Ancient (Earth 50,000 BC Book 1)

by David Edward

  There was a strong ringing in her ears, which were also bleeding.

  Her nose was bleeding. She could taste the copper blood in her mouth.

  She struggled to right herself, still disoriented and realizing that her combat suit, now just a husk, was inoperable. There was no assisted automaton in its movement, and many of the joints were bent just enough to be immovable.

  She was not trapped in the now useless shell, though she could reach the release pins of enough of the suit to work her way out, emerging in the jumpsuit she wore underneath.

  The coolness of the air felt good.

  Eventually, she got the armor off.

  She had to spend a few micro cycles working her walking boots out from within the legs but was able to in the end.

  She sat upright for a while, just sitting there, not really looking at anything.

  More time went by.

  There was moaning nearby, and she realized it was Logan coming to like she had.

  Her entire body hurt again when she tried to move but leveraged herself to a kneeling position. After a quick moment, nausea took over, and she immediately vomited.

  When the convulsions were done, she put her hands on her knees and pushed herself standing, instantly feeling dizzy and disoriented, wobbling some and then falling over.

  Logan was farther away than she had realized. She followed the skid marks in the snow to his location.

  When she finally staggered her way over to him, she concluded that Logan looked as bad as she felt.

  Odessa sat on the ground next to Logan, and eventually, he went through the same process she had to wake up, shed the mangled combat armor, and vomit.

  They both just sat in the snow for a while, slowly regaining their bearings.

  The luminary continued its slow movement across the sky as it pushed the day forward into the afternoon.

  Finally, Logan said, “Well, next time we do this, we should plan for the ship.”

  It was a joke, and they both laughed for a good bit.

  The laughing hurt their ribs, but the emotional release was worth the pain.

  Odessa said to Logan, “We have two options I can think of. One is to wait here until E7 finishes and comes looking for us. The other option is to go be heroes and save all the poor souls trapped down there in that facility.”

  Logan looked at the snow. He grabbed a handful and rubbed it on his forehead. “We know there are at least eight other facilities like this on the planet. We have to assume a communication went out and they all know what happened.”

  They sat there longer.

  “Well,” Odessa said, “X7 is the one who wants to be a hero. Should we see if we can get him operable first?”

  “Sure,” Logan got himself up and gave Odessa a hand to pull her to a standing position too.

  They looked around. Eventually, they found X7 and X4. Both were inoperable.

  “The blast knocked the charge out of them,” Odessa said, examining both etherreals. Appearing that X7 and X4 could be repaired, Odessa and Logan continued to survey for usable equipment. Their cohorts would have to wait.

  “Okay,” Logan said, looking back to their abandoned combat armor, “let’s get the quick-flight belts off the armor. You can grab your sword and the pusher. I’ll find a shooter somewhere, then at least we will be armed, if not armored.”

  Logan found his precision shooter still holstered in his ruined combat armor; he also took the two small light sources off his helmet in case they needed them.

  Instead of her short sword, Odessa was able to pry loose the right glove section of the combat armor that held one of the hand-to-hand bracings with the enhanced functionality from the older ships. There was a small power source that was still working that she had added before the battle; it was contained in the glove, and it powered the mechanics of the blades.

  “We’re probably going to come up against some of the shock troops, in still-working armor,” Logan said to Odessa. “If we are in the underground section with walls, that pusher is going to be our only effective weapon.”

  She looked at him, holding her hand out with the large rock she had been pushed up against in her range, and made a small gesture with her wrist. The blue power force field extended forward past the rock, smashing it and pushing a hole into the ground on the other side.

  Once the rock was gone and the dust from it settled, they saw one of their combat androids on the ground not far from where the rock had been. It looked like it had tumbled through the trees and impacted the ground but seemed to be intact. It was provisioned for hand-to-hand. It was covered in a thick coat of dirt, sticking to the Baytorian blood that was spread all over its exterior.

  The unit was immobile and banged up badly, but there was still a power source indicator on its front that looked operational. Odessa walked over and entered a code to reboot the machine.

  After a few moments, its eyes lit up with blue lights, and it looked at Odessa. “Hello, ma’am,” it said. “You meet the visual datagram I was given as one of the two biological commanders. I see the second biological behind you. I am transferring command from X7 to you.”

  “What is your status?” Odessa asked. She worked with combat technology often and knew the protocols for all the android and etherreal models.

  The combat android crossloaded, “I need major repair. My communications subsystems are inoperative, my scanning subsystems are inoperative, my targeting systems are inoperative, my power supply is down to fourteen percent.

  “My flight ability is operational, my close-combat bracings are operational. My walking mobility is at forty percent. My close combat ability is at twenty-five percent effectiveness.”

  “Can you stand up on your own?” Odessa asked, the combat android unit weighed hundreds of measures. Neither she nor Logan would be able to assist the unit without rigging some type of pulley system.

  The combat android pushed itself to a half-standing position then stood up the rest of the way.

  Logan walked over to it. “Do you have a designation?”

  “Yes, sir. Most recently, I was Blackbird ninety-nine.” The unit was taller by a head and shoulder than Logan when standing up.

  “Okay, please also respond to B99. That is the designation we will use to address you,” Logan said formally to the android.

  “Of course, sir,” B99 returned.

  “Okay, let’s go then,” Logan said with a thin painful smile to Odessa as he activated his belt and slowly drifted up off the ground and into the air.

  Odessa did the same thing. B99 made no motion to activate his quick-flight belt, but it activated through automation, and he joined the other two in the air.

  All three were a dirty and bloody mess as they floated slowly in the direction of the ship hangar, Opportunity Three. What remnants of the battle that could be seen below were not a welcome sight.

  Logan, Odessa, and B99 worked their way through the rocks and dirt that had collapsed over the hangar entrance. The entrance itself was not destroyed like the facility below or the other mountainside, but it had felt its share of the giant explosion, nonetheless.

  B99’s walking speed was sufficient, and Logan nor Odessa needn’t wait on him for anything. Forty percent, it seemed, covered normal walking with no problems.

  The story the old couple had told them suggested that most of the oldtech was in the center of the underground part of the facility, making the center of the facility their ultimate destination.

  The lights in the hangar were flickering, and there was a layer of smoke that hung in the air.

  Everything smelled acrid and burned.

  There was only room in the hangar for a single ship, so the hangar was empty now with its sole occupant destroyed. The edges of the hangar were filled with hyper-modern ship repair and maintenance equipment.

  Logan looked around. “Remember to have E7 and her crew collect all this stuff when we get communications back. There is a treasure trove of technology here we are going
to need.”

  The three continued to move their way through the large open space to the back, where there would be some type of access point to the lower areas. They found the foundations for a lift.

  The shaft extended down into the mountain and was dark. It was a very tall shaft. The lift itself appeared to have crashed to the bottom, becoming unstable during the blasts.

  Logan handed Odessa one of the two small light sources he had taken from his wrecked combat armor. They both activated the lights, activated their flight belts, and gently glided over the shaft, shining the lights down on it.

  B99 drifted over the opening with them and then began a slow descent into the darkness. He activated two lights on his armor. Since his scanners were offline, he needed light to see just like the two biologicals.

  The shaft went down a very long way.

  There were no other exits except for the one at the bottom.

  The lift had crashed into the ground and blown the bottom door off.

  Logan and Odessa began following B99, letting him go first but staying within moderate proximity to him all the way.

  The descent was easy and exiting the shaft at the bottom presented no problems.

  The lights flickered in the long tunnel they exited into. They moved along slowly, B99 in the lead, Odessa behind him with her hand pusher at the ready.

  Logan, in the rear, had his small precision shooter drawn. It would be effective against an unarmored biological, but that was the extent of its usefulness.

  As they moved down the hall, a low hum became apparent.

  The hum was radiating from all sides of the hallway. As they progressed, the hum grew just slightly louder and more pronounced with each section of the facility they passed through.

  They did not see any other people or etherreals. The facility clearly was used and populated. There were signs of inhabitants everywhere, but no one was around now.

  Odessa remained on alert for adversaries.

  Logan also remained on alert just a few steps behind her with his shooter drawn.

  As they turned a corner, they could see a light source extremely far away down the hallway. The hum had grown louder. It seemed the hum and the light source were emanating from the same place.

  About halfway down the hall, they could start to hear yelling and screaming. It was audible over the hum. When the screams grew louder, the hum became more prominent.

  Under normal circumstances, they would have started to run, but no one was in any condition to run, so they continued at their walking pace. They were all hyperaware, looking for any disturbance or indication of opposition.

  As they approached the entryway with the light, the screaming and sounds of terror had increased to a palpable noise, and the hum had become a throbbing loud grating sound.

  The other side of the entryway was a horror show.

  More than a thousand Machians were crammed into the room with the oldtech dais. There were Fovians patrolling the area, keeping the Machians in check.

  On the raised area stood a massive Baytorian warrior. Odessa had a quick flash of recognition; this was the same person she had seen at the top of the ramp on the Montus during the initial abduction.

  The huge warrior was in the process of pulling a lifeless Machian from the dais and throwing it into a pile of bodies nearby.

  They were not dead, just lifeless.

  The oldtech machine had been used to separate them from their life spirits, from their souls.

  The warrior walked down into the group of Machians. The half-dozen Fovians kept their shooters aimed at the crowd should any move. A tall man was grabbed and carried up to the dais. He was not even trying to fight back.

  A cable with an odd organic clamp on the end was attached to his chest, biting down upon touch. The crowd of Machians began to stir and holler.

  The big warrior attached a similar cable to his chest and made a motion to the Fovians. They started to shoot into the crowd, killing several Machians. They shot from one side then the other, getting the group moving and running into each other.

  The level of fear in the room went sky high; everyone could feel it and smell it.

  At the height of the panic, the large warrior inserted a yellow power crystal into a panel within reach of the dais he was on. The hum became excruciatingly loud, and after a moment, the essence of the tall man left his body and entered the huge warrior. The warrior shivered in ecstasy as the spark in the tall man’s eyes faded away, and he went limp. He was still breathing, but nothing more, just slumped over.

  This process was apparently repeating itself over and over.

  Odessa made a sign to Logan that he take the right-hand side of the room and that she and B99 would take the left. Without a sound, they leaped into the air. There were two Fovians on the right-hand side and four on the left, standing on the wide walkways over the lower pit area the group of Machians were being corralled in.

  The large Baytorian warrior was named Gaxx. He was the alpha prime of the entire facility.

  Gaxx saw the three figures in the air and smiled to himself.

  He quickly went and grabbed another Machian from the pit, a small female.

  Gaxx carried her with one hand, gripping her arm at the shoulder. She was screaming and kicking.

  Logan saw Gaxx and accelerated, skimming over the two Fovians on his side of the pit and heading to the raised area to stop the loss of another Machian life.

  Odessa and B99 engaged the four enemies on their side of the huge underground area.

  The Fovians were not warriors, but Odessa and B99’s diminished state took its toll. Their fight was extended as they worked to subdue or eliminate the four Fovians, who had now been fully engaged.

  The two Fovians on the right-hand side that Logan had skipped over started firing into the crowd to work up the fear. The Fovians seemed more afraid of not doing their job than trying to neutralize Logan.

  However, instead of fear, the Machians started to cheer Logan’s advance.

  The pit contained possibly all of the captives, rounded up here when the battle had turned. There would be some from Logan and Odessa’s clan who recognized them.

  Odessa, upon seeing Logan and hearing the cheers, yelled, “No! Logan, wait!”

  Gaxx heard the plea and laughed out loud, watching the advance towards him. He shivered in joy, partially from the life transfer and partially from the anticipation of the kill.

  Odessa and B99 jumped into the air, moving towards Gaxx quickly. They were a few measures behind Logan.

  Everything was happening in slow motion.

  Logan fired his precision shooter and hit Gaxx, but nothing was happening; the heavy armor was absorbing the rounds as they came in.

  As Logan cleared the edge of the platform, Gaxx inserted the yellow crystal into the control panel. The hum of the oldtech machine was loud, but not as loud as before because there was not as much fear in the room.

  However, apparently, a side effect of turning the machine on was it wreaked havoc with the magnetic flight belts. This explained the heavy reliance on frequency drives.

  Logan came crashing down onto the platform near Gaxx. Odessa and B99 crashed down into the crowd of Machians in the lower pit area.

  The small Machian on the dais went lifeless, but her spirit did not transfer over to Gaxx as before.

  Gaxx walked over to Logan, who was still on the ground. His earlier injuries, combined with the unexpected fall, showed his injuries were more detrimental than he realized.

  Gaxx picked Logan up the same way he had the earlier victim.

  He held him up in the air in front of the crowd of Machians. Odessa and B99 were up and pushing their way to the stairs that led out of the pit and up to the raised platform.

  His voice was deep and primitive, speaking loudly, “This is what you cheer!?!”

  It was a mocking question of sorts. Looking at Logan, he shook him like a child’s doll, still holding him up in the air with his extended arm.


  With his other arm, Gaxx extended a blade from his combat armor and quickly thrust it into Logan's back so that the blade protruded from the front of his chest.

  Odessa screamed rage and accelerated as fast as she could, aiming her extended blade from the armor glove low. She knew she would be no match for a fully armored Baytorian warrior, but quick thinking and speed could give her one chance at something unexpected.

  As Gaxx held Logan up in the air, laughing as blood spewed from Logan, Odessa came in low, aiming with everything she had at the armor knee joint on Gaxx’s right side.

  He saw her intent too late, given her speed. She impacted the leg joint squarely with the sharpest part of the bracing.

  The blade penetrated the armor at exactly the right spot. It cut across and into the leg muscle. Given her speed, the force from the impact drove the blade across the leg and separated the lower leg from the upper leg.

  Blood spurted out of the bottom of the combat suit for a moment, then the automation of the armor sealed the wound. Gaxx dropped Logan and let out his own scream, clutching at the point of impact with both his hands.

  Amazingly, he did not fall over. Instead, he looked hard at Odessa for a moment, smiled his evil smile, and, using a different colored power crystal from the control panel to his left, he did something unexpected. Instantly a blue portal formed around him, and with a flash, the portal and Gaxx were gone.

  Logan lay on the ground gasping, a hollow sucking noise coming from the hole in his chest.

  Two of the Machian captives, not ones from Odessa’s clan, ran up yelling, “Get him on the sacrificial dais!” Odessa, still in shock as she held Logan, who was slowly dying, watched as the Machians moved toward her. They grabbed Logan roughly under each arm and put him on the dais, connecting the tube from the machine to the exit point of the bleeding wound.

  Dozens of other Machians rushed the remaining Fovians in the room, subduing them and taking their weapons.

  “Order your android to the receiving dais. NOW!” someone yelled. The room realized what the two Machians were attempting, and now everyone was trying to help.

  Odessa did not know who yelled the command. She looked out into the room in shock. She made eye contact with her Uncle Garneri. Odessa had known him since birth and trusted him.