Crucible of a Species (11 page)

“Mr. Sassaman, do we still have forward power.”

“She’s bucking real hard and getting worse, Captain. The drives are unbalanced. I can barely control the wobble.”

“Take her back up, we need to gain altitude!”

“Not enough power, Captain..

“Sir, I’ve lost sight of one of our escorts.”

“Good God, the last thing we need is a mid-air collision. Ensign Li, can you ….”

The ship shuddered as though something was dragging it down the open rails of an old train track. A high-pitched screech filled the bridge but above it rose Ensign Sassaman’s voice, “Captain, we appear to have …”

*~~*~~*~~*

Ensign Andrew Dailey
pulled out of a spiral and had one eye on the Argos when a single jolt slammed the Argos as though she had struck a rock. The ship began wobbling and he called over to the other Hunter, “Lieutenant, something’s wrong with the Argos.”

Braxton pulled a full ‘one-eighty’ while lifting the nose of his craft. The Argos was behind and slightly above him. The ship was losing altitude and the wobble was getting worse. The Argos was going to crash into the sea.

Ensign Petrika, in the co-pilot’s seat, turned white as Braxton gunned the Hunter forward. Like a shot, the Argos seemed to fly at them, they would hit it dead center.

“Hunter pilot, you are dangerously close …”

“Ensign Li, we don’t have time to argue.” Lieutenant Braxton called across to the communications officer on the Argos. “Connect me directly with Sassaman.”

“Aaron, I’m coming up below and amidships of you. Hold her as steady as you can and stop gunning the drives.”

“We’re losing altitude, and …”

“I know that. Shut up and listen. We’ll have contact in less than …”

“You can’t intersect the drive fields, Braxton. What …”

The interior of the Hunter went dark as they passed into the shadow of the Argos and a strange glow flooded the forward displays. Only the boat’s heads-up display functioned. It would have to be enough.

“It’s working. Feel it? I’m already in your field. Now, I’m going to move our contact point outward from your center.”

Braxton fought the controls as the Hunter rammed the larger ship’s drive field. The fields repelled each other as they interacted and he could feel the scoutship lose response from the counter push of the massive Argos drive.

I knew it. Braxton’s thoughts raced through his mind as his hands and eyes directed the boat, “The fields haven’t exploded. This isn’t the same reaction we get when a second field starts inside an existing field. The two fields are repelling each other.

The controls shook like a jackhammer but the lieutenant forced the big ship upward. Deftly, Braxton worked the Hunter’s contact point outward from the center of the Argos. The big ship’s wobble slowly subsided but the Hunter’s drive was nearing the redline limit.

“You’ve dampened the wobble, Braxton.” Sassaman called over, “We’re headed for the cliffs and I can’t raise her enough. Can you give a little more push?”

“My drive’s hot enough to smoke, Sassaman. You’re gonna have to beach it. I’ll let you drop slowly ….”

“Pull out, Braxton. We’re right on top of you. You have to pull out before we hit.”

“No can do, Aaron. You’ll lose control and flip right into the cliff. A little further and…”

The Argos slammed into the shallow surf at the edge of the broad beach sending a wave of white sand against the cliffs. Saltwater sprayed hundreds of feet into the air forcing a tornado of water and sand to rampage across the beach. Sheets of debris pummeled the shoreline, digging the Argos deeper into the soft sand. Then Ensign Sassaman cut the drives and the air outside slowly cleared on a vision of hell.

Tufts of grass swayed
in the breeze crossing a small glade that surrounded an isolated copse of ancient ginkgo trees. A creature strange to this world stood in their shade unmoving. Colonel Daniel Drake’s eyes scanned the swaying grass as he contemplated the smooth texture of the small stone he rubbed between his fingers. The simple action presented a brief moment of distraction complimenting the soft rays of sunlight filtering through the leaves to dance across the communications workbench in front of him. Cheerful birdsong rode a cooling breeze as Drake considered the depths of his failure. He tried to tell himself it wasn’t his fault but knew those lost were his responsibility; they all had been in his care.

Including himself, there were eight people alive on the plateau. The pilot and copilot of Hunter Recon #2 were out there, somewhere over the sea, to make the count ten. A horrid vision filled the dark corners of his mind. In it, he feared that because of his decisions these few may well be the only ten humans alive on the Earth.

Midshipman Thornsen’s voice rose from behind him, “I had them move both of the tractors up to the neck of the plateau to work on the security barrier as ordered, sir.”

The Colonel looked around before replying and confirmed that only the midshipman and Dr. Shieve were within hearing, “Well, I guess we have our answer. Now we know the saboteur survived his initial attempt.”

“You believe that this also was sabotage?” Sandra countered, “We have no confirmation.”

“Ship’s engines don’t fail like this, Dr. Shieve. I’m sure this was the result of sabotage and no, there is no new information beyond the fact that the Argos is sitting dead on the beach.

“I have Hunter Recon Two in a search operation for Lieutenant Johnson’s ship. They haven’t been able to spot even a piece of wreckage. I will call off their search in another twenty minutes and have them return to the crash site. We may be able to access the Argos through one of the service hatches, then we’ll find out if any survived.

“Midshipman, issue a rifle and sidearm to Dr. Shieve then take her down to the other end of the plateau and give her the basics. We may need every weapon we can get this evening. When you feel she’s competent, I’d like the two of you to reconnoiter the area. Look for trails and animal spoor, particularly along the edges of the cliffs. I don’t want any surprises coming in the back door. Keep your eyes open for anything we can use to our advantage. We may have to stay here a while.

“One last word of advice, Midshipman, keep the doctor in front of you as you travel until she becomes proficient with her weapons. Accidents do happen.”

The Colonel watched them move down the trail before returning to the aerial maps. He was about to contact Ensign Dailey in Hunter Two when the call came in.

“We’ve completed the second pass, Colonel. Water is as clear as a bell and there’s no sign of Braxton. Request permission to return to the Argos.”

“Permission granted, Ensign.”

“Aye aye, sir, returning to Argos site.”

The colonel’s eyes scanned the communications center. There was no word from the Argos or the Hunter. Without thinking, Drake reached into a pocket and took out a cigar before updating his personal log,
Maybe the best thing to come out of this is that we have the heavy equipment and security systems. They may be our only hope for short-term survival on this world if the Argos cannot be salvaged.

We cannot hope for rescue. If the Argos is gone then we’ll have two chances of survival, neither is very good. One hope is to try and live the rest of our lives here. The second possibility is to take the Hunter Recon back through the Red Spot of Jupiter but I don’t know how we could attempt this without the services of Doctors Nolen and Thompson. I don’t …

The blow hit him in the right thigh. It was more like a push or shove than an attack. The marine twisted, regaining his balance in time to see a six-foot long dinosaur standing on his communications system. The animal had just scraped its teeth across the front of the electronics when the forty-five caliber round entered its skull, throwing the animal to the ground.

Drake approached the long, heavily muscled dinosaur and kicked it with his boot before seating his pistol back into its holster.
Damn things are crazy. Why in the world would it attack the communications center while ignoring me. We’ve a whole lot to learn if we’re gonna survive this.

*~~*~~*~~*

A sharp crack split the air,
and echoed across the cliffs bordering the valley. A fraction of a second later, a cloud of splinters erupted from a tree located on the far side. The distant tree tumbled soundlessly to the ground.

“This is a .32 caliber, Lepton Pulse Rifle.” Brittany Thornsen held out the weapon before her, “As you’ve just witnessed, it’s not particularly loud, it doesn’t have any kickback but it has one hell of a range. This weapon employs blur-spectral enhanced aiming and fires a spin-stabilized slug at more than two miles per second. That’s more than three times the speed of sound so it delivers a heavy punch equivalent to having a hand-held Railgun at your disposal.

“The stock of the LP Rifle, commonly called the “Pulsar”, is a miniature accelerator technology derived from the Wave Drives used in the Hunter.” Brittany pressed a lever on the side of the Pulsar and a rectangular ceramic block dropped out of the handle. “This is a siliceram block. It’s a ceramic alloy similar to, but softer than that used to create the hull of the Argos. This block is the ammunition we fire. One this size provides fifty rounds.

“Remember the Mosasaur we killed with the Hunter and how it was ripped apart by the ship’s field? That’s what happens to the ammo block when you pull the trigger. Each pulse shaves electrons from the top surface of the ammo block, converting their parent-molecules into a super energized, hot ion gas. The field then channels these hot molecules down through this barrel in a spiral field-path that imparts spin to the material. The ion gas solidifies into a hollow, aerodynamic slug within the first inch of exiting the barrel. The loud report you heard is from the slug exceeding the sound barrier as it emerges from the barrel.

“These projectiles can pierce flesh, wood and even thin conventional armor. They splinter after initial penetration behaving as explosive ordinance. They won’t pierce the hull of the Argos because it’s made of a harder Siliceram alloy so they are safe for use on board ship. By ‘safe’ I mean it doesn’t result in punctured outer hulls leaking oxygen.”

“Whoa, hold on Brittany.” Susan broke in, “How can you use a Pulsar on board the Argos. If you create a second Wave Field internal to the ships, it sets up a parasitic reaction resulting in an antimatter explosion.”

“The Pulsar’s accelerator is a closed system. The pulses are shielded and don’t interact with a drive field as long as you don’t fool around with the tuning of the receiver’s magnetic bottle.” Brittany replied as she walked over and handed the weapon and ammo-stick to Susan. “Here Susan, you try it. Have you ever fired a rifle before?”

“I work in the field most of the time so I’m familiar with handguns and rifles. I assume this is the safety?”

Sandra slapped the ammo-stick into the chamber and released the safety as she stepped to a position safely in front of Brittany. She lifted the rifle up to her shoulder and aimed at the fallen tree’s stump across the valley. Brittany closely watched the geophysicist as she sighted down the barrel,
Good stance and she keeps both her eyes open as she aims – a telltale sign of good training. That’s it, Sandra. First, take a deep breath and begin a slow release of the air. Squeeze the …. Good. She was half way through a soft exhale when the rifle fired. This is going to be easy.

Brittany stood directly behind Sandra so her eye caught the sudden, blue pulse of ions at the end of the barrel. A thin line of distorted air, straight as a ruler, extended across the valley to impact above the target resulting in a spatter of rock and dirt.

Sandra held up her next shot as four sets of brightly colored Pterodon crossed her firing line. The easy stroke of their wings peacefully carried them down the valley, undisturbed by the noise of the rifle. Then Sandra, without changing stance, fired two more shots. They rang out almost as one, their impacts both hitting the stump.

“This is amazing!” She said in awe as she turned toward the Midshipman, “There’s no recoil and no drop in the trajectory. You can even see the trail of the slug and the rifle’s immediately able to fire again.”

“Yep, the trail is from the compression wave of the slug. Visibility is just enough to let you correct your aim. Almost as good as a laser sight and at night the path glows so it’s like a tracer.

“You seem comfortable with the rifle, let’s work with the pistol.

“The pistol is a .45 caliber Colt-Mauser Excel with an eighteen round clip designed specifically for military use. It is made of a lightweight plastic receiver and siliceram barrel. The rounds are conventional case ammunition since the device is too small to house a gravitic coil. Let me show you how to clean and disassemble the weapon.”

It was a warm, humid day but a cooling breeze filled with exotic scents lifted above the canyon to mix with the song of the jungle. Several small, brightly colored dinosaurs ran by chasing insects and ignoring the alien human presence. The two girls worked with the weapons for an hour after which they cleaned up the spent pistol casings and followed the trail along the rim of the plateau as it moved inland towards the falls.

“Something is using this path, here’s another pile of dung between these flowers.” Sandra used her toe to push over a small pile of brown nodules, each about the size of a walnut, “Judging by the lump size, I would guess the animals aren’t too big.”

“There’s another branch off the trail.” Brittany stretched to look out over the edge. “The path follows down the cliff face. Do you think the Pterodon could be making these?”

“Seems likely considering the number of nests they have on the ledges.” Sandra replied, her eyes continued to scan the grounds around them. “There are more flowering plants than I would have expected, butterflies too. The fossil record of these things contains no specimens from this early period although we all had our suspicions they existed. They’re not as colorful and delicate as our flowers and insects but this is a good sign. It means we may be able to find something edible. I wish we would have brought some seeds.” She bent over to pick a few tufts of delicate grass, “I’d like to test a few of these. They almost look like an early form of wheat or sorghum.”

“Look, the engineers are up ahead, where the cliff edge curves back.” Brittany pointed over to where three men with rifles seemed to be searching the bushes. Brittany caught some movement in the corner of her eye and turned to see Sandra lift her rifle. Before the midshipman could grab the doctor’s arm, the Pulsar’s crack split the air.

“Are you crazy?” she shouted pulling the weapon from the hands of the older physicist. Brittany fearfully turned to look across to the marines. One of them was looking their way and waving his hand while the other two huddled over what looked like a mound of grass.

“Come on, Doctor. Now you did it. You just put both our asses in a wringer. Get movin’, we need to get over there and face the music. Whatever were you thinking of?”

Sandra didn’t move, “You couldn’t see it? There was a predator theropod standing at the edge of the bush, ready to pounce. They apparently didn’t see it either. They were heading right towards it.”

It took the women several minutes to follow the roundabout trail leading to the engineers. They were almost at the worksite when shots ripped out ahead of them. Sandra ducked but Brittany grabbed her arm and urged her forward, “Those shots weren’t fired in our direction -- you can tell from the sound. They were shooting at something on the mainland.”

“Great shot, Midshipman.” A faint voice carried over the song and cries that filled the valley. “We owe you one. Get on over here but keep alert, there are more of them around.”

The girls emerged from a section of high brush into a recently cleared opening. Up ahead a dozer sat idle at the foot of a raised berm of dirt that would eventually extend across this thin neck of land separating the plateau from the mainland.

Red blood covered the grass over a section of the site. Some still flowed from a dead beast that was at least twenty-five feet long. Three other dinosaur bodies lay scattered on the ground around the berm. “This is the animal I shot.” Sandra commented as she walked over to the beast lying by the cliff edge. “Look how its markings have faded; they blended into the brush perfectly before I shot it. What a shame. Why, I do believe it’s a Tyrannosaurus although it’s a bit small and the arms aren’t quite right for a T-Rex. Still, it’s in the family.”

“Their camouflage is pretty damn good. I don’t know how you managed to spot it.” Brittany replied.

Sgt. Marshall stepped over as they were examining the dinosaur, “We lost Specialist Wiggens about twenty minutes ago. Would have probably lost Cpl. Tyree too if you hadn’t of tagged this one. That was quite a shot, ma’am.”

“Thank you Sergeant but your thanks should go to Doctor Shieve. I didn’t even see the thing.”

“No kidding? Who’da thought … I’m sorry, excuse me Doctor. We owe you our thanks.

“Report Sergeant.” Brittany said as she stood up, “What’s the status here and where is Private Wiggens?”