Dangerous Evolution (12 page)

“We will arrive three hours before they do.”

“Lovely.”

Chapter
Five

I called everyone together for a briefing, explaining the plan to
rescue Val Evans, and the new complication presented by the imminent arrival of
the Sentient ships. We would have to move fast, landing under the cover of
darkness at a cleared construction site half a kilometer from the Sentient ship.
The rest of the journey to the park would be on foot.

The plan revolved around ambushing the Sentients on their next
body run, then getting into the ship before those inside could raise the shield.
It also called for Del to remain behind with our ship, keeping it ready for a
quick departure. The Sentient didn’t agree.

“I should go with you and present myself as one of the victims; their
sensors will pick me up immediately, and they will come to investigate. You can
set up your ambush around me.”

I looked at Stinson and Mendoza, and saw from their expressions that
they shared my concerns about including Del in the assault.

Still...
“That actually might work,” I conceded. “Our Kamosuits would hide
our bio-signatures but yours would be like a signal flare.”

But can I trust you against your own people?

Loud, nagging doubts aside, this would place the Sentients exactly
where we wanted them, instead of us having to react to their movements.

I made a quick decision. “Okay. We can make that happen. While
Stinson and I stake out Del’s ‘corpse’, Mendoza will position herself in the
grass behind the ship—within striking distance of the propulsion units.”

I looked at her directly, “I want you to disable the engines so
the ship can’t lift off during our attack.”

“Yes sir,” she said with obvious enthusiasm.
Too much
enthusiasm
, I thought,
better tamp it down a bit.

“Nothing fancy, Mendoza, just make sure you cripple the engines
without blowing up the whole ship. Don’t wait for orders, as soon as we attack,
move fast. After the engines are down, drop back behind the wall bordering the
park and watch the door for reinforcements. We have no idea how many Sentients
are in that ship, or how many might come streaming out.”

“Will do, sir.”

“Jeff, you and I will conceal ourselves behind the wall as well,
on the side of the ship where the door is. Once the Sentients discover Del and are
in position, we can pop up and take them out before they know what’s happening.”
Stinson nodded agreement.

“Del, your job is to lay there and be convincingly dead,” I said.  “When
they get right up to you, they’ll know the truth and your cover will be blown.
Yell ‘Go’, and we’ll launch the attack. We should be able to put them down
before they can react to you. If you can, grab the little guy—it always seems
to be unarmed and might be someone important. We’ll concentrate on the bodyguards.”

“I understand,” it said.

I looked at each one in turn, “As the old saying goes,
no plan survives
contact with the enemy
. I’m positive that we’ll have to adapt and improvise
at some point during this operation. Be flexible. Be ready for anything.”

We dropped into the planet’s atmosphere fully cloaked, hoping the
Sentient’s stealth tech was able to at least partially compensate for the massive
heat signature our reentry was generating. Del leveled the ship out, and its
exterior transitioned into a standard atmospheric flight configuration; we
began to descend rapidly.

Breaking through the cloud layer, we emerged into a flawless clear
sky. Starlight spilled through small breaks in the clouds overhead, creating a
sparkling effect where it hit the still waters of the ocean below. The display
in front of me pinpointed the cities on the approaching continent, listing
their unpronounceable names in Sentient script. Although I couldn’t read any of
the incoming information, it was clear that there was no air or ground traffic
anywhere within sensor range.

Nothing was moving…anywhere.

I could feel the acceleration as we reached cruising altitude—soaring
toward our destination. Looking over at Del, I saw that its concentration was
absolute, focused on piloting the ship and watching for any signs we’d been
spotted. Stinson and Mendoza continued looking at the main monitor—still displaying
the target. Mentally preparing themselves, I believed. Within minutes, I could
see a city growing larger on the approaching horizon.  

There are still lights on in the buildings.

I briefly imagined that someone had survived and was hunkered down,
waiting for a rescue that would never come; my instincts told me that was
wishful thinking. Del confirmed this by informing me that most of the city’s systems
were automated, and would continue to cycle on and off as needed until the
power grid finally went down.

I was glancing from my monitor to the video feed on the wall when
a movement off to the side caught my eye. Stinson had pulled a small photosheet
out of his pocket, and was looking at a holo-representation of two women. At
first, I thought they were sisters because they looked so much alike—but something
in the way he gazed at the image, even reached his hand out to touch it, told
me it had to be his wife and daughter.

Mendoza was checking her gear yet again, and when she saw me
looking, said, “Let’s do this sir.” A familiar combination of false bravado and
nervous chatter; I understood completely.

“We’ll get it done, Mendoza.”

Two small bumps followed by a winding noise signaled our touchdown
on Seveq. The door swung open and a ramp extended silently. Drawing our weapons,
we walked as a group out into the cool night air. No…not cool.
Cold.
The
ship’s hull crackled and hissed as it bled off the leftover heat from reentry,
and I noticed that my breath was visible as milky clouds of heated vapor.

And we were alone.
So far so good.

Del’s natural coloration made any camouflage unnecessary, and I
was intrigued to learn that Sentients could temporarily suppress the blue
sparks that crawled across their skin. When it did this, Del was almost jet
black—invisible in the shadows.

Light was pouring out from the lower floors of the buildings, but
thankfully, there were still plenty of blind spots we could use to mask our
approach. We kept to the available shadows and started on our way—the ship retracted
the ramp, closing itself up behind us.

Del said it was familiar with the city’s layout, so I let it lead
the way. We didn’t get five meters before seeing the first body, arms and legs
splayed open, lying in the middle of the road. Then we saw three more, then a
dozen—they were everywhere. We were forced to step over and move a few of them along
the way, and I was morbidly fascinated to note that there was no smell of
decomposition. It could be the result of the cold environment, or maybe Sentient
biology was so different that death was a disparate experience.

So similar in some ways
, I thought,
yet so
different in others.
Leaning down to look closely at one of the faces, I
saw a brown discoloration around the mechanical eyes…
rust maybe?
Hopefully,
I’d have a chance to learn more about them later, when this was all over.

If there
was
a later, for them or us.

It took far longer than I’d hoped to wind our way to the park but
we finally made it, ending up on the street facing the Sentient ship’s opening.
Seeing our objective in person made my heart beat a little faster—this was
real
now. Like I do for every operation, I converted my growing excitement into
focused determination. Stinson was composed and cool, as was Del. Even Mendoza
seemed to have an air of calm about her.

We’ve got this,
I thought.

Huddled together behind an overturned transport vehicle, I pointed
at Mendoza, giving her a hand signal to move into position. She responded by
crouching down and running to the nearby half-wall, slowly making her way
around to the back of the ship. Stinson pointed to an opening in the wall well
suited to our part of the plan. At three meters wide, it was large enough Del
to crawl through unnoticed, and position itself in the open field.

Stinson and I would station ourselves on either side of the entrance—ready
to attack when the time came. We left cover to take up our positions.

Del ducked as best it could with such a large form, and then ran
across the street until it got to the wall. It laid down flat on its stomach and
started crawling through the entryway—out into the grass clearing. The sun was
beginning to rise, sending a mild yellow glow over the park, highlighting the
inert forms scattered about the space. I worried about Del’s visibility as it
moved, but it stopped about two meters in and assumed an unnatural, contorted
pose. It became indistinguishable from the other bodies.

Stinson, stationed to the left of the opening, looked over and
gave me a thumbs up; I returned the gesture. Mendoza radioed that she was also
in position, and despite methodically scanning her location on the other side
of the park, I couldn’t spot her—the Kamosuit was doing its job perfectly.

Now we wait.

If they didn’t react before our time was up, Del would start
Plan
B
, standing up and walking toward the ship. This would set off the
perimeter alarm, prompting the Sentients to drop the shield and investigate. Unfortunately,
we were probably too far away from the ship to reach it before we were spotted—giving
them plenty of time to reactivate the shields, and blowing our chance of a
surprise attack.

Also, there was every reason to believe they might just shoot Del
from the ship out of an abundance of caution; it was
Plan B
for a
reason. 

I needn’t have worried. Less than an hour after we got into
position, at about the same time my joints were starting to stiffen from the
cold, the force shield dropped. This close to the ship, you could hear the hum of
the shield fade away—the sound and temperature collectively reminding me that we
were no longer watching this scene from the safety of our ship.

Stinson and I both snapped to attention when the shield went down.
I rapidly clenched and released my fists; trying to force them to wake up—then
slowly raised the barrel of my Snub rifle.

I could hear voices growing louder as they approached. The guards
were complaining about the cold, and harassing the third Sentient about how
many bodies it needed for its experiments; the tone the guards used toward the
third Sentient was more acerbic than respectful.

“What is that?” I heard one of them say.

“What?” another voice replied tersely.

“A life sign!”

“Not likely, Doctor. Everything on this planet is dead.”

“Look at this!”

“You need to get your equipment checked, Doctor. But let’s take a
look.”    

The footsteps grew louder; I could hear the swish of their boots
cutting through the dry grass. I clutched my rifle tightly and nodded to
Stinson.

So close.

“That’s odd; I don’t remember a body positioned here bef….ugh!”

“Go!” Del yelled.

Stinson and I rose in unison and fired. The impact slugs hit the
guards hard—knocking them off their feet. They both fell to the ground dropping
their weapons. One Sentient managed to pull the trigger before the rifle fell
out of its hand, sending a plasma bolt smashing harmlessly into the wall
protecting Stinson. The impact threw melted rock and flames into the air, and
burned the grass at the base of the wall.

Del was standing with the doctor’s neck in its grasp.

“Wait!” the small Sentient cried, “I am a prisoner.” The voice was
more breath than actual sound.

An explosion rocked the ground, drawing my attention to the Sentient
ship. The back of the craft shuddered upwards, engulfed in flames, before crookedly
settling back down on its landing gear. Smoke was billowing out of the rear of
the ship, and large fragments of what used to be its engines littered the
ground.

Nice work Mendoza.

Stinson and I moved out of cover to check the guards. “Just hold
on to him…it for a minute,” I told Del.

“It’s unconscious,” Stinson said, kicking one of the downed
Sentients with his foot.

“Mine too,” I replied.

“Cover!” Mendoza called out over our headsets, and we all ran out
of the park and back into the street—Del dragging our captive behind us. I
peeked out over the top of the wall and was met with multiple blasts of plasma
fire, singing my hair as I dropped back down.

I spoke into my headset, “What do you see, Mendoza?”

“There are two of them sir, standing in the doorway. One firing at
me and one focused on your position.” I could hear nearby plasma impacts coming
in over her headset—confirming the report.

“Are you close enough for a grenade?” I asked.

“No sir…unfortunately.”

Stinson interrupted, “If she threw one anyway, it would cause a
distraction—giving us an opportunity to fire.”