Chapter 27
Wendar, Day 7 of the Second Akhet, 15th Dynasty, Year 14
“I’m going to transport back and forth until I find the Aesir, and then try to bring back as many as I can,” said K-Mart. “Especially the prince, if I can find him.”
“What am I supposed to do?” asked Rock.
“Mark my position and help me measure so I don’t materialize in a tree,” said K-Mart, “and help keep the Aesir out of the way…if I ever find them.”
“Do you suppose the Jotunn are going to be waiting for you in our cell?”
“I don’t know,” said K-Mart. “I hope not.”
“Wait a minute,” said Rock, “doesn’t that thing have some sort of invisibility or illusionary shape change function? I’ve read all of the mission reports I could get my hands on, and I seem to remember the first Sila that Lieutenant Commander Hobbs met could go invisible.”
“Well, there are some additional buttons and knobs on the rod, but I’ll be darned if I know what they do.”
“Can I see the rod?” asked Rock. K-Mart passed it to him. “Yeah, I figured as much,” Rock said. “It’s kind of like a TV remote.”
“What does that mean?” asked K-Mart.
“What does a TV remote look like after you’ve had it a while?” asked Rock in reply. “The buttons you use all the time have the symbols rubbed off, but you don’t care because you know what each does. The buttons you never use still look brand new.”
Rock pointed to the buttons as he explained further. “The two buttons to transport between worlds have their symbols rubbed off. They are used the most, so that makes sense. These other buttons on the end still have all their symbols, except for this one here, which is almost rubbed off.”
He handed the rod back, and K-Mart looked at it more closely. “Huh,” he said. “I never would have noticed that. I guess I don’t have to worry about something bad happening if I push it. If that button did do something bad, it wouldn’t have been used often enough to rub off its symbol, right?”
“Exactly,” said Rock. “I don’t know if there is a button to make you go invisible, but if there is, I’ll bet it’s that one right there.”
“Groovy,” said K-Mart, pressing the button. “Can you still see me?”
“No,” replied Rock. “I can’t see you at all. That’s gotta be the right button.”
“Well, in that case,” said K-Mart, “here I go.” He pushed the blue button and was back in the middle of his former cell. A Jotunn stood in the hallway, his eyes searching the cells. As his gaze swept over K-Mart, the aviator poised his finger over the green button, ready to transport out in an instant. The button wasn’t needed; the giant’s gaze kept moving as if K-Mart wasn’t there.
So far, so good. His stomach was a little queasy, but controllable. On to the next step.
The cell door was shut, so he would need to get past it to get out of the cell. K-Mart measured from where he transported in; it was five steps to the bars marking the edge of the cell. There were at least five more to the wall on the other side of the passageway.
He went back to where he transported in, faced in the direction of the cell door and pushed the green button.
Back in the forest with Rock, K-Mart took seven and a half steps. No trees in the way. “Wish me luck,” he said. He pushed the blue button and returned in the middle of the passageway, outside the cell. It worked; he was free to move around the complex. Now…where would he hide a bunch of Aesir if he were their jailor?
Outside the Castle, Ashur, Unknown Date/Time
“You’re sure you know what you’re doing, sir?” asked Master Gunnery Sergeant Bill Hendrick. “How do you know their spaceship won’t blast you when you get up there?”
“I don’t; that’s why I’m going to need the caliph to send someone up to translate for us,” said Calvin.
“It will have to be me,” said Grand Vizier Jafar. “Only four people speak the language from the other side of the boundary, and two of them are women. The Efreet would know immediately something was wrong if there were a female voice on the radio. The caliph is much too valuable to risk on something as foolhardy as this mission. That leaves me.” He looked at Night. “And perhaps, in some small way, it will help make up for my part in the deaths of your comrades.”
“Okay,” said Calvin, “here’s the plan. Master Gunnery Sergeant Hendrick, you’re going to take Sergeant Tereshchenko, Sergeant Al-Sabani, Sergeant Hiley, Sergeant Jones and Corporal Rozhkov and secure the castle. If you can safely do it, you will then get the control rod and send people back to let the Terra know what we’re doing and to bring back our suits if they can.”
“Everyone else in the platoon,” he continued, “is going to bust our asses getting to the airfield, where we’re going to link up with the caliph’s forces and board the remaining shuttle. Then we’ll fly back here, get our combat suits and go up to the enemy destroyer in orbit, at which time we will commence to kicking ass and taking names. When there are no more Efreet alive on the ship, we’ll figure out what we want to do next. Got it?”
All of the troopers’ heads nodded up and down although more than a few had eyes that were about twice the size of normal. Can’t blame ‘em, thought Calvin. If I stopped to think about it, I’d probably be scared shitless too.
Calvin looked next at Captain Nightsong. “I don’t think your Thor ever expected any of this when he sent you with us, but if you’re crazy enough to join us, I’d really love to have you along. You are tremendous force multipliers, and we really need some multiplication right now.”
“Your men have given their lives to help our people, even though there is no formal treaty between our nations. If we can play some small part in this endeavor, then play it we shall. We are with you.”
“And I’m with you until the end,” said Farhome, “no matter how many universes you try to sneak away into. Heeheehee.”
“Everyone understand their parts?” asked Calvin. “Okay…ready, break!”
“My group, with me to the castle!” commed Master Gunnery Sergeant Hendrick.
“Assault group, on me!” commed Master Chief. “We’ve got a destroyer to capture.”
“How many Efreet do you reckon will be on the destroyer?” asked Night as the groups began jogging in different directions.
“Probably about 200,” said Calvin; “give or take a few.”
Night nodded his head slowly. “And we’ve got what? About 25 of us, so they only outnumber us by about 8-1?” A smile blossomed on his face. “Awesome; that’s the best odds we’ve had all day.”
Airfield, Ashur, Unknown Date/Time
“So, you think you can fly that thing, sir?” asked Master Chief as the force approached the Efreet shuttle. It looked nothing like the Terran Reliable-class space shuttle. In fact, it didn’t look like anything aviation-related at all. It looked like a box with stubby wings and a window on the front.
“Master Chief, the only way we’re getting to the destroyer is if I can fly that crate up to it, so yeah, I can fly that thing,” said Calvin. “I hope.”
“Maybe you’d like to take it around the block a couple of times to get the feel of it before we all get in?”
“I see it doesn’t look aerodynamic,” said Calvin, “and I admit I don’t have any flight time in that model. Still, a shuttle isn’t that complicated an aircraft. It’s meant to haul things back and forth, and it doesn’t need a lot of extraneous bullshit to do so.”
“If you say so, sir.”
Calvin climbed into the cockpit while the Grand Vizier spoke to the forces around the shuttle. As Calvin sat down, he realized something; there were more dials, buttons and switches than on his space fighter and shuttle combined. “Extraneous bullshit, my ass,” he muttered.
The vizier slid into the seat next to him. “I figured you would need some help translating the controls,” he offered.
“Yes please,” replied Calvin. “This is the most complicated instrument panel I have
ever seen. There are more damn buttons…” He shook his head. “Okay, where do we start?”
“How about with the lever that says, ‘Engine Number One Start?’”
“That’s as good a place as any, I guess,” replied Calvin, grasping the indicated lever. He tried to advance it, but the level wouldn’t move. “It seems to be stuck.”
“The button under it says, “Push to Crank,” said the vizier, pointing to the button beneath the lever. “Would that help?”
Calvin pushed the button and then tried to move the lever. Nothing.
“I heard something when you had the button pushed,” said the vizier. “Maybe you have to move the lever while pushing the button.”
“That’s awkward,” said Calvin. “With the controls in the center of the console, it’s hard to push it with one hand and move the lever with the other.”
“It is probably meant to be done with one hand,” noted the vizier, “not two.”
“But–”
“You forget our hands are different than yours,” interrupted the vizier. “Watch.” He pushed the button with one talon while using the backs of the two opposing talons to advance the lever. Calvin heard the motor begin to spin up and then, with a small ‘boom,’ the engine lit off.
“Progress!” said Calvin.
“Want to try the Number Two Engine?” asked the vizier.
“Sure,” said Calvin. Having seen it done once, Calvin quickly had the second engine online. “Okay,” he said. “Tell me what all the other buttons say.”
“Aren’t you going to start the third engine too?” asked the vizier.
“There’s a third motor?” asked Calvin. “I didn’t know that. Our shuttles only have two.”
“We’re all going to die, aren’t we, sir?” asked Master Chief from the doorway.
“No, we’re getting it,” said Calvin; “we’re just having some growing pains.”
“Yeah, well, that’s better than the dying pains us guys in the back are going to be having.” He paused and then asked, “Would it help to have the shuttle’s start-up checklists?”
“Yeah, it would,” said Calvin. “Got a couple of those lying around, Mr. Smartass?”
“Sir, I try and I try to help you,” said Master Chief, “and yet you’re always wounding me.” He pulled a booklet from the back pocket of each seat and handed them to the vizier. “Will these help?”
“What are they?” asked Calvin, craning his neck to see.
“This one is the ‘Mark 17 Space Shuttle User’s Manual,’ and the other is labeled ‘Mark 17 Space Shuttle Operational Checklists,’” translated the vizier.
“Yeah, those might be handy to have,” said Calvin. “Thanks. Now, why don’t you go back and strap in?”
“If you say so, sir,” said Master Chief. “It’s probably safer back there anyway. That way, I won’t get sprayed by all this glass when we crash.” Master Chief turned to leave but then faced back toward the cockpit. “Before I go, I should also probably give you the helmets that are sitting here. Those will probably be handy in a crash too…”
Castle Courtyard, Ashur, Unknown Date/Time
“Well, at least he got it airborne,” said Sergeant ‘Mr.’ Jones.
“I’m not sure that’s necessarily a good thing,” said Master Gunnery Sergeant Hendrick as he watched the shuttle yaw as it approached, and then rotate extremely nose high. “Now he’s got to set it back down again.” Suddenly, the courtyard seemed a lot smaller. “Oh shit! He’s going to try to land it inside the castle’s walls. CLEAR THE COURTYARD!”
The shuttle continued to pitch, roll and yaw as it hovered, mostly, above the courtyard and began descending.
“I think he’s going to make it,” said Hendrick as he watched.
“No, he’s not,” said Lieutenant Rrower, bounding away from the impending catastrophe. “Run!”
The shuttle’s wingtip screeched as it slid down one of the walls, spraying sparks and pieces of metal around the courtyard. After a couple of seconds that lasted an eternity, the shuttle yawed away from the wall, and the squealing ceased. Calvin slowly worked the shuttle down although it continued to awkwardly gyrate. He regained control of the ship, only to have it suddenly fall the last 10 feet, crashing hard to the ground.
Unlike the Terran shuttle, the boarding ramp on the Efreet shuttle was in the front, so Calvin and the vizier were the first ones out.
“Not too bad, eh?” said Calvin as he walked across the courtyard to where the other Terrans waited. “Any landing you can walk away from is a good one.”
“Limp away from, you mean,” said Master Chief as he hobbled up after Calvin. “Hey, does the right strut look bent to you?”
“Everyone’s a critic,” replied Calvin. He turned back to Hendrick. “Were you able to get the suits and the lasers?”
“Yes, sir, as well as Lieutenant Rrower, who was waiting with them.”
“Master Gunnery Sergeant Hendrick thought you might need some help,” said Lieutenant Rrower, “so I came along.”
“Good to have you,” replied Calvin. “Where are the suits?”
“They are inside the castle, guarded by Sergeant Hiley,” said Hendrick. “I didn’t think we wanted to advertise their presence, nor did I want any of them walking off with one of the locals. Paul said he’d keep an eye on them.”
“Good thinking,” said Calvin. “Let’s get everyone into their suits and back on the shuttle. We need to get up to the destroyer before the bombing starts.”
Chapter 28
Wendar, Day 7 of the Second Akhet, 15th Dynasty, Year 14
“The Aesir weren’t on the first floor.”
“Oh, no?” asked Rock.
“Well, if they were, they were hidden somewhere that wasn’t immediately apparent to anyone walking through the facility,” replied K-Mart. “I searched the jail for over an hour, and didn’t find them.”
“Do you suppose they are on the second floor or in some sort of dungeon?”
“I don’t know,” replied K-Mart, “and I didn’t know how long the rod would keep me invisible, so I wanted to come back and let you know what I had found.”
“I thought you didn’t find anything,” said Rock.
“I said I didn’t find the Aesir,” said K-Mart; “I did, however, find several interesting things.”
Rock raised an eyebrow.
“First, I found a workshop that looks like it was built for the Sila, or some race fairly close in size to ours. I’m guessing Sila, because there were six Sila working in various sections of the area, with several Jotunn watching them closely.”
“Any idea what they were working on?”
“No, unfortunately. It was something mechanical, but I couldn’t tell what they were working on and didn’t want to give myself away by trying to talk to them. We can always go back.”
“Good plan,” said Rock. “What else?”
“The second thing I found was a bunch of Sila in some jail cells. These were different; while the six in the workshop were all males, the 20 or so in cells were all females and children, and they didn’t look like they had been fed very well. They were all thin and pretty sickly looking.”
“Could they have been affected by whatever the “out of universe” disease was the vizier told us about?” asked Rock. “The Sila aren’t native to our universe, so maybe they were wasting away from it. I wonder how long they’ve been there.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” said K-Mart, “but now that you mention it, the males were also thinner than any we’ve seen since we got here…even the starving astronauts.”
“Okay, we’ll add them to the list of people to be rescued once Calvin shows up with some ships and suits,” said Rock. “You said ‘several’ things. Was there something else?”
“Yeah, I think I found the main admin offices,” said K-Mart. “There was an almost continuous stream of giants coming and going through one of the doors, so I figured it had to be either the jail’s administration or sleep
ing quarters. Since we saw a bunch of other buildings outside of the jail facility, I ruled out berthing and decided it had to be the facility’s administration. If there’s a head honcho, I suspect we’ll find him or her there.”
“So, mate, when are you going back to check the second floor?” asked Rock.
“We’re going back right now,” said K-Mart, holding out his hand. Rock took it, and they both vanished.
Mark 17 Shuttle, Ashur Orbit, Unknown Date/Time
“You know, sir, this thing doesn’t seem to wobble as much in space as it does in the atmosphere,” said Master Chief as he looked over Calvin’s shoulder.
“Maybe I’m getting better at it,” Calvin replied. “Did you ever consider that?”
“Yes, sir, I did,” said Master Chief, “and I’m pretty sure it’s just that it doesn’t wobble as much in space as it does in atmosphere.” He waited for the inevitable sigh and then added, “Sella and Trella are right; you do sigh a lot.”
“I have a question,” said the vizier. “What happens when the ship tries to contact us?”
“You’ll have to answer them,” said Calvin. “I don’t speak their language.”
“That much is obvious,” replied the vizier; “however, I am wondering what your plan is if they want to see the pilot they’re talking to.” He tapped a little bubble on the instrument panel in front of Calvin. “The manual says that this is for video communications.”
“Really?” asked Calvin. The vizier nodded. “Shit.”
“I do not believe shitting will help the situation,” the vizier replied. “Oh, I see, you intend to coat the lens so they can’t see you?”
“No, that’s not what I meant,” said Calvin. “I was just…wait; I have an idea.” He turned to Master Chief. “Go get Bob and Reeve Farhome, quickly.”
Bridge, Efreet Ship Incinerator, Ashur Orbit, Unknown Date/Time
The Search for Gram Page 20