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  “Major, looks like there’s dozens of those manholes and we’ve got scorpions pouring out of them. There’s a couple of hundred out now and they are fast.”

  “Raiders. Guns ready. Shields out...”

  “Major, those things are not heading for us,” Tek said.

  That puzzled me. “Then where are they going?”

  “They’re about five miles from the next chamber. They’re heading for that wall. That’s not all. In back of us, major. Two miles from the entrance. Other holes are popping up and more scorpions are running out. They’re heading toward that wall too.”

  “They want to get us between them. Raiders, jets on! I don’t like night flying but we’re headed up. We’re heading to the wall as fast as possible. When we get there, set up a defense perimeter.”

  We rose up into the fog. After a vertical mile, we headed toward the wall. We flicked on the lights on our guns, which were never meant as flying and landing lights, but we had to improvise. I hoped there were no flying counterparts to the scorpions or we would fly into them. We flew about ten miles per hour through the heavy fog, which became thicker and thicker. A gray mass, hard as a rock, bounced off my forehead, splitting the skin. Blood flowed out. The fog pebbles pounded the other Raiders too. Groans and shouts of anger flew through the air. Looking below, I tried to see where the scorpions were, but they were encased by the fog. A fog that gave them perfect cover. I groaned as another piece of fog flake crashed into my leg. Astrid yelped as a sharp-edged piece of fog plunged into her suit. She grabbed it, yanked it out and dropped it below. Blood leaked from the wound, but the medical nanos went to work. They sealed the wound quickly. The swift wind, rippling across our uniforms, blew downward. It grew in strength. The wind hammered us toward the ground. We steered up, but the furious gusts pushed us toward the dirt. It was getting tougher and tougher to keep a steady course as the gale winds strengthened.

  About a mile from the gate, the forests ended and open ground appeared. Hundreds of scorpions raced through the forests. We soared above them.

  “Increase speed. We have to get to the gate first,” I yelled over the wind. “Carli, Clint, Murdock, get your fire bombs. Follow me. We’re going on a bombing run.”

  “I was going to suggest that myself, sir,” Clint said.

  “Astrid, take the squad to the gate and set up the perimeter. Cajun, you and Tek open that gate!”

  I swerved downward and saw my fellow Raiders behind me. I grabbed a fire bomb and headed for the insects. The line of the six-legged creatures had to be a mile long and probably a mile wide. Darn they moved fast! By the time we were in bombing range they had covered a quarter of a mile. Thankfully, with our new improved techno-bombs we didn’t have to worry about angles or wind speed that would throw the firebombs off target. All we had to do was drop them and they hit their target.

  “On my order, let’s drop them all. Everyone in position.”

  A chorus of ‘yes’ came from my communicator.

  “Drop them!” I yelled.

  As soon as the bombs left our hands, we zoomed for the wall. The winds tried to blow the round bombs off course, pushing them to the right. The bombs wiggled, eased over, but rapidly came back on line. They hit the ground and a wall of blue-orange fire exploded into the air. For the first time the dim gray chamber was alive with light. I felt the heat a mile away. The water on my face and hands evaporated with the heat. The orange flames engulfed the trees and burnt away the fog. The trees crackled. Leaves wilted and fell from branches. I caught one glance of the long lines of scorpions. They stretched for miles.

  I turned around when I saw that not all the rattling, moving scorpions were the same. About a half-dozen scorpions, three times the size of their counterparts, but just as fast, headed for the Raiders’ camp. As I watched, one lifted the large tail and spit three blue balls of flames at me. I swerved to the left, but too late. The blue balls moved at light speed. One exploded into my leg. I groaned and spun through the air. The jets sputtered and I went down. I tried to control the descent but I spun wildly. I bounced hard on the ground. When I turned over, I saw three black adversaries scuttling through the fire and they were within three feet. I grabbed my laser rifle and fired at the closest. The yellow beam hit the back of the scorpion and shot up into the air. It didn’t slow the scorpion down a bit. It kept prodding toward me. I fired again. Same result. The two others closed in on me too.

  With my leg throbbing and weakened I tried to scramble. But my scramble was akin to the movements of a hundred-twenty-years-old arthritic man. The scorpions ran within two feet. I fired at the legs of one. Success. The laser cut them in two. The scorpion had one pair of legs, but its right side was on the ground. I yelled when I put weight on my right leg. Scorpion rushed a foot from me.

  Hands grasped me around the shoulders and lifted me from the ground. Carli and Clint. The scorpion’s tail, quick as lightning, zoomed through the air. The stinger plunged into my leg just above the ankle. I groaned again as the two Raiders flew me toward the camp.

  They landed rather roughly and bounced me against the wall. Astrid rushed over, anxiety on her face.

  “Logan, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. Don’t worry. Get in position.”

  I wasn’t fine. It felt like a mini-alligator was in a vein and chomping its way toward my waist. Cricket rushed over and ripped the uniform away from the leg. She ran her medical scanner over the leg. I didn’t like her expression. She didn’t look pleased.

  “Strange,” she said. “The medical nanos are rushing to the wound but that thing stuck you with a chemical my instruments don’t recognize.”

  Over her shoulder, even while the flames shot high into the air and the heat seared trees clean, more and more black scorpions emerged from the flames marching relentlessly. A black half-mile of creeping death. The scorpions at the end of the line curved toward the middle, toward us. Raiders fired at will. Yellow bolts of explosives punctured the black lines but left few scorpions dead. More than one had been blown into the air and landed roughly on the back on the ground. But they turned over and kept coming. About two hundred yards from us and they kept crawling.

  Carli fired the shoulder missile. It zoomed toward the black lines and rattled our ears when it exploded. It put a hole in the scorpion army, but one that was quickly covered by more of the six-legged aliens.

  “Sorry, major, this is going to hurt,” Cricket jabbed me in the leg and inserted hot lava in my legs. She handed me a mini-bottle of whiskey. “Here you go, even with all our medical advances, sometimes the old-fashioned cures are the best.”

  I twisted the cap up and drank the whole bottle.

  “And what was that?” I asked, sweat streaming off my face.

  “Something to help the nanos do their job, major. Right now they need some help. How far does the pain go up?”

  With a finger I jabbed at a point just above the knee. “Right here. Below that it feels like the leg’s on fire.” I grimaced as she grabbed another instrument. “Not going to inject me again, are you?”

  “Yes, but this won’t hurt as bad. This is just to spur on your immune system. I want you to keep telling me where the pain stops or if it advances.”

  I nodded. “Have another bottle?”

  Her hand disappeared in her suit, found one and tossed it to me. “That’s the end of the supply of mini-bottles. I’m not carrying the regular bottles. So you might want to sip it.”

  “Not a chance,” I said. As sweat kept pouring off me, I drained the glass.

  The scorpions had moved fifty yards and they kept crawling.

  “Cajun, Tek. We need that door opened! Where are you!?”

  “Almost right behind you, sir,” Cajun said. “You’ve been too busy to notice us. Door is giving us trouble. Give us a couple of minutes.”

  “Not sure we have that long.”

  “Then do something brilliant, sir.”

  “How’s the pain, major?” Cricket asked. />
  “Slightly better. Instead of being above the knee it has receded. Not by much but a little.”

  “A good sign,” Cricket said.

  As the liquor hit my stomach, I saw something I had missed earlier. It might be nothing, I thought, but it might be everything.

  “Rab!” I yelled.

  He stopped firing at the advancing scorpions and ran over to me.

  “Rab. I just noticed those things have antennas or what looks like antennas. We can disrupt their signals. Throw a couple of disco bombs at them. It might confuse them and get them running around in all directions.”

  Rab turned and stared at the advancing insect army. “Of course. It’s worth a try. Clint, get over here. We need the disco bombs.”

  The scorpions had traveled another fifty yards when the two tossed the bombs. Bombs may not be the right word. These oval-shaped eggs don’t go boom. The human ear often doesn’t perceive anything. But ‘disco’ is short for discordant. These bombs can disrupt the brain functions of any number of species. A half-dozen landed in the midst of the black scorpions. A low buzz came from them. When the scorpions kept coming for another twenty-five yards, I figured our good attempt had failed.

  Then they paused. They stopped marching in a straight line. They wavered. Right to left. They marched ahead a few paces then edged back. The rigid ranks split, with scorpions slowly going in all directions.

  “I just gave you a few minutes, Cajun. Use them wisely,” I said.

  “That should do it. We should have the door open in less than fifty seconds.”

  As the scorpions hesitated, Rab pulled the squad back. “Murdock, Geneva, help the major through the gate.”

  A sound like the rusty chains hauling up a drawbridge came from behind me. The two Raiders ran me into the next chamber. The rest of the Raiders followed.

  “You had troubling open it; can you shut it, Cajun?” I said.

  “As we speak, major, gate is being closed.”

  Chapter 11

  As the gates closed, the Raiders, guns ready, stood alert but scorpions didn’t regain their equilibrium. They crawled endlessly in every direction. After the dreary wetness and fog I suddenly realized this chamber was bright and sunny. I turned around and saw Kansas in the summer.

  Flat land. Endless flat land. Some grasses and some type of crop that looked remarkably like corn. Green stalks, but I didn’t see any buds yet. About five feet high. Perfectly aligned in rows. Two Raiders eased me down again. I leaned against a tree as the Raiders prepared to make camp. I saw two others had been wounded. Clint nursed a nasty gash in his side. The Cajun had a long tear on her thigh.

  Rab walked up and saluted. “Shall we make camp here, major?”

  “Yes. It doesn’t look like we’ll need any guard but let’s put some out, just in case. Run some scans on the chamber. It doesn’t look dangerous, but looks can be deceiving.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “We’re not breaking camp early tomorrow either. We’ll going to take a day or two off before we head for the next chamber.”

  Cricket sat down in the dirt beside me, pulled out her medical scanner and passed it over my leg again.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “I’ve had better days,” I said. “But I’ve had a few worse too.”

  “Where’s the pain now?” she said.

  “About midway between the knee and ankle. It seems to be going down and is decreasing. It’s not as bad as it was a few minutes ago.”

  “That’s positive and I’m getting good readings from the scanners. You are going to pull through, sir.”

  It was Astrid who answered. She had walked up behind. “That’s good to know. I tend to worry about the major once in a while.”

  “It’s appreciated.”

  I leaned back until my head hit the tree. I stayed put until Geneva brought me a bowl of what looked to be beef stew.

  “You might want to eat something, sir. It will help you feel better. This news might help you feel better too.” She looked toward the ersatz green stalks. “Our scanners say this chamber is as peaceful as it looks. No life forms. Nothing on the ground, nothing in the air, nothing under the ground. Some plants are growing here, but that’s about it. It reminds me of Nebraska.”

  “I was thinking Kansas.”

  “Pretty much the same thing. My grandparents had a farm in Nebraska when I was growing up. We went out there every summer. I enjoyed it, but the visit did get a bit dull the last couple of days. This looks very much like it.”

  I took a spoonful of the beef. It was much better than I expected. “I hope this place is as dull as that long away Nebraska farm. I can use a little dullness.”

  I quickly finished the meal and handed the bowl back to her. “Give my compliments to the chef.”

  I became drowsy, probably because of all the medicine Cricket had injected into time. But before I dozed off, Rab made one last trip back and gave me the OK sign.

  “All is quiet, major. This is stillness valley. I walked out and inspected the corn stalks, or whatever they are. Didn’t even see any bugs. No little critters on the green stalks and none on the ground that I can see. This is not only still; it’s probably sterile.”

  “Hope you’re right, but let’s not take any chances.”

  “We won’t. I have a defensive perimeter set up. If anything tried to get near it, it will wind up dead and alarms will blare out. I’ll have two guards while others sleep. I’ll take the first watch. Although it may be difficult sleeping since it’s so bright.”

  “I don’t know about the rest of the squad but I can certainly drop off,” I said.

  Five minutes later I did just that.

  Eight hours later, when I woke up and put weight on my leg, I found it was fine. A minor twinge at the knee but that was all. I told the squad we were taking a day off so they could roam as they pleased. Although there wasn’t much to see in this chamber. Long rows of corn stalks and then even more long rows of corn stalks. Astrid and I walked down one path between the long rows.

  “Two chambers down and two to go,” she said. “But this one looks easy. All we have to do is walk through it. No aliens, no green crocs, no black creepy-crawly.”

  “I hope it stays that way. We won’t have anything coming up from the ground at us, will we?”

  She shook her head. “No, I sent down probes. No tunnels, no pathway. Just good, old-fashioned dirt for five miles down.”

  “Good. There’s something to be said for good, old-fashioned dirt.”

  “Captain Markey called us and we told him everything was proceeding. There had been some resistance, but it was overcome. He said it was very peaceful outside the sphere. The ship remained on yellow alert, but he wasn’t expecting any trouble.”

  “Good, we’ll take a day or so to take our bearings and move on.”

  We crossed another path in the field. The stalks looked identical. The only difference being one patch looked slightly higher than another. Never had I felt so good to see agriculture.

  “You’re walking well. The leg is healed?”

  “Yes. Feels great. By the end of the day I’ll be ready for action. As you said, just two more chambers. If this one stays peaceful, just one more. Next time we talk to Wade, tell him we need a titanic vessel sent out here.”

  Astrid gave me a sly glance. “You have a plan?”

  “I sure do. I think I have a very good plan but we need him to put it into action.”

  That night around our artificial campfire we sang five choruses of ‘Gary Owen’ . We were feeling good and laughed like kids on a camping trip with a real fire.

  We had brought some whiskey and bourbon along for the trip and, since we didn’t expect any combat, we indulged.

  “So anyway we were on Atonos, Logan and me, with an eight-feet space between our mountain and the next one,” Cajun said. “He whips out his hook rope, grabs me around the waist and says, ‘Hang on.’ He hooks a ledge on the other mountain and before I can
say anything we are zipping through the air and drop on the second mountain ledge. I appreciate the gesture, but down about a mile is a wooden bridge. I point to it and tell Logan, ‘We could have just walked’. And he says, ‘I know, but I always wanted to do that.’”

  All the Raiders roared with laughter. The artificial fire crackled.

  Carli drank some whiskey and patted Lamour on the back. “Clint here did something similar although there was no bridge in sight. I got busted up on Landimire. Ribs, legs. We did our best to avoid the natives because they were savage creatures. But we had a couple of rivers to cross. Rushing, fast-flowing rivers. So he just hauled me over his shoulder. Still remember that cold, incredibly cold water hitting my face.”

  “That’s what you get for being so tall,” Clint said. “For two miles I had to balance her on her shoulder, shifting her from one to the other.”

  “And a fish bit my nose!” Carli said, poking it with her finger. “Right on the tip. By the time I recuperated from the other injuries I still had a huge red spot on my nose. Thought I would need cosmetic surgery.”

  “Red noses have a famous history. A good history. Think of Randolph,” I said.

  “Randolph? You mean the general.”

  “No, the reindeer.”

  Carli laughed so hard she spilled some of her drink. As did a few other Raiders.

  “Carli, the red-nosed Raider,” Murdock yelled.

  “I told them to leave me behind. I didn’t think they could make it out carrying me. But they refused.”

  “We never leave anyone behind. Never,” I said. “That’s another rule of the Raiders and every other military unit.”

  “Darn right. We were going to get her out no matter what,” Lamour said.

  Carli smiled and lifted her finger. “And I will claim that Clint has never regretted saving my life back then... well maybe once or twice.”

  “Astrid, tell us about when you zapped Major Altamonte. I hear if you two are walking down the same path he gives you a wide berth. About a mile or two.”