by R J Johnson
Johan stared at him horrified. He took two steps back, nearly stumbling over the uneven ground.
As if to help him get moving, Charles began firing his rifle at his feet, the bullets ricocheting far too close for comfort.
“Move!” he cried out. “Flee! Run for your life like a little girl! I’m coming for you!”
Johan stuck the survival knife into his belt and began to run into the dark forest ahead. Behind him came the furious laughter of a madman firing an assault rifle into the air.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Scott nosed into the wind, feeling the warm updraft play against his wings. He was floating over downtown Los Angeles as an eagle, looking for the building where the love of his life had died, long before her time.
Scott closed his eyes, feeling the breeze that was keeping him aloft. He hadn’t thought about the day she died in a long time. It wasn’t as if he’d forgotten about her. Quite the contrary. He just avoided thinking about the things he couldn’t change. He knew what they told him, why they say it happened. But with this stone, he finally had a chance to find out the truth.
The Hypertruck program was something he and Molly had thought up together one night. Their pillow talk wasn’t what most people considered normal. Instead, they were always under the sheets giggling about technology they’d seen on TV and the movies while trying to figure out how to actually make it happen.
After Halprin and his company had given them their grant, they felt like kids in a candy shop. Everything they had ever wanted had come true. It was just a matter of figuring out what they wanted to work on first.
The Hypertruck had been Molly’s idea after watching Harry Potter for the thousandth time. She was enamored with the idea of the invisibility cloak and wanted to make it real. Fortunately, science had caught up with her dream and the invention of many types of meta-materials made those types of advances possible.
The first on their list was an invisible supercar. Scott originally wanted the Hypertruck to fly “Where are our flying cars?” he used to complain to Molly, but she’d quickly shot that down after pointing out how terrible people were driving regular cars. She didn’t like the idea of adding a third dimension for people to crash their cars with.
Instead, they went to work on building a prototype that allowed them to go long distances while at the same time staying inconspicuous. Halprin was thrilled. The DoD was pleased as punch. They immediately put in a bid for Scott and Molly’s technology, but the more Molly played with the invisibility cloaking mechanism, the less she liked her idea. After a success like that, Scott fully expected Molly to flower. Instead, she’d become withdrawn and frequently threatened to quit the project.
Scott couldn’t allow that to happen. Their grant was tied to their work after all. If they lost that, they’d be out of work and likely out of options.
The explosion at the lab was the last straw. They’d told him it was an accident caused by his negligence, but Scott didn’t buy it. He had a perfect record for maintaining his lab space, and yet, they’d blamed him. They said he had improperly stored the liquid Oxygen they used to treat the meta-materials with.
At least that’s what the company said their investigators found. But Scott knew better. Molly was nothing if not thorough. She would’ve noticed if something was off, or an alarm was blinking. They had too many failsafes in place.
Her death remained a frustrating mystery that the company refused to investigate further. They had their answers. All they wanted was Molly’s and his work on the camouflage project. When the DoD had shown up with their completed prototype a few weeks ago, it had reopened all those wounds. He taken his time with the software install, feeling like it was his last chance to be close with Molly. He felt her presence every time he got close to the truck.
He missed her more than anything else in the world.
But, if he wanted to get the answers he was looking for, he had to focus. The building that contained their former lab was directly below him. Scott-the-Parrot dived sharply, aiming for a roof across the street. Landing gracefully, he transformed back into his human form and ran quickly behind an air conditioner unit hoping to avoid any cameras that might spot him.
Scott glanced at the card in his hand. Molly’s keycard would allow him access into the inner server room, but he still needed to get inside.
Below he saw a familiar car. He squinted and grunted in surprise.
Alex stepped out of Scott’s Mustang and looked around for his friend. He was parked right outside a DoD facility so he was keeping his head down. Wearing a cap he’d borrowed from Scott’s closet, he looked around for his friend.
“Alex you idiot, what are you doing here…?” Scott muttered. This was unexpected. Scott had figured on having a better head start on his friend.
Scott looked at the stone in his hand and made a decision. He didn’t know if Alex was there to stop him or help him. But if he was there, then his best friend had figured out what happened to him and Molly.
Scott moved to the rooftop door, opening it and jogged down the stairs. As he made his way down the stairs, his form changed from his short, squat frame into a tall, lean dark haired man, the same man who’d confronted him and threatened his girlfriend’s life.
Scott made his way into the lobby and out the door, stepping across the street to the DoD research building. He saw Alex looking around for Scott, hoping to catch his friend. Scott wasn’t sure if his friend would recognize him, but as he passed Alex, his friend didn’t give him a second look.
Scott withdrew Molly’s pass and placed it against a small dark smoky pane of glass next to the door. The front door clicked open and he quickly strode in.
He walked into the foyer and strode confidently to the bank of elevators that lined the rear of the building. There he stood, waiting for an express.
“Sir,” a man said sounding surprised. He’d come out of nowhere and was suddenly standing next to Scott’s disguised body. “I wasn’t aware you were in town today.”
Scott panicked. He hadn’t counted on anyone actually daring to speak to his doppelganger. He’d only needed to get in and out of the server room.
“Last minute prep…” Scott said, keeping his voice hoarse.
The man looked alarmed, staring at Scott. “Mr. Halprin, are you alright?”
Scott ignored the security guard and stepped into the elevator.
Unfortunately for him at that exact second, James Timothy Halprin, the CEO of Auburn Industries stepped out of the elevator.
The CEO gave a double take seeing his mirror image standing in front of him.
“What in blue bloody hell…?”
The security men surrounding JT Halprin pulled him back into the elevator and stepped forward to eliminate what they perceived as a threat. They withdrew their side arms and aimed it at Scott.
Scott’s eyes went wide. He hadn’t expected this to go so wrong so quick. He grasped the shape shifting stone in his pocket.
Scales burst out all over his chest seconds before JT’s security guards pulled their triggers and fired several rounds into his body.
Scott felt the bullets slam into his torso and he screamed in pain. The dragon scales were tough enough to deflect the bullets, but the kinetic energy of them still hurt like a bitch. He stumbled, his body becoming larger as he continued to transform into a dragon hoping to get away from the professional bodyguards.
His legs expanded and filled the lobby, crashing against the expensive marble security desk that sat against the rear of the lobby. The elevator door closed, as more private security poured out of various offices, each packing heavy weaponry.
“Call the police!” Scott heard a voice scream over the din.
They aimed their rifles at Scott and fired. He roared in frustration, when he felt the ammunition pepper his body. He drew back, ready to unleash hell, when he hesitated. He didn’t like the idea of using his dragon fire in such close quarters. He was only trying to delete Auburn’s company ser
vers, he wasn’t there to kill innocent bystanders. Whether they knew the horrible things Halprin was up to or not, Scott wasn’t about to kill them for simply collecting a paycheck.
His claws scraped the marble foyer and he struggled to pull his massive body forward hoping to escape. Unfortunately, a line of security guards had taken position by the front windows and were firing on Scott.
Scott squeezed his eyes shut. There wasn’t any other way. He inhaled ready to blow a tight blast of fire down the middle hoping to clear out security so he could get out the front door when the elevator behind him dinged.
The door opened and an empty elevator car was revealed. Scott glanced back at the elevator and back at the second story of the lobby. Making his decision, he retreated back into the car as security pushed forward, laying down a steady stream of suppressive fire.
Scott shifted back into his human form as the elevator doors closed just in the nick of time. He pushed the button for the second floor and waited. He glanced down and saw blood trickling out the side of his right arm. He felt woozy and tried to shake it off.
The elevator dinged and he stepped out of the elevator, transforming as he did so. His huge wings unfolded and he jumped off the second story balcony and down into the lobby. Security wide eyed, scattered as Scott burst out the glass windows that lined the first and second story.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alex looked around the street in frustration. He’d felt the shape shifting stone as soon as he’d pulled up in front of the building mentioned in Scott’s e-mail. His friend had to be close. But where? His friend’s stone meant that Scot could be disguised to look like anything… or anyone.
He closed his eyes hoping to calm his thoughts. The quieter his mind was, the easier it was for him to feel where Scott was holding the stone.
He turned, holding his arms out, hoping to feel the pull by the shape shifting stone. Feeling a slight tug, he opened his eyes in triumph. There, sitting on a branch looking as innocent as anything, was a squirrel quietly looking at him, holding a nut in its tiny hands.
Alex smiled, approaching the squirrel cautiously. The small animal didn’t move, making Alex feel all the more confident this was his shape-shifted friend. Alex leaned up against the tree and began talking to in a soft tone.
“Scott, it’s hard to believe I know, but I’m here to help. I promise…”
The squirrel didn’t do or say anything, only standing there, watching him with his tiny dark eyes. Alex decided to try again.
“I know the stone’s appeal, I get it. I’d spend my days as a chipmunk too if I thought I could solve my problems that way. But the truth is, I need that stone back if I want any hope of stopping Kline.”
Alex reached out, “So come on pal, shift back and let’s go bag us a billionaire…”
The squirrel chittered noisily at him and retreated back into the back of the tree.
Alex frowned. That was not Scott.
That’s when he heard shouts and dozens of shots from a nearby building. Alex whipped his head around as a huge roar erupted out of the building. A dragon burst out of the second story glass façade, while several security guards charged out the front door, firing their side arms at the mythical beast.
Alex rose from kneeling, his eyes wide. Scott let another roar lose as people screamed, fleeing from the Grimm’s Fairy Tale nightmare that had appeared out of nowhere.
“Scott!” Alex shouted. The dragon glanced over his way as he stumbled over the broken plaster, glass and marble.
Alex ran toward the dragon while everyone else ran away. The police began shooting at his head and Alex saw the dragon wince. The tough scales Scott had were protecting him, but his head was still vulnerable.
Alex extended his arm and healed his transformed friend from a distance. He switched his focus to the fire stone and concentrated briefly, disabling the nearby guns and bullets.
Unfortunately for them, that’s when several dozen police cars came racing up the street, their sirens screaming and lights flashing wildly.
One cruiser went into a side slide and the door opened. Two officers jumped out holding a strange looking shotgun. Alex raised a hand and was dismayed to learn his fire stone was useless against the weapon. Several shots rang out with a metallic CLANG as a half-dozen slugs flew out the police officers barrels, headed for the rampaging dragon.
Alex frowned and lowered his hand. Their weapons were apparently based on some sort of magnetic system. Like the PHaSeRs he’d faced at the airport, the fire stone was apparently useless against it. The slugs fired from their rifles hit their mark on Scott’s neck and they burst apart, the electricity fanning out all over his body.
Scott roared in pain as a burst of electricity played out across his body. Losing his concentration, Scott’s dragon form began to give way back to his human form as he fell a dozen feet above the street. The police surrounded his friend, shouting orders at him to stay down.
Alex grimaced and waved his hand. A protective wall of fire erupted around Scott, forcing the officers to move back. If he couldn’t stop them from shooting at Scott, then he’d at least make it impossible for them to put the cuffs on his friend.
He began running for his friend as a few officers shouted at him to get down and stay away from the suspect. One officer even managed to withdraw his weapon and fired. After Collier’s demonstration with the fire stone, the police weren’t taking any chances.
Alex one of the officer’s bullet wing him, and he stumbled, nearly tripping on his way to Scott. He refused to go down and however and regained his footing. He pushed through the curtain of flame he’d summoned and reached down for friend, turning him over.
Scott looked up at him, his face screwed up in pain as the electrobolt fired from the police officer’s shotgun continued to discharge electricity into his naked body. Alex ripped the bolt out of Scott’s skin and tossed it away, healing his friend’s wounds quickly with a wave of his hands.
“Thanks…” Scott said weakly. Alex could tell his friend wanted to apologize, but there was no time for that.
“Can you get us out of here?” Alex asked, keeping his head down and ignoring the police’s shouted orders to give up.
Scott swallowed and clutched the shape shifting stone, “I… I think so…”
“Good,” Alex said, pulling his friend up by his arm. “Then get us the hell outta here.”
Another bullet caught Alex and he winced as it went through his shoulder. The healing stone glowed under his shirt and Alex turned, irritated toward the offending police. He waved his arm and increased the wall of flames into a huge explosion of flame that reached six stories into the air.
They cried out and fell back, the heat oppressive. Alex hauled his friend back to his feet, as the shapeshifting stone flashed. Scott quickly transformed into the massive dragon he’d become so fond of as Alex pulled himself up onto Scott’s back, holding onto his friend’s wings for support.
“Time to go Scott!” Alex shouted over the sirens.
Scott’s massive wings flapped and they slowly managed to take off, Alex barely hanging onto his rampaging friend. Alex held on for his life as they cruised into the sky, far away from the angry LAPD.
He only hoped Emily and Christina were having as much fun as he and Scott were.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
After their flight from San Diego landed, Emily and Christina rushed up to the complex on top of Haleakalā on the small island of Maui. There, over the last few hours, they had spent their time looking over past photos, taken of the piece of sky in question, hoping to find some unexplained heat signature. In a universe that spanned hundreds of billions of light years across, Emily knew just how large the project she had was.
Fortunately the high elevation with its clear, dry atmosphere made for an ideal place for telescopes to peer into the vast inky sky. If she had any hope of finding the Patron’s planet, she should be able to do it here.
Plus, she was far away from whateve
r chaos Alex was experiencing.
Telescope time on Haleakalā was precious, so Emily and Christina had to call in a few favors to get their access time pushed up in the queue. As it happened, one of the main projects for the science complex was already searching for gamma ray bursts and strange Cepheid variable stars and they were able to piggyback on another researcher’s efforts. That was exactly the type of star Emily suspected the stones came from, so they were fortunate that all it took was a little convincing to open up a new grid to look at for the night.
It was only after assuring one of their colleagues they would have their name on the paper they were writing that they finally got a peaceful night alone with the scope.
Discussing anything about Alex or her fiancé Maxwell had been verboten. Emily had made it clear more than once on the flight over that she wasn’t going to engage with Christina on those subjects. She was going to disappear into work, and to do what she did best. Watch the skies and decipher what they could tell them. Christina knew her friend was hurting, and that made her worried.
Christina watched as Emily flipped through thousands of stills taken over the last decade in the general area they were looking. They had a lot of data, but there was so much, it made it difficult to even know what they were looking for. The gamma Ray burst set to annihilate Earth had to come from a star so massive it’d probably dwarf their entire solar system. Unfortunately, there was no record of a star that size anywhere near the Orion constellation.
“How long ‘til we get our first look at Orion today?” Emily asked.
“Should be coming up in about a half hour or so,” Christina said, absently checking the sky map. “According to Scott, that Irish chick said the beam came from his shoulder.”
Emily didn’t acknowledge this and only studied the images on her screen, biting the lower left corner of her lip. Christina looked over at her in concern.