Test of Magnitude (The Torian Reclamation) (36 page)

“All right,” Tanel2 said. “We’ll make an attempt at it. How heavy is that thing?”

“On this planet, it will take four of us to carry it,” Derek said. “Three lion people moved it down here, so maybe three lizard-men can too, but two of us can hold each end and carry it up the path, and it should be safe that way.”

“Then you four who are so stubborn over the matter can carry it up the cliff,” Tanel2 said. “The rest of us will cover you.”

Chapter Seventeen

One of the Amulites escorted the Sheen up to the saucer, so Tanel2’s landing party was back down to nine again.

Derek led the way down the short distance of remaining trail, but Brandon thought he was being recklessly overconfident. While Brandon and the rest of the crew all hunched down as they descended the final bit of path to the canyon floor, Derek remained upright and walked in big strides.

The halcyon arc was near the base of the cliff, glowing intensely green. There were some Azaarians sitting fairly close to it, but they were paying no attention to anything other than their games. Perhaps this would be easy after all.

Brandon gave his rifle to one of the other crewmembers while Perry and Mip7 swung theirs over their backs. Brandon and Mip7 went to the far side of the arc and grabbed ahold of that end. Perry and Derek took the other side. As they began to walk with it, the bright green glow faded some, and a faint yellow light appeared inside. Tanel2 and the other four stood at the trailhead with guns at their shoulders, sweeping them back and forth across canyon, ready for any show of resistance. They were all within open view of the hundreds of Azaarians, should any of them actually look up and choose to acknowledge them.

The arc wasn’t that heavy. The thought crossed Brandon’s mind that it was glad not to be left behind, and that the arc was actually helping in the moving process by making itself lighter. He knew this was an irrational thought, but choosing to believe it figured to make the chore of carrying the arc all the way up to the landing craft a little less burdensome. It really wasn’t all that difficult to believe, all things considered.

 “Get down!” Tanel2 suddenly shouted. They had just reached the trailhead.

Brandon looked behind him and saw four Azaarians on their feet running after them. Two looked like they had drawn hand weapons of some kind. Brandon and Mip7 set their end of the arc down and dropped flat on the ground. Derek and Perry were then forced to do the same, except Derek remained standing—so Brandon scurried over to him and pulled him down by his robes, just as two of the Reep-1 rifles fired above their heads.

The rifles weren’t loud. They emitted a dull popping sensation in Brandon’s eardrums. The air between the rifles and the targets became briefly distorted and two of the charging Azaarians went flying backwards. Their hand weapons exploded next to their bodies in a flash of sparks. This gave the other two pursuers pause. They turned and fled along the base of the cliff, shortly vanishing behind some brush.

That should have been the end of the resistance, and it may well have been if it weren’t for the bodies of the two who were hit crashing through other games being played. Frames were knocked over and pieces were scattered, jolting those additional players into reality. This resulted in six more Azaarians noticing the arc was being taken away, who all promptly stood and charged the landing party at the trailhead.

By now, Perry and Mip7 both had their rifles up and aimed. Several more small sonic booms went off in Brandon’s ears, and four of the new pursuers went tumbling backwards. The other two attackers saw this and retreated, but a chain reaction had begun. The ones who were hit didn’t get back up again, but their falling bodies disturbed other games in progress, which caused more Azaarians to get up and give chase when they saw Tanel2’s company with the halcyon arc.

Brandon stayed on the ground and held Derek down, who kept trying to get up. Several more volleys were fired by the seven who were up with the rifles as more of the enemy fell into additional games, stirring up additional pockets of resistance when they did.

Then, the chain reaction began to reverse. Perry and the Torians were shooting the Azaarians as they rushed towards the base of the cliff, where fewer and fewer games were now being played. Brandon watched as two of the attackers who were not hit actually stopped while retreating, sat back down again, set up one of the knocked-over game frames, and started a new game. Brandon shook his head in utter disbelief.

Soon, the falling Azaarians were no longer disturbing additional games, as most of the players in the immediate area were either sprawled lifeless on the ground or had fled. Game frames, game pieces, and Azaarian bodies now littered the landscape around the base of the cliff near the trailhead, but all was calm again. It looked to Brandon like they could stand and get moving up the cliff with the arc.

But then, a laser fired at them from across the base of the cliff. The red beam shot through the air directly in front of Brandon’s face. He dropped and hugged the soil again. The laser hit the side of the halcyon arc, which surged with green light and erupted with sparks on the far side. Perry was right next to the arc when it was hit. He was knocked backwards to the ground.

Mip7 reacted by firing his rifle in the direction of the laser, but it hit the side of the cliff. Huge chunks of dirt came loose, resulting in a great dust cloud that hampered visibility. The laser shot back through the dust, but missed everybody widely. Obviously, whoever was firing could no longer see either.

Perry still lay where he fell. Brandon, Mip7, and Derek all scrambled over to him.

“Is he all right?” Mip7 asked.

Brandon put his hand on the side of Perry’s neck. Perry moved his head around and groaned. There were no burn marks.

“Yes,” Brandon said. “Just knocked senseless, I think.”

Two lasers now shot back through the dust cloud, which was beginning to clear. Tanel2’s commandos who were still on their feet returned the fire. More cliff side came down, and more dust filled the air between them.

“Come on Perry,” Brandon said as he held Perry’s head up off the ground. “I don’t want to lose another one.”

“What do you mean?” Derek said. “Who else did you lose? Another human?”

Brandon looked at Derek and fought back tears.

“Yeah. This kid. Just a kid. A really good guy. Hit bad. It was my fault. He was alive when we left him, but…”

Derek’s face hardened. Brandon never saw him look like that before. Derek picked up Perry’s rifle and asked Mip7 how it worked. Mip7 showed him the lever to pull to set the charge, and then told him to just aim and pull the trigger.

Derek pulled back the lever, aimed at the cliff side, and fired. He knocked two large rocks out of it, kicking up more dirt as they crashed to the canyon floor.

Then, before anyone could stop him, Derek got up and ran into the dust cloud by the side of the cliff.

“Hold your fire!” Tanel2 yelled. “Our subject has engaged them at close range.”

Brandon and Mip7 ran after him. The dust became thick and got in Brandon’s eyes. He started coughing. At that moment, Brandon remembered he didn’t have his rifle. He reached down to his ankle strap and pulled the short-range weapon he had been issued. It fired projectiles. Brandon had been hastily instructed on its operation in the transport ship hangar. It was made of hard plastic and was somewhat tubular in shape, but with an anatomical grip where the controls were. It held eleven shots. The projectiles were supposedly long, thin metal darts that also delivered a severe electric shock upon contact. What powered them he had no idea. Brandon held down the two buttons to unlock the safety until one of them turned green.

Brandon lost Mip7 in the dust cloud, but found him again when they both came out the other side of it. Derek was there too, right up against the base of the bluff. He was crouching behind a large rock and aiming the Reep-1 rifle.

A laser beam shot between Brandon and Mip7. They dropped to the ground and crawled towards Derek’s position. Before they could get there, however, Derek fired the rifle, jumped over the rock, and ran forward. Brandon tried to shout at him, but choked up dust instead.

Mip7 then crawled to the cliff side and sat up with his back against the rock where Derek had just been. He slumped over and put his head in his knees. Brandon immediately ran over to check on him. The last thing he needed right now was for Mip7 to be hurt. Mip7, however, lifted his head and waved Brandon towards the direction Derek had gone.

“It’s just the sonic booms,” he said. “That last one got me. I’ll be all right. Go get Derek.”

Brandon patted Mip7 on the knee and then peeped up over the rock to look beyond it. He saw an Azaarian lying motionless on the ground, but no Derek. There was a clump of bushes up ahead. Brandon jumped the rock and ran all the way to the bushes.

Now he saw Derek in the clearing beyond, kneeling on the ground and aiming the rifle again. Another sonic popping sound muffled Brandon’s ears, and then part of the cliff side up ahead came crumbling down, making another huge dust cloud.

Brandon turned back to see if Mip7 was coming. He wasn’t, but the Azaarian who had been sprawled on the ground was now moving and beginning to get up. Apparently, he was only slightly wounded. A small gadget of some kind was lying on the ground next to him, probably one of the laser weapons that had been fired at the landing party. Brandon hurried towards him, aimed the device in his hand, and pressed the button with the green light. A dart fired from it, leaving a trail of red light in the air behind it. It entered the top of the Azaarian’s shoulder, right next to his huge neck, and buried itself there. The Azaarian dropped back down and stopped moving.

At that moment, the bird whistle from the ship at the top of the cliff sounded—once.

Brandon picked the Azaarian laser weapon up off the ground. It was foreign to him. He had no idea how to use it, or even which way it pointed. He looked around for someplace to hide it. There was a deep hole next to a rock that might have been home to a Milurian rodent. He dropped the weapon down the hole and then ran back to the bushes where he had last seen Derek from.

Derek was still there in the next clearing, but standing this time, with the Reep-1 rifle leveled at his shoulder. For someone who supposedly hated guns, he sure didn’t seem to be having any difficulty striking all the classic poses with one. He fired it again as Brandon was assessing the situation. This time, however, Derek remained standing in place. He then slung the rifle over his shoulder and walked forward casually. Whoever he just shot at, he must have hit.

Brandon jumped through the bushes and ran to the spot Derek had just been. When he got there, Derek was walking back towards him, nonchalantly, as if there were no longer any danger. Beyond him a ways on the ground looked to be pieces of a dismembered Azaarian. The look on Derek’s face was serious, but not one of great concern.

“What’s that, brother?” Derek pointed at the device Brandon was holding.

Brandon was taken aback. Was this the same Derek he left at Uden?

“Um …a kind of a dart pistol. Derek, what are you doing? Are you nuts? We risked life and limb to come down here to rescue you, and then you run off like a crazed medieval warrior, right into enemy fire. Are you all right? You could have gotten yourself killed.”

“It’s okay now, Brando. I got the guys who were shooting at us. Is that thing effective?” He pointed back to the dart pistol.

“Yeah. I only fired it once, but the attacker dropped stiff. You have to be in close with it, though. It’s mainly for defense.”

“Trade you,” Derek said.

Brandon looked at the dart gun in his hand, then back at Perry’s Reep-1 rifle hanging on Derek’s back.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Let’s get out of here before any more Azaarians are distracted from their games.”

Derek handed Brandon the rifle. Then—and only then—did Brandon give Derek the dart pistol.

“How’s it work, man?”

“Point it that way and push the green-lit button, pretty much like the fishing poles at Uden. Hopefully, you won’t be anywhere near in position to use it. I’ll cover us with the rifle. Let’s go.”

“Wait one minute, Brando. Be right with you. Gonna take care of something first. Then we can go.”

“What are you—”

Derek walked out straight out on to the flat canyon floor before Brandon could grab ahold of him. Once there, he began carefully stepping between the Azaarians who were sitting playing their games. Brandon took a few steps towards him, but then stopped and watched from the sideline.

Now what? Why was Derek being so uncooperative?

Brandon was standing only a few yards from the closest Azaarians. He couldn’t believe they were still so focused on what they were doing that they paid Brandon no attention whatsoever, and Derek could step between them like that without disturbing them.

It looked like Derek was trying to get to a certain spot. Maybe he had some other possession he needed to grab. But then, he stopped next to two of the Azaarians and stood perpendicular to their game frame. To Brandon’s horror, he aimed the dart gun directly at one of them and fired. Brandon could see a red streak sink deep into the player’s chest. That player slumped down immediately and stopped moving, sitting in place like a statue with his head hung.