives. Human flesh and metal splattered. Ace saw a shiny metallic arm fly out of the hole. Scanners on the APRV showed no more targets, but who knew when more would come?
Ace recalled the APRV, bringing it back like a boomerang to papa. He clicked a few switches; the wheels receded back into slots. Ace threw it across his back and carefully proceeded to Jimbo and Ivan. Jimbo smiled and gave Ace a warrior’s handshake, pulling him close and then banging heads like at the football games in Shanghai.
“Thanks, man,” said Jimbo. “We put ourselves in a real bad situation here. The reactor’s around the corner, and we almost made it, but it seemed like they were in a rush to get there before us.”
“Wonder why?” asked Ace.
“Grey man went inside,” said Ivan.
“What? I didn’t see anyone,” said Jimbo.
Ivan tapped his metal skull. “Grey man try to camouflage himself but metal block his thoughts.”
“Fuck,” said Ace. “We gotta get in there now!”
“The door’s around the corner,” said Jimbo, looking at his e-map.
All three men rushed around the corner. The first security door was jarred open, unlocked. Sure enough, someone must have recently entered. Ace led the team, his gun’s red laser sight active as he entered the first room. It was a dark control room with a few empty desks. The reactor was on automatic; the people working there must have abandoned their stations.
In the corner, Jimbo spoke. “We got a few cold stonies.”
“Shit,” said Ace, looking at the two dead men. Both were scientists, one name Ed Brinsky, the other a Joe Giliano. Ace picked up a badge. “I think we have a way into the reactor chamber.”
“Yeah, but I have a hunch our Grey buddy is in there,” said Jimbo.
“I found radproof viewpane,” said Ivan, looking into the reactor. “Not good, no … not good.”
Ace walked over. He and Jimbo both looked inside. The Grey alien stumbled near a panel and clicked some dials. He then fell to the floor and rested his head on a cooling pipe. He looked tired, actually sick. Ace looked over at a digital reading below the viewing window. It said that there was a deadly level of radiation level in the room, over 30,000 rads.
“Why’d did he go in there?” asked Jimbo. “He smoked himself. You’ll live about ten minutes in that environment.”
“It’s a quick death, better than a lower dose where you’d take weeks to die. But I think we got other problems … this is not fuckin’ good,” said Ace.
Jimbo looked over at the reactor energy levels. “Ah fuck! You’re shittin’ me. He fuckin’ overloaded the reactor!”
“We’ve got about three minutes before he blows this joint.” Ace pointed at an overload critical breach monitor in the room. It had a time that said 3:05 and was counting down.
“That idiot alien! We’re all fuckin’ dead,” said Jimbo.
Ivan walked over and tapped Ace on the shoulder. “Me and Yogi can go in and shut down the overload.”
Ace looked over and knew that someone had to do the dirty work, or everyone within five miles of the facility would be dead in less than three minutes.
“Ivan, you’re right, someone needs to go in there and shut down the overload. But I got both you guys onto this mission and into this mess because I knew I could count on you two. I’m not gonna let you guys take a bullet for this one—no way. If one of us is going in, it’s gonna be me, not you or Yogi or Jimbo.”
Jimbo and Ivan both shook their heads in frustration.
“I wish there was a better way,” said Ace. “But I don’t see it.”
“Let’s draw sticks,” said Jimbo. “Short one goes in. That’s the only fair way.”
“I’ve decided,” said Ace. “And do me a favor, tell Kiya—”
Ace’s words got cut off by gunfire from behind the main door. Ace ducked behind a desk and returned fire. Jimbo and Ivan fell to the floor near the two dead bodies, using them for some cover. One was fat, a good three hundred pounds of lardy barrier.
Ace was in a closed-off area and couldn’t see out of the door, but Jimbo could.
Jimbo yelled. “Listen, Ace, there’s two metal covered men; they got some kind of suits on. If you head out that exit door toward your left, we can pinch them with crossfire and take them out.”
“We don’t have much time, Jimbo. You come over and head out the emergency door and I’ll head into the reactor.”
Jimbo shook his head. “No, it’s too risky. They’ll shoot me when I come over to the door. You have access now and we only have a few seconds. I know these reactors—do you?”
Ace had to admit he really didn’t know how to cool down the reactor, though he had some training. But still he couldn’t let Jimbo go. “No, Jimbo, get over here, that’s an order!”
Jimbo grabbed Joe Giliano’s badge and looked over to Ivan, who sat crouched on the floor.
Ivan looked at Yogi, then at Jimbo. He spoke softly. “Let me and Yogi go. Tell us what to do. Ace needs you.”
“No can do, little buddy. The comm’s not working here … too much radiation,” said Jimbo, patting Yogi on the head. “You and Ace take out these men and get the hell off this rotten planet. Ol’ Jimbo is gonna be the dead fuckin’ hero, not you or Ace. You and Yogi take care. I’ll see ya in the afterlife—if there is one for people like us.”
Ivan gave Jimbo the Big Gun handshake and spoke the motto. “Freedom is never free.”
“No it ain’t—Oorah!” returned Jimbo, getting up and running to the corner security door as shots fired. He got hit in the shoulder but was still able to scan the card. It worked. He entered the reactor, hot air hitting him like a burning desert, and then his whole body was painted with what felt like powerful static electricity. For a second, a wave of electrostatic light engulfed Jimbo’s body.
Ivan looked over at Jimbo and spoke to Yogi. “I agree, Yogi, Jimbo is angel, he will transform soon.”
Jimbo pushed ahead in the reactor. His back stung from the bullet burning in his shoulder. This is what hell must feel like, thought Jimbo as warm blood slowly trickled down his back. Lot of good the damn cloned body parts are doing in radiation. Millions to fix me up at FAR for this? The hair on his arms stood up, infected with static electricity, but Jimbo knew it was much more than static. The high level of radiation would immediately start to kill his cells. They would pop from the inside. It would even destroy the silicon-based electronic chips and internal wiring. Eventually, his brain would fill with dead, mushy cells and blood would fill his lungs. Things would start to shut off, just like the dead Grey lying on the floor. The alien had sacrificed himself to set off the chain reaction, hoping to save his race and the galaxy.
Jimbo had more humble plans; he was going to try and undo that work to save his teammates, but his plans were the same as the Grey’s. The rotten GEN-6 facility had to be destroyed.
Jimbo headed over to the control board and saw that the alien had shut down the cooling systems. Jimbo turned them back on and looked at the overload time left. It read two minutes and twenty seconds. The coolant should be running, but the energy levels stayed high. They weren’t going down. What was wrong? Jimbo was starting to feel a little nauseous and, although his head was still clear, he started to feel tired. This was not good.
Jimbo looked at the screens a
nd tried to see what he’d missed. Boy, a nap would sure feel good, thought Jimbo, almost laughing to himself … a final nap … now, what did I miss? Jimbo looked over at the screen. Ah shit! The sneaky alien bastard rewired the fuckin’ lines and locked everyone out. This was not good either, but Jimbo was an engineer and knew the system pretty much inside and out. Jimbo looked over at the alien. You were a sneaky mother fucker. You didn’t fool ole Jimbo, though.
Jimbo moved over to a large, one-foot diameter pipe. He looked for a wrench and found it. It felt heavier than it should have. The damn rads are killing me quick, thought Jimbo. Big Jimbo knew that he’d need every ounce of strength to turn and manually re-route the two lines. He put the heavy wrench on the coolant line and started to redirect the flow. Each turn of the wrench seemed heavier and heavier …
***
Ace felt guilty. He admitted to himself he didn’t want to die, though he’d seen so much death in the last year. On the other hand, Jimbo might be right—he didn’t know shit about the reactor and might end up killing everyone by trying to be a hero. Ace looked over at Ivan, gave some hand signals, and then rushed out the emergency door. Exiting with a run, he dropped to the floor and slid while shooting a round of bullets at the two shiny-looking men. Bullets hit but they mostly ricocheted off. The crazies turned and shot laser weapons.
Ace rolled on the floor behind a corner wall. These scientists had some kind of robotic protective suits. Hell, they almost looked like robots. Were they robots? That made no sense.
Ace pulled out his APRV and put it on his shoulders. He set the rounds to level one. That should do the job. As Ivan fired away, distracting the two shiny-armored men, Ace went around the corner and shot off an APRV round. It hit one of the men and exploded. The man blew to bits, the parts hitting his partner so hard that it took the crazy’s head off at the neck. It rolled down the aisle. Thank God!
Ace wanted to wait few a few seconds, but time was running out. He rushed over to look at the carnage. There were cables and wires mixed in with blood. “Wonder who the fuck these people are?” As Ace stood over the bodies, he got a call in from Kiya.
“Ace, can you read me? I’ve been trying to call for the last few minutes.”
“I’m sorry, we were a little indisposed here. Lots of shit goin’ on … look, can I call you back in a second? We got some issues ...”
“We do too. We had to head out the east gate. We were attacked by some kind of robots. We’re heading back to the shuttle.”
“Listen, when you get to the EyeStar, tell the pilot to fly back to the Aurora immediately—don’t wait for us. I can’t explain, but just please do as I say. I gotta go help Jimbo. Ace Archer out.”
Ace ran into the outer control room. Ivan looked though the view pane with tears running down his eyes. He was holding Yogi tight. Ace joined Ivan looking through the radproof viewpane. Jimbo was struggling with a wrench; his skin was bleeding, especially from his back. The skin looked like a sun burn from hell; there were boil-like blotches on his arms.
Jimbo pushed hard and fell down, dropping his wrench. He struggled to get back up, succeeded, and continued turning a valve. Ace’s heart hammered in pride, seeing how this big man wouldn’t give up. Ace looked at the clock; there were only twenty seconds left. Keep it up Big Man … I know you can do it.
Jimbo turned the wrench with sweat and blood dripping from his body. He finally opened the second valve. I beat you, alien motherfucker, ole’ Jimbo did it. Coolant flooded into the system. Jimbo dropped the wrench and saw the power levels start to go down, but there were still ten seconds to an explosion. The reactors cooled, but it might be too late. Jimbo watched the dials, but his vision was now getting blurry. Come on baby, don’t screw ol’ Jimbo. You gotta cool down. At three seconds, the counter stopped and a green light lit. All was okay… well … all was okay for the others.
Jimbo fell to the ground, not far from the dead alien Grey. He looked out the viewpane window and saw Ivan and Ace both staring at him. Jimbo gave a “thumbs up” and rested his head, wishing he had something cold to drink. He stared at Ace and Ivan, his mind drifting to the mountain ranges where he would hunt in the spring. A refreshing, cool mountain breeze hit his body; it tingled and made him feel strong again. He stood up in the forest. Ahead, twenty yards away, stood a wild deer who stared at Jimbo. Jimbo lifted his rifle, ready to take a shot, but stopped and put it down. I’m gonna set you free, we’re gonna be free. And with that final thought, Jimbo passed away.
Ace and Ivan watched Jimbo go limp. Jimbo was as dead as a goldwing ducken shot through the head. Ace held back a tear. Ivan had a few tears in his eyes, but both men knew they had to get the hell off of GEN-6, and soon, or they’d all end up like Jimbo.
“Jimbo was a good man,” said Ivan.
“Yes, he was,” said Ace. “Let’s wire up this fuckin’ reactor and see if we can find Tucker and get the hell outta here.”
***
Kiya rushed past the dead spider graveyard with her eyes peeled. She and the scientists were on their way back to shuttle EyeStar.
“How much further?” asked Janice, trying to pick up her pace.
“I think we’re only a half mile from there,” said Kiya, huffing in the hot desert air. “Let me check the GPS … yes, only point four miles.”
Janice looked at one of the dead spiders. It had the body and look of an over-cooked roasted pig with green ooze dripping from its opened belly section. The eight or so legs looked like super-sized, chocolate-covered Alaskan king crab legs. The area stunk like rotten fish meat. “I don’t ever want to see a spider again! I can’t wait to get off this stinking planet. I can’t believe all those scientists are gonna die … that infection. It’s horrible.”
“I’m sorry about all those people,” said Dr. Mitchell, covering his mouth with a white cloth. “But I need to get back soon to complete my work. What I’ve learned here is amazing. The virus showed us more about the human mind in the last six months than we’ve learned in the last hundred years! I lost some friends, and it’s unfortunate … but as a scientist, I know it’s the cost for scientific advancement. We all take that risk for human progress.”
Kiya looked over at the grey-haired and bearded doctor. He was sweating and looked greasy, probably hadn’t showered in days, and from his fat body. Kiya was sure he ate all the wrong kinds of foods. Actually, he stunk like he’d been nipping on Scotch. She really didn’t like him; he was a mouse of a man. How could he be so cold? Were all government scientists like this? Was this really progress for mankind? No, Dr. Mitchell was just one of the human assholes who’d lost touch with reality, with caring and compassion.
She tried to give him some telepathic privacy, but she easily read his personality type. He had no honor; he whored himself out to the military industrial complex—or worse, to BOT. Kiya didn’t fool herself into thinking that she had perfectly clean hands. But she only worked on jobs to save people, so even though she worked in the dust that surrounds a devil, she felt she was doing something noble. Or was she?
Kiya looked at Dr. Mitchell and frowned. “Dr. Mitchell, I believe in saving those who deserve to be saved, and I don’t think it’s progress to have half your team turned into some kind of alien zombies that we’re going to euthanize—or more eloquently, blow up off the face of this planet. If I were you, Dr. Mitchell, I’d keep my comments short, or I might just leave you here so you can continue your research—alone.”
Dr. Mitchell pushed back his thick, black-framed glasses and looked at Kiya like one looks at a lion in flimsy cage. He then pulled a small, metal flask from his pocket and took a drink.
Kiya watched Mitchell drink but didn’t say anything. Maybe he would drink himself to death in the desert. One could always hope.
As Kiya and the team turned around a bend, they came to a straight beeline desert path. At the end near a small hill was the Aurora MLV shuttle EyeStar. Kiya thought back to Ace and the conversation they had. She knew he was going to try to save
Tucker, but something told her that was a bad idea. Her remote viewing was a little off, but she saw Tucker in some laboratory, and something told her he was dangerous. That feeling told her to call Ace. She hit her comm link.
“Ace, you got your ears on?” Kiya walked away from Dr. Mitchell and the others.
“You mean my rabbit ears? Is this Fudd?”
“Who’s Fudd?” asked Kiya.
“Elmer, you know, Bugs Bunny’s goofy hunter friend.”
Kiya smiled. “I’m a goofy hunter friend? You really pick a strange time for jokes. And that’d better be a joke.”
“Hey, I need someone to cheer me up … we lost Jimbo,” said Ace, choking up.
Kiya’s face felt like it’d dropped onto the ground. “Oh, my God. What happened?”
“What happened is he saved all of us; a damn Grey had the reactor on overload. Jimbo went in and saved our asses.” Ace’s words seemed like they were holding back some strong emotions.
“I’m so sorry, Ace … I know he was a good friend of yours.”
“It’s the job we’re in. Look, me and Ivan need to run. We’re approaching the crazies’ compound. I’m not sure how long it’ll be before someone sees us on a security camera. We think Tucker is somewhere around here. Are you guys okay?”
“We’re okay, Ace. We’re approaching the EyeStar. But that’s not why I called you. I remote viewed your area and I think I saw Tucker, but something tells me you can’t trust him. Be real careful. I know this sounds horrible, but actually I think you’d be better coming back with us now. Please leave him there.”
“Come on, Kiya, you know I can’t do that. I already knew long ago not to trust Tucker, and I need to secure his package. God knows what will happen if that idiot leaves this base with the virus. I can’t let that happen, even if it kills me. Plus, we can take his ride outta here. I want to use it to fish out the BOT cruiser that’s coming to pick him up. Then I’ll contact the Aurora to pick up that cruiser and our BOT friends. Would love to see the BOT captain’s face when he sees the Aurora waiting for him. I know they’re up to no good here, and we can’t let them get away with all the trouble they created … look, I gotta run.”