by James Palmer
Ninety three million miles away—give or take a few—the Cagliostro hid behind the Sun. Using the giant stars radiations to mask its presence from the war ships that now hurtled towards Earth in search of the star cruiser and its crew. Matt Marek sat nervously in the command chair, as several officers awaited his commands.
“Any of you have any type of suggestion that might save them without us getting our heads blown off?” Marek asked.
“I have one,” a new voice intruded as its owner entered the command deck from the maglovator. Marek turned and saw Reynolds standing there, the auburn haired scientist who had argued with Eddie and Red aboard the Stargrazer. “Surrender.”
“Are you nuts lady?” Marek replied, his voice one step below a shout. “After everything we’ve been through and everything this crew has seen you want us just to surrender and turn the ship over to a bunch of alien thugs? What’s gotten into you?”
She smiled at him then answered, “I’m not asking you to surrender, I’m telling you.” Before Marek could reply, she pulled a blaster from behind her back and fired in one smooth motion catching him square in the chest. He moaned as he dropped to the floor, his chest smoldering where the blaster had hit. Instantly she waved the blaster around the room freezing everyone in sight.
“You,” She nodded towards the pilot, “Turn this ship around and get us back to Earth. Go directly to the facility where this ship was built. People will be awaiting its return to take charge of it. Do it, or you’re going to join him in the afterlife.”
Behind her the maglovator door opened, she spun towards the sound, pistol whipping into position to fire as a beefy fist launched out at her jaw, knocking her to the ground and unconscious in one blow. Her pistol clattered to the ground as the command crew sprang into action. General Abruzzi looked down at the young woman at his feet disdainfully as he rubbed his fist.
“Marek’s alive.” Wilson, the pilot shouted. “The uniform took the brunt of the blast.”
“Get the Doctor up here.” Abruzzi commanded authoritatively, “She’s got a patient, and get this traitor down to the brig or whatever the hell you call it on this ship.”
Two security personnel arrived a moment later and then stood silently above Reynolds holding blasters at her as she groggily began to awaken.
Abruzzi walked around tentatively and sat in the command chair. After he relaxed a moment within it, he smiled and said, “All right, you all listen up, this is what we’re going to do…”
Back on Earth, in the underground catacombs, the rest of the Cagliostro’s crew were not fairing any better than Mark or Ariel. Dan found himself suspended in an antigravity prison, where he was floating above the floor by energy that held him aloft there, unable to reach or touch anything solid. He cursed repeatedly under his breath and flexed his powerful muscles continually, but it was like he was trying to lift the planet. There was just too much mass arrayed against him. Dan merely grunted and redoubled his efforts.
Red Robinski was an extraordinarily tough man. The same aliens that had beaten Mark Johnson were finding that out as they hammered at him relentlessly with steel pipes across his ribs. He laughed, spitting out blood as he did, “Is that the best you salad heads can do?” He was untied, and being beaten by all three of the alien inquisitors. They were brutes who enjoyed their work, reveling in hurting the helpless and those who were weakened or that they had superior numbers against. It was three against one right now, and the three were hammering Red unmercifully. Finally he collapsed upon the floor, unmoving.
Eddie DiGenovese watched from a cell nearby as Red collapsed, and he gulped hard. The three jailers poked and prodded him for a few minutes, but he was not responding. Then one grabbed Red by the arm and began to drag him along the floor towards the cell they had previously thrown him and Eddie into.
“Oh man, Red…” Eddie whispered, wide-eyed and fearful, as Red’s seemingly lifeless body was dragged closer and closer to the door.
One of the big purple aliens grunted and motioned Eddie away from the cell entrance, as the third one aimed his blaster at Eddie who raised his hands and backed up “Okay amigo, you’re holding all the cards. Ol’ Eddie is backin’ away jus’ like you wanted.”
One of the aliens still held Red’s limp, lifeless arm, while the other aimed the pistol at Eddie. The third began to punch in a sequence on the keypad next to the cell door, deactivating the laser beam bars that would cut a person to pieces before they realized it, if they had come in contact with them.
The instant the bars went off, the man holding Red’s arm was suddenly hauled down as Red sprang upwards, driving his knee into the surprised salad head’s jaws with all his considerable strength. The alien’s neck cracked loudly as it broke and he went limp instantly.
The alien holding the gun spun on Red, surprised, when Red simply charged into him, with the dead alien held before him like a battering ram. At the same time Eddie charged through the open doorway and tackled the gun-wielding alien around the waist. Stunned, the alien dropped the gun, which Eddie snatched out of mid-air, spinning to one knee on the floor and firing two quick shots, one into the alien who was reaching for his pistol by the control pad where he had unlocked the laser doorway and the other into the alien he and Red had taken down just for good measure.
Eddie spun around warily looking up and down both ways in the prison-like corridor, as Red sank to the floor in a seated position.
“Red! You okay big man?”
“Not really Eddie. I think they broke a few ribs, but I’m not tasting blood, so hopefully nothings punctured.” He turned towards Eddie, “These uniforms the boss created are a marvel. Without it I would be dead from that beating they gave me.”
“Yeah, well amigo, we ain’t outta the woods yet.” Eddie replied as he tossed Red a gun and then helped the bigger man to his feet. Red grimaced and grunted as he steadied himself.
“Now what?” Eddie asked.
“We find the boss, Ari and Dan. I gotta believe everyone is down here somewhere.”
“Did you try reachin’ out with your mind? Seein’ if Ari picks up on us?”
“No Eddie, not yet. Let me give it a shot.” Red closed his eyes and concentrated a moment. Then opened them and shook his head. “Nothing.” I can’t ‘hear’ any of them.”
“Yeah me neither,” the smaller man confirmed in a barely audible whisper.
“Let’s go,” Red hissed, and began limping down the well-lit hallway, with weapons drawn. They passed many cells, all empty, all dark. Then, as they passed the last one with its bars glowing brightly, but with no lights within, a voice called out to them.
“You two gentlemen, hold it, please.” A haggard, raspy voice called out to them, with more than a hint of desperation.
Both men went back towards the cell.
“Who’s there?” asked Red.
A bedraggled man that they both instantly recognized stepped forward from the shadows. His face wore a stubble of many days, along with bruises. His shirt had more than its fair share of blood stains and his hand was wrapped up in a makeshift bandage made from one sleeve of his tattered white shirt. Even so, he maintained his poise, and held both shoulders steady and proud. “Hello gentlemen, I cannot stress enough how good it is to see you both,” the President said.
Chapter 20
“Hang on Mr. President, we’ll have you out of here in a moment,” Eddie offered immediately.
“The sooner the better, gentlemen,” the bedraggled and battered President replied.
Red looked at the control panel, then turned back towards Eddie, “I don’t know the code.”
“Neither do I.” Eddie replied, “Now get outta the way.” He raised his pistol and fired at the doors control panel. Instantly the control panel exploded, showering the hallway with sparks. A half second later, all the cell doors that were active up and down the hallway went out. Above their heads the lights sputtered and failed as well.
“That was interesting,” Red remarked
as the President immediately got out of the now de-powered cell.
A hundred feet up the cell block, two figures staggered out into the dimly shining emergency lighting that had just shuddered to life, casting ghostly images upon the walls and cells of the hidden jail.
The two figures were obviously hurt, and were dragging their way towards the small group. One of the two held the other tightly and was helping that person walk.
“Mark!” Red exclaimed as he ran forward.
“Yes it’s both Ariel and me. She’s been hurt, hurry,” he replied hoarsely. “We have to get out of here.”
Mark dragged Ariel into the dim light. She smiled at their friends.
“Oh geeze, you both look like hell,” Red exclaimed as he helped hold up Ariel.
“That’s about how we feel too,” Ariel grimaced as she wiped blood from her lips.
“Where’s Dan?” Mark asked.
“Don’t know,” replied Red.
“Let’s find him.” Mark tapped the sleeve of his shirt, atop his wrist and a screen appeared on his sleeve. Mark tapped it twice more and it became an image of a grid with four red dots together in one square, but the fifth red dot was across the larger square the grid appeared in.
“That ain’t good,” Eddie mused aloud.
“Where are our weapons?” asked Red.
Mark tapped his sleeve in response once again and a handful of blue dots appeared, and close by.
“They’re all at the end of this hallway, somewhere.” he started, then continued, “now let’s get them, then get Dan, and then get the hell out of here.”
The group made its way to the end of the hallway, the only member of the group unhurt was Eddie, so he led the way.
Halfway to where the guns were hidden, at the end of the hallway, six of the purple skinned aliens appeared down the dim hallway and began firing their weapons at the escaping fugitives. Instantly Eddie dove to the floor, the pistol he had confiscated from the jailors they had overcome extended before him and firing before he hit the floor. Three quick shots fired, three of the enemy crumpled to the floor, lifeless.
Red fired the blaster he held, and another of the enemy thugs fell forward.
Mark raised his pistol simultaneously with the men beside him, pulled the trigger and nothing happened. Quickly he dove into an empty cell as a blaster bolt shot by from the opposite end of the hallway, barely missing his head. Mark slapped the gun along its battery pack a few times, but it was dead, either damaged or burned out. As he considered what to do, both Red and Eddie fired one after the other, followed by a thud at the other end of the hallway.
Mark didn’t hesitate, and ran out into the hall once again, as his people followed him. Red helped Ariel, who clung to him while she rubbed her forehead with her free hand, obviously still pained.
“Good shooting boys.” Mark congratulated them as they broke into the weapons cabinet and took back their property.
“You expected any less, Boss?” Eddie replied slyly.
Mark shrugged, and then grimaced immediately afterward in pain. “Right now I just want to get back to the Cag and let Dr. Troiano have her way with me.” Mark replied painfully.
Ariel shot him a faux annoyed look before playfully slapping him on the back of the head. Then she grimaced from the pain that caused her.
“Okay,” Mark began, “enough screwing around, let’s go find Dan.”
The group of five made a left and a quick right into another hallway. Mark followed the trail leading to Dan on his wrist scanner built into his uniform’s sleeve, a small hologram played out across his sleeve showing a 3D image leading to Dan.
“How’d you get this layout?” Eddie asked, amazed at Mark’s tech once again.
“I copied it from the base we were in on that desert planet. You know this is an exact copy of that underground base correct?”
Eddie nodded affirmatively, “Yeah boss, I know. Remember, I was there too.”
Mark smiled, and then grimaced again in pain, “I know Eddie, let’s get Dan.”
Down the secondary hallway, which did not suffer the power failure as did the prison cell wing; another group of enemy guards appeared and began firing. Everyone dove for cover as blaster bolts flew overhead.
“I got this!” shouted Red, as he readied and primed his hand held cannon. Mark nodded and Red jumped into the hallway and fired his handheld cannon once then disappeared behind a wall extrusion on the opposite side of the hallway. A nano-second later there was an explosion at the far end of the hallway that shook the foundation beneath their feet with its power.
Mark raised his pistol to the side of his head, the barrel pointing up and peered out around the brick extrusion on his side of the hallway and saw nothing but dust and rubble. The air was filled with a choking fog of debris.
Ariel stepped forward before Mark could stop her, and placed her fingers to her temples peering down the hallway. “I’m not ‘seeing’ anything down there. I think they’re all down.”
Mark put his arm around her, steadying her, “Okay Ari, relax, you did well.”
She smiled at him as she leaned into him, “Thanks boss,” she said with a wink, “also I found Danny. He’s this way.”
“I knew where he was Ari,” Mark replied, with a modicum of sarcasm. He pulled her close, making sure he supported her as she walked. “Red, you take point and keep that big gun up and charged, Eddie you stay behind Red to his left and down low, and I’ll carry Ari. Dan should be right ahead of us.”
“You sure you don’t want me to take her, boss?” Red asked.
“No Red, we need your big gun, and your tactical mind to get us out of here. I’ll take care of Ariel.”
Red nodded, “Whatever you say, boss.” Then he moved ahead of the rest with Eddie flanking him. They moved past the bodies of the men who had just tried to attack them, all were the purple skinned ‘salad heads’.
Red looked at them and grunted as they squeezed past the mass of still steaming flesh the cannon had left. Red and Eddie motioned everyone to stay still as the two reconnoitered the area. Eddie leaned towards the bigger man and whispered, “Does this seem like déjà vu all over again to you, too?”
“Yeah shorty, been there, done that, again,” Red answered with a lopsided grin as he and Eddie continued ahead.
The President had been silent until now as he stayed behind them all, walking guardedly with his newfound companions. “What’s going on out there, Mark? What’d that alien spy do in my name?”
Mark turned to the President, then turned forward again looking ahead with his friends and teammates. “I wasn’t sure if I had spoken to you or the imposter, sir.” Mark began, “I assume there are ways of being sure you are who I want to believe you are. I was going to suggest testing you myself for DNA anomalies.”
“Would that clear up any distrust you may have for me? Would it clear your mind that I was the real President Scaleia?”
“It would go far, Mr. President. It’s something I can have my Doctor aboard the Cagliostro perform a simple test for that will tell us all who you really are with one hundred percent certainty.”
The President looked to Johnson and nodded seriously, “Then let’s do this DNA test as soon as we get aboard your ship and while we’re on our way to the White House.”
Mark furrowed his brow as he asked, “You want to go to Washington? We could be shot out of the sky before we ever arrived there.”
“I’m, sorry Mark, but I don’t just want to go there, I need to go there. A monster has not only my nation in the palm of his hands, but my wife and children held hostage there, too, and they don’t even know it. They think it’s me, their loving father and husband who is there with them right this very moment.” The President clenched his fists in impotent rage, “That abomination of science is sitting on my sofa right now with its arm around my wife. That’s something I will not allow.” The President fairly growled while he clenched both of his fists.
Red returned to the two m
en after he and Eddie had walked to the end of the corridor and peered into the dimly lit room, “All clear, Boss-man.” Red announced in a low voice.
“Good job, Red.
They moved as one, with the President behind them. He had insisted on carrying a weapon, him being a trained fighter and veteran of two wars himself. He held the pistol expertly as they entered the warehouse-like room in the underground base.
It was dark in this room. In fact the only illumination came from what was in the room’s center.
In the center of the room stood a clear globe about nine feet in diameter, all around the globe were various controls and apparatus’. But what was held inside the globes center was what captured everyone’s eyes. Dan Sledge hung suspended in the air inside the globe, by tendrils of energy. He could get no leverage against them nor put his great strength to bear in any way. He was trapped and helpless.
“We have to get him out of there,” Mark announced as he moved forward into the very dimly lit room. He turned back and looked at the President, “Sir, stay back please. Let us handle this.”
“Mark, I’m as much in this as you are. I have no intention of standing on the sidelines and watching you people put your lives on the line. I’m in with whatever you are planning here. Just get me home.”
The group began to cautiously walk across the blackened warehouse-like space.
“I never thought I’d see Danny helpless,” Eddie spoke aloud.
“After everything we’ve seen the last few weeks Eddie? Well there ain’t nothin’ that surprises me anymore.” Red replied quietly as they cautiously walked together at the head of the pack, scanning the room around them.
“Be careful you two, I’m not reading anything on my hand scanner but they may have blocked them somehow.”
Suddenly, Ariel grasped her head with both hands and doubled over moaning painfully.
“Ari!” Mark shouted as he caught her just before she fell to the floor.
Instantly the lights came on in the big facility. The five former captives looked around, as alien troopers surrounded them. In the midst of the troopers was the same uniformed alien who had captured them earlier. “I see you pathetic humans were trying to escape my hospitality. Now that’s not a nice thing to do is it? You all should be thankful I have taken you in. Others would have simply shot you on sight.”