The Search for Gram (22 page)

Calvin leaned around the corner of the building and saw movement on the castle walls, only a block away. They had made good time but had been taking heavier fire the closer they got to the castle.

“How much longer?” asked the caliph.

“Just a couple of minutes more,” replied Calvin. “I want to make sure we get you there in one piece. There were a lot of the Efreet at the castle, and I have some of my best men making sure all of them are dead.”

“Ah, I see,” said the caliph. “Thank you. In that case, I do not mind the delay.”

A civilian ran up to the group and screeched something in the Sila language. The caliph turned to Calvin. “We need to forget about this attack and flee the city,” he said. “We are in great danger here.”

“Great danger?” asked Calvin. “Why is that? I thought we needed to get you into the castle so you could coordinate the revolt of your people.”

“Part of the revolt was predicated on keeping the Efreet from reaching the shuttles they use to get to their space ships. There are two of them at the airfield. A group of Efreet just recaptured one and took off.”

“Okay, so why is that such a bad thing?”

“It appears they had the queen of the colony with them when they launched.”

“And what does that mean?”

“There is only one female Efreet on this planet. She lays all the eggs that keep their colony here going. They would never bomb the planet from orbit while she was here. If she just made it off the planet, though…”

“They can bomb us at will,” finished Calvin.

“Exactly,” said the caliph. “We need to evacuate the city immediately.”

“How long will that take?”

“To get the evacuation order to all the citizens in the middle of a revolt while the fighting is still going on?” asked the caliph. “Many hours, at least. And then to actually get everyone clear of the city once the roads get blocked with people trying to flee? Many hours more. That is why we must start now. Hopefully, we can at least get some of the people out of the city before the bombs start falling.”

“Well ain’t that some shit?” asked Master Chief.

“Yeah,” said Calvin, “it certainly is. You know what’s even worse?”

“Sir, you’ve got that look in your eye. I don’t think I want to know.”

“Probably not,” agreed Calvin. He turned to the caliph. “You said there were two shuttles, right?”

“That is correct. My forces still hold the other.”

Calvin turned back to Master Chief. “What’s worse is we’re going to have to take the second shuttle up and try to stop them.”

“You’ve got to be fucking shitting me!” said Master Chief. “This isn’t our war. We’ve already sacrificed a bunch of our people, and what do we have to show for it?
Nothing!
Not a fucking thing! We don’t even have a way off this fucking rock!”

“That’s why I want you to take the caliph and five troops and go seize the castle. Once the castle is secure, get the last control rod and send someone through the boundary to get the word back to the
Terra
. Someone’s got to do that, and I know I can count on you.”

“Oh, I see what you just did there, sir, and I’m not falling for it. If you’re going off on some batshit-crazy rescue mission, you’re not doing it without me. Who’s going to keep you out of trouble if I don’t go? No, sir; I’m going.”

Calvin coughed to hide his smile. “
All Terrans, fall back and meet me two blocks straight out from the castle gate ASAP. There’s been a change in plans!
”

Wendar, Day 7 of the Second Akhet, 15th Dynasty, Year 14

“I’m going to transport back and forth until I find the Aesir, and then try to bring back as many as I can,” said K-Mart. “Especially the prince, if I can find him.”

“What am I supposed to do?” asked Rock.

“Mark my position and help me measure so I don’t materialize in a tree,” said K-Mart, “and help keep the Aesir out of the way…if I ever find them.”

“Do you suppose the Jotunn are going to be waiting for you in our cell?”

“I don’t know,” said K-Mart. “I hope not.”

“Wait a minute,” said Rock, “doesn’t that thing have some sort of invisibility or illusionary shape change function? I’ve read all of the mission reports I could get my hands on, and I seem to remember the first Sila that Lieutenant Commander Hobbs met could go invisible.”

“Well, there are some additional buttons and knobs on the rod, but I’ll be darned if I know what they do.”

“Can I see the rod?” asked Rock. K-Mart passed it to him. “Yeah, I figured as much,” Rock said. “It’s kind of like a TV remote.”

“What does that mean?” asked K-Mart.

“What does a TV remote look like after you’ve had it a while?” asked Rock in reply. “The buttons you use all the time have the symbols rubbed off, but you don’t care because you know what each does. The buttons you never use still look brand new.”

Rock pointed to the buttons as he explained further. “The two buttons to transport between worlds have their symbols rubbed off. They are used the most, so that makes sense. These other buttons on the end still have all their symbols, except for this one here, which is almost rubbed off.”

He handed the rod back, and K-Mart looked at it more closely. “Huh,” he said. “I never would have noticed that. I guess I don’t have to worry about something bad happening if I push it. If that button did do something bad, it wouldn’t have been used often enough to rub off its symbol, right?”

“Exactly,” said Rock. “I don’t know if there
is
a button to make you go invisible, but if there is, I’ll bet it’s that one right there.”

“Groovy,” said K-Mart, pressing the button. “Can you still see me?”

“No,” replied Rock. “I can’t see you at all. That’s gotta be the right button.”

“Well, in that case,” said K-Mart, “here I go.” He pushed the blue button and was back in the middle of his former cell. A Jotunn stood in the hallway, his eyes searching the cells. As his gaze swept over K-Mart, the aviator poised his finger over the green button, ready to transport out in an instant. The button wasn’t needed; the giant’s gaze kept moving as if K-Mart wasn’t there.

So far, so good. His stomach was a little queasy, but controllable. On to the next step.

The cell door was shut, so he would need to get past it to get out of the cell. K-Mart measured from where he transported in; it was five steps to the bars marking the edge of the cell. There were at least five more to the wall on the other side of the passageway.

He went back to where he transported in, faced in the direction of the cell door and pushed the green button.

Back in the forest with Rock, K-Mart took seven and a half steps. No trees in the way. “Wish me luck,” he said. He pushed the blue button and returned in the middle of the passageway, outside the cell. It worked; he was free to move around the complex. Now…where would he hide a bunch of Aesir if he were their jailor?

“You’re sure you know what you’re doing, sir?” asked Master Gunnery Sergeant Bill Hendrick. “How do you know their spaceship won’t blast you when you get up there?”

“I don’t; that’s why I’m going to need the caliph to send someone up to translate for us,” said Calvin.

“It will have to be me,” said Grand Vizier Jafar. “Only four people speak the language from the other side of the boundary, and two of them are women. The Efreet would know immediately something was wrong if there were a female voice on the radio. The caliph is much too valuable to risk on something as foolhardy as this mission. That leaves me.” He looked at Night. “And perhaps, in some small way, it will help make up for my part in the deaths of your comrades.”

“Okay,” said Calvin, “here’s the plan. Master Gunnery Sergeant Hendrick, you’re going to take Sergeant Tereshchenko, Sergeant Al-Sabani, Sergeant Hiley, Sergeant Jones and Corporal Rozhkov and secure the castle. If you can safely do it, you will then get the control rod and send people back to let the
Terra
know what we’re doing and to bring back our suits if they can.”

“Everyone else in the platoon,” he continued, “is going to bust our asses getting to the airfield, where we’re going to link up with the caliph’s forces and board the remaining shuttle. Then we’ll fly back here, get our combat suits and go up to the enemy destroyer in orbit, at which time we will commence to kicking ass and taking names. When there are no more Efreet alive on the ship, we’ll figure out what we want to do next. Got it?”

All of the troopers’ heads nodded up and down although more than a few had eyes that were about twice the size of normal. Can’t blame ‘em, thought Calvin. If I stopped to think about it, I’d probably be scared shitless too.

Calvin looked next at Captain Nightsong. “I don’t think your Thor ever expected any of this when he sent you with us, but if you’re crazy enough to join us, I’d really love to have you along. You are tremendous force multipliers, and we really need some multiplication right now.”

“Your men have given their lives to help our people, even though there is no formal treaty between our nations. If we can play some small part in this endeavor, then play it we shall. We are with you.”

“And I’m with you until the end,” said Farhome, “no matter how many universes you try to sneak away into. Heeheehee.”

“Everyone understand their parts?” asked Calvin. “Okay…ready, break!”

“
My group, with me to the castle!
” commed Master Gunnery Sergeant Hendrick.

“
Assault group, on me!
” commed Master Chief. “
We’ve got a destroyer to capture.
”

“How many Efreet do you reckon will be on the destroyer?” asked Night as the groups began jogging in different directions.

“Probably about 200,” said Calvin; “give or take a few.”

Night nodded his head slowly. “And we’ve got what? About 25 of us, so they only outnumber us by about 8-1?” A smile blossomed on his face. “Awesome; that’s the best odds we’ve had all day.”

“So, you think you can fly that thing, sir?” asked Master Chief as the force approached the Efreet shuttle. It looked nothing like the Terran
Reliable
-class space shuttle. In fact, it didn’t look like anything aviation-related at all. It looked like a box with stubby wings and a window on the front.

“Master Chief, the only way we’re getting to the destroyer is if I
can
fly that crate up to it, so yeah, I can fly that thing,” said Calvin. “I hope.”

“Maybe you’d like to take it around the block a couple of times to get the feel of it before we all get in?”

“I see it doesn’t look aerodynamic,” said Calvin, “and I admit I don’t have any flight time in that model. Still, a shuttle isn’t that complicated an aircraft. It’s meant to haul things back and forth, and it doesn’t need a lot of extraneous bullshit to do so.”

“If you say so, sir.”

Calvin climbed into the cockpit while the Grand Vizier spoke to the forces around the shuttle. As Calvin sat down, he realized something; there were more dials, buttons and switches than on his space fighter and shuttle combined. “Extraneous bullshit, my ass,” he muttered.

The vizier slid into the seat next to him. “I figured you would need some help translating the controls,” he offered.

“Yes please,” replied Calvin. “This is the most complicated instrument panel I have ever seen. There are more damn buttons…” He shook his head. “Okay, where do we start?”

“How about with the lever that says, ‘Engine Number One Start?’”

“That’s as good a place as any, I guess,” replied Calvin, grasping the indicated lever. He tried to advance it, but the level wouldn’t move. “It seems to be stuck.”

“The button under it says, “Push to Crank,” said the vizier, pointing to the button beneath the lever. “Would that help?”

Calvin pushed the button and then tried to move the lever. Nothing.

“I heard something when you had the button pushed,” said the vizier. “Maybe you have to move the lever
while
pushing the button.”

“That’s awkward,” said Calvin. “With the controls in the center of the console, it’s hard to push it with one hand and move the lever with the other.”

“It is probably meant to be done with one hand,” noted the vizier, “not two.”

“But–”

“You forget our hands are different than yours,” interrupted the vizier. “Watch.” He pushed the button with one talon while using the backs of the two opposing talons to advance the lever. Calvin heard the motor begin to spin up and then, with a small ‘boom,’ the engine lit off.

“Progress!” said Calvin.

“Want to try the Number Two Engine?” asked the vizier.

“Sure,” said Calvin. Having seen it done once, Calvin quickly had the second engine online. “Okay,” he said. “Tell me what all the other buttons say.”

“Aren’t you going to start the third engine too?” asked the vizier.

“There’s a third motor?” asked Calvin. “I didn’t know that. Our shuttles only have two.”

“We’re all going to die, aren’t we, sir?” asked Master Chief from the doorway.

“No, we’re getting it,” said Calvin; “we’re just having some growing pains.”

“Yeah, well, that’s better than the dying pains us guys in the back are going to be having.” He paused and then asked, “Would it help to have the shuttle’s start-up checklists?”

“Yeah, it would,” said Calvin. “Got a couple of those lying around, Mr. Smartass?”

“Sir, I try and I try to help you,” said Master Chief, “and yet you’re always wounding me.” He pulled a booklet from the back pocket of each seat and handed them to the vizier. “Will these help?”

“What are they?” asked Calvin, craning his neck to see.

“This one is the ‘Mark 17 Space Shuttle User’s Manual,’ and the other is labeled ‘Mark 17 Space Shuttle Operational Checklists,’” translated the vizier.

“Yeah, those might be handy to have,” said Calvin. “Thanks. Now, why don’t you go back and strap in?”

“If you say so, sir,” said Master Chief. “It’s probably safer back there anyway. That way, I won’t get sprayed by all this glass when we crash.” Master Chief turned to leave but then faced back toward the cockpit. “Before I go, I should also probably give you the helmets that are sitting here. Those will probably be handy in a crash too…”