fanfiction The Story of Training Flight 19, Lost on Ark Survival Evolved.

[rpicardi1]

Training Flight 19, Lost on the Ark.

 

Note, Since the story is about military personnel, foul language among the men is quite common especially from those that serve in the Navy and Marines. In order to keep it at a PG rating. I am using the Cable TV Battlestar Galacticia approach where frack is substituted for the F bomb.

 

Introduction;

 

This story is based upon a multiplayer role game playing of the Ark Survival Evolved DLC map called Aberration. It was released as a paid DLC in December 12, 2017. Additional story elements are based upon a player created map called Frozen Earth. The story climaxes upon their arrival on the Official Player Created Map known as Ragnarok.

This story is a fictional scenario of what happened to the crew of Training flight 19 after they vanished without a trace off the coast of Florida on December 5th, 1945, along with the crew of a PBM Navy flying boat that went searching for them, in an area of the ocean now known as the Bermuda Triangle.

The reference materials used in this story come from the Internet with the link to the sources listed. The actual names of the Marines and Sailors involved has been altered to protect any surviving relatives of those lost.

There was a report of some crew members on a ship in the area seeing a brilliant flash on the horizon about the time that the PBM had vanished, those flying boats having a history of leaking fuel tanks exploding. While wreckage of Avenger Torpedo Bombers have been found in the area in question, there is no evidence to links any of those aircraft to the ones of Training Flight 19.

To this day, no trace has ever been found of the aircraft flown in Flight 19, its crews, the PBM sent to look for them, or of Captain Power’s gunner, Michael Belvito, who vanished from his plane in a flight months earlier.

This story replaces the outdated "Aberration, The Lost Ark." I will be adding chapters as they are updated, proofread for errors, and content. Currently, there are 36 chapters to this story. There could be some more added in the future.

 

Chapter 1, The Lost Flight.

 

A brief history of the assigned squadron and its crew members of Training Flight 19 are as followed. (Internet source.)

THE SQUADRON, Flight 19 consisted of the following;
FT – 28. Flight Leader: NASFL Instructor, Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor, USNR. Aircraft: TBM-3D - BuNo 23307.
Crew: Gunner George Francis Devlin, AOM3c, USNR.

Radioman: Walter Reed Parpart, Jr. ARM3c, USNR.

FT – 36. Pilot: Capt. Edward Joseph Powers, USMC.

Aircraft: TBM-1C - BuNo 46094.
Crew: Gunner Sgt. Howell Orrin Thompson, USMCR.

Radioman: Sgt. George Richard Paonessa, USMCR.

FT – 81. Pilot: 2nd Lt. Forrest James Gerber, USMCR.

Aircraft: TBM-1C - BuNo 46325.
Crew: Pfc. William Lightfoot, USMCR.

Corporal Allan Kosnar had asked to be excused from this exercise.

FT- 3. Pilot: Ensign Joseph Tipton Bossi, USNR.

Aircraft: TBM-1C - BuNo 45714.
Crew: Gunner Herman Arthur Thelander, S1c, USNR.

Radioman: Burt E. Baluk, S1c, USNR.

FT- 117. Pilot: Captain George William Stivers Jr., USMC.

Aircraft: TBM-1C – BuNo 73209.
Crew: Gunner Sgt. Robert Francis Gallivan, USMCR.

Radioman: Pfc. Robert Peter Gruebel, USMCR.

 

Here is a brief detailed background of each of the actual missing crew members on Flight 19 as documented in the website, NASFLMuseum.com;

 

Burt Edward Baluk, Jr., S1c USNR. Radioman on FT-3.
Born 1926 in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He graduated from Bloomfield High School in 1943 and entered service soon after. He was 19 yrs old.

George Francis Devlin, Jr., AOM3c, USNR. Gunner on FT-28.
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1928. He was eager to help in the war effort and couldn't wait to be of age, so he decided to enlist in the United States Naval Reserve at the age of 15, under the alias of Robert F. Harmon. Trained at Barber's Point NAS Hawaii in 1944, and by March 1945 deployed to Guam and the fleet anchorage at Ulithi, where he reported on board the USS Enterprise. The war ended, and he made his way to Florida where he trained at NAS Fort Lauderdale. He was soon flying as a Gunner on the TBM/TBF Avenger Torpedo Bombers. At 17, he was in the process of having his alias changed to his birth name, when he disappeared with Flight 19.

2nd Lt. Forrest James Gerber, USMCR. Pilot of FT-81.
Born 1921 in New Ulm, Minnesota. Served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. Enlisted in January 1942, becoming a Ground Marine first and later an Officer in Training. Became an air cadet in 1944.
Had 360.6 hours of flight time, 61.8 on Avengers alone. He had received his gold wings 4 months earlier. He was 24 yrs old.

Capt. Edward Joseph Powers, USMC. Pilot of FT-36.
Born in 1919, in Mount Vernon, New York. Graduated from Princeton University in 1941. On that same year he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Upon graduating, he was assigned as a training instructor at Quantico, Virginia. Later on in 1944, he would request a transfer to become a cadet in the naval air forces. He gave up his commanding position for his desire to fly on the TBM/TBF Avenger torpedo bombers. Though a NASFL student, he was senior officer on flight 19. He was the only married man aboard, and the only father. It was noted that Capt. Power's wife felt a premonition and called the base, several hours before the disappearance. Also noted, is that two months prior when Powers was stationed at NAS Miami, it was reported that his gunner Michael Belvito was missing from the TBM they were flying. The gunner's door and parachute were gone. A search and rescue was launched but nobody found anything. The cause of the gunner's disappearance is still unknown. Captain Powers was 26 years old.

Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor, USNR. Pilot in FT-28. Commanding officer of Flight 19.
Born October 25, 1917 in Nueces County, Texas. Taylor was a United States Naval Officer. He served in the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. He graduated from NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, February 1942, and became a flight instructor October of that year. In 1943, he flew with Scouting Squadron 62 and later that year, he became a torpedo plane pilot with Squadron 7. From April to December 1944, he was aboard the USS Hancock as part of Task Force 38. Also part of Acorn 36 at NAS Miami Opa Locka, and Squadron 79. He was recently transferred to NAS Fort Lauderdale (November 21, 1945), where he served as a flight instructor. He had 2,509.3 flight hours, 616 in the Avenger torpedo bombers. He was 28 yrs old.

Sgt. Howell Orrin Thompson, USMCR. Gunner on FT-36.
Born 1925 in Chicago, Illinois. Became a Marine Corps Staff Sergeant.
May of 1944 he worked as a mechanic at NAS San Diego. March 19, 1945, he was aboard the USS Franklin CV-13 "Big Ben" doing Ordnance when the ship was attacked by a Japanese dive bomber dropping two semi-armor-piercing bombs. In November 1945 he was transferred to NAS Fort Lauderdale to continue training. He was 20 yrs old.

Ensign Joseph Tipton Bossi, USNR. Pilot of FT-3.
Born December 25, 1924 in Arkansas City, Kansas. Attended University of Kansas. He passed up a discharge so that he could stay in the Navy. Had 373.4 hours of flight time, 65.9 on Avengers alone. He was 20 yrs old.

Sgt. Robert Francis Gallivan, USMCR. Gunner on FT-117.
Born 3 July, 1924 in Northampton, Massachusetts. Marine Staff Sergeant, veteran of the WWII battles at Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and Tarawa. From December 15, 1942, Robert was attached to Marine Squadron VMSB-143 as an airplane armorer and torpedo repairman, serving at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomons Islands. In 1943-44, after the Battle of Tarawa, Robert made his way to NAS Fort Lauderdale where he would train as a Gunner in the TBM/TBF Avenger torpedo bombers. He was going to be discharged and released the following day (December 6, 1945), before his disappearance. He was 25 yrs old.
 

Pvt. Robert Peter Gruebel, USMCR. Radioman on FT-117.
Born in 1927 in Long Island, New York. Joined the Marines in 1944.
Trained at Marine Corps Air Station in Eagle Mountain Lake, Texas. Here, he was part of the Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 931, with Marine Aircraft group 34. October of 1945 trained at NAS Miami, and by December, at NAS Fort Lauderdale training as Radioman/Bombardier aboard TBM/TBF Avenger torpedo bombers. He was 18 yrs old.

Pfc. William Earl Lightfoot, USMCR. Crew member on FT-81.
Born December 1926 in Clayton, Union County, New Mexico. Entered the United States Marine Corps Reserve June of 1943. Trained in Lexington, Illinois. He was 19 yrs old. The Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum exhibits the log book he left behind. It was donated by his family, along with several original artifacts and photographs.

Sgt. George Richard Paonessa, USMCR. Radioman on FT-36.
Born Nov. 1917 in Mamaroneck, New York. 3rd of 8 children to Italian immigrants. In 1944, George saw duty as an aerial gunner in Kwajalein Atoll, Marshal Islands. Upon his return, he was assigned training as a Radioman/Bombardier on the TBM/TBF Avenger torpedo bombers at NAS Fort Lauderdale. After his disappearance with Flight 19, Paonessa's family would receive a telegram days later reading "You have been misinformed about me. Am very much alive." Signed with his nickname “Georgie” (reportedly a hoax). He was 28 yrs old.

Walter Reed Parpart, Jr., ARM3c, USNR. Radioman on FT-28.
Born 1927 in Brooklyn, New York. The NAS Fort Lauderdale Museum exhibits the log book he left behind. It was donated by his family, along with original photographs of Walter in uniform, also a Presidential Citation (hand-signed by President Truman), and family correspondence between the mother of Charles Taylor (lead pilot) and Walter's parents. He was 18 years old.

Capt. George William Stivers, Jr., USMC. Pilot on FT-117.
Born April 1920, in Piedmont, Missouri. Graduated from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In 1942, as a fresh 2nd Lieutenant he was part of the Marine platoon in the 1st Raider Battalion, then part of the 3rd Raider Battalion in 1943. Then, during the Battle of Tarawa in 1943, George was General J. C. Smith's Aide de Camp, in the 2nd Marine Division. He was cited for gallantry, twice on Guadalcanal, and once on Tarawa. In 1944, he became an air cadet. That same year, he received his wings from NAS Corpus Christi. He then transferred to NAS Fort Lauderdale, to train in the TBM/TBF Avenger torpedo bombers. He had 374.7 flight hours. He was 25 yrs old.

Herman Arthur Thelander, S1c, USNR. Gunner on FT-3.
Born in 1926, in Kinbrae, Minnesota (as of the census of 2010 there were 12 people residing in this town). Herman joined the United States Naval Reserve September 1, 1944. He transferred for training several times: from September to November 1944, he was stationed at NAS Jacksonville, Florida. Then from April to June 1945 at NAS Fort Lauderdale, training on the TBM/TBF Avenger torpedo bombers. He was 19 yrs old.

 

The flight crew of the PBM flying boat that vanished over Flight 19 last known position while conducting their first search for them for them;

(From Wikipedia.)

Walter G. Jeffery, LTJG, USN, Pilot

Harrie G. Cone, LTJG, USN, Co Pilot
Roger M. Allen, Ensign, USN
Lloyd A. Eliason, Ensign, USN
Charles D. Arceneaux, Ensign, USN
Robert C. Cameron, RM3, USN
Wiley D. Cargill, Sr., Seaman 1st, USN
James F. Jordan, ARM3, USN
John T. Menendez, AOM3, USN
Philip B. Neeman, Seaman 1st, USN
James F. Osterheld, AOM3, USN
Donald E. Peterson, AMM1, USN
Alfred J. Zywicki, Seaman 1st, USN

 

From History.com, Article on the disappearance of Training Flight 19. With the exception of selected paragraphs copied from the source above, italicized, and marked by an *, the rest of this story is fictional.

 

It began as nothing more than a routine training flight. At 2:10 P.M. on December 5, 1945, five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers took off from a Naval Air Station in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The planes—collectively known as “Flight 19”—were scheduled to tackle a three-hour exercise known as “Navigation Problem Number One.” Their triangular flight plan called for them to head east from the Florida coast and conduct bombing runs at a place called Hens and Chickens Shoals. They would then turn north and proceed over Grand Bahama Island before changing course a third time and flying southwest back to base. Save for one plane that only carried two men, each of the Avengers was crewed by three Navy personnel or Marines, most of whom had logged around 300 hours in the air. Their flight’s leader was Lieutenant Charles C. Taylor, an experienced pilot and veteran of several combat missions in World War II’s Pacific Theater.*

The flight has proceeded normally as the five aircraft head to their target point of Hens and Chicken’s Shoals to simulate their training runs on the lightship anchored there. Then, things seem to go horribly wrong as a weather front hit them while they are making their change in course to fly back towards Florida. “Damn, my compass is not working,” Lt. Tylor, the squadron commander says to himself as he sees both of them now spinning strangely in opposite directions. Then the rain and fog from the storm front rolls in on the flight resulting in the pilots having to rely on their instruments for flying.

“I don’t know where we are,” one of the pilots says over the radio. “We must have got lost after that last turn.”*

There is just enough visibility for the other four pilots to keep together in formation with the lead plane as Lt. Tylor tries to figure out where he is and what direction the flight is now heading.

Lieutenant Robert F. Cox, another Navy flight instructor who was flying near the Florida coast, was the first to overhear the patrol’s radio communications. He immediately informed the Air Station of the situation and then contacted the Avengers to ask if they needed assistance. “Both my compasses are out and I’m trying to find Ft. Lauderdale, Florida,” Taylor said, his voice sounding anxious. “I’m over land, but it’s broken. I’m sure I’m in the Keys, but I don’t know how far down.”*

Hopelessly lost and thinking that the islands he now has spotted are part of the Florida Keys, Lt. Tylor turns the flight group towards a North East heading. Some of his pilots now seem to have recognized that he is making a mistake. “Dammit,” one man griped over the radio. “If we would just fly west, we would get home.”* Heading further to the Northeast in the heavy cloud cover and poor visibility, it soon becomes apparent that there are no more islands visible down below. “We should be flying over the Everglades by now,” Lt. Tylor says to himself.

Eventually, the flight group turns to head West, but then later, turns East with Lt. Taylor thinking that they were now flying over the Gulf of Mexico. “We didn’t go far enough east,” he said, still worried that he might be in the Gulf. “We may as well just turn around and go east again.”*

The flight continues, seemingly flying in circles in the inclement weather with its low ceiling and heavy clouds. Lt. Tylor and the other pilots remain unaware that they are actually flying further away from Florida in their effort to get back home. He now tries to home in on the radio signal from the airbase, but is unable to get a bearing due to some unknown interference that is making it impossible to get a direction of the radio tower. The flight continue heading further East into the Atlantic away from Florida, as it is getting late in the day. Soon, it has become apparent that all five aircraft are now running low on fuel. “We better find land soon or we are all screwed,” Lt. Tylor tells the flight crews.

From the last radio transmission sent, the following was heard, “All planes close up tight. We’ll have to ditch unless landfall…when the first plane drops below ten gallons, we all go down together.” A few minutes later, the Avengers’ last radio communications were replaced by an eerie buzz of static.*

Lt. Tylor has now ordered everyone to fly close together as he leads the way descending down to the surface of a very rough sea. The weather front has become strangely glowing as the five aircraft, now almost out of fuel, have closed into a tight formation as they descend to ditch the planes in the sea. Radio communication between the aircraft soon become impossible due to something that is now jamming all reception. The sea itself is glowing like a lighted landing field in spite of the very rough conditions 50 mph+ winds, have created on the surface. The glow gets brighter as the five aircraft descend towards the stormy surface. A strange noise sounding like a high pitch whine fills the cockpit of each plane as their electrical systems fail resulting in the engines losing power. Then, suddenly, a blinding ball of light engulfs all five aircraft rendering Lt. Tylor, his crew members, the other pilots, and their crew members, unconscious.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 2. The Portal

 

In a flash, Lt. Tylor and the 13 other crewmen of Training Flight 19, find themselves lying face up on a rusting metal floor inside a gigantic alien looking hanger. Its floor is littered with grass and strange plants of all kind. There is no signs of their aircraft or any signs of a crash. Their flight suits are missing along with any personal items that they took with them. They find themselves naked as the smell of burning electrical wiring hangs in the air. A massive electrical shorts crackles like lightning from the three huge rings that form some sort of tunnel in that giant hanger. They quickly go out leaving strips of color in each ring that are glowing in red, green, and blue.

An explosion in the distance way down the corridor lights up the chamber like a giant spotlight, then dies out as debris is seen falling down from that direction. The ground starts shaking as bits of stone, crystals of various color, and pieces of wood hit the metallic floor around them. Then, all is quiet save for the sound of the wind echoing through the cavern above, the hum of some strange alien machinery, and the sounds of strange prehistoric creatures in the distance.

The weather in this massive cavern turns out to be quite hot and sticky. Giant trees, huge mushrooms, and vines of various types are seen growing along the metallic walls down below this raised ramp like structure. Unfamiliar plants, tall bamboo, ferns, grasses, heavy moss, and smaller mushrooms are growing everywhere among and between the rusting metal plates and support beams. A glowing firefly, the size of a house cat, goes flying by. Other alien looking creatures, some with glowing spots on their sides and spike plates, are seen walking in the distance. In spite of their being naked, the crews of Flight 19 soon find themselves sweating profusely in the stifling heat.

“What the frack just happened?” ask Gunner George Daryol from Lt. Tylor’s crew as he gets up off of the still shaking floor, “Where’s my clothes and flight gear? Where in the fracking hell are we? How did we end up in this weird fracking place?”

“How the frack should I know!” a naked Lt. Tylor answers back in frustration. “All I saw was that strange fracking light coming towards us when I glided my plane down to the sea after its electrical systems went to hell and the engine died.”

“Maybe, if you had flown your fracking plane West as you were ordered to, we would be home by now,” shouts a naked Captain Powell in anger as he gets up off the still shaking floor.

“Just how in the fracking hell could we have been over the Florida Keys as you claimed?” asks an extremely pissed off Captain Shrivers. “Our target area is completely in the opposite direction from Ft. Lauderdale.”

“My muther fracking Compass was screwed up after we reached Hens and Chickens Shoals!” Lt. Tylor shouts back at them.

“As the experience flight leader, you’re suppose to know where the hell you are going.” yells Ensign Bossman. “If your fracking compass were screwed up as you claimed, why didn’t you pass on flight leadership to Captain Powell? What was your navigator doing? Sleeping on the job?”

“I heard the radio message ordering you to fly West,” yells Private Grobbal. “Why did you continue to fly East when you were ordered to change course?”

The argument continues to intensify until it is suddenly interrupted by a loud blood curdling scream from some creatures running towards them from behind. Turning to face the sound, the 117 flight crew find themselves under attack by three prehistoric predators that are over twice their size.

“What in the fracking hell are those---Ayyyyy...!” screams Sgt. Gulliver as a large bipedal predator leaps on top of him, pinning him to the ground. The huge lizard bites off his hand when he tries to protect his face, then disemboweled him with a claw hook on its foot and starts eating him alive.

“RUN!” Scream Captain Powell as he gets over the shock of seeing Sgt. Gulliver being ripped to pieces by one of the huge lizard. “Head for those trees!”

“Get the frack out of here!” shouts Captain Shrivers in a panic as he desperately looks for something to defend himself with. “We’ll hold these fracking devils off as long as we – Aieeee!”

“Die, you mudder fracker!” Pvt Grobbal shouts as he punches one of the attackers in the face as hard as he can breaking his wrist in the process. It staggers for a moment before it pins him to the ground and rips off his head.

With the delaying tactic working, due to the sacrifice of the three Marines of Flight 117, the eleven remaining airmen race down the rusting metal ramp into the woods where they seek shelter among the boulders and brush, hiding out of sight of the three attacking predators that are now feasting on the remains of the three dead crewmen.

“We’re so dead! We’re so dead!” Private Ledfoot is screaming at the top of his lungs as he is running for cover.

“Shut the frack up before we all end up dead!” Sargent Thomas yells back at him in a panic as everyone runs for the cover of the nearby trees and brush.

“What in the fracking hell are those things?” Pfc Ledfoot asks shaking in fear and out of breath when they finally reach the boulder strewn brush to hide in it.

“They look like some sort of Utah Raptors,” answers Sargent Thomas in a breathless frightened voice. “They and those Stegos thing that I saw, while everyone else was arguing about getting them lost, are suppose to be extinct.”

“How do we fight those things without any weapons?” ask Pfc Ledfoot still shaking in fear. “What in the fracking hell are they doing here anyways?”

“I don’t know,” answers Sargent Thomas. “We had better get our $hit together and find something to defend ourselves with before we all end up fracked up like the 117 flight crew.”

“Do we have to worry about those Stego things attacking us?” ask Pfc Ledfoot with concern as he starts catching his breath.

“I don’t think so,” answers Sargent Thomas. “According to my high school biology textbook, they are plant eaters. So long as we don’t threaten them, they should leave us alone.”

A nervous looking ostrich like bipedal creature, three times their size, comes crashing through the brush as it runs by the group. It has the look of being scared out of its wits. Everyone dives for cover. From the direction that it came from, an unseen battle is now taking place. There are roars of anger, loud crashing noises, the sound of bones being shattered, and screams of intense pain. Then, all is quiet other then a moaning of something suffering from extreme pain that soon dies out as well.

“I need someone to go out there and see what the frack just happened,” orders Captain Powell.

“Are you fracking kidding?” Private Ledfoot says while still shaking in fear. “Those frackin raptor things are still out there waiting to frack us up.”

“I’ll do it,” answers Lt. Garber.

Crawling out through the brush that has been flattened by the fleeing bipedal herbivore, Lt Garber approaches the open area near the alien hanger. It seems like an eternity before he returns.

“We’re safe for now,” reports Lt. Garber as he comes back from a quick recon. “Those Stego things fracked up those three raptors with their spiked tails when they were attacked by them.”

“Excellent!” answers Captain Powell who has now officially taken over command of the remaining survivors. “We caught a fracking break on that one. I’m going to declare this mission a crash course of survival. Lets figure out what we have to do to get some weapons to defend ourselves with against any future attacks by those mudder frackers.”

“Maybe, we can start by figuring out what these things, embedded in our left wrist, are for.” answers Lt. Garber. “When I picked up a stone to throw at those mudder frackers, it vanished into something called my inventory. Then, this strange message flashed in my head when I looked at it, saying that with a wood and ten thatch, I can craft a pickax.”

“This is so frackin scary,” reports Captain Powell as he access his Specimen Implant database. “This thing displays a serial number, then the message, ‘Survival Quotient undetermined.’”

“That’ sounds like whatever brought us to this fracked up place is betting that we will not survive for long,” answers Sargent Thomas.

“Then, we had better get our $hit together so we can prove them wrong,” answers Captain Powell.

“Why am I getting this message in my head that says hit this to harvest?” questions Sargent Thomas as he walks close to a tree. He smacks the nearby tree with his fist getting some wood and thatch. “Ouch! That fracking hurt.”

“Where in the frack did you find a pickax?” ask Lt. Garber when he sees that tool suddenly appear in Sargent Thomas’s hand.

“This Specimen Implant, as it is called, allowed me to make one once I had the stone, wood, and thatch needed for crafting it.” answers Sargent Thomas. “Save your fist, I will gather the wood and thatch you need for a pickax with mine.”

“A level up?” questions Sargent Pasenna as he continues to gather materials and pick berries. “What the frack is that for? Oh, we can learn more skills and apply points to what’s called our stats. I think we had better apply those stats to fortitude so we can better resist this fracking heat and humidity before it kills us from dehydration. Lets spend these Engram Points on the spears and hatchet so we have something to defend ourselves from those mudder fracking raptor.”

“$hit, I’m getting so fracking thirsty,” complains Radioman Baluck who is sweating like crazy from running around as he is gathering the materials he needs for the spears. “Isn’t there any water at all around here?”

“No,” answers Gunner Bossman. “Slow down so you are not overheating. Pick some of those colored berries and eat them for their moisture.”

“Are you sure that it is safe to eat those berries?” ask Private Ledfoot.

“According to my Specimen Implant, it says that the colored ones are safe to eat.” answers Captain Powell.

“If you say so,” Baluck answers back as he starts to gobble down a hand full of assorted berries in an effort to get hydrated.

“Ackkk!” gags Baluck after eating several handfuls of berries. “What the frack! Those white ones, they are poison. I’m dying from thirst!”

“Eat some of those aquatic mushrooms,” orders Lt. Garber. “Then eat only the colored berries.”

“Yummy, the black ones, they taste sooo goooooood……” There is a loud thud as Baluck falls to the ground unconscious.

“What the frack just happened to Baluck?” ask Captain Powell in alarm.

“Those black berries must have put him to sleep,” answers Lt. Garber as he examines him.

“A warning to everyone,” orders Captain Powell. “Don’t eat any of those fracking white berries, they will dehydrate you. And, especially, don’t eat the mudder fracken black ones. They will knock you out.”

“Baluck will be all right,” reports Lt. Garber as he continues monitoring his condition. “The black berries are helping to counteract the dehydrating effect of the white ones. He will be awake soon.”

With the excitement now over, the 11 survivors start to settle down to learning how the Specimen Implant works. They start to craft up clothing and weapons for their survival.

“It looks like we can now build a camp fire to cook up raw meat,” reports Sargent Thomas after he examines the crafting requirement for one he has purchased from another levelup. “What do you think roasted raptor would taste like?”

“Lets go find out,” answers Lt. Garber. “Help me butcher those dead ba$tards that killed the 117 crew.” Heading over to the dead raptors, the crew members proceed to gut, then skin and cut them up with their stone hatchets.

“This is frackin excellent,” reports Sargent Thomas as they proceed to butcher one of the three raptors. “I getting lots of quality hide off of that mudder frackers. My implant says that we can use it with fiber and stones to make bolas. We can use those bolas to stop those fracking raptor from attacking us by tangling up their legs in one.”

“Spears, bow and arrows, now Bolas. Excellent, it looks like we finally have the weapons we need to defend ourselves from those mudder frackers.” reports Captain Powell.

“This is more frackin good news,” reports Sargent Pasenna. “At 20 fortitude while wearing these thatch clothes, I am no longer sweating my a$$ off. It’s getting a lot easier to stay hydrated on the berries alone.”

“Lets finish crafting up everything, set up some torches, and get a shelter built for the night.” orders Captain Powell. “There is no telling what the fracking hell is going to show up around here when it gets dark.”

“This is really interesting,” reports Pfc Ledfoot as he continues experimenting with crafting as the wooden shelter gets constructed. “I can use the mortise and pestle to make something called spark powder from the flint and rocks to use as a fuel for the fire pit and standing torches. That will allow us to save up the wood we need for finishing our shelter and a security fence.”

The ground has started shaking again with a rumbling sound that echos throughout the cavern. “Whatever the frack that has happened in here is making this fracking place highly unstable,” warns Lt. Garber. “I hope that nothing fracking big decides to fall in on top of us.”

“Pick up those items that are falling to the ground,” orders Captain Powell. “A lot of them looks like they may be quite useful in the near future.”

“I found some crystal,” answers Ensign Bossman. “Excellent, According to my specimen implant, I can make a spotting scope with these.”

“Green gems, flint, wood, obsidian, a blue gem. It looks like everything here might have a use in the future,” reports Lt. Garber. “Lets place that stuff in a storage box until we can learn what they are used for.”

“Where did that fracking spear come from?” ask Baluk. “It just dropped out of the sky right in front of my feet.”

“There must be a settlement up above us,” answers Ensign Bossman as he continues gathering the gifts that are falling to the ground from above.

As everyone is busy picking up the loose items falling down from above, a loud shreak is heard coming from up on the metal platform along with the heavy sounds of claws running on the metal surface. “Look out! Here comes another one of those fracking raptor,” warns Private Ledfoot as the earthquake starts to settles down.

“Sargent Thomas, Sargent Pasenna, team up with me and lets go kill that mudder fracker,” orders Captain Powell. “Bola, then spear that ba$tard to death!” The three marines bola the charging raptor which immobilizes it. It screams in pain and anger as they use their spears to kill it as it struggles to get untangled.

“Ooo-Rah!” shouts Sargent Thomas. “That’s one down for Captain Shrivers and his crew.”

“Good Job Everyone!” shouts Captain Powell. “We now know how to defend ourselves against these fracking feathered green devils. We might just be able to get the frack out of here in one piece.”

“Lets butcher that fracking thing, get the security fence finished, and set up a guard rotation for the night. In a day or two, we should be strong enough to start exploring this fracking place and find a way to get back home.”

As the night quickly approaches, everyone has gathered together with Captain Powell who lead them in a prayer for the souls of their three dead comrades and a blessing to ask for their survival and escape in this strange alien world now known as Aberration, The Lost Ark.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 3. The Unexpected Reunion.

 

“Wow, what a strange fracking place this is,” comments Sargent Thomas to his crew mates as they pull the first night watch in their camp. It is strange indeed as the giant mushrooms pulsate with light. A stegos walks by in the distance, it’s bony plates on it’s backs are glowing. A mammal like creature the size of a small cow, known as a Moschop, walks close by with glowing spots on its side. A giant firefly flies by lighting up the terrain in front of them. “I can’t believe how quickly it got dark out here.”

“Doesn’t it ever cool down around here at night?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“Apparently not,” answers Captain Powell. “Most caverns will maintain a constant temperature the year around day or night. Given that it is this warm in this frackin place, I hate to think what the surface temperature must be like during the daytime.”

“Just what do you think this place is?” Sargent Pasenna ask Captain Powell as they are pulling the first night watch.

“It must be some kind of an alien portal that found a connection to our world,” answers Captain Powell. “It somehow intercepted us as we were about to land in the sea, brought us the frack here, then shorted out as soon as we appeared.”

“Then, how will we get the frack back home if this machine is broken?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“We will have to learn what makes it works and find some fracking way to fix it.” answers Captain Powell.

“I don’t know if we going to have the means to repair it,” answers Sargent Thomas. “When we first arrived here, that explosion looked like it did an awful lot of damage to the machinery in the distance.”

“Then, we’ll need to go over there in the morning, inspect the damage, and see if there is some way can frackin fix it,” answers Captain Powell.

It is 0600 when the daylight suddenly reappears. “Wow, that’s fracking weird,” comments Baluck who is now on watch with Ensign Bossman. “It’s like something just turned on a giant light switch.”

“It might be just the way the sun on the surface is reflecting down into the holes in the roof,” answers Ensign Bossman. “Anyhow, time to wake up the others and get prepared for today’s mission.”

“I now have crossbows for everyone,” announces Sargent Gullivar who has been working all night on the forge as the rest have gathered the metal ore for him to refine into metal.

“Excellent, they will perform a lot better then these primitive wood bows. Lets get going then,” orders Captain Powell. “I want to check out how much damage was done to this machine that brought us here.”

Assembling the ten other survivors and making sure they are all stocked with weapons and berries, the group of eleven, with Sargent Pasenna on point, proceed up the ramp and start walking the center of the portal to the tunnel that they can see that is far ahead.

“What’s the frack is this?” Sargent Pasenna ask when he finds a metal box as he is walking point.

“It’s contains something inside it called an explorer’s note,” answers Captain Powell as he opens it to see what is inside. “Damn, it’s all in fracking Japanese. Did their scientist actually have the technology to build this frackin place?”

“That’s highly unlikely,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “They should have won the war if they had actually invented that kind of technology. It is most likely that a group of them got trapped here like us. I wonder if they are still here with us somewhere in this underground world.”

“I hope not,” responds Captain Powell. “They might not know that the war is over. Then, we would have to deal with them as well as the predators that inhabit this place.”

“Here’s another one of those frackin Explorer’s Note,” answers Captain Powell. “This one is written in English. It reads;”

 

I fear that even with the unwitting aid of Miss Walker, I still cannot completely control the machines in the starlit sanctuary. I believe they sent us to the correct ARK, but I was unable to control precisely where we arrived on it. Alas, that means the location I saw in the sanctuary is beyond my reach for the time being, along with the molten Edmunium I saw there. Confound it all!

Naturally, I cannot confirm that molten substance was indeed Edmunium until I have inspected it with my own eyes, but it simply must be! It looked exactly like my samples did when I attempted to melt them down.

Imagine! An entire cavern of the most potent element known to man! The wonders I could create...

Sir Edmund Rockwell.

 

“What in the fracking hell is Edmunium?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“I haven’t the fogyish idea,” answers Captain Powell. “It sounds something like that Uranium and Plutonium our scientist used to make a super powerful explosives used in those atomic bombs that ended the war. Just one of those bombs leveled an entire Japanese city in seconds. A cavern full of anything like that could vaporize this entire world if it were to go off.”

“Here is another note.”

 

Things have gone sideways in a hurry, and I mean seriously FUBAR. Destroying that platform didn't just weaken the barrier trapping us here, it took out the whole freaking sky, or at least the giant hologram that was posing as it.

So yeah, turns out this entire landmass and everything on it is orbiting the Earth like some kind of artificial space island. Wild right? I'd appreciate the sheer insanity of that a lot more if this place didn't feel like it was falling apart.

We're taking all we can carry and making a break for that cave system we discovered a while back. If the atmosphere's thicker underground, then we've got a shot of pulling through.

 

Looks like we made it just in time. I backtracked to take a peek at the surface, and it's just one big fire. That's not a metaphor, I mean it's actually burning.

Diana’s Log

 

“What is that all about?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“It sounds like there were others here before us that were trying to return to Earth,” answers Captain Powell. “We must be inside some kind of an alien Ark orbiting the Earth. They tried to use the portal to escape, but were being prevented by something controlling it on the surface. Then, they royally fracked up everything by blowing up that alien control platform.”

“That is not good at all,” answers Sargent Panessa “It explains why where you can see up into the daylight, the sky looks like it is on fire. The atmosphere must be really fracked up on the surface. If it is, that would explain why day and night come so quickly down here. Do we even have a chance at attempting to repair the damage they did if the surface has indeed been turned into a hellish wasteland on fire?”

“It seem impossible for now,” answers Captain Powell.

“Raptors!” warns Sargent Pasenna who is in lead.

“Lets take them out!” orders Captain Powell.

There is a yelp of surprise as the lead raptor in the pack of three gets several stone arrows into its head. It goes down as it’s buddies get their legs wrapped up in bolas and are killed by the combined attack of the 11 airmen.

“Good Job,” reports Captain Powell as the rest of the crew butcher the dying raptors and recover their spears and arrows. “We have proven to whatever brought us here that we can take on a pack of these mudder frackers.”

Continuing on, the patrol finds two wall size devices displaying static laden TV images of the surface of the Earth and one of Aberration. A nearby control panel appears to be functional. “Sargent Pasenna, see what you can do with this control unit,” orders Captain Powell. It is several minutes of studying the panel before Sargent Pasenna is able to find out what it does.

“We have a communication device that appears to be functional,” reports Sargent Pasenna. “I’ve tapped into the Western Union wireless network. I’m going to try to send a message via Morose Code.” As Sargent Pasenna completes sending his first message and starts working on a second, there is a flash of electrical generated light, then a loud pop, as the console goes dead.

“Did it work?” ask Captain Powell.

“I’m not sure what the frack just happened,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “I can confirm that a message to my parents has just been sent, but there is no way one can be returned to us now. This transmitter fracked itself up before I could finish sending a telegram to flight control. I have no idea what fracked up or how to fracking fix it.”

“Hopefully, the military will find out what has happened to us through your parents to let them know that we are OK.” answers Captain Powell.

Continuing on, the patrol starts up, then down what looks like a monorail rail track that travels through a giant metal tunnel. It then opens up into a huge cavern with the biggest trees anyone has ever seen. The rail line, now elevated, continues on towards a dark blue cavern area. But, the patrol can go no further. “Whatever the frack caused that explosion, when we had arrived, ended up destroying this portion of the rail line,” reports Sargent Thomas. “We can go no further from up here.”

“I see an awful lot of fracking debris down below us,” reports Sargent Pasenna. “Does that look like a pond with water down there?”

“It looks like a lake with a river system to our left,” reports Sargent Thomas. “That would certainly solve our need for drinking water.”

“If we can find a way to get back to ground level from this track, we might be able to find a path to get down there,” reports Pfc Ledfoot.

“Lets do it,” orders Captain Powell.

The patrol reverses course back through the tunnel, past the giant displays, and turns left to head down the ramp. “Hit the deck!” orders Sargent Thomas. “I see a thatch hut with strangers up ahead.”

Placing the spotting scope on it, Captain Powell observes three individuals out chopping on boulders with metal picks. They have three raptors resting nearby with saddles on them. There is a refining forge processing metal ore. Looking astonished, Captain Powell gets up and shouts down to the three individuals. Everybody then rushes down to hug the three strangers in celebration.

“Captain Shrivers, Sargent Gulliver, Private Grobbal, how did you three manage to survive being fracked up by those raptors?” ask Captain Powell.

“We didn’t,” Captain Shrivers answers. “We were eaten alive by those fracking devils as you were making your escape. Somehow, we ended up down here all together, exactly like when we first appeared way back on that platform. Believe me, being ripped apart, then eaten alive by those mudder frackers, is not my idea of a good time. It was pure fracking hell. I never want to go through that fracking experience again.”

“What the frack are you doing with these fracking raptors with saddles on them?” ask Captain Powell.

“When these attacked us, we bola them, then knocked them out with stones on our slingshots.” answers Captain Shrivers. “That’s when we found out that we could tame them. They have turned out to be very loyal pets. It was sure quite a contrast from the ones that fracked us up, then ate us alive.”

“This is sure one strange fracking place,” answers Captain Powell. “These creatures that fracked you up, then ate you for their meal, are now your pets that even allow you to ride on them like horses?”

“Strange, isn’t it,” answers Captain Shrivers.“They even love having us petting them. Where have the rest of you been camped out?”

“We are camped down at the other end where we ran for cover when you were attacked,” reports Captain Powell. “We were able to craft up weapons capable of taking out those fracking raptors that later threatened us. Have you found a source of water other then from the berries and mushrooms?”

“No, we haven’t,” answers Captain Shrivers.

“We saw a river system with a pond beyond the damaged section of the portal rail,” answers Captain Powell. “We might be able to get down to it if we continue around the structure where you are camped. Damn, it is already getting late.”

“You certainly don’t want to travel around here after dark without a torch,” answers Captain Shrivers. “Private Grobbal stepped into a frackin red mushroom patch and nearly died from it’s effects. It engulfed him in some kind of red spores. It fracked his mind up so bad that he was talking in gibberish and running around in circles. Then, he turned blue from heaving his guts out and $hitting all over the place. Those mudder fracking red mushrooms appear to be hiding in some of the berry bushes, so be careful when you go to pick them. It made him very sick for much of the day.”

“Don’t go anywhere near those mudder fracking purple gas jets like the one you see over there. Sargent Gulliver was killed by one when he stepped on it. He reappeared back here naked on what we now call a spawn bed. He said it was no fun not being able to breathe. Strangely enough, he was able to recover all of his stuff from his own body which then vanished several minutes later.”

“While exploring above on the portal, we found three Explorer’s Notes left by other survivors.” answers Captain Powell. “According to them, this place, they call the Aberration Ark, is an alien artificial world orbiting the Earth. The author’s of one of those notes are apparently responsible for the fracked up conditions we are facing down here when they blew up a control platform in their effort to escape. They did an awful lot of damage to this Ark during that escape attempt. I don’t even know if it’s possible for us to repair it. Sargent Pasenna found a working communication terminal. He managed to send a telegraph message to his parents back home before the frackin device went to hell.”

“If we are actually in orbit above the Earth, that could explain why gravity appears to be so much lighter down here,” answers Captain Shrivers. “Do you think that the military can get us the frack back home?”

“I don’t know.” answers Captain Powell. “I've heard rumors that the Navy has been experimenting with stealth technology near our target area. It is possible that they were testing out some extremely powerful electromagnetic equipment at the same time we were conducting our bombing run. If so, it could explain the weird things that started happening with our compass, our radios, and the electrical failure we had with our aircraft before we ended up here.”

“I’ll send some of the guys back to our camp to retrieve the rare items we have stored there. Then we’ll stay here with you for the night. At first light, I want to break camp and head down to where we saw that river system past the broken portal. We’ll build down there once we can find a suitable area for a more permanent camp.”

“Excellent,” answers Captain Shrivers. “We should have our crossbows ready by morning. Save the spoiled meat, narcoberries and black mushrooms so we can make more Narc Arrows. We found them to be a lot more effective in dealing with the fracking raptors then stones on slingshots. That’s what we used to knock out these other two raptors for taming.”

“Lets get our berries picked for the night, set up the guard duty, and get some rest so we can get started finding a more suitable area to set up a more permanent camp in the morning.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 4. The Mushroom Valley.

 

It is early morning on the third day with Training Flight 19, trapped on the Aberration Ark, when another tremor shakes the campsite waking up everyone not on guard duty. “Everyone, get outside and pick up what has hit the ground before it vanishes,” orders Captain Powell. A bunch of odd items have fallen from high above this time. An old journal is found among the scattered crystal, flint, stone, wood, tools, and a bundle of cold light flares.

“There must be an abandoned camp site or village up there,” comments Sargent Thomas. “That fracking stuff has to be coming from somewhere up above every time this place starts shaking itself apart.”

“We would need to get some specialize climbing gear to even have a chance to get up that fracking high to find whatever is up above us.” answers Sargent Gullivan.

Looking through the old journal, Captain Powell gathers everyone together to report to them what is written in it. “Someone by the name of Helena has put together this journal of all of the creatures living down here.” he announces. “She has also mapped out and described the various areas of this cave system. According to her, where we are headed for today will be relatively safe, but, we need to build our camp up on the cliff sides to stay away from the dangerous predators that live down by the river. She warns of predators such as Spinos, Giant Crabs, Carnos, and packs of Ravagers.”

“What in the frackin hell are Ravagers?” ask Sargent Gulliver.

“According to this description by Helena, they are a wolf hyena like creature the size of a grizzly with a disposition about as bad. They run in packs of three or more with an Alpha leader. Interesting, she says that they can be tamed like your raptors, by tangling up their legs with a bola, knocking them out with narc arrows, then feeding them a favorite food such as raw prime or mutton.”

“Mutton? Doesn’t that come from some fracking sheep?” ask Private Grobbal.

“Apparently, those sheep must exist down here somewhere,” answers Captain Powell. “They must be hiding from the predators in the remote spots in the cave system which is why we haven’t seen them so far.”

“I thought that I saw one yesterday when we were out on patrol,” reports Private Ledfood. “It looked weird with that glowing wool.”

“Helena warns us to be very careful when exploring the Blue Cavern and its red neighbor below.” reports Captain Powell. “She says that we will need a light source from something called a Bulb Pug or a Shine Horn. Bulb Pugs are easily tamed with aquatic mushrooms. She says that the dark areas down below hide vicious creatures called Nameless that will attack on sight from underground. The light weakens them and scares them off. She also warns of a flying squid like creature called a Seeker. The light attracts them and makes them stronger. Our biggest danger she says are going to be from the Rock Drakes. They look like dragons without wings. They can be very hard to see since they can blend into the surroundings terrain making them nearly invisible.”

“There are actually dragons down here?” ask Private Ledfoot. “Shouldn’t we just stay out of those dangerous areas?”

“Unfortunately, if we are to have any chance of repairing The Portal, we are going to have to go down there to gather those rare materials such as that Edmunium Rockwell talks about in his explorer note.”

“Helena also warns us about a blue fungus that will sap us of our warmth as if we are standing naked in 100* below zero weather. She also warns us about dangerous radiation in the Red Zone where we need to get red crystals in order to make a weapon that can kill something called a Reaper. They are found on the surface at night and sometimes can appear down in the cavern when the Nameless call for them. She says that we will need to go up to the surface to gather certain rare resources if we are to escape to Earth. She confirms that it is a burning hell in the daytime and a reaper infested nightmare during the night.”

“That sounds like it’s a living nightmare down there as well as on the surface,” answers Private Ledfoot.

“She has given us a list of a bunch of items we will need to craft, including a device to capture the gas from that purple jet over there to create the hazard suits we will need to protect us from the radiation in the Red Zone. We will soon be able to make climbing picks, zip lines, and wing suits to make it easier for us to get around down in these caves.”

“She tells us to take advantage of taming the strongest predators for our use and protection. She says that a high level pack of Ravagers would be a most ideal tames given that, in a pack, they are powerful, can carry a lot of weight, and can go up and down on zip lines with ease.”

“The strongest creature of all that we can get will be the Rock Drakes. Unfortunately, we cannot tame the adults, we’ll have to steal one of their eggs, hatch it, and raise it to an adult. She says that we need to feed it something called Nameless Venom as it grows up. Worst of all, we need to place the egg in a freezer that can go down to over 100 below zero in order to hatch it. Those blue mushrooms won’t work for that.”

“That sounds like we got our work cut out for us even before we can even attempt to repair The Portal,” answers Sargent Thomas. “How in the frackin hell can we hope to make a freezer in this heat that can reach the temperature of dry ice?”

“Can we even hope to make one that will produce regular ice?” ask Private Ledfoot.

“She says that we can raise those fracking Rock Drakes from their eggs,” answers Private Grobbal. “Has anyone else noticed any nest or youngsters among the other creatures we have seen around here so far?”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t,” answers Ensign Bossman.

“That is must unusual,” answers Gunner Icelander. “It must have something to do with this artificial environment where only the adult creatures are present. If that is the case, what keeps them from all going extinct?”

“Something must be replacing them as they get killed off,” answers Ensign Bossman. “The three raptors, Captain Shrivers and his group tamed, must have been the replacements for the three that attacked them, then were killed by the Stegos, then later attacked and were killed by us at the rail line.”

“Wow, this is really scary,” warns Captain Powell as he continues reading the journal. “Helena says that one of their tribe members managed to obtain a Reaper King. They are reported to have got it when a tribe members was impregnated by a Reaper Queen during a battle with one. It killed six of their tribe members and half of their Ravagers pack. 12 days later, the baby burst through his chest killing him. They had to keep it locked up for days with raw meat in a stone cage before it would settled down long enough for them to approach it without being attacked. Eventually, it accepted them as their parents and became a loyal tame as an adult.”

“Stealing a Rock Drake egg sounds dangerous enough,” answers Captain Shrivers. “I don’t think that any of us wants anything to do with raising a mudder fracking Reaper King, especially if you have to die to give birth to one.”

“Agreed,” answers Captain Powell. “We need to put all of our effort into making a weapon that can take them out before we even think of going up to the surface. Lets travel light for now, head down to the Mushroom Forest, and find a secure place to build our base. We can come back later for these supplies when we have built a collector for that gas vein.”

The patrol starts off heading towards the gas vein, then to the right of the huge metal portal until it opens up high on the plateau over the Mushroom Forest. “There is a pond down there,” reports Sargent Gulliver who has taken point. “Should we try jumping into it from here?”

“No, it looks too high up,” answers Captain Powell. “Besides, we can’t see what might be down in there waiting to have us as its meal. Lets follow the cliff to the right. When I was up on the broken rail line, it looks like we could find a path down to the water from there.”

Heading right, they are able to get a good look of the portal tunnel as they reach the huge cavern. “Wow, look at all of that fracking damage.” reports Sargent Thomas.

“There’s no way we are going to be able to fix that kind of damage, even with heavy equipment from a Seabee Team,” answers Ensign Bossman.

“It might be possible to get the portal to work without having to totally repair it,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “This damage looks like it had been there for years. We made it here as we were about to ditch into the sea. It’s still possible that we can patch it up. It only has to hold together long enough to get us back home. Then, it can fracking blow itself up along with this place once we are out of here.”

“Great! Here’s that path down to the water,” reports Sargent Gulliver.

As the patrol heads down the steep path to the pond below, they can see giant mushroom trees of all sizes to the left. There is wildlife also down there, and predators. “Oh, oh,” warns Captain Powell when he places his spotting scope on the wolf like creatures in the distance. “Those must be those frackin Ravagers down there in a fight with that giant spinosaur. Wow, they must have ripped its throat open, there’s blood flying everywhere. So, that’s what makes them so dangerous as a pack. I count five of them after that Spino. They give a new meaning to the phrase ‘Devil Dogs’. Lets get down to the water and get the frack out of here before they decide to head over here to frack with us.”

“That was an apex predator those creatures took out with ease,” reports Sargent Thomas. “If they are as tamable as your Helena reports, these ‘Devil Dogs’ would make for excellent protectors from whatever the frack is living down here.”

“We’ll attempt to tame us a pack of those ‘Devil Dogs’ once we are established and have saddles for them,” answers Captain Powell. “I’m really impressed with how well they worked together to take out that dangerous predator.”

“What are these gold colored rocks?” ask Ensign Bossman.

“Use your pick on them and find out,” answers Lt. Gerber.

“Metal ore!” answers Ensign Bossman in excitement. “They are nearly pure metal ore. We won’t need to break up rocks all day just to make up more metal tools.”
“Excellent,” answers Captain Powell. “Lets take some of that ore with us before we head back up on the ridge to find a camp site.”

“Water, real water,” Private Ledfoot says as he jumps in it to drinks his fill, then starts swimming in it.

“I hope that water was safe to drink,” answers Lt. Tylor.

“According to Helena, the water is safe to drink,” answers Captain Powell. “We just have to be aware of any predators that may be living in it.”

“Aaaaaa!” Yells Private Ledfoot as he scrambles to get out of the water. “That fracking fish took a chunk of flesh out of my leg!”

“What the frack are those things, Devil Fish?” warns Sargent Gulliver as he stabs the one that has beached itself with his spear coming after Private Ledfoot. “Look at the teeth in that thing!”

“What an unusual plant,” comments Private Ledfoot as he limps over to sit down on a rock near it. “Oh! $hit! Not those fracking red mushrooms!”

“Stay away from that plant!” warns Captain Shrivers as Pvt. Ledfoot, who is now under the hallucinating effects of the mushroom spores, wanders over and bumps into it. It starts to glows as a red tongue rises high into the sky out of its center.

“What the frack are we going to do?” ask an alarmed Sargent Gulliver.

“It’s all right,” answers Pvt. Ledfoot after a moment standing next to the unusual plant. “This plant is actually counteracting the effects from those frackin red mushroom spores. I feel fine now. Even the chunk of flesh that frackin devil fish took out of my leg has healed up. My health went back to normal just like that.”

“He really is fine unlike the other day when Private Grobbal ran into those spores,” answers Captain Shrivers after examining him. “That plant could be a most useful first aid kit if we ever need it in the future.”

“Oh, it just spit out a seed,” answers Pvt. Ledfoot.

“Helena’s notebook says that this is a healing plant,” answers Captain Powell. “Bring the seed with you. We can find a place to plant it when we get our camp built.”

Back up on the ridge, the patrol continues heading away from the damaged portal to search for an ideal place for building a more permanent camp. “This looks great!” reports Captain Powell after making a quick tour of the area. “We have this overhang above us, and the cliff below. The view from up here is excellent. It appears to be quiet around here with only some small herbivores. It’s narrow enough that we can easily fence off both ends to keep out any of the major threats. There’s plenty of building materials nearby. Lets clear this area and get started with the construction before it gets dark.”

[rpicardi1]

 

Chapter 5. Getting established.

 

As the construction gets started on their new location, a stone foundation is soon laid down for the house and refining forge. “Lets continue to use spark power to fire the forge,” recommends Ensign Bossman. “We can get charcoal later for gunpowder when we have to go further to find wood.”

“Keep an eye on that Ravager pack when you head down to the pond for water,” warns Captain Powell to Captain Shrivers. “Your raptors are no match for them if they should attack you.”

“Lt. Garber and Private Ledfoot, go find and tame up some Bulb Pugs so we can have some biological lighting when we need it. They are a passive tame so you only need to give them aquatic mushrooms when they are hungry. The rest of us will gather materials to get this base constructed.”

Coming back from a metal run with the raptors, Captain Shrivers makes a reports to Captain Powell. “Did Helena's journal say that a Stego makes a good berry and mushroom harvester?”

“Yes, she did,” answers Captain Powell.

“There is a nice high level one down near the pond by the cliff side. I’d like to tame it if we can. Can we make a saddle for one yet?”

“Yes, we can,” answers Captain Powell. “Craft up a saddle for it and leave your raptors here so they don’t attack it. Take your group down there, drop it with narc arrows, then tame it with mejoberries. See if you can harvest some of those red mushrooms with it once you have it tamed.” Armed with narc arrows on the crossbows, Shriver’s group head down toward the pond to confront the lone Stego.

“Narc arrows to the head,” orders Captain Shrivers as the first volley of three are fired. The stego, with three narc arrows in its head, staggers in confusion, shakes them out, then charges the threesome.

“Grobbal, Look out!” warns Sargent Gulliver as the stego takes off towards him “We really pissed it off.” The spike tail just misses as Pvt. Grobbal ducks out of the way. Two more narc arrows find their mark. The stego staggers, then falls down unconscious.

“That went better then I though,” Captain Shrivers tells his men. With mejos on the Stego, the taming process is under way.

Five minutes later, Sargent Gulliver spots trouble as the taming process continues. “Oh $hit!” he tells the others. “There are two of those Devil Dogs heading this way.”

“Are they part of that pack that killed the spino,” ask Captain Shrivers in alarm.

“No,” answers Sargent Gulliver. “These appear to be loners.”

“Lets get up on those rocks, bait them over there, and take them down before they kill our stego,” orders Captain Shrivers.

“We don’t have any regular arrows,” warns Pvt. Grobbal.

“That’s all right,” answers Captain Shrivers. “Bola them, then use your Narc Arrows when their legs are tangled up in them. Aim for the head. Narc arrows will drop them a lot faster then regular ones.”

Now up on the rocks in a safe position, Captain Shrivers yells at the nearest Ravager to get it’s attention. It comes running to him, gets tangled in the bola, and earns three narc arrows in the head before falling down unconscious. It’s buddy comes running getting three narc arrows to its head. “Go after it!” orders Captain Shrivers as it changes direction and runs towards the downed Stego. But before another narc arrow is fired at it, the Ravager staggers like it is drunk and collapses.

“Now what?” ask Sargent Gulliver.

“We tame them,” answers Captain Shrivers. “Go get the raptors and bring them down here. We need to find raw meat for these two for taming.”

Back at the camp site, it is several minutes later when Captain Powell notices the three raptors are missing.

“Has anyone seen Captain Shrivers’ raptors?” Captain Powell asks.

“Sargent Gulliver came back for them,” answers Pvt. Ledfoot who has just returned with a bulb pug slobbering all over his shoulder.

“Wow, those things look like pug dogs with lanterns on their heads,” answers Captain Powell. “I guess Captain Shrivers must have needed his raptors for protection or hunting. Lets get this fracking wall finished before it gets too dark to see what the frack we are doing.”

“Back to where the Stego is being tamed, Captain Shrivers and Private Grobbal are out hunting with the raptors while Sargent Gulliver babysits the taming process. He is getting worried that the Ravagers may wake up before they are tamed as he tries to find more naroberries to keep then under. Then the Stego wakes up tamed. “Lets see if you can get some narcoberries for me,” Sargent Gulliver tells him as he saddles him up. “Excellent!” he tells the Stego after three tail swings later. “You just saved my day. “A stack of narcoberries is placed on each of the Ravagers and Sargent Gulliver soon has the both of them sleeping soundly.

“Great, the Stego is awake,” Captain Shriver comments as he comes back after a successful hunt. “What the status on these Ravagers?”

“It’s a good thing that Stevie here got tamed first,” answers Sargent Gulliver. “These Ravagers were about to wake up on me. They have a long ways to go yet. I would have been forced to kill them had Stevie not been able to get me a bunch of narcoberries in time for me to put them back under. It looks like that It’s going to be dark before these guys are finally tamed.”

“How’s Steve’s harvesting ability?” ask Captain Shrivers.

“Check out his inventory,” answers Sargent Gulliver.

“Wow! He got all that!” answers Captain Shrivers in astonishment.

“It was just three tail swings,” answers Sargent Gulliver. “He even got stuff from those red mushrooms without getting sick from them.”

“Outstanding,” answers Captain Shrivers. “That was well worth the effort to tame him.”

“We should find him a girl friend,” Private Grobbal chimes in.

“We’ll do so once we have the time to find a suitable mate for him,” answers Captain Shrivers. “Lets go do some more hunting until our Devil Dogs are tamed up.”

It is soon night out as the rest of the group gets ready to set up watch. Strangely, it is nowhere near as dark in the Mushroom Cavern as it was in the Portal one. “We must be getting a lot of ambient light from the mushrooms and other glowing objects down here,” comments Sargent Thomas as his group starts first watch. There is a knock on the dinosaur gate, then it opens.

“We tamed ourselves two Devil Dogs,” announces Captain Shrivers as his convoy of pets are brought inside.

“Were they part of that pack I saw in the distance?” ask Captain Powell.

“No, these were low level strays,” answers Captain Shrivers. “We had better have raw prime or mutton on us when we take on that high level pack of yours for taming. These two took a long time to tame on just raw meat alone. It is why were were so late coming back with the Stego.”

“Devil Dogs, what an appropriate name for these two creatures.” answers Sargent Pasenna as he examines them up close. “They really do look the part. We should have saddles ready for them by morning so you can try them out.”

“How was the Stego for harvesting?” ask Captain Powell.

“Outstanding,” reports Captain Shrivers. “We got tons of narcoberries and black mushrooms from him.”

“Excellent,” answers Captain Powell. “That will give us the narc arrows we will need to drop that high level pack when we are ready to go tame them.”

“Those red mushrooms gave us most of the black ones,” answers Sargent Shrivers. “Stevie can harvest them with his tail while we are safely away from the spores. He also got something called biotoxin. It must be what made Pvt. Grobbal so fracking sick when he ran into them the first time.”

“Lets place that in storage,” orders Captain Powell. “Helena says that we will need it to make anti toxin to protect us if in case we are bitten by those Nameless things. We can use the black mushrooms for taming in place of the narcoberries.”

“We should have climbing spikes and zip lines by morning,” announces Sargent Thomas. “That will make it much easier for us to get up on those cliffs and up into the trees.”

Everyone is about to settle in for the night with the first watch going on station when the ground starts shaking violently. “This place is getting on my nerves,” complains Private Ledfoot.

“Lets spread out and start gathering those gifts from above before they vanish,” orders Captain Powell.

“Aiaaaaa.” shouts Icelander as he lose his footing on the shaking ground and falls off the camp side cliff.

“Captain Shrivers, take your group on the raptors and go get him,” order Captain Powell in alarm. They quickly mount their raptors and go flying out of the gate to get down below.

“There he is,” Private Grobball alerts the other as he sees Icelander running towards them. “What the frack are those things chasing him?”

“Kill them!” orders Captain Shrivers. Three giant scorpions are taken down with narc arrows, then ripped to pieces by the raptors.

“What the frack were those things chasing me?” ask a frightened Icelander who is all out of breath.

“They look like something called giant scorpions,” answers Sargent Gulliver.

“Thanks for getting those mudders frackers off of my a$$,” answers Icelander.

“How did you survive that fall?” ask Captain Shrivers.

“I just remembered my parachute training for landing,” answers Icelander. ‘Still, it knocked the wind out of me for a moment until I saw those evil eye ba$tards coming after me.”

“Thank whoever created this place for the low gravity,” answers Captain Shrivers. “No one has ever survived a jump from that height without being badly injured. Lets get back to camp before something else comes after our hide.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 6 Day Four on Aberration.

 

It is early the next morning when the new climbing tools are finally ready for testing. Sargent Pasenna has been busy crafting Zip lines and climbing picks for everyone. A pair of Ravager saddles have been crafted up as well for the two new tames.

“We’ll have to use these climbing picks carefully and carry spares with us” reports Sargent Pasenna. “They wear out quickly when you use them. If they breaks while your climbing, you will fall for sure. They are just as tiring to use as a grappling hook, so, you had better be in good fracking shape when you start using them for climbing.”

Captain Shrivers and Sargent Gulliver proceed to saddle up the two Devil Dogs to take them out to test out their abilities. “Helena says that they can climb zip lines as well as slide down them with ease, Lets go check that out. Lets see what they can do on one placed across this small gorge.” A zip line is placed, using the crossbow, to form a connection across the gorge.

“This is great!” Sargent Gulliver tells Captain Shrivers as their ravagers cross the zip line. “These guys are natural tightrope walkers. We can travel both up and down on the zip line with these creatures.” On the other side, they spot a low level parasaur which is quickly killed and ripped to pieces for food and hide. “They make good hunters too.”

“Oh Frack!” warns Captain Shrivers as he spots something dangerous ahead. “There’s that frackin pack of devil dogs and they are coming this way. Hurry, Get back across the zip line, now!” The pack spots them, then gives chase as Captain Shrivers and Sargent Gullivar race their Ravagers across the zip line to the other side of the gorge.

“Are they going to try to follow us across?” ask Sargent Gulliver with concern as the pack reaches the zip line, then stops at the edge of the gorge to start sniffing it.

“It doesn’t look like it for now,” answers Captain Shriver. “Just to be safe, we should cut the zip line.”

“I think that they are more fracken curious about us with our two tames.” answers Captain Shrivers. “Otherwise, they would be charging the frack across after us. Lets leave the zip line intact for now and report back to Captain Powell.”

“You’re back early,” Captain Powell says with surprise. “Did you run into some fracking trouble?”

“That high level pack of devil dogs spotted us as we were testing out the zip line,” answers Captain Shrivers. “We weren’t sure if they were going to frack with us or not. They seemed to be most curious about us riding on two of their own kind.”

“Where in the frack are they now? Ask Captain Powell.

“They are over across the ravine by our zip line,” answers Captain Shrivers.

“Head back out to the zip line with your Devil Dogs but don’t cross it.” orders Captain Powell. “Keep them curious about you but don’t frack with them. The rest of us are going to scale the ravine behind them, take them down with bolas, and knock them out for taming. When they are all down, you can come across and help us out.” Armed with narc arrows, bolas, and climbing picks, everyone heads out to the ravine. Spotting the devil dogs near the zip line, Captain Powell sets out the five teams to their target Ravagers sending them across the ravine down new zip lines, then up using the climbing picks to scale the cliff side to the top.

As they climb up the ravine to get behind them, the high level pack is surprised by the sudden appearance of the 12 marines and Navy personnel. As they turn to attack, they are promptly taken down by a dozen bolas. The Narc arrows are next. A low level is the first to drop which Private Grobbal is assigned to tame. The other three of higher level, take another volley of narc arrows before they go down.

“Get another bola on that alpha,” orders Captain Powell as she starts to gets free and tries to run away. Two more bolas tangle up her legs as another salvo of narc arrows finally does the job of dropping her. She is a Level 150.

“Captain Shrivers, Sargent Gulliver,” order Captain Powell. “Take your Devil Dogs and go kill those two sheep up on the ridge.” A zip line is fired so the sheep can be reached quickly. The freshly harvested mutton is placed on the five unconscious Ravagers. A mid level lone female has been dropped near the sheep before the two can return. Sargent Gulliver stays to tame her as Captain Shrivers takes the mutton down to the others.

“Do we have enough resources to make six ravager saddles?” ask Captain Shrivers.

“That won’t be a problem,” Sargent Thomas answers in return. “I can easily get the fungal wood required for crafting them from the giant mushrooms trees nearby.”

With the mutton, Private Grobbal’s low level ravager is tamed in minutes. He is off riding him with the new saddle that Sargent Thomas has just crafted up with the rest of FT-117 helping him. It takes the better part of the day to tame up the rest of the high level pack especially the Level 150 alpha, but, she turns out to be well worth the effort. “Racy is awesome!” Captain Powell tells the others as he takes her out for a test run. “We will need to find six more higher level Devil Dogs for the FT 28 and FT-3 crews.”

“We are going to have to enlarge the pen if our pack grows to 14 or more of them,” Sargent Thomas tells Captain Powell.

“I’ll assign FT 28 and FT-3 to work on that while the rest of us go exploring this area of the cavern.” answers Captain Powell. “If we find suitable Ravagers for them, we’ll tame them up and bring them back with us to the base.

Heading back towards the damaged rail line, a zip line is set so the eight riders can head up to the top. The pack climbs the line with ease. “It is amazing that something so simple as a crossbow fired string line can become strong and stable enough for eight Devil Dogs with riders to climb up it at once. This is quite an unusual place.”

On the portal rail line, the group continues on for quite some distance until they are forced to stop when they find that the monorail has broken off. It has fallen into a deep blue cavern forming a spine like that of some huge dead creature. “That is a long fracking ways down to where that rail line fell,” reports Sargent Thomas. “It’s too far down even for a zip line or our climbing picks. We’ll need to find another way to get down there.”

“Then, lets head back to that brightly lit forest to see what is over there,” orders Captain Powell.

“Wait a minute, I though I saw something moving down below.” Sargent Thomas answers. Placing the spotting scope on it, a message comes up. It reads, “Rock Drake, level 40, male. That’s strange, I can’t see anything there. Oh, now I do. That Rock Drake has camouflaged itself with the terrain. It’s like a shimmering distortion when it starts moving.”

“What is a Rock Drake?” ask Private Grobbal.

“It is a mystical creature from the mid evil times,” answers Private Ledfoot. “It is a four legged dragon that doesn’t have wings for flying.”

“Dragon?” questions Private Grobbal. “There are no such fracking things as dragons.”

“Neither are these Devil Dogs or the Bulb Pugs,” answers Sargent Thomas. “Yet, my spyglass is definitely showing what looks like a dragon with feathers on its forehead, its front legs, and its tail. So, they must fracking exist, even if its only in this place.”

“Lets get off the rail line and head towards that lighted area of the Mushroom Forest,” orders Captain Powell. “We need to learn more about these Rock Drakes before we go into their territory and end up in a confrontation with one.”

Back down below, using a natural zip line to get to a hill off of the rail line, the group continues towards the brightly lit forest. It is rich in mushroom trees and other unusual plants. Some of the giant trees reach towards the bright sky that shows through in spots. There are metal nodes and crystal that can be seen up on the hilltops.

“What is this piece of alien machinery?” ask Sargent Thomas as he rides by a device that looks like a radar antenna.

“It’s called a Charge Node,” answers Sargent Pasenna after they stop for him to examine it up close using his Specimen Implant. “You can charge up something called charge batteries in it or craft up something called Elements from Element Ore. That will be useful for the Charge Lanterns once we can craft them.”

Continuing on, the group finds the steep terrain getting ever higher and brighter. It opens up into a chamber filled with bones from several large creatures. “What are those things?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“Those look like they are the bones of flying dragons,” answers Sargent Thomas. “They are another creature that is not suppose to exist.”

“I wonder what happened to them?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“I don’t know,” answers Sargent Thomas. “It looks like they were trying to escape from something up above and were killed in the process.”

“I can see the entrance to the surface. I should be able to get a zip line up there.”

“Go for it,” orders Captain Powell. A zip line is soon set up from the base of the cliff to the top of it.

“Wow, is it ever starting to get hot up here,” warns Sargent Thomas as he takes lead up the zipline. “poop, my Devil Dog doesn’t want to go any further up the rope. Something is spooking her.” Continuing up, Sargent Thomas manages to get a peak of the surface outside. “Aguuuh! Get the fracking hell out of here! That fracking surface is on fire!” Everyone is jumping off the zip line getting out of the way of a flaming Sargent Thomas and his ride. They rush to his aid to put out the fire with canteens and spare clothes. Both Sargent Thomas and his devil dog have been badly burned just from that brief exposure. A temporary camp is set up so the two of them can recover from their injuries. Thankfully, they have brought along Medical Brew that was crafted from a recipe found in a supply drop. A healing plant is located nearby where the two are taken to get healed up faster.

“That Explorer Note was right,” Sargent Thomas reports as he and his devil dog are recovering from their burns. “Those people really did frack things up royally on the surface. It looked like the inside of a blast furnace. The rocks looked like they were melting. The flat area was a sea of towering flames. It must be what killed those dragons when they tried to escape the fires by coming down here.”

“Then, we will have to come back after dark if we want to explore up there and be sure we leave well before the sun rises,” answers Captain Powell. “Lets head back to base before it gets too dark out. Grab some of this metal ore so we can start crafting those Long Neck Rifles. Place it on the Devil Dogs. It seems to weigh far less on them then it does on us.”

“Doesn’t it seem like the days have been getting longer with the nights getting shorter?” ask Lt. Gerber as they harvest the rich metal ore rocks.

“Yes they have,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “My engram is registering 90% day, 10% night. I suspect that this Ark is in such an erratic orbit that we could soon see a 10% day and 90% night cycle. If so, that would be the most ideal time to go explore that fracked up surface.”

As they start back, another gas vein is noted and marked on the makeshift map Captain Powell is carrying. “Since those charge lanterns and hazard suits are going to need a lot of congealed gas balls once we can craft them, we’ll start gathering congealed gas balls as soon as we can make the collectors,” he tells everyone. “Make a mental note of where this one is located.

On the way back, a mid level pack of three Ravagers is found near the bright area, They are quickly taken down with bolas and narc arrows. With their left over mutton, the taming process goes quickly. “Three more of these mudder frackers and we will have a devil dog for everyone.”

Back at the camp, the pen has been enlarged for the additional tames. Lt. Taylor’s group has found a pack of three high level Ravagers way up on the plateau as they were mining wood and boulders to craft the expanded wall. It has taken them much of the day to tame them given that there were no sheep in the area. Parport brings up the saddles just as the Alpha has tamed up. It is 2200 and still daylight as they ride along the plateau looking for a way down.

“Lets see if we can get a zip line down from here,” orders Lt. Tylor. “It takes several tries to get one to take. It leads them down to an area where they can safely return to base as darkness falls around 2300.

“This is like the land of the Midnight Sun,” Daryol says to the others.

“No doubt, it will soon be the other way around soon when we have to contend with it being dark for over 22 hours,” answers Parport.

“Good, the others are back,” reports Lt. Tylor. “They got three more Devil Dogs. That means Ensign Bossman’s group have their rides as well,”

“We brought back a ton of metal ore,” reports Captain Powell to Lt. Tylor. “We found rich metal nodes over in the bright area. The Devil Dogs are able to carry a lot more of it on them then we can.”

“That is excellent,” answers Lt. Tylor. “We should have Long Neck Rifles crafted for everyone by 0800.”

“I saw a Rock Drake down in the blue grotto,” reports Sargent Thomas. “What does Helena’s journal tells us about them?”

“She says that they are very intelligent and have the ability to cloak themselves making themselves invisible in the surroundings.” answers Ensign Bossman. “She says that because of their intelligence, the adults cannot be tamed. One can steal an egg and raise it to maturity but that will piss them all off. Even then, we would have to create some place super cold to hatch it, then feed the baby something called Nameless Venom.”

“I feel that together, with our Devil Dogs, we should be strong enough to take on a couple of them at once if we are forced to.” answers Captain Powell. “Still, I don’t want to risk getting everyone killed and losing all of our tames on a mission to steal an egg, then have to worry about them constantly attacking us should we be forced to kill some of them. Lets just leave them alone but make up some tranc darts for the Longneck just in case we end up in a confrontation with one.”

“That sounds like the logical thing to do,” answers Sargent Thomas. “Especially after nearly getting my Devil Dog and myself killed by stepping into that intense flaming hell up there on that surface.”

“Lets get this ore melted down using wood as fuel so we can get the charcoal we need for gunpowder,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “Then, we can have tranc darts for everyone before we head out to do any more exploring.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 7 The Rock Drakes.

 

On the morning of Day 5, as promised, Long Neck Rifles have been crafted for everyone along with a dozen rounds of ammo and a dozen tranc darts. More wood has been gathered to burn down to charcoal for the additional gunpowder needed for more ammo. Another stash of rich metal ore has been located nearby and is being processed in the refining forges. The plan is to get more ammo and tranc darts crafted up before the trip is made to go down into the Blue Grotto to locate and harvest blue and red gems. But for now, the group will be searching along the edge of the Blue Grotto looking for a path they can use to get down there and back up.

It is 10:00 when Captain Powell assembles the patrol to go search the perimeter of the Blue Grotto for a path down. FT-81 is staying behind to secure the camp and continue with improvements that include installing a rope ladder to the river below, constructing a water pipe to bring water to the camp, planting Species Z seeds to get them growing, and securing the cliff above from any surprises that may fall in on them.

Before they can cross the stream to the other side, a giant crab suddenly appears from behind a rock outcropping and starts to attack them. “Tear that fracker up!” orders Captain Powell when it grabs Sargent Pasenna off of his devil dog. They make short work of the giant crab.

“I got Organic Polymer and lots of it,” Sargent Pasenna reports as he gets back on his ride.

“So did I,” several others report to Captain Powell.

“Lets head back to camp and craft up that much cooler Gillie Armor,” orders Captain Powell.

Lt. Garber is surprised by the quick return of the patrol but quickly gets the Smithy busy crafting Gillie Armor for everyone. “I’ll make some spare sets with what is left,” he tells Captain Powell. “Organic Polymer won’t keep for more then an hour at most.”

“At least, we know where we can get more if we need it,” Captain Powell answers back. “Those fracking giant crabs don’t stand a chance against our pack of Devil Dogs.”

Heading back out, the patrol reaches the edge of the Blue Grotto and heads to the left to look for a path down that doesn’t involve using zip lines. “This Gillie Armor is so much cooler then hide or even cloth,” comments Sargent Thomas. “It sure beats sweating like hell all of the time in this heat.”

“It makes good camouflage as well,” answers Captain Powell. “Too bad we can’t dress our devil dogs in this as well. Lets go see what’s in that yellow loot crate that just appeared over there.”

As they head over to where the yellow loot crate is located, the Devil Dogs suddenly go on alert. “Something up ahead is bothering them,” warns Sargent Thomas.

“Everyone, have your rifles ready for action,” orders Captain Powell. “Load them with tranc darts.”

Suddenly, with a loud shreak, the foliage up ahead shimmers, then dissolves to reveal a rock drake staring right at Sargent Thomas. “Oh $hit!” he says frozen in fear as the rock drake lunges towards him with its mouth wide open, ready to take a bite out of him.

“Tranc it!” orders Captain Powell.

There is a squawk of surprise as eleven tranc darts hit the drake in the neck. It staggers for a moment as if it is drunk, then collapses to the ground in front of Sargent Thomas.

“Wow, that is one beautiful mudder fracker,” Captain Shrivers comments as he examines the unconscious rock drake up close. “I wish that we had the ability to tame him even though my Specimen Implant does not show a taming bar.” Sargent Gulliver proceeds to recover the eleven tranc darts still in the rock drake’s neck as Private Grobbal has gone to the loot crate to check out it’s contents.

“Where did you get that Rock Drake Saddle?” ask Captain Powell as Private Grobbal returns from the yellow loot crate that has now vanished.

“It was in that yellow loot crate,” answers Private Grobbal.

“That is most interesting,” answers Sargent Gulliver. “It is as if whoever placed that loot crate there, want us to use it on this guy.”

“Should I put it on him?” ask Private Grobbal.

“Go ahead,” Captain Powell tells him. “Lets see what it looks like on a rock drake” Private Grobbal and Sargent Gulliver proceeds to place the saddle on the still unconscious creature.

“That is most interesting,” Sargent Gulliver says as the saddle is placed on the unconscious rock drake. “There is a place for two riders to sit on it.”

“It’s so hard to believe that rock drakes actually exist.” Private Grobbal answers back. “Lets go sit on him,” The two men climb on board the saddled unconscious rock drake.

“I wish that I had my camera with me,” Ensign Bossman comments. “You two look so majestic on board that fantasy creature.” About then, there is a groan heard from the Rock Drake that sounds something like, “Oh, my head.”

“Oh $hit!” yells Sargent Gulliver as the rock drake stands back up with a loud shreak of panic as everyone else scrambles for cover. “He just woke up.”

“Hang on!” yells Private Grobbal as the rock drake, now realizing that he has been saddled with two humans riding on him, takes off running in a panic towards a ravine at full speed. “I have no frackin control over him.”

“After them!” orders Captain Powell as the rest of the patrol scrambles to their Devil Dogs to give chase.

“Private Grobbal, Watch out for that drop off,” warns Sargent Gulliver.”

“He won’t stop or turn away!” warns Private Grobbal as the rock drake takes a flying leap off of the drop off. “Now, he’s flying?”

“Oh Crap!” complains Captain Powell as their Ravagers slide to a stop at the edge of the ravine. “That thing can fly. We’ll never catch up to them in this terrain.”

On board the flying Rock Drake, Private Grobbal continues in his struggle for control over this badly frightened creature.

“Good, he’s turning back towards The Portal. Whoa! Pull up buddy!” The rock drake pulls up at the last second, slams into the cliff feet first, and starts scrambling up the vertical cliff to the top of the main portal as fast as he can run. He takes off again and lands in the plateau of The Portal by the remains of an abandoned camp. There, totally out of breath, he lays down to rest. “He’s completely exhausted,” reports Private Grobbal as the two riders start to catch their breath after that exciting ride. “Get some rest buddy while we figure out what we should do with you.” Private Grobbal soon finds himself patting the exhausted rock drake on the neck.

“Did you hear him say something about a fracking headache before he took off in a panic?” ask Sargent Gulliver.

“Yes, I did,” answers Private Grobbal. “I have read where dragons were very intelligent, that they could actually talk to people, but those were in those fantasy books I read as a kid. I’m wondering if this one can actually talk to us.”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask him,” answers Sargent Gulliver. “He seems to be calming down the more we talk about him.”

“Here. Take the reins and let him have his head when I get off of him,” answers Private Grobbal.

“Please don’t hurt me,” the rock drake ask Private Grobbal when he comes around the front to see him.

“We won’t harm you as long as you don’t try to harm us,” Private Grobbal answers back, then proceeds to pet him on his neck.

Dismounting but with the reins still in his hand, Sargent Gulliver ask the rock drake, “Do you have a name?”

“What is a name?” ask the rock drake.

“I’m called Sargent Gulliver and this is my friend Private Grobbal.” Sargent Gulliver answers. “Can we call you Rocky?”

“Rocky sounds like a fine name,” answers the rock drake.

“Then, Rocky it is,” answers Sargent Gulliver.

“Can you take that thing out of my mouth?” ask Rocky. “It is very uncomfortable.”

“You promise not to take off and abandon us here if we remove the bridle from your head?” ask Sargent Gulliver.

“I won’t take off on you,” answers Rocky.

“If he is anything like the dragons in my fictional books, he will keep his word.” answers Private Grobbal as he goes to remove the bridle from Rocky’s head.

“Thank you so much for taking that uncomfortable thing out of my mouth,” Rocky answers.

“Why did you attack us back near the Blue Grotto?” ask Sargent Gulliver.

“I was afraid that you humans had returned to steal our eggs again,” answers Rocky.

“I can understand why,” answers Private Grobbal. “According to Helena’s journal, the former tribes that escaped from this place had been hunting rock drakes to steal their eggs. No wonder you attacked us. You thought that we were part of a tribe that had stayed behind. We only arrived here by accident a couple of days ago.”

“How did you knock me out without hurting me?” ask Rocky.

“We had just crafted something called tranc darts.” answers Sargent Gulliver. “It is fired from our long neck rifle and injects a tranquilizer made from the black mushrooms. We’re sorry about the headache you had when you woke up. It is the first time we have ever used them to stop a creature from attacking us.”

“I’m sorry that I attacked your tribe,” answers Rocky. “I was so afraid you were going to try to kill me when you showed up with such a large pack of Ravagers as your tames.”

“Where did you get the saddle to put on me?”

“That’s what is so strange,” answers Private Grobbal. “It was in a yellow loot crate that appeared just before you surprised us. It is as if it was given to us so we could use it on you.”

“That is most interesting,” answers Rocky. “The others so long ago had to craft them for use with their egg tames. Their egg tames were so stupid.”

“Then, it appears that whoever place that saddle for us to find must want us to become friends instead of bitter enemies,” answers Sargent Gulliver.

“We can certainly become friends,” answers Rocky. “I never knew it felt so good to be petted by a human.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” answers Private Grobbal. “I really didn’t want to be getting into a fight with you and your friends just because of how you have been treated by the others in the past.”

“How will we be able to establish a truce with your friends so they don’t attack us?” ask Sargent Gulliver.

“We can go to the Blue Grotto and talk to them,” answers Rocky.

“Before we go, can we check out this abandoned camp first?” ask Sargent Gulliver.

“Yes,” answers Rocky. “It used to belong to the tribe of Helena.”

“That explains how her journal ended up down below for us to find it during one of those tremors,” answers Sargent Gulliver.

“Here’s another one of those Explorer’s notes,” reports Private Grobbal as he is searching through the campsite. “It’s contains a Rockwell recipe for protecting the devil dogs from radiation poisoning.”

“Ackkk!” yells out Rocky in a panic as he nearly takes off. “Sir. Edmund Rockwell is a monster. He wiped out an entire village of humans and most of their egg tames. Then, he killed several more of us just for his entertainment!”

“We know,” answers Private Grobbal. “Helena’s journal tells us all about what happened to him. He was a scientist that invented many of the recipes we have found useful, even lifesaving. Then, he became obsessed in his research over something he called Edmunium. It literally took control of his mind. He kept injecting himself with that frackin $hit in his quest for more power. That stuff eventually turned him into what we called a Mr. Hide, a hideous monster that destroys everything around him in a fit of rage.”

Another tremor starts shaking the ground as the threesome are talking. More bits of stone, wood, and crystal come shaking down from above.

“I will be happy when the day comes that we can get this portal repaired so we can leave this frackin place,” answers Sargent Gulliver. “I fear that this place could start falling apart at any moment.”

“You are probably correct,” answers Rocky. “These tremors keep getting worse every day with Rockwell’s meddling with the machinery that is holding this Ark together. I fear that he is going to have to be killed before he does something that causes those machines to explode.”

“Can you help us get prepare to kill Rockwell if we have to confront him once we are able to prepare the portal for our escape?” ask Sargent Grobbal.

“Yes,” answers Rocky. “Please, take us with you when you can get the portal working. I’m certain that this Ark is going to be destroyed once The Portal is activated again.”

“If our commander, Captain Powell, and your friends can come to an agreement to help us defeat Edmund Rockwell, then we have a deal,” answers Sargent Grobbal. “Lets go find your friends and have a talk with them.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 8. The Conference.

 

“This is so much better riding on you, when you are so relaxed, then when you were in such a panic” Private Grobbal tells Rocky as he glides and climbs on his way to a flat area way back on a butte in the Blue Grotto. “I’ve read that dragons could be ridden bareback. I just don’t think that I could hang on to you when you are climbing up these rock faces if we were to ride you bareback.”

“This is actually quite enjoyable having you two riding on me even on this saddle,” answers Rocky. “You are correct about the dragons being ridden bareback. I used to see them on the surface with the humans riding on them before they were killed by the fire when the Ark shield was damaged. It’s so much easier for me to have you use the saddle. I don’t have to worry about you trying to hang on me when I am climbing up the rock walls.”

“I’m so happy that we decided to become friends.”

“You are one remarkable creature,” Private Grobbal tells Rocky. “I never knew those fantasy books I read about dragons ever had any facts behind them in those stories of the Mid Evil times.”

“Here we are at our destination,” answers Rocky as they land on top of a butte just inside the Blue Grotto. “I’ll call for my friends to come up here where it is safe for you. It’s too dangerous down there for humans where they are now living.” With several chirps and rumbles from Rocky vocalization in dragon speak, a couple of shimmering shapes come up the side of the butte to face them. The first shape to reveals itself is a female rock drake.

“Oh No!” she says in shock while in tears. “How did those humans capture you to make you their slave? How will I live without you?”

“Oh my,” Sargent Gulliver whispers to Private Grobbal. “It’s his mate and she’s really upset that we are riding on him.”

“It’s OK!” Rocky answers back. “They are my friends. We’ll still be together.”

“But you have that egg tame saddle on you!” the female rock drake answers in tears.

“It was more comfortable for me to bring them here wearing it,” answers Rocky. “Otherwise, they could have easily slid off my back when I am climbing up the rock faces. As you can see, they took the bridle off of it for me.”

“So they have no control over you when they are riding on you?” she ask.

“I’m in complete control,” Rocky answers. “Come over here and let them pet you on the neck. It feels surprisingly good.”

“It’s all right girl,” Private Grobbal tells her. “We won’t harm you.”

“They really can talk to us!” the female answers back in shock. “I never knew that.” Cautiously, she comes over by Rocky so she can get petted. “You are right.” she says as she regains her composure. “That does feel good.”

“Do you have a name?” Sargent Gulliver ask her.

“No, I don’t,” she answers. “What is a name?”

“It is something we call ourselves when we want to talk to each other,” answers Sargent Gulliver. “I’m Sargent Gulliver, Private Grobbal is sitting in front of me, and we named your mate Rocky.”

“What would you like to call me?” she ask.

“How does Lady Rocky sound?” Sargent Gulliver asks.

“That sounds wonderful,” she answers.

“What do you think Rocky?” Sargent Gulliver ask.

“I like it.” he answers back.

“I’m glad that we got to meet Lady Rocky so you two could get back together,” answers Private Grobbal. “We really miss being without our wives and girlfriends.”

“Why didn’t they come with you?” ask Lady Rocky.

“We were out on what we call a military patrol, away from our wives, girlfriends, and families, when things went totally FUBAR.” answers Sargent Gulliver. “Somehow, 14 of us ended up stranded in this place without them. We think that we can get back home if we can repair the portal that was used to bring us here in the first place. Rocky tells me that he is afraid that this Ark may destroy itself if Rockwell keeps screwing around with the machinery. If you and your friends are willing to help us, we will try our best to repair the portal, get rid of Rockwell, and get you off of this Ark to a safer place.”

“You would really do that for us?” another rock drake ask as he makes himself visible.

“If our leader, Captain Powell, agrees to it, the answer would be yes.”

“That would be so wonderful,” answers the new rock drake.

“Are you their leader?” Sargent Gulliver ask him.

“Yes, I am.” he answers.

“Can I call you Mayor?” Sargent Gulliver ask him.

“What does a mayor mean?” ask the new rock drake.

“A Mayor is an elected civilian leader of a community where humans live,” answers Sargent Gulliver. We use titles such as commander, Sargent, and Captains, because we are in the military service.”

“That sounds fine by me,” answers the new rock drake.

“Then Mayor it is,” answers Sargent Gulliver.

The rest of the rock drakes soon reveal themselves. There are now 12 of them on the butte with the two military personnel.

“You’re an excellent leader,” Sargent Gulliver tells the Mayor. “First contact with the unknown is always such a dangerous situation. Had we not identified one of you the other day when we were up at the broken end of the rail line, we would have found ourselves totally unprepared when Rocky showed up earlier today. It would have been tragic for all of us when he attacked us had we ended up killing him instead of just knocking him out with tranc darts. We would probably have ended up killing each other off by now.”

“I think that whoever constructed this Ark wanted us to get together in spite of the fact that Helena’s Journal states that your kind cannot be tamed as adults. That saddle Rocky has on was deliberately placed in a supply drop for us to find when he found us. Someone or something out there wanted us to get together and become friends.”

“That is most interesting,” answers Mayor. “There are so few of us left now after the last showdown we had with that Rockwell monster. Lets travel back to your base so I can talk to your leader.”

“I caution you to use your cloaking device like you did when you first met us.” answers Sargent Gulliver. “Rocky scared us all when he first appeared. “I would hate to see any of you get hurt if we screw up our first contact with the rest of our group. Follow my lead when I ask for Captain Powell to step outside.”

“Can you ride on me to your base,” ask Mayor. “I have an egg tame saddle that we salvaged from the village that Rockwell destroyed.”

“I’d be delighted to” answers Sargent Gulliver. “When I put on the saddle, I’ll remove the bridle so it is more comfortable for you. Captain Powell already knows what Rocky looks like. He will recognize that you are not him when you uncloak. You don’t need to wear that bridle. I can just tell you where to go.”

It’s mid afternoon as the remainder of the patrol returns to their base camp after a fruitless search for their missing comrades. “Did Sargent Gullivar or Private Grobbal show up back here?”

“No,” answers Lt Garber. “What happened to them?”

“They took off on an unplanned trip riding on a wild Rock Drake,” answers Captain Powell. “We gave chase but that ba$tard outran us like we were standing still. It went gliding over the ravine, then, it scrambled up the side of the portal like it was running downhill and disappeared over the other side. I have never seen anything that big move so fast.”

“Apparently, it has not killed them.” answers Lt. Garber. “None of the spawn beds have registered any activity.”

“I hope so,” answers Captain Powell. “With these frequent tremors and strange happenings, nothing appears to be reliable around here any more.”

Suddenly, there is a growl of alert by the Alpha Ravager as she and the pack run over to the main gate to start looking around. There are several thuds heard outside. “What’s out there!” Captain Powell asks Private Ledfoot who is up on the watch tower.

“I don’t know,” he answers back. “I heard the noises, like the sound of several heavy feet, then saw some puffs of dust out front, but now, everything looks clear. Oh wait, Sargent Gulliver just appeared out of nowhere.”

“Captain Powell, can you come out here and talk to us?” ask Sargent Gulliver.

“Where’s Private Grobbal?” ask the Captain.

“He’s close by,” answers Sargent Gulliver. “Mayor needs to talk to you about getting out of this place.”

“Who’s is this Mayor?” ask Captain Powell as he steps outside the compound.

“Go ahead, show yourself,” Sargent Gulliver answers back. A rock drake now materializes just behind Sargent Gulliver.

“My God!” answers Captain Powell in shock. “No wonder we never saw that Rock Drake this morning until we were on top of it, They have the ability to make themselves invisible.”

“Wait a minute, that doesn’t look like the rock drake you two were riding on.”

“He isn’t,” answers private Grobbal as he and rocky become visible.

“How did you manage to tame two of them?” ask Captain Powell in disbelief.

“We didn’t,” answers Sargent Gulliver. “They chose to become our friends, all 12 of them,” as the other ten start to uncloak themselves.

“I understand that your group wants to try to repair the portal so you can get back home.” Mayor tells Captain Powell. “Can you help us to escape from here if we help you with the repairs?”

A stunned Captain Powell has to sit down for a minute to get over the shock of talking rock drakes. Then he tells Mayor, “Yes, We can most certainly use your help in obtaining the rare materials we need to repair that Portal. If it’s at all possible, we’ll take all of you back with us. There’s plenty of remote places in our world where you can remain hidden from our civilization. Lt. Tylor, Lt. Garber, Ensign Bossman, Captain Shrivers, get out here. We need to talk to this Mayor to formulate our plans for conducting this upcoming mission.”

“Thank you,” answers Mayor. “It will be so good to work with you humans instead of fighting each other. There are so few of us left after what happened to us when Rockwell turned himself into that hideous monster.”

“Everyone, come out here and find yourself a rock drake to become friends with,” orders Sargent Gulliver. “They love to be petted on their neck. Give them a name if they don’t have one yet. It seems to be missing from their culture.”

The five pilots spend over an hour talking with Mayor as they talk about the underground cave system, what happened at the village, and ways to deal with Edmund Rockwell when the time comes to escape. Everyone else is enjoying being with the wild rock drakes who are now enjoying all of the unusual attention as they get used to each others presence.

Private Grobbal has taken the saddle off of Mayor so he can place it on Lady Rocky. Being curious about her mate enjoying having humans riding on him, she wants to take some humans riding with her before it gets dark. Private Ledfoot, Icelander, and Baluck go with Private Grobbal on this latest adventure.

“We’re going to need a much bigger pen,” Sargent Thomas tells Captain Powell as evening approaches.

“Rocky and Lady Rocky want to spend the night with us,” answers Captain Powell as he gathers the rest of the group together. We have just enough room in here for them. Mayor and the rest of the rock drakes are headed back to their home in the Blue Grotto for the night. In the morning, I’ll assign a detail to enlarge the pen so they can all stay with us.”

“Even more amazing, they are bringing six rock drake eggs back with them. We are going to place them in the preserving bins for the time being. Even though they have never been able to get their eggs to hatch in this environment, they don’t want to leave them behind. We could attempt to hatch the eggs for them ourselves, but, that would only delay our trying to escape from here. Besides, there is the risk that they could become dumb egg tames if we were to do so. That would be a disaster for them and for us. If we can get our rock drake friends to Alaska when we get back, they should be able to find an area near the Arctic Circle that is cold enough for their eggs to properly incubate and hatch.”

“Sargent Pasenna is going to take Mayor with him in the morning to inspect the portal so he can find out what is needed to repair it so we can get the frack out of here.”

“As soon as we can get saddles made for them, the rest of us are going to use the Rock Drakes to gather up the rare resources we need to complete this mission. We’ll go get the blue and red crystals we need for the gas collectors, bio suits, and charge weapons. That will allow us to collect the resources we need to repair the portal and confront Rockwell so we can all escape from here.”

“I know, It’s a super busy schedule, but, we need to get this done before this place falls apart leaving us stranded here or worse. Even Mayor doesn’t know how much longer this place can hold itself together.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 9. The Oath.

 

“That was so enjoyable,” Lady Rocky tells Rocky as they return to the base. “I never knew taking these humans for a ride would be such a pleasure.”

“We had a great time on that ride,” Private Grobbal answers as he removes the saddles from Rocky. “Just remember that you two are not our tames. We like you just the way you are, as our friends.”

“That was a great ride,” answers Private Ledfoot as he removes the saddle from Lady Rocky. “She was so gracious, so kind. Those two make a great couple.”

“It’s going to be so great to be working with the rock drakes,” answers Captain Shrivers. “They are going to be such a big help in getting us out of this fracked up place.”

“Captain Powell has just called all of us for an important meeting concerning our Rock Drake friends,” reports Sargent Gulliver. “Rocky, Lady Rocky, come join us. This meeting is about our concerns about your future, as well as ours, once we return to our world.”

“What is this all about?” Rocky ask Private Grobbal with concern.

“I think that it has something to do with your ability to become invisible with us riding on you.” answers Private Grobbal as everyone gathers for the meeting in the commons area.

“I wish this could wait until morning when Mayor and the other rock drakes are here,” reports Captain Powell. “I just know that I would not be able to get any fracking sleep tonight until I know how the rest of you feel about our new rock drake friends.”

“I’m extremely concerned that our superiors are going to frack with them once they find out about their cloaking ability. Can you imagine how useful a living cloaking device would be in the upcoming confrontation with the Soviets? A dozen cloaked rock drakes, fully capable of carrying up to 24 well armed marines into a Soviet base unseen, climbing over walls, down cliffs, gliding in for a landing, intelligent creatures capable of defending themselves, as those marines conduct their business of sabotage, stealing Soviet secrets, or even taking out key Soviet leaders.”

“Rocky, Lady Rocky, I’m frightened by the fact that if my superiors find out about your cloaking ability and take you away from us, they will force you to become their tames to do their bidding. You could resist them all you want, but in the end, you would either be forced to submit to them or die trying to resist them.”

“I wish that we could just leave you here for your own protection, but I’m as certain as Mayor that the days we can remain down here are numbered before this place turns into a death trap for all of us.”

“As a Marine, I feel that its my sworn duty to protect our rock drake friends from our superiors, even if it means sacrificing my marriage, my career, or my life.”

“How do the rest of you feel about this?”

“I’m with you sir. So am I. Count me in. We’re all in this together,” the rest answers.

“Then, it is settled,”Captain Powell reports.

“Rocky, just to let you know that we don’t take being killed and reborn in this world lightly, a death in our world is permanent. We cannot be reborn again as has happened to several of us on this Ark. We now swear an oath as Marines to protect you and your friends from our superiors no matter what the cost to us.”

“You’re crying,” Private Grobbal says to Rocky as he goes to pets him on the neck after the meeting.

“It’s just so overwhelming to see how you humans have just pledged to protect us with your lives, knowing that you could never be reborn.” answers Rocky in tears. “No humans have ever been so concerned about our well being, even those that had their egg tames.”

“Before we ended up here, we had finished fighting a vicious war over world domination,” answers Private Grobbal. “Millions died in that fight. This emerging conflict with the Soviets threatens to start it all over again. With your special abilities, you could certainly help us out in that conflict, but you should do so of your own free will, not through the use of threats or torture. We are pledged to protect your freedom as we have pledged to protect the freedom of the citizens of our country.”

“I think that I now understand the sacrifice you are making to protect us,” answers Rocky. “You really are true friends.”

“Lets get some rest,” answers Private Grobbal. “We have a very busy day ahead of us tomorrow.”

It is the following morning when Captain Powell hands out the work assignments for the day. Mayor and the rest of the Rock Drakes have arrived to help out. Thy have brought the six eggs with them which are promptly placed into the preserving bins labeled with the name of the parents they belong to. “This is the safest place we can keep them for now until the time comes for us to leave.” Captain Powell tells them. “When we reach Earth and can relocate you in the remote wilderness of Alaska, you should be able to find the conditions you will need to hatch them. There are plenty of wild animals living up there that you can catch for your food.”

“We brought two additional saddles we had salvaged from the village that you can use on us when we go exploring for resources,” answers Mayor.

“Excellent,” answers Captain Powell. “We found a blueprint for a Rock Drake Saddles in a drop early this morning. We won’t have to wait to level up so we can obtain the engram for one. We can craft the other eight saddles as soon as we can obtain the crystals needed for them.”

“I’m sending you out with Sargent Pasenna so you can help him with inspecting The Portal. I’ll take five other people with me on Rocky, Lady Rocky, and whoever wants to volunteer to carry two more of us to gather resources. The rest of my team is going to enlarge this base so all of you can have a comfortable place to stay for the night.” With the teams picked out, they all proceed on their mission with Captain Powell riding on Mary, one of the rock drakes that Sargent Thomas had made friend with the night before.

Sargent Pasenna is riding on Mayor who stops up on the high Portal Platform to asks him a question. “I’m really concerned about what might happened to us when we travel back to your world,” he asks.

“Let us talk about your concern before we continue,” Sargent Pasenna answers. He gets off Mayor so that he can face him up close and personal.

“After you left yesterday to return to the Blue Grotto, Captain Powell called everybody together, including Rocky and Lady Rocky to discuss what we should do in case our superiors were to take an interest in your cloaking ability to use as a weapon of war. Where I come from, we had just won a war over three oppressive nations that were fighting for world dominance. Millions died in that war before we were able to defeat them. We are currently facing a foe that wants to enslave all of the nations on our world. They have already taken advantage of the destruction from the last war to enslave a third of that world.”

“Because we fear that our superiors may want to take advantage of your cloaking ability against your will, we made a decision last night that we would sacrifice our careers, even our lives, to prevent that from ever happening. We all swore an oath to protect you from them, no matter what the cost to us. Unlike this Ark, death is permanent on our world. We are all willing to lose our lives if that is what it takes to protect your freedom.”

Rocky is now looking at Sargent Pasenna with a stunned look. “I didn’t know that humans would ever do such a thing to protect the lives and freedoms of others, even us.”

“For a Marine, it would be the greatest of dishonor to ever break such a pledge of loyalty.” answers Sargent Pasenna as the ground starts shaking again.

“Lets get back to work,” Mayor answers. “I don’t know how much more this place can withstand this shaking before it completely falls apart. If we lose that portal because of these quakes, as you marines would say, we’re all screwed.”

Landing at the origin point, the two of them visually survey the aiming point of The portal. “It looks like three of the rings along the rail line in the distance have tilted out of alignment,” Sargent Pasenna reports to Mayor. “Lets go check out the control panel to see if it is possible to remotely activate it before we see if it is possible to pull them back into alignment.”

“Good, very good,” Sargent Pasenna says to himself. “Excellent.”

“Mayor, we now have access to crafting a remote control device. I can fit it to this console to activate it once it has been programmed to our destination. With a charge battery, I can activate the remote from the origin point.”

“We need to be careful that Rockwell doesn’t find out what we are doing,” answers Mayor. “He could disable the portal or cut the power to it.”

“I agree,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “Lets go check out those bent rings and see what it will take to pull them back in alignment.”

“Do we need to bridge this gap so the portal sled can cross it?” Mayer ask Sargent Pasenna.

“I’m not sure.” Sargent Pasenna answers. “We should be able to craft a stone tower for a support, then, if we can find enough metal ore, craft the floor plates needed to connect it back together.”

Crossing the gap, Mayer takes Sargent Pasenna down to the bent rings. “Damn, I wish that we had some heavy equipment. This is going to take a lot of effort to pull them back into position without it.” They move on to the end of the rail line.

“$hit, this last one is really bent and embedded into the ceiling. I see no way we can ever pull it back with it hanging so far into the Blue Grotto.”

“Oh Crap! We’re screwed! There are a dozen more of them laying at the bottom in the shape of a spine. Even if we had the heavy equipment, we’ll never be able to get them back into position.”

“Can you make it work with what is there?” ask Mayor.

“I think that it’s possible,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “It got us here before the bridge was cut in two by an explosion when we first arrived. If we can cut that last ring loose with explosives, we will have a straight shot for the accelerator. I’ll just have to push the portal acceleration way into the red in order to reach an escape velocity. Once this machine has sent us on the way, it can go ahead and blow itself apart.”

“You better wait until we get rid of Rockwell before you cut that ring,” warns Mayor. “The explosion is sure to tip him off to what we are doing.”

“I agree,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “Lets repair what we can of the portal, prepare it for action, go kill Rockwell, then get the fracking hell out of here as fast as we can.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 10. The Injured Rock Drakes.

 

Sargent Pasenna and Mayor start heading back from their survey of The Portal when they hear a moaning sound up on the cliff above. “What is going on up there?” ask Sargent Pasenna with alarm.

“It sounds like one of my friends has been badly hurt,” answers Mayor. “I’m heading up there.”

“Be careful,” warns Sargent Pasenna. “We could be stepping into an ambush.”

Cautiously, Mayor scales the cliff face to have a look. They both find a pair of injured rock drakes that Sargent Pasenna hasn’t seen before. “They’re badly hurt,” he tells Mayor after a quick visual inspection of their condition. “They desperately need our help.”

“Oh NO!” moans the male in pain as he sees Sargent Pasenna on a saddled Mayor. “How did that human tame our leader?”

“It’s all right,” answers Mayor. “I’m not a tame. We are here to help.”

After a quick inspection of the two badly injured rock drakes, Sargent Pasenna tells Mayor to go back to the base to get help. “Leave me all of your raw meat,” he orders. “Bring back some narcs, medical brew, another first aid kit, and two armed marines so we can better protect your two friends. And, hurry! I don’t want to lose them to something stupid like a frackin raptor.”

The female rock drake is so scared of Sargent Pasenna as he approaches her to check her over, but she is too weak to get away from him. “I’m scared,” she says while crying. “It hurts so bad. I don’t want to die.”

“Lie still,” he tells her softly. “I’m here to help. Eat some of this raw meat to start the healing process. Take these Narcs, they will help ease the pain until Mayor can return with the medical brew and first aid kits.” He rubs her neck to help her calms down a bit, then she does what he tells her to do. She is soon unconscious sleeping comfortably.

Heading over to the male, he assesses his condition. He is a bit more alert then his mate but still very frightened. “What happened to my mate?” he asks in alarm with a pain filled voice.

“I gave her something to ease the pain so she could get some rest.” Sargent Pasenna answers. “Eat some of this raw meat, It will help start the healing process.”

“I wish that I had more narcs on me but your mate needed them so badly. Give me a minute to go find some black mushrooms. They will help to ease your pain.”

“I’m so tired,” the male tells Sargent Pasenna after he eats three of the black mushrooms that were found. “Where did our leader go?”

“I sent him back to our base to get more help and our medical supplies,” Sargent Pasenna answers as he strokes the male’s neck. “I wish that I could have put you to sleep for a while until you have healed up a bit. I don’t want to risk using a tranc dart on you in your weakened condition. What in the fracking hell happened to you two?”

“That feels sooo good,” answers the male. “We tried to take out Edmund Rockwell. It didn’t go well. He beat the crap out of us, then grabbed us with his tentacles and flung us up against the chamber walls. Somehow, we ended up back here.”

“Mayor and I believe that we are going to have to kill this Rockwell monster if we are to escape from this Ark before it falls apart on us.” answers Sargent Pasenna. “Is there anything you can tells us about Rockwell and the weapons he was using against you?”

“Rockwell is now a hideous monster about the size of those huge portal rings. He lives in a pond filled with a toxic liquid he calls Edminium. His huge distorted body sits in the middle of that pond where a metal ramp leads up to the front of him. While he can no longer move out of that pond, he fights with his giant tentacles that can reach way outside of it. We were able to bite them off, but then, he called in those Nameless and Reapers Kings to attack us. We became so busy fighting them that he started hitting us with glowing balls of acid. Somehow, we managed to take out all eight tentacles. That’s when he dropped down into the pond exposing his innards. We were about ready to move in to attack when he regenerated his tentacles, grabbed the both of us with them, and threw us into the chamber walls. That’s when we ended up back here.”

“How did you get over to where he lives?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“Down way below, in the Cavern of Souls, there is a portal that can be activated that will take you to the chamber where he now lives.”

“Thank you for that information, It is going to help us a great deal to formulate a plan for taking him out without getting killed. There are 13 other professional soldiers in my flight group. We have Mayor and all the other Rock Drakes with us that are being leveled up for strength and endurance. We also have 14 loyal tamed Ravagers, two tamed stegos, and three tamed Raptors allied with us. Once we can obtain charge weapons, rocket launchers, and high powered assault rifles, we should be strong enough to take down Rockwell and get the frack out of this place. Mayor and the other 11 rock drakes want to leave Ark with us to go back to Earth. We have pledged to protect them and find them a home in Alaska where they can hatch their eggs and live in peace. You are more then welcome to join us as equals once we are ready to fight Rockwell. The harder we can hit him, the safer it will be for the rest of us. I’ll try to bring you all back with us when The Portal becomes operational again.”

“I now understand why our leader has decided to become allies with you humans” answers back the male.

“Sargent Pasenna,” Lt. Garber ask as he and Private Ledfoot arrive on Mayor. “What’s going on here?”

“I need you two to protect these injured rock drakes until they are strong enough to return to the base with us,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “They have some very valuable intel on how we can defeat that Rockwell monster.”

Private Ledfoot goes over to check on the injured female. “It is a good thing that you put her to sleep,” Private Ledfoot answers back as he applies the medical brew to her wounds, then binds them up with supplies from the first aid kit. “This girl is in really bad shape.”

“Her mate is not much better,” reports Sargent Pasenna. “Don’t give him any more narcs. He wants to remain conscious so he can talk to us.”

“I brought along a large canvass bucket for water,” Lt. Garber reports. “These two are going to be quite dehydrated as a result of their injuries.”

“Take Mayor down to the pond to fetch them some water,” answers Private Ledfoot. “These Aquatic mushrooms will help until you can get back.”

Coming back quickly, the male, who has now been named Daryl, gets a drink from the canvass bucket. “That was good,” he tells the others. “I feel so much better now. I’m starting to feel a lot more comfortable around you humans.”

“If you don’t mine, we would like to call your mate Darlene.”

“That sounds like a good name,” Daryl answers back.

“Ohhh!” Darlene says as she starts to wake up. “Awkkk!” she says as she spots the three humans with Daryl and Mayor.

“It’s all right” Daryl tells her. “These humans are our friends.”

“Water, thank you so much,” she answers as she drinks the rest of the bucket from Lt. Garber.

“We’d better stay here overnight until these two have regained enough strength to return with us,” reports Lt. Garber. “This looks like a secure area. I’ll check above what is at the top of the cliff. If it looks secure, we should have a quiet night.”

“Mayor, lets go get them some more raw meat and water before it gets dark.” orders Sargent Pasenna. “Those two are going to need it before we can return to camp with them.”

The cliff above turns out to be part of the ceiling making it secure from any threats that could come from that direction. Being high up and on the edge of the open world above, the light of the planet in the sky shines down illuminating the surrounding area so that the three solders can verify that the area is safe. They take turns holding watch and comforting the injured rock drakes as they continue to rest comfortably.

“Why did you try to attack Rockwell?” Private Ledfoot asks Darlene as he is stroking her neck.

“That monster sent out his Red Devils to steal my egg out of my nest, then he smashed it into the force field when I tried to get it back.” Darlene answers back.

“That’s awful,” answers Private Ledfoot. “Soon, the day is coming when you will get your revenge. Get some sleep so you can have the strength to come back with us in the morning.”

“I like you,” Darlene tells him. Then she is sound asleep.

By morning, both rock drakes are feeling a lot better. Overnight, they have formed a strong bond with Lt. Garber and Private Ledfoot. “Is this what it is like to become a tame?” Daryl asks Lt. Garber.

“No,” answers Lt. Garber. “This is what it is like to become our friends. Do you feel strong enough to glide back to our base?”

“Yes,” answers Daryl and Darlene. “How will the three of you get back? Mayor’s tame saddle can only holds two humans.”

“I brought along a wing suit,” answers Lt. Garber. “I can glide back with you. Follow Mayor back to our base. You can land inside where it is safe with your friends.”

The short trip back is made with no issues other then the two new rock drakes are very tired when they finally arrive. The other 11 are so happy to see them. “I thought that we had lost you forever,” Rocky tells Daryl when he sees him again.

“It’s a long story,” Daryl answers back. “We’re just so tired from having survived that horrible ordeal with Rockwell.”

“Where did you find those two?” ask Captain Powell. “They look like they have gone through hell and back. I though that all of the rock drakes were accounted for.”

“We found them up on the cliff near the portal,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “They tried to take out Rockwell and got fracked up by him.”

“We have a feeding tray over in the corner stocked with raw meat.” Captain Powell tells the newcomers. “You can get a drink from the tap if you are thirsty. Get some rest. When you have your strength back, I want to know everything you can tell me about that frackin Rockwell monster. It will help us prepare to do battle with him when the time comes.”

“Sargent Pasenna, what is the status on the portal?”

“I’m puzzled as to how it works. At first, I thought that we had to be at the end of the chamber where we first appeared on this Ark. But now, I believe that all we have to do is gather at the top by the sled where the control panel is when we are ready to use it. Now that I think about it, the damaged sections of the Portal may have nothing to do with its operation at all. Those appear to be part of a transit system that terminates at the control panel. There is no reason to even attempt a repair that rail line. Besides, it is scattered all over the place in the Blue Grotto and beyond. Even if we had access to the heavy equipment, and the Seebees to man it, it would take us years to repair that kind of damage.”

“Rocky has just confirmed what you suspected,” answers Captain Powell. “That fracked up rail system is found all over this Ark. It is now in pieces as a result of all of those earthquakes. There is a station point where all the rock drakes were living. The fact that the rail line is not required to power the portal is good news. It means that we now all stand a chance of getting the frack out of here when we activate it.”

“Do you think that it can transport all 14 of us, all of our tames, and our rock drake friends at the same time?”

“If we can all get close enough together, yes,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “We are going to have to all go at once. I fear that this machine will no longer be capable of sending anyone else back once we have used it the first time.”

“Take Sargent Thomas with you and run a complete diagnosis on that Portal control,” orders Captain Powell. “Ride Mayor out there. I want to be sure that we can all escape before we take on Rockwell. When they feel up to it, I want to debrief Daryl and Darlene about the confrontation they had with Rockwell. See if you can set up some secure storage in the transport pad so we can move the rock drake eggs over there. Once we have defeated Rockwell, I have a feeling that we will have to get the frack out of here just as fast as we frackin can.”

“We’ll head over there right now,” answers Sargent Pasenna.

Inspecting the portal control for the second time, Sargent Pasenna confirms his second though about how the portal functions. “It does indeed look like that the rest of this structure is just a rail line that leads to this terminal. This must have been a central hub for sending people to other locations and bringing them back here.”

“Good, this console is functioning properly. The overhead displays are showing the locations of other arks and the Earth.”

“You mean that there are other Arks besides this one?” ask Sargent Thomas.

“Yes,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “I just as soon get back to Earth then visit any one of them. We can let our scientist figure out what they are when we get back.”

“Is everyone going to fit on the platform?” ask Sargent Thomas.

“If we sit on the rock drakes and place the devil dogs underneath them, we should have enough space for everyone. Lets get the storage shed off of Mayor and place it nearby so their eggs can be moved to here.”

Heading back, a report is filed with Captain Powell. “Good news,” reports Sargent Pasenna. The control panel is functioning properly. The diagnosis test indicates that the portal is fully operational. We have it set for Earth. We can head back home once we know Rockwell can’t cut the power to it.”

“That is excellent news,” Captain Powers says. “Our two new rock drakes friends are mending quite well. I kept Lt. Garber and Private Ledfoot with them so they can become bonded together. They are getting along quite well with each other. We should have saddles for them by tomorrow.”
“Sargent Gulliver and Private Grobbal are out with Rocky and his mate looking for shine horns. At least, they don’t drool all over your shoulder like these bulb pugs do. Everyone else is out gathering the supplies we will need for saddles and charge weapons.”

“In the morning, take Mayor out with Margaret and go collect congealed gas balls from the six collectors we got set up this morning. Margaret can show you where those collectors are located. We should be able to craft up some hazard suits by later in the day.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 11. Preparation and training.

 

Sargent Thompson and Pasenna are headed out that morning to check on the new gas collectors that have been running all night. “Margaret makes a wonderful mate for Mayor,” Sargent Thomas comments. “I so miss my girlfriend. I had planned to pop the question to her on our next date.”

“Hopefully, you will all be back home soon,” answers Margaret. “I’m looking forward to seeing your Alaska wilderness and the ability to properly incubate my egg so it can hatch.”

“We’re all looking forward to that day,” Sargent Thomas tells her.

“Here is the first gas collector,” reports Margaret as she walks up by it. “It is showing 95% full.”

“That working faster then we thought they would. How do we collect the gas balls?” ask Sargent Thomas.

“You can use your Specimen Implant to access the machine, then transfer the gas balls to your inventory,” answers Margaret. “The congealed gas balls are light, very compact, and stable.”

“I’m showing that this collector has suffered some minor damage,” answers Sargent Paesnna as he collects the first batch of congealed gas balls. “I can’t repair it here. Should we take it back with us?”

“No,” answers Margaret. “Ensign Bossman told me that the damage is normal wear and tear. Just let the machine function until it wears out. He says it is too dangerous to remove one after it has been put in place.”

“Hopefully, they will have served their purpose long before they have worn out,” Sargent Paesnna tells Margaret. “Lets head over to the next one.”

“99% full,” reports Sargent Thomas as he collects the gas from the second machine. The rock drakes continues on to the third collector.

“100%,” reports Sargent Pasenna as he goes to access the third machine. Then, the pressure valve activates. “Don’t go near it!” gaps Sargent Pasenna as he starts choking for air.

“What the frack just happened?” ask Sargent Thomas in alarm as he goes to render aid to his friend.

“There is a congealed gas ball laying on the ground next to it,” warns Mayor.

“I’m all right now,” Sargent Paesnna reports as he regains his breath.

Sargent Thomas goes to access the machine which returns to the empty state as he collects a full load. He then picks up the stray gas ball. “When this machine became full, it must have ejected the excess as a congealed gas ball. We’ll have to be careful that we are not near them when they read 100% until the safety system ejects one.”

With that warning, the other three gas collectors are visited with their contents removed safely. “Take the rest of the morning off,” orders Captain Powell after he hears about the accident with collector three. “Then, you two can go work on some flying tactics with Mayor and Margaret on our new combat trainer.”

While they were gone, Captain Powell has ordered Lt. Garber and Private Ledfoot to take their new rock drake friends over to stand by a healing plant near their camp. Captain Powell debriefs both rock drakes about their attacking Rockwell as they finish healing up.

After the healing session and debriefing, the two new Rock Drake saddles that have been crafted, are assigned to Lt. Garber and Private Ledfoot to try out on their new rock drake friends.

“I never knew that the strange bulbous plant with the long red tongue had the ability to quickly heal one’s injuries,” Lt. Garber tells Daryl as he goes to saddle him up. “We should have taken you two directly there in the morning instead of back to our base.”

“That was amazing standing next to that thing to get fully healed up,” Daryl answers back. “As you marines would say, I feel ready for action.”

Back in the training area, Lt Garber and Private Ledfoot prepare their new rock drake friends for their first training session.

“I’ve never had a saddle placed on me before,” Darlene tells Private Ledfoot as he goes to put the new one on her. “It frightens me.”

“That is quite all right,” Private Ledfoot tells her. “As of a couple of days ago, no wild rock drake on Aberration has ever had a saddle placed on them, “Rocky was the first one when Private Grobbal found a saddle in a supply drop and Sargent Gulliver put it on him as a joke while he was unconscious. No one was prepared for Rocky to suddenly wake up and take off in a panic with those two riding on him. You can imagine our surprise when they came back with Mayor and all the other rock drakes as their friends.”

“You only need seven saddles for us to take everyone of you with us,” answers Daryl. “Why are you going to all the work to make one for each of us?”

“They will provide armor protection for you when we are ready to go to confront Rockwell.” Lt. Garber answers.

“Then, are you are doing this for our protection when we go back to do battle with Rockwell?” ask Daryl.

“Most certainly,” answers Lt. Garber. “And, so we can fire ranged weapons from a stable platform while you are doing the aerial and land maneuvering for us. Lets try them out and get you two leveled up for action. Captain Powell wants us to toughen you two up for endurance in rapid climbing and gliding from point to point. He wants us to train in using our ranged weapons while riding on you. We’ll place a training dummy on a rock peak or on top of a tall mushroom and get familiar with how fast you can climb, glide, and do maneuvering. It will be just like our air combat training, but you will be our plane and the pilot and we will be the gunner. We’ll leave the bridle off so you can have complete control of the situation at all times.”

“How does that feel?” Private Ledfoot ask Darlene when the saddle is put into place.

“That feels quite comfortable,” she tells him.

“Are you ready for me to sit on it?” he ask.

“I guess so,” she answers nervously as he gets on the saddle in the driver’s position. “Oh, that is not as bad as I feared. It actually feels quite enjoyable.”

“Lets take this one easy step at a time,” Private Ledfoot tells her as he strokes her on the neck. “Just walk around for a bit, then we will try some running, climbing up some rock faces, then do some gliding. Since we are not using a bridle, you can take a direction cue by reacting to my body weight while we are on the ground or while gliding. That leave both hands free for me to use a ranged weapon from you. It will be like riding a horse for me. Besides, you don’t need the bridle when I can just tell you what I want you to do. Lets start off at a walk. Just follow my cue for turning until it becomes second nature, then we’ll try it at different speeds.”

“Where did you learn horseback riding?” ask Lt. Garber.

“I learned it at the local stable near the base,” answers Private Ledfoot. “The riders that performed best in competition riding were the ones that trained on the same mount every day.”

“You’re method for training rock drakes sounds quite logical,” Lt. Garber answers back. “I’ll have Daryl follow in kind.”

“If we all train on our own rock drake, they will be more in sync with us when the big showdown takes place.” answers Private Ledfoot.

“I’ll have to agree,” answers Captain Powell. “Private Ledfoot is correct on having everyone train on their own rock drake. It will become second nature to them both when speed and precision is needed for that final showdown with Rockwell. I’m putting Private Ledfoot in charge of rock drake training as we get the saddles crafted for all of them. I’ll set up the target over here. You two can hit it with crossbows starting at a walk, later at a run, then try hitting it during a glide.”

“What about all of these mushroom trees when we try gliding?” as Lt. Garber.

“Pretend that they are Rockwell’s arms,” answers Captain Powell. “Learn how to avoid them when running and gliding. Use blunt tipped arrows. Try not to hit each other or your rock drake friends with an arrow while you are training. And, if you think that the two of you are going to get in each others’ way, wait until we start training with 14 rock drakes at once.”

“What did Captain Powell mean by using 14 rock drakes at once on a target?” ask Daryl.

“He wants all of us to be able to engage Rockwell all at once,” answers Lt. Garber. “It is like hitting the enemy with overwhelming force in order to defeat him.”

“I now understand why he wants us to train all together,” answers Daryl. “It is so Rockwell doesn’t get the chance to beat us up again.”

“Exactly,” answers Lt. Garber. “Lets get started at a walk, then a run.” A run is made at the target at a walk so both men can get a feel of how to use their crossbows while riding.

“Excellent,” reports Captain Powell as both men nail the target while riding. “Now, try it coming from both directions at once.”

“Why are we doing it this way?” ask Darlene.

“It makes us harder for Rockwell to hit us and harder for our target to avoid us,” answers Private Ledfoot. “This is why when we fly torpedo planes, we try to hit the target ship from three directions at once.”

“But we could run into each other once we start gliding to the target from opposite directions,” answers Darlene.

“This is where your training comes in,” answers Private Ledfoot. “It is going to be your job to avoid colliding with each other while we attack Rockwell with a ranged weapon. I would suggest that one of us climbs at the last moment while the other dives. That will give both of us the chance to take a shot without one of us getting in the way.”

“Daryl, when we go running towards each other, you jump over Darlene as we take the shot. Then, we’ll trade places so we don’t end up setting up a pattern that Rockwell could use against us. We’ll try the same tactic while gliding.”

The first run by is made but the two rock drakes do a side by pass. Captain Powell pulls both of them to the side. “You can’t do it that way,” he scolds them. “One of you will accidentally hit the other instead of Rockwell. If not, the one further to the side is going to get a blast of rocket exhaust in the face once we start using rocket launchers.”

“I now understand the tactic,” answers Daryl. “Let me jump and Darlene duck.” They make a second run by pass. Two blunt end arrows now hit their target.

“That went much better,” answers Lt Garber. “I didn’t have to worry about Daryl colliding with Darlene which allowed me to concentrate on hitting the target. Now, lets try gliding.”

In the glide attack, the training goes well, but then, on a faster gliding run, both rock drakes pull up and collide with other. “Are you all right?” Private Ledfoot ask Darlene as she recovers having the breath knocked out of her.

“I’m fine,” she answers. “What went wrong?”

“May I suggest something,” answers Captain Powell. “Lets set up a flight rule for head on attacking. The rock drake that has Rockwell on the left will climb while the one with Rockwell on the right will dive. The last thing we want to have happen is having both of you getting knocked out to become an easy target right in front of Rockwell.”

“On the left, climb, on the right, dive. I’ve got it!” answers Darlene.

“Good girl,” answers Captain Powell. “We’ll make an honorary Marines out of you yet.”

Private Grobbal and Sargent Gullivar start training next with Rocky and Lady Rocky being officially assigned to them. “Excellent,” remarks Captain Powell after the four of them have made several practice runs. “Lets take a break for a minute.”

“What would happen if we were to attack Rockwell while cloaked?” ask Sargent Gulliver.

“Would the rock drakes still be able to see each other when cloaked?” ask Private Grobbal.

“Yes, we can still see each other while cloaked,” answers Rocky. “The Nameless and Reapers cannot see us while we are cloaked.”

“What about Rockwell?” ask Captain Powell.

“I believe that Rockwell can still see us.” answers Daryl. “His acid ball attacks kept hitting us when we attempted to hide from him by cloaking.”

“Then, you should only use your cloaking ability to confuse the reapers and nameless,” answers Captain Powell. “I’ll have Sargent Thomas and Sargent Pasenna join you with Mayor and Margaret. As soon as there are saddles crafted up for them, the rest of us will join in on the training. Later, we’ll construct a mock up of Rockwell in the pond so we can train how to avoid falling in it. We’ll have eight target tentacles set up for you to attack at once. The good news is, like the Japanese battleship Yamoto, Rockwell is going to be a big fat stationary target. Very dangerous? Yes, But if we can keep from getting hurt by his weaponry as we keep pounding on him with ours, we will eventually sink him like we did the Yamoto.”

“Lets get back to work.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 12. The Expeditions.

 

As the training continues at a level better then expected, Captain Powell calls for a break for the day to gather everyone for a meeting. “The six of you are doing very well,” he tells the rock drakes in training. “However, we have a problem with crafting the additional saddles and the hazard suits that we will need. There are no more red gems available in the Green Zone to craft any more saddles. We are going to need 85 more per saddle and 80 for each charge lantern. Also, the crafting requirement for the hazard suits uses 83 blue gems per suit. We did get two sets of those made in spite of the rest of us having pi$$ed off every roll rat we have been stealing those gems from the past several day. Mayor, can you and your friends help us go down into the Blue and Red zone to gather the crystals we need?”

“We can easily take you to where the blue crystals are in the Blue Zone,” answers Mayor. “It is just that whoever we take down into the Red Zone will have to wear a hazard suit. Be aware that the Nameless are hiding under the ground in both areas. They don’t like the light from the bulb pugs or shinehorns, so bring them with you. You will need a hazard suit helmet for your glow tame to protect them from the radiation in the Red Zone.”

“Does the radiation in the Red Zone represent a hazard to you when you are down there?” ask Captain Powell.

“No, we are immune to it,” Mayor answers.

“Then, lets do the following,” orders Captain Powell. “With the hazard suits we already have, I want you and Margaret to take Sargent Pasenna and Sargent Thomas into the Red Zone on a red crystal run. We should be able to make two more helmets for their bulb pugs. Sargent Pasenna and Sargent Thomas, be especially careful that you are not swarmed by those Nameless creatures. You lose any piece of that hazard suit and you could be dead in minutes. Place all the red crystal that you have gathered on Mayor and Margaret. Throw out anything else that you may have gathered down there. They can bring it back here should something happened to your hazard suits and you end up in a spawn bed. I’ll call you the Red Team.”

“Sargent Gulliver, Private Grobbal, Lt. Garber, Private Ledfoot, take your rock drake friends and the new shine horns down into the Blue Zone. Let them show you where the blue crystals are, what the frozen mushrooms look like, and how to avoid them. Your group will be called the Blue Team.”

“I’m placing the rock drakes in charge of both expeditions. They know that area far better then us, so do what they tell you to do.”

“Stay in your teams of mated pairs for your protection when gathering the crystals. Don’t overburdened your rock drake friends with resources that we can find up here. Bring only the assigned crystals back with you and nothing else.”

“Sargent Thomas and Sargent Pasenna, your mission is most critical. It will allow us to make up saddles for the rest of our rock drake friends. Be careful down there. Our next trip will become much easier when more of us can venture down there at once where we can have protection in numbers and some more powerful weapons to deal with any of the threats down there.”

With the expeditions prepared for the two missions at hand, the rock drakes take charge as the teams set off into their world deep below.

“Are there any other dangers we may be facing down in the red zone?” Captain Powell asks Mayor

“No,” he answers. “Only the Nameless are a hazard if they have a chance to swarm us and manage to call in a Reaper.”

“If that happens, can you cloak yourself and sneak out of harm’s way?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“Yes,” answers Mayor.

“Then, lets plan to do that if they become an issue,” orders Sargent Pasenna. “This crystal is not worth any of us getting badly hurt by them.”

As the two teams get started, Mayor tells the others, “Margaret and I are going to glide down directly into the red zone. It’s a long ways down to where we have to go. We’ll probably be the last ones back to base.”

“Sargent Pasenna and Sargent Thomas, leave the light off on your bulb pug until you dismount from us to harvest the red crystal. They have a limited charge capacity. You don’t want them to run out if we run into the Nameless. Only their bulb light weakens them. Your torches and flares won’t work.”

“Thank you for that advise,” answers Sargent Pasenna as Mayor steps off the top of the cliff into the Blue Grotto.

It seems like it is taking forever as Mayor and Margaret are gliding, even diving, through a forest of giant tree roots, blue sparkling vines, even a long stretch of the broken rail line that forms an eerie near vertical ribbed tunnel. Eventually, the color of the crystals and surround area changes from blue to red as they start to get near the bottom.

“How are you going to get back up once we are done here?” ask Sargent Thomas.

“We are going to do a lot of climbing,” answers Margaret. “Stay out of the red water down here,” she warns them, “It is pure acid.”

“I don’t doubt it,” answers Sargent Thomas. “My engram is already warning of the high radiation level down here. This place looks like a frozen hell of red.”

“There’s some red crystal formations over there,” Mayer alerts them as they both land near them.

“Bulb Pugs on,” orders Sargent Pasenna as the two men get to work in the spooky gloom with the strange noises coming from under the ground and surrounding area.

“$hit,” curses Sargent Thomas. “Only the smaller formations are giving us what we need.”

“Keep only the red crystal,” orders Sargent Pasenna. “Dump everything else you are getting.” The two continue harvesting as their rock drake friends stay close behind them. “Three stacks so far” Sargent Pasenna comments as he places them on Mayor, then continues to harvest some more.

Suddenly, both Mayor’s and Margaret’s head bonnet displays in a full feather war dress. “Get on us now and turn off your light!” orders Mayor in alarm. Both Sargents are quickly on their rides, dumping the stone and white crystal they have collected as both Mayor and Margaret activate their cloak, then climb up the close by vertical rock face as fast as they can.

“Can I ask what just spooked the two of you so badly that you did that feather display?” ask Sargent Thomas when they finally stop to rest.

“We detected four reaper kings and two queens approaching us,” answers Mayor. “The Nameless must have called them in while remaining hidden from your light. I’ve never known them to do that before, or, for that matter, to have so many reapers show up at once.”

“That fracking Rockwell must have know that we’re down here and send them in to attack us,” answers Sargent Thomas. “Sargent Pasenna, how much red crystal did you get?”

“About four and a half stacks.”

“I got about the same,” Sargent Pasenna answers back. “Mayor, we have more then enough red crystals for those eight saddles. We don’t need to stay down here any longer. We can come back down later with a much stronger force and the weapons we need to take out those frackin reaper things. Lets just get the fracking hell out of here.”

The climb out is long and spectacular. It takes them all night. Nearby is a pinkish waterfalls that seems to go down forever. At the top of a high cliff, they rest for a minute, then take a leap to a tree root that forms a natural bridge. There are glowing blue crystals, huge mushrooms, and a large blue lake below where strange creatures are seen swimming in it.

The following morning, things start to look familiar as the end of the broken rail bridge starts showing up from above along with the spine of the long vertical segment in the cavern below.

They make it back to the base with everyone exhausted from the long ordeal. “Good job you four, take the rest of the morning off to get some rest,” orders Captain Powell. “Then, I’ll debrief you on your mission.”

While the red crystal mission was taking place, Rocky and the blue crystal mission had their own unusual adventure. They take down the path that the Marines were looking for when they first ran into Rocky. “It sure is interesting down here,” comments Private Grobbal.

“Be on the lookout for the predators,” warns Rocky. “They seem to be quite abundant down here.”

“They are definitely around here,” answers Sargent Gulliver as he sees several snakes, carnos, a pack of Ravagers, and some giant scorpions nearby.

“At least they have the respect to leave the rock drakes alone while we are riding on them,” answers Lt. Garber.

“Still, once we find the blue crystal fields, we may have to clear them out of our way,” warns Private Ledfoot.

“You are right about that,” answers Darlene. “Don’t waste any trancs on the big snakes, they are immune to it.”

“Save the tranc darts and narc arrows,” orders Lt. Garber. “We kill whatever tries to attack us.”

The four rock drakes continue down, often gliding over the dangerous predators, and on to where there is a protected flat area rich in blue crystals. “Shine horns on,” orders Lt. Garber as they dismount and start gathering crystals. The rock drakes stay close behind, keeping a watch on the nearby predators which keep their distance. The plateau is soon cleared as the foursome get back on the rock drakes, dump the white crystal and stone, and transfer the blue ones to their rides.

“Earthquake,” warns Lt. Garber as the ground starts shaking.

“Are those Red Gems?” questions Private Ledfoot.

“Grab them, and any blue ones that fall down from above,” orders Lt. Garber.

“Oh Crap! I’m freezing to death!” warns Private Grobbal when the shaking ground causes him to stumbles into a hidden patch of blue mushrooms.

“Eat some aquatic mushrooms, now!” orders Sargent Gulliver. Private Grobbal has soon recovers enough to get on Rocky.

“Nameless,” warns Rocky as several suddenly show up to attack.

“Shoot those frackers!” orders Lt. Garber. Four are quickly dropped with rifle fire as the rock drakes kill the rest, then eats them.

There is some quick conversation among the four rock drakes, then Lady Rocky reports to Lt. Garber. “We got ten nameless toxins off of them. You could try hatching some of our eggs for us before we can leave here.”

“I’m honored that you would trust us to do something so personal for you,” answers Lt. Garber. “I think that the rest of us would be in agreement that you should be the ones to hatch and raise your eggs once we can return them to Earth. If we try to hatch them here, we would have to wait until the youngsters are old enough to follow us to The Portal. It’s going to be a tight fit as it is to take all of us back at once. The quicker we can get rid of Rockwell, the quicker we can get out of this frackin place. We can keep the toxin in storage if you so wish.”

“That won’t be necessary,” answers Lady Rocky. “Only you would need to use nameless venom if you were to hatch and raise our young. We can produce drake milk for the hatchlings.”

“Your milk must provide them with the nutrients needed for intelligence.” answers Private Grobbal. “Feeding them nameless toxin must be what made the egg tames so dumb and unable to reproduce. That would be so wrong to condemn your young rock drakes to a life of being someone’s sterile pet when you are proof that they can be so much more.”

“Thank you for your honest opinion,” answers Lady Rocky. “It gives us more faith in your concern for our well being then ever.”

“There is another patch with blue crystals nearby that you can harvest,” reports Rocky. “Lets head there.”

The next patch of crystal is reached in short order and harvested with no issues from the environment. “We have more them enough blue crystals for the hazard suits we need,” announces Lt. Garber. “Lets head back to base before more of those frackin nameless things show up.”

Captain Powell meets the Blue team as they return back to the base and start unloading the blue crystals they have harvested into storage. “How did it go?” he asks.

“Everything went smoothly,” answers Lt. Garber. “We only had one accident when Private Grobbal got too close to a patch of blue mushrooms when a tremor hit. Those aquatic ones worked in counteracting their effect. We ran into several Nameless when that happened. They are fast but easily taken out with the long neck rifle when they are being exposed to the light of our Shine Horns. The Rock Drakes got some Nameless Venom off of them. They offered us the opportunity to raise some of their eggs with it. Private Grobbal told them it would be better for their young ones for the rock drakes to raise their young themselves on drake milk. Anyhow, we may be able to use the venom to make an anti toxin. It is extremely beautiful, but dangerous down there. During that earthquake, we managed to gather enough red crystals for a charge lantern.”

“Take the rest of the day off to rest and recover,” orders Captain Powell. “We’ll get to work crafting hazard suits and spares for everyone.”

“When do you expect that the red team will be coming back?” Captain Powell ask Rocky.

“They have a long ways to go to get to their destination,” answers Rocky. “Even if they don’t run into any trouble, I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t make it back until morning.”

It is noon on the following day when Captain Powell is able to debrief the Red Team. “Thanks to your expedition, we now have a rock drake saddle for everyone as well as four charge lanterns. Did you run into any trouble while you were down there?”

“Mayor and Margaret got spooked when they sensed a pack of reapers approaching us from under the ground,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “I’ve never seen them display a war bonnet before. It must be some kind of an alert system they use for visual communication of danger ahead. After they told us to get on them so they could activate their cloak and scramble up the cliff to safety, we determined that we had more then enough red crystal for the saddles we needed. So, we made the decision to return back to base with what we had.”

“I suspect that Rockwell must have known that we were after red crystals. Mayor told me that he has never heard of so many Reapers coming in to one place to attack at once.”

“Sound like we had better be armed with rockets along with charge lanterns the next time we go back down for more red crystals.” answers Captain Powell. “It will need to be a hit and run raid before Rockwell have a chance to hit us with dangerous numbers of Reapers.”

“Lets get back to training with more of our rock drake friends with their new saddles.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 13 The Discovery

 

By early the next morning, eight new Rock Drake saddles have been crafted. All the crew members that have not been assigned to one now have a Rock Drake friend to work with. They are saddled up as Captain Powell leads them on his new Rock Drake friend Mary. “Can I ask you a question?” ask Mary. “Why did you pick me for your mount when as a commander, you should be riding on Mayor.”

“I picked you because it diversifies the leaders to separate commands,” Captain Powell tells her. “Besides, Mayor was already working with Sargent Pasenna so, they became the logical pair for bonding with each other. Don’t worry, you will be a good choice for my war mount when it is time to defeat Rockwell. We’re just going to spend the rest of today getting to know each other while we explore this vast underground system of the Green Zone.”

“That sounds like it could be fun,” answers Mary.

“Lets just work as teams of two for today,” announces Captain Powell. “Everyone pair up with your rock drake and their mate for today’s familiarization training. That means that Manor and Parport will be with us.”

This paring of the other six ends up becoming Lt. Tylor and Daryol on Davy and Doris, Ensign Bossman and Icelander on Micky and Minnie, and Baluck and Captain Shrivers on Ricky and Ronda.

It’s an odd arrangement, but it works out well as it separates senior officers to rock drakes that are basically of the same capabilities as any other, even Mayor their leader.

“Our mission today is to explore all of the Green Zone.” announces Captain Powell. It will give you a chance for you new riders to bond with your rock drakes while riding on them for the first time. Each team will take a sector and fully map it out the best they can. Look for charge nodes, gas veins, unusual ruins, rare resources, paths to the surface, paths down below, and any survivors from the Helena tribe. Stay away from the surface and the blue and red zone. Above all, stay away from anything dangerous. Don’t go into any dark places where Nameless or Reapers could be hiding. Take a bulb pug or shine horn along with you just to be safe.” With that set of instructions, seven teams of rock drakes and their riders take off to explore their assigned quadrant.

By mid afternoon, all the teams are back except for Lt. Garber and Private Ledfoot. They are all sharing the new places and discoveries they have made in their sector of the Green Zone as they fill in the missing sections on the master map posted on the wall outside of the command center.

“Where could those four be?” ask Captain Powell. “I sent them into what should have been the safest area to the Northeast of The Portal. It is where Mayor told me where Helena’s destroyed village is located.”

“Should we go look for them?” ask Mayor.

“No,” answers Captain Powell. “Lets give them another hour. They might be poking around through the ruins looking for any salvageable items.”

“Here they come,” reports Sargent Pasenna. “Holy $hit! They have other survivors riding with them! Did they find the survivors from Helena’s tribe?” There is a bit of concern among the air crews and their rock drake friends over the sudden appearance of newcomers.

“Who is Lt. Tylor?” ask the rider sitting behind Lt. Garber on Daryl as they glide into the base.

“I am,” answers Lt. Tylor who is standing in front of Davy.

“I’m Lt. Jerry, pilot of PBM 49 that was sent out to look for you after you reported your flight group was running low on fuel. My co pilot, Lt. Combs, is riding on Darlene. For whatever reason, all 13 of us on board our flying boat, ended up stranded here in this strange frackin place when we flew to the coordinate of your last known position. I’m am now left wondering, who is rescuing who? I’m still in shock to see Lt. Garber and Private Ledfoot finding us while they were riding on these two wild rock drakes. Wow, 14 of them, one for each member of your flight crew. You are so lucky to have such wonderful creatures working with you as your friends. I was so shocked to see these two rock drakes actually find us. I’m so glad to see that they made it back alive. We certainly didn’t. Those devils that he called up to defend him handed us back our a$$es when he paralyzed all of us with an electrical discharge. We ended up naked back on our spawn beds. We lost everything in that fight, our tames, our weapons, and our lives.”

“Is it possible that your rock drake friends can bring the rest of us back here to your camp? It is a long rugged hike from here.”

“We can bring your flight crew back here on the rock drakes,” answers Captain Powell. “While we are conducting this ground mission, I am in command. Ride behind me on Mary so we can talk about what happened when you and your crew confronted Rockwell. We believe that we can get back to our world through the portal, but we need to get rid of Rockwell so he doesn’t try to stop us. The sooner we can take him out, the quicker we can get out of here before this place falls apart from these fracking earthquakes. It has gotten so unstable that even our rock drake friends want out of here. The more we can learn about Rockwell and his tactics, the better prepared we can be to take him out.”

As they head towards the abandoned village, known as the fallen nexus, Lt Jerry tells the story of what happened to his flight, how he ended up on Aberration and their fatal confrontation with Rockwell.

“It all got started when we were flying towards your last known coordinate when the sea ahead started glowing in the dimming twilight of darkness. It made an eerie sound that got louder as the glow got brighter. Our radios and navigation systems went dead from the interference, then both engines quit running when we suffered a total electrical failure. I wasn’t sure if our flying boat was going to be able to land in such a rough sea. The next thing we knew, I and my entire flight crew, found ourselves naked in that destroyed village in this cursed place.”

“It took us several days, along with several of us getting killed by those fracking predators until we learned how these implants worked. We soon learned how to craft clothes, a shelter, and weapons to defend ourselves against the frackin raptors and those devil dogs.”

“In the village ruins, we found a notebook left by that frackin freak Edmund Rockwell. It describes how we could tame the creatures in this world, the various recipes he had created for healing ourselves, taming the various creatures here, and resisting the hazards of the poisonous plants and bites of the various predators.”

“A couple of days ago, while looking for blue gems to make hazard suits with, we found a portal that would take us to where Rockwell was living. We decided to pay him a visit to see if he could help us escape back to our world. That was a royal fracking mistake.”

“I don’t know how Daryl, Darlene, and those other two rock drakes managed to come along with us. They must have been cloaked when they followed us in there. Anyhow, the second that frackin monstrous freak Rockwell saw us, he started screaming about how superior he was and started throwing those frackin acid balls at us. We returned fire with our crossbows and spears as our tames attacked him, but they seemed to have little effect on him other then to draw some green blood on his tentacles.”

“Darlene grabbed one of the tentacles with her teeth as she was screaming at him about his stealing her egg. She managed to bite it off as Daryl and those other two rock drakes went after the others. Then, those fracking red devil started showing up.”

“Rockwell ducked back into the pond to reemerge with all of his tentacles intact, grabbed both Daryl and Darlene with them, and flung them into the wall by the portal control.”

“I managed to get back to the control panel to return them out of harm’s way before Rockwell grabbed me around the waist. After he slammed me into the ground, he paralyzed all of us with some kind of electrical discharge. We were powerless to defend ourselves as those fracking red devils poisoned us, our tames, and those other two rock drakes that were still there with us. Then, they killed us all for an easy meal.”

“We lost everything in that battle, our armor, our weapons, our tames, and our lives.”

“I’m surprised that Daryl and Darlene never mentioned anything about your air group when we found them so badly injured up above The Portal.” answers Captain Powell. “Then again, they were so scared of us when we found them badly injured up above the Portal area that they failed to mention anything about you in their fight against Rockwell.”

“Tomorrow, we are going to continue training on the Rock Drakes to develop tactics we can use against Rockwell. We can use you and your crew as tail gunners on our rock drakes. Right now, we are just using crossbows with blunt arrows for the training sessions. When we are ready, we will introduce you to assault rifles and rocket launchers.”

“Those red devils you referred to are called the Nameless. Their bite, as you already found out, is poisonous. We have already developed an antitoxin for it. They, and their Reapers friends we have been warned about, are weakened by our bulb pets and especially, by something called a Charge Lantern. We plan to send an expedition back into the Red Zone for more crystal so everyone can be armed with Charge Lanterns as soon as we have hazard suits made up for all of you. That area is radioactively hot. We can use your manpower to conduct another hit and run raid for red crystal before Rockwell can call in the reapers to attack us. Before we do so, we will need to gather more blue crystals and congealed gas ball to craft up 13 more sets of hazard suits with spares for you and your crew.”

“That’s sounds like an ambitious mission,” answers Lt. Jerry as the abandoned village comes into view.

“This place looks like a war zone,” Captain Powell tells Lt. Jerry as they glide in to land.

“Rockwell trashed it, killing everybody and everything living there before he relocated himself into that poisonous pool of smoking metallic liquid he calls Edminium.” answers Lt. Jerry. “We found a note from Helena explaining what had happened to him before he destroyed everything here. He must has gone completely insane because of that stuff he is living in. How do you plan to kill him where we failed so miserably?”

“We plan to do what our air power did with the Battleship Yamoto,” answers Captain Powell. “We keep hitting him hard from all directions while avoiding his defenses. Eventually, like the Yamoto, he will go down. Lets pick up your air crew before it gets too dark to find our way back to base.”

Landing at the edge of the ruined village, Lt. Jerry orders everyone there to find a seat on a rock drake and climb on board. Everyone there is only dressed in cloth armor. Having lost everything, they only have basic primitive weapons. “We just haven’t had the chance to gather the resources to get rearmed and equipped.” Lt. Jerry tells Captain Powell

“Lets hold a general meeting when we get back to base,” Captain Powell answers back.

“I do not seem to have a passenger.” Daryl tells Lt. Garber.

“That is OK,” answers Lt. Garber. “As the PBM flying boat only carries a crew of 13, you can pretend that Corporal Kosner, my tail gunner, who didn’t come along with me on the training flight, is sitting behind me.”

Returning back to base, Captain Powell calls a general meeting with all of the newcomers. “As you may or may not know, the Navy is rumored to have been conducting experiments in stealth technology off the Florida Coast. It is possible that they were actively conducting a test in the evening that opened up some sort of a portal that sent us into this fracked up place. All I do know is that our superiors would be more then interested in how our rock drakes friends can make themselves invisible along with their saddle and us riding on them. A couple of days ago, we swore an oath as Marines to protect them from becoming a part of that experiment against their free will. Are you navy personnel willing to do the same?” There is several minutes of discussion among the PBM crew members before the answer comes back as yes.

After swearing in the oath of protection, Captain Powell orders the PBM crew members that rode back on the rock drakes to go get to know them personally. “Starting tomorrow, you are going to become their tail gunners. You will be their protection from getting hit by those acid balls Rockwell will throw at them when they do their attack runs.”

“Lt. Garber, I’m going to use you and Daryl to train in delivering the kill shot. We may soon have the ability to make something called a rail gun. It is a futuristic weapon that is the size of a bazooka with the hitting power of a battleship’s main cannon. I’m assigning you two in training how to use it at the right moment. You and Daryl can have the honor for revenging the stealing and destruction of Darlene’s egg. When the time is right, you two can sink Rockwell for good.”

“Now, all of you newcomers, go get to know your new rock drake friends. We commence training with them in the morning.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 14. The Final Preparations.

 

“Do you know why Captain Powell wants the three of us to spend so much time together,” Darlene ask Private Ledfoot.

“He is pairing us up to train together as a bomber crew.” Private Ledfoot answers. “You are the aircraft and our pilot, I am the bombardier, and Lt. Combs is going to be our tail gunner. “He wants everyone training as a team so that we will look out for each other when we go in to get rid of Rockwell.”

“It’s a very good tactic under these unusual circumstances,” Lt. Combs tells Darlene. “No one in the Navy would have ever believed that the aircraft carrier would ever replace the battleship until that day arrived when they sank two of the biggest battleships ever built using carrier aircraft alone. “I’m amazed that I am saying this, but you are one remarkable creature. I’m so glad that Lt. Jerry was able to get you and your mate out of Rockwell’s lair before he ended up killing you.”

“It was touch and go there for a while,” answers Private Ledfoot. “Rockwell beat those two up pretty bad. Had Mayor not found them when he did, they might have not made it back to be with us.”

“In the morning, we have plans to gather more blue crystals to make hazard suits for your PBM crew. When that is done, we will conduct a hit and run raid into the Red zone for more red crystal. We also need to find Element Ore if we want to make and power some Tec rifles and that Rail Gun. Captain Powell feels it would be safer to head to the surface after dark for element ore when we are in the 10% daylight phase rather then looking for it deep in the Red zone where Rockwell can see what we are doing and send in the reapers to threaten us.”

“Don’t go up on the surface,” Darlene warns them with alarm. “There are Reaper Kings and Seekers that live up there.”

“That’s why we won’t go up there until we have the weapons to deal with them,” answers Private Ledfoot. “We’ll do a hit and run raid when we do go up there after that element ore.”

“Such a lovely night,” Daryl tells Darlene as he and Lt. Garber joins them. “We’ll take advantage of the 90% day cycle to gather and craft everything we can in preparation for our attack on Rockwell. Then, we can make the surface raid when the daylight cycle goes back to 10%.”

It is 0600 when Captain Powell calls everyone together with the plans for the day. “I’m sending Sargent Thomas and Pasenna with Mayor and Margaret to harvest congealed gas balls from the gas collectors. Lt. Jerry, Ensign Eslander and Alvin are staying with me. We need to plan our strategy and tend to housekeeping until the supplies arrive to craft the hazard suits. I’m sending the rest of you to get blue crystals. Lt. Garber and Daryl will be in command of that mission. Tame some more Shine Horns if you can while you are after the blue crystals.”

The new Blue team is split up into rock drake pairs for the gathering. Given that Mary doesn’t have a rider but wants to be with her mate Manor, Marty volunteers to ride on her for the expedition. It doesn’t take long to gather the needed blue crystal and several more Shine Horns with everyone out as teams in the safe spots gathering crystal. The Rock Drakes keep watch for trouble of which it gets avoided this time around.

Back at the base, a load of congealed gas balls has been returned. As they are being processed with the newly harvested batch of blue crystal, Mayor is taking just the flight crew down for a hit and run raid in the Red Zone. Lt. Jerry rides with them on Mary. Captain Powell is taking the rest of the PBM crew out on the Devil Dogs to check out a cave one of his men found hidden by the lake at the damaged Portal rail line during the survey flight a day ago. He has placed Mayor in charge of the red crystal mission.

In the briefing for the cave exploration, Captain Powell lays out the mission. “I’m arming everyone with pikes and crossbows with narc arrows,” he tells them. “I’m not expecting any major opposition, but, just to be safe, we will take some Bulb Pugs and antitoxin with us. Due to the small entrance that we will have to crawl through, we will be unable to take the Devil Dogs with us for protection and transport. We’ll leave them at the cave entrance and proceed from there. If it looks like it will become extremely dangerous in there, we won’t go any further inside.”

It is an easy trip over to the south shore where a zip line is shot for the Devil Dogs to descend down to a beach at the cave entrance. “This looks good,” Captain Powell tells the PBM crew. “There is crystal here we can take back with us. There’s plenty of room where we can leave our Devil Dogs sheltered in safety.”

“Here’s that tunnel entrance,” reports Lt. Combs. “It looks like that it opens up into a large chamber beyond. I can see ambient light up ahead.”

“It must be from the mushrooms inside,” answers Captain Powell. “Our survey flight never found any other entrance into this cave.”

“Check out these gecko like creatures,” reports Ensign Eslander. “They look rather cute.”

“Glowtails,” reports Captain Powell as he examines one with his Specimen Implant. “They should be an easy passive tame. I don’t know what kind of mushrooms will work, so, lets place all the varieties on them to find out what they will eat.”

“They like the black ones,” answers Ensign Archer.

“It didn’t fall asleep after eating it?” ask Captain Powell.

“They must be immune to the narcotic effect,” answers Lt. Combs. “Oh, she like riding on my shoulder. She is a good light source too.”

“$hit! I spotted some wild Devil Dogs down here,” warns Carpool.

“Keep an eye on them,” orders Captain Powell. “If they come looking for trouble, we’ll just tranc them.”

“What is this strange looking loot crate?” ask Zorweiski as he goes over to inspect it. “Interesting, it contains something called the Artifact of the Depth.”

“Lets take it!” orders Captain Powell. “Everyone, watch out for trouble. Be ready to run back out of here if we have to.” The artifact is retrieved with no issues as the Glowtail taming continues.

“Wow, there is some real nasty stuff way down below in the blue water,” warns Jordy as he looks over from the top of the cliff where they are doing the taming.

“I see no need to go down there or anywhere else in this cave,” reports Captain Powell. “Lets leave as soon as everyone has tamed themselves a Glowtail.”

“What should we do with these four bulb pugs?” ask Lt Combs.

“We’ll bring them back to the cave entrance and let them wander in there,” answers Captain Powell. “They should be safe there from any predators. We can always come back for them later if we still need them.”

Leaving the confines of the narrow tunnel into the cave, Captain Powell and the PBM flight crew arrive back in the entrance. “Good job everyone,” he tells them as they all mount a Devil Dog for the ride back. It is up the zip line, around to crossing above the waterfalls, and back to base.

Back at the base, the additional hazard suits have been crafted up by Sargent Thomas and Pasenna. “We can have charge lanterns for everyone as soon as we get the red crystals,” Sargent Pasenna reports. “We have a dozen charge batteries ready for every rock drake that will be armed with one.”

“That’s great,” answers Captain Powell. “We can make a surface run as soon as the 10-90 daylight cycle hits. Let the red expedition get some rest when they get back, then, we can get back to training.”

Earlier, at the top of the cliff of the Blue Cavern, Mayor is conducting a meeting of the upcoming raid. “Everyone will follow me down the old rail line to the Red Zone. Be sure that you have your hazard suits on and a helmet on your shine horn. Stay out of the red water, it is poisonous. If one of us displays a war bonnet, stop what you are doing and get on us as fast as you can. Reaper kings and queens are known to be living down there. We can detect them long before you can. You don’t want to be attacked by a Reaper Queen. If she doesn’t kill you outright, she will impregnate you with a parasite called a chest burster. If you are quick, you will have all the red crystal we can carry before they show up to harass us.”

“When we reach the bottom, we will split up into teams of two to go to where we know there is red crystal. Only go after the smaller nodes, the large ones only give you stone and will alert the Reapers that we are down here. Take only the red crystal and nothing else. When your team has harvested 400 pounds of red crystal, dump any stone and white crystal you may have gathered, head back up the cliff, and get out of there as quick as you can.”

“I can’t fracking believe that I am taking orders from a Rock Drake,” Lt. Tylor comments as Mayor conducts his briefing.

“Actually, it makes a lot of sense,” answers Daryol. “He know this place far better then we do. We’d best do what he tell us to do if we want to get in and out without ending up in a fight with those Reaper things. They have to be some fracking nasty devils if the Drakes are frightened by them.”

With the meeting completed, the rock drakes start down through the vertical rail line into the Red Zone. Reaching the bottom, the group splits up into seven mated pairs that quickly land in the crystal rich areas. Everyone is rapidly gathering red crystal as it continues to be spooky with the red glow and the strange noises coming from the ground down below them.

“Lt. Tylor has just completed gathering his second batch of 100 red crystal when Davy suddenly activates his war bonnet. “Oh $hit!” Lt. Tylor shouts in fright when he turns around and finds himself up close and personal with a Reaper King. He craps his pants as the thing growls at him spraying his hazard mask with its spit. In an instant, Lt. Tylor turns around making a mad dash to get on Davy who races to his aid, goes into stealth mode, and scrambles up the side of the cliff to join his mate Doris.

“That was close, too close,” he tells Davy as he hangs on tight to the saddle. “I will never, ever, question a rock drake giving me orders again!”

“That even surprised me,” answers Davy nervously. “I’ve never seen one get so close to us without us detecting it.”

“Do you think Rockwell called him in on us?” Daryol asks Doris after they have stopped to rest for a bit.

“No,” she answers. “I only detected that one just as it surprised Lt. Tylor. It was probably one of the loners that was hiding motionless, under the ground in the area. That is likely how he escaped our detection.”

“I think that we have more then enough red crystal for the day,” answers Lt Tylor. “Lets just get the fracking hell out of here.”

Back at the base, the teams of the hit and run raid are coming back in with their precious cargo of red gems. Sargent Thomas and Pasenna are being kept busy fabricating the Charge Lanterns and additional charge batteries for them. “We’ll soon have one for every rock drake on the team,” he announces.

Lt. Tylor and Daryol are the last ones to come back on Davy and Doris. “You look like you saw a ghost,” Captain Powell tells Lt. Tylor. “Your hazard suit is a mess. What’s that awful smell? Did you just $hit your pants?”

“I saw one up close and personal!” Lt. Tylor answers while still shaking in shock. “It was the devil himself. I was face to face with that frackin Reaper King thing. It just appeared out of nowhere from under the ground. That thing is as big as a rock drake standing on its hind legs. It flung a poison ball at us with its tail just as Davy went stealth and scrambled out of its path. I though that those Spinos down by the river were nasty, this thing is far more terrifying. I now know why the rock drakes are frightened by them. I just hope that those new charge lanterns can take those frackin things out.”

“We may soon find out,” answers Captain Powell. “After we complete some additional training with the rock drakes, I plan to head to the surface to collect element ore. Mayor tells me that reaper kings will show up after dark, so we want to be ready to fight them if we can’t get away from them. We’re going to train to use the Charge lantern along with the new assault rifle for taking out the poison balls, those Reapers, and their seeker friends. It’s going to be a balancing act given that the light of our glow creatures weakens the Reapers but it attracts the seekers making them stronger. So, we’ll train with our glow tames to get them to switch on and off as needed.”

“Go get cleaned up and get some rest, we will commence with training in another hour.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 15 The Deadly Surface.

 

That afternoon, as the crystal is being crafted into charge weapons, the training arena is under construction. With the help of the PBM crew, a mock up of Rockwell’s Lair has been constructed in the large flat field near the portal wall. Size wise, it is being made as accurately as possible. A circular platform is constructed out of thatch to represent the boundary of the element pond with a ramp to the center. A thatch dummy of Rockwell is placed in the center. Eight thatch tentacles are added at the pond’s edge. A stone wall is then constructed to represent the force field. “Do you know if our Rock Drakes friends are going to be capable of climbing up on the force field?” ask Captain Powell.

“I do not know,” Lt. Jerry answers.

“Were you able to climb on the force field during your confrontation with Rockwell?” Captain Powell ask Daryl who is helping supervise the construction of the training arena.

“I don’t remember,” Daryl answers. “I was too busy fighting Rockwell to try it. It certainly felt solid enough when Rockwell threw me into it.”

“I’ll pray that you can,” answers Captain Powell. “It will give you a place to get away from Rockwell’s lightning weapon should he activates it and you are running out of altitude for gliding. We’ll work on hitting all his tentacles at once so we can eliminate that threat as quickly as possible.”

As the work has continued on the arena, Mayor and Margaret with Sargent Thomas and Pasenna are conducting a recon to the surface shelf. That area is now in the shade as they just climb up to the edge to survey the flaming surface with spotting scopes. “How are you tolerating the heat up here?” Sargent Pasenna ask Mayor.

“So long as we don’t get into the direct sunlight, we will be fine,” Mayor answers back.

“Are you detecting any reaper kings out there?” Sargent Pasenna asks.

“No,” answers Mayor. “Like us, the daytime sun is fatal to them. They will only show up when it gets dark out.”

“It’s hard to tell looking through that heat haze and those hellish flames, but, I do see element ore near the base of those crags that are in the shade,” reports Sargent Pasenna.

“There is a charge node near here to the left,” reports Sargent Thomas. “I also see beacons marking loot crates in the distance. Is that actually the Earth I am seeing in the sky that’s so close to us?”

“How could we be orbiting that close to the Earth on this Ark without being seen by someone on the surface?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“Oh my God! There’s thousands of them out there,” reports Sargent Thomas as the sun starts setting in the darkening sky as he places the spotting scope on the bright spots. “How could we possibly not see any of them from the Earth?”

“There has to be only one of two reasons,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “Either they are all hidden by some cloaking device, or we are on this Ark in the far distant future.”

“If they were cloaked, we shouldn’t be able to see them either,” answers Sargent Thomas. “It looks like we are going to have two missions while we are up here. We grab as much element ore as we can shuttling it back down below this shelf to a storage crate and we go raid those loot drops. Lets report back to Captain Powell. We could be ready to conduct our first hit and run raid by tonight.”

Back at the base, the rest of the crew have completed the training arena. They are testing out some tactics with two riders on a rock drake where the rider hits a target tentacles as the passenger targets a swinging disk representing acid balls. Blunt stone arrows are in use for now.

“I wonder if a blunt stone arrow on crossbows would pop an acid ball,” ask Lt. Tylor. “It would certainly save our assault rifle ammo for something more dangerous while giving us some protection from friendly fire.”

“When that Reaper King pitch one at you, was it going slow enough that you could have targeted it with a crossbow?” ask Captain Powell.

“I believe so,” answers Lt. Tylor.

“Then, lets take both weapons with us when we go to the surface,” answers Captain Powell. “We’ll test the arrows on the gas balls and switch to assault rifles for seekers. Our crew will take along the Charge Lanterns in case we need to confront any of those Reaper Kings up there.”

“Here’s our recon team coming back. Everybody gather together with your rock drakes so we can plan our raid for tonight.”

At the meeting, Sargent Thomas files his report. “We have some good news,” he reports. “We spotted element ore scattered along the base of the rugged crags on the surface. Mayor says that they should be easy to climb up on to go gliding around on the surface. We also spotted several loot crate out there in a valley. I recommend that we have a team go after them at the same time we go gathering the element ore.”

“I’m going to recommend the following,” orders Captain Powell. “Due to the risk of running into Seekers and Reapers, we go with our planned flight crews on our rock drakes for this mission. Our PBM crew members will stay on their rock drakes to provide cover fire while our flight crew harvest the element ore. Because your rock drakes will be carrying two people on this trip with your weapons, you will need to limit yourself to 100 pounds of ore at a time. We’ll work in teams of mated pairs as before. When you reach your 100 pound limit, get the frack out of there and unload it in the crate we will have in the stone hut down below. Come back up and get more. Be ready for anything. The good news is that Mayor says that there are no frackin Reaper Queens on the surface. The bad news, you can expect a frackin $hitload of Reaper Kings and their pesky seeker friends. If you have to, kill them, but, get the frack out of there if they start ganging up on you. They are poor climbers so use the crags to get away from them.”

Parport, Lt Garber, Private Ledfoot, and I are going form a team to go after the loot crates. As Lt Garber doesn’t have a tail gunner, he will need to stay with Daryl to watch his six. The three of us will take turns accessing the drop while the rest of us watch out for and, if necessary, engage the Reaper Kings which I’m sure will be waiting for us to protect what’s in those drops.”

“Watch the sky. If you start seeing the morning twilight showing up, hug the shadows and get back to the storage shed ASAP. Get caught by that sunlight and you will be burned up in an instant. I don’t want to lose anyone, let along any of our rock drake friends, to being burned up alive when that sun comes back up. While we know that we can be reborn, they can’t. Do whatever it takes to protect them.”

“Are their any questions?”

“Then get your weapons, food and water, your hazard suits with spares, a glow pet, and mount up. We leave in five minutes.”

With the rush of activity, everyone is soon suited up and ready for action.

With Mayor leading the way, the expedition, which consist of everybody, heads for the surface portal. “Here is the stone hut with the storage box, reports Sargent Thomas. Store the element ore in there. We want to remain as light as possible should we have to deal with those frackin Reapers.” With that set of orders, all 14 rock drakes climb up to the surface where it is now dark, but nicely lit with the glow of the Earth close by above. Five teams of rock drakes glide out to the edge of the jagged cliffs as the team of Captain Powell heads straight to the first drop. All four of the rock drakes in his team promptly go into war bonnet mode as soon as they land next to it.

“Form a circle,” orders Captain Powell as he dismounts next to the loot crate and access it.

“Reapers,” warns Lt. Garber as he switches to his charge lantern and opens fire on one that appears directly in front of him. The weapon discharges with a loud electrical crack hitting the attacking reaper square in the face. It screams in pain as Daryl takes a chunk out of its side, finishing it off.

Another reaper fires a poison ball at Darlene as Lt. Combs shoots it with a crossbow causing it to pop. He quickly switches to the assault rifle to drop a seeker homing in on his glow tail.

“Head for that cliff,” orders Captain Powell as he scrambles back on Mary. Another reaper bites the dust from a charge lantern, then a burst of gunfire from an assault rifle as they race up the side of a cliff to regroup.

“Good job everyone,” Captain Powell tells them. “We now know that we can kill those fracking reaper kings. Lets go get whats in the next drop.”

“We got to watch the charge level on these charge lanterns,” warns Parport. “Those couple of shot used up an entire charge battery.”

“At least, we know that they did enough damage to that reaper king that Daryl had no problem in finishing him off,” answers Lt. Garber.

In the meantime, the other teams are doing their hit and run raids on the element ore. “$hit, this frackin stuff is really heavy,” warns Private Grobbal.

“100 pounds and get out of here,” orders Sargent Gulliver.

“Reapers,” warns Rocky as his war bonnet flares an alert.
“We’re out of here,” orders Sargent Gulliver as he hops on Lady Rocky. A seeker flies in as Ensign Archers drops it with a short burst from the assault rifle.

As the drop raiding team head out to the next loot crate, Parport is able to grab the contents and get back on Manor before the Reapers guarding it can launch an attack against them. “Thank God, that was easy,” he says to himself.

Back up on the cliff side, a red drop is spotted down in a low area of the surface. Putting his spotting scope on it, Captain Powell warns the rest of his team that four Reapers have already appeared to guard it. “Whatever is in there must be very important if those Reapers are already there waiting for us. Everyone, form a flying wedge. Private Ledfoot is going to grab what’s in this one. Surround and protect him when we hit those mudder frackers head on with charge lanterns and assault rifles.”

“I’m scared,” Darlene tells Private Ledfoot as they start their dive to the red drop.
“We all are,” answers Private Ledfoot. “Be brave. Remember your training. Kill that mudder fracker once I blast him with the charge lantern.”

Four charge lanterns crack with their electrical discharge as they hit the four Reapers followed by Darlene killing the one in front of her as she lands in front of the loot crate. Private Ledfoot jumps off, grabs the contents out of the crate, and scrambles back on her as his gunner Lt. Combs takes out two seekers that fly in to harass them. ‘I’ve got it!” Private Ledfoot shouts as the rock drakes scramble back up a cliff face, then launch into a glide for the cave entrance.

The top of a far peak starts to glow brightly in the distance.

Back to the cave, NOW!” orders Captain Powell in alarm. “That sun is rising much quicker then we expected.” A mad dash is made to the cave entrance as more of the taller crags start to glow brightly in the sunlight.

As Mayor and Margaret, being the furthest out going after element ore, make it back into the cave, the surface suddenly explodes into flames. “That was close,” comments Sargent Thomas as they land at the stone shed where he has stored 400 additional pounds of element ore from the previous raids.

“Reapers,” warns Lt. Tylor as several of them come jumping down the cliff with three of them already on fire. They start racing towards Darlene.

“Kill them,” orders Captain Powell.

The three on fire are quickly gunned down as the other four get several charge lanterns blasts into their face. The rock drakes, which now have formed a circle to protect Darlene, quickly finish them off. With the sun burning up the surface after that final fight, the raid is now over.

“Why were they so focused on going after Darlene?” ask Lt Tylor.

“That drop I raided had a rail gun in it.” answers Private Ledfoot.

“Ooo Rah!” shouts Captain Powell. “Lets get that and those tec rifles I found back to base with the element ore we have on us. I’ll send a team back with the Devil Dogs to pick up the rest of that heavy stuff.”

“What if more Reapers come down here to destroy our stash,” ask Lt. Jerry.

“They won’t show up as long as the daylight is up there,” answers Mayor. “The bright light coming in here will kill them if they try it.”

“Then lets get back to base and bring back the Devil dogs to haul this ore to the charge nodes before it gets dark,” answers Captain Powell.

“I’ll leave a surprise for them if they do decide to show up later,” answers Sargent Thomas.

That early evening, as the element ore is being converted into elements in all of the charge nodes by the base, a debriefing meeting is being held.

“We now know that we can kill those fracking red devils,” reports Captain Powell. “With the Charge Lanterns, our rock drake friends are no longer afraid of them. Sargent Pasenna is busy crafting up a bunch more batteries so we will have plenty of power to keep them working when we go to pay Rockwell a visit.”

“We got real lucky on that surface raid. Lt. Garber has got his promised rail gun we need for our final showdown with Rockwell. I don’t think that it will ever be possible for us to craft one. Rockwell must know that he can be harmed by it because we had quite a fight taking it from the loot crate. We also have two tec rifles and a blueprint for making more of them. As they all require element as their fuel to function, we are going to have to wait in testing them until the charge nodes can process the ore we brought back with us. We will have to limit training with these new weapons due to the limited element fuel we will have available for their use.”

“Another bit of good news is that we can set off those poison balls with a blunt stone arrow from a crossbow. That will allow us to save the assault rifle ammo for dealing with the Nameless and Reapers. We’ll make sure that we have rocket launchers and plenty of rockets for taking out Rockwell’s tentacles when we are ready to take him out.”

“Tomorrow, we will start training in the new arena on tactics. By the following day, we should have all the high powered weapons and ammo that we can carry into battle. We’ll move the drake eggs to the secure storage shed next to the portal control before we go visit Rockwell.”

In the distance, there is a loud muffled boom followed by the ground shaking for several seconds. “Oh too frackin bad.” comments Sargent Thomas. “The Reapers found my little surprise I left for them,”

“Maybe we had better make a steel vault for the drake eggs when we move them to the Portal,” answers Captain Powell. “We don’t want to lose any of them after keeping them safe here for all of this time.”

“We have enough processed metal to craft one up,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “I’ll craft it up so we can move the eggs to the portal control area before we go after Rockwell.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 16, Rockwell’s Lair.

 

“You were absolutely marvelous in our first real test of combat together,” Private Ledfoot tells Darlene. “You took out that Reaper King like he was a just a toy.”

“She went in there like a professional soldier,” answers Lt. Combs.

“But, I was so scared,” complains Darlene.

“We are all scared at the realization that we are going to head into harm’s way.” answers Lt. Combs. “If you are not frightened by the though of going into harm’s way, then there must be something wrong with you, You overcame your fear and did what you had to do to get the job done. I’m glad to be on your team. The more that I work with you, the more confident I feel that together, we can take out that Rockwell monster and get back home.”

“Thank you for having such confidence in me. I never knew that you humans could be so kind and caring after what the others had done to us so long ago.”

“We should get some rest now,” answers Lt. Combs. “Tomorrow is going to be a busy day of training before we are ready to pay that frackin Rockwell a most unpleasant visit.”

It is the following morning when Captain Powell calls a meeting for the days preparations. Sargent Pasenna first files his report on the new weapons that were found in the surface loot crates.

“The good news,” he says. “Is that we have all of the element refined into shards that we can now use to power the tech weapons we found yesterday. The bad news, we cannot craft any additional tech weapons unless we can find a blueprint for a tech replicator. The Helena notes says that we would have to kill Rockwell to get that blueprint from him, then use up all of our element shards to build it. We will have to make do with what we have.”

“The two tec rifles we have will give us 50 plasma shots per shard. That is good given that it will do about as much damage as a rocket. However, we do have to wait five seconds between shots for it to cool down.”

“The rail gun is something else. It has the power to punch a hole through five reinforced steel gates and still kill something on the other side. It’s disadvantage is that it uses half a shard of element per shot and takes a full minute to cool down before we can use it again.”

“I would recommend that we make a mount for the rail gun on Daryl’s saddle disguised as one of us so Rockwell won’t know who has it. I also recommend that we don’t test fire any of those weapons since their plasma signature would alert Rockwell that we have them in our possession. I’m going to put all of the resources we have into making rocket launchers and assault rifles for our attack weapons. Then, when Rockwell has been weakened by them, we can finish him off with the tech gear.”

“I’ll have you and Sargent Thomas start crafting us up rockets, launchers, assault rifles, and ammo for all of us.” orders Captain Powell. “Ensign Eslander and Alvin will train on your rock drakes until we are ready for the arena. The first thing I want to do is see how tough our rock drakes have become by having them run the escape course Rocky took when Sargent Gulliver and Private Grobbal were first riding him. Lets head up to the edge of the Blue Cavern and make that training run.”

Leading the way, Rocky goes to the place where he first encountered the flight crew on their Devil Dogs. Private Grobbal is in the pilot seat with Ensign Archers in the rear. “Hang on,” Private Grobbal warns Ensign Archers. “It was a fast trip the first time he did this.”

“Are you ready?” ask Rocky.

“Lets do this,” answers Private Grobbal.

Rocky makes a mad dash for the drop off, then launches into a glide with a left turn. That is followed by his slamming into the cliff feet first by the portal. Then, he makes the mad scramble to the top, and launches into flight to land by the abandoned village on the other side.

Private Grobbal gets off to be in front of Rocky. “Your not one bit tired this time,” he tells Rocky. “Last time you were so thoroughly exhausted that you couldn’t move.”

“That was actually fun,” Rocky answers. “It was so different from when I was so scared of you and Sargent Gulliver that first time you rode on me.”

“That is really great news,” answers Captain Powell who arrives behind them on Mary. “They have all come such a long ways in stamina since we first met them. That endurance is going to be so important when we have the showdown with that frackin Rockwell. Lets head back to the training arena and get some tactics training done.”

In the training arena, Captain Powell calls everyone together for an orientation meeting. “Today, we are going to try to take out all the tentacles at once. As you can see, I have numbered them 1 to 8. We will start at the portal. I don’t know who will be the closest when we teleport in, so, whoever is closest to Rockwell is going to pair up and take off in opposite directions to target tentacle 4 and 5 that are behind his back. The next closest two will take off and target 3 and 6 towards his back side. The next pair will go after 2 and 7 near his front. Then, the next pair will target 1 and 8 that are in front of him. The four of you that don’t have any target tentacles will harass Rockwell with rockets with their tail gunners targeting his acid balls. The one exception to this rule will be Daryl. He is going to stay back with me as a reserve force. Fire blunt arrows at the base of those tentacles as soon as you get parallel to them. I don’t want to see anybody getting hit by friendly fire given that when we are done training, we are going to blow up our straw Rockwell with live rockets. Since the last four will be in position with us to target Rockwell directly once he has lost the tentacles and starts ducking into the pool, I want the rest of you to get away from behind him as quickly as possible and come back to the portal to regroup. Rock Drakes, remember your maneuvering when you are coming head on to each other. The rest of you, be sure of your target before firing at Rockwell or whatever else is coming after you.”

“Any questions?”

“Why do you want us to get clear from behind Rockwell when he has lost all of his tentacles?” ask Mayor.

“Because we don’t know what is going to happen when we hit Rockwell with that rail gun.” Captain Powell answers. “It could blast a hole right through him, hitting anyone that happens to be behind him.”

“Any other questions?” There is a short pause. “Then, lets go do this. Go down to the makeshift portal and form a circle facing the control. When I say go, everyone spring into action. Don’t worry if you don’t pair up with your mate, just pair up with the nearest rock drake and go!”

Gliding down to the mock up arena, the 14 rock drakes and their riders form a circle around the fake control panel. “Go!” Captain Powell yells. There is a bit of confusion at first, then they pair up and glide out with the riders hitting the targets with blunt stone arrows.

“Lets do it again,” orders Captain Powell. Everyone lines up as before. “Go,” he orders. It goes much quicker with nearly everyone hitting a straw target at once.

“Excellent,” Captain Powell tells them. “Now, I’m going to place you in a circle with Mary and Daryl in the front. Their job will be to get out of the way circling to the rear for the rest of you to take off in pairs. Getting on Mary, he yells “GO!” The attack run goes even better.

“Now, lets try three runs at the target but be ready for a surprise when I land somewhere and yell Reapers! I want to see how you will react to the unexpected.” The attack run goes like clockwork until during the second run, Captain Powell lands Mary on the mock portal and yells Reapers.

“On the wall,” yells out Mayor as the rock drakes follow his lead, then take off in pairs to attack the eight targets.

“Excellent job Mayor,” Captain Powell tells him. “Are you ready for a live fire?”

“Yes, everybody says.”

“As soon as target 4 and 5 are destroyed, get clear of that area,” orders Captain Powell. “Lt. Garber is going to take out Rockwell with a rocket.”

“Ready, set, Go!”

Eight thatch targets go up in flaming wood and thatch splinters as 16 rocket hit their targets almost instantly. The eight rock drakes involve bank sharply to clear the rear area as Lt. Garber fires a rocket at the thatch Rockwell which also goes up in flames and splinters.

“Good job everyone,” Captain Powell congratulates them. “Get some rest for now. “We go to take out Rockwell in the morning.”

Later that evening Lt. Jerry comes down to visit with Captain Powell. “Are we going to take the Devil Dogs with us tomorrow?” he asks.

“No,” answers Captain Powell. “I’m going to give them, the Stegos, and the raptors the job of guarding the Rock Drake Eggs and the portal control from any predators while we are going after Rockwell. If we can, we’ll take them with us when we leave here.”

Early in the morning, Captain Shrivers leads a convoy of three raptors and two Stego to the portal control to place them on guard duty. He is joined by Sargent Gulliver that leads a pack of 14 Devil Dogs that form a circle around the control area. Six female rock drakes soon join them to place their eggs into the steel vault that has been placed next to the control panel. They are packed in place with thatch to protect them, then the vault is locked.

“The others are waiting for you two back at the base for a meeting,” Ronda tells them. They ride back on her where Captain Powell gives them a mission briefing before they are off to the Cavern of Souls.

“This is it,” he tells everyone. “When we arrive, remember your training. Glide off to your target tentacle and take it out. Remember to get clear of location 4 and 5 so we can safely attack Rockwell with the rail gun. Gunners, watch out for the acid balls and pop them with blunt arrows. Avoid being distracted by those Red Devils when he calls them in to harass you. If you have to, hit them with charge lanterns and let the rock drakes finish them off. Try to be up in the air as much as possible especially on the third go around. He will certainly try to electrify the chamber floor by then. When he does, I’ll target the offending tentacles with our tec rifles. If I can’t, hit them with your rockets. Watch out for splash damage from the warheads. Know what is past your target if you need to use your assault rifle. When the tentacles are down, provide cover for Daryl so Lt. Garber can come in with the kill shot.”

“Lets go kill that frackin freak Rockwell and get the frack out of here.” With Lt. Jerry’s help, the trip is quickly made to the Chamber of Souls where the portal control to get to Rockwell is located. With everyone gathers around in position, Captain Powell has Mary press the control. A mesh field surrounds them. Suddenly, they are in the chamber facing a huge ugly looking mass of distorted flesh resembling an oversize squid with the distorted face of Rockwell.

Rockwell starts to taunts them with his superiority speech as he starts tossing acid balls into the portal area. But, today, Rockwell is not going to get the chance to argue his superiority, as the eight drakes are already on the way to their assigned tactical position. The tail gunners and those in reserve start taking out the acid balls coming their way. Then, Rockwell suddenly loses all of his tentacles when they are hit at once by 16 rockets. The other 6 attackers start hitting his body with rockets as he dives under the smoking toxic metallic liquid to regenerate them.

As the tentacles reappear, the rock drakes are already back in position. Their gunners hit them with 16 more rockets taking them all out again.

Rockwell is now furious when he realizes that the wild Rock Drakes are now working together as an organized combat unit with their two human riders serving as gunners. He calls for his reinforcement. The arena is soon swarming with nameless and Reaper Kings.

“Get airborne,” warns Captain Powell as the tentacles appear for a third time. Two of them hit the floor electrifying it in that sector.

“Davy and Doris are in trouble,” warns Captain Shrivers as their riders are knocked off of them by the electrical charge as the Reapers and Nameless move in to attack.

“We’ve got it,” responds Captain Powell as Mary banks sharply to the left. Two bolts of plasma crack from the tec rifles as the two electrified tentacles are vaporized. Charge lanterns and assault rifles are now blazing as the downed crews recovers from the electrical shock and start taking out the ground attackers with assistance from the reserve force. 12 more rockets go off taking out the rest of Rockwell’s tentacles. The rock drakes quickly get out from behind Rockwell who has now been hurt and is fuming mad.

“Cover fire for Daryl,” orders Captain Powell. Gliding in front of Rockwell while making a sharp turn away, Lt. Garber turns to the tail gunner seat and uncovers the rail gun.

There is a blinding flash as he pulls the trigger followed by a loud crack as a huge bolt of plasma slams through Rockwell’s chest. His body explodes in a shower of blood, guts, and pieces of congealed element that start raining down on everyone. The force field suddenly vanishes. The harassing Nameless and Reaper Kings go racing for the edge of the chamber and jump off of it into the gloom below. There is an explosion seen in the distance. A blueprint for a tec replicator drops in front of Lt. Garber. He quickly grabs it.

The loud cheering of victory gets suddenly interrupted when the ground starts shaking far more violently then it ever has before. There is a roaring sound that starts filling the chamber as the wind picks up and starts blowing dust and pieces of debris into everyone’s face. “Lets get the frack out of here,” orders Captain Powell.

“The force field, is down,” alerts Lt. Garber to the others. The rail gun must have taken it out.

“Hey, we’re back in the Chamber of Souls,” alerts Lt. Jerry. “Rockwell must have been hiding in here all of this time.”

“Get to the Portal before this fracking place falls in on us!” orders Captain Powell as debris of all kinds starts showering down around them as the wind blowing towards the source of the explosion has now reaches a hurricane force level. The drakes start making a mad scramble for the Green zone to the Portal as the visibility deteriorates from the fog that’s starts to form in the thinning humid air of the cavern.

“Daryl, did I just see a drake egg over there?” Lt. Garber ask in his excitement as they are racing towards the portal area.

“Yes, you did,” answers Daryl

“Get over there so I can take it with us,” Lt. Garber orders. In a fast scramble, Lt. Garber, dumps the heavy rail gun from the gunner position on Daryl and grabs the drake egg. Then they are off racing to the Portal.

“Oh Frack,” warns Captain Powell as they reach the Green Zone. “I got a message that two of our Devil Dogs have just been killed by something called a Basilisk.”

“They’re after our eggs!” warns Mary as she tries to run and glide faster then ever.

“Spears and tranc arrows only,” orders Captain Powell.”We don’t want to risk any damage to the portal control.”

Arriving at the portal, they find through the heavy fog and blowing debris that’s now obscuring their vision that the Devil Dogs, stegos, and raptors are down at the other end in a fight with two basilisk. A third basilisk is at the portal control is trying to bite into the metal vault. A fourth lies dead nearby with the two dead ravagers. “We’ll take care of this,” Mayor tell Captain Powell as the rock drakes tear up and kill the basilisk trying to steal the drake eggs.

“Into the portal control, Now!” orders Captain Powell as he realizes that it is now getting very difficult to breathe in the ever deteriorating atmosphere.

“What about our tames?” ask Sargent Thomas in a panic.

“They're no time left to get them back here!” warns Captain Powell. “We must leave now before we all pass out from a lack of oxygen.”

“Where’s Lt. Garber with Daryl?” ask Private Ledfoot in alarm.

“Look out! here they come,” warns Lt. Combs.

Daryl crashes into the assembled group as Sargent Pasenna hits the control button. There is a bright light as everything gets distorted around them, first to a distant point, then everyone is accelerated towards the end cap of the portal which vanishes into a vortex that is aimed straight at the surface of the Earth.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 17. The Frozen Earth.

 

It is a beautiful morning on the western edge of the Tiger Mountain State Forest in the State of Washington when a flash of light appears out of nowhere. 14 exhausted rock drakes and 27 airmen gasping for air come tumbling down to the ground from out of the light along with a steel vault. They go rolling down the hill to come to rest at the base of the hill. There is a brilliant flash of light high in the sky overhead as glowing pieces from something way up in outer space go flying in all directions.

“Wow, it just blew the frack apart!” comments Sargent Pasenna as he starts to catch his breath.

“Why was it getting so hard to breathe in the portal before Sargent Pasenna hit the control?” ask Private Ledfoot.

“Probably because the atmosphere was being sucked out into space from that hole the rail gun had made in the cavern wall.” answers Sargent Pasenna.

“Everyone, get some rest before we start moving on,” orders Captain Powell.

“Where’s the Drake eggs?” ask Private Grobbal.

“Here’s the vault,” answers Icelander. “According to my implant, the eggs are all intact.”

“What? We still have our implants?” ask Lt Tylor.

“Yes. They are still working,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “Except that they are now black in color.”

“Could we be on another Ark?” ask Sargent Thomas.

“No, I don’t think so,” answers Captain Powell. “The GPS is registering longitude in negative degrees now. It’s giving the location as somewhere in the State of Washington East of Seattle. I can see snow capped mountains to the East and the West.

“That’s good news for our drake friends,” answers Private Grobbal. “It will be cold enough for them to hatch their eggs up there.”

“I wish that I had my egg,” answers an exhausted Darlene who is now in tears.

“Daryl and I have a surprise for you,” Lt. Garber tells her as he places a drake egg on the ground in front of her.

“A drake egg! Where did you find it?”

“I spotted it when we were climbing out of the cavern of souls.” answers Lt. Garber. “That is why we were late getting to the portal.”

“But, it’s not my egg!”

“Who does this egg belong to?” ask Private Ledfoot.

“It belonged to a pair of rock drakes that lived near my nest.” answers Darlene.

“What happened to them?” ask Lt. Garber.

“Rockwell killed them when they helped us to try to get my egg back out of his lair,” answers Darlene with a tear in her eye.

“Then, this egg is an orphan,” answers Private Ledfoot. “Darlene, it needs a mother to hatch and raise it. We can’t do it. We don’t have any Nameless Venom with us. It would become a dumb egg tame if we try to raise it. Would you hatch and raise it for us as your own child?”

“I’ll do it,” answers Darlene.

“I’ll take care of it as if it were ours,” answers Daryl.

“Thank you, both of you,” answers Lt. Garber and Private Ledfoot as they hug their rock drake friends.

“That’s wonderful that you were able to rescue it from certain destruction.” answers Captain Powell. “We better pack those eggs in the saddle bags on their mothers. Things are looking way too weird with snow capped mountains, giant redwoods, and these tropical palms all in this one location.”

As they continue to get adjusted to the fact that they have returned to Earth somewhere in the western area of the State of Washington, the airmen start getting prepared to head back towards civilization.

“My God! Look at the size of those skyscrapers to the West,” Captain Shrivers comments as the clouds clear just enough for what is the city of Seattle to become visible.

“If this is Earth, we must be in its distant future,” answers Captain Powell. “Lets head over there and find the authorities. We can always cloak the drakes if things look too out of place. Lets cover the vault so no one finds it, take an inventory of what we have, and make plans to find military command.”

A shed has been constructed to cover the vault which is then camouflaged with the local plants in the area. “We don’t need our hazard suits any more, they are just unnecessary weight. Lets place them and anything else we don’t need in storage.”

“How’s our food and water situation?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“We’re good for now,” answers Captain Powell. “I see some mule deer in the distance. At least, there is game out here in these woods for the rock drakes to hunt.”

“Mayor, are you willing to come along with us into Seattle to help us find our command?”

“Yes, we’ll all come with you,” Mayor answers.

With the eggs packed on each female drake, everybody gets mounted up on their drake friends to head towards Seattle and civilization. Sargent Thomas takes point on Margaret with Ensign Eslander as his gunner. Mayor is right behind, then Captain Powell on Mary with Parport on Manor.

“I’m so looking forward now to hatching this egg, even if it does not belong to me,” Darlene tells Private Ledfoot as the patrol heads west out of the pine forest.

“It’s the least you can do for the sacrifice your two friends made in their attempt to save yours,” answers Private Ledfoot.

“Here’s a major highway up ahead,” reports Sargent Thomas as they are riding the rock drakes to the West. “The sign by the road says Highway 18. The sign on that bridge says Seattle 10 miles ahead.”

“Where’s the traffic?” ask Lt. Jerry as they all stop to survey the area.

“That is most strange,” answers Captain Powell. “This looks to be a major highway to Seattle. It should be jammed with traffic. Yet, the road is in such bad shape that it appears to have been abandoned. At least, that sign confirms that we ended up in the state of Washington. There is a military base south of Tacoma where we can report in. These Rock Drakes can get us there a lot faster then if we had to hike that distance on foot.”

The 14 rock drakes continue to make good time by mostly gliding along the highway. It is a strange countryside they are traveling along as it appears to be all overgrown with brush, trees, and abandoned structures in various states of decay.

Then, the big shock as they round a hill to view the city proper. “My God, it’s been completely destroyed,” reports Sargent Thomas who has been in the lead on Margaret as they see numerous larger structures in various degrees of decay and structural damage.

“What in the frack happened here?” ask Sargent Pasenna as they observed abandoned futuristic looking vehicles blocking the road ahead. “It looks like this place was either hit by an earthquake or an atomic bomb. Everything here is either burned out, or in some degree of damage.”

“Lets get down to the waterfront and see if we can find out what’s going on here,” answers Captain Powell. The rock drake patrol continues to pick their way around the abandoned cars and trucks as they trot down the main road heading to Puget Sounds and the docks located there.

Going into stealth mode, the 14 drakes glide over the damaged security fence landing at the head quarters of the Port Authority at the waterfront. In addition to the damaged buildings, there are container ships sunk at the docks or run up on the shore, a US Navy WW2 light cruiser that is just floating out in the harbor, trucks and rail cars with shipping containers that have been broken into, and human skeletons all over the place. “What a fracking mess!” comments Lt. Garber. “Something terrible must have happened here to result in so many people being killed. They must have been very desperate to be fighting over whatever was in those shipping containers. I doubt that there is going to be anything left that we can salvage for our own use.”

“I think that it is safe for everyone to come out of stealth mode.” Captain Powell tells the rock drakes. “There is definitely no one left alive around here. Just in case, stay here and be on guard while Lt. Tylor and I go inside the Port Authority headquarters to find out what the frack happened around here.”

“Lt. Jerry, take another man with Manor and Mary and go check out that naval warship. I’m placing Mayor in command while we are gone inside.

An hour later, the leaders are back and have gather everyone around them. Lt. Tylor starts the briefing. “It appears that we are now about 100 years into our future. Another world war has taken place since we were gone. Apparently, it was not a confrontation with the Soviet Union, It was a fight over good and evil, what the Bible would call, Armageddon. The military command gave it the name World War Z. During that war, the evil ones, believed to be Radical Islamic that were supposingly living on something called The Mother Wheel, released a biological weapon that specifically targeted people. They hit all of the major cities around the world with it at once by placing a genetically created virus into the municipal water supply. There was no cure for it. Some called it a zombie disease that was being spread by being bitten by someone that was infected, kinda like Rabies. That could have been controlled had those with the disease been quarantined until they were all dead. But, with hundreds of millions being infected all over the world at once, it became impossible for the authorities to contain the virus. It spread rapidly, everywhere, as the infected people panicked and fled to the countryside.”

“Could we end up being infected?” ask Private Ledfoot in alarm.

“I don’t think so,” answers Captain Powell. “The report indicated that the virus could only survive for a week without a living host. By the looks of this place, it has been decades since the infection took place and wiped everybody out.”

“That is so fracking nasty,” answers Private Ledfoot. “Is it possible that we could find survivors?”

“There is always that possibility,” answers Captain Powell. “We should go to the eastern side of the Olympia Mountains so we can establish a base there for the rock drakes to hatch their eggs, then continue exploring the area and see if we can find survivors. We found a map in the Port Authority Office which will help us get around this bay. We better head South through Tacoma and try to make it to Ft. Lewis so we can camp there for the night.

Lt. Jerry now files his report. “That was so weird being on board that light cruiser named the Philadelphia. I don’t understand what she was even doing here on the West Coast. She was supposed to be sailing over to France on the day we went looking for you. Even more strange, she was not even anchored or tied up to anything. Manor and Mary had a hard time finding a place to land on her due to all of the heavy communication antennas in her superstructure. I’ve never seen so many vacuum tubes in one location in that radio room under all of those cables going to those antennas. It looked like someone tried to destroy the transmitter power panels with a fire ax. We found his skeleton with the ax in his hands among a pile of shattered vacuum tubes. It looked like that he become part of the panel. We could hear the generators still running down below in the engine room. It felt like we were on a ghost ship. There were skeletons of crew members that looked like they had become part of the ship trapped between the decks or through the bulkheads. There were no signs that any of the rioters ever got on that ship. Then, something spooked Manor and Mary into war bonnet mode. They started to warn us that we had better leave the ship, as if they sensed that we were facing some unknown danger if we stayed on board any longer.”

At this point, Lt. Jerry’s report gets interrupted by a strange glow that engulfs the Philadelphia. A high pitch hum, similar to what the air crews had heard before their aircraft were disabled, fills the air. Then, in a flash of light, the strange sound and glow is gone.

“Oh! My! God! It just vanished!”

“That confirms those frackin rumors about the Navy playing with Stealth Technology,” answers a disgusted Captain Powell. “They must have been using our training flight to see if they could hide our target ship when everything went to frackin hell and sent us into the Aberration Ark. You’re lucky to have got off of her before she vanished to God knows where.”

“Well, at least we can use the cold weather gear we found on board,” answers Lt. Jerry. “It is a lot cooler here then what we have been used to the past several days.”

“There's someone out there in the water,” Lt. Garber sounds the alert as a voice is heard hollering for help.

“Is there anything around here we can use for a boat?” orders Captain Powell.

“Daryl, can you swim?” Lt. Garber asks him.

“Yes,” Daryl answers. “We can swim quite well.”

“Lets go rescue him,” orders Lt. Garber. With a flying leap, Daryl takes off over the water, circles about, and lands in the water next to the person in distress. “Grab hold of the saddle and climb up on it.” The stranger, who is too afraid of drowning to question how he is being rescued, scrambles on board into the second seat as Daryl starts swimming to the dock.

“Thank you for pulling me out of the water,” the stranger responds. “What kind of a rescue craft is this?”

“It’s a Rock Drake sir,” Lt. Garber answers. “His name is Daryl. What is your name?”

“I’m Electrician Mate Mike Macussi,” the stranger answers.

“How did you end up in the water,” Lt. Garber asks.

“We were conducting some test with some experimental radio equipment when all of a sudden, the deck felt like it was melting out from under our feet. We tried to shut it down but it wasn’t responding when we cut the power to the transmitter. Seaman Schultz grabbed a fire ax and started smashing the power panel. Suddenly, he became a part of that panel. I made a mad dash to jump overboard when I started seeing the other sailors falling through the deck. The ship vanished as I jumped over the side.”

“How did I end up in this harbor in Hiroshima when we were just off of the Hens and Chicken shoals?”

“You didn’t,” answers Lt. Garber. “You are in Seattle some 100 years into the future.”

“My God! Those people must have opened up a time portal with that transmitter!” Macussi answers in shock.

“Hang on tight,” orders Lt. Garber. “Daryl is about to climb up on the dock to get us out of the water.”

Now back on the dock, everyone is introduced to each other with their stories about what has happened. “That definitely confirms those rumors that the Navy was fracking around with stealth technology,” Captain Powell says in disgust. “Then they screwed things up royally when it intercepted those alien portals. Lets start heading towards Ft. Lewis so we can get there to set up camp before it gets too dark out. Macussi, you can ride on Daryl.”

Following the main highway through Tacoma by mostly gliding over the abandoned cars and trucks, the rock drakes have reached the Ft. Lewis reservation by late afternoon. They glide into the base and down to the barrack area of the reservation.

“These old concrete barracks will do just fine for now,” reports Captain Powell after inspecting one. “All of the windows in the center squad bay are still in place. We can easily secure the two stairways to the third floor and tie shut the main squad bay doors. We have access to the roof where our Rock Drake friends can stay in relative safety for the night. The bay bunk beds are still there with their blankets.”

“Darlene wants to build a nest on the roof,” Private Ledfoot reports. “In fact, all the female rock drakes are asking if they can build a nest up there. They tell me that their eggs are starting to incubate and will hatch soon.”

“That’s good news for them,” answers Captain Powell. “This cooler weather must be all that was needed to wake those eggs up. Lets go help them gather pine branches, gather the extra mattresses and blankets from the main bay, and help them build some temporary nest up on the roof. With everybody working, that shouldn’t take us long.”

It is late evening when the seven nests are completed up on the barrack roof. “Thank you for helping us,” Darlene tells the airmen. “With the bedding you brought up for us, these nest will be excellent. We’re so glad that we decided to become friends with all of you.”

“As soon as we can secure one, we want to relocate you nest inside one of the aircraft hangers where your nest will be sheltered from the bad weather this side of the state is famous for.”

“That would be so wonderful,” Darlene answers. “I’m so happy that Lt. Garber was able to find my friend’s egg during the rush to get back to the portal.

“I’m declaring all the Rock Drakes as honorary Marines.” answers Captain Powell. “That was a marvelous job you did in helping us defeat Rockwell so that we could all escape Aberration to come back to Earth, even if it is in a future post war world.”

“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about our superiors taking them away from us to conduct their cloaking experiments on,” answers Private Ledfoot.

“Yes, that is a relief,” answers Captain Powell.

“Good news,” reports Sargent Thomas as he and Sargent Pasenna return with two cartons of survival food to the third floor squad bay where everybody is now camped out. “We found cases of these stored in the supply room along with large plastic jugs of water, some cook stoves, and cans of fuel for them. They are freeze dried survival rations. They have a shelf life of 30 years.”

“Excellent,” reports Captain Powell. “The last date on the headquarters calendar was 2035. These rations are dated with a packing date of 2032. From the condition of the navy ship tied up in the harbor, Lt. Jerry estimates that the plague took place some ten years ago. We might as well make Ft. Lewis our new base of operation for now. There’s wild game nearby for the drakes to hunt and a pond nearby to supply us with water. They have already found the conditions needed to incubate their eggs in their nest. They have a place to live up on the roof for now. We’ll check out the hangers at the airstrip in the morning to see if they would be suitable to use as a Drake shelters when the weather gets bad. There should be some barracks over there we can relocate to if they are as secure as this place. It looks like everything is falling into place. We just need to find out if anyone survived the plague in order to ensure the survival of our species.”

Early that first night, as the sky clears, a shocking discovery is made from up on the roof. “Captain Powell,” shouts Private Ledfoot with alarm, “Get up here now!”

“What is it?” ask Captain Powell. Then he looks behind him to the West. “My God! That looks like another planet orbiting close to the Earth!”

“Incredible,” answers Sargent Thomas as he has a look at it. “It has an atmosphere with clouds and blue areas that look like they are oceans. Are we looking at a mirror image of our Earth?”

“I don’t think so,” answers Lt Jerry. “I don’t see any recognizable land features on the surface. Then, there are those huge craters showing up in several places.”

“Could that be our moon?” ask Private Ledfoot.

“No,” answers Captain Powell. “The moon is coming up further to the East.”

“Do you think that it could be that Mother Wheel responsible for the zombie plague?” ask Private Ledfoot.

“Unlikely,” answers Captain Powell. “It looks too much like a planet to be some sort of a space station.”

“I can see several of those Arks up in the sky without the spotting scope,” reports Captain Shrivers. “They are definitely not cloaked.”

“I wonder if they could have been placed there by the inhabitants of that strange planet,” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“That’s a possibly,” answers Sargent Gulliver. “Given those huge craters we are seeing on the surface of that planet, they could have been lifeboats that were built by the inhabitants to ensure their survival.”

“That would make sense,” answers Captain Shrivers. “They must have known that a global disaster was coming so they built those lifeboats to live in until their world could recover for them to return. Something must have gone terribly wrong given what happened on Aberration and the extinction that took place down here while we were gone.”

“I wonder if anyone had tried to make contact with their world or ours before the extinction took place,” ask Sargent Gulliver. “Or, for that matter, if those little green men from that other planet were responsible for the mess that took place here ten years ago.”

“That will be one of our future missions to research once we get more established around here tomorrow,” answers Captain Powell.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 18 Our new home.

 

It is a cold clear morning in Ft Lewis as everyone wakes up to prepare for the task of the day. The drakes have taken turns to go hunting for food. They report having found other wild grazing animals along with the mule deer out on the reservation for food. Some coyotes were heard during the night. It is apparent that the wildlife and domesticated animals that were in the pasture and open range have survived the plague of ten years earlier.

Lt. Garber and Daryl have gone down to the airstrip to check out the hangers. Captain Powell has hitched a ride since Mary is now on her nest. “This new hanger looks suitable to use as a shelter for our rock drake friends.” Captain Powell tells the others. “If Daryl can fit comfortably through the big garage door in the side, we won’t have to worry about prying open the main hanger doors or closing it.”

Lt. Garber finds that the side door is unlocked and goes inside. Finding a ladder and some tools, he pops the pin on the chain to the drive motor. With both Captain Powell and Lt. Garber pulling on the chain pulley, they open the big service door to the hanger to let Daryl inside.

“Just remember to duck your head while you go through the service door so you don’t hit your head on a support beam,” warns Lt. Garber. “We’ll get some padding on it later when we board up those broken windows.”

“This looks really nice,” Daryl tells Lt. Garber. “We won’t have to worry about the weather outside if it gets as bad as you say that it can. I’ve have never been in rain and snow before.”

“I’m mostly concern for your young ones when the weather gets bad,” answers Captain Powell. “The blankets and mattress in your nest would get cold and wet. Lets get a detail organized to get seven more nest built so you can move the eggs in here before they start to hatch. We can raid the barrack next to our temporary home for the supplies. There are some hand wagons here we can use to haul that stuff on.”

It takes about an hour for 14 men ferried over by the male rock drakes to load the hand wagons with bedding from the nearest first floor barracks to place seven new nest in the hangers. They then help the rock drakes move the eggs to the new location getting the job done by noon. The rest of the crew then dumps the bedding from the nest down the access hatch and close it. That bedding is stacked in the main hall in case it is needed in the future.

“Lets relocate ourselves to the ready room,” orders Captain Powell. “That way, we can be in the same building as our rock drake friends.”

“It appears to be made to order for all of us,” answers Lt. Jerry after he makes a quick inspection. “These 30 beds in here are far more comfortable then those squad bay bunks in the barracks.”
 

Captain Powell gathers his crew and the male drakes for a quick meeting. “I’d like to get in a quick recon of the base area before the weather closes in on us. I’m leaving your mates here in their nest. My air crews will double up on the males. One of the PBM crew members can go with Parport on Manor. I’m staying here to supervise our search for more supplies.”

As the patrols head out, Captain Powell has the rest of the crew cleaning out the survival rations from the supply storeroom of the two nearest barracks to haul on the wagons to the hanger. They have found some 1911 semi auto pistols, some M-14s, and a couple of AR-15 in the supply room, but no ammo. “We’ll take these back to store them in the hanger for now. We can rely on our existing weapons as long as we have ammo for them. Soon as we are established here, we’ll go find where the ammo bunkers are located and see if we can find ammo for these weapons in there.”

As they are loading the wagons, the rain and sleet starts coming down. “Here, place these poncho over this stuff to keep it dry,” orders Ensign Alvin.

“Brrr, you are right about Washington in the winter,” comments Seaman Carpool. “This weather is worse then the North Atlantic off Nova Scotia.”

“Lets get back to the hanger and call it a day,” answers Captain Powell.

Mayor is the first one back with Sargent Thomas and Sargent Pasenna. “You were right to move us into the hanger,” Mayor tells Captain Powell as he practically runs through the door to get inside. “I never knew that rain and sleet could be so miserable.”

“It’s the cold and dampness that makes it so fracking miserable here in the winter,” answers Sargent Thomas. “When spring arrives, it will be a lot nicer out there.”

“We found the ammo bunkers. Unfortunately, many of them had been open and either had nothing in them, or they contained artillery shells with no powder charges. Several of them were completely destroyed in an explosion. I’d like to head back there with bolt cutters when this fracking rain quits to check out the ten unopened ones.”

“They must have taken all of the small arms ammo with them when they got their orders to stop people from fleeing the plague,” answers Captain Powell. “We did find some semi auto 1911, M-14, the magazines for them, and some very unusual automatic weapons that I have never seen before down in the supply room, but no ammo. We’ll just have to be extra careful if we find any survivors that we don’t start a shooting war with them.”

Private Grobbal and Sargent Gulliver are the next ones back on Rocky. “It’s just fracking miserable out there,” Sargent Gulliver reports. “Even Rocky hates being out in it.”

“They have been so used to the conditions on Aberration that the Washington winter is such a shock to them,” answers Captain Powell. “What did you find out there?”

“It’s pretty flat to the South of here in the reservation. It was hard for Rocky to gain much altitude when gliding. Much of the area has large open meadows among the pine forest. There were herds of wild cattle and horses grazing in those meadows. Rocky fracked up a pack of feral dogs that were harassing some of the horses. He said that they were quite tasty.”

“We then went up into Roy to look around. Like everything else we have seen, it was deserted. It looked like a lot of looting had taken place there. There were skeletons both in and outside of the homes as if the homeowners had taken a last stand against the looters.”

“Then, that miserable rain and sleet started coming down. We found a large hill nearby for Rocky to take off gliding from it. He was able to glide most of the way back here in no time.”

Lt. Garber and Private Ledfoot have now returned on Daryl. Private Ledfoot goes over to check on Darlene. “Be glad that we moved you into here,” he tells her. “The weather is frackin miserable out there.”

“This egg is about ready to hatch,” she tells him. “I’m so happy that Lt. Garber found it for me.”

“Take good care of it and the little one when it comes,” he tells her. “I’ve got a report to file.”

“Just before the rain rolled in, we saw signs of some possible survivors.” reports Lt. Garber to Captain Powell. “We were lights inside one of the officer’s houses by the base hospital, an armored off road vehicle parked in front, and two dogs outside with collars on their neck.”

“That’s either good news, or it may be a curse.” answers Captain Powell. “We had better proceed with caution in making contact given the violence we have seen that took place during the plague. I’ll send you with Sargent Pasenna and Mayor to pay them a visit when the weather clears.”

Ensign Bossman is back next with Micky. “There’s another airbase to the East of here,” he reports. “I saw some of the biggest aircraft ever on the tarmac. We were about to check out something that looked like it was created for a Flash Gordon movie. But, then, that storm front came through. It was miserable coming back here in that awful weather.”

Baluck is back next on Ricky. “$hit, the weather $ucks out there. We checked out the town of Spanaway. All the stores and strip malls had been looted of everything of value. It was amazing to see all of the appliances and stuff that was not useful for survival just laying there in the streets and parking lots, with skeletons hanging onto them. The further we got away from Ft. Lewis, the worse was the damage we saw caused from the rioting.”

“I noticed the same thing when we went West,” reports Lt. Tylor on Davy. “We saw no signs of looting or rioting until we got away from the reservation. It is as if a rumor had been started that Ft. Lewis was the source of the zombie plague so everyone stayed away from here.”

Parport is the last one back on Manor. “Such miserable frackin weather out there,” he reports. “There was very little to see along the perimeter road. We found some homesteads out in that direction away from the base. We could see where the homeowner had been defending their place from looters but either failed, or became infected. We saw some cattle, goats, and horses running wild in the fields. Manor had a nice meal from the feral dogs that were chasing the goats.

“It’s hatching, it’s hatching!” an excited Darlene interrupts them.

“Don’t crowd her!” Private Ledfoot warns everyone as they rush over to see the blessed event. “The baby will need to imprint on Darlene as soon as it is born.”

“It’s a boy,” she says as the little one pops out of its shell and runs up to her to nurse.

“Thank you, thank you so much for bringing us and our eggs back to your Earth,” Mayor tells Captain Powell. “This is the first rock drake egg that has ever been hatched by any one of us.”

“It’s a good thing that I spotted that stray egg as we were fleeing from Rockwell’s Lair,” answers Lt. Garber. “Darlene would have been so unhappy without an egg of her own to hatch.”

By late that evening, as the storm starts to clear, all seven rock drake eggs have hatched. “What a lovely family we now have,” says Sargent Gulliver. “We escaped from Aberration with our rock drake friends and they have had their wish come true. They are raising youngsters for the first time in their memory.”

“Do you know where you came from in the first place?” Private Grobbal asks Rocky as they are resting for the evening.

“I have no idea,” answers Rocky. “It is as if I just appeared down in the caverns on that Ark called Aberration with all the other creatures and its human inhabitants.”

“That is most strange,” answers Private Grobbal. “It is as if you and those other creatures on that Ark were just placed there to see how they would interact with each other. It has to be, given that we saw no young ones of any of the creatures we saw there. Any eggs that we found, with the exception of your species, were all unfertilized. None of those were in any kind of a nest. They were all just lying on the ground.”

“I wonder if whoever is on that strange planet orbiting the Earth, is responsible for what has happened here and on that Ark. Perhaps we will learn more from the other survivors living in the Officers Housing when we get a chance to pay them a visit.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 19. We are not alone.

 

It is the following morning as the weather has cleared and the rock drakes have returned from hunting for feral dogs. Captain Powell has warned them to stay away from the officer’s quarters so that they don’t accidentally catch one of the two collared dogs he has been told are living there. The little rock drakes are already starting to roam around the hanger and getting into trouble.

“I had to chase Danny out of the ready room,” reports Private Ledfoot. “He came racing in here after me and knocked over one of the footlockers when he leaped onto it.”

“We better keep the door to the ready room closed,” answers Lt. Garber.

“How long does it take before they are grown up?” ask Private Ledfoot.

“According to Helena’s notebook, it took them two days to raise an egg tame until it was big enough to place a saddle on it.” answers Captain Powell.

“Wow! That’s fast!” responds Private Ledfoot. “Do you think that these babies will grow up just as fast?”

“I don’t know,” Captain Powell answers. “Even Mayor doesn’t have an answer for us. Daryl, Mayor, Lt. Garber, I want to have a quick meeting with you three. We need to go pay a visit to the Officer’s quarters and see who is living there.”

As the meeting is held, Captain Powell ask Daryl and Lt. Garber a series of questions about the Officer’s Quarters area.

“The house that I saw the lights inside with the armored vehicle outside is located next to the base hospital,” Lt. Garber reports. “I saw the dogs through the spotting scope that were outside. They did not register as tames or wild. There is no information on them at all. They look like they are older yellow labs. Then, that storm rolled in so I couldn’t investigate any further.”

“I doubt that they are part of any feral dog packs,” answers Daryl. “Those feral ones that I ate this morning look more like your Devil Dogs then those two yellowish colored ones I saw yesterday.”

“Sargent Pasenna,” ask Captain Powell. “Is it possible to use a charge lantern as a stun gun?”

“It’s possible,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “The problem is that when we went through The Portal to get back to Earth, all the power that was left in the Charge Batteries was drained from them. The same thing happened to the eight Shinehorns and Glowtails that made it back with us. There is nothing here that we can use to recharge those batteries.”

“Then, we’ll have to use tranc darts if it comes down to a confrontation,” answers Captain Powell. “Lets get started then. I’ll ride on Mayor so Mary can stay with her child. I’m placing Lt. Tylor and Rocky in charge while we are gone.”

Heading West into the residential area of the base, the hospital is soon located as both rock drakes go into stealth mode. The dogs are outside and are alerted that something is out there, but don’t seem to think that it is a threat. They come running over to Captain Powell as he has dismounted from Mayor and walks towards them leaving the cloaking field from Mayor. “Oh, you are nice tames,” Captain Powell tells them as they both get petted.

“Ruth, Barry, get over here,” shouts an alarmed individual at the dogs as he steps out of the armored vehicle he is getting ready to use for the day. “Who the frack are you?” he says as he pulls out his handgun.”

“Drop it or I’ll eat you!” orders Daryl who is now behind the stranger. He turns around to see nothing. Then he is standing frozen in fear as Daryl comes out of stealth mode and flares his feather war bonnet.”

“What the frack is that?” ask the stranger shaking in fear as he drops his handgun.

“It’s a Rock Drake sir,” answers Captain Powell. “He won’t harm you so long as you don’t threaten us.”

“Oh, my apologies for not introducing myself. I’m Captain Powell of the United States Marine Corp, naval aircraft division. The gentlemen on the rock drake Daryl is Lt. Garber, United States Marine Corp Reserve. You’re going to find it hard to believe, but Mayor, the rock drake that I rode in on, is my second in command.”

“A Rock Drake is your second in command?” ask the stranger in shock.

“Yes sir, I am,” answers Mayor as he comes out of stealth.

“You’re not one of those aliens from that planet up there are you?”

“No sir, I don’t believe so,” answers Mayor.

“Incredible,” answers the stranger in shock. You marines show up on creatures that are not suppose to exist and they are as intelligent as you or I.”

“My apologies for not identifying myself. I’m Coronal Powell, head of the medical division of Ft. Lewis. I’m puzzled by one thing. You have the same name as my Great Grandfather who disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle on a training flight in 1945. How is that possible?”

“Sir, you are in for another shock,” answers Captain Powell. “We are from that training flight that vanished near Hen and Chicken shoals in December of 1945. For whatever reason, all 14 of us and the 13 sailors of the PBM flying boat that went looking for us, ended up on one of those floating objects in space. When we were able to escape from it, we ended up somewhere East of Seattle some 100 years into our future.”

“Incredible,” Coronal Powell responds. “This world has been so $crewed up after that ungodly war that broke out between us and those frackin Islamic Terrorist thanks to those Socialist Pacifists that took control of the Government in Washington in 2025. Now, I understand why there was never a trace of anyone, or the aircraft found from Flight 19 or the flying boat sent out to look for them. Those aliens from that planet up there, must have kidnapped you while the Navy was in that area rumored to be playing with some stealth technology they code named the Philadelphia Project and sent you here into your future.”

“That has been ours and Mayor’s best guess,” Captain Powell answers. “From what Intel we have been able to gather and the mess we have seen from outside this base, I didn’t think that we would find anyone else alive.”

“As you likely have found out by now, that zombie virus was planted in the water supply of ever major city of the world. It could have been contained had the general population not panic and tried to escape from it. The only reason Ft. Lewis survived the riots is because General Murphy started a rumor on Facebook that the plague had originated from here. By that time, all the military forces stationed here and at McCord Air Force Base had been mobilized to try to contain the rioting from Seattle and the surrounding suburbs. None of them ever returned.”

“That explains why we have found everything here to be in order,” answers Captain Powell. “The further away we have sent our patrols from Ft. Lewis, the worse the damage from the rioting that we have seen in the urban areas and the desperation we saw that the rural people were facing when they became targets of those rioters fleeing into the countryside.”

As they are talking, three more individuals come out of the house and are introduced to the two airmen.

“This is my wife, Major Judy Powell. She’s the senior MD for the biological lab in the base hospital.”

“Sargent Root and Sargent Harvey are our assistants in the medical lab.”

“Oh wow! Are those real live rock drakes with saddles on them?” ask Sargent Harvey.

“Yes indeed,” answers Lt. Garber. “Go ahead and make friends with Daryl. He likes to be petted on the neck.”

“How did you survive the plague?” as Captain Powell.

“When we realize what was happening to the world outside the base, we locked ourselves in the isolation ward with the emergency rations,” answers Judy. “Later, when we had a chance to study the virus, we learned that it could only survive for a week without a host. We also learned that it had been placed in the water supply of all the major cities worldwide to create so many victims that the government lost control of containing it. Because Ft. Lewis has its own independent water supply that is drawn from wells in the ground, we escaped the contamination. Thankfully, the virus could not survive being airborne. But, like rabies, it was being spread by the infected blood and saliva of its victims who started behaving like vampires, biting anyone that they could catch and each other until they all bled to death.”

“That explains why we saw so many skeletons out in the open,” answers Captain Powell.”

“That infection took place ten years ago as we were involved in a major world war against Islamic terrorism.” reports Coronal Powell. “The alien planet appeared in geosynchronous orbit a year ago. The thousands of Arks that you have seen, appeared shortly afterwards.”

“How could a planet be so close to the Earth and still retain an atmosphere?” ask Lt. Garber.

“That’s the mystery,” answers Sargent Root. “We figure that it is some kind of a space craft that is about one thousand kilometers in diameter. It must be in geosynchronous orbit given that it doesn’t move at all in the sky. No planet could hold on to an atmosphere and ocean this close to a far larger celestial body unless it either had a very high gravity or use some kind of an external force field. Since the tides in Puget Sounds don’t seem to have been affected by it, I would have to assume that the planet uses some kind of a force field to retain an atmosphere.”

“It must be using the same force field that was holding in an atmosphere on Aberration,” answers Lr. Garber. “Except that the former inhabitants manage to damage it turning the surface into a fiery radioactive hell during the daytime and a play land for dozens of vicious red devils called Reaper Kings at night.

“How did you manage to escape from there?” ask Coronal Powell.

“Sargent Pasenna was able to figure out how The Portal controls worked since it had brought us there in the first place. Before we could use it, we had to kill a hideous monster by the name of Edward Rockwell. He had been injecting himself with a substance he called Edmunium. That $hit turned him into a monstrous Mr. Hyde. Without the help of our Rock Drake friends, I doubt that we would have had the ability to kill him. Still, we must have had help from those aliens given that when we confronted our first rock drake and had dropped him with tranc darts, we found a saddle in a supply drop to put on him. It was after that first encounter with Rocky that we learned that all the Rock Drakes wanted off of that unstable place as badly as we did. When we did finally returned to Earth, we saw an explosion high up in the sky.

“So you were the ones responsible for that brilliant explosion we saw a couple of days ago,” answers Coronal Powell. “Where are you and your flight crews staying at now?”

“We are over in Hanger 18 with our Rock Drake friends,” answers Captain Powell.

“Would it be OK for my team to conduct a physical on everyone you have here with you?” ask Coronal Powell.

“Yes, indeed. How will you get there?”

“We’ll drive over with the Humbee,” answers Coronal Powell. “We can be there in half an hour.”

“That will work out,” answers Captain Powell. “Daryl and Mayor can have us back there in 15 minutes. Better leave your dogs here for now. I would hate for any of them to be accidentally eaten by a rock drake. They find the feral ones quite tasty.”

“Daryl and Mayor can make that trip that fast?” ask Coronal Powell.

“Yes,” answers Captain Powell. “They are great at gliding fast.”

“So, that why they have all of those feathers.” answers Sargent Harvey. How many rock drakes came here with you?”

“We have fourteen in mated pairs who are now raising eight little ones for their first time in their lives.”

“That’s incredible,” answers Sargent Harvey. “As a teenager, I’ve always been fascinated by these fantasy creatures. If the Coronal can spare me, Daryl has invited me to go ride on him.”

“Go ahead,” answers Coronal Powell. “We’ll bring your medical supplies with us. You can meet us at Hanger 18.”

“I’ll ride back with Coronal Powell,” answers Lt. Garber. “You and Daryl go have some fun together.”

Back in the hanger, Captain Powell briefs everyone that is not out on patrol about the visit. “It’s hard to believe, but my great grandson, Coronal Powell, is bringing his medical team over here to give us a physical. I know it is been a long time since any of you saw a woman, so, I expect all of you be on your best behavior. Watch the language and sexist comments. Major Ruth Powell happens to be the Coronal’s wife. So no funny stuff around her. After all there is still a brig on this base.”

“Darlene is my girl now,” answers Private Ledfoot. “Her new son is my adopted boy. I won’t be chasing after the Coronal’s wife.”

“Here they come now,” reports Captain Powell as everyone snaps to attention.

“At ease Gentlemen.”

“What an incredible crew,” reports Coronal Powell as he does a quick inspection. “Captain Powell tells me that you make up 14 air crews using Rock Drakes that serve as your pilots and gliders. A bomber and tail gunner riding in the saddle. I can see why you were able to take out that beast Rockwell with them. You make up a most unusual air assault force.”

“I’ll see each of you individually in the hanger office as soon as Sargent Harvey gets back from his joy ride on Daryl.”

As Coronal Powell gets set up with the equipment for the exams, Sargent Harvey has returned on Daryl. “That was absolutely amazing riding on a real live dragon,” he says as Lt. Garber helps him unsaddle Daryl.

“I enjoyed that as well,” Daryl tells him.

“As soon as we are done with the physicals, I would like to see his family, Darlene and Danny,” Harvey tells him.

“We’re all set to go,” Captain Powell announces to the crew as the medical staff finishes setting up the examination equipment in the office of the ready room.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 20 A physical for everyone.

 

As Sargent Pasenna is the first one to enter the hanger office, he is amazed to see the specialized portable equipment that has been set up, the fact that there are lights, and something that looks like a typewriter keyboard containing extra symbols with a display screen similar to what he saw on Aberration.

“For the exam, I will need you to take off all of your clothes except for your boxers or briefs,” Major Powell orders him.

“Where did you find the power for the lights and all of your equipment?” he asks as he is undressing.

“We are using a plutonium generator in this hanger to power all of the equipment,” answers Coronal Powell.

“You mean that this hanger had power available for us all of this time?” Sargent Pasenna ask in astonishment.

“With the ability to power everything in this hanger for forty years, you could have turned the lights on and opened the main doors anytime that you wanted. Still, they might need some help given that the last time the main doors were opened was about ten years ago. I’ll send Sargent Root out there to help one of your men unlock the main doors so you can open them up for your rock drake friends.”

“When did the military start using nuclear power?” Sargent Pasenna asks.

“We started using it for submarines, aircraft carriers, a heavy missile cruiser, and orbiting spy satellites starting in the 60s,” answers Coronal Powell. “Those power units are even small enough to power an implanted pacemaker for your heart or for this portable equipment.”

Putting his hand on the portable light, Sargent Pasenna finds that the bulb contained in it doesn’t look like a bulb at all. “How can this light source be so cold, yet it is giving off as much light as a 100 watt bulb?”

“It uses what we called solid state lighting,” answers Coronal Powell as he pulls up Sargent Pasenna’s records from the medical netbook database. “The light emitting diode produces all of that light while using about 2 watts of power. Unlike the incandescence light bulbs you are used to using, this one gives off no heat and will last for 20 years or more.”

“That’s about as amazing as the light we were getting from our Shine Horns back on Aberration.” Sargent Pasenna answers. “How were you able to get my medical records displayed on that strange looking typewriter, that you are using, so quickly?”

“It is called a medical netbook,” answers Coronal Powell. “Some time ago, all of the paper records of every soldier in the armed forces were converted into digital format. Everything has been stored digitally for the past 40 years. The storage method we are using can be easily duplicated through the use of DNA molecules. Those molecules are about the size of the head of a pin. One can easily handle the records of 100 million military personnel. All I had to do was to enter your serial number into the netbook to locate and display your records for me.”

“What incredible technology you now have.” answers Sargent Pasenna. “You have a machine that can access a warehouse full of filing cabinets of records, has them stored on a storage device the size of a pinhead, and can instantly find a specific record by only entering a serial number.”

“I’ll explain more to you on how things now work as we start your exam.” answers Major Powell. “The first thing I need from you is your fingerprint. Normally, we would just do a DNA scan for ID purposes, but since that technology was unavailable in WW2, there is no DNA record for you on file. So, we will scan your finger prints and compare it with the one in your personal file. Just place your hand flat on this scanning pad.”

“Interesting, no ink, no photos,” answers Sargent Pasenna as a tiny bar of light scans his palm for a print.

“Confirmed, you are exactly who you say you are,” answers Major Powell after about a 30 second search of the netbook database. “That’s now at least, two crew member that has been returned to us from the Bermuda Triangle 100 years later.”

“The Bermuda Triangle?” questions Sargent Pasenna.

“It is a name we gave that location of your disappearance after other ships and planes started to vanish there some time after you did,” answers Major Powell.

“Who is the other crew member?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“It’s Captain Powell,” answers Coronal Powell. “His thumbprint and DNA scan confirms that he is indeed my Great Grandfather.”

“That is most interesting,” answers Sargent Pasenna.

“Would you stand on the portable scales for me.”

“Two hundred eighty five point 3 pounds.” the scale reports in an automated voice.

“A talking scale,” answers Sargent Pasenna in astonishment. “Wait a minute, I can’t possibly weight that much.”

“Just where is all of that weight coming from?” ask Major Powell. “You most certainly look like you should weigh in at around 180 pounds.”

“Just a minute until I can unload this inventory.” Sargent Pasenna answers. He then places the extra clothes, pickax, hatchet, pike, crossbow with arrows, his longneck rifle with ammo and darts, canteen, and several other items that were stored in his Specimen Implant on the nearby table.”

“Where did all of that stuff come from?” ask an astonished Major Powell.

“It was stored in this specimen implant,” answers Sargent Pasenna as he shows it to her.

“That alien device is most interesting.” answers Major Powell. “I thought that it was just something that your flight group were just wearing like a unit patch on a uniform. I’m now most interested in checking it out and why it is implanted in your wrist when we are done with the exams.”

“Sargent Gulliver has an extra one that you can examine at your leasure,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “He recovered it from his dead body.”

“He recovered it from his dead body?” question Major Powell. “I’m not even going to ask how that was possible. Try the scales again.”

“One hundred eighty six point five,” the scale reports in an automated voice.

“That’s much better,” she answers. “Place this on your finger tip, it will read your blood pressure, oxygen level, and heart rate for me while I record your body temperature with this thermal scanner.”

“You mean that I don’t have to have a thermometer placed in my mouth or one stuck up my rear for five minutes?”

“No,” Major Pasenna tells him. “We did away with those dangerous glass mercury thermometers years ago. This device scans for a heat signature. 98.3. That’s in the normal range. Now, I need to draw some blood for the next series of test.”

“Damn, I hate being poked in the vein with those blasted needles,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “You doctors never seem to be satisfied with just one syringe full of blood, you have to draw at least half a dozen of them at one time.”

“Relax,” Major Powell tells him. “We only need to prick the side of your finger to get a small drop of blood to place on a test strip. Best of all, you won’t even feel the pin prick.”

“So amazing,” Sargent Pasenna answers as Major Powell pricks the side of his fingertip with a device the size of a pencil, then touches a test strip that is already inserted into a palm size machine to a drop of blood which is then wicked into the strip. “That sure beats being stabbed in the arm with all of those needles to take all of that blood. What are you testing for?”

“This blood sampler will give us important information on your blood type, sugar, Lipids, liver and kidney function, any hidden diseases such as hepatitis, your immunity to most of the common childhood diseases, and most everything else but your DNA. We’ll use a cheek swab to get a sample for that. Just scrape the inside of your cheek with this and hand it back to me.” 30 seconds later, the test are complete as Sargent Pasenna’s medical records are updated with the vitals in the Medical Netbook.

“Everything checks out normal,” reports Sargent Harvey as he gets the readout that has been transferred to the medical netbook. “The only problem we have is that we can no longer send your information to the central data bank at the Pentagon in order to update all the medical netbooks with this new information. It went off line after the zombie plague took out all digital communications about ten years ago.”

“Where’s the DNA report?” ask Major Powell.

“I don’t know,” answers Sargent Harvey. “I had the same problem with Captain Powell’s DNA. Oh, here it comes now.”

“Interesting, the computer has found a sequence in one of the chromosomes that is not found in human. It’s the same one we found in Captain Powell. It couldn’t identify the added fragment. It seems to form the message, ‘Sample # 539,270,628,484,063. Vernacular ID, Sargent George Rickey Pasenna. Re-spawn 0. Survival quotient undetermined.’”

“That is most interesting,” answers Major Powell. “It seems that when those aliens kidnapped you and sent you to Aberration, not only did they place that implant into your wrist, they marked a segment of your DNA in a similar way that we are using our artificial DNA for data storage. Your fragment reads the same as Captain Powell’s except for his name and that sample number.”

“Then, it is like our military serial number but on a much larger scale,” answers Sargent Pasenna.

“Do you know what the re-spawn means?” ask Major Powell.

“I believe that it refers to the number of times we have been killed and reborn. Several of us were killed on Aberration, then reborn again with nothing but our accumulated knowledge. If so, you will find a 1 or 2 in the DNA record of Captain Shriver’s flight crew. All of them were killed at least once by raptors. Sargent Gulliver found his own body and was able to recover his stuff from it after he died a second time by stepping into a poisonous gas vein. That’s how he got an extra Specimen Implant.”

“Raptors?” questions Sargent Harvey. “You’re saying that the 117 flight crew were killed by some extinct creature from millions of years ago?”

“I know it sounds strange, but they were killed by living breathing prehistoric raptors twice their size.” answers Sargent Pasenna. “Stranger yet, they later tamed three of them and made saddles so they could ride on them like horses. There were all kinds of dinosaurs and other extinct creature living on Aberration as well as those that have never existed on Earth such as our Devil Dogs that we tamed for our use. Unfortunately, we were unable to bring them back with us as they were attacking some Basilisks that were trying to steal the eggs from our Rock Drake friends. We were forced to leave them behind when we started suffocating from a lack of air.”

“Were those Basilisks some kind of a giant snake?” ask Sargent Harvey

“Yes, there were four of them,” answers Sargent Pasenna.

“You have been to a most interesting place.” answers Sargent Harvey. “I only read about the Basilisk in an old Harry Potter book. As soon as we do a body scan on you with this scanning bed, we are done with the examination.”

“What, no finger up my a$$hole?”

“We no longer need to do that procedure to check your prostrate,” answers Major Powell. “This body scanner will do that and so much more without using any invasive manual probing of the human body’s interior.”

With the scanning done, Mayor Powell releases Sargent Pasenna for duty. “Thank you Sargent Pasenna. Go get dressed, pick up all of those things that you made appear on the table, and send in our next victim.”

“That’s a good one,” Sargent Pasenna answers back with a chuckle.

There is a sudden concern among the rock drakes and some of the flight crew when, with a loud screech, the main hanger doors are opened up to about two door panels. “That looks good,” reports Sargent Root to Sargent Thomas. “Your rock drake friends now have a bigger doorway to go outside and enjoy this fine weather we are having today with their kids.”

One by one, the rest of the 28 men go in and receive their physical. Then, Coronal Powell calls in his Great Grandfather for a confidential report. “All of your men, except for Electricians Mate Macussi, are in excellent physical condition.” he reports. “I was expecting some of them to be showing early signs of lung cancer and other health issues as a result of their exposure to warfare, training stresses, air pollution, unprotected sex, and addictive habits such as smoking or spending too much time at the bar chasing the bar maids. I have not found any such signs of any of their past behavior in today’s exam. In fact the smokers and drinkers among your command no longer have any desire to drink or smoke. Whatever they were exposed to on Aberration has not only placed them into perfect health, it also has eliminated any desire for them to continue in any of their past unhealthy activities.”

“That is most interesting,” Captain Powell answers. “Those marines and sailors were always complaining about not being able to light one up while conducting flight training, then they were constantly hitting the bars at every chance that they could get liberty.”

Macussi I found to be most interesting. He did not have a Specimen Implant or that DNA marker in his genes. He says that he was rescued from the water in the Seattle harbor. He claims to have been on board The USS Philadelphia when he jumped overboard and it then disappeared. He appears to be suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome as well as from intense exposure to some sort of powerful low frequency electromagnetic radiation. Just where did you find him? I have no service record on him. He checks out to be what I would expect to find from an individual living 100 years ago.”

“His story checked out,” answers Captain Powell. “The USS Philadelphia was actually out there floating in the harbor in Seattle. Lt. Garber can confirm that many of that ships crew members were killed when they became trapped halfway through the deck and the bulkheads. All they found were their skeletons. Seaman Schultz’s skeleton was found halfway through the panel with a fire ax where he had tried to disable the transmitter. He said that the generators were still functioning when they left the ship. It vanished shortly afterwards leaving Macussi in the water.”

“That is most frightening,” answers Coronal Powell. “I now understood what is wrong with him and why his, and all of the records of the crew members he named, were missing from the medical netbook. The Navy decommissioned that ship the following month, then struck it from their registry a year later. Our military must have tried to make what had happened in that experiment just disappear. I’ll have my wife work with him so he can recover from that awful experience.”

“To complete my examination, I would like to examine your rock drake friends and your glow tames. Have Private Ledfoot being in Danny and one of the glow tails and shine horns.” Captain Powell goes out to find Private Ledfoot to ask him to being in Danny and the two glow tames for an exam.

“Can you leave the door open,” ask Private Ledfoot as he comes into the office with the baby rock drake and the two other tames. “His mother wants to keep an eye on him while you are conducting your exam.”

“Most certainly,” answers Coronal Powell. “We’ll move everything close to the door so she can see what we are doing with her son.”

“Is Danny able to talk to us?” ask Major Powell as she starts with her examination.

“I learned how to talk this morning,” answers Danny.

“Excellent,” answers Major Powell. “This will make the exam so much easier for me to conduct.”

“I’m going to have some problems with our equipment on this little rock drake,” reports Sargent Harvey. “Let me see if the finger probe will work on Danny’s lower lip. Good boy, I’m getting his reading on pulse, oxygen level, and blood pressure.”

“These readings are similar to that of a human,” reports Major Powell. “Then again, Danny is about our size right now. Lets see if we can weigh him.”

“Looks like we better find a board that we can place on the scales so all four feet are on it,” reports Sargent Harvey. Good, this will work. We’ll just deduct the weight of the board from his weight.”

“This is interesting,” Major Powell comments as the young rock drake steps on the board. “The scales don’t seem to be working. Danny is completely on the scales, yet I’m only getting the weight of the board.”

“Let me try this,” suggest Private Ledfoot. “I’ll place a pick and hatchet into his inventory from mine and see if the weight of those items show up on your scales.”

“Yes, they are showing up,” answers Major Powell. “Just what does this mean?”

“As I suspected, our rock drake friends appear to have no weight.” answers Private Ledfoot. “In fact, when we are riding on them, we appear to have no weight either. It seems to explain how they can so easily carry us as they are running and gliding during a patrol. The saddle and what we are carrying on us and them does have weight, so we have to be careful that we don’t overburden them with whatever we are taking with us.”

“That is most interesting,” answers Major Powell. “Can Danny do that disappearing trick?”

“Sure, I can make myself invisible.” answers Danny.

“Amazing,” reports Major Powell as Danny activates his cloak. “I can only see a shimmer when he moves. Oh, my arm just vanished as I reached in to pet him on the neck. That is so interesting. Danny, you can make yourself visible now.”

“How should I get a blood sample from him?” ask Sargent Harvey. “The skin on the toes of his paws is much too thick for the lance.”
“Lets try the gum on his teeth,” answers Major Powell. “He shouldn’t feel anything there.”

“It’s OK Danny,” Private Ledfoot tells Danny as he hesitates when Sargent Harvey starts to handle his lower lip to get a blood sample. “They pricked my finger with that lance and I felt nothing. They only need a small drop of blood for the test strip.”

“Good boy,” Sargent Harvey tells him after he gets the blood sample. “He never felt a thing. I got the DNA swab too.”

“Wow, what an interesting creature this is,” comments Major Powell as she completes the body scan. “Both the DNA and scan registers him as a reptile similar to one of those microraptors that evolved into our modern birds some 60 million years ago, yet, he has the brain capacity with the development of an average human. He fits the genetic profile of a four legged dragon from the Middle Ages even though there is no physical evidence that such a creature ever existed. The only thing lacking in his DNA is the marker that was added to your DNA. I’d would love to do some IQ test on him, but, I don’t have that equipment here with me. My guess is that he is already as intelligent as the average nine year old which is remarkable for having been born just yesterday.”

“Are you sure these rock drakes are not the aliens from that strange planet?”

“I’m most certain that they are not,” answers Captain Powell. “Like every other creature on the Aberration Ark, they appear to have been created and placed on it as adults. We never saw any juvenile creatures there at any time. All the eggs we saw, except for the rock drake ones, were infertile. Danny is the first one we, or our rock drake friends, have ever seen hatch naturally from an egg. Any of the other rock drake eggs that were hatched, were reported to have been stolen and hand raised by the previous humans. They became tames that could not talk or do anything for themselves.”

“That is so interesting,” answers Major Powell. “Danny, you were such a good patient. You can go head back to your mother to play with your friends. I want to have a look at the shine horn.”

The examination goes quickly as the shine horn is placed on the table for a quick scan. A blood sample is able to be obtained from inside the ear and DNA from inside the cheek.

“This is interesting,” reports Sargent Harvey as he places her on the scales. “Like Danny, she has no weight. You say that those horns can light up like our LED lights?”

“Yes,” answers Private Ledfoot. “Let me see if they will work, now that she has had a couple of days to get recharged.”

“Wow! That is most interesting,” reports Major Powell. “Her DNA matches that of a miniature goat, yet she has that ability to light up her horns like our LED lights.”

“I believe that they, and the other glow creatures we have seen, developed this ability as a defense mechanism to protect themselves from being attacked by those devilish creatures that are called Nameless.” answers Captain Powell. “Those Nameless predators are weakened by the light the glow creatures emit, so they run away from it. Since our flares and torches have no effect on them, we tamed these glow creatures for our protection until we were able to build charge lanterns to attack them with.”

Major Powell has Private Ledfoot bring in the other glow creatures so that she can be examined.
“There were other glow creatures we had such as those slobbering bulb pugs.” reports Private Ledfoot as the testing continues. “We also saw a creature called a feather lights flying in the Red Zone. The two Stego had the plates on their back glow in the dark, the sheep we saw had patches of glowing wool, and the three tamed raptors had glowing patches along their neck. The Devil Dogs did not have any glowing features. Only the four shine horn nannys and the four female glow tails made it back with us after we defeated Rockwell.”

“What was this Rockwell creature like?” ask Coronal Powell.

“He used to be a human, a scientist from England,” answers Captain Powell. “He invented many of the potions and other recipes that the survivors and us could use as healing medicines and for protection from the dangerous conditions found in some of the caves. Unfortunately, he became so obsessed with an element he called Edmunium that he started injecting himself with it. That $hit turned him into a hideous gigantic squid like monster that had gone totally insane with power. As he had control of the power source we needed for The Portal to operate, we had to get rid of him before we could use it to escape. I doubt that we could have defeated him without the help of our rock drake friends. I have a piece of that processed material right here.”

“This looks and feels like Plutonium, yet it is in a non radioactive form.” answer Sargent Root. “Indeed, it registers as Plutonium in the scanner. Like Uranium, this stuff is highly toxic to all living organisms if ingested. No wonder Rockwell went insane by injecting himself with it.”

“That is interesting,” answers Captain Powell, “We had to use some special alien equipment on Aberration called a charge station in order to process the ore into this piece of metal that we used to power some futuristic weapons we found in a loot crate on the surface that we then used to kill Rockwell.”

“What ever happened to them?” ask Coronal Powell.

“We had the two tec rifles and a portable rail gun,” answers Captain Powell. “We still have the tec rifles, but we abandoned the heavy rail gun while we were racing back to the portal to make our escape.”

“I can tell you this,” reports Coronal Powell. “Our military was in the testing stage of the equivalent of both of those weapons you have described when the war with the Islamic Terrorist broke out.”

“The military would have loved that rail gun,” answers Captain Powell. “When Lt. Garber fired it against Rockwell, it blew a hole clean through him, then it took out the force field in the chamber where we were fighting him in and punched a hole through the cave wall that nearly doomed our escape.”

“That sounds like the portable one we were testing,” answers Coronal Powell. “The metal sabot blew a hole through 15 inches of armor plated steel from 20 miles away. It’s only problem was the amount of power it used and the cool down time we needed to fire it again.”

“That was the same issue we had with our portable rail gun.” answers Captain Powell.

“This glow tail has tested out to be some kind of a gecko,” reports Major Powell. “It’s too bad that both the species of glow creatures you brought back with you are all female. There is going to be no way to continue their species on this Earth unless we clone them. That has not always worked well in the past even when we were able to extract the DNA from extinct creatures here on Earth such as the Mammoths.”

“It has been a most interesting day,” reports Coronal Powell. “Lets go see what your patrols have been able to find out there today. I’ll send Sargent Root back to get our dogs. I think that they will be OK around your rock drake friends.”

“Daryl says they should be OK.” answers Captain Powell. “He told me that they don’t look anything like any of the feral dogs that he has eaten. Just to be sure, we’ll introduce them to all the rock drakes to be sure that they don’t accidentally get eaten by any of them.”

By the rest of the afternoon, Coronal Powell’s team has examine the rest of the rock drake babies and all 14 of the rock drake adult. He has asked for Mayor to attend the meeting that evening with Captain Powell. “I now understand why you all took an oath to protect Mayor and his friends from our superiors and their black ops lab.” Coronal Powell reports. “We have only recently been able to develop cloaking technology similar to theirs just 15 years ago. I find it extremely interesting how they are biologically able to cloak themselves, but also a saddle, and anyone riding on them.”

“100 years ago, their lives would have certainly been in danger from the researchers of that Philadelphia Project you found out about. I’m certain that some of your drake friends would have been killed and dissected in the effort to learn how they can cloak themselves. The good news, I have located the gene in their DNA samples that I now have stored on the Medical Netbook that allows them to cloak themselves. With DNA splicing technology, I see the possibility of even us humans having such an ability in our future.”

“Mayor, it is safe to tell you that there is no longer any need for the military to threaten your species for their research into stealth technology. The DNA sample I obtained from your examination today can easily be duplicated and used for such a study. You and your friends are safe here. Thank you for helping to return the crews of Flight 19 and the crew of the PBM that was sent out to look for them back to us. You have made this a most interesting day for me.”

“I do have one request from you if you are willing to do so. Can you take me for a ride?”

“I’d be delighted,” answers Mayor.

“I would like to go check out that ammo dump. I’m interested to know if someone has attempted to take anything out of those bunkers since the Zombie Plague took place. Sargent Pasenna, You’re in the driver seat with us.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 21. The danger nearby.

 

In a hilly wooded area several miles South of the Ft. Lewis reservation, a family of Preppers has manage to survived the wrath of the zombie plague. While some of the people fleeing the Tacoma area had ran through their property, they had failed to find the bunker that Joe and his family were hiding in. While their house and barn was ransacked for anything of value, those that stopped to do so had continued to move on before the zombie virus started to affect their behavior causing them to turn on each other. Wisely, Joe, his wife Carol, and his two daughters, Terrie and Tina, then age 19 and 20, did not try to engage them or the next group of strangers that were passing through and thus avoided being bitten, or splattered by the blood and saliva, of an infected individual that started chasing the stragglers that were looting the place. It really wasn’t necessary to risk being seen or trying to protect their property. Joe had prepared his bunker for an extended stay with survival food, water, weapons, and a surplus plutonium generator he had managed to obtain from Ft. Lewis while working there as a hanger mechanic.

During that first year, Joe and his family, had stayed hidden in the bunker while monitoring the radio communications that were going over the Amateur Ham radio network. The, communications between those individuals quickly started to die out as report after report of zombie attacks kept pouring in from around the world. By the end of the second week, all amateur ham and other broadcast had ended. The internet had gone down two days after the zombie plague had started when the sky to the North of Seattle lit up with the glare of a nuclear explosion. No one knows where the nuclear warhead came from or if it was Terrorist related. Reports of other nuclear explosions in major cities from around the world came in through Amateur Radio for days afterwards.

On the day that the plague had made its appearance, a Facebook rumor had quickly spread that a zombie plague was infecting Tacoma and that its source was from a medical experiment that went horribly wrong at Ft. Lewis. Minutes later, those reports starting appearing on the local news, along with live reports of rioting and zombie like behavior among the rioters. Joe turned all of his livestock loose, quickly moved his family into the bunker, and sealed the hidden entrance. It was in that bunker that hours later, using his hidden security cameras, he observed the two small groups of looters that came running through his property. The first having been riding bicycles, the later ones, just before dark, on foot. It had been a scary time especially when some of his cattle, goats, and horses came back that evening looking for food.

While the presence of the animals for the next several days did give him some assurance that the zombie plague only affected people, he did not want to take any chances that the infection was still around. Thus, it was a year later before he and the rest of his family, armed with their Bushmaster rifles, came out of the bunker to start exploring the post zombie world and looking for any additional supplies they could find.

Finding their horses and using their tack that had been left undisturbed in the barn, Joe and his daughters paid a visit to Roy. When they started seeing the badly decomposed bodies lying in the streets, they decided that it was far too dangerous to continue to explore further. Limiting themselves to the outskirts of town and the rural homes nearby, they were able to find some package and canned food that had been missed by the rioters or abandoned by the occupants when they fled for the woods. It was a strange sight as home after home was checked out for survivors and anything that could be salvaged.

The biggest danger they faced while on those forage trips were the feral dog packs that could be living in an abandoned house or shed. Formally domesticated dogs that had escaped from confinement, or were turned loose, had now formed loose knit packs of three or more animals. They were made up of big dogs such as rotts, pit bull types, and German Shepherds. All the other breeds had either died of starvation, or were killed off by the bigger dogs as they went feral. Those dogs eventually evolved into a wolf coyote like hybrid that terrorized any other living creature out there. Only an adult Feral Pigs was tough enough to stand up to them. Both became targets of Joe and his daughters anytime they pose a threat to them.

The day before, while hunting for the feral dogs that had been harassing their goats, his daughters had reported seeing a very strange sight. They were about to go after some feral dogs that were chasing their goats when the small pack of them suddenly vanished from the ground. “Something unseen had attacked those feral dogs that were after the goats,” Terrie reported to her father. “Then, before it started raining, I saw what looked like a four legged dragon with a saddle on it with two individuals riding it.”

“Are you sure that you were not seeing things?” ask her father.

“I clearly saw it through my binoculars,” answers Tina, his older daughter. “But I soon lost it in the fog as it turned North and starting gliding towards Ft. Lewis. It definitely looked like some type of a dragon with feathers on its forearm and tail.”

“As much as I hate to, we will have to head over to Ft Lewis to look for supplies, especially ammo for the Bushmasters. We are down to our last two cases of ammo and those feral dogs and hogs just keep multiplying like rabbits.”

Back at Ft. Lewis, the visit to the ammo bunker is under way.

“Mayor,” ask Coronal Powell as they arrive at the bunkers. “How did you know where to go?”

“I was here yesterday with Sargent Pasenna,” Mayor answers back.

“You have an excellent sense of direction,” Coronal Powell tells him. “It is a skill that most people have lost when our society invented GPS tracking, smart phones, and the self driving car.”

“When the zombie plague hit, everyone tried to escape the cities in their cars or by public transportation. They were prevented from doing so when the Government sent out a kill signal to shut down their computer systems, then they disable the GPS satellite network so it couldn’t be used. As only a rare few of the older civilian vehicles left had any mechanical means of controlling them, it forced everyone to travel by foot or on a bike. This classic Humvee is one of the few military vehicles that doesn’t rely on GPS or any self driving computer system. I am limited in its use given that it is becoming hard to find fuel and parts to keep it running. The computer systems on all the other military transport went into shutdown mode when their drivers were killed during the zombie riots. The aircraft at the airstrips have been similarly disabled. That makes you the only means of transport available other then finding a bicycle or riding a horse. If we get the chance, I’d would like to capture and tame some of the feral horses out in the reservation. Given that they were turned loose from the nearby stable when the riots started, it shouldn’t take long to get them to calm down so someone can ride them again.”

“You mean that you can’t just go knock them out to tame them like Sargent Pasenna did to the Devil Dogs on Aberration?” ask Mayor.

“It doesn’t work that way on the Earth,” answers Sargent Pasenna. “You have to capture them, then sort of passive tame them before they will start trusting you and accept you as a friend. That process takes a lot longer then it does when taming a bulb pug or glow tail.”

“Here are those ten locked bunkers,” reports Mayor. “How will you open them to see what is inside?”

“I have a set of keys for them that General Murphy gave me before he took the troops out to stop the riots.” Coronal Powell answers. “Lets go see what he left us when they came here to stock up on munitions. You two stay away until I disarm his little surprises.”

“Whoa! Now I know why those other bunkers were destroyed,” answers a shocked Sargent Pasenna. “He rigged them up like I did that storage shed back on Aberration for the Reapers to find. We could have been killed had we came back with bolt cutters to get into them.”

“They were rigged to keep the rioters from gaining access to weapons and ammunition,” answers Coronal Powell.

“He must not have rigged all of them,” reports Sargent Pasenna. “The artillery bunker is still stacked with 105 rounds, but much of the gunpowder charges are missing.”

“Some Preppers must have gain access to it before discovering that the rest were rigged,” answers Coronal Powell. “You had better be extremely careful if you find any of them during your patrols. They are certain to have rigged traps all around their campsite to keep out any zombies or looters.”

“Ouch,” reports Coronal Powell. “That Prepper also took several cases of 105 rounds with him, a case of fuses, grenades, and several portable rocket launchers with their rockets.

“We’ll take some of our marines with us before we attempt to penetrate any Prepper’s camp to look for their traps,” answers Sargent Pasenna.

Unlocking the ten bunkers and disabling the traps, Coronal Powell finds everything in order. “How much weight can Mayor carry along with us?”

“He can carry another 200 pounds without becoming too encumbered.” answers Sargent Pasenna.

“Lets just take some ammo for those 1911’s, M-14’s, and the AR-15’s you found in supply.” answers Coronal Powell. “Your men should become familiar with how the AR-15’s function. They will really like them after having used M-1 rifles during the war. We can come back later for some more ammo for them. When you start doing foot patrols, you will need to watch out for the feral dog packs roaming in the rural and nearby suburban areas. They have been a constant threat to the livestock and wild game animals. Then, we can try to capture some horses so we can have some reliable transport to manage the cattle herds.”

“I know all about the feral dogs,” answers Mayor. “We have found them to be very tasty.”

“How do you hunt them?” ask Coronal Powell.

“We come up behind them in stealth mode when they are chasing after the other animals,” answers Mayor. “We glide in and snatch them from the ground.”

“Interesting, kinda like Daryl did with me when we first met.” answers Coronal Powell. “Anyhow, we better head back before it gets dark. Lets plan on capturing some of those horses in the morning after your men get in some target practice on their M-14s and AR-15s at the rifle range.”

It is evening when they get back and meet with everyone. “We’re headed for the rifle range in the morning to check out these AR-15, Captain Powell announces to his men that have one. “Then, we’ll see if we can capture some of those wild horses out there.”

The rock drake kids have had quite an afternoon as they are getting stronger and start gliding about the hanger area. They have had to be told to stay off the hanger roof after one of them broke a window while climbing up the side of the hanger door and cut her foot. Major Powell has bandaged it up after applying stitches telling her to take it easy for a while until the cut can heal.

“What are you feeding them?” ask Coronal Powell. “They look like they have more then doubled in size since we examined them this morning.”

“All they have been eating is drake milk, feral dog and feral hogs,” answers Major Powell. “When I stitched up Marlene’s foot this afternoon, I was able to obtain a tissue sample to place into the microscope. Their metabolism is astonishing. In fact, her foot was fully healed in about an hour. And, they have indeed more then doubled in size.”

“It must be what allowed Daryl and Darlene to heal up as quick as they did after Rockwell nearly killed them,” answers Private Ledfoot.

“Once they reach their adult size, it will slow down to the level of their parents,” Major Powell reports. “At the rate they are growing, they will be as big as their parents in another 24 hours.”

“Are they going to be able to find enough food to keep them fed while they are growing at this astonishing rate?” ask Coronal Powell.

“Our Drake patrols have found several herds of feral pigs towards the Olympia National Forest,” reports Sargent Gullivar. “The drakes have been hunting them all day. They say that there will have enough raw meat available for the youngsters to reach adulthood. At that point, their appetites will drop down to that of the adults.”

“What is going to happen when they become the equivalent of teenagers?” ask Coronal Powell.

“It looks like we lucked out there when Minnie hatched twin girls,” answer Private Ledfoot. “With four boys and four girls, they have been starting to pair up on their own. Darlene tells me she thinks that there may be an hour or two of silliness when they first become adults, then they will settle down to behaving in a civilized manner. She says she really doesn’t know what to expect when they reach adolescences. None of the Drakes know. They have never experienced child raising before. As far as they could observe, the egg tames from the other tribes were all sterile and never bothered to pair up to obtain what we call a mate boost.”

A bright light suddenly appears in the western sky and travels rapidly to the east. “What is that?” ask Private Ledfoot who is outside with Margaret and Danny.

“It looks like what is left of Aberrtion is starting to fall out of orbit,” answers Sargent Pasenna after placing a spotting scope on it.

“What is the danger of it crashing into the Earth?” ask Private Ledfoot.

“Not good,” answers Coronal Powell who has come out to observe the bright object which now has many smaller ones around it. “If it hits the Earth, it is going to have the effect of being hit by an asteroid some 30 mile in diameter.”

“Some 60 million years ago, a rock half of that size plowed into the Gulf of Mexico setting off a tidal wave that reached all the way up into eastern Montana. The fireball and lava bombs from that impact set fires all the way around the world. When they finally went out, there was so much soot and dirt in the stratosphere that an ice age formed. Before that happened, nearly all of the plant life on Earth died off as a result of months of near total darkness. Those animals that survived the firestorm died off from starvation along with nearly 90% of all other species following. If that thing hits near us, we will vanish in the fireball. If it hits on the other side of the Earth, say near Japan, we will be wiped out by a mile high tidal wave if the lava bombs and massive earthquake doesn’t do us in first.”

“Then, what can we do about?” ask Private Ledfoot.

“Nothing,” answers Coronal Powell, “Unless we can find some way to get on one of those Ark lifeboats that are orbiting above us.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 22. The Preppers.

 

It is 0600 as everybody gets up to plan for the task of the day. “My gosh, is that Danny?” a shocked Private Ledfoot ask Darlene as he comes up to him looking for some attention.

“Yes,” she answers. “He will be a fully grown adult by the end of the day.”

“They have grown so fast,” reports Major Powell. “You should take them out on patrol with you and let them see the rest of the world.”

Captain Powell gathers everybody together to set up his patrols with the rock drakes. They will all be going but only one person will be on the 14 adults at this time. The rest are being assigned foot patrols on bicycles they have found in the main PX to finish their inventory of Ft. Lewis. Coronal Powell is taking the Humbee to bring back more ammo from one of the bunkers before a serious patrol is launched into the urban areas and beyond.

Lt. Garber and Private Ledfoot are taking the patrol to head South of Roy to check out the open prairies by the wooded hills. As they are preparing for the patrol, Danny asks Private Ledfoot if he can come along. “Yes,” he tells Danny. “It will be a good learning experience for you. We’ll teach you how to hunt feral dogs and pigs while you are with us.”

“Can Marlene come with me?” ask Danny.

“As long as it is OK with her mother,” Darlene answers.

“She can go with you,” answers Margaret. “It will give them some time together away from the other youngsters, so they can complete their bonding process to become mate boosted.”

“We’ll keep an eye on them so they don’t end up in harm’s way,” answers Lt. Garber.

“What do you mean by that?” ask Marlene with concern.

“We just don’t want you two to get hurt by anything that might be out there,” answers Lt. Garber. “Enjoy hanging around with each other while you are on patrol with us, but don’t get so involved with Danny that you forget to watch out for something that could sneak up to harm you.”

“Danny, the same advise goes for you as well,” orders Private Ledfoot.

“I understand,” Danny answers back as Private Ledfoot pets the both of them before getting on Darlene to head out on patrol.

Having had cleaned out all of the predators near the base, the four drakes and their two riders, head far beyond the base into a section of prairie where they find a herd of goats being harassed by feral dogs. “Danny, Marlene, go into stealth mode, glide in behind those dogs, and have some lunch.” They go catch two of the feral dogs, carrying them in their jaw to land a short distance away to eat them. But, they are not the only ones out there hunting for feral dogs.

“What just happened to those feral dogs?” Terri ask her sister.

“I don’t know,” she answers. “It is like the other day – look! there’s two of those dragons over there eating them.”

“Danger!” warns Lt Garber when he spots the two women on horseback just as Daryl and Darlene catch the other two feral dogs. “Stay in stealth mode and get over by the kids quick!”

“What’s going on?” ask Marlene as her and Danny go back into stealth mode.

“We spotted two Preppers on horseback!” warns Lt. Garber as he places the spotting scope on them. “They are armed with rifles.”

“This must be their goat herd,” answers Private Ledfoot. “What should we do?”

“Lets go talk to them but be prepared for a quick getaway,” answers Lt. Garber. “Danny, Marlene, stay cloaked until we can assess the danger they may represent.”

“Their riding this way,” warns Daryl.

“Hold your ground. See if the horses will sense that something is blocking their way. Darlene, get behind them when they stop.” The horses do slow down, then stop.

“What’s going on?” ask Tina. “Foxie doesn’t want to go any further.”

“There’s must be something in front of us,” answers Terrie. “Who’s out there!”

“You promise not to shoot us?” a voice returns from in front of them out of nowhere.

“After all, you interrupted me eating that feral dog I just killed for a meal,” another voice answers back from behind.

“Who are you?” ask Terrie in alarm.

“We’ll show ourselves as soon as you put your rifles away,” answers Lt. Garber.

“What should we do?” Tina ask her sister. “We can’t see them or those two dragons.”

“Lets do what they ask,” answers Terrie. “Our horses seem to be calm about the situation.” The two rifles are placed in their cases on the saddle.

“You promise not to be frightened when you see what I am riding on?” Lt. Garber ask her.

“Are you riding on a saddled dragon?” Terrie ask.

“Yes I am,” Lt. Garber answers back.

“Then, I was not seeing things the other day when I saw a saddled dragon catch those pesky feral dogs that have been harassing our goats,” Terrie answers back. Go ahead and show yourself.”

“My name is Lt. Garber and this is Daryl my Rock Drake friend,” answers Lt. Garber as Daryl comes out of stealth mode.

“Is he safe?” ask Terrie who is in a bit of a shock to see a rock drake up so close.

“I won’t harm you so long as you don’t harm me or Lt. Garber,” Daryl answers.

“They can talk!” an astonished Tina answers back.

“I’m Darlene,” answers another voice from behind as she comes out of stealth. “And this is my good friend Private Ledfoot.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Our names are Terrie and Tina McDonald. Our dad worked at Ft. Lewis before the plague hit. We didn’t know anybody had survived over there.”

Coronal Powell, his wife, Sargent Root, and Sargent Harvey were the only survivors we have found so far,” answers Lt. Garber.

“Our boyfriends! They are still alive?” the two astonished women answer back.

“If you mean Specialist 5 Harvey and Specialist 6 Root, then they survived the zombie plague by locking themselves in the isolation ward with Coronal Powell and his wife.” answers Lt. Garber.

“Oh! That is the best news news we have heard in over ten years.” answers both young ladies.

“We had best go visit the rest of your family before you go running off to Ft. Lewis to see your boyfriend,” answers Lt. Garber. “Your dad might get very worried if you two were to suddenly disappear with us.”

“You’re right,” answers Terrie. “Lets get back to the homestead before we head back to Ft. Lewis with you.”

“Come on kids, you can come out of stealth now.”

“Kids?” question Tina. “They are nearly as big as Daryl and Darlene.”

“Strange as it may sound, they were only hatched from eggs a couple of days ago,” answers Private Ledfoot. “They just grow so fast as youngsters. The boy is Danny, and his girlfriend is Marlene.”

“They’re marvelous,” answers Terrie as she and Tina pets them. “and so intelligent. Let us lead the way but wait outside the fence until we can find our parents so my father doesn’t accidentally shoot one of you.”

“Do you have any rigged 105 shells buried out there?” ask Lt Garber. “We found several of them missing from an ammo bunker.”

“No,” answers Terrie. “No one in our family has been to the base since the zombie plague.”

“As soon as our drake friend finish eating their kills, we will be ready to follow,” answers Lt. Garber.

Following, the drakes walk behind the two women riding their horses, then wait outside the fence of the property.

Joe, who is outside by the barn working on repairing a saddle, is in shock when he looks up and sees the four rock drakes standing at the gate. As he grabs his rifle, he sees his daughters calmly riding up to him.

“We found the dragons,” Terrie tells her father. “They have some friends riding them that have told us that our boy friends are still alive.”

“How come we haven’t seen them before?” ask Joe.

“Lt. Garber said that they came here from one of those floating objects in orbit a couple of days ago,” answers Terrie.

“Are you sure they are not the aliens?” ask Joe.

“He says that he and Private Ledfoot are two of the airmen from training flight 19 that disappeared in 1945.”

“Remarkable,” answers Joe. “I remember reading about that disappearance. What about those four dragons?

“They don’t know where they came from.”

“You mean that those two men don’t know where those four dragons came from?” ask Joe.

“No,” answers Terrie. “The dragons told me that they don’t know where they came from.”

“Are you sure that you haven’t been drinking or smoking something that I don’t know about?” ask Joe.

“Why don’t you go talk to them,” answers Terrie. “I found them in the pasture hunting the feral dogs for us.”

“Lt. Garber, you can ride in to see me. Leave the rest of your patrol outside the gate for now. (You have peaked my curiosity about those dragon.)” he tells his daughter privately.

“I’m Lt. Garber from the lost training flight 19. This is my rock drake friend Daryl. Private Ledfoot is back at the gate riding on his mate Darlene. The two younger rock drakes are her adopted son Danny and his girlfriend Marlene. The rest of our flight group and the PBM crew that went looking for us are back in Ft. Lewis.”

“My daughter says that your dragons can talk to us. Is that true.”

“Yes sir, I can talk to you like I can with the rest of my friends.” answers Daryl.

“You are very polite,” answers Joe who is now shocked by Daryl’s answer. “I never knew that any of my childhood fantasy creatures ever existed. Would you be offended if I were to pet you on the neck?”

“Not at all,” answers Daryl as he lays down so Joe can reach his neck. “It is quite enjoyable.”

“He really is a remarkable creature,” answers Joe. “Tell the rest of your friends they are welcome here.”

Private Ledfoot rides in with Darlene and the kids as the two young women unsaddle their horses and turn them loose in the pasture. Joe’s wife Carol comes out to talk to them.

“How did anyone survive the zombie plague in Ft. Lewis when it originated from there?” ask Carol.

“It was a rumor spread by the base commander to send the rioters away from Ft. Lewis,” answers Lt. Garber. “Apparently, it worked so well that the base remained largely untouched as the rest of the area was looted. We have found plenty of survival rations, clothing, blankets, and as of yesterday, ammunition for our weapons to deal with the feral animals when we are not riding on the rock drakes.”

“In spite of the rumor’s success, only Coronal Powell, his wife, Sargent Root, and Sargent Harvey survived at the base hospital. The rest of the garrison had been ordered out to confront the rioters and never returned.”

“Why don’t we all come inside and talk,” ask Carol. “Unsaddle your Drake friends and let them enjoy the ranch. Just tell them not to kill any of our livestock.”

“We won’t harm them,” answers Darlene. “We’ll just catch the feral dogs and pigs for our meal when we get hungry.”

“The four of you go out and enjoy yourselves for an hour,” Lt. Garber tells them. “Just stay alert for anything that may threaten you.”

“Thank you,” answers Danny and Marlene as they quickly take off together.

“What is with those two?” ask Carol.

“They have been itching to go spend some quality time together,” answers Private Ledfoot. “They are nearly adults now.”

“Oh,” answers Carol. “At least they are behaving better then our daughters did the week before that plague arrived.”

“Oh Mom,” answers her daughters. Everyone else is now chuckling.

Inside the six sit down to discuss what life has been like and what they can do for each other in trade. “My daughters say that you have found the base mostly untouched with ample supplies of survival food, clothing and ammunition.” Joe says. “What can we offer in trade for such items?”

“We came out looking for horses to use as transport when it is not feasible to use our rock drake friends,” answers Lt. Garber. “Come to think of it, we do have a secured fenced in base that is now overgrown in grass and brush that would be most ideal as a safe pasture for your livestock. We could also use your skills in leather crafting to help us make eight more saddles for our young drake friends.”

“That would be great,” answers Joe. “I worked in hanger 18 prior to the zombie invasion. It happened to be my day off when word came out about the plague and we hid here for over a year. I would like to visit there and talk to Coronal Powell before we decide to move in with you.”

“Fair enough,” answers Lt. Garber. “We can ride back on the rock drakes.”

“What about us,” ask Terrie and Tina.

“Lets find out if Danny and Marlene can fly you back bareback,” answers Private Ledfoot.

Heading back outside, the four rock drakes are just returning from their independent adventure. Danny and Marlene come up to see Private Ledfoot. “They are showing up as mate boosted,” Private Ledfoot reports. “They are now grown adults.”

“How do you know that?” ask Joe.

“Our Specimen Implants, those aliens placed on our left wrist, can give us all kinds of information,” answers Lt. Garber.

“Can you two take Terrie and Tina back to the base with us?” ask Private Ledfoot.

“Yes, We are ready to have humans ride on us,” Danny answers.

“Do you think that you will need a saddle for them?”

“We’re very good at riding bareback,” the girls answers.

“Then it is settled, lets secure your ranch and head back to the hanger before it gets dark."

Set to go everyone gets on the four rock drakes. Joe is behind with Lt. Garber, his wife with Private Ledfoot, and the two daughters are riding bareback on Danny and Marlene.

“How do we control them?” ask Terrie.

“Just tell me where you want me to go,” answers Danny.

“That’s not that much different then riding a well trained horse bareback using voice commands and balance,” answers Terrie.

“We can be ridden in a similar manner,” answers Darlene.

“Still, you are a lot smarter then horses.” answers Terrie.

“We’ll just follow my adopted father,” Danny answers back.

By late evening, the patrol has made it back to Hanger 18. There is quite a tearful reunion as Sargent Root and Sargent Harvey get over the shock that their girlfriends of ten years ago survived the Zombie Plague along with their parents. A quick meeting with Coronal Powell confirms that they will be moving in with them with a detail being sent out to help Joe bring his livestock back into the security of the fenced in base.

As it gets dark out, the partly cloudy sky gets lighted up even brighter by an object that is now three times the size of the moon. “Bad News reports Coronal Powell. “That thing is getting closer with its every orbit. It could be a matter of weeks, even days before it crashes into the Earth to kill us all.”

“Ensign Bossman mentioned seeing a Flash Gordon aircraft over at McCords Airbase.” answers Captain Powell “We should go over there and check it out.”

“That is interesting,” answers Coronal Powell. “I know that there are some big aircraft located over there but nothing that looks like it came from an old Flash Gordon movie. I’ll plan a patrol for you and Ensign Bossman to go check it out in the morning while we help Joe round up his livestock and bring them back here.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 23 Crazy Harry

 

Sargent Pasenna has asked Joe McDonald to come over to look at Mayor’s saddle. “Someone took a shot at us while we were Southwest of here in the plains of the reservation East of Yelm.”

Examining the saddle, Joe finds a boat tail 30 cal round embedded in the crown nearly through it. “You were targeted by a sniper,” Joe tells him. “Crazy Harry had holed himself up in that area a month before the zombie virus hit. The military had been too busy with the Terrorist War to go dig him out of there. It’s a good thing that Mayor sensed that he was in danger and jumped forward or he would have been hit in the head with this.”

“You are right,” Sargent Pasenna answers. “He flared his war bonnet and went stealth as he leaped forward. I heard the splat as the splinters went flying out of the saddle in front of me, then I heard the crack of the rifle. We were a long distance from the tree line at the time where the shot came from, close to a thousand yards away.”

“Should we go get him?” ask Captain Powell. “Anyone that deliberately shoots at my flight crew or our rock drake friends is a threat to us all.”

“However you plan to do so, it will be very dangerous,” answers Coronal Powell. “He may very well be the person that raided those artillery ammo bunker. Knowing him and his Ranger training, he is certain to have his camp site rigged with improvised explosive from those shells. You would need mine detection equipment to find them and some means to detonate them all the while he could be stalking you. Now that he knows that there are survivors out here, he may very well be a threat to all of us. There were several portable anti tank weapons missing from the ammo dump as well as grenades and claymore mines.”

“We do have two things going for us,” answers Captain Powell. “The two tec rifles we found on Aberration have the ability to see in radar mode through solid ground. We could find and set those shells off with a plasma blast. Also, the rock drakes can take us in using their cloaking ability. They can hide us and our weapons so long as we are on them. Mayor has told me that he can see in infrared, so, if we go in when it is cold and dark, the rock drakes should be able to find where he is hiding long before he knows that we are there.”

“I can equip you and your marines with body armor when you do go after him.” reports Coronal Powell. “It will give you some protection from shrapnel and small arms fire.”

“What about our rock drake friends that go with us?” ask Captain Powell.

“I can rig up some of those armored vest to the harness on their saddles,” answers Joe. “That should give them added protection to the vital area of their body.”

“We will have to be aware of the weight of that armor so we don’t slow them down too much,” answers Captain Powell.

“I can work on that with you tonight,” answers Joe.

Meanwhile, it has become very quiet in Hanger 18 as all eight of the new adult rock drakes are asleep early along with most of their parents. “Growing up and feeding the kids took a lot out of them the past couple of days,” reports Private Ledfoot.

“Just to be safe, I’m going to have us go dark for the night in here,” answers Coronal Powell. “Organize your men for night watch. Have them use these night vision goggles to watch for trouble. Sargent Root and Harvey are going to set up some infrared spotlights on the surrounding buildings. We’ll also set up some motion detectors. If they start going off, we will know for sure that Harry is in the area.”

At 0300, a motion detector alerts the night watch that something is out there. It turns out to be a mule deer grazing in the nearby meadow. Still, everyone is on edge knowing what had happened with Mayor the afternoon before. “No one is going to get any sleep now,” reports Sargent Pasenna. “We might just as well go out there and get that ba$tard.”

As of 0300, preparations have already been completed to go get Harry. Joe has rigged up four Drake saddles with armor vest. Captain Powell is going to be on Mary with one of the tec rifles, Sargent Pasenna will be on Mayor with the other tec rifle, Captain Shrivers on Ronda with an assault rifle, and Lt. Garber on Daryl with an assault rifle. Everyone has been equipped with night vision goggles that can see in infrared as well as short range 2 way radios. To cut down on weight, there will be no tail gunner taken on this patrol. They are soon on their way

It is 0500 and still dark out when the rock drakes have reached the open plains and go into stealth mode. In spite of the early morning fog, all four rock drakes have been able to detect two heat signatures from a camp hidden in the woods ahead. “Let us scanned for any buried devices,” warns Captain Powell on the radio as the four drakes cautiously move in closer to the wood line.

“Found one,” warns Captain Shrivers.

“Here’s another,” warns Captain Powell. “Lets stop here and analyze what we are finding out about this camp.”

“I’m detecting three human heat signatures in what appears to be a tent.” reports Mary. “There is a fourth in some kind of a bunker nearby.”

“That makes no sense, unless he has taken hostages.” answers Captain Powell. “ My guess is that Harry is the one hiding in a bunker.”

“There is one way we can find out,” answers Captain Shrivers. “Lets set off those IEDs with the tec rifles. I’ll have Ronda focus on the individual in the bunker while the rest of the drakes track the other three in the tent.”

“Then, lets stir up this hornets nets before it gets daylight,” orders Captain Powell.

Two explosions now shatter the pre dawn night as Ronda warns Captain Shrivers that the single individual is on the move. “That must be Harry,” warns Lt. Garber. “The other three appear to be stuck inside the tent.”

“Incoming,” warns Captain Powell as Mary flares her war bonnet and jumps backwards. The rocket goes flying past them exploding in the field. “Frack,” Captain Powell curses to himself. “He must be able to see us.”

“Harry!”orders Captain Powell. “Give it up! You don’t need to be fighting us!”

“I will never surrender to you mudder fracking aliens!” Harry screams back in paranoid anger.

Another rocket goes flying towards Captain Powell as Mary jumps out of its way. Captain Shriver and Lt. Garber opens fire on the moving heat signature their night vision goggles have picked up with their assault rifles.

“That slowed him down,” reports Mary. “He’s no longer running through the woods.”

“He may be wounded but he is still very dangerous,” warns Captain Powell.

“Grenade!” Warns Lt. Garber as Daryl drops to the ground. It goes off real close by showering them both with glowing fragments. Captain Powell and Sargent Pasenna have picked up a moving heat signature with the tech rifle. It vanishes behind a tree. They open fire shattering a large pine tree at its base and setting off another explosion in the process.

“I’ve lost his heat signature,” warns Mary as the giant pine comes crashing down near them. “There is nothing moving out there.”

“Daryl, are you all right?” ask Lt. Garber with concern.

“I’m OK,” Daryl answers. “I’ve been through much worse.”

“What is the status of the other three individuals?” ask Captain Powell.

“They are still in the tent,” answers Daryl as he gets back up.

“Cover me,” orders Captain Powell as he has Mary move slowly towards the area of the explosion where there is now a fire burning in the shattered tree stump. A severed arm, then a leg shows up in the glare of the fire through the night vision goggles.

“Harry must have rigged himself with an explosive vest,” comments Sargent Pasenna after examining the remains. “The tec rifle must have set it off. Here is his sniper rifle, night vision goggles and two more of those portable rocket launcher.”

“He must have been able to detect us and our rock drake friends while they were in stealth mode.” comments Sargent Pasenna.

“You’re right,” answers Captain Powell. “I should have realized that when I could see where you and Mayer were located when he was cloaked.”

“Help!” three female voices are now heard screaming from the nearby tent.

“Watch out!” warns Sargent Pasenna. “There could be trip mines set up nearby.”

“Found one,” reports Captain Shrivers as spots the trip wire with a lit flare and some silly string Joe has given him, then disarms the claymore mine that is aimed at the tent. “I’ll mark the path. Be careful, there may be other booby traps set up nearby so don’t stray too far from here.”

The rock drakes are ordered to stay in the clearing where the two IED had been set off as the four men approach the tent with flares and carefully open the flap. Inside, they find three women dressed in dirty ragged clothes, zip tied to a chain, which is tied to a nearby tree. “Is there anybody else around here with Harry?” ask Captain Powell.

“No,” answers the nearest woman as she breaks down in tears. “We’ve been his prisoners for the past ten years.” With a bolt cutter Sargent Pasenna has brought along, the three women are set free from the confinement of the oversize zip ties used to restrain them.

With the rescue completed, Barbara is the first one to speak to Captain Powell. “That monster Harry kidnapped us the day of the zombie attack. He has kept us here in this tent as his sex slaves for all of these years. Thank you, thank you so much for setting us free.”

“If you don’t mind riding on rock drakes, we’ll take you back to Ft. Lewis so that Major Powell, the base doctor, can give you three a physical, let you get cleaned up, have a hot meal, and get you into some clean clothes.”

“I don’t care what a rock drake is,” answers Barbara. “I just want to leave this awful place just as fast as I can.”

“Easy, I am a married man with children,” Captain Powell tells her as she is all over him in gratitude.

Heading to the open field, the rock drakes come out of stealth so the newcomers can see them.

“You have real live dragons? They’re Beautiful!” Jenny tells Lt. Garber as she sees Daryl.

“You flatter him,” answers Lt. Garber. “Daryl loves that kind of attention from us. Climb up on the rumble seat so we can ride back together in style.”

With the rising sun, the four rock drakes, with their three new passengers, start heading back to Hanger 18.

“We took out Harry,” Captain Powell radios back to Coronal Powell as he come back into radio range. “We have also rescued three hostages,”

“Take them directly to the base hospital,” orders Coronal Powell. “My wife and I will meet you there.”

Arriving at the hospital, Coronal Powell, Major Powell, the two Sargents, and their girlfriends, wrap the new arrivals in towels and take them inside so they can get cleaned up. Major Powell takes care of tending to several shrapnel wounds on Lt. Garber and Daryl, then releases them to their duties. With help from Terrie and Tina, the three women get a complete physical and debriefing of their horrible experience with Harry. They are in surprisingly good shape given what they had gone through. “With two weeks of treatment to get rid of a yeast infection and the sores on their wrist, they will be as good as new.” reports Major Powell. “Mentally, they survived that ordeal quite well. Had there only been one of then as his hostage instead of all three of them together, it could have been a much different story.”

“At least their story has a happy ending,” answers Coronal Powell. “There’s no telling what we may still find out there as Captain Powell extends out his patrols.”

“They want to go over to Hanger 18 to see the rock drakes and their rescuers.” answers Major Powell.

“They probably should just get some rest here for now,” answers Coronal Powell. “Captain Powell has most likely sent everyone back out on patrol with Joe to round up his livestock and bring them back here. Let them know they can go see their rescuers this evening when everyone gets back from patrol.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 24. Several More Surprises.

 

“Those armored vest did a good job protecting us from that grenade that Harry pitched at us,” Lt. Garber tells Joe. “We just didn’t duck quick enough to get completely out of its way.”

“You were fortunate to be equipped with them,” answers Joe. “You could have been killed out there this morning.”

“We’re ready to head out to bring your livestock back to the base. You’re welcome to ride on Daryl with me.”

“The kids want to come along with us,” answers Joe. “They were so impressed with my daughters that they want to give them a ride back out to the ranch.”

“That’s great,” answers Lt. Garber. “When you are able to, can you rig up some saddles for them?”

“It will be a challenge,” answers Joe. “When we get back, I can check out the base stable to see what tack has been left down there to work with.”

It is just Lt. Garber with Private Ledfoot, Joe, his wife, and his two daughters on Daryl, Darlene, Danny and Marlene that head back to the ranch. Arriving there, Joe and the daughters round up their six horses. A buckboard is soon loaded with extra tack and the farrier supplies which Carol drives down the trail to the South Gate. Private Ledfoot is riding on the extra horse with Joe and his daughters as they round up the cattle, goats, and several other horses with their foals and yearlings. The rock drakes help out to get all the animals headed in the right direction keeping them together and looking for any stray feral dog packs that might harass them. By mid afternoon, they have reached the South Gate and have all of the animals safely inside the fenced in base.

“That went well,” Joe tells everyone. “Your rock drake friends made excellent ranch hands.”

“That was quite enjoyable,” Daryl tells Joe. “Maybe, we can do that again with some of the other herds of domesticated animals we have seen out there.”

“My herd is more then enough animals for the grazing here to sustain,” answers Joe. “We can go manage those other herds as we need to for their meat and hide. If we periodically go out there to check on them and kill any feral dogs that are harassing them, they will continue to hang out near the base where we can easily find them.”

While the round up has been taking place, another patrol has been sent East to McChord AFB to check out the reported Flash Gordon aircraft that was seen there. Sargent Gullivar and Private Grobbal have gone out on this patrol with Rocky and Lady Rocky.

As they reach the air base, a huge alien looking tower is seen parked on the tarmac. It is twice the diameter of Hanger 18 with a spire that reaches hundreds of feet into the air. “That is no Flash Gordon aircraft,” reports Sargent Gullivar. “It looks like a rocket ship.”

“Hey, our implants are glowing again,” reports Private Grobbal as they glide closer to the huge towering structure.

“We’re feeling something very familiar,” both rock drakes report to the two marines.

“This has to be something that the Keepers of those Ark have placed here,” answers Sargent Gullivar. “I see a large door at the base. Let us go check it out.”

Checking out the huge structure, they find that the door is open and walk inside. “This looks so much like that portal control on Aberration,” reports Sargent Gullivar. “The display is showing us a large island with deserts, plains, redwood forest, snow covered mountains, pine forest, and tropical beaches.”

“Are we looking at the present day Earth?” as Private Grobbal.

“No,” answers Sargent Gullivar. “It appears to be another one of those Arks that is much closer to the moon.”

“That is the message I am getting from the console,” answers Rocky. “It is also telling me that we should prepare to go there in the next seven days. If we fail to do so, we will be doomed to extinction.”

“That does not sound good,” answers Private Grobbal. “Lets report this back to Captain and Coronal Powell. It confirms their fear that Aberration is about to crash into the earth with devastating results.”

Back at the hanger, Sargent Gulliver and Private Grobbal, along with Rocky, have a closed meeting with Coronal and Captain Powell. “These Keepers must have a close relationship with the Rock Drakes to warn Rocky that we must leave this Earth before the end of a week.”

“I would like to send Sargent Pasenna back there with Mayor ASAP to further analyze the control panel,” reports Captain Powell. “We need to know where we are going, what the conditions will be like when we get there, if we can take our supplies there with us, and if we can take everything in one trip.”

“We had better prepare to leave as quickly as possible,” warns Coronal Powell. “We may not have a week left here on Earth. The last time I saw that thing close up, it looked like that there was a lot of large objects floating near it. Some of those pieces could do a lot of damage if they hit before Aberration does. I’ll get Sargent Root working on the inventory. We will start moving supplies to the Obelisk as soon as Sargent Pasenna says we can do so.”

During this same time, an interesting event has just taken place. David and Judy, two of the young Rock Drakes, have taken off on an adventure of their own. They have glided east southeast into an area of the reservation that is uninhabited to look for some privacy for bonding together and to hunt for feral dogs. “This is really nice out here,” Judy tells David as the two start to get seriously involved with each other in a clearing by the pine forests.

It is some time later as the two are about ready to head back to the hanger when David lets out a shreak of surprise and goes stealth. Judy quickly follows. “It’s all right.” a voice answers back from the nearby bushes. “I won’t tell on you.”

“How did you sneak up on us?” an embarrassed Judy ask the 18 year old stranger as she comes out of stealth.

“It was easy.” answers the 18 year old. “You two were so involved with each other that I could have walked up and touch one of you.”

“Lt. Garber was right when he warned Danny and Marlene about getting so involved with each other that they would forget to pay attention to their surroundings.” answers David as he comes out of stealth. “How long have you been watching us.”

“From the moment that I knew that you could speak in English,” answers the 18 year old.

“Oh my! He saw everything!” answers an embarrassed Judy.

“It’s all right Judy,” answers the 18 year old as he comes up to pet her. “You two are a lot more gentle to each other then the wild animals out there when they get involved.”

“Who is Lt. Garber?”

“He is a good friend of Danny’s father back in Ft. Lewis,” answers David.

“There are still survivors back at Ft. Lewis?” ask the 18 year old in surprise. “If I had known that, I would have gone there when my parents were killed instead of hiding out in the reservation from the zombie plague.”

“Our parents, and their human friends, only arrived there several days ago,” answers David. “If you like, you can ride back on me. Everyone has been out looking for survivors.”

“You can call me Eddie,” the 18 year old answers. “You must be David. How do I get on you?”

“Let me lay down so you can climb up to sit on my shoulder,” answers David. “Just be careful of the feathers on my arms.”

“Wow! You’re a real live dragons. I’m going to ride on one for the first time.”

“It will be my first time to have a human ride on me,” answers David. “I’ll take it slow until we learn how this works.”

They start heading back as it is getting late as a result of the long visit. David takes off at a run, then leaps into the air to glide “Wow, you can actually fly!” Eddie tells David in astonishment.

“Actually, I can’t fly the way a winged dragon can,” David answers. “But I do glide quite well.”

“It’s good thing that you can glide. You’re able to travel far faster then walking or running. You’re a good friend. You have made for a most interesting day. I’ve really enjoyed talking to you two. It has been so lonely out there with only the wild animals around for company.”

Halfway back to the hanger, they are met by Davy, Doris, Ricky, and Ronda. “Where have you two been?” ask a worried Davy.

“You found a survivor!” answers Doris in surprise.

“He was hiding in the bushes watching us….” answers Judy. “Oh! I’m so sorry.”

“There is nothing to be sorry about,” answers Ronda. “We were expecting that you two would become mate boosted sooner or later. We were just so worried when you hadn’t returned after having been gone for so long. There are still dangers out there that we haven’t seen or know about.”

“You can blame me for making them so late,” answers Eddie. “We just lost track of time talking to each other.”

“Lets get back before it gets dark,” answers Ricky. “Coronal Powell is going to have a lot of questions to ask you about how you were able to survive out in this wilderness.”

“Well, here are those lovebirds,” comments Lt. Tylor as the six rock drakes come back into Hanger 18.

“Who’s the stranger on David?” ask Captain Powell.

“We found him, or, actually, he found us,” answers Judy.

“Rock Drakes, People, So many,” answers Eddie who is now overwhelmed by it all.

“Don’t crowd him,” orders Coronal Powell. “Let us debrief him as he gets checked out by Major Powell. You can all talk to him later.”

Back in the base hospital, Eddie gets a complete physical as his new rock drake friends David and Judy wait outside by the window. “How did you manage to survive the zombie plague,” asks Major Powell as she finishes up with her examination.

“I really don’t know,” Eddie answers. “While those people were chasing and biting each other, as soon as they got close to me, they turned and ran away in a panic. I ran back in the house, grabbed my dad’s crossbow and some survival food, then took my electric powered dirt bike and fled into the wilderness area on the reservation where I had built a fort that I would camp in. Several days later, when all of the screaming back in Spanaway had ended, I came back to look for survivors. The smell from all of the dead bodies was horrible. I found some badly needed supplies and headed back to my camp to get away from it all. I have been living from my scavenging back in Spanaway and my hunting skills. I found a good stock of bolts and some extra crossbows in the back room of the sporting goods store. The feral dogs have learned to keep their distance from me, when I have my crossbow, hunting knife, and a bola on me.”

“You’re an amazing young man,” reports Major Powell. “Not only is your genetic makeup Middle Eastern, you have a gene in your DNA sequence that matches that of the Zombie Virus. It’s what must of have caused your body to secretes a hormone that repels those that were infected with the disease. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that you are also immune to the effects of that virus as well. This could mean that there could be other survivors, along with those like us and Joe that successfully hid from it, out there somewhere in the world.”

“That confirms that the designers of that virus had specifically targeted all humans other then Middle Easterners,” answers Coronal Powell. “Yet, they must have screwed up the final production given that all of the Middle Easterners living in this area were killed as well. Lets get you in a clean uniform and introduce you to the rest of our survivors.”

In the other patrols of the day, two heavy haulers have been found to be operational with Joe’s help. Being powered with plutonium batteries, they are all set to go, Joe only needed to bypass the security systems to prevent it from disabling the vehicles. “This will be a big help in moving supplies to that portal.” comments Joe. The first trip has been made to the stable to collect saddles and other tack for Joe to craft saddles for the new rock drakes. He has located several sets of farrier tools and brings them back to the hanger.

Major Powell has not been idle either. With Terrie’s help driving the buckboard, they, Barbara, Jenny, and Silvia, have traveled over to the central PX to find badly needed items for the ladies. They luck out in finding a large store of items in the back room. “From the look of these boxes, they must have just received this shipment but never had the chance to unpack them,” comments Major Powell. “We’ll just have to be careful that all of those men don’t end up fighting over us when we start using them.”

“At least, we have our boyfriends back,” answers Terrie.

“It will take a long time before Barbara, Jenny, and Silvia are able to start up a relationship again,” answers Major Powell. “Ladies, don’t let the stress of your past ten years ruin your future lives. It is going to take a while for that emotional scars of what you three have been through to heal. Just take it one day at a time.”

“Thank you Major Powell, for your understanding,” the three young ladies answer back.

“Oh, excellent,” reports Terrie. “Lets bring back these barber supplies back with us so the men can get rid of their beards and long hair.”

“Good call,” reports Jenny. “We can set up a barber shop in the hanger office.”

“We better get back,” Major Powell reports as the evening sky starts to glow brightly for several minutes. “That object is even closer then it was last night and it’s has appeared early.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 25 Extinction

 

It is 0600 when Coronal Powell calls everybody together for an important meeting. “As you saw early yesterday evening, the remains of Aberration are now getting dangerously close to the Earth. This was confirmed yesterday when Rocky told me that The Keepers of the Arks have warned him that we must get off the Earth in less then a week or face possible extinction. I’m betting that it is going to be even less then that given all of the debris that is starting to drop out of orbit with it.”

“On the tarmac at McChord AFB, there sits an Obelisk with a portal that Sargent Gulliver says is big enough for all of us to fit inside. Mayor and Sargent Pasenna have already been back there to study how it works and where it will send us when we are forced to use it. In the meantime, Captain Powell and Lt. Jerry are going to assign work details to start packing supplies on the two heavy transports we found yesterday and start shuttling those supplies down to the Obelisk.”

“I’m having Joe work on those saddles for the young rock drakes so they are ready in case we need to use them to get out of here fast. Stay with your teams and your drake friends as you work on the tasks at hand. Have your radios on standby in case I need to order an early evacuation.”

“Lets go get to work.”

On the evening before, Mayor and Sargent Pasenna has made the trip with Sargent Gullivar and crew to conduct the inspection of the portal in the Obelisk. “This is excellent,” Sargent Pasenna reports. “We only need to be inside with the door closed when we activate the portal to leave Earth.”

“It looks like we have a choice of three locations on that Ark that we can go to. I’m going to recommend that we go to the tropical location. It has a nice large pad and plenty of flat sandy beach beyond. The redwood location looks too small besides being on a small island. There’s too many big trees close to the forest one.”

“The Keepers are recommending the tropical location as well,” Mayor answers in return. “They are telling me that the area is the safest of the three locations with plenty of room for our supplies.”

“So, are we going to face the prospect of running into prehistoric creatures on that Ark?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“We most certainly will,” answers Mayor. “Still, it will be much safer to start out there then Aberration was. There are plenty of resources in the area to help you get started.”

“Will we start out there naked with nothing but our wits?” ask Sargent Pasenna.

“No,” answers Mayor. “You will have everything that you have on you and have placed in the portal when you activate it.”

“Then, lets send Sargent Gullivar and Private Grobbal back to file our report, have them bring your mates and their flight crew back with them, and set up shop here to prepare this portal for our escape.”

Reporting back to Coronal Powell, the arrangements are made to load the heavy transports to bring them down to the portal in the morning. Sargent Thomas, Ensign Eslander, and Ensign Alvin hitch a ride on the first heavy transport where they will stay to take care of storing the supplies inside. It arrives later that morning and is quickly unloaded inside. “Bring tarps with you on the next trip,” orders Sargent Thomas. “We will need to protect this stuff from the weather on that Ark until we can construct structures to store it in.”

A bright light appears in the sky traveling from west to east. Then, it explodes into a brilliant shower of fragments followed by a loud sonic boom that shatters several windows in a nearby hanger on the air base. “There goes another chunk of Aberration,” comments Sargent Pasenna. “I pray that we have enough time left to get everything ready to get the frack out of here.”

With the second heavy transport of supplies on its way, Coronal Powell comes out to check on the progress. “I have the tarps you requested,” reports Coronal Powell.

“Excellent,” answers Sargent Thomas. “We can now cover this stuff to protect it from the tropical weather we may have out there.”

“We’re going to be tight for space once we get all of our people and 22 adult rock drakes in here. I’m going to arrange the supplies so that our rock drake friends can stand over them. With Joe’s saddles, we can place two people on the young drakes. With everyone sitting on the rock drakes, that should allow for enough space for Joe’s horses, the buckboard, and his goats. We’re going to have to leave the transport vehicle and the cattle behind. There is just no more room to do everything on this one trip. The teleport won’t function once the pad is filled from our first transport. I don’t think that it would be wise to split up our resources to the other Obelisk not knowing how far away they are from this tropical one.”

“Joe will be disappointed,” answers Coronal Powell. “But, our survival comes first. You have done well to be able to squeeze as much into one trip as you have done so far.”

Three loud rumbling booms are heard in the distance as everybody goes outside to see what is going on. “It looks like something has crashed over in the Olympia Forest,” reports Sargent Pasenna as they observe big black cloud of smoke rising into the sky from that direction.

“Looks like there is another forest fire up on the slope of Mt. Raineer,” reports Ensign Eslander as he sees smoke and flames in the distance from that direction.

“We had better get a goat pen ready inside the obelisk and move them in here,” orders Coronal Powell. “This stuff that’s falling out of the sky around us is going to become a real issue soon.”

That evening, a third of the troops have been moved over to the Obelisk from Hanger 18. “Good Job everyone,” Reports Coronal Powell. “If we work all night, we should have everything over there by tomorrow noon.

It is a strange following morning as a pale hazy sun tries to break through the heavy smoke in the sky. “Are we in danger of that fire in the Olympia Forest from reaching us?” ask Captain Powell.

“No, answers Coronal Powell. “It’s across the bay. It must be a big one given all of the smoke that’s now in the air.”

“Lets get the next load of supplies over to the Obelisk and plan on staying there until we leave.

By mid morning, the heavy transports have dropped off another load of supplies. They have just returned to Hanger 18 to get their last load when the sky is lit up with a brilliant flash of moving flames. “Oh, oh,” warns Joe. “That is a big chunk of something that’s coming down.” Everyone watches as a mass of flaming alien structure hits, then explodes into a massive brilliant fireball on the upper slope of Mt. Rainier.

“Emergency evacuation Now!” orders Coronal Powell as the extinct volcano starts erupting from the major impact. “Drop what you are doing and get over to the Obelisk on your assigned rock drakes. The Nasqually River is only six miles from here. That eruption could bury Ft. Lewis and McChord in a massive mudslide with end the hour.”

The ground is now shaking violently from a major earthquake that has been set off by the impact. All the windows are blown out of every building on the base as the shock wave from the impact on Mt. Rainier hits them. Trees are uprooted and less secured structures are shattered by the blast. The rock drakes gliding back to the Obelisk are forced to land temporarily until the shock wave has cleared.

Joe, his wife, and two daughters have been left stranded when the horses and goats bolt in panic and take off in all directions for parts unknown. Marlene and Danny glide in to their rescue.

“So close, we were so close,” cries Terrie.

“If we try to round them up now, we risk getting caught in a massive mudslide,” warns Joe.

Another fireball lights up the darkening sky way to the North. It crashes into the Cascade Mountains causing another earthquake that splits the ground open at the edge of the air force base. “To the Rock Drakes,” orders Lt. Tylor as the lead transport is now hanging over the edge of the fissure and has to be abandoned. A howling wind starts blowing in from the West as pieces of loose debris, glowing embers, and heavy smoke from the now raging firestorm in the Olympia Forest start blowing by.

“This is miserable,” warns Davy. “It’s getting extremely difficult for me to glide in this.”

“Just run,” orders Lt. Tylor. “Glide only where you have to.”

Reaching the Obelisk, everybody is getting crowded into position inside. “Where’s Eddie and David,” ask a worried Sargent Pasenna as he does a final head count.

“I’ don’t know,” answers a worried Judy. “David said they were going to make a quick visit to Eddie’s camp so he could pick up some personal items.”

Suddenly, through the heavy smoke and haze, the entire sky above starts turning a brilliant orange as a massive object appears to be skimming through the stratosphere. The ground is shaking from the tremendous shock wave and continuous lightning that is now coming through the lower atmosphere as it flies above them at an unbelievable speed.

“When that thing hits, we will only have minutes before the fireball from the impact engulfs us.” warns Coronal Powell. “If they don’t show up soon, we may be forced to leave them behind.”

“I don’t want to be without my David!” cries Judy in despair as a blinding white fireball starts showing through the smoke on the eastern horizon.

“Here they come,” reports a relieved Sargent Pasenna who closes the door as those two crash into the others, then hits the portal activation button.

A glowing mesh, with the hum of alien machinery comes down from the ceiling to engulf everybody inside it. It is becoming increasingly difficult to stay in position as supplies start getting knocked all over the place from the shaking floor due to the ever increasing violence from the earthquakes occurring outside. Then, all is quiet as everything goes white.