Scrapyard Ship 4 Realms of Time (8 page)

They entered the upper atmosphere and descended to a midpoint in the Atlantic Ocean. Jason watched the time-reference indicator on his HUD as it changed every second or two. The time spectrum seemed to be all over the place: some date readouts were millions of years in the past, some thousands of years in the future. They were flying at close to two thousand knots per hour, and the coast of Africa was quickly approaching. The first drone’s location was in a remote area that had never been overly populated. But since recorded history only went back five or six thousand years, he was basically guessing the same held true now.

At twenty thousand feet, Grimes took the lead as they headed northeast toward the central part of South Africa. Less than a moment later they descended into a deep fog, with visibility extending only feet from the nose of the fighter. A holographic representation of the landscape below hovered several inches above Jason’s instrument panel, and he saw a faint ring, signaling the rough location of the first drone, come alive. They were close. Although she was out of his sight, the Magnum, less than a mile ahead, was stationary after lowering to the ground. Jason brought his fighter to within fifty yards of the shuttle’s position and landed. His time-reference indicator had settled on a single date era: two point five million years BC.

“
Whoo. I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore … Am I reading this right, Cap?” Billy asked while activating his seatbelt’s auto-release mechanism.

“
I think so.” Jason looked out through the canopy at a world two and a half million years in their past. They climbed down and stood with their back to the fighter. Both raised their multi-guns.

“
We’re not going to be eaten by a dinosaur or anything, are we?”

“
No, that would require us to be in a time realm sixty million years farther back. We should be OK,” Jason replied, sounding anything but confident. He took the opportunity to contact Ricket, to make sure all comms were still in working order.

“
Go for Ricket.”

“
We’re on the ground and starting our search for Drone One.”

“
What is the time-reference date there, Captain?”

“
Two point five million years, BC.”

“
Interesting. Good hunting; all is well here.”

Jason broke the connection and he and Billy headed off toward the shuttle. As they approached, the aft hatch opened and a gangway extended toward the ground. The first one off the ship was Orion, quickly followed by Dira. Rizzo was next with Bristol shuffling behind him. It became evident Rizzo and Bristol had been going at it. Voices were raised and, clearly, tempers were short.

“
No, that’s where you’re wrong, Bristol. I am your boss. You’ll do as I say, or you’ll pay the consequences. Got that?” Rizzo barked.

“
You sound just like your mother; she wanted it a certain way, too,” Bristol replied, thrusting his hips in and out in a lewd gesture.

Rizzo raised his multi-gun, turned it over and was preparing to ram the stock into Bristol’s mid-section.

“
Hold up there!” Billy yelled. Then, looking over to Jason, he asked, “I’m taking it you wouldn’t have stopped him, would you?”

“
Probably not. I would have shot him.”

Billy stood between Rizzo and Bristol. “Where’s your equipment, Mister? Aren’t you the science officer?”

Bristol gave a quick shrug and said, “I guess it’s still on board the shuttle. Get one of those freaky monstrosities to bring it down.”

Jason’s temper was building, and he felt the heat increase in his ears. He checked the setting on his multi-gun. Dira, reading Jason’s body language, moved to Bristol’s side. Whatever she was saying to him, Jason couldn’t decipher from this distance. Bristol nodded his head, then turned and disappeared back into the shuttle.

Over the next few minutes, the ten SEALs and ten rhinos exited the Magnum and were loosely assembling at a nearby rock formation. Eventually, Bristol appeared on the gangway carrying a backpack; a separate satchel hung from one shoulder. Rizzo was waiting for him and pointed in the direction of the SEALs. “Over there.”

Grimes jogged down the gangway and joined Jason. “Cap, you want me to stay here, keep an eye on the shuttle and your fighter?”

Jason looked over at the fighter and thought for a moment.

“
Can you remote pilot that fighter?”

“
Yes, sir”

“
Send it back to the Minian. We can always call it back here if it’s needed.”

“
Yes, sir”

Jason signaled for Billy to join them.

“
Aye, Cap?”

“
I’d like you to assign two SEALs to keep watch here with Grimes. And have them get several fires going.”

“
You got it, Cap.” Billy spun on his heels and barked out two names: “Holloway, Donaldson!”

“
I’ll close up the shuttle, Cap,” Grimes said, and headed off. Jason watched her leave, realizing he couldn’t recall ever seeing the young lieutenant in one of their newer formfitting battle suits before. He had to admit, she filled it out in all the right spots.

“
Excuse me, Captain.”

Jason turned to see Rizzo approaching, with Bristol several paces behind. “What’s up, Rizzo?”

“
Bristol’s got his instrumentation going. He may have a rough indication where the drone is located.”

Bristol released the strap of his satchel and let the device slide down to the ground. Crouching over, he pressed a small indentation on the device’s side and two long flaps on its top opened, revealing a holographic virtual landscape representation that was nearly identical to the one Jason had earlier accessed on the fighter. The landscape flickered and disappeared several times, breaking into tiny digitized blocks, then held steady for several seconds, before repeating the same process, over and over again.

Bristol looked up. “Um, the thing’s freaking out, but if you watch …”

Jason saw it. The third time a small red icon blinked on—then off—at the farthest eastern coordinates of the landscape.

“
There. See it?”

“
I saw it. You sure that’s it?” Jason said.

“
What else would it be? And it’s coming up at that same location each time. The drone’s doing its best to stay undetectable.”

“
What’s the distance from our current location?”

“
Um, I guess around three-quarters of a mile. Close. But the terrain looks to be ridiculously uneven moving eastward. I cannot guarantee we’ll find a more suitable campsite.”

“
Here’s fine. At least it’s close. Hell, this might be easier than we thought.”

* * *

Local time was 2:20 PM. Jason, in the lead with Bristol and Rizzo, was followed by the rhino-warriors and SEALs. Orion and Dira brought up the rear. Life was abundant. Flocks of birds flew overhead, and small rodents crossed in front of them. More life than he would have thought possible. Several stubby-necked giraffes watched the team from afar.

Passing a large fresh pile of excrement, Jason wondered what kind of animal could produce such an ample load. He figured this would be a good time to play around with his HUD’s phase-time-comparator circuit, the PTCC, and find out. He set the parameters for one hour earlier and watched the corresponding video feed. It took several seconds, and then he saw them: two-horned, white rhinoceros. No less than twenty of them and they were big, easily five thousand pounds each. He watched as one of the animals stood at that same dump spot and dropped his load. Three others followed his lead and did the same ten to twenty yards further up ahead—as if making a line. Perhaps marking their territory? Jason fast-forwarded the feed and saw them retreat the way they’d come, behind them.

The scream echoed across the plains. Jason spun in time to see that one of their rhino-warriors had been pierced from behind. An African rhinoceros was attempting to dislodge the thousand-pound warrior from his embedded horns. Traveler, heavy hammer in hand, reached the carnage in two bounding steps. He gripped the dead warrior’s leather breastplate and pulled the carcass free. The white rhinoceros charged again, his two bloodied horns missing Traveler’s abdomen by inches. Unexpectedly, this time it was Traveler who charged, letting his heavy hammer fall free he caught the rhinoceros’ horns in two hands. In what seemed like a long time, Traveler, down on one knee, slowly ratcheted the beast’s massive head—turning it one hundred and eighty degrees until its neck made a distinctive crack. Traveler released his grip on the horns and let the animal fall free to the ground. By this time the other rhino-warriors had circled around. In unison, they all bent to one knee, scooped up a handful of soil and gently tossed it onto their brother’s remains. Traveler, the first to stand, turned to face Jason. Jason had seen that expression before. Traveler was exuberant.

The nine remaining rhino-warriors brought their heavy hammers up high in the air, smacking them together, producing a sound so loud Jason took a reflexive step backward.

“
Captain Reynolds, you have a fine planet. A place where one can fight with honor. And these beasts look like—”

“
Yes, we’ve noticed the similarity, Traveler,” Jason said, looking at the dead team member. “I’m sorry for the loss of your warrior.”

“
He died with honor against a formidable opponent. What more can one ask?” Traveler noted, retrieving his hammer and standing tall, looking proud.

Chapter 11

They continued on toward Bristol’s flickering drone icon while maintaining a more acute vigil for what was behind them and to their sides. As the afternoon progressed, more and more wildlife came into view. First, an odd-looking grouping of stubby-legged antelope leapt by, then a pride of eight or nine lions. They looked identical to modern day cats, with one significant difference: They were easily twice the size.

“
What the hell are those?” Bristol asked startled, as he looked up for the first time from his instrumentation.

“
Lions.”

“
So, not friendly?”

“
No. Not even close,” Jason replied, taking a bit of pleasure in Bristol’s uneasiness.

Jason glanced at Bristol’s wide-eyed expression behind his helmet’s visor. His pimply face was shiny with perspiration and he looked to be on the verge of hyperventilating.

As if on cue, another antelope sprinted by mere feet in front of them. Seconds later, a lioness ran by in close pursuit. After several dodging and weaving maneuvers, the antelope seemed to fatigue and started to slow its pace. The lioness pounced; claws gripped and tore at the antelope’s torso and her massive jaws encircled the prey’s neck. With the antelope’s carotid artery severed, blood sprayed into the air and onto the lioness’s face.

“
Oh God. What kind of fucking place is this?” Bristol screamed.

“
Take it easy. They’re not interested in you.”

“
How do you know that?”

Jason shrugged and kept on walking. “We’re almost there. Keep your mind on your job.”

Up ahead was a rocky rise in elevation. Jason turned around to see their team procession catching up behind them. Off in the distance, behind the SEALs and rhino-warriors, Orion casually waved that all was well. Dira, at her side, looked the other way.

Bristol was crouching down, looking at his equipment. “The icons a bit more steady here. The drone’s actually below ground, subterranean.” He stood up and looked toward the rocks a hundred yards away.

“
Could it be a cave?” Jason asked.

“
You’re asking me?”

“
Yes, I’m asking you. You said it was below ground.”

“
I guess that’s as good a guess as any,” Bristol replied. “So sure, it could be a cave.”

Billy caught up and also looked at the rocky ridge in the distance. “That where the drone is?”

“
Looks like it. But below ground,” Jason said. “Let’s set up camp here and investigate first light.”

“
You got it, Cap,” Billy replied, and hustled off to join the other SEALs.