When Earth Reigned Supreme (The Human Chronicles Saga Book 12) (27 page)

Chapter 25

The traffic around Kor was surprisingly light, something the team ascribed to having most of the alien starships out looking for them, or comprising the massive fleet that was undoubtedly still in the vicinity of a radioactive ball of rock that had once been Master Portal Four.

When Harix learned they were going back to Kor, he was ecstatic. He figured the chances of the Humans being either caught or killed would be greatly increased once they arrived, so he cooperated with requesting landing permission rather than the scratching microphone method of communication they been using for the past two weeks.

To Adam’s delight, they were granted permission to land and assigned a spot almost on the other side of the conveyor ramp and fence from the cluster of cookie-cutter buildings known as the Farm. In hindsight, he should have known the area was a portal farm. It would have made a world of difference. The team would already be back on Earth and toasting their success, with Riyad making the talk show circuit, milking this latest adventure for all it was worth.

There was a transport truck assigned to the landing zone for the use of the crew as they went about their tasks on Kor. It was night on the planet when they landed, with just the right amount of shadow to allow the team, along with Harix, to load into the truck and begin the short journey to the Farm.

They exited the spaceport grounds through a small side entrance, and five minutes later were humming down a street bordered with long, light-blue buildings. As a precaution, Adam had UTC specialist Wizard Kaczynski brief all the team members on how to program a personal portal for the return to the Klin colony ship, just in case they became separated or Kaczynski didn’t make it out alive. Unlike the huge portals used for ship transport between universes, these smaller units were capable of tuning into similar devices, unless programmed otherwise. The only unit on their side they had an address for was the one aboard the Klin starship.

The portal back at Travis was for limited uses, yet the Klin portal could be used to move between universes. It had already been used for that purpose twice before. All it had to do now was hold up for one more trip.

“So how do we decide which building?” Adam asked Harix. The alien was driving, with Adam and Riyad in the passenger seat holding flash weapons on him just in case he decided letting the Humans return to their universe wasn’t to the benefit of the Colony after all.

“I do not have much knowledge of the actual layout of the Farm, but I am an electronics technician, and have been here for parts and other technical input. Most of the portals are used to travel within the Sol-Kor universe. The hybrids are fewer. They are arranged in a specific area. Do you recall where you came in?”

“It was a few blocks from the main tunnel leading to the pyramid, if that helps,” Adam said.

“Yeah, it would also be close to the burned-out building,” Riyad added. Without an aerial view the damaged building would be hard to find, and simply driving up and down streets looking for the charred remains would take time.

“I have a decent idea where that section would be,” Harix said. “We are fortunate there is little traffic in the region this evening. We should be only ten rows or so away.”

Adam watched as the alien’s eyes darted from side to side. He was looking for something, and Adam had a pretty good idea what it was.

“Please, Harix, don’t do anything stupid. You’ve been a big help up until now. I’d hate to have to hurt you.”

“Why would you say such a thing? I have been very cooperative.”

“It’s just that you’re looking for some police or military personnel, someone to report us to.”

“How could you know that? Can you read my thoughts? I was not aware of this skill you possess.”

“Well, I can, and don’t you forget it.” Adam looked at Riyad. They both fought the urge to burst out laughing.

“I just want you off my planet and out of my universe,” Harix said.

“Believe me, so do we.”

“Look…there is a damaged building! Could that be the one from which you entered?”

Since all the buildings in the Farm looked alike—except for this one—Adam could see that they had indeed come full circle; they were back at the starting point of their Sol-Kor mission. Through the opening at the back of the driver’s cab, Adam spoke to the team.

“Saddle up. We’re pulling up to a building three down from where we came in. There’s light coming from under the doors, which means someone’s probably home. All the other ones around here are dark, and finding an active portal would be preferred to starting one up from scratch. We go in quickly but quietly. We only have about a hundred rounds left between us, and then it’s the flash weapons or the grenades, neither of which were designed for stealth. One more operation, men, and we’re home—or at least aboard a Klin ship. First one back gets the location to Travis dialed in. Then off we go.”

There were a number of bright smiles visible in the dimness of the truck. The mission was almost over.

As the truck came to a stop, Adam took a moment to look up and down the street. This one did appear to be the only building with lights on inside. Traffic had been light while landing, as was the street traffic. And now most of the portal buildings were as dark as a well. He had been expecting a lot more activity in the wake of the Queen’s assassination. But maybe this was how the Sol-Kor were dealing with the tragedy. Maybe they were already limiting their activities, trying to figure out how to get by without a queen.

None of this mattered. On the other side of the wall was a trans-dimensional portal that could get them home. At the moment, that was all Adam cared about.

He slipped out through the passenger side door, followed closely by Riyad, who stashed Harix in the back of the truck with binds on his hands and feet. Four of the commandos had already taken up positions on either side of the closest small door to the truck, Adam and Riyad joining Chief Morse and Wizard at the other.

As it was with most—if not all—Sol-Kor doors, they knew these would be unlocked. With a nod from Adam, the team flung them open and entered the building.

About a dozen Sol-Kor techs, dressed in dark green tunics, were taken by surprise. As it had been with the first portal room, these natives were also unarmed, yet they still bolted away from the invaders, many heading for the precious controls to the solitary portal that sat near the center of the vast, open bay.

The Humans cut them down with precision shots before any of the SK’s could damage the controls. After a judicious use of their limited ammo, all the aliens were down, and Kaczynski moved to the main control panel. Without hesitation, he began to enter data.

And that’s when the pulse beam hit.

The batteries on their beam neutralizers had gone dead about days six ago, and with no way to recharge them, every Human suddenly stopped what they were doing and  began to sway. Weapons went slack in their hands, until four of them lost their grip and the metal rifles clanged to the floor.

The two side doors to the building opened again, but this time a flood of black armored Sol-Kor entered, each cradling flash rifles in their arms. They moved quickly throughout the room, shoving the compliant Humans to a group near the inert TD portal.

Then another set of Sol-Kor entered, with one standout exception.

Adam fought hard against the nearly intolerable headache and watched with a blank expression as this odd creature approached the cluster of addled Humans. It was definitely a female, and yet with all the traits of a Sol-Kor. She was very tall, with longish yellow hair, and a finer coating of scales on her face. Her skin was paler than the gray of the males, and reminded him of the pasty color of…Panur. Then he noticed the eyes: wide, with pure black pupils, unlike the gray of the males. Again, the eyes reminded him of Panur.

Along with the rest of the team, Adam wobbled about, not remaining in one place, but also not moving too far in any one direction before wobbling back. He moved further to the back of the pack, just in case his act wasn’t convincing enough. With this creature in the mix, he couldn’t take anything for granted…

Including his belief that the Sol-Kor were sterile, destined for extinction.

Somehow they’d conjured up another female—yet she didn’t look anything like the other females of their race.

The one thing that really set his heart to sinking…all the males in the room were deferring to her, treating her like…like their queen. Could this mean his mission had failed? Could this creature be capable of carrying on the species, in spite of all his efforts?

He had a million questions for the female. But at the moment he had to do his best to keep up the charade.

********

Below his right armpit, Adam could sense the artificial telepathy device under his skin emitting a slight warmth as it worked overtime to counter the effects of the Sol-Kor mind suppressing beam. No one knew of his replacement ATD, at least no one on Earth.

He had agreed to another device after Arieel insisted he have a new one embedded. His original had been removed by Panur and used in his diamond-core portal detection device. He had been glad to be rid of the thing, but that changed when it was discovered that he and Arieel shared a daughter. Where once the Formilian Speaker had protested his acquisition of her planet’s most precious
Gift,
Arieel now pleaded with him to have another installed, hoping Lila would contact him at some point and she would be able to tap into the conversation and convince her daughter to return home to Formil.

Now Adam was counting his lucky stars. He knew the rest of his team was gone, just mindless drones to be herded around as the Sol-Kor saw fit. He was their only hope. That was if this strange female didn’t have the ability to see the truth. Huddled in the back of the group, he averted his eyes from her scrutiny.

“So, Drasic, my plan has succeeded. We now have the killers of the Eternal Queen, and mostly alive. I shall find immense pleasure in interrogating these aliens to learn even more about them than Panur has told me.”

Panur! This female knows of Panur.
Was he back with the Sol-Kor. Did that bastard help them capture his team?

“Shall I move them to M-1?” asked a Sol-Kor dressed in the fancy garb of a governing official.

“No, I will begin the questioning—and the testing—here.”

“Testing?”

“Yes. I wish to test their capabilities. Panur spoke often how unique these creatures are, yet he failed to mention in detail what makes them unique. Move the rest of them to the other side of the room, and then bring that big one to me. I shall remove the beam from his consciousness so I can begin my study.”

“Yes, my Queen.”

Queen!
There it was. The Sol-Kor had a new queen. Even though he was feeling distraught over the failure of the mission up to this point, Adam again counted his lucky stars. He’d already killed one Sol-Kor Queen, and now her replacement was in the same room with him. Sure, there were also about fifty Sol-Kor warriors in the room, and he was unarmed and suffering from a massive pressure headache, and the rest of his team were completely useless…