Kali's Children (Kali Trilogy Book 1)

by Craig Allen

  “You support it?” he asked.

  “Of course.”

  “Why?”

  “You know why.” She swallowed another bite. “I’m not going through that again. I lost my husband. It was the most horrible thing imaginable. If something happened to my children or grandchildren…”

  She stared at the remaining meal on her plate. “I’d wipe out this whole world to save them. I’d hate myself for it. But I’d rather have that than put my family at risk again.”

  “I don’t know if I could live with it,” Cody said.

  “Could you live with the deaths of billions,” Sonja said, “knowing you could have done something to stop it?”

  Cody shook his head while Sonja ate. It was hard to imagine what would happen in the future. It was so far away. But it would happen, whether he could imagine it or not.

  “So, do you have a solution?”

  Cody tilted his head. “Solution?”

  “Other than the admiral’s plan.”

  “No, not yet.”

  “That’s too bad.” Sonja finished off the last of her sandwich.

  “Is it?”

  “Yes.” She pushed her plate back. “I’d take them all out if it meant saving human lives, and our new buzzard friends, for that matter. Don’t care much for the toads, though, and I don’t trust anything else down there. Still, if there’s an alternative to keeping those things stranded on this rock where they can’t hurt anyone else except each other, I’m up for it.”

  Cody stared at her. He normally preferred women with longer hair, not the close-cropped cut Sonja had. She was also a head taller than he was and strong enough to toss him wherever she wanted. And she was pretty. Why hadn’t he noticed that before?

  “I wish I had an alternative,” he said. “I don’t even know what to do about the fliers.”

  “We can find them, right?”

  Cody nodded. “Yeah, I gave them a tracker.”

  “And they didn’t drop it? I remember they were sensitive to that sort of thing.”

  “Yeah, I know. Something about how it interacts with the planet’s magnetic fields. Anything technological just lights up like a Christmas tree for them.”

  Cody’s eyes widened. It came to him like that. Christ, he was a fool for not seeing it before.

  “I have to talk to the admiral,” he said.

  Sonja raised her eyebrows. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah.” Cody stood, nearly knocking his chair over. “I just have to go.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Cody switched on the outside view on his HUD. The fliers were there, flying alongside the hopper. They gave the pilot their version of a thumbs-up then peeled off to let the hopper land.

  “Contact confirmed,” the pilot said. The hopper tilted. “I see a spot below. ETA, one minute.”

  Cody forced himself to relax. Being back in an enviro-suit brought back bad memories.

  Sonja’s hand stayed on his shoulder the whole time, even as she barked orders at the other marines. They weren’t wearing enviro-suits. Instead, they wore armored suits not unlike the one Sonja had worn on the plateau.

  The marines seemed to accept him, in spite of how he’d treated the admiral. One nodded at him, crossed his arms to his chest, and spread them out—exactly what a dropper would do when falling from the Earth’s ring. Cody returned the gesture, and the marine grinned ear to ear. Cody wasn’t sure of the marine’s rank, but he was certain the man was a buck private. He was probably no older than Anne had been.

  The hopper landed smoothly on a plateau about a hundred meters across, not unlike the one they had left a couple of days before. But that was thousands of miles away from their current position. Cody examined the logs showing where the fliers’ tracker had traveled. They had covered a couple of thousand miles at least. He was amazed how far the fliers could travel so quickly. That fact would help immensely with Cody’s plan.

  When the door opened, Cody started to disembark. Sonja grasped his shoulder. “Not yet, Cody.”

  The marines disembarked, taking up defensive positions outside the hopper.

  “You almost never call me that.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  “Cody.”

  “Thought you preferred first names.”

  He nodded at her. “I do.”

  She had a pretty smile. It disappeared quickly as the marines called out, “Secure, Gunny.”

  “Let’s go.” Sonja stepped off the ramp, and Cody followed her. In the sky, the fliers circled for a landing. A few minutes later, they touched down on the other end of the plateau. When they saw Cody, they hopped over. One held the tracker in its central hand as if it were a hatchling. The marines trained their weapons on them, but Sonja ordered them to stand down.

  They met the fliers halfway across the plateau. Immediately, one flier waved a viewer at them.

  You have returned as you said you would. Do we have asylum?

  “They’ve agreed to help you,” Cody said. “And we also need your help.”

  ~~~

  “Thruster control is here.” Badger tapped the stick on his right. “And here.” He pointed to a set of four pedals on the floor.

  “Those are up and down,” Cody said, looking at the pedals on his own side of the cockpit, “right?”

  “Uh, yes.” Badger tilted his hand back and forth, indicating Cody had it half right. “There really is no up and down in space. Sometimes we think of it in relation to ourselves, though. Above me might be below you, depending on how your ship is situated.”

  “I see,” Cody said. He had switched out his enviro-suit for a full vac-suit, which was standard operating procedure in case there was a breach. Sonja had argued with him, but he had gone anyway. He had to see it through. It was his idea, after all. And so far, everything had gone well. This was their fourth and last drop of fliers. After this, they would wait for the recall signals.

  Behind Cody, the fliers stood quietly, fluttering their wings. Every hopper on the Washington assisted in the effort, dropping off groups of fliers at designated locations. The fliers were fast, but the hopper could place them at key points around the planet within hours.

  Periodically, one of the fliers would shake. The others would move close to him, and then he would calm down.

  “We’re nearing the drop point,” Badger said. “Better tell our friends to get ready. Sure you won’t use the magnetic boots?”

  The suit’s magnetic boots could cling to the hopper’s deck, but Cody shook his head. “Can’t. It’ll drive them crazy.”

  Badger seemed to shrug, but it was hard to tell in his vac-suit. “Your call, Doc.”

  Cody pulled himself out of his seat. At the rear of the hopper, the fliers shivered, ready to jump out of their skin. He attached his tether to the wall and walked toward the fliers. “How are you?”

  Cody had set up the console on the hopper so the fliers could use it. One of them tapped out a message.

  Terrifying in the dark.

  He nodded. The fliers could likely “see” just as well as Cody could, but the hull of the hopper drowned out the planet’s magnetic waves, cutting off their primary sense. For them, it was like turning off the lights.

  “We’re almost there,” Cody said. “Everyone has their tags?”

  Each flier showed the tracking device on the cord around its neck—or where a neck would be, anyway. Cody pulled gently on each tracker, verifying it was secure. He didn’t really know any of them as individuals. They all looked the same. He wondered if he would ever learn to tell them apart.

  “Twenty seconds, Doc,” Badger announced on Cody’s suit comm system. “Stand by to dump ’em.”

  Cody waved back at Badger and made sure his own tether was secure so he wouldn’t go flying out with them. He faced the fliers. “Get ready. It’s going to get really loud because of the hopper engines.” Cody patted the wall of the hopper bay. “Be ready for that. And activate these”—he pointed at their tracker
s—“when you’ve finished your sweep, and we’ll come get you.”

  The fliers lined up and gave their version of thumbs-up. Cody returned it.

  “Here we go,” Badger said. “Three, two, one, dump ’em!”

  Cody pressed the big red button, and the rear door swung open. The hopper engines roared. The fliers quivered at the sound, which must’ve been deafening to them.

  They didn’t hesitate. The sky was their home. The flier nearest the door let itself fall backward. Once airborne, it spread its wings and caught the air, cascading farther away from the hopper. The others did the same. The last one shook its wing at Cody, almost as if to wave goodbye. It dove out the back, and Cody closed the door. With a hiss, the hopper pressurized. “Door secured.”

  “Going upstairs,” Badger said. The hopper gained altitude quickly. The thin, yellow air disappeared and was replaced by the blackness of space. “Think they’ll do it, Doc?”

  “They live here,” Cody said. “They can discern the natural magnetism from the distortions caused by our technology more easily than we can.”

  Badger blinked. “So that’s a yes.”

  “Yes, it is.” Cody looked out through the cockpit window from his position in the hopper launch bay. The dark-blue ocean and yellow clouds made up most of the view, but occasionally, he got a glimpse of deep red.

  Badger twisted his chair around as if to exit the cockpit, but he remained in his seat. “That’d be a hell of a drop, wouldn’t it?”

  “You know about that, too?”

  “Shit, yeah. Everybody does. Droppin’ Cody.” Badger held his hands across his chest then spread them open.

  Cody laughed.

  Even Badger’s language didn’t bother him. “Holy shit, Honolulu was incredible.”

  “Thanks,” Cody said, “but that was another lifetime.”

  “Hell, you could do it here.” He nodded toward the back. “Back by the weapon and armor tubes, we got some chutes. You know, for dropping marines.”

  “No thanks,” Cody said. “I’ve had enough of this planet.”

  “You’re wishing you never came here, aren’t you?”

  Cody nodded. “You’re telling me. I should have stayed home.”

  “Then who would’ve come up with the plan?” Badger said. “You were meant to be here.”

  “You believe in fate?”

  “I think things happen for a reason. For instance—”

  The hopper jolted. Cody slammed into the side of the cargo bay. His suit registered damage of some kind. He started to run a diagnostics when the hopper rocked again.

  “Shit. Cody, strap your ass down. We’re taking fire!”

  “What? From where?”

  “Outside. Where do you think? Hang on. Let me—”

  A third jolt sent the hopper spinning. For a split second, a powerful wind swept through the hopper. His tether yanked at him, but kept him in place. As soon as it started, the wind died down, and Cody sank to the floor.

  “Badger?” Cody stood. The hopper still had artificial gravity at least.

  Badger was nowhere to be found. Neither was the seat where Badger had sat seconds before. Half the cockpit had disappeared. Tiny flickering lights appeared against the blackness of space where the control systems used to be. The auto-repair systems closed off the circuits, but the fact remained that the hopper’s control section was gone—along with Badger.

  Cody checked the condition of his suit. Its HUD indicated the oxygen pack had been hit. He’d lost half of his reserve, and the rebreathing apparatus had been damaged. He would have air for maybe half an hour. After that, he would be sucking down carbon dioxide.

  Cody extended the length of his tether from the wall and made his way forward. Internal gravity still worked, which meant the main reactor was still online.

  Up front, through the hole where the cockpit had been, the planet was visible as the hopper rotated. He hadn’t done a drop in a long time, and right then, he didn’t have the equipment for it.

  Among the clouds, an object appeared. It was small, but it was clearly a ship heading straight toward the slowly spinning hopper. As it grew closer, its shape became more visible. It was a Kali copy.

  The admiral was right. The toads hadn’t committed everything to the first fight.

  Cody ducked, as if that would save him. He was in a spinning hopper that was probably losing altitude while an enemy ship approached. He tried to push aside the panic. Would they destroy the hopper? No. If they had intended to do that, they would have done so already. They weren’t leaving, which mean they wanted something. He sneaked another peek. The ship was very close, moving in above the hopper—according to his perspective. Regardless of the direction, it was close. If they pulled the hopper aboard… he would be in the same boat that Matthew and Marie had been.

  Cody ducked out of view again. He thought of turning on his magnetic boots just in case, but he wondered if the creatures aboard the approaching ship would sense the powerful magnetic field. He didn’t risk it.

  He curled up in a corner of the hopper. The situation was hopeless. The controls for the radio were in front, where the cockpit had been. If there was another radio onboard, he had no clue where it could be. And even if he had enough oxygen, he couldn’t hope to reach the Washington with just his suit. If only he had a gun of some kind.

  He spotted an outline against the hopper bulkhead, as if something had been placed inside the wall. Badger had mentioned something…

  He ran his fingers along the wall. He felt nothing at first. He glanced to the front of the hopper. The Kali was still there. Cody found it just then—a tiny opening that sank into the wall. He put his hand in it and pulled. A cylindrical case emerged, sliding open and resting on the floor. It was identical to the one Badger had sent to Sonja on the plateau. He didn’t know the official designation, but the marines called them “party boxes.”

  The door popped open automatically. The vest and the gun, which were probably the source of the name party box, rested inside of a mechanical cradle to keep them from rattling around inside the case. He had no clue how to use either, but there was something he did know how to use. Tied together by a harness were six small spheres. He picked them up. Each had a dial on top that measured seconds. The numbers went all the way to twenty—the maximum countdown to detonation.

  Badger had said something about parachutes. Cody pushed against a square section in the wall, and it popped open. Small backpacks similar to the ones he’d used on drops lined it. He grabbed a chute and pulled it onto his back, where internal nanos melded it with his vac-suit. Cody’s HUD showed him the controls for opening the chute. It had an auto-open based on altitude. He would have scoffed at that back in the day, but at that moment, it seemed like the best idea he’d ever heard. All he needed was something to protect him from the burning friction of reentry.

  The cylinder that contained the vest and gun looked strong. It would have to be to enter the atmosphere. Then again, it could have been designed to fly at a specific trajectory. If it just fell through the sky uncontrollably, then he could be in trouble. Either way, he didn’t have a choice.

  Cody emptied the cylinder, setting the fusion grenades—cherries—close by. He dragged the cylinder toward the rear door. He activated a set of controls on the side of the cylinder. Most of the controls, including propulsion systems, were not available because he didn’t have the proper access codes. He did have access to the external sensors, though.

  The ship lurched. Was he too late? The anterior of the Kali was in sight, but it wasn’t close enough to dock yet. He still had a chance.

  Cody grabbed one of the cherries. He set the detonation timer for twenty seconds. Nothing happened. He turned the grenade around, examining it. A single button rested on the side. That was the trigger that would start the timer. Each cherry contained a tritium pellet. If one detonated, the tremendous heat would breach the other cherries, causing the tritium in the other grenades to fuse into helium. So if on
e detonated, then they all did. In theory, anyway.

  He disconnected his tether and activated his magnetic boots. He hated to risk alerting the alien crew inside the Kali copy, but they would know he was there soon enough anyway. His boots clung to the deck instantly. He hit the big red button, and the hopper’s door swung open. He grasped the sides of the open cylinder and put one foot inside, connecting his magnetic boot with the interior.

  He took a deep breath and pressed the button on the cherry. When he released it, the red holographic lights spiraled downward. In less than twenty seconds they would gone, and so would the hopper.

  He threw the cherries to the other end of the hopper bay. He pushed the tube while he had one foot inside, as if he were pushing a canoe into the water. In two seconds, he was in space.

  His stomach flipped as the gravity disappeared and free-fall overcame him. Memories flooded back as he stared at the wide expanse of the planet. He had no sensation of motion, even though he drifted farther from the hopper. He swung his other foot inside the tube, the magnetic sole gripping the inside. He had to take the risk they would detect the powerful magnets. Otherwise, he would probably float away from the tube. He bent his knees and grabbed the edges of the cylinder.

  The Kali ship had maneuvered very close to the spinning hopper. Cody was still parallel with the hopper itself, but that was changing. The hopper seemed to move higher as he fell toward the planet. Cody carefully reoriented himself, trying to focus on the tube and not the hopper, the planet, or the ship that could vaporize him at any second. He did his best to tuck his legs into the tube. His boots grabbed the other end of the tube as he tugged at the door, trying to close it on top of him.

  A bright light spilled out of the hopper. A split second later, the hopper went up in a brilliant flash. Cody’s helmet polarized. When it depolarized, Cody saw the ship lurch away. Part of its underside had been damaged in the blast. Atmosphere vented into space. Like all combat ships, the Kali had been designed to absorb the energy from nuclear explosions like those of tactical torpedoes. But tacs usually detonated kilometers away. Six fusion grenades detonating on top of the hull was another matter entirely.