Bootstrap Colony (31 page)

Mitch tapped Pete, who looked up,
then began playing with the knobs. Finally they got a weak signal. “This thing
is huge!” Helen was almost crying, whispering. “It has tentacles all over, and
those Shrieker things roost on its back! Omygod! It just ripped a dinosaur! My
god! The tentacles have...Spikes on them! It is...Oh god... It looked like it
is sucking the Dino with a tentacle, ripping it to shreds. The Shriekers are
swooping and picking up the pieces.” They could hear sounds of gagging. “God
please don’t let it come here!”

Jack came on the radio. “Base
this is Jack. It looks like this thing is over one hundred feet tall, has six
long legs. It looked like it is a few minutes out...”

A few minutes later Jack
returned. “It kept moving, right straight for us. I moved everyone to the
bunker, but there is no room for the animals.” They could hear sounds of
crashing over the radio. “Shit!” They could hear a low pitched moan. “Damn that
thing is loud! It's shaking the place with the sound and stomping. It is
stepping over the wall!” Janet blanched at this news, ringing her hands on her
apron. “Faugh! The stench is... like a skunk! Or rotting fish.” Janet grimaced,
so did Mitch.

In the background animals could
be heard bawling in fear and terror. Whimpering sounds near the radio were cut
off as they heard Jack ask for quiet. His voice dropped into a near whisper:
“It looks like it has two knees; the legs are covered in chitin armor.” Loud
crashing sounds over the radio then static... “Great, it is clumsy too; it just
flattened a tool shed.”

“Damn! Tore the top off that
roof! We just built that! Oh crap OH crap...” A wet eerie slither was heard.
“Damn tentacles are relentless. Jason! What the hell are you doing! Get back
inside you moro...Oh my god! Look out!” They could hear sounds of muted
screaming. Janet began to tear up, holding Pete to her. Loud pop pops of
weapons fire could be heard in the background... Then a shaken Jack returned.
“Damn fool, it ripped him apart.”

“The tentacles are soft, but have
spines that act like a chain saw,” Jack said over Helen's weeping. There was a
sound of retching and gagging.

“My god that poor poor boy,”
Helen said over and over. She could be heard weeping in the background. There
were sounds of Jack comforting her. A low pitched screeching sound and then an
unearthly moan made them both stop.

“Damn thing. The legs are just
shrugging off the bullets, looked like some sort of chitin,” Jack snarled.
There was a loud screech and thump making Pete jumped and clutch at Janet. She
petted his head, stroking his short hair.

There were sounds of crashing...
“Damn it found the stable.” Jack sighed in frustration. “There go the animals.”
Mitch winced. Loud trumpeting noise, then... “Crap it stopped over us! We can
hear the tentacles slapping on the roofs and walls. I boarded up the window
just before it came.”

Helen’s weak voice cut in. “Thank
the lord you did.”

“The tentacles pulse and ripple
when they have something ooze a slime that is dripping on everything. What a
stench!”

Pete looked up and muttered.
“Someone needed deodorant, major BO.” With a weak smile he looked to the adults
for reassurance but didn’t get any and went back to staring at the radio.

“It seems, yeah, digesting...”
There was a crashing sound. “It just dropped the bodies. Ugh. What a mess. Hey,
stop shooting it and shoot them!” Jack yelled on a walkie talkie, causing
static over the ham. Pete turned it down. “Yeah, good! Got one! Axel just shot
a Shrieker, looked like we hit a couple for the egg heads to study... Awe
crap... NO you damn fool idget! Leave it! Shit Shit SHIT!”

They could here sounds of weapons
fire then a loud foosh. “Yeah! Burn! BURN YOU BASTARD!” Axel could be heard
shouting. Squealing sounds could be heard.

Helen: “TJ went to grab one of
the Shrieker bodies when the tentacles began snatching them up, but got caught.
His brother went to rescue him, so did Axel and a few others. Oh my god. The J
brothers got chewed up, I don’t think CJ will live, it got him right in the
stomach.”

There was a retching sound behind
Mitch. Mitch turned to see Maggie comforting a girl. It looked like everyone
was there, either in the room or the hallway nearby. “We are definitely going
to need Doc here ASAP. Axel rigged a flame thrower and burned it good,” They
heard a loud thumping sound. “Yup, it didn’t like it, serves it right. The
slimy thing is moving on. Jack said to tell you...what north? No? Oh, Okay, it
is heading east, south east. Tell Jacklynn to fly north of us and come in from
the west. Sam improved the runway.”

Pete nodded when Mitch touched
him. He cleared his throat and then hit the transmit key. “Roger that.”

“Pete that you? Oh my god honey
you were there the entire time?!”

“Yeah.”

Mitch took the mike. “I couldn’t
keep them away Helen.” She swore at him. “Helen, when a friend is in trouble
you don’t turn your back.”

“Roger that,” Jack answered.

“Sam can you read?” Jack sounded
defeated.

“Yeah,” Sam responded. He sounded
a little shook up.

“Sam, make sure you aren’t
anywhere near this things path.”

”Roger that. It looked like it is
heading... Yeah, south by south east. To the sea I think, through the shark
hound pass.”

Jack: “You can see it?”

Sam: “Hell yeah, scariest damn
thing I have ever seen! We are on a ridge north east of you, bout twenty
kilometers away. Right at the mouth of the pass. This thing is massive; we can
see it for miles without the mist...It is...dropping something. I dunno, waste
or another victim, I sure ain’t going to find out. We’re on our way in.”

Jack: “Roger that.” He sounded
relieved.

“Jack, you better get someone on
those fires or the entire place will go up,” Sam warned.

Jack grunted. “Working on it Sam.”

“Roger.”

Jacklynn called on the radio:
“Taking off now.”

Mitch looked around, not finding
Doc. “Jacklynn you got Doc and Cassie?”

“Yeah and Dora. I was in the
plane listening in. Doc just came running and said to take off.”

“Roger that.”

Jack sighed. “Thanks Jacklynn,
see you in a few. Bless you darling.” Pete turned and cried in Janet’s arms. Jolene
was tearful as well. Angie patted her shoulder and she turned and hugged her,
crying softly.

“They will do what they can.
Folks, that is all, any of us can do,” Mitch said quietly. They look up to
Mitch. “Maggie, they’re going to need more animals, food too probably.”

Paul cleared his throat, eyes
unsure. “Another expedition?”

“Yeah.”

Paul nodded. “Okay, I will get
check with Lisa and get organized.”

“Okay. Relief expedition Paul!
Tish...” He pointed to Tish.

She pointed at herself. “Me?”

“Yeah you. I want you to go
through the database, look up flame throwers. Get with Lisa, Brian, and the
others, see if we can make a few.” She nodded and ran out. “Janet, I will man
the store here, can you get Pete and Jolene here a fresh cup?” She nodded.
Angie helped Jolene out.

Jack called in...Weary sometime
later. “Damn thing...squelch...ate ...damn...”

Mitch waited a moment and then
called back, “Jack repeat?”

“Ten four. I said, the damn thing
ate all the damn food in the storage. It looks like one of those tentacles
smashed the door down and sucked the room dry. What’s left is covered in slime.
The slime burns when you touch it. That crap is everywhere, all over the roofs,
courtyard,” he gusted a loud sigh.

“Okay Jack, I am not sure wait
one.” He turned to Maggie, “Digestive fluids?” Mitch asked. She cocked her
head... Then waved her hand back and forth in an I'm not sure motion. Back on
the radio, Mitch cleared his throat. “Jack that might be digestive fluids,
hydrochloric acids of some sort.”

Jack grunted. “Roger that, just
what we needed.”

Mitch: “You need a base or
something to neutralize it.”

“Fullers earth?” Jack asked.

“No, not sure.”

“Keep everyone away from it.
Maggie will look it up.” He looked to Maggie who nodded and then pulled up her
tablet. “Get everyone away from it, tell Nicole to institute contamination and
poisonous substance procedures. Irrigate any exposed skin.”

“Don’t breath next to it Jack,
fumes are deadly,” Maggie warned over Mitch's shoulder.

“Roger.” Gagging sounds could be
heard over the radio. “I just saw a lizard slip into a patch... it just
dissolved. God... I owe you big time for that roofing tile idea,” Jack said
fervently. Mitch snorted. “Crap we could have been cooked! Or eaten alive!”

 “Okay Jack, we get the picture.”

“Vividly,” Maggie muttered then
looked up, “The best thing I can find is Sodium bicarbonate,” she said. Pete
came in and took over. He repeated the suggestion.

Jack grunted in annoyance. “Okay,
and in the original Klingon?”

Maggie snorted. “Baking soda.”

“Oh sure, I’ll just take my truck
here out to the local Wal-Mart and pick some up,” Jack’s sarcasm was almost as
dripping as the acid.

“Check with Helen, see if you can
find some in the kitchen and dump it on the slime. We can synthesize some,
there is also a small seam of it about forty kilometers east of here,” Maggie
told him patiently.

Mitch took the microphone. “Jack,
were going to dig out as much as we can. As soon as Jacklynn gets there, help
her unload and do a turn around, and we will ship you whatever MRE’s and baking
soda she can carry.”

Jack snorted. “Roger.”

Jacklynn cut in. “Roger that.
Guess it is too much to ask for overtime?” Jack chuckled.

Doc reported in later, the
medical team had lost two, but the others that were lightly hurt or touched by
the slime might live. She asked if they can be air lifted to base. “It’s your
call Doc, You and Nicole,” Mitch sighed. “We are loading up a couple sacks of
baking soda now. We only have six though. As soon as Jacklynn lands we will get
them out to you,” he finished.

“Thank god. The fumes are
terrible; we have had to move people to other areas upwind of the worst of the
damage,” Doc reported. She paused for a moment. “Helen and Jack have work crews
with masks tearing the roofs apart and hauling away the contaminated bits.”

Mitch nodded and then had to ask
the hard question. “Roger that. I’ll have someone dig up some respirator
masks.”

“It looked like a war zone here;
they lost two grain silos and one entire stable. The animals outside in the
pastures are gone, just bones. There is a smoldering trail all along the path
of this damn thing,” She paused then continued. “There are a lot of smashed
buildings; a few are still on fire,” she sighed.

“Does Jack want to abandon?”
Mitch asked, rubbing his brow as he envisioned the damage.

“Hell NO!” Jack himself responded
to that.

Mitch chuckled. “Roger that good
for you.” He handed the mike off to Jolie and then headed off to check on
things.

It took a week to get Copper
village sorted out. CJ and Jason were buried in a brief ceremony. Jack sent
some of the families with kids back with Sam to spend the winter at Base. TJ
and the other wounded man were air lifted; they would take months to heal.

Anne looked on as Vanessa and
Hanna came into the room. They were holding hands and Vanessa pulled a giggling
Hanna to her and kissed her soundly. Mitch snorted, and then took in the look
on Anne’s face. He pulled her aside. “Anne is there a problem?”

“Problem? No why would there be?”

He sighed at the bite to her
tone. “Anne look, if they are happy, that is all anyone can be at this stage.
Be happy for them. Hell, I am, at least now Vanessa isn’t chasing me!” Anne
flapped the towel she was folding. He grabbed it. Her eyes cut to his and then
away.

“Look at it this way Anne. They
get the comfort of each other, and they are both candidates for the bank.”

“Bank?” She looked at him
confused.

“Yeah, they can have Doc implant
sperm or even embryos.”

“Oh.”

“You see,” he turned to Janet who
had stepped up quietly. “According to the computer models I ran, it would take
all five thousand women to have four kids each by a different parent to have a
healthy sustainable population down the road. Of course that didn’t happen. We
were hammered. Now we have to tap the back up.”

“I doubt Vanessa and Nicole will
have any qualms about tapping that bank,” Janet added and then nodded. She
patted Anne’s hip. “You said you wanted a kid, how about you?”

“Me?” Anne squeaked looking up in
alarm. She gave Janet a look, and then Mitch before she ducked her head.
“Maybe,” she mumbled.

“You don’t have to be next. Or we
can go together?” Janet suggested.