Chapter 22
Jason, Billy and Rizzo pulled their chariots up to where they had left Traveler. The poles he had been secured to were empty—dark rust-colored stains remained.
"Billy, check on the Queen. I need to find Traveler.”
"Over here!"
Jason turned to see Dira waving at him from a thatch-roofed structure at the edge of the encampment. She had removed her helmet and her hair was wet with perspiration. The top of her battle suit hung open, revealing enough cleavage to catch Jason's eye. She ushered him inside, where Traveler lay prostrate on a large table. Both legs had been bandaged. He lifted his head up and acknowledged Jason with what looked to be a smile.
"Thank you, Captain," Traveler said, his voice weak.
"I'm glad you hung in there, my friend," Jason replied. He turned to Dira, "How is he doing?"
"Needless to say, he's lost a lot of blood. Fortunately, that's something I can manufacture in the field, so he'll be fine—just needs a few hours of rest."
"When did you arrive here?"
"About two hours ago. They tried to sneak up on us with that net thing, but we were ready for them. Two of their little warriors were killed. Orion headed out right away to find you."
“She found us. Just in time. I take it our delivery arrived here earlier?" Jason asked.
Dira started to laugh and shook her head. "Oh yeah, Queen Serapin appeared out of thin air, along with her screeching babies. I have a feeling, as far as the locals are concerned, you are nothing short of a miracle worker. To say there was a commotion would be a serious understatement."
"OK, that's my next stop." Turning to leave, Jason looked back. "I'm glad you made it here in time, you know, to help Traveler."
"Me too," she replied. They both held each other’s gaze for a moment before Jason left, heading off toward the large crowd of Craing gathered on the other side of the encampment.
Jason hailed Billy.
"Go for Billy"
"Status?"
"Apparently Team Zebra was ready for the guys sneaking around with the net. Several Craing were killed in the process. Morgan and Orion located their leader, Wik-ma, secured the camp, and set up a roving perimeter. We have a total of seven men, three rhino warriors, plus Dira and Ricket.” Jason nodded to Billy and cut their comms connection as he approached. Jason was unprepared for the reception. The entire camp population turned and greeted Jason with smiles, several reaching out to touch him. The Craing moved aside, making an opening to where Wik-ma stood waiting. Several yards beyond him, on a mound of hay, sat the Queen and her three suckling offspring—apparently no worse for wear. An excited, equally large group of Serapins had formed in a semicircle behind their queen. When Jason turned his attention back to Wik-ma, he saw that Ricket was there, listening to something the Craing leader was saying. Both turned to Jason; Wik-ma bowed his head, then looked up and spoke. Ricket translated: "I am in your debt; we are in your debt. We didn't believe you would have the slightest chance of success. Now, with the return of Queen Serapin, our citizens rejoice. But the true miracle is her three offspring. One is female—a future queen. This is a great day, an historic, momentous day.” The crowd of Craing cheered and little hands reached out to touch Jason again.
Ricket continued to speak. "Wik-ma wishes to offer you a gift. Your choice from among their maidens.” Wik-ma gestured toward a group of five smaller looking Craing, who peered out from the opening of a nearby hut. Jason nodded and smiled appreciatively. The memory of the Craing leader shooting two arrows into Traveler made it difficult for him to not kill the little shit where he stood.
"Thank you, and I am honored by your kind gesture. We look forward to a long friendship between our people, but now we must move on." Jason looked over to Ricket. "Have you asked about the portal? Do they know where it is?"
"Yes, sir. The portal, apparently similar to the other one, is nearby, and a sacred place among these people. They believe it to be a window to God. He was quite adamant that no outsiders are allowed there," Ricket explained.
"Is that right? We don't have time for this. Please translate what I have to say about that:
We do not wish to offend their customs or beliefs, but accessing that window is crucial."
Ricket translated as Jason spoke, but the way the Craing leader was frowning and shaking his head, his answer was obvious. Jason caught Orion's eye and spoke to her over NanoCom.
"Orion, I take it by now the leader is aware of the damage your weapon is capable of, right?"
"Yes, sir, they are all more than aware."
"Good. Put two plasma burst into the ground—make it as close to their Queen's fat ass as possible."
Orion stepped to the side of the group, pointed her rifle, and fired off two bright-blue plasma bursts. Several inches from the Queen, the ground erupted—sending dirt several feet in the air. Orion stepped in closer, the muzzle of her rifle pointed at the Queen’s head. The Craing leader dropped his non-negotiable stance. He spoke, and Ricket continued to translate.
"When you are ready, I will take you myself. It is not far."
* * *
When outfitted again in their battle suits, along with weapons and equipment packs, Wik-ma and four Craing warriors guided Jason’s team of six and three rhinos to a rocky area less than a quarter mile from the camp. Here they found the entrance to a large cave. The Craing leader offered Jason and Billy two lit torches. They declined, illuminating their own battle suit head lamps instead. Wik-ma bowed again, but gestured for them to proceed on alone—the portal would be found at the far end of the cave. The five Craings found this humorous for some reason, their faces all smiles.
Alice, seldom far from Morgan’s side, was the first to approach the entrance. Crouching low, she sniffed the air, took several tentative steps forward, then jumped backwards and made a series of sounds not so different from barking.
"Cap, I'm betting there's more to this cave than the location of the portal," Morgan said, nodding toward Alice.
"Yeah, I don't like this. Why don’t you hang back here, cover our backs, while we check things out.”
The nine team members headed deeper into the cave.
Traveler limped along slowly. The two surviving rhino warriors stayed close by his side, there if he needed assistance, although he’d never ask for it.
Thirty feet in, the cave narrowed from twenty feet across and that high, to half that. Something crunched beneath their feet, like gravel or twigs. Jason pointed his helmet lamp down and realized it was actually small bones.
“Creepy,” Dira said. She slowed her pace and held to the back of the group, where she found Alice cowering and looking over her shoulder. Alice looked up at her, then quickly turned and ran back in the direction they’d come. “Figured she’d want to stay with Morgan,” she said disappointedly.
"I think I see something," Rizzo said over his comms. As they continued forward, the cave veered slightly to the right. There was definitely movement ahead. Something was reflecting the light back from their lamps. Jason, Billy and Orion, at the front of the group, saw the creatures first. Large enough they needed to walk single-file, the big cockroach-like creatures were heading in their same direction. So far, they’d shown no signs of noticing anyone behind them. Then the last creature slowed, stopped, and then turned. It reared up on its back two legs as if attempting to crawl up the cave wall and flipped back to face the assault team. Seemingly wanting to hold its ground, the insect activated its two protruding pinchers.
“They’re disgusting!” Dira yelled. “I hate roaches, and those f*cking things are much bigger than any of us. Can’t we just go another way?”
Like two curved swords, or scissors, the pinchers continued to rapidly open and close.
“Cap, is it just me or do those things look familiar?” Billy asked.
“Yeah … was thinking the same thing. Kinda look like miniature Craing battle cruisers. Hold up, everyone—doesn’t look like we’re going any further until this one is dealt with,” Jason commanded.
One of the two remaining rhino warriors, whose name translated to Stands in Storm, was already on the move. Jason watched and was somewhat surprised by his fearlessness. As the rhino drew closer, the bug’s pinchers increased their activity. Without turning his back on the insect, the rhino held out his left hand toward Traveler. Traveler made a grunt, but relinquished his own hammer. Now, holding two heavy hammers, Stands in Storm moved forward.
The enormous bug was back on its feet, exposing a series of thick mucous-coated plates along its underside. With no neck to speak of, the bug’s segmented head angled down further into its own body. This allowed it to see the rhino standing before it. It continued to move its pinchers. The rhino probed forward with his left-hand hammer—making a stabbing motion. The bug’s attention was completely focused on the outstretched hammer. The rhino pulled back too slowly and the extended hammer was firmly caught in the pinchers. Stands in Storm didn’t hesitate; obviously, that was his plan, as the other hammer was already moving. With his arm straight out, he spun the hammer around in a circular, counter-clockwise arc. As the weapon’s centrifugal force increased to the point the hammer was nothing more than a blur, it struck the bug’s head from beneath, and continued on, taking with it the bug’s head. The bug stayed vertical for several moments, then tipped over onto its back.
Stands in Storm returned Traveler his hammer, turned back to the dead insect, grabbed up the bug’s two skinny, stick-like back legs in one fistful, and dragged the dead bug behind himself. After maneuvering around the team and depositing it away down the cave, he returned to Traveler’s side. They all moved forward again. Dira had moved from the back of the pack to Jason’s side. He had noticed it earlier, but now it was louder, much louder. A squealing sound. One look at the walls up ahead, and he knew what it was. More of them. Much smaller—perhaps their offspring. Hundreds of the six-inch-long cockroaches rushed forward. On the walls. Up above their heads. Soon they were several inches deep at their feet. With every step, Jason felt their bodies crunch below his feet. Above the constant screeching sound were Dira’s screams. He turned to face her, to console her. The bugs covered nearly every inch of her body. Trails of sticky wet mucus glistened in the dim light. He brushed several bugs from her visor and looked into her eyes. “They can’t hurt you, Dira. They can’t penetrate your battle suite. Take deep, slow breaths. You’re going to be fine.” She nodded but didn’t look happy.
As they continued on, fewer and fewer cockroaches remained. The cave widened around the next bend and angled down. The way was steep to the point they needed to slow their pace and watch their step. Jason also noticed the temperature readout on his HUD had been fluctuating— forty-five degrees down to thirty-five. He glanced behind and noticed the rhinos were now walking single file, each had an arm outstretched to the shoulder of the rhino before him. With a nod to Traveler, Jason felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. He knew first hand that rhino warriors were virtually blind in low-light situations.
At a half-mile in, the ground leveled off and the cave widened into a large circular cavern, fifty paces wide and just as lofty. Multiple other tunnel openings encircled the room. Even in the near total darkness, subtle movement could be seen at each of the openings. Jason was leery of the insects, or anything else that may be lurking close-by. The portal, similar to the first one in blue, had a purple border and hovered just up ahead. Where the first portal was a window into the The Lilly’s domain, this portal looked out onto, Jason assumed, a metropolis somewhere on the planet of Halimar. Jason took in the view—not dissimilar to looking at Manhattan’s skyline at night— bright lights emanating from high-rise buildings, and the frenzied activity of a large populace. Here, the sky was lit with countless airborne crafts of varying sizes and shapes. And similar to the other portal, there was a metal sign affixed to a pole with the HAB 12 alien character designations. Below it was a small metal box. Ricket moved to the box, flipped open its hinged lid, and began entering the access code.
“Hold on a minute, Ricket,” Jason said, then hailed Morgan. No response. He tried again as he began jogging back, thinking the half mile of solid rock must have interfered with their comms. He made it to the cave’s opening, where he found Morgan. His headless body was covered in blood and sprawled across the cave entrance. His battle suit showed signs of damage, with numerous scrapes and gouges. It didn’t seem to have been penetrated. Apparently, the suit’s primary weakness was the neck cowling. Looking around, Jason found no sign of Morgan’s head. He didn’t get it. Morgan had been heavily armed with a multi-gun. He also had his HUD, which would have warned him of anything approaching. Crouching down closer to the body, Jason noticed something peeking out on Morgan’s exposed upper neck. There appeared to be another black growth. Jason released the upper portion of Morgan’s battle suit and let it fall open. Hundreds of growths covered his upper body. Jason stood up and backed away, noticing that more than a few had burst. “Damn, Morgan. Why didn't you say something to us?” He spoke the words aloud, angrily. Morgan hadn’t fought back against the insects because the growth had already killed him.
As if on cue, Ricket was at Jason’s side. “I can remotely program his belt.”
Jason retrieved Morgan’s unused rifle, sidearm and pack from the body. Ricket went to work, and within two minutes Morgan was phase-shifted somewhere deep into the rocky hillside. On the way back outside the tunnel entrance, Jason let the team know via their comms. No other words were spoken between Jason and Ricket as they neared the portal.
Dira had several questions about the condition of the body, but eventually sagged under the weight of her emotions. Jason pulled her close, where she sobbed into his shoulder. The three rhinos watched in silence. Traveler wiped at a single tear from his own cheek.
Ricket was back at the portal’s keypad. Twenty seconds later, the telltale beeb beeb beeb indicated Ricket had been successful.
“What about Alice?” Dira asked, looking back toward the tunnel they’d come from.
“She’ll be fine. Maybe we’ll see her on our way back. Right now, we need to go.”
One by one, the remaining nine team members stepped up and into the portal window.