Invaders: Dreadnought Ocelot (Invaders Series Book 4)

by Vaughn Heppner

  “Get up,” Ailuros said.

  My hands remained bound behind my back, but my feet were free. I rolled around until I found my feet and heaved up, standing. I looked at the ape captain. His troop was huddled around him as if he was the quarterback, giving last second instructions to his players. Behind him was a huge set of double jewel and gem-encrusted doors.

  “Logan,” Ailuros said in a soft voice.

  I turned to her and found the tip of her dagger under my chin. I jerked my head back.

  She leered as if enjoying my discomfort. “Listen well, my dear, if you want to live.”

  “The ape captain wants to kill me?” I asked.

  “What?”

  “You said if I want to live. Does the ape captain wish to kill me?”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “But you just said—”

  “Are you really such an idiot?” Ailuros asked. “The Gigantopithecuses are taking you to Nerelon Brontios. He will torture you for the information he wants to know.”

  “In that case, won’t he torture you too?”

  “Poor, confused, Logan,” she jeered. “You don’t understand anything.”

  “I know your husband is still alive.”

  The dagger tip was back under my chin, pricking the skin.

  “That hurts,” I said.

  “I should kill you here and now,” she hissed. “You thwarted my divine will once already. But I plan to teach you lessons…” She shook her head like a cat. “The Sliths are coming.”

  “They’re the pterodactyl flyers?”

  “The apes are all going to die soon. Do you want to live?”

  I blinked at her, finally realizing she was going to double-cross the great apes. “Why did you cut me free?”

  “Use this when the time is right,” she said, sheathing her knife and tucking it under my belt.

  I used my bound fingers to try to feel for the cord or chain holding the two manacles around my wrists. I could not feel anything, though. My fingers must have been numb.

  “Now, Ailuros,” the ape captain said, reverting to horribly accented English. “We have run out of time. You must do your part, as promised.”

  She grabbed one of my arms and tugged me. I staggered as she broke into a trot. We passed the Gigantopithecuses, most of which were kneeling, bringing up their laser rifles and facing the way we had come.

  Finally, I realized the plan, or part of it, at least. The Gigantopithecuses were going to fight the flyers—the Sliths, I suppose—and give us cover.

  The ape captain, Ailuros and I raced to the gem and jewel-encrusted gold doors.

  Ailuros shouted at them in Polarion, I’m sure. The doors smoothly opened. The three of us dashed through. Ailuros shouted again. I glanced back to see the two big doors swing shut.

  Then, the three of us faced a place of incredible wonder and splendor.

  -34-

  It was a huge circular chamber with giant golden statues sitting upon golden thrones. They circled a great basin upon which flickered a crystalline fire that constantly changed colors. The statues—I recognized Argon, while others looked familiar. They all sat with turned golden heads, peering up at a gigantic statue of a wondrously beautiful woman. She had a face that could have launched a thousand starships, and her body—

  I had seen that body before. I glanced at Ailuros. She had a cat’s head, but that body… I stared up at the statue and realized that someone had truly done hideous work to her. If that was how she used to look…

  “Behold,” Ailuros said in my right ear. “Behold the great goddess of the Day, holder of the Prometheus Stone. Can you wonder at my rage? Can you wonder why I wish to destroy the perpetrator of an awful deed?”

  “Did Argon change your features?” I asked.

  She sneered. “Argon, a paltry fool of the weakest order—do you think he would have dared mar his prize, his wife? No, Logan, another did it.”

  Before I could ask who, we heard the whine of laser fire from behind the golden gem-encrusted doors.

  “Our time is short,” the ape captain said. He lowered his elephant gun so it aimed at Ailuros. She carried my Polarion rifle with a strap around her left shoulder. “Show me the stone. We must be gone from here quickly.”

  Ailuros turned from me and raised her arms. She began a litany in an alien tongue, the Polarion tongue, I believe.

  The ape captain lowered his mighty express rifle. In his hands, it looked small. I realized it was an older-style anti-tank gun. He would have the size and weight to fire it while standing. I doubt I could have. The recoil would have blown me onto my back.

  Ailuros seemed to be in a trance as she approached the great golden statue of herself. Gears began to grind in it, and the great personage on the throne began to move.

  The ape captain hooted as if with superstitious fear.

  I stood in awe.

  The robotic statue seemed even lovelier as it moved, as if it were alive. I almost yearned for it to dance for us. It was unbelievably lovely. The great statue reached for its hip. As it did, a slot on its hip opened. A pommel appeared. The golden fingers circled the pommel and drew a huge golden knife from within itself.

  Ailuros still chanted with her arms held high.

  The statue lowered the great golden blade. The weapon was bigger than any sword I’d seen before. Another robotic golden hand reached down, holding the golden blade. It twisted the monster knife, pulling the outer blade as if it was another sheath.

  Shining brilliance flooded the chamber, the source of the light inside the revealed part of the great golden knife.

  Ailuros’s chant changed tenor, growing in pitch. The higher she chanted, the dimmer the terrible and glorious light became. Finally, I could see a wondrously throbbing crystal or stone. Colorful motes swirled within it. The surface of the stone seemed to expand and retract as it throbbed, as if the stone was alive with unbelievable powers.

  “The Prometheus Stone,” Ailuros declared. “It is the only one of its kind, a source of concentrated cosmic energy.”

  I jerked around to stare at her.

  She moved stiffly toward the pulsating stone, and I saw that she carried a box, perhaps a hinged lead box by the way she handled it.

  She stood before the exposed Prometheus Stone and chanted once more. To my astonishment, the stone levitated from the golden knife-holder and floated toward her. She kept chanting, watching the stone as if it was an angry cobra. It wobbled in flight, pulsated with greater brilliance—

  Ailuros lunged at it with the box, snapping the heavy metal container around it. Instantly, the chamber dimmed as if a glorious wonder had vanished—which, I guess it had.

  Ailuros grunted as the box dipped, indicating it was heavy. She heaved the leaden box into a larger wooden box with a carrying strap, slinging that over her right shoulder.

  Before I could comment, the great golden, gem-encrusted double doors exploded inward. Gems flew off the blasted doors and skittered across the floor, some bouncing into the crystalline fire. They disappeared in colorful puffs of smoke.

  Several bleeding and obviously stunned Gigantopithecuses staggered in backwards. One raised his laser carbine and fired outside.

  Booms of thunder and cracks of purple lightning fried each of them, shriveling the great apes and charring them most foully as they thudded onto the floor.

  The ape captain recovered quicker than Ailuros or me. He shouldered the elephant gun, raising it—BOOM!

  The barrel of the elephant gun rose sharply upward. The ape captain remained rock-steady otherwise.

  A flying creature had zoomed into the chamber and blew violently backward. More flew in, screeching horribly.

  BOOM!

  BOOM!

  Two more of them blew back, one of them crashing against a golden wall.

  I had begun sawing my bonds with the knife Ailuros had given me. The rope between my manacles parted. My hands swung in front of me, the blade clenched in my puffy right fist.
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  “Run, Logan,” Ailuros called. “Stick that in the back of the ape before you leave.”

  I shook my head. I would do no such evil deed.

  BOOM!

  BOOM!

  The ape captain blew away two more flying creatures.

  I looked for her, noticing that Ailuros was running to the back of the chamber. I turned to the battle, and with a cry, I hurled my blade. It twirled end over end and stuck a flyer in the eye. Then I spun back to Ailuros and sprinted after her.

  She had the Prometheus Stone. I couldn’t let her get away with it, and I couldn’t allow myself to die to the Sliths. I had to save Earth, and to do so, I had to get the Prometheus Stone from Ailuros and race back to the portal.

  As I ran into a passage, blocking my sight of the battle, I heard the ape captain fire his last shots. Afterward, booms of thunder and a mighty ape bellow told the story of a fallen hero, even if he was an enemy hero.

  I looked around wildly and could not spot Ailuros.

  “Here, you fool,” she shouted.

  I saw her step from behind a golden curtain. The wooden carrying box and the Polarion rifle were both slung over her right shoulder so they bumped against each other.

  “What are you doing?” I shouted.

  “Do you want to live?”

  “Hell yes.”

  “Then assist me.”

  I raced to her and followed her through a fold of the great golden curtain. We came to a door with two handles around a steel wheel. It was like a vault or bank door.

  I stared at her.

  “It’s stuck,” she said. “I can’t open it.”

  If she had been able to open it, would she have left without me?

  “What’s behind it?” I asked.

  “Our salvation.”

  “Stand back. I don’t want you stabbing me in the back the minute I open it.”

  “I assure you, I’m going to need your strength again.”

  I didn’t believe her and made a shooing motion with my hands. She frowned but obediently stepped away from me. Then, I stepped up, grasped the handles and began to strain. They would not move. I tried harder and glanced at Ailuros to see if she had slipped closer. She had not, but instead, cocked her head as if listening.

  She turned to me. “Hurry, Logan,” she whispered. “I hear the Sliths. They’re following my path, likely using infrared tracking.”

  I braced my feet, breathed deeply as if I was going to do a deadlift and heaved at the two handles. I strained, and it felt as if my muscles were going to tear in two. I refused to quit, almost bellowed with rage—and the wheel moved the barest fraction.

  At that point, Ailuros pressed both hands against my back and breathed encouragement into my ears. “Open the way, Logan, and I will greatly reward you.”

  That should have been a warning. I was too into opening the damn way to care, though. Then, I did roar, heaving with all my redoubled strength.

  Abruptly, the wheel spun, and the great iron door began to open.

  “Now, Logan, follow me,” Ailuros said, digging her fingernails into my back. That stung like crazy, as she’d broken skin.

  I wasn’t suspicious enough because I thought she had become frightened. I followed her down a slowly brightening way, the lights coming to life because of our passage. It felt as if my steps became sluggish, but I panted hard, perhaps from the exertion of the wheel.

  Before I keeled over, I saw Ailuros race ahead through what seemed like a small hangar bay. A strange contraption with wings waited. She opened a small door and climbed into the cab of the supposed flying machine. She stared at me from her seat. Her lips curved up into a cruel smile. I thought she was going to close the door to the cab. Instead, she beckoned me.

  I stumbled to her, crashing against her side, and then I didn’t remember a thing.

  -35-

  A low, irritating sound penetrated my unconsciousness. It woke me, and I found myself strapped into a tiny half-pod. There were items packed in with me, the box holding the Prometheus Stone and the Polarion rifle among them.

  I looked around, and realized I was in the small cabin of the flying machine I’d seen before passing out. Movement caught my eye, and I saw Ailuros piloting our craft as she stared out a narrow windshield.

  She must have heard me, for she looked back and must have caught me closing my eyes. I was trying to pretend I was still unconscious. “Are you making that sound?” she asked.

  I opened my eyes. “What sound?”

  She stared at me a moment longer before returning to her controls. “Maybe it’s just as well you’re awake. The Sliths are following. They’re making this difficult.”

  “Are they native to this world?”

  “Stop being so inquisitive about everything,” she said. “Are you willing to handle a gun?”

  “Sure. Untie me.”

  She faced the controls and did something so our craft banked sharply. I took the opportunity to look out the strange, narrow window. I saw a tilted jungle below. Then I saw movement beside us. One of the craft’s wings was moving.

  “Are we going to crash?” I shouted.

  “Of course not.”

  “The wings—”

  She laughed. “You’ve never heard of an ornithopter?”

  “Uh…of course I have,” I said. “Leonardo Di Vinci first thought of a plane that mimics the flight of a bird or bat.”

  “Believe me, he wasn’t the first.”

  “Who was?”

  She looked back. “What makes you so curious all the time?”

  “Imagination.”

  She cursed, banked the other way and pressed a switch. I heard machine gun chatter and saw two Sliths blow apart in the air. A different Slith aimed a rod with a glowing ball at us. Purple lightning sprouted from the ball and flashed at us.

  The lightning sizzled against a force field.

  “Pesky creatures,” Ailuros said. “They don’t want to let us leave.”

  “They’re the guardians of the Prometheus Stone?”

  “Hardly,” she said.

  “Are you ready, Logan?” Rax asked.

  “Who said that?” Ailuros asked sharply. “Who else is in my ornithopter?”

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “This,” Rax said.

  I heard mechanical movement, and something under me opened so I heard wind.

  “No!” Ailuros screamed. “You can’t do this to me. You have the stone.”

  Something like a catapult hissed. I felt violent movement, and my half-pod shot out of the ornithopter.

  I had time for a quick look. The ornithopter was shaped like a ball with gigantic leathery wings to the sides. Those wings indeed flapped up and down, propelling the craft up and away from my dropping escape pod. There was an open hatch on the underbelly of the ornithopter. It closed, and the spherical craft banked sharply.

  Did Ailuros want to fire on and kill us?

  “Rax!” I shouted. “Why have you remained quiet all this time?”

  In the whistling wind, I couldn’t hear his answer, if indeed he attempted it.

  In the distance were several flapping Sliths. Far beyond them on the horizon, something glimmered. It was the golden ziggurat of death.

  “Rax, this is madness,” I shouted. “I don’t want to die squashed like a bug.”

  I heard an explosive sound, and a parachute sprouted from the half-pod. It billowed into existence over me, jerking the pod. It began to fall more gently after that.

  “That is why I have remained silent,” Rax boasted. “Ailuros and the Gigantopithecuses forgot about me. If I’d spoken earlier, they might have remembered and done something to thwart my abilities.”

  “You ejected the pod from the ornithopter?”

  “Obviously. You are welcome, Logan.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “Yeah. You know what?”

  A boom and a sizzle of purple lightning tore the parachute apart. I had time to see a Slith veer away from me. Then
, the half-pod plunged as fast as before.

  “Rax!” I shouted, the wind tearing the words from my lips. “Do you have a second chute?”

  “No,” I heard. “But I can guide the pod.”

  More but smaller explosions caused the lines to blast off the half-pod as the shredded parachute tore away from us. Little wings sprouted from the sides, and the pod zigzagged through the sky. Even so, we plunged with increasing speed.

  “I put us as close as I could,” Rax said.

  The pod struck water, skipping and jolting me, driving the breath from my lungs. As we slowed, I heard the hiss of buoys inflating, and we floated, swaying with the waves.

  At that point, I started breathing again.

  “I suggest speed, Logan. We are near shore, but I detect sea monsters coming to investigate us. Can you free yourself?”

  I was struggling, but having no luck.

  “Allow me, then,” Rax said.

  The ends of the straps attached to the pod, the ones holding me captive, blew off. That also freed my hands. I tore the straps fully off, sat up and looked around. We were about half a mile from a sandy shore. Near the tree line, I spied the stone portal.

  “You brought us that close?” I asked.

  “No more words, Logan. It is time to swim for your life. But do not forget the box, and I suggest you also take the Polarion rifle.”

  “What about Ailuros? Is she still alive?”

  “Unknown, but I guarantee that you will not be shortly if you do not start swimming.”

  I got the message, grabbed gear and stuffed it all into a large duffel bag with a loop, slung it around my torso and dove into the warm ocean water. I began to swim, using clean even strokes so I wouldn’t thrash like a wounded fish. Even so, I heard terrible crunching sounds. Looking back, I witnessed the floating half-pod going down as fanged sea monsters began to fight over it.

  “I’m never going to make it,” I moaned.

  “Not if you don’t try,” Rax said. “Swim!”

  I did, and I heard sharp whines several times. I didn’t ask what those whines meant, but I think Rax made the sounds. Maybe the sea monsters hated the pitch and thus left me alone. I swam as hard as I could, and eventually dragged myself onto the sandy beach.