Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (69 page)

“
Neat,”
Scooter nodded. Ginger rolled her eyes and walked away. “I
think we can modify the carburettor to run on ethylene if we can mix
it with something.”

“
Probably.”

“
That fuckin'
veggie oil is for the birds though. That crap's going to be a bitch
to make and use.”

“
Well if it's
straight yeah, you gotta preheat it and stuff,” Max shook his
head. “Hence the whole bio-diesel thing.” He pointed to a
bunch of plastic containers. “That'll make it so we can run it
straight from the tank without no prewarmer thing that straight oil
needs. It's safer than straight hydrogen, which is our last ditch
fall back.”

“
Ah crap, saw
that on Mythbusters. Hydrogen is damn scary.”

“
Tell me about
it.” Max looked over to lieutenant Perry who was looking
impatient. “Looks like you get to go play chauffeur.” He
slapped Scooter's shoulder. “Good luck. See you on the other
side.”

“
Yeah, lucky
me,” Scooter muttered walking off.

 ...*...*...*...*...

Lieutenant Perry
gasped as every nerve in his body felt like it was stabbing him.
Despite the cage, despite the shielding around the truck and his suit
he still got a jolt. Not enough to kill him, but it wasn't pleasant.
Not in the slightest. He felt tired now, like he'd run a marathon.
Tired and suddenly dry and thirsty. He looked up, gasping as the
hummer crunched through the rocks and scrub grass.

The sky was a deep,
deep blue. There were only a few clouds in front of them. He looked
back to see the vortex was spinning, bolts of lightning rippled along
it's edge, slamming into the ground. Incoming thunderheads were
behind it, off in the distance. The clouds looked like they were
being sucked in by the vortex.

The thunder was
incredible, almost deafening. The heat... he turned as he pulled off
his helmet mask. “What a ride,” he sighed as Scooter
groaned, trying to deal with his own pain and dodge Max's Stryker in
front of them. Scooter pulled the wheel to the left, grunting under
the strain. Perry lent his own hand to the effort, trying to help the
wheel turn.

“
Damn bitch
wont turn without power steering...” Scooter grunted. He
reached down and pulled the parking brake up sharply. The truck
skidded as it slowed, pebbles flying on either side before it
stopped.

Perry got out
groaning. Feeling stiff all over. He turned to view the vortex trying
to shake off the feeling. It was spinning faster now, heat and energy
made the air pop and ripple around it. “Damn that's gorgeous,”
he sighed. “Definitely not in Kansas anymore.”

“
Yeah well,
got under a minute to move this bitch,” Scooter grunted as he
tried to climb out. He fell to the ground by the truck, head swimming
suddenly as he retched.

“
Crap,”
Perry gasped himself. He stumbled then got the the hood. “Damn!”
He grunted trying to lift the hood. “Get the LAV's out on
point!” he hollered, not looking up from the tape as he tore at
it.

“
You heard the
man, get the LAV's out. Shiller barf on your own time. Move it!”
Water's hoarse bellow echoed from one side.

“
Gotta cut the
tape,” Perry grunted fumbling in his pocket for his knife. Max
was out of the Stryker, tossing packages off and cutting at the tape.
He pulled his belt knife and started cutting along the seam of the
hood.

“
Didn't plan
on this. What a cluster fuck,” Scooter grunted getting to his
feet. He got his own knife out and started cutting at the tape.

The vortex pulsed,
making them both wince and look. “Not much time.” Perry
sighed. They tore at the tape, throwing things to one side or
another. A Stryker came through the vortex bumping into a ditch then
pitching up and to the side. Stuff not adequately secured on it's top
bounced off and fell, dripping like rain. Perry looked up as the
truck approached, ready to run but the pothole had thrown it off
course.

“
Is it just me
or did that damn thing move?” Scooter asked. Perry looked at
him. Scooter nodded his chin behind them. Perry turned. “The
vortex. I could have sworn it was a bit closer.” The vortex was
pulsing, lightning rippling out. The grass around it was on fire,
oily black smoke was whipped up into the air.

“
I don't know,
but I do know if we don't get moving we're going to have someone up
our ass right smart,” Perry grunted lifting the hood. Max had
his Stryker online, and it was lumbering off out of danger.

“
Got it,”
Scooter said, leaning in and hooking the leads back up. “Got
the battery sir?” Perry grunted as he clipped the hot wires.

“
Done and
done. Mary the computer?” He called as they slammed the lid
closed.

“
Shit, she's
out,” Scooter rushed to the cab. Perry opened the passenger
door then began tearing at the paneling.

“
Fuck me! Why
the hell did they pack the damn thing!” Scooter snarled.

“
Beats me,”
Perry grunted pulling the computer out then hooking leads up.

“
Got it,”
Scooter grunted hitting the ignition button. “Let's rock and
roll!” He slammed the parking brake down and then turned the
wheel and hit the gas. Perry backed away as the Hummer moved out. He
turned to the perimeter, doing a quick professional scan, pointing to
PFC Edsfield to get with the program.

“
Incoming!”
Edsfield called, moving to one side as the vortex pulsed and
thundered. Perry turned and then dived to the side rolling as a
supply truck came through and rumbled past.

“
Damn that
thing was hauling,” he said rolling to his feet. He checked the
truck, noting it was rolling far enough to be out of the way and then
turning back to the vortex, watching it warily.

“
This could be
a problem. It has moved,” he said, looking at it. The vortex
had moved closer to the cliff edge. It was smaller and was changing
shape. It seemed to ripple, energy tearing at the ground. He looked
at the smoldering ground around it, then back. Each transit had
knocked the vortex back and deformed it for a brief time. It was
within a hundred yards of the edge of.. something. He pulled off his
suit and tossed it to the ground as he walked off to one side, then
up towards the side of the vortex.

“
Please don't
be... please don't be... Ah hell,” he whispered, seeing the
edge. “Cliff!” He turned looking at the others then
pulling out his radio. He swore softly as he put the radio batteries
in, then clicked it.

“
It might help
if someone else had theirs hooked up,” he sighed noting the
others were still suited up. “Leave that shit for later!”
he bellowed, seeing several of the scientists trying to unpack gear
or pick bits up off the ground. “Get the hell out of the way!”
he yelled again waving.

Max waved, adding
his own full throated bellow to the mix. Scientists moved, none to
their assigned tasks but at least they weren't making a mess of the
LZ. Perry sighed as a second supply truck bounced through the portal.
It's driver hit the brakes right away, slamming it to a halt. It's
trailer bucked up by the sudden stop then flipped. Cursing Max and
Perry ran for it.

“
Oh crap, this
is going to suck,” Max hollered over the storm.

“
Yeah think?”
Perry snarled back, trying to right the trailer. “We've got to
drag the fucker if we can't move it!” Max said between
crackles. He looked over his shoulder to the portal. “Damn, is
it moving?”

“
Probably,”
Perry said, looking himself. Indeed, the portal was creeping
backwards closer to the cliff's edge.

“
If this keeps
up we're going to have a serious problem. I make it three minutes
between resets. That means we've got less than a minute to do
something about this,” Max grunted, trying to pull at the
trailer.

“
Leave it
Max!” They both looked up to see Ryans leaning out of the cab.
“I've got it running.” The truck stalled, then rumbled to
life. Slowly it moved dragging it's trailer behind it. Bits of gear
littered it's wake.

“
Go!”
Perry said pounding on the side and then running to get clear as the
portal pulsed. Suddenly a third truck was there, it slammed into the
edge of the trailer then careened off to the left toward the other
trucks. The trailer's tongue shrieked then snapped. The safety chains
held it to the ma-deuce truck however. It rolled upside down, then
slowly toppled back down onto one side. Equipment sprayed the area.
Perry ducked as a three meter long wire holding rolls of riggers tape
came loose and went end over end.

“
Ah why me,”
Max half moaned half growled, getting up from the ground. He brushed
himself off with his ball cap then waved to Ryans. “Gun it!”
he hollered.

“
What the hell
do you think I'm trying to do!” Ryans called back.

Perry looked around.
“What a cluster fuck,” he sighed. At least the LAV's were
out on perimeter. They had one more supply truck to go before the
civilian vehicles and the colonel came through. Hopefully they could
get this shit under some sort of order before the brass showed up.

“
LAV's are out
on perimeter,” master sergeant Waters reported over the net.
“The engineering and hospital rigs are clear.”

“
Good. Glad
something is going right. Get the civilians sorted out and get
everyone on radio. Get Patterson to try to punch a single through
that and warn the following wave that they are about to run out of
plateau, Tell them to speed up or cut short,” Perry said,
touching his mike. He looked up to the sky.

“
Everyone on
radio, check the people next to you and make sure they have their
radio's on. Get to your assigned tasks people. Let's move it!”
Waters bellowed, pointing to a knot of scientists nearby. “You!
Yeah you numb nuts get your radio on and secure your gear. Play with
your toys later!” he snarled. “You...”

Perry snorted as the
Master Sergeant took the civilians in hand. “It's going to be
close,” Ryans said coming up beside him and eying the vortex.
He turned his eyes to the sky, frowning at the thunderheads
approaching. He looked over the edge of the cliff, and then whistled.
“Long freakin' way down.” The base of the cliffs was
covered in jagged rocks. Storm surge was already affecting the waves,
they were crashing into the rocks with ferocious intensity.

“
Not good.”
He ducked instinctively as the next supply truck materialized,
bounced and then rolled out. “Not good, not good, not good.”
He huffed watching the vortex scoot back another five or six meters.

“
We're running
out of time,” Perry said watching the vortex's creeping slow.

“
You mean
we're running our of room. Yeah, We need electromagnets in front or
behind to get this thing stable and draw it this way. That storm is
drawing it out to sea away from these rocks.”

Max waved then
touched his radio. “Doc Roshenko thinks this plateau has an
iron ferrite core. He's found quite a few rusty red rocks. It's
screwing up our electrical systems and messing up the radio. Want me
to set up the weather array?”

Ryans shook his
head. “No, get the vehicles clear of the path of the vortex and
to high ground. Work with Waters. Police the ground for any debris,”
he replied absently looking at the red rocks nearby. “Get
Patterson to break out the long range transmitter and try to punch a
signal through to base to warn them about the vortex.”

“
What about
it?” Max asked then looked a the streak of burnt grass and then
to the cliff edge beyond. “Ah. Okay, gotcha boss.” He
turned to view Patterson but she waved him off. “Looks like
she's already on it boss.” He winced as another supply truck
came rumbling through.

“
Two more of
those, the living quarters, science vehicle, the command hummer and
the pusher vehicle to go. Think they will make it?” Waters
asked coming up beside them. Perry was busy pulling off the bottom
half of his lead suit.

“
Hell if I
know. I hope so,” he grumbled. Ryans grimaced as he pulled his
own suit off then folded it and set it aside.

“
Perimeter's
set. I've got a couple of egg heads who are breathing down my neck to
get started though,” Waters reported.

“
Tell them
they can wait a damn minute,” Ryans said as another truck
appeared and rumbled past. He pulled out his ball cap and put it on.
“Shit,” he whispered as the vortex wiggled back and forth
then seemed to jump back even further than before.

“
Son of a...”
Waters said eying the vortex. “Well, you don't see that every
day. And if they don't get the lead out we're in trouble. If that
thing leaves are we going to lose our ticket home?” He asked
suddenly flint eyed.