For all of that, Leon couldn’t detect anything special about this place. It looked to be little more than a pile of rocks in a terrain known for little else.
“Have we figured out yet what is so almighty important about this place to warrant not just one military force, but two?” Crumley asked, slipping into the groove next to Leon, giving them just enough cover beneath the crest of caked desert sand to go unnoticed. “To say nothing of the welcoming party a few miles back. Considering there is no actual trail here and we had to cross raw terrain that would have shut down most 4 x 4s, I was a bit perplexed to find myself in a turkey shoot involving .50 caliber guns, lasers, and my personal favorite, dirty nukes. My Geiger counter is still jumping. Thank Techa for our radiation-proofing nanites.”
“You forgot the AI coordinating the perimeter. You can bet it still has a lock on us.”
“So, why isn’t it still firing at us? Your theory that we’re too close to the precious goods to risk it notwithstanding. It could at the very least have alerted the soldiers at the site. Satellite might be running interference, but it’s an AI with nothing left to do on its hands.”
Leon, considering the mystery resolved, hadn’t given the matter further thought. “It’s possible you underestimate Satellite. That is his specialty, is it not?” Satellite was one of the Alpha Unit cadets in Patent’s outfit. Omega Force was not beyond availing themselves of Satellite’s talent at times like this. Leon was about to call him up with a gesture when Crumley waylaid him.
“What’s going through that head of yours?” Crumley asked, squeezing Leon’s arm in a vice grip strong enough to get his attention. But Leon just kept his eyes on target.
“Well?” Crumley said, showing little patience for the pensive look on Leon’s face.
“The American military presence here is easy enough to explain. NASA has been using this area for some time to test its Mars rovers. The terrain is the most like Mars of any on Earth. It’s just possible they stumbled onto something, or one of their rovers did. If their presence isn’t a signal that’s something’s going on, there’s the perennial asteroid bombardment that’s concentrated enough in this area to be highly suspicious.”
The sun was setting fast. Dusk would show its darkened, muddy face soon enough. But for right now, the meteor shower in the sky was creating fireballs that had no trouble standing out against the brightness of day. And while most were clearly destined for various other locations on earth, they had such a nagging tendency to strike this vicinity again and again that to protect the site the military on the ground seemed so intent on protecting, an energy shield had gone up over the curious pile of rubble.
The energy dome took its latest direct hit. The meteor splintered on impact without passing through. Leon and Crumley ducked the shrapnel as they shielded their eyes.
“What’s generating that energy dome?” Crumley asked.
“My guess, the Nautilus.”
“The Nautilus! I would think the other Leon would have enough sense to get the Nautilus the hell out of dodge.”
“I’m getting intel from the other Omega Force clone teams on Earth that these shields are protecting the areas they’re studying as well.”
“Impossible. The Nautilus can’t be in several places at once, can it?”
“It’s possible some of them have been called in from other timelines,” Leon suggested, “however temporarily, to lend Earth the protection it needs.”
“That’s just more ships that are going to get hammered into mush. They can’t protect against something like this.”
“We’re definitely on a clock. You see the way the shield is flickering on and off?” Leon pointed at the latest flicker.
“What of it?”
“It’s taking more than one of the Nautili to generate that shield. As one moves out of the way to deal with the latest threat, another takes its place.”
“So, they’re being spread thin. Well, hell, I could have told you that. Just look at the number of meteors.”
“That keep hitting the same site, repeatedly?” Leon craned his head toward him for the first time, and away from the spectacle. “What are the odds of that?”
“So, those meteors…”
“That asteroid belt has been weaponized, each one aimed directly at military targets of value to the alien civilization that feels threatened in some way by whatever they’ve discovered there.”
Crumley groaned. “Can I take that to mean the artifact on the moon that beamed us out of our own solar system, didn’t do so to protect us from a more advanced alien civilization we couldn’t possibly fight off, as was previously theorized? So, no benign big brother out there in the cosmos, after all? The artifact did so as an early warning system? Meant to trigger the moment they—the bad guys—felt some need to shut us down?”
“That’s as far as I’ve reached with my reasoning, yes.”
Crumley frowned his disapproval. “How in the hell could a civilization advanced enough to hurl asteroids like bullets possibly be threatened by any arsenal we’re sitting on?”
“That’s what I’ve been asking myself,” Leon said, his eyes already back on the light show. “More than likely, it’s the Nautilus that got on their radar. Any civilization entering Singularity State, even if that singularity state for right now is contained to Mother’s mind, I guess, gets an automatic ticket to the party. All this is a concerted effort to take out any candidates likely responsible for moving us toward a technological singularity.”
Crumley just snorted, conveying his begrudging acceptance of the merit of Leon’s latest theory. “No doubt the other Leons have already come to this conclusion or soon will. Though I’m not sure what it gives us to go on besides a good guilt complex.”
Dusk had officially dawned, if Leon could pardon himself the oxymoron, which only improved the light show. He flinched again from the latest direct hit to the energy dome, and the most recent burst of shrapnel to go flying off in all directions, including theirs.
The fireworks in the sky was even more impressive. Each time one of the Nautili ran interference with one of the meteors, it splintered like fireworks. Very lovely fireworks—for all their lethalness. But the fact that the shrapnel didn’t create more problems, and open up more targets for destruction, suggested the fleet of Nautili supersentient AIs were performing some mighty advanced math to ensure otherwise.
Ajax came running up, slid into position to Leon’s left, since Crumley had his right. “What are you doing here?” Leon asked.
“I have a sixth sense that kicks in whenever you’re about to do something stupid. I’m dedicated to responding to it in time to talk you out of it.”
Leon ignored him. But the truth was, he was contemplating something mighty stupid. “That shield isn’t going to last forever. Time to get in there and find out what the hell we need to get our hands on that can possibly give us a leg up on our enemy.”
“See, I knew it!” Ajax exclaimed. “A horny toad lizard couldn’t cross that field in one piece!”
Leon pointed to the one that he’d been staring at intermittently in between watching the rest of the light show. “It’s been out there running around for over an hour. It’s what gave me the idea.”
Ajax shook his head. “I couldn’t have gone with a frog or a cockroach for an analogy,” he mumbled to himself.
“We’re going to need Satellite,” Leon said to Crumley. “Maybe he can sweet talk the Nautili into clearing a path through the shrapnel for us.”
Satellite’s ears had pricked and he was already on them. “You want to scoot over there, big guy?” he said to Crumley. “Not about to push you out of the way without your say so.”
Crumley made room for him. Satellite slid his slender figure in between him and Leon. At 6’ 2”, he often looked a lot taller owing to his gangliness. His chief feature besides his pale skin and platinum blond hair was how his hair, hung over his head, like a sheep dog, covering his eyes and his ears. Speculation was rampant he�
��d developed his COMMS skills as a way to see and hear past it. “I’ve already put through the request to the Nautili,” Satellite said.
“How could you possibly…?” Leon asked.
“Ajax may have a sixth sense, but hacking your secure-Omega-Force-only channel I can do in my sleep.”
Leon had had time to forget about the in-ear COMMS they were all wearing. He’d had no need to reach out to his people until he could land on an action plan that made a bit of sense.
“Men are stupid,” Ajax mumbled. “If you forget, just give them a minute, they’ll remind you.” Jokes were his defense mechanism when he got rattled. The more rattled he got, the more his mouth turned into a Gatling gun for cutting loose with the bad jokes. They’d all learned to ignore him.
“Let’s do this,” Leon said. “I want the rest of Omega Force on me, running point, for everything the Nautili can’t handle. I want Patent and three of his best people trailing, to help us figure out what the hell it is we find in there.”
Alpha Unit had all the techies; that was their job, procuring nextgen solutions in the field when Omega Force weaponry came up short. They weren’t as battle tested, which is why Omega Force always ran point. Patent, an ex-Omega Force operative, and Leon’s former right-hand-man was now their leader; it was his job to protect them from themselves until they got more battle worthy.
“I’ve let him know, sir,” Satellite said, his fingers flying over his virtual keyboard by way of visual confirmation.
“By the time those Alpha Unit cadets catch up with us…” Crumley bitched, “we’ll already be across the kill zone.”
“You were saying?” Patent said, flanked by Skyhawk and Ariel. They were wearing jetpacks that had allowed them to close the gap. Alpha Unit was stationed well away from the kill zone—and that included factoring in for the tendency for shrapnel to spread far astray of it—making their sudden arrival all the more surprising.
Leon nodded to Patent. He knew better than to be overly impressed; Patent would have taken it as an insult. Patent’s bald head shimmered with sweat in the dry desert heat—even without factoring in for the warming effect of impacting asteroids. It was a crystal ball that Leon didn’t need to read to recognize a long-time friend and wartime partner.
“You’re on point, Satellite,” Leon said. “Hope you can run and stare at that display in your hands at the same time.”
Satellite gulped. “Yes, sir.”
“Don’t worry, son,” Patent said reassuringly. “We’ve got your back.” He looked up at the latest incoming meteor on its way to impact the dome. “And your head.”
“Can’t guarantee that Mother will listen to us, Sir,” Satellite said to Leon. “Keeping the fragments in the sky from killing countless people may well keep her hands full enough for her to ignore our requests.”
Leon breathed deeply. He hadn’t done a headcount of all the soldiers and scientists in the area, but “countless” may be less of a superlative than he cared to admit. “It was a point I’d considered and thought unkind to verbalize.”
Patent grunted.
“Come on, Satellite. We’re burning daylight,” Patent coached.
On his words, dusk fell into night. And the latest meteor to impact the dome…well, the light show was more spectacular than ever against the blackness. If they were worried about tripping on rocks in the darkness, it seemed to reassure them to keep their concerns elsewhere.
Satellite headed out, running point.
Cronos, DeWitt, Cassandra—the rest of Omega Force—had already closed ranks, having been listening in on their team leaders’ exchange. They filed out behind Leon. Then came the other two Alpha Unit cadets, Skyhawk and Ariel, with Patent bringing up the rear to make sure he could cover his teens.
Ajax was sounding off in his own inimical manner. “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”
Satellite led them through a minefield even before the mines had been deployed—still being laid down from above. The sky was just thick enough with stars—albeit foreign ones—to give some dim illumination to the ground, but not enough to provide sure footing. No one dared use their night vision when a meteor strike could hit at any moment—blinding them, if not permanently, for quite some time.
And then the next meteor hit—after the Nautili in the sky had managed to deflect several headed their way. They just couldn’t stop this latest one. About one in five were getting past the Nautili defensive perimeter—more proof that the ships were spread far too thin. But then again, they were protecting an entire world, and there couldn’t possibly be enough of them to do a satisfactory job of that with asteroids coming at the planet from all directions. Leon could only assume as much for now; but it made sense that eliminating all military targets would not require a full rotation of the earth—assuming it was still turning at all. An enemy this advanced wouldn’t have to wait for that.
When the meteor struck the energy shield, several of the fragments headed their way had not been blocked by the Nautili, but the rest had, suggesting the Nautili were doing the best they could to add this to their list of mandates. Leon and the rest of Omega Force took care of the rest of the pieces getting too close. Their human reflexes had been greatly upgraded with nanotech, otherwise they couldn’t possibly react fast enough. Their assault rifles, discharging the underbarrel grenades fired with enough force to do the job; the rifles’ extra kick absorbed by their nanite-enriched bodies, keeping them from breaking bones in the process.
Cassandra didn’t bother with an assault rifle. She just fired what appeared to be thick laser blasts from her palm chakras. Her nano was more advanced than theirs, and more attuned to her energy body, amplifying the chi flowing through her chakras, nadirs, and energy conduits. In her hands, Chinese energy medicine had been weaponized.
She was a sight to behold, walking nearly stark naked across the field, her private parts scantily covered by nanofilm. Her nanite enriched skin also camouflaged her better than the smart clothing the rest of them were wearing. But as fun as it was to watch her do her thing, the rest of them had their eyes busy right now just staying alive.
It was going to take all of them working together to get across this killing zone in one piece, and by all of them, Leon meant Mother, too.
Another hit.
Another set of fireworks on the ground.
More deflections needed from Leon and his people, depleting their arsenal further.
They ran during the light bursts, where they could see the ground better.
But they were still only halfway there.
Their special grenades running low.
And they might well be needed for what lay beyond that energy dome.
Another hit.
They shot their way through the fireworks as before, even as they picked up the pace.
“I’m out!” Cronos shouted.
“Me too,” DeWitt chimed in. “And for the record, I have to live at least another ten years to finish paying for my kid’s education. Just saying.”
“You fell out of the stupid tree, Ajax, and hit every branch on the way down.” Ajax continued to flinch at every little sound, determined to get the mouth of his rifle into position in time.
He was rambling now, checking out the rest of his party. “Warning, images in mirror are dumber than they appear.”
The next asteroid to impact the dome splintered more than the last.
They were running faster than ever to get to the dome with even less to protect them now.
“I’m out!” Crumley barked.
“Out!” Leon confessed.
When he noticed Patent hadn’t said anything, he looked back his way. That jetpack of his had unfolded, origami-like, and morphed into a small land rover with six independent cannon barrels. He had been picking up the slack for the others the whole time.
He wasn’t the only one.
Cassandra had weaponized the rest of her body. Blasting shrapnel now from lasers shot out of her
eyes, and from the seven main chakras along her spine—all focusing and firing independently, like rotating eyes in seven eye sockets.
She would do flying split-leaps into the air like a dancer, periodically, to bring the chakras in the balls of her feet into play. All told, she had more turrets firing than Patent.
“That’s the sound of me clapping your aerial ballet, sweetheart,” Patent piped up at Cassandra, firing off his cannons to continue to clear a way.
Satellite’s handheld scanner set to shrapnel avoidance mode was definitely saving them from the bulk of kill-strikes, but it was leading them in anything but a straight line, which added no small amount of exasperation to the enterprise.
More fodder for Ajax. “How many Special Forces officers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Only one. But they do it from a mile away with laser targeting at a cost of 8.3 million.”
“I realize it’s Ajax’s job to say all the dumb stuff,” Crumley said. “But just what are we going to do when we get to that energy shield? Try Open Sesame?”
“Just keep walking,” Leon said, not taking his eyes or his .50 caliber Eagle pistol, loaded with nanite grenades in the form of shells, off the sky. “I’m thinking it’s like a semi-permeable membrane. Lets some things pass but not others.”
Ajax, overhearing Leon’s brilliant insight, just shook his head. “What do you call a soldier whose survived mustard gas and pepper spray? A seasoned veteran.”
The latest meteor strike lit the way for the final push.
They were still running when they hit the shield. Satellite must have been listening because he never stopped. Neither did anyone else.
Once under the shield everyone took a deep breath.
Skyhawk came up and tapped Leon on the shoulder. He was the runt of the litter in Patent’s pack of teens, all of whom took to this military gig mostly because it came with better VR and AR wargames than they could get their hands on in the private sector. To say nothing of the “killer” tech toys. He had a mangy, runt of the litter look to him, with long straggly black hair, fair skin, and equally scraggly moustache and goatee. “Is it too late to get out of this man’s army?” Skyhawk asked, having to part his bangs to get a clear bead on Leon’s face.
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