fanfiction The Stargate, The Adventure Continues.

[rpicardi1]

The Stargate, The Adventure Continues.

Return Through the Stargate. The Adventure Continues.

 

This is a continuation of the story loosely based upon the popular video game Ark Survival Evolved but without the Specimen Implant or of any map in particular. All names are fictitious and unrelated to previous stories I have written. References to popular movies are just to develop the thinking of the main characters. The main story, Ark Survival Stargate, takes place on an alternative world in the time period of 10,000 BC. There is the discovery of three ancient culture of humans on this adventure and the research into how they have influenced those cultures that remain in the present. Included are creatures both fictional and those present at that period of time. This story explores in detail the presence of dragons from the Dark Ages and the explorer’s interaction with them. It is an adventure where the research group get teleported into the alternative world of the two suns to discover and work with the inhabitants and the dragons living there in order to be returned back to the present world they came from.

In this continuation of the story, our adventurers have made the decision to leave the growing turmoil of the political world of 2031 as society literally starts falling apart as a result of a past global civil war and crushing Government debts. It is the story of that escape and the adventure of becoming pioneers in newly discovered worlds.

Rated M. Some mild combat, divisive politics, and predator violence. You have been warned if you are offended by such subjects.

 

Ch 30, Escape from a New World Order.

The world of 2031 is just starting to recover from a nasty Armageddon event that has decimated half of the world’s population. Most every Government is now gone bankrupt, or is close to being bankrupt as they struggle to rebuild their economy and ruined infrastructure. Some Government officials are aware of and have even attended a UN conference to lay out the plans for forming a one world currency based upon a formula known as Social Credits, something the Chinese started in 2018. It is to be financed by a world value added tax based upon the impact of such products to the environment. Unknown to many is that it is a guise to implement their real plan, UN Agenda 2030 or the consolidation of all world governments into a Socialist empire under the control of the Chinese UN leaders as part of a global climate control agenda. Aware of the secret plan of the UN to seize all private property, implement a global value added tax, and eliminate all freedom, the adventurers from the first story have returned home and are preparing to return to the worlds of the Stargate with their families, close friends, and relatives to the Stargate research site before it is too late to them to do so.

That Wednesday in May, two weeks after graduation at River State University and just days before the start of the Summer Trimester, the research group, with their friends and families, are arriving for their meeting at Dr. Roger’s office at 10:AM. They come in under the cover that they are gathering to go on an extended archaeological research field trip being hosted by Dr. Rogers for select staff members, their friends, and family members, as they meet with Dr. Halls and his group from the veterinary school at Michigan State University.

Hearing about construction roadblocks suddenly showing up on I-75, Dr. Halls has decided to take the back roads to the university. His two grad students are with him. They make the trip arriving at the University by 9AM. Everyone’s luggage has been picked up a day earlier by a courier service where it has been delivered to the charter that is parked in a private hanger at MBS International Airport.

Boarding their charter bus which has arrived to pick them up, everyone makes the trip to MBS where they are waved through the back gate to where a large private jet is waiting for them.

Then, they get a nasty surprise.

Waiting for them is a company of blue helmeted solders with large white UN letters on each side of the helmet backed up with blue painted armored personnel carriers. It also becomes apparent that the local police and airport security have also been detained by those blue helmeted soldiers as well. “What is this all about?” asks Dr. Rogers with alarm when a platoon, armed with assault style weapons, surrounds them as they are ordered off of the charter bus.

“By the authority of the United Nations, you are all under arrest,” the UN official in charge tells them. “My troops have been authorized to use deadly force if you refuse to cooperate. You are ordered to board this charter jet where you will be flown to your destination. Once you have arrived at your Stargate Village, you will be formally charged with your crimes against humanity.” Everyone including the charter bus driver gets escorted up the ramp into the waiting plane. The official in charge joins them.

On board the charter are a squad of blue helmets armed with assault weapons. Everyone is searched with all ID and personal devices seized from them. The charter is then ordered to take off to fly to Madrid, Spain. Two fighter jets with freshly painted UN markings are soon spotted flying escort.

The refueling stop in Spain is far from routine. Their charter is ordered to land at a Spanish air force base where the private jet is refueled. The charter pilot is then ordered to fly directly to the Stargate airstrip where he is told that the UN will be securing the installation by the time they arrive there.

It is late that evening, as the charter is flying over the Sahara Desert heading to their destination, that a strange turn of events suddenly take place. The two escorting fighter jets suddenly break off to engage some unknown target that has appeared behind them. A bright light engulfs the two fighter jets as a high pitch whine hits the charter jet causing everyone on board to pass out.

 

It is morning in the Land of the Two Suns when the researchers start waking up as they are laying on cots next to their charter jet. Two fighter jets with UN markings are parked in the hard pan of the dry lake bed near by. In the distance, one can see the pyramids as the group lies in the dual shade cast by a huge floating alien obelisk. Close by is the Stargate research village and the Stargate Temple. In a makeshift holding pen, a squad of blue helmet soldiers that were on the charter flight, the official in charge, and the two pilots of the fighter jets are now the prisoners of Coronal Arafat’s private security force.

“What happened?” Dr. Rogers asks Coronal Arafat as he and the others wakes up. “How did everything end up here?”

“The Anonymous Donor discovered that the UN was planning on capturing you to force you to take their forces through the Stargate so that they could take control of this new world and capture all of those fleeing to here.” Coronal Arafat reports. “They made the arrangements to let the kidnapping take place, then, they stopped that attempt by teleporting Stargate Village, the temple, and your flight to this remote location by the Obelisk.”

“What’s going to happen to the UN soldiers and those fighter pilots?” asks Dr. Croft.

“Since we can no longer use the Stargate to return them to Earth, we are going to send them, along with the official in charge of your kidnapping, to a newly discovered world that is called Thunder Dome. They will quickly learn a lesson about freedom as they struggle to stay alive in that post apoplectic world.”

“What about our bus driver and the flight crew of our charter flight?” asks Dr. Halls.

“Since they are unwilling victims of what you just went through, they will be given the choice to join you or any of the pioneering groups that are awaiting processing. Due to the dangers they would face back on Earth from the UN authorities, it would not be wise for any of them to return home. For their protection, the Anonymous Donors will attempt to find their close friends and family members and bring them back here.”

It is with a surprise to everyone that the Stargate in the temple has become active again. “I just found out that we can use this Stargate to travel directly to the one in the Egyptian Village,” reports Ahab as he steps outside from the temple that used to be on Earth. “That will reduce the travel time between Pyramid City and the Egyptian Village by hours or even days.”

Clarence has now arrived through the Stargate riding on Perry. The Parasaur promptly goes on alert warning everyone that a threat is nearby. Multiple marker appears inside the makeshift prison where the UN soldiers are being confined. The four resident dragons, Ricky, Ronda, Flame, Torch, from the Egyptian village soon arrive as well. They take a position guarding each corner of the holding pen.

Coronal Arafat now heads over to inform the prisoners, that are now in a panic, the fate that awaits them. He talks to each dragon for a moment which have taken up a position on each corner of the holding pen. Then, he addresses the prisoners inside there.“I can see through this Parasaur’s alerts that it is still quite obvious that you people represent a danger to everyone living in this world. Since you saw it fit to kidnap these people in an effort to take control of the Stargate to invade this world, you are going to find out why you don’t want to be attempting to conquer other worlds. We cannot send you back to Earth since your sudden return would confirm the Stargate’s existence to your superiors. We cannot let you stay here because you clearly represent a threat to this and other worlds we have discovered. Therefore, we are going to send you to an inhabited world most suited to what your leaders will soon create in their effort to control everyone on Earth. We are sending you to a world that has been destroyed by a total nuclear war. We are sending you to the world of Mad Max, more specifically, Thunder Dome, where you will either conform to their rules of survival as you search in that radioactive wasteland for uncontaminated food and water, or die in combat in the arena in Barter Town. Until we are ready to send you there, don’t even attempt to escape from this holding pen. These dragons will set you on fire if you are foolish enough to try to escape your fate.”

There is whispered conversation among the blue helmets and the two fighter pilots who are German. “There is no such thing as a creature that can spit fire,” Captain Adolf declares to the others in his group. “When they open the gate to move us to the Stargate, create a diversion so that Captain Schultz and I can make a break for it to our jets.”

“We’re now ready to send them through the Stargate into Thunder Dome, Ahab announces. “Follow me single file into the temple. Don’t touch anything in there. Coronal Arafat’s security detail will be in there keeping an eye on you.”

As the corner of the pen is opened to let the troops out, Captain Adolf attempts an escape to his jet. His wing man, Captain Schultz, hesitates for a moment. To the shock of the other blue helmeted force, Torch, one of the four dragons guarding them, turns him into a smoking corpse. “Oh Crap, they really do breathe fire,” a shocked Captain Schultz says out loud. “We better do as we are told.”

Inside the Stargate Chamber, Torch is glaring at each of the blue helmeted soldiers as they file one by one through the activated Stargate into the hostile world beyond. He hisses at their leader, Officer Cheng, who hesitates to go through the gate. The smoking body of the fighter pilot is taken through the gate by two of those men. “What a relief to get rid of that threat,” comments Clarence as Perry now settles down from warning everyone of the threat.

“I was hoping that one of them would be stupid enough to try to get away,” Torch tells Clarence. “Adolf didn’t know that I understand enough of the German language to have learned how he was planning to escape.”

Shortly after sending the Blue Helmets to their fate, Cleo comes out of the temple with a group of men women, and children. There is a happy reunion among the flight crew and the bus driver as they are all reunited with their families and close friends.

As everyone has finally recovered from their unscheduled teleportation to the Land of the Two Suns, Dr. Nasser prepares to conducts an orientation meeting with the new members of Dr. Rogers field trip, the flight crew, the limo driver, and the bewildered newly arrived family members. He rides in on Leader so that he can introduce the dragons to the newcomers. Farrell has come along where there is a happy reunion between him and Dr. Croft. He lays by her as she and the rest of her friends and family gather around him. There are a ton of questions as to what has been happening and a bit of a shock to see dragons and living creature from the Juristic World among the researchers and their friends.

“Farrell is the dragon that made it all possible,” Dr. Croft tells everyone at the meeting when Dr. Nasser introduces her to the most curious newcomers. “Being my Game of Throne fantasy come true when I first found him, our friendship made it possible to unite into an alliance, all the dragons and everyone living here in this world some eleven years ago. That ended their war and uneasy cease fire that had been occurring for thousands of years. Many of the dragons know our language, many of us know theirs. They live as equals among the various cultures living in this world. Treat them and everyone living here with respect and we can all live together as friends in this new world.”

The briefing continues with the newcomers and the representatives of those early explorers that have started colonies in the respective new worlds. Everyone gets an orientation of the different worlds and their unique challenges of what is known about them.

“Stargate Village will now become the communication and travel hub between all of the known worlds,” Dr. Nasser tells everyone. “This Obelisk will allow us to remain in contact in those worlds with this travel center through our new information devices. They will give you valuable information about where you will be settling and how to thrive there. You will have some limited high tech equipment available for establishing your base of operation. Other then that, you are pretty much on your own using your skills in order to build and maintain your colonies. You are going to be the modern day versions of the early pioneers and explorers of the 16th Century.” With that, the meeting has concluded as the various representatives of the seven worlds that Stargate have established colonies in, meet with all of the newcomers and seasoned veterans from the land of the two suns.

Back on Earth, an emergency meeting has been called by the Chinese Government and UN leaders. Each group is soon blaming the other for the disappearance of the charter flight, all of the friends and relatives of those on board, the friends and relatives of the flight crew, the bus driver, the people of Dr. Rogers expedition, and an estimated 6,000 other people worldwide. Having been unable to extract any information off of the traveler’s personal devices due to their SIMM Chips having been burned out by a kill command activated in those chips, a device that the Chinese Military had implanted in all electronic devices for the purpose of backdoor entry to control them, a raid is authorized on River State University, Michigan State Veterinary School, and anyone that is associated with them. Students and facility of River State University are in a panic as an army of special Chinese agents of the UN has descended upon the campus and start tearing the place apart. Again, there is another failure to control information as the raids alerts the world to the desperation of those conducting them. Several students and facility members are recorded being shot or beaten up by Blue Helmets and the special agents at both universities. Soon the news media people recording the event are similarly attacked with lethal force as cameras and recording equipment gets smashed. The broadcasting from Fox News, CNN, and all the rest of the major networks get suddenly cut off. Homes and apartments of many of the students and facility members, as well as those of the people that have vanished, are ripped apart in similar raids. As expected, the raid finds nothing other then to outrage everyone over the heavy handed illegal tactics being used by a foreign entity in the US.

In Egypt, the commander of the raid on the Stargate Village, is shot for treason when top UN leaders arrive there only to find an empty depression in the sand where satellite and drone images showed an installation being there before they vanished in a flash of light. The entire task force that was sent with orders to seize the village are soon ordered back to the air base at Aswan and locked in the now overcrowded brig. They face days of intense interrogation and torture as spies before being beheaded.

In the weeks that follows the disappearance of Dr. Rogers charter and the stargate village, protests and riots are breaking out everywhere worldwide. International news broadcast soon return. It quickly becomes apparent that the broadcasters, many of then substitutes for the regular broadcasters, are reading prepared scripts as the cameras pull back to show armed blue helmeted soldiers nearby. The broadcasts get cut again. The protests against the governments soon reaches the point where entire nations start pulling out of the UN and severing diplomatic relations with China. There is a total breakdown in Washington between the politicians and the military over how the UN was allowed to conduct such a raid on US soil in the first place. Somewhere along the line, nuclear missiles get launched at Washington DC and Beijing China. A major naval conflict soon erupts in the Pacific. Key communication and GPS satellites are targeted with lasers and rail guns. The International Space Station gets ripped apart by numerous collisions with the wreckage of those destroyed communications and GPS satellites. That sets off a chain reaction that soon turns anything in low Earth Orbit into a cloud of lethal objects. It climaxes with a total nuclear exchange with China, Russia, the Unites States, the UK, France, and other nations that still have a nuclear stockpile. What is left of humanity is soon struggling for survival as the aftermath of that global war, and the years of nuclear winter that follows, has resulted in UN Agenda 2030 far exceeding it’s goal of world population reduction. In short, all modern technology has been disabled or rendered useless. It has also become impossible to place any communications or spy satellites back into low Earth orbit due to the clouds of debris from destroyed communication and GPS satellites now circling the planet. Geo stationary ones, that have not been destroyed, have been rendered useless due to the orbiting debris cloud, made up of billions of metallic particles the size of grains of sand and larger, that is now blocking their signals. In short, civilization has been returned back to the stone age with the destruction of all electrical and electronic devices. Communication gets limited to Ham shortwave and wired land lines. Transportation gets limited to animal and human power as all, but the oldest of cars, trucks, motorcycles, aircraft, and trains are unable to function due to burned out electronics.

It will be 20 years or longer before the descendant of preppers, those that have escaped the wrath of nuclear warfare, the years of nuclear winter that follows, and the mobs of desperate survivors looking for food and water, are able to reestablish small communities to start repopulating the now recovering wilderness they have hidden out in.

[rpicardi1]

Ch 31. Stargate Command, The pioneers to a new world.

 

As everyone is getting settled down into temporary quarters, Dr. Nasser, Dr Croft, Coronal Arafat, and Cleo are holding a meeting in planning for the future of a Stargate Command. Farrell and the two pilots of the charter aircraft have been asked to join them.

“With our command being relocated to this Land of the Two Suns, we are going to need to set up an Operation Center here,” Dr Nasser starts off the meeting. “What I need is someone on our communications system that is fluent in several of the known languages spoken here and is knowledgeable in deciphering the unknown ones. Dr. Croft, with your past experience in this world, and your educational research in ancient languages, you are a natural to fill that position. With your dragon friend  Farrell living on this world, I’m sure that you are going to want to stay with him and his family. Would you be willing to take on that job and stay here in Stargate Command?”

“That sounds like a challenge,” answers Dr. Croft.

“What about you Farrell?” asks Dr. Nasser.

“I don’t know,” Farrell answers in surprise of the request. “I have no way to access your devices like you humans can.”

“That would not be an issue,” Dr. Nasser tells him. “Our access terminal can easily be set up for voice command. I can program it to recognize your voice in your native Celtic language. The few mechanical inputs needed can easily be modified for you to use them. The monitor you will be using has eye tracking built into it. Your knowledge of several languages would be a big help to Dr. Croft. You two would be a natural for working together at this location.”

“From the work I have done with these dragons, they are more then capable of handling such problem solving task,” answers Ahab.

“I’ll give it a try,” Farrell tells them.

“Good for you,” Dr. Nasser tells him. “I’m confidant that you will both be capable of keeping track of our pioneering expeditions to the other worlds.”

“Captain Russel and Margaret, we could use your piloting skills to operate these high tech stealth drones we have available to us for exploring the new worlds and tracking what is happening back on Earth. Would you like to take on that job for us?”

“Yes, we will do so,” both pilots volunteer who happens to be a husband and wife team that are ex military with past skills in drone operations.

“Thank you everyone,” Dr Nasser responds. “You will be all working together for Stargate Command.”

“Interesting,” Captain Russel comments to his wife. “Are we actually going to be working with a dragon in the command center?”

“Don’t be too concerned about Farrell’s abilities,” Ahab tells them. “He is a lot more intelligent then you think. He is more then capable in handling the task he has volunteered for.”

In the days that follows, the two families, Dr. Croft, her husband Willard, Son Willard Jr. Daughter, Sandy, along with Farrell, Freida, Fargo, and Francis, make the move and get settled into their new home. The kids are so thrilled to become friends with each other. With a school being set up, both the kids in the village and the dragon kids are attending the school learning from each other.

Willard Croft, who is a software engineer by trade, gets the new data center set up and programmed so that both his wife and Farrell can operate the two terminals. “Farrell is one fast learner,” He tells his wife later that evening. “I have to keep looking at him to remind myself that he is a dragon and not a human that is using voice and eye tracking commands to input data into his workstation. He has been a big help in setting up the software for this installation. He has even helped me solve some issues I have been having in tweaking the database to do what I want it to.”

“I found myself having to look his way several times as we were setting up the drone controls,” reports Captain Russel. “I find it so hard to believe that I was working with a dragon accepting his suggestions on how to control these new stealth drones using the eye tracking and voice commands interface.”

“I’ve always known that these dragons are very intelligent ever since I first saw Farrell hiding in the Sacrifice Temple.” Dr. Croft tells him. “Farrell’s new workstation could quickly show us what they are really capable of.”

By the end of the first week, the data center has become fully operational. A schedule has been set up for keeping in contact with the other worlds being explored and settled. Six more worlds have been found with plans to send in drones to study them for exploration. A stealth probe, guided by Captain Margaret has been keeping track of the blue helmets on Thunder Dome. Another controlled by Captain Russel is tracking the breakdown taking place on Earth. Farrell and Dr. Croft have been using two other probes to study one of the newly discovered worlds for exploration.

That weekend, everyone takes a break to relax and visit the Pyramid city. Willard gets a chance to ride on Farrell as his wife rides on Freida. Their kids give their kids rides as well. Ricky and Ronda come along to give the two charter pilots a ride of their lifetime.

“I now understand why Jon Snow and Danarys so enjoyed flying on her dragons, even if they were so big and scary,” Captain Margaret tells her husband.

“They certainly were huge and scary compared to how large we are as adults,” Farrell tells her. “It was so sad to see Reigal get killed in that ambush after he so enjoyed taking Jon Snow for his first dragon ride.”

“When did you get a chance to watch Game of Thrones?” Dr. Croft asks Farrell in surprise.

“I was watching those You Tube videos in my spare time at my workstation,” Farrell tells her. “How did that Night King ever get a zombie dragon?”

“He killed one of Danary’s dragons with an ice spear, then later resurrected him as a zombie,” answers Sandra. “You need to watch those stories from the very beginning of Season One to know how the story evolved to it’s surprise ending.”

“I’ll have to do so when I have the time,” Farrell tells her.

“He is certainly a lot smarter then we think,” answers Russell Croft. “I never showed him how to access You Tube video clips on his workstation. He learned how to do that on his own. I can set up an entertainment center in the commons so the two of you can watch that series together from the beginning.”

“That would be wonderful,” answers Dr. Croft. “I would certainly enjoy watching that series again with Farrell by my side.

“This has been one interesting flight,” Captain Russel tells everyone. “I would have never imagine how these dragons are so wonderful to fly on.”

Landing at the edge of the village, everyone gathers together for the trip into the trading center. Farrell tells Sandra that they will be visiting friends of theirs in the area and will be back here when the red sun starts to sets. “That will be perfect,” she tells him as they prepare to see the sights.

The visit of the pyramid trading center is most interesting to the newcomers. “What an incredible number of unusual creatures.” Margaret tells her husband. “Those camel like creatures look like the ones from the Stargate Movie.”

“They are called Morallotops,” Dr. Croft tells her. “I understand that they have been found on several of the known worlds containing deserts and badlands that have been explored.”

“The tribes living in this world have also tamed Mammoths, Dire Bears, Sabre Cats, Dire Wolves, and quite a few other creatures from our past.”

“How did they manage to find and tame dinosaurs from the Jurassic period?” asks Margaret.

“For whatever reasons, those creatures have managed to thrive in this alternative world,” answers Dr. Croft. “Ahab has a pair of tame raptors back by the Sacrifice Temple.”

“How did that place get it’s name?” asks Margaret.

“It is where the Egyptians brought a young couple as a sacrifice to the dragons living here,” answers Dr. Croft. “It had been part of an agreement to a truce from a long and nasty war with them. Farrell was the key in ending that sacrifice and in uniting all of the tribes with the dragons living in this world.”

“How did you become friends with Farrell if all of the dragons were hostile to all humans back then?” asks Margaret.

“When we first arrived in this world, I found him hiding back in the temple,” answers Dr. Croft. “He had been badly wounded by a woolly rhino. When I learned that I could communicate with him, he accepted our help. We soon became the best of friends.”

“What an interesting story,” answers Margaret. “No wonder you wanted to return back to this world.”

“Still, it has had it’s conflict among the dragons and the tribes living here,” reports Dr. Croft. “Dr. Halls will have to show you one of his surgical successes with a dragon that had his wing slashed in a battle with Viking raiders. It was a most interesting surgery that took place to repair that damage. He gave Argon his ability to fly again.”

“What ever happened to the raiders?” asks Captain Russell.

“Raganor organized a raid on their village wiping out the raider threat for good.” answers Dr Croft. “They had been stealing dragon eggs in an effort to raise an air force of tame dragons to use for raiding. He managed to rescue the hatchlings to return them to their mothers.”

“I can see what a dangerous force that could be after watching Torch flame that fighter pilot,” answers Captain Russell.

“The good thing now is that everyone is living in peace in this world,” answers Dr. Croft. “They have been working together to turn this world into a paradise.”

“That is evident by what I am seeing in this village,” answers Margaret. “This is quite a thriving trading center.”

That rest of the day is spent visiting the various trading shops and taking a short tour of the pyramids themselves.

That evening, they return to the edge of the village where Farrell has returned with his family and the other two dragons to fly everyone back home. Dr. Croft gets a surprise when she finds that an entertainment center has been set up in the commons where she and Farrell get to watch their first episode of Game of Thrones together.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 32, The fate of the Blue Helmets;

 

Over the past several days of operations, Captain Margaret has been keeping track of the UN kidnappers that have been banished to the post nuclear war world of Thunder Dome through the use of a stealth drone. Once a green paradise of vast forests, prairies, tundras, large freshwater lakes, rivers, and other biomes teaming with wildlife, It soon succumbed to overdevelopment by an ever exploding human population that advanced too quickly in developing their military, robotic, and computer technology. The fight over dwindling resources, as well as over the enslavement of entire nations, eventually spilled over into total nuclear war when the central computers controlling all of the defense systems and drones decided that the real threat to the planet was the people that programmed them. The survivors of that war ended up establishing clans that were often at war with each other as they roamed their ruined world looking for uncontaminated food, water, ammo, and fuel to power their makeshift transports. It is a harsh world of volcanic wastelands, vast sand deserts, dying lakes, violent storms, zones of radioactive ground that glow in the dark, a coastline ravaged by nuclear created tidal waves, dead radioactive oceans, and burned out interior cities where vicious mutated beast hunt in packs looking for an easy meal. While the central computers were destroyed in the nuclear exchange that followed, there are still the occasional military drone and combat bots still functioning under their own power following those last orders programmed into them to kill all living creatures.

Entering this hostile world through the Stargate, the Blue helmets are surprised to find that their combat gear is waiting for them. They find themselves having been teleported into a dead forest that has been flattened by the shock wave of a massive explosion. All the trees are laying in one direction. Many of them show signs of being charred by intense heat before the fires were snuffed out by the dust, blast wave, and sudden lack of oxygen. The hazy sky has a yellowish gray look to it from the dust that is still polluting the air, the sun barely visible. Grabbing their weapons, Captain Schultz and Lt. Fritz quickly run back to where they had entered through the Stargate only to find that it has now vanished. Stranded in this dead alien world, Lt. Fritz orders his men to get into their gear, load their weapons, and take an assessment of what they still have with them. That gear consists of an M-16 style assault rifle, two 20 round magazines, a bayonet, a canteen, first aid kit, and some basic rations. The officer in charge is only armed with a sidearm with one extra clip. The two pilots are unarmed.

A burial detail is soon taking place as the point man does a quick survey of the surrounding. The soil is quite stony in this flattened forest making digging difficult. The blue helmets find an uprooted tree close by where it is possible to use their hands and sticks to dig a proper hole for burial. There is some grass, small bushes with some bitter tasting immature wild berries, and small trees that are trying to grow in the barren soil, but not much else. A pack of wolves are heard howling in the distance as the evening approaches with the darkening sky. Captain Schultz makes the decision that the group should build a shelter for the night along with a campfire to ward off the chill and approaching darkness. A guard detail is posted due to the presence of wolves and the total lack of any other animals or birds in the area.

During their first night on Thunder Dome, three of the wolves in the pack make an attempt to attack the camp. Their glowing eyes are spotted by the night watch and are dropped by gunfire when they make a move to rush the armed soldiers. The other wolves in the pack quickly leave the area looking for easier pickings elsewhere.

In the morning light, Lt. Fritz goes out to inspect the three freshly killed wolves to see if they can be butchered for their meat. He quickly determined that that might not be a good idea. All three wolves have festering maggot filled sores among their mangy fir that is just loaded with fleas and ticks. “Leave them be,” warns Doc. “Any meat that you get off of them will be unsafe to eat let alone with the extreme risk of getting an infection or some disease from the ticks and fleas that are infesting them.”

“Lets pack up and head in the direction these down trees are pointing,” orders Captain Schultz. “If we can get clear of this mess, we will start looking for water and signs of civilization.”

It is slow going traveling through the burnt tangle of branches of the downed trees. They continue uphill and soon reach the top of the ridge. Stopping to rest for a moment, the remaining wolf pack is spotted tracking them. “Can we set up an ambush to eliminate their threat?” ask a squad leader.

“I believe that we can,” answers Lt. Fritz. The wind is coming from behind us which will hide our presence. If we plan this right, we can take them all out at once. Lets set up behind these logs and wait for them all to show up. Everyone pick out a target. Conserve your ammo. We need to take them all down at once and make every shot count.” The ambush works like clockwork, maybe too easy, but all six wolves from the pack are killed with one or two shots at close range.

“That was not normal,” warns Doc. “A healthy wolf pack would have never allowed themselves to fall for such a trap. These wolves must be just as sick as the others. We better be very careful that we don’t end up like them.”

“I see what looks like the remains of a town in the distance,” reports Captain Schultz as they start down the hill before entering the still standing forest. “Lets get a compass bearing from here before we head down into the forest below.”

“We’re going to have to use dead reckoning,” warns Corporal Lee. “My compass is not functioning in this world.”

As they enter the woods of mostly yellow needle pines that have dropped most of their needles, they find a two track trail. “Lets take that and see if it leads us to a road,” orders Captain Schultz. “Check out these large pine cones to see if they have seeds in them.”

“We’re out of luck,” warns Doc after inspecting one of them. “That nuclear winter must have hit in mid Summer before they had matured. There are no edible seeds in them” A small natural spring is found which yields safe drinking water to fill everyone’s canteen. Then, a short distance further, after leaving the woods, a paved road is located with a sign pointing them to a town that can be seen in the distance through the farm fields of dead immature corn, stunted soybeans, and rotting sugar beets. “Damn, nothing edible here,” reports the medic as he examines the crops in the fields. “This corn looked like it has frozen before the ears started to fill out. The pods on the soybeans are in the same condition. Those sugar beets are now rotting in the field. All the crops have been ruined by the cold snap that hit after the nukes went off.”

Heading down the country road, the patrol finds an abandoned pickup truck. Sargent Moores, the squad leader, pops the hood to examine the engine. He can clearly see the burned out computer modules as well as the melted wiring going to the damaged battery that has loss all of the acid from the cracked casing. “Unless we can find some old tractor or other vehicle that doesn’t use electronic modules, we are out of luck finding anything that will run,” he tells the others. “The EMP from the nuclear warheads will have burned out any electronics regardless if that vehicle was running or not.”

“How did these power lines end up on the ground even though the poles are still standing?” asks Private Root.

“The EMP from those nukes overloaded the wires melting them at the insulators,” reports Sargent Moores.

It is strangely quiet other then the sound of the wind blowing through the dead trees. There are no sounds from birds or any other animals one would expect to find in the countryside. Skeletons of some farm animals are found in one dried up pasture. Remains of some birds and small wild creatures are found in the ditch in another area. So far, no remains of any people have been found.

The patrol continues on where they find the farmhouse and barn for the farm fields they have been following. While part of the roof has been blown off and all of the windows facing the blast wave are broken, the house remains mostly intact. It had been spared from being set on fire by a power surge when the power line transformer exploded. The machinery shed didn’t fare as well. It has been burned to the ground. The barn, facing the force of the blast wave, has been knocked down. It’s presence has protected the farmhouse from major damage. It is unknown what may have happened to the family living there. They could have been caught in the open by the blast wave, may have been killed in the barn collapse, or succumbed to the effects of the radiation burst. There is a pickup truck and car in the driveway back by the house, but like the one found on the road, their electrical systems have also been burned out.

Sargent Moores forces his way through the jammed back door which is the entrance to the back porch, the kitchen, and a cellar. A sizable amount of canned food is found in the cellar along with baking ingredients kept in metal tins. Other non perishable foods are found in the kitchen. “Leave the fridge and freezer door closed,” warns Sargent Moores. “Anything in there is going to be spoiled.”

Taking all of the food, jackets, blankets, and other useful items that they have found, the patrol continues on. They have found a hand wagon and a wheel barrel to take the extra items with them.

As the patrol continues down the country road, more farms are found and searched for anything useful. Even though badly damaged, the patrol is able to access the pantry of one farmhouse finding more canned goods. Everything else has been ruined by exposure to the weather. Unfortunately, for the rest of the farms found along the road, the buildings are either burned down, or have been flattened by the blast wave. The terrain itself is beginning to look more and more like a desert wasteland the closer they get to the town in the distance. Then, the wind picks up blowing around so much dust and soot that it is making it very hard to see any distance.

“This is awful,” warns Doc. “We need to find shelter from this dust storm and soon.”

Entering the town, a local hardware store is found, sheltered by the other buildings, with the windows intact. With the door unlocked, the patrol takes refuge inside. By the light of a lantern found in a farmhouse, Sargent Moores and the others search through the looted mess inside for anything useful.

“There are definitely survivors somewhere out there,” warns Lt. Fritz after the search has been completed in the retail sections. “They have taken all of the flashlights, batteries, and anything else that could be used for survival.”

“They took all of the guns, ammo, black powder, and bow hunting supplies as well,” warns Captain Schultz.

“It looks like that they were in a hurry,” reports Officer Cheng as he comes downstairs. “They missed searching the upstairs apartment. I found a pump shotgun with two boxes of buckshot and a semi auto handgun with four clips and 100 rounds of ammo.”

“That’s going to be a rare find given if we run into any trouble,” answers Captain Schultz. “Once our ammo gets used up, our weapons will be useless around here.”

“Here’s two more of those hand farm wagons in their boxes,” reports Doc. “Lets open them up, get them assembled, and use them to carry our additional supplies.”

While they are assembling the two wagons, a strange noise becomes audible over the sound of the howling wind. “What’s that!” warns Lt. Fritz as the sound of something that is making the noise of a small tracked vehicle is heard outside.

“Everyone take cover,” warns Officer Cheng as the sound gets louder, then changes as if it is turning towards the hardware store. Then, something smashes through the door.

“That’s a combat bot!” warns Lt. Fritz. “Target the sensors. Don’t let it grab you.” Bullets are flying everywhere as they bounce off of the armored drone. But, soon, it is blinded as it’s sensors get knocked out. Three of the men grab bolt cutters, gets behind the machine, and cut several of the exposed cables and hoses at the joints thus knocking it out of commission.

“I pray that there are no more of them still operational out there,” warns Lt. Fritz. “We don’t have the ammo to deal with any more of them. It may explain just what happened in this world. We’re lucky that this one has expended all of its munitions.”

Examining the now disabled machine, Officer Cheng unlocks the control panel and access the computer terminal inside. “Interesting,” he says. “This bot had been programmed to seek out and kill all living humans. Having lost contact with it’s command center, it was carrying out it’s last orders. It’s down to 5% power in it’s battery pack. It’s a good thing that it is out of ammo or we would be all dead by now.” With a bolt cutter, he cuts the wiring harness leading to the terminal which thus shuts down the bot for good.

“From the looks of the marks on it’s armor plating, it has been in other fights,” reports Captain Schultz. “Lets set up camp upstairs for the night, then further search this town once the storm has cleared.”

The following morning arrives with the air heavy with dust and fog. Packing up their gear, the patrol heads out to search the rest of the town for anything useful, especially weapons and ammo given that the fight with the combat drone has left them with about 5 rounds of ammo for the assault rifles, 20 for the shotgun, and about 90 for the one sidearm.

Before they continue down the main street, several houses are searched for anything useful. It is found that they have been cleaned out of anything useful such as food, clothing, and weapons.

Checking out the nearby food mart, it is found that all of the shelves are empty. The storeroom is likewise void of any canned or box goods. Interesting, the refrigerated stores have been cleaned out as well. “There has to be survivors somewhere,” reports Sargent Moores after completing his inspection. They cleaned this store out before anything had a chance to spoil.”

“Lets check out the farm coop next,” orders Officer Cheng.

Rounding the corner to where the coop is located, the patrol is suddenly ambushed by a pack of angry feral dogs. Officer Cheng, who is in the lead, is brought down by the savage pack. Everyone opens fire on the rabid dogs killing them but not before Private Root had been bitten in the arm by one when he is forced to use his bayonet to kill it.

“Those were harder to kill then those wolves,” reports Captain Schultz. “It took several rounds to drop them when only one round was enough to take down those sick wolves.”

“These dogs don’t look normal,” warns Doc as he treats Root’s injury. “They look like that they had been mutated somehow. What were they doing here out in the open anyhow?”

“They were feeding on these dead people,” reports Sargent Moores as he examines several more bodies lying in the street. “It appears that they found them already dead.”

“What about Officer Cheng?” asks Root.

“He’s dead,” reports Doc. “Those dogs ripped his throat open. He also caught one of our rounds in the head as everyone was shooting at those dogs.”

“What do you think happened to those people?” asks Root.

“Judging from those injuries, it looks like that attack bot killed them first, not these dogs.” reports Lt. Fritz. “They were probably out forging like us when they were attacked. They have no ammo left in their weapons.”

“Search those bodies and the surrounding area for anything useful,” orders Captain Schultz. The resulting sweep of the area recovers some spare ammo for the victim’s weapons, some canned goods, and more clothing.

In the coop, the patrol finds that the place has been ransacked for everything useful. There are feed sacks in the elevator section that have been filled with grain and stacked in a wagon ready to be towed to some unknown destination. “There has to be a survivor camp out there somewhere.” reports Lt. Fritz. “Those victims must have loaded this wagon with grain before they were killed by the attack bot.”

“Doc, have a look at my arm.” Root complains to him. “The pain from that dog bite is becoming unbearable.”

As Doc takes off Root’s shirt, he is shocked at what he sees. Root’s entire arm up into his shoulder has become badly swollen and is oozing pus it’s entire length.

“Oh God!” exclaims, Doc. “I have never seen an infection spread so fast like that.”

“What’s wrong?” asks Root who is now in severe pain from the infection.

“That is a flesh eating bacterial infection,” reports Doc. “Those dogs bites must have been loaded with the stuff.

“Can you do something about it?” asks Root.

“I’m sorry, I can’t.” Doc answers. “Even if there was a hospital emergency room nearby, there’s nothing that can be done about it. All I can do is give you the rest of the morphine in my med kit for the pain. The infection has spread way too far to attempt an amputation of your arm to stop it from spreading further.”

“That sucks,” Root tells him as Doc injects the rest of the morphine from his medical kit into Root’s other arm. An hour later, as the infection has spread into the chest and neck area, Root has died from the infection.

“Leave his body where it is,” warns doc. “If that infection finds a way under your skin, you will end up like him in a couple of hours.”

“Then, lets move on,” orders Lt. Fritz. “Lets see if we can find that survivor’s camp.”

Heading down the road out of town, the landscape is quickly becoming barren. A dried up lake bed is to the right along with some dead trees. On the left are barren farm fields for miles. Ahead, some dust is seen being kicked up by something moving. Placing his binoculars on the objects coming into view, Lt. Fritz is shocked by what he sees.

“What is it?” asks Captain Schultz.

“Were screwed!” warns Lt. Fritz. “There’s no place for us to hide. It’s a survivor clan. They have victims chained to the front of their vehicles. They are definitely not friendly.”

The clan, driving in on vehicles straight out of the Mad Max movies, comes charging into the patrol which has now scattered to hide among the few trees by the dried up lake. Several of the patrol members are killed by either being run over, or decapitated with axes and swords as they expend the rest of their ammunition in an effort to defend themselves. Captain Schultz, Sargent Moores and Lt. Fritz, who are hiding in the dead trees, are taken prisoner when they are knocked unconscious. The rest of the wounded are executed on the spot.

“Load up their stuff and take these prisoners back to Barter Town,” orders their leader after he has interrogated their prisoners. “Maggot, Slime, take four armed men with you and go get that grain wagon at the coop.

In Barter Town, the threesome are brought before their leader, The Fuehrer, to make them pay for their crimes of killing and wounding several of his men. He orders a trial by Thunder Dome. That is a trial by combat to the death. It will be the three survivors facing combat from six other very mean looking individuals captured from a rival tribe. They will be using blade and blunt weapons that are scattered about in the arena.

In the evening, the three enter the dome with the six others as all of the clan cling to the cage of the dome to watch. “Let the trial by combat began,” orders The Fuehrer.

Lt. Fritz, who is skilled in hand to hand combat, takes out the first bruiser by breaking his neck, then grabs his sledge hammer using it to defend himself against an attacker by a guy with a broadsword. Unfortunately for the less skilled Captain Schultz and Sargent Moores, both are killed early on in the battle leaving Lt. Fritz to deal with the five others of which three are now badly wounded. He manages to take them all out but suffers a spear wound in his right leg in the process.

“Unfair,” screams The Fuehrer. “You were suppose to die right away with your friends!” A crossbow bolt from one of the spectators hits Lt. Fritz through his blue helmet. He is killed instantly. The cheers from the bloodthirsty mob can be heard for miles.

The patrol has only managed to survive for five days before succumbing to the extreme hazards of the post nuclear war world of Thunder Dome and the gangs of evil people still surviving in it.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 33 The Crystal World

 

“That was really interesting,” Farrell tells Dr. Croft after they have watch several episodes of the Game of Thrones series. “I never knew that a human could be a mother to three baby dragons. They were so small when they were hatched by fire from those little eggs.”

“It’s all just a fantasy,” Dr. Croft tells Farrell. “None of that actually happened. The dragons in that story were computer created along with the castles and much of the background. The only thing real were the old Roman towns and backdrop scenery that were filmed from actual locations on Earth.”

“It’s still a wonderful story even with those three tiny dragons and such a complicated plot,” Farrell tells her.

“I’m glad that your are enjoying it,” Dr Croft tells him. “We need to go see Dr. Halls, his wife, and his grad students in the morning. They are planning to visit the world of Crystal Isle to study the creatures living there.”

“Do you think that Argon and his mate will go there with him?” asks Farrell.

“I don’t know,” answers Dr. Croft. “They have become such close friends as a result of the surgery that allowed him to fly again. They do have a lot of friends in this world, so, that is going to be a difficult decision for the both of them to make.”

That morning, Dr. Croft and Farrell have a meeting with Dr Halls, Dr. Mays and his two grad students Kelly and Connie. Argon and Cindy, the two dragons from the wing surgery story, have flown in to join them. They have a happy reunion with Dr. Halls and Dr. Mays as they get together again. The two grad students are in a bit of a shock watching the happy reunion. The grad students are then introduced to the dragon pair.

“You were not kidding about having done surgery on a dragon’s wing,” Kelly tells Dr. Halls after he has had the chance to inspect Argon’s wing. “That is one interesting healed scar he has on his wing.”

“I find it so hard to believe that it had healed up so quickly after your surgery,” Connie answers after looking at it as well.

“There is a healing herb in this world called Narcoberries,” Dr. Halls tells his two grad students. “The berries, when made into a disinfectant solution, have remarkable healing properties. Six hours after his surgery, Argon’s wing looked like it had been healing for a couple of days. The side effect is that they make one very sleepy which also helps speed up healing. Mary used that herb on Farrell’s leg injury and on the wound a Ballista bolt caused to Tyrions leg. Raganor also used it to treat Lisa’s wing muscle injury that was also caused by a Ballista bolt. All those serious injuries were healed up in a matter of days.”

“We’ll definitely need to do more research into the healing properties of those unusual herbs of this world,” answers Connie. “Are there any dragons living on Crystal Isle?”

“Yes,” answers Dr. Croft. “I’m told that most of the dragons living there are very curious and friendly. The crystal ones are very colorful. They wear a crystal bonnet on their heads. There are lots of interesting creatures living on that world as well. Most are quite friendly, but some others are extremely aggressive and very dangerous.”

“It sounds like a most interesting world to visit,” Connie tells her.

The orientation for the pioneering move to Crystal Isle continues. Both Veterinarians, their grad students, and family members are going to be a group of 24 individuals making the trip over to the Tropical land. They will start with a basic supply of food, temporary shelter, personal devices, tools, and pioneering weapons for defense. The plan for the first week will be to find a suitable location to build their pioneering village. Then, they will start to explore and study the plants and creatures of that new world.

As they prepare for relocation to their new home, Dr. Halls assures Argon and Cindy that it is OK that they stay with their friends in the Land of the Two Suns. “We can come back to visit you every couple of weeks,” He tells him.

“Thank you so much,” Argon answers. “You are a good human friend.”

Gathering at the Obelisk alter, the 24 pioneers for the Crystal Isle Expedition prepare for the transfer. Ahab enters the coordinates to the location they will settle, then steps outside of the ring. A transparent hexagon field forms around them. In a blinding flash, they are transferred to the alter of the obelisk at the north edge of the Crystal Tropical Island Chain.

Having studied a map of the area, Carl, the father of grad student Kelly, has everyone grab the supplies, which are on carts and backpacks, and makes the hour long trip to a ridge overlooking a beach where they set up camp. There are an abundance of trees, bushes, stones, some metal nodes, and those unusual crystals. On the trip there, two Moschops are befriended by Carl’s sons, Jeremy, and James, They are used to harvest thatch, fiber, and wood for use in construction of a shelter and pen for a starting collection of unusual tames. Having played survival games on their computers, they find the process of taming creatures in this real world quite similar. It isn’t long before a Listro, several Dodos, and a pair of spitters join the collection.

Early that evening, a Leed, or whale sized fish, has beached itself on the shore. It soon dies from being out of the water. “If that thing is anything like the ones on the game, it will give us a ton of hide for saddles and other uses,” reports Jeremy. “Use your hatches on it to skin it. Get some fires going to cook up this prime fish meat.” By dark, with everyone working on the harvest, the job is done. The remains get pushed offshore with pike poles for the waiting sharks and predator fish to clean up.

The following morning, the two teen boys have vanished as they have left the camp early to conduct another one of their adventures. A pair of saddled Parasaurs have joined the collection of tames in the pen. “Where could those two be?” asks Nancy, their mother.

“No doubt, they have gone on another taming spree,” answers Carl. “These creatures that they have tamed so far are proving to be quite useful to building our settlement.”

“I wonder what they will come back with next?” asks Nancy.

“Hopefully, it will be with something useful,” answers Dr. Halls as he and Kelly checks out the Parasaurs.

“I hope that they don’t try to tame something dangerous,” Nancy responds with concern.

“They are old enough and familiar with their survival games to know what dangers may exist out in this world,” answers Carl. “If they keep taming up more of these creatures living in this world, we are going to need a bigger pen to keep them in during the night.”

The pioneers of this group spend the day enlarging their village and adding crop plots. They are using the two Parasaurs to carry the fabricated building sections back to the growing village. Having an alert ability, the two Parasaurs sound out a warning anytime that a spitter happens to be hiding in the bushes where members of the group are working on cutting trees and mining for metal. In fact, Kelly and Connie have tamed two more Parasaurs and a pair of Trikes to help with material gathering and transport.

“I didn’t know that such prehistoric creatures were intelligent enough to be tamed,” Dr. Mays responds after seeing them saddled and in action.

“Lets just take advantage of their abilities to help us get established in this new world,” answers Carl.

“Where are those two boys?” asks their worried mother Connie as the late afternoon approaches.

“If they don’t show up soon, we had better go looking for them,” answers Dr. Halls. It is then that what looks like a flock of large colorful birds is spotted flying towards the village.

“Everyone take cover!” orders Carl as the flight of unknown creatures gets closer. “Those look like dragons. There must be over two dozen of them coming this way.”

“Everything is OK,” reports Dr. Halls as he places a spotting scope on the two lead creatures flying towards the village. “We’re not getting any warnings from the Parasaurs. It looks like that Jeremy and James have been on a taming spree. Those look like the Crystal Dragons. They are riding on the two leaders.” It is with a cloud of palm fronds and dust that all of the dragons land next to the tame pen of the new village where Carl comes over to talk to his two younger sons.

“Have you two been on a taming spree?” Carl asks his two sons.

“No Dad,” they answer. “You cannot tame a dragon. These are our new friends. They are friends of Alexander, Jerrie, Draco, and Hilda.”

“No one has tamed us,” Clarence, their leader tells Carl in English. “We saw your boys just watching us over by the chalk cliffs so we flew over to visit them.”

“What gorgeous creatures you are,” comments Dr. Mays as she comes over to see the new dragons. “I never knew that such brilliant color combinations were possible.” Everyone is soon outside the pen to see and interact with all of the Crystal Dragons that have flown in to visit.

“You’re not going to believe this vast world,” Jeremy tells his dad. “Clarence and Clara took us over to see the floating islands of the East. Those mountains look like that they are straight out of Avatar. We found four legged dragons living up in the higher peaks. While they can’t fly, they can glide from island to island and climb up the steep cliffs. When we started back, we flew by a forest of trees so huge that they make the Avatar home tree look like a bush. Then, we flew over a desert where there were giant snakes, mantas, scorpions, and a creature called a Thorny Dragon that throws spikes from its tail to paralyze it’s prey. We even saw a giant sand worm that looked like a cross between those creatures in the Tremors movie and Dune, living in the sand dunes desert.”

“It sounds like that you two had quite an adventure,” Carl tells them. “Next time, let someone know where you are going. We had no idea where you two had disappeared to. You had everyone worried that you had got hurt or were lost somewhere.”

“We’ll let someone know,” Jeremy answers.

“We’ll keep an eye on them when they are with us,” Clarence tells Carl.

“This is going to be a most wonderful world to live in,” reports Dr. Halls. “With these most colorful dragons for friends and these unusual creatures that can be easily tamed, we are going to be kept most busy creating a record of it all.”

It is a most wonderful evening that is spent with the crystal dragon flock. They soon return to their nests in the chalk cliffs with the promise that they will be back to visit and provide transport for exploring this new unusual world.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 34; The World of Extinction

 

A select group of explorers, made up of collage age men and women with an engineering and biological background, has volunteered to explore that dangerous world. They are from Dr. Gordon's engineering class along with Dr. Croft’s biology studies. This group of students, along with Dr. Gordon are the lucky ones that were rescued from the raid conducted by the UN when a portal opened up in the dorm basement utility tunnel they were fleeing through allowing them to escape to the Stargate Command. It had been quite a shock to these students and Dr. Gorden when they had exited the Stargate Temple where Dr. Croft and Farrell were waiting to greet them.

The orientation is quite unusual as the group gathers to learn what awaits them in Extinction. To the surprise of all of the newcomers, Farrell, Dr. Croft’s dragon friend, is conducting this most unusual session.

“From my observations using out new stealth drones, I have learned that the world you are headed for has suffered an extinction event. The planet is in ruins as a result of an asteroid impact that has left a huge crater to the South of where you will be going. The planet is now tidally locked to it’s sun along with the weather. The sun remains in a 9AM position with the wind out of the west. The temperature is a constant 97* F. There is a broken moon in orbit around the planet that periodically sends down swarms of meteors that come crashing to the surface of the planet without warning.”

“I have found that the safest place for you to get established will be a place called Sanctuary City. Even though the place is in ruins, it appears to be protected from the meteor storms by a force field dome. There are resources and water in the city that you can use for your survival. There are also prehistoric and mechanical creatures roaming about in the parks and streets of the city that you may be able to tame for your use. Most of them appear to be docile but some others are aggressive. There are both flying and ground bots still functioning around the city and its borders. While they serve to protect the city from attack from the dangerous creatures outside of the dome, the Sentry ones have been observed to occasionally malfunction and go after the docile ones. Keep an eye on them. They can be disabled with an EMP pulse from your new Tec Rifle if one of them becomes a threat.”

“Outside of the force field dome, the terrain becomes a dangerous wasteland. Conditions out there are so harsh that you will need to wear protective gear at all times. There are areas that are dangerously hot with a corrosive atmosphere of sulfur dioxides and sulfuric acid ponds. There are two other force field domes nearby to the East protecting the environment inside of them. There also appears to be an extensive cave system hidden in the mountains to the North.”

“When you go exploring out in the wastelands, be sure that everyone is armed with their tec rifles with extra element dust to power them. The creatures surviving out there have been corrupted by some sort of purple crystals. All are aggressive to any creature that is not corrupted. They will attack on sight, even the normally peaceful herbivores. They will also attack any structures that you build out there eventually destroying it. I don’t know what keeps them alive given that they don’t eat their kills or each other.”

“Don’t go into any areas marked with the warning beacons, I lost one of the drones to some unknown danger after I got a warning about lethal levels of radiation in the wasteland beyond.”

“Stay away from any dragons that you see in the wasteland. They are also corrupt and will attack you on sight. From my observation of them, they appear to have no language, no social structure, no mates, and no youngsters. Like the other corrupted creatures in the wastelands, their minds have been destroyed by the radiation and the purple crystals they eat. They appear to function by instinct alone. Don’t hesitate to kill them if they attack you.”

“I found that there are some creatures living in the wastelands that are not corrupt. There is a giant flying grub that appears to be quite docile. There may be other creatures living in the underground and domes with similar behavior. Just be careful when approaching anything in this new world. There is no way predicting how any of the creatures living there are going to react to your presence.”

“When you are ready to teleport over there, you will be outfitted with what we call Gille Armor,” reports Dr. Croft. “It will protect you from the heat and harsh sunlight. Along with the supplies you will be taking with you, everyone will be provided with a Tec Rifle. Keep it with you at all times. You should be able to find Element Dust on Extinction to power them.”

“Your destination will be in a small park next to the bus station. There is a pond close by where you can obtain fresh water. Get your shelter established before you set out to explore that world. See if you can obtain control of some of the mechanical creatures to help you in exploring that new world. The flying drones and the walking dog like ones you may be able to gain control of. The Star Wars style defense units cannot be controlled. Let them attack anything corrupted. Take them out with an EMP if they start attacking any non dangerous creatures, your tames, or one of your team members.”

The two freshmen classes from Dr. Gordon and Dr. Croft’s class are now studying a map of the known world of Extinction. Dr. Gordon is taking charge of the group with Sandra and Jody in charge of each class of 12 students that have been rescued from the UN raid of the dorm. With the supplies stocked at the alter of the Obelisk and everyone familiarized with their Tec Rifle, the alter is activated sending them to the park next to the Bus Stop.

The world they have entered is in the ruins of a huge city. Tall skyscrapers are abound in various states of damage. There are pedestrian paths and elevated roadways that connect to many of the structures. Many of them are in various states of damage with sections broken apart and lying in ruin on the ground. The sky is clear with the hazy morning sun low in the sky. A hot dry wind kicks up the dust and fallen leaves as it comes in from the West. The temperature is a constant 97*F. Between the buildings as everyone looks around, parts of a rugged mountainous landscape can be seen along with jagged formations of glowing purple crystals. There are two domes that can be seen in the distance where an Obelisk floats inside in the middle.

The first order of business to gets taken care of is to place all of the supplies in the Bus Stop shelter as several of the young men form a security perimeter to watch for rogue Defense Units. “Lets form up teams of four with two members of my Engineering Class and two members of Dr. Croft’s Biology Class.” orders Dr. Gordon. “Everyone stay in sight of this Bus Station as your teams go exploring the area and look for useful items. Be careful when going inside any of the buildings, Come back here in an hour. Look for items that we can use to construct a shelter by the pond when you return.”

BOOM!

“What was that?” asks Judy in alarm as leaves and small loose items shower down from above while several of the students duck for cover.

“Meteor Shower,” Dr. Gordon tells everyone as more explosions are heard and seen with fire trails showing up high in the sky above. “They are exploding on the force field.”

“They must be coming from that broken moon overhead,” reports Jody.

“We’re safe so long as we remain inside the dome.” reports Dr. Gordon as an explosion is observed on the ground at the edge of the city dome.

A Moschop comes running in a panic towards the group as a Defense Unit, a machine that looks like It is a Star Wars attack drone, comes chasing after it. Before anyone can react, Jody levels his Tec Rifle on it knocking it out with an EMP charge. Several of the Engineering Students go over to investigate the disabled Defense Unit. Using a hatchet, one of them hacks through the power feed shutting it down for good.

“There’s no way that we can gain control of these units,” Jody announces after he and the others have completely dismantled it. “Lets keep the parts in storage in case we can find a use for some of this stuff.”

“Meanwhile, the Moschop has made friends with Sandy as it starts to calm down. “What are you going to do with your new pet?” asks Judy.

“According to the app on my smart watch, I can use her to gather berries and fiber for us,” answers Judy.

One of the dog like robots has entered the area where the students are staying. Two of the Engineering Students, Kim and Mable, follow it around as Jody remains on guard. Finally, Kim jumps up on its back, opens up a panel just behind it’s head, and presses a switch. The robot stops in place.

“I have manual control of this one,” announces Kim as the robot starts walking towards the bus shelter with him riding on it. Kim parks it there placing it on standby. Soon, all of the Engineering Students are inspecting the Dog Walker learning what makes it work and finding out that, like their Tec Rifles, it is powered by Element Dust.

“Lets keep an eye out for more of these as we continue exploring the city,” Reports Dr. Gordon. “They will certainly solve our transportation needs.”

The four person teams spread out to conduct an inspection of the area finding lots of overgrown brush loaded with berries, rocks containing various minerals, trees, and unusual creatures such as dodos, Lystros, and prehistoric creatures up to Segasaurs in size. There are Pterodactyls flying in the sky overhead. Some of those creatures are found to be mechanical versions of the larger ones.

Coming back, each group files their report of what they have found. David’s group comes back with a mechanical Stego and Parasaur. Sandy’s group comes back with a real Parasaur they have been able to tame. Otto’s group has been in one of the larger buildings finding that the place has been mostly trashed by the environment and earthquake caused by the asteroid impact. They do find information about what had happened to the society of Sanctuary City before it was destroyed by the Extinction Event.

“There is reported to be an underground shelter that was under construction to the North.” reports Otto to the group. “The officials of this city were going to shelter there from the upcoming Extinction Event.”

“We have found that we can craft survey drones in the City Terminals,” reports Kim. “We can use materials salvaged from the light post and Defense Units to craft them. Unfortunately, due to some unknown interference, these drones only have a range of a thousand meters before we start to lose control of them.”

Most successful of the taming of the wild creatures in Extinction is the team led by Jenny. They have managed to capture and tame a pair of Pterodactyls. Jenny and Kerry come flying back on them. “Those will be most useful for recon flying and checking out the tops of these skyscrapers,” reports Dr. Gordon.

“We have found some hanging gardens way up on some of the large towers,” reports Kerry. “We can set up an observation outpost from the one North of here.”

With the return of the exploring groups, construction of the shelter and tame pen continues. “How can it be nearly midnight, yet still morning out around here?” asks Jenny as everyone is starting to get tired.

“It is this tidally locked rotation of this world causing the constant daylight,” answers Dr. Gordon. “That may not be the case under the two domes in the East. It appears to be very dark inside of them at this time. When we are ready, we will need to travel to those domes to investigate what is inside them.”

The following morning, did it ever change to night in this strange world? The explorers of Dr. Gordon have started their their second day on Extinction. The Engineering students have proceeded to obtain enough of the dog walkers for everyone to ride on. Kim’s group had found a blueprint that they have placed in one of the City Terminals, along with the required materials, to construct two custom level ones. They have also discovered that the Dog Walkers can do a teleport jump over a short distance as well as scale steep cliffs. They also have a defensive ability that can be used against attacking creatures. “Between their capabilities, our Tec Rifles, and this Gillie Armor, we should be safe while traveling through the wastelands,” reports Kim to the group.

“Then, we should make the trip to the underground shelter and see if we can find survivors,” reports Dr. Gorden.

An Explorer’s group of 18 individuals has formed up to start the first expedition outside of the city dome. The rest of the group is staying back to continue their exploration of the city ruins using their ground tames along with the dog robots for escorts.

Jenny and Kerry are in the lead riding on their Pterodactyls tames as they fly overhead. Several drones are also deployed as the rest of the group with Dr Gordon in the lead, head North on the Dog Walkers to the edge of the city. They find a small floating Green obelisk in a wilderness park containing a pond with beavers fed by a waterfalls to the West. There is no terminal under the Obelisk but a metal box is found containing a hand written note telling a tale about the construction of mech robots to battle some unknown giant creature.

“What could that be all about?” asks Jody.

“Unknown,” answers Dr, Gordon. “Lets continue on and see if we can get through the force field.”

“We can travel through the Force Field,” reports Kerry after flying back to the group. “Apparently, it has been specifically designed to just stop the meteorites.”

“We had better be careful that we don’t get caught out in the open should another storm hit,” reports Dr. Gordon.

It is a sudden contrast as the patrol crosses into the Wasteland as the vegetation suddenly goes from green to brown. The weather continues to be hot as the Gillie Armor is now protecting everyone from the burning sunlight. The same prehistoric creatures found in the city are also observed outside of the dome. It appears that they are able to tolerate the harsh environment outside of the dome.

Suddenly, Jenny and Kerry come flying back as fast as their Pterodactyls can travel. “We have hostile Pterodactyls chasing us,” Jenny says in alarm. The threat ends when Gary and Kim drop the attackers with their tec rifles set to kill.

“This must be one of those corrupted creatures we were warned about,” reports Jody after examining it. “These glowing purple veins will warn us if they are going to be aggressive when they shouldn’t be.”

“There is some kind of a structure showing up against that cliff in the mountain side up ahead,” reports Jenny. “It looks like that there may be a cave in the side next to it.”

“Lets head over there,” orders Dr. Gordon.

The patrol heads down the hill to follow a stream that is flowing towards the cave up ahead. Stunted plants are found growing alongside of it. Up on a hill, a formation of glowing purple crystal is seen with several creatures spotted feeding on it. Jody sends over a probe to examine it. “Those crystals are pure element,” reports Jody after studying the analysis from the probe. “All the creatures feeding on it, the spitters, Stegos, Carnos, trikes, Rexes, and pterodactyls are corrupt.”

“So that’s what is keeping them alive,” reports Sandra. “They have become the organic equivalent of the tec creature. The stuff must behave like Crack to them. They appear to be in a zombie state as they chew on those crystals.”

“Lets stay away from that,” reports Dr. Gordon as the patrol continues.

Continuing on, the patrol follows the stream some towards a huge cliff on the mountain ahead where there are the signs of a huge hole in the side. A large concrete structure dominates the right side of that hole as a broken road now slopes down into it. The stream ends in a waterfall that pours down into a huge hole going into a bottomless pit. A strange glow is seen from down inside. The patrol stops at what looks like the entrance into the broken structure finding all ways inside blocked by fallen debris.

“There is a tunnel up ahead with a paved road that goes down into the cave.” reports Jerry as he returns with his pterodactyl. “It looks clear all the way down.”

As the explorers head down the road, the weather down below changes to a comfortable temperature. It is no longer so dry as water cascades down from some springs in the side of the mountain. The tunnel is well lit with a twilight along with some glowing alien structures. Eventually, the road disappears to be replaced by a trail with a stream running alongside. Lush vegetation is found growing on the floor of the tunnel.

“What is that creature up ahead,” asks Sandra. “Is it corrupted?”

“No, it doesn’t appear to be,” answers Jody. “It is eating something from the ground. I’m going to get a closer look at it.”

“Be careful,” warns Dr. Gordon.

Jody walks up to have a closer look at the strange creature which is about the size of an elephant with a bear like head, it’s back loaded with crystal like growths. He is able to get close enough to touch it as it looks at him with a smile on its face, then goes back to grazing on the rocks and foliage in the area. “It’s safe,” reports Jody. “Even though it has those glowing veins of the corrupt creatures, this creature is not hostile. Here is one of those crystals that fell off of it’s back.”

“Is that one of it’s eggs?” ask Sandra.

“No,” Responds Dr. Gordon as he checks out the crystal lying on the ground with a specialized piece of equipment. “My analyzer indicates that it is just a crystal growth. This creature must shed them when they reach a mature size.”

“It appears to be hollow with something inside of it,” reports Sandra. She proceeds to crack it open on a rock finding a metal pick inside it. “How interesting, it looks like that this creature can grow tools inside those crystals.”

“Like the goose that laid the golden eggs,” reports Dr. Gordon. “It’s creating tools inside of those crystal growths, then sheds them when those items are completed. Lets leave this guy alone but be on the lookout for any crystals it may have dropped.”

“The explorers continue down the path in the cave finding more of the crystals on the way. Random items are found that include not so useful ones such as flint and berries.

The tunnel soon opens up into a huge cave where the damaged concrete tower dominates one side. A small obelisk, a copy of the one floating over the Explorer Note they found, lays against it’s side. The waterfall from above lands in a large lake in the cave. It contains coe with giant beavers having formed lodges along the shore. Giant trees and tree sized mushrooms fill the forest on the floor and up in the cliff. A soft light seemingly artificially generated, fills the huge cavern. The temperature is a comfortable 72*F.

“How could a cave this huge survive an extinction event?” asks Otto.

“It likely was formed as a result of that event,” answers Dr. Gordon. “Lets go over and inspect the shelter to see if we can find some answers to what has happened here. This would be an excellent place to relocate our settlement in.”

To be continued?

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 35. The land of Steampunk.

 

With a large lake separating them from the ruins of the extinction event shelter, Dr. Gordon’s group is able to find a path that leads around the lake over to the foundation of the structure. Jerry and Kerry, flying on their pterodactyls, are able to find the best way over there. As they approach the base of the fallen Obelisk, they can hear the sounds of hissing steam, whirring gears and the rhythmic puffing of large piston driven steam engines.

“Careful everyone,” warns Dr. Gordon. “There may be survivors in the structure up ahead.” Dr. Gordon dismounts from his dog walker and walks towards a door of a most unusual gleaming brass and glass structure. It opens as a tall slender male dressed in a Victorian Era business suit steps outside.

“I’m Dr. Rubeus Oswald.” the stranger announces. “Welcome to Genesis.”

“Dr. Bernard Gordon. Head of engineering at River State University and leader of this pioneering group from Earth.” The two men now shake hands in greeting.

“You have done well to survive on the surface when you first appeared in this world, then made your trip here from the protective dome of Sanctuary City. I am most surprised at how your students were able to tame the wild creatures in that city as well as obtained control of the robotic ones.”

“How do you know that?” asks Dr. Gordon.

“You are not the only ones making use of the sentry drones.” Answers Dr. Oswald. “I have been observing your activities ever since your group arrived in Sanctuary City and set up a base of operation.”

“Are you the creator of the sentry drones and other mechanical creatures we have seen in the city?” asks Dr. Gordon.

“No, They were part of the Skynet Security Force of Sanctuary City.”

“What happened to the members of the Skynet Security Force?” asks Dr. Gordon.

“They were killed, along with most everyone else, when the extinction asteroid hit this world,” answers Dr. Oswald. “The force field domes protected what was inside of them, but, even they could not protect the inhabitants from the intense electromagnetic burst caused by that impact. My co workers and I survived by being down working inside this shelter when the impact took place. Those that survived up above went insane either committing suicide or were killed by the Enforcers when those machines went rogue. The creatures you see living in the city appeared much later. Those living outside of the dome became brain dead and corrupted killing everything that was not like them. A few strangely enough mutated into new species with most unusual abilities.”

“What was that strange looking sloth bear like creature we saw while coming down into the cave that drops crystals containing manufactured items in them?” asks Dr. Gordon.

“It is called a Ghaska,” answers Dr. Oswald. “It is a corrupted mutation of a Sloth Bear. However, it’s mind has not been corrupted by the purple crystals of the wastelands. It doesn’t attack anything unless it is attacked by them first. Then, it will defend itself by throwing rocks at its attacker.”

“How did this cave survive the extinction event when this shelter above was destroyed?” asks Dr. Gordon.

“It didn’t.” answers Dr. Oswald. “It appeared after the extinction event along with that obelisk that is leaning against the concrete elevator shaft. My crew and I were down working in the shelter when that asteroid hit just South of here. All of our technology in the shelter was rendered into junk by the massive EMP of that explosion. We were left with no means of rebuilding that technology.”
 

“Investigating a damaged section of the shelter where the bedrock was exposed, we discovered that this huge cavern had somehow formed as a result of that impact. A quick inspection determined that it was stable and protecting us from the meteor storms that were occurring above on the surface. That is when we found that Obelisk leaning against the side of the concrete elevator shaft.”

“When we accessed a terminal at the bottom of The Obelisk, it provided us with a gift called a Genesis Generator. When we activated it, a flash of light occurred that rendered everyone unconscious. When we woke up, we found the cave filled with the plants and animals you saw when you came down here. It had also repopulated the surface with various plants and animal species, many of them from our prehistoric past. However, something must have gone wrong up on the surface outside of the protective dome of Sanctuary City resulting in the dying plants outside of sanctuary City and vicious corrupted creatures living in what you call the wastelands.”

“The terminal also provided us with the technical manuals and tool to construct the unusual technology that you can hear functioning inside this structure I am standing in front of. Come inside. Let me introduce you to my work crews and their families.”

Stepping inside, Dr. Gordon and his students are in awe by the Victorian Era structures and furniture in the main reception area. The floor is a mixture of industrial wood block and inlaid hardwood. The walls are of gleaming riveted brass with glass and ornately upholstered leather. Dome wall panels feature gears turning behind glass panels. Others show static electricity arcing between conductors. The lighting is classic Victorian featuring what looks like incandescent bulbs, but is much more modern like LEDs for the filaments. Various pieces of furniture feature some sort of machinery functioning inside of brass and glass cases. Chairs and sofas are made of finely crafted tufted leather with ornately carved wood or polished brass finales. A model of the Victorian Era Time Machine with a cigar sitting in the driver seat sits inside a glass case.

Back in the workshop, the full glory of Steampunk is on display. Central is the electrical generator powered by a dual compound steam engine. It is the source of the rhythmic puffing that was heard outside. Nearby is a steam boiler powered by some unknown source of heat. A steam powered drilling rig is puffing away just outside in the cave nearby. Various machine tools are hooked up to an overhead beltway powered by a smaller steam engine. Sparks are dancing from various other pieces of machinery. Several individuals are in the workshop working on a large machine that looks like a land crawler. A large armored space suit looking something like a small personal Mech warrior stands in a corner.

Introductions are made by Dr. Oswald to the members of his work force and their families. Questions are soon asked by the students of Dr. Gordon’s class and those of Dr Croft’s biology class.

“What are you using to power the boilers?” asks Jody.

“We are using geothermal heating from a well we drilled deep into the planet,” answers Dr. Oswald.

“Do you know where the water is coming from that supplies the streams and waterfalls in Sanctuary City?” asks Sandra.

“The Genesis device seems to have tapped into the fresh water that is melting from the glaciers at the edge of the night zone of this planet,” answers Dr Oswald. “It is being channeled into an underground aquifer that is supplying the water distribution in the city. That runoff then supplies the streams and ponds in the wasteland and the water sources in this cave.”

“Did your researchers create the mechanical creatures we have seen and obtained control of in the city?” asks Jody.

“No,” answers Dr. Oswald. “They were created by the city engineers for the amusement park. Somehow, the Genesis Device enabled them to live on actual food and gave them the ability to reproduce. The Dog Walkers and Enforcers are true robots. They have been functioning on automatic until your students discovered how to gain control of them. The Enforcers have no such control which is what makes them so unpredictable.”

“Has anyone been outside this cave to explore the wasteland and what is inside the other domes that we can see from the city?” asks Dr Gorden.

“Since it is so dangerous on the surface for exploration, we have constructed several two passenger airships for that mission,” answers Dr. Oswald. “Unfortunately, we lost one of those ships and their air crew when they found a nest of corrupted dragons to the East of here.”

“Farrell warned us about them when he had used a drone to survey this world,” reports Jody.

“It is not only the flying ones that are dangerous,” reports Dr. Oswald. “There are corrupted rock drakes on the ground that can become invisible. There are also corrupted creatures that come out of the ground to attack anything nearby.”

“How would it be possible to reach the domes we can see nearby with the risk of traveling with the dog walkers being so high?” asks Jody.

“We have under construction near the surface a Great Airship. It will be armed with pulse cannons and Gatling Guns. We can fly above the corrupted creatures and take out any of the flying ones with ease. The ship should be ready for flight testing in a couple of months.”

“I hate to interrupt but I have some alarming news to report to you and our visitors,” reports Dr. Westtimer. “It may explain why all of the plant life has been dying on the surface.”

“Dr. Westtimer is my research assistant,” reports Dr. Oswald. “Her field of expertise is in atmospheric studies. Everyone, come inside into the conference room so she can give us a briefing of what has been happening to this world after it was struck by that extinction asteroid.”

At the meeting, Dr. Westtimer presents everyone with her report of what has been happening to the atmosphere of Extinction ever since the extinction event had taken place.

“As you know, high CO2 levels have been a concern in our technologically advanced world due to our extensive use of fossil fuels. In spire of our efforts into looking for ways to reduce that level, which had reached the level of 1200 PPM, we found the best solution was to plant gardens and forest in all of our urban areas. The Level of CO2 was starting to come down as a result of those programs when the Extinction Asteroid struck. As a result of the firestorm that took place, CO2 levels quickly rose to 1250PPM. Genesis started bring it back down as a result of all of the plant life that it placed back on the surface. However, we are now facing a far more serious problem that is occurring on the surface and will soon happen down here and under the protection of the domes. The reason that the plants are all dying on the surface is not because of the harsh conditions they are living in, it is because they are dying from CO2 starvation. Something has caused CO2 levels in the atmosphere to drop well below 300PPM, the threshold where plants can no longer produce photosynthesis. There is no way the biomass of this planet could have done that so quickly especially when there are so few places left on the surface where plants can grow. More dangerous then that, the atmospheric pressure has dropped to 26.82 inches as of today. It should be at a reading of 31.51 inches which I measured after the dust had settled from Extinction. That low of a pressure cannot be explained by the major loss of CO2 in the air. When I ran a fractional distillation or the air of the surface, I found that the amount of nitrogen in the air had dropped by about 5%. That is not possible under normal biological conditions. Something else has caused this. I can only conclude that it has become so cold over on the dark side of this world that most of the CO2 has fallen out of the air as snow and there are nitrogen rainstorm starting to take place.”

“Is there any way to confirm your findings?” as Dr. Oswald.

“I think that we may be able to help,” answers Dr. Gordon. “I’ll radio back to Stargate Command and ask them to send a stealth probe over into the dark side of this world. That probe can observe and do a chemical analysis of the ice sheet that has formed over there. If it’s finding confirm what Dr. Westtimer has predicted, this world will eventually lose all of it atmosphere to the bitter cold of the dark side.”

“What will happen to us if our world is indeed losing its atmosphere?” asks Dr. Oswald.

“I’ll see if I can get permission for you and your people to evacuate to Stargate Command.” answers Dr. Gordon. “We have located many other worlds that are suitable for colonization.”

The call is made with permission given for Farrell to send in a probe to explore the dark side of Extinction. On the following day, Dr. Oswald calls for a meeting with everyone in his research group and the members of Dr. Oswald’s work crew and their families. A total of about 125 individuals ranging from married couples to infants crowd into the room. The researchers, watching the camp in Sanctuary City, listen in by radio.

It is a crowded meeting in the conference room as Farrell transmits the findings of his probe search of the afternoon before. “I have some really bad news for you.” he tells everyone. “The probe has confirmed that the atmosphere of Extinction is condensing out onto the surface of the ice sheet. With a current air temperature of -200*F., it has been raining nitrogen over there. Radar analysis of the ice sheet shows a layer of carbon dioxide snow some several feet deep. There are already lakes and rivers of liquid nitrogen in the low lying areas of the ice caps. While much of that liquid nitrogen has been flowing towards the sunlit horizon to evaporate back into the atmosphere, those lakes are forming faster then they are draining away. Once they start freezing solid, the atmosphere will quickly disappear from Extinction.”

“How much time do we have,” Dr Oswald asks Farrell.

“From my measurements, I estimate that you have about ten years before the atmosphere on Extinction is no longer able to sustain any life.”

“Ten years, we will likely all starve to death before we die from a lack of oxygen.” answers Dr. Oswald.

“The good news is that you have received permission from Stargate Command to evacuate your world.” reports Farrell. “You still have plenty of time to prepare for your evacuation. We should be ready to start receiving your workers and their families by the end of the week.”

“Thank you for your kind offer,” answers Dr. Oswald. “We will get prepared to move to Stargate Command when you are ready to receive us.”

“Stargate Command tells me that the newly discovered world called Amissa would be most suitable for colonization.” reports Farrell. “There is a ready made settlement there that you can get established in. That world contains a ton of mysteries that you can explore from the various abandoned civilizations that used to live there.”

“What happened to the former occupants that were living on Amissa?” asks Dr. Oswald.

“We found the remains of a nearby star that went supernova,” reports Farrell. “The EMP from that distant explosion caused the same issues with the surviving population on Amissa as the asteroid collision did with this one. The only difference between those two events is that Amissa was spared the physical damage that was suffered in this world. You will find that all the structures in that world are mostly intact. It is just the humans living there that vanished as a result of that one time event.”

“That sounds like an interesting world that need to be repopulated again,” answers Dr. Oswald.

“Then we agree,” answers Farrell. “Amissa is available for your people to move to if you so wish.”

“Thank you so much,” answers Dr. Oswald. “I would like to meet you once we are able to evacuate this dying world.”

[rpicardi1]

Been a while given living in The Twilight Zone. Have been updating several older stories the past month.

Chapter 36 The World of Amissa

 

It has been a week later that Dr. Gordon, his class of engineering students, Dr. Croft’s class of biologist, and Dr. Oswald with his 125 survivors from Extinction, start to make the teleport to Stargate Command. During that transfer, a survey team led by Dr. Rogers, that includes Joe Reeves, his wife Mary, their son Tod, his wife Sarah, and their twin young sons Bobby, and Connors, have established a settlement at the abandoned pirate village of Amissa. They have been able to use the existing structures and farmland at the camp to prepare for more settlers. This was a place where the people living there had been wiped out as a result of an EMP event caused when a nearby star went supernova. The only conclusion to what could have caused that could only be explained is that something fatal happened in the body chemistry of the ethnic group of humans living there resulting in their extinction. It had not affected any of the domestic animals and other wildlife living on that world. However, there had been some other creatures that were mutated by the event resulting in a crab and rats that had become giants. While the giant rat, the size of a rhino, has remained harmless unless it was threatened, the crabs became very aggressive. Fortunately, they have proven to be easy to deal with when they are hit in the head with a crossbow arrow.

The engineering and biology students are the first to be transferred to the Amissa pirate village. They have been able to bring along their tames and robotic creatures from Extinction. Dr Oswald has been able to bring along his blueprints, the Time Machine model, and many of the other smaller items. He has had to abandon much of the larger machinery including the mech style robot and airships due to the limitations of what the Stargate can handle.

Before heading over to Amissa, Dr Gordon has introduced Dr. Oswald to Farrell. He is in total shock when he realizes that Farrell is indeed a very intelligent dragon. “I want to thank you for sending that probe over to the dark side to confirm what my scientist were telling me what was happening to our atmosphere and allowing us to evacuate from Extinction,” he tells Farrell. “The condensation of the nitrogen in the atmosphere appears to have accelerated. The barometric pressure had dropped to 23.18 an hour before the last of us left.”

“It’s a good thing that you were able to leave when you did,” Farrell tells him. “Jody told me that when they left Extinction with their tames, the strong hot breeze that had been blowing in from the West had subsided considerably. When Jenny came back with the tamed pteradons, she told me that the wind was now blowing out of the East, that the wild pteradons were having a difficult time flying, and that the streams and waterfalls in Sanctuary City were drying up. My latest survey with a probe sent to the Dark Side has shown that the temperature is dropping much faster then expected. All of that liquid nitrogen flowing towards the twilight zone has stopped the melting of the glaciers there. It is now so cold in the border zone that the evaporation of nitrogen has been slowed down considerably. It was a pouring rainstorm of nitrogen in the far reaches of the Dark Side. It is now only a matter of months, maybe weeks, before the atmospheric pressure on Extinction reaches a level that is fatal to anything still living there.” With that shocking news, the two doctors step through the Stargate to enter their new home on Amissa.

The pirate island turns out ready made for the families that are relocating there. Dr Rogers has been placed in charge of surveying the village and is now busy, along with Joe and Mary Reeves, in finding housing for the families of Dr. Oswald’s survivors and the group from Dr. Gordon and Dr Croft’s class. The rustic housing of the village only needs some housecleaning to make each unit a home. The tames brought over are finding uses for surveillance and as beast of burden for farming work. More land is being cleared for crops and grazing. The giant crab threat has been eliminated. Two of the Roll Rats have been tamed and found useful for tilling the fields as well as to bring up rare minerals from the ground below to fertilize the fields. The sheep, goats, and chickens have been rounded up and placed in pens to manage and protect them from the giant crabs. The gardens which were already fenced in, are cleaned up of weeds and stray plants. Their crops of potatoes, carrots, maze and others, will soon be ready for harvest.

“A freshwater sea,” reports Dr. Oswald when he conducts his test on the water there. “That is most unusual.”

“That has been the case on several other worlds other then Thieves, the Two Suns, and Thunderdome,” reports Dr. Gordon.

“When we get established, I would like to start exploring this world,” Dr. Oswald tells him.

The two Doctors spend the rest of the day with their teams laying out plans for exploration as the rest get established into temporary housing.

Flying on their pteradons, Jenny and Kerry have checked out two nearby locations on the mainland. They file their report to the two doctors.

“Where the green beam of light comes down to the mainland, the terrain there is grassland and deciduous forest,” reports Jenny. It’s mostly inhabited by prehistoric herbivores. The light source has an alter that is surrounded by stone statues. It looks similar to what is under the Obelisk near the Pyramids. The obelisk itself has crashed against the North side of this island.”

“Towards the desert area, I found a massive rock formation with a cave by the water,” reports Kerry. “The inside of this cave is rich in crystal and metal ore. The good news is that the cave appears to be threat free.”

“That’s sounds like an excellent place to set up a manufacturing center, reports Dr. Oswald. “We’ll prepare one of these ships to sail over there.”

Jody and the engineering students have been working on a project to protect the ships from a threat originally reported by the explorers on Crystal Isle. Working with Dr. Oswald, they have soon created and tested a device that electronically repels the ship destroying Leeds. Outfitted on the sailing ships found docked on the island, it will allow them to explore and transport resources from all over Amissa.

Testing out the new system on a raft, Sandra and Sandy have set sail to a strange looking island in the East that is dominated by a huge plateau surrounded by steep cliff. The summit is rich in foliage, the beach area tropical palms. “It’s hollow,” Sandra comments in surprise as they sail around to the North side.

“The foliage is so beautiful in there,” answers Sandy as she observes the towering trees forming a ceiling among the stone columns. Vines, some glowing with fungus, mushrooms, and beautifully colored plants abound in the interior. Dodo birds, parasaurs, lystros, and other small creatures are observed wandering about feeding on the berries and other foliage

“It seems strange that there are no signs of any structures from the inhabitants from where we are living,” Sandra tells Barbara. “Lets land here and go exploring. Bring along the tec rifle and set it on stun in case one of those spitter takes an interest in us.” With their digital devices and the tec rifles, the two beach the raft to start their exploration and documentation of the island and it’s unusual cave.

“Watch out!” warns Barbara when a spitter runs in to attack flaring it’s hood. Sandra dodges the green spit as Barbara knocks out the spitter with the stun setting on the tec rifle. It is a minute later as the two women finish their close up examination of the spitter that it starts to wake up. Stepping back from this creature, it gets up, looks at them for a second, lets out a screech in panic, and runs off.

“Lets see if he will tells his buddies that we are not on the menu,” reports Sandra.

Further into the unusual cavern. Barbara notices a set of unusual looking dragon tracks. “Did our orientation mention anything about finding dragons in this world?” she asks Sandra.

“No,” answers Sandra. “These tracks are missing the ones made by their wings when walking. The report did mentioned that much of this world was unexplored.”

“This is strange,”reports Barbara as she proceeds to photographs the tracks. “It looks like a tree with claws in it’s root through my viewfinder. Oh My Gosh! We’re standing next to an invisible dragon. What do we do now?”

“Let me talk to it in Celtic,” reports Sandra.

It is a shocked dragon, known as a Rock Drake, that materializes in front of the two women as Sandra talks to it. This dragon is not like any that has been seen before close up. It looks similar to the corrupted ones the two women have seen in the distance on Extinction. It walks on four legs much like a Moschop. There are claws on it’s feet. Unlike the corrupted ones seen by the spotting scope, this one is adorned with colorful feathers on it’s forearm and tail.

“Wow! That creature is gorgeous!” reports Barbara.

“How did you know our language?” asks the rock drake in surprise. “No pirates have ever tried to talk to us.”

“We learned from our dragon friends that their native language is Ancient Celtic,” answers Sandra. “Do you have a name?”

“I’m called Daryl” answers the rock drake “No wonder why you don’t behave like the pirates that live on the nearby island. You don’t even look like them. What happened to them? We haven’t seen them in months.”
“They were all killed when a nearby star went supernova.” answers Sandra.”

“So that’s what happened to them when we had to hide in our cave from that bright light in the sky for a week,” answers Daryl. “We never did like them. They were so nasty to us. We would attack them on sight in stealth.”

“Why didn’t you attack us when you saw us?” asks Sandra.

“I became curious when I saw you land using a raft instead of a ship with cannons,” answered Daryl. “Then, I was surprised when you didn’t kill the spitter that attacked you but instead knocked it out, then let it go.”

“Like your flying relatives that we have made friends with, you are certainly very intelligent,” answers Sandra. “Can I come up to pet you?”

“Yes,” answers Daryl as he lays down so Sandra can reach his neck. “Oh! That feels so good. I never knew that being petted by a human would be so pleasant.”

“All of our dragon friends keep telling us that.” reports Sandra. “They even enjoy having us ride on them.”

“Riding on us?” asks Daryl.

“They seem to have a natural place where we can sit on their shoulders,” reports Sandra. “I’m thinking that it would be much different with you given that your shoulder looks so much different. I do believe that you would need a saddle if we were to ride on you.”

“What is a saddle?” asks Daryl.

“I can show you what one looks like on a Pteradon,” answers Sandra as she brings up a picture of a saddled one with a rider on the camera photo display.

“You might be right,” answers Daryl as he looks at the photo. “We have these creatures here on our island in the jungle area. You might have a hard time hanging on to us when we would start climbing up a cliff face.”

A few minutes later, a frantic radio call is received by Barbara.

“Don’t go near that island to the East of us,” warns Dr Gordon. “It’s inhabited by hostile dragons.”

“It’s all right,” Barbara assures him. “They’re friendly. They were just badly mistreated by the pirates. Sandra is busy taking photos and talking to them in Celtic.”

“How come we haven’t seen them before?” asks Dr. Gordon.
“These dragons are Drakes,” answers Barbara. “They don’t have wings. They have feathers on their forelegs.”

“How did you get past the Leeds with your raft?” asks Daryl.

“Dr. Oswald built a device that acts as a repellent,” answers Sandra. “The Leeds don’t like it. We can now sail on the ships without having to worry about them attacking or having to kill them with the cannons.” About then, Jenny and Kerry come flying in on their pteradons.

“Now, I see how a saddle works,” Daryl tells Sandra. “You humans have done well making friends with the creatures of this world.”

“Actually, these pteradons came from Extinction.” reports Sandra. “They were tamed, then rescued, from their dying world.”

“How were you able to do that?” asks Daryl.

“We have found portals that we can use to travel between several different worlds,” answers Sandra.

“That is most incredible,” answers Daryl. “Everyone, uncloak yourselves and come up to meet our new friends.” Soon, the four individuals find themselves surrounded by curious rock drakes and their children.

It is quite the party as the four humans spend an hour with all of the rock drakes on their island. Daryl has Sandra attempt to ride on him which quickly becomes apparent that a saddle is needed if he wants to start climbing up a cliff. She tells him that she will find out what such a saddle would look like and if it can be crafted. As the late afternoon approaches, they head back to the settlement. “We’ll be back to visit soon,” she tells them.

[rpicardi1]

Just an update on this story;

I have been working on upgrading all of the previous stories up to the present. That has been currently disrupted this week by the massive destruction caused by flash floods on the Tittabawassee River where I live. I did escape the flooding downstream in Shields. No so the people living downstream of the Edenville Dam when it failed due to extreme flooding of Wixum Lake caused by 7+ inches of rain on saturated soil. The resulting flood took out Sanford Dam and the town of Sanford. It then flooded the downtown area of Midland under 9 feet of water. Fortunately, everyone living downstream of the Edenville Dam were aware of the danger and had moved to higher ground so no lives were lost when the earthen dam suffered a slump failure causing a breach that rapidly drained the flooded lake.

Anyhow, when I get back to finishing the story, Farrell and Dr. Croft are going to go on their fantasy adventure to The Known World. It is a new mod map based upon the world of Game of Thrones.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 37 Exploring Amissa

 

Back at the pirate island village, Sandra has asked about the construction of a Rock Drake Saddles. A message is sent to Stargate command asking for the information. Surprisingly, it is quickly answered when Farrell has located two such saddles from an expedition exploring Aberration where they have made friends with the Rock Drakes that are living in that world. The saddles arrive the next morning by teleport along with instructions on how to use then and photos of them on the Aberration Rock Drakes.

Sandra and Barbara place the two saddles on the raft and sail back over to Rock Drake Island. Jenny and Kerry follow them over with the pteragons. They are able to observe the reactions of a leed that swims in to attack the raft. It is quickly repelled by the sonic signal being transmitted in the water. “It must sound like an attack by alpha sharks,” reports Kerry. “They appear to swim away in a panic.”

Landing on the shore of Rock Drake Island, Daryl comes out to greet his four new friends. “Stargate Command came through with saddles that will work on you,” Sandra tells him. “They came from the world of Aberration where rock drakes live in the huge underground caverns.”

Sandra shows Daryl the photos of the rock drakes in aberration. Some are saddled with riders, others are not. “Those are most interesting,” he tells Sandra. “Place one of the saddles on me. I’m interested to see how it works.” It takes several minutes and the four of them to place and fasten the saddle on Daryl.

“I don’t believe that you need this bridle,” Sandra tells Daryl. “Besides looking uncomfortable, I don’t see any being used in the photos.”

“The saddle feels quite comfortable,” answers Daryl. “Lets go for a ride.” With Sandra on him, Daryl takes her for a ride in the interior. The saddle makes it easy for her to hang on. He climbs to the top of the plateau, then takes off from it to glide down to the beach by the end of the island.

“Wow! I didn’t know that you could do that!” Sandra tells Daryl.

“We glide quite well,” answers Daryl. “We can easily reach your home island if we want to.”

“It wouldn’t frighten you to go there?” asks Sandra.

“Not any more with the pirates no longer living in this world.” answers Daryl. “I’d like to see what it looks like, now that there are no longer any pirates living there to threaten us.”

“Lets head back and pick up Barbara before we go,” She tells Daryl. “These saddles are designed for two people to ride on them.”

Back at the cave, Daryl’s mate, Darlene, is saddled up. All four adventurers proceed to go riding on the two rock drakes with the two pteradons following. From the plateau, the two rock drakes launch themselves into a glide which brings them to the beach of the pirate island.

The drakes are unsaddled as the settlers gather around to see their new dragon friends. They spend the next two hours getting to know everybody and checking out the settlement.

“We can take you back to Rock Drake Island on one of the pirate ships,” Barbara tells the two rock drakes.

“That would certainly save us from a long swim,” Daryl tells her.

On the sailing ship, a place is found on the main deck for the two rock drakes to stand on the deck. With a Leed repeller on board and activated, the trip back is made with no issues.

There is a bit of a panic on Rock Drake Island as the rock drakes living there see a pirate ship heading to their shore. All gets calmed down when they see Daryl and Darlene standing on the deck. They jump off as the ship turns parallel close to shore. Barbara gets brought ashore by the skiff. After a short visit with the island Rock Drakes, Barbara gets on the raft as the ship has sailed back to Pirate Island.

Dr. Oswald’s group along with Dr. Gordon’s engineering students, have sailed over to the resource rich cave on the main island. They have finished constructing the dock and have some refining forges processing metal ore. By the end of the month, the factory is set up with power being supplied by a thermal well. Two explorer’s class airships are now under construction.

That same month, Dr. Croft’s biology class has established a camp at the edge of the desert next to the resource cave. They have been studying the unusual flora growing in that desert near the freshwater sea. Two Morellotops and a pair of Giant Kangaroos have been tamed for use in the exploration. “Dr. Croft has warned us to stay out of the deep desert.” reports Sandra who is in charge of the expedition. “She tells us that Farrell has observed Death Worms hunting there.”

“What are these Death Worms?” asks Dr. Westtimer who has joined the biology class expedition.

“They are a creature similar to the ones described in the Dune science fiction novels,” answers Sandra. “They live under the sands in the Dune Deserts. They hunt for their prey by homing in on the vibration of them moving on the surface. Then, they burst from under the sand swallowing their prey whole. In those stories, they could easily grow to a length of a hundred meters or more.”

“That is huge,” answers Dr. Westtimer. “Given that they home in on a rhythmic vibration such as walking or running, I wonder if it would be possible to make a device to attract those worms to it away from the desert patrol. It could even have a bomb attached to it if they were to become a threat to a deep desert patrol.”

“That would be a possibly for a defensive device if it is not possible to make a repeller,” answers Sandra. “According to the book written about Dune, the desert inhabitants made a thumper device to attract those worms away from them or call them to a location so that they could be ridden into battle. Just to be safe, we are going to take a ship along the shore to reach those pyramids we can see to the Southeast.”

In game play testing on that map, I was attacked by a death worm along the desert shoreline. My dragon was able to fry it.

“I will have Dr. Oswald work on such a device.” answers Dr. Westtimer. “We can test it out using one of the Explorer Airships to observe just how well they will function.”

That morning, Dr. Croft’s group starts their expedition along the shoreline to the pyramids in the distance. They are traveling on dire wolves and horses for this expedition. Several new plants and small creatures are studied and recorded in the records. One of the pirate ships follows along the shore in the edge of the deep water. A Leed beaches itself as it is frightened off by the repeller. It gets harvested for the hide and raw prime fish which gets cooked up on the ship and placed in preserving bins.

From up on the crow’s nest on the ship, Jenny has radio to the ground patrol to stay away from the main entrance to the commons ground. It is observed to be crawling with predators. “Head for the side entrance of the courtyard,” she orders the group. “It is free of danger.”

Anchoring the ship close to the shallows, Jenny and Kerry join the rest of the explorers to head into the courtyard.

Strangely, there are no temples or other structures in the courtyard. It is dominated by the grand entrance to the larger of the two temples. Facing forwards are two Egyptian style statues with dog headed faces. Further back are two other statues holding a jar full of a bounty. There is no doorway into the structure proper. The entrance is big enough to allow the dire wolves and horses to be ridden inside with ease.

“Should we head inside?” asks Sandy.

“Yes,” answers Sandra. “Lets have our tec rifles and bug repellent ready in case we run into any giant bats and spiders in there.”

Riding on the horses and dire wolves, Dr. Croft’s research group enters the main hallway into the pyramid, tec rifles at the ready. LED torches have been fastened to the saddles or on helmets to provide lighting in the passageways.

The exploration turns out to be routine with the only concern being the first room is full of resting normal sized bats. They are not an issue other then carefully finding a path around the mountains of dung under where they roost. “This would be a good source of nitrates for the garden,” reports Dr. Westtimer.

Three other hallways branch off from the reception room. “Lets sketch out a map of this place so we don’t get lost in a 3-D maze,” orders Sandra. The explorers continue on taking the hallway to the right that opens up into another large room filled with ornate carvings and other artifacts.

As predicted during their exploration, the interior of the pyramid is one huge 3-D maze with numerous connecting hallways connecting the various rooms. Unlike the pyramids in Gaza, the room in this one are huge. It is soon determined that this is not a burial chamber but a place built to serve as- a warehouse. Some artifacts are found hidden in chests in those rooms. Some useful items are found and brought with them back to the ship. Mostly, most of the rooms remain dusty with little clues as to what has happened to the original builders or for what purpose the pyramid was built for other then as a storeroom. The map has proven most useful in tracking where they have been on that labyrinth maze of the interior. It is mid afternoon when the explorers finally head back to the entrance having wrapped up the exploration.

Heading over to the second pyramid, it is quickly determined that there is no entrance to be found. “That sure is strange,” comments Dr. Westtimer. “Why would a civilization go to all of that work to just build a pyramid shape structure with no interior?

“It could be some sort of alien landing pad,” answers Jenny. “On the Stargate Movie, it was used as a landing pad for a hostile alien spacecraft.”

“I hope that we don’t run into those aliens,” answers Kerry. “Those were truly dangerous power hungry individuals in those Stargate Movies.”

The explorers continue heading West into a walled village that has suffered damage from some unknown event. Several holes have been punched through the stone walls that look like they are from a midevil castle. Some structures remain untouched in the interior. One contains a fountain with fresh water from a spring that feeds it. Interesting is that there are several nomad style tents still pitched in the courtyard. Their only contents are some cots, tables and chairs. One tent contains a kitchen setup. Another appears to have stored supplies which are long gone.

“Did Daryl mentioned anything about anyone else living here other then the pirates?” asks Dr. Westtimer.

“No,” answers Sandra. “He and his friends have never traveled beyond their home island. The event that took out the pirates must have taken out these nomads as well.”

Up on the castle wall, the group of explorers are able to observe the terrain to the West. “Looks like we will have to sail over to the castle in the distance,” reports Sandra. “It looks way too dangerous to attempt a trek across the desert with the danger of sand worms and other predators I can see out there. Lets head back to the mining camp and file our report.”

Several days later, the explorer airships have been completed and flight tested. Dr. Oswald plans to make a flight over to the castle in the distance where the red beacon is visible. Dr. Gordon’s engineers are taking the second airship around the mountains to the East to follow the river there inland. Having tamed two more pteradons from Rock Drake Island, Sandra, Sandy, Jenny, and Kerry are flying up to the mountains plateaus to explore that area. Everyone involved proceeds to leave on their missions to report back on their findings upon their return.

The return reports are most interesting when Sandra’s group comes flying back with a dozen Mountain Dragons. “We found a series of floating islands connected by a stone causeway. There was a temple on the largest island with a garden and pond. When we landed there to check it out, a black dragon flew in to see what we were doing. Lisa was curious about us riding on pteradons. She spoke to us in Mandarin which I found unusual for their language. When I asked her about that, she told me that they were all friends of the people that had built the sky temple and the causeway. It was their native language that the dragons adopted as their own over the years. They called themselves the Ammisians. She was so happy to see that we were friendly to her and her friends.”

“I asked her what had happened to the Ammisians. She answered that they were all killed or taken prisoner by the Mongolian Hoard that invaided their sky temple. Th dragons had lost many of their kind due to that invasion. That attack had happened 20 years ago. The invaders and everyone that was taken prisoner perished in the desert when they came under attack by death worms and a brutal heat wave.”

“We found that camp,” reports Dr. Oswald. “The occupants had been wiped out by the supernova event. All that was left there were their tents and records of their invasion of the occupants of the Sky Temple and the Egyptian Village by the pyramids.”

“We found the Amissa Village down in the valley,” reports Dr. Gordon. “It too has been unoccupied for ages. We observed some castle ruins near the snow mountain. There were ancient war machines near it indicating that some kind of siege had taken place there. It was just too cold to fly over to it for close up inspection.

“We must certainly plan to prepare for an extended exploration in those and other areas of this land.” reports Dr. Owsley. “In the meantime, these Mountain Dragons sure look happy to be the center of attention once again. They could be most helpful with their knowledge of the past inhabitants and as transport for exploring.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 38 Farrell goes on a vacation.

 

Back at Stargate Command, Captain Margaret has been studying an ancient world with a midevil theme. She brings her observations to the attention of Dr. Croft. Farrell is soon joining in with a great deal of interest.

“Oh My Gosh!” exclaims Dr Croft when she sees the recorded videos of this strange world. “I never could imagine that the fantasy world of Westeros would actually exist.”

“Helena has established contact with a fishing village on the bay where the Iron Isles are located,” reports Ahab in their meeting. “The locals are interested in us studying their history and that of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. They have heard about dragons living in their world in the past. Helena told them about the dragons living with us. They would like to see what a real dragon looks like.”

“You and Farrell should go on a visit to that world to study it’s history,” Willard Croft tells his wife.

“What do you think Farrell?” Sandra asks him.

“It would be most interesting to see that world for real,” answers Farrell. “Are those huge dragons still living there?”

“No,” answers Ahab. “The locals have told us according to their legends that Drogon was the last of his kind. He had not been seen since the battle of King’s Landing and the destruction of The Iron Throne in the Red Keep. No one in their world has seen any dragons since Queen Danarys raised her dragons from the last eggs remaining. Given that over 20 years has passed since that event took place, there have been no reports of anyone seeing Drogon since.”

“What is the political situation in this world since Bran became king of six of the seven kingdoms?” asks Dr. Croft.

“It has remained peaceful since the death of Queen Danarys,” reports Ahab.

“How will we enter that world if there are no Obelisks located in it?” asks Dr Croft.

“We can send you to the fishing village in the bay where we made first contact,” answers Captain Margaret. “Tyron, Bran’s adviser, has agreed to be your guide. You and Farrell will have a locator beacon so we can keep track of where you two are during your visit. You can use your smart watch to contact us anytime that you need to transport to a different location or are ready to return to Stargate Control.”

“We probably should bring Freida along so that Tyron has a dragon to ride on,” suggest Farrell.

“You better ask her if she wants to come along,” answers Dr. Croft. “She was in shock when she saw Reigel get shot out of the sky with those Scorpion Bolts.”

Farrell goes to talk to his mate to ask her to go with him on this unusual vacation. She comes over to talk to Dr. Croft.

“I’ll go so long as you have your Tec Rifle to protect us in case someone shoots at us with those Scorpians.” answer Freida.

“I definitely plan to be armed to defend us in case we run into trouble,” Dr. Croft assures her. “I do want to learn more about the their history through our Guide.”

With Dr. Croft’s updated smart watch and both dragons outfitted with trackers secured to the horns on their heads, the Obelisk is set to transfer them to a field in the fishing village where everyone is waiting for them. The transfer goes smoothly where the threesome find Ahab and Tyron waiting for them.

Dr. Croft is in a bit of a shock as she meets the elderly dwarf who is to be their escort. She introduces him to Ferrell and Freida.

“I never knew that one could even talk to a dragon,” Tyron tells her. “Danary’s dragons were never like yours.”

“These two dragons are my good friends,” Dr. croft tells him. “They are not tames like Danary’s dragons were.”

“Well, at least they are not as big and scary as Danarys three dragons were getting.” answers Tyron. “How old are they?”

“At 28, Ferrell and Freida are fully grown.” Dr Croft tells Tyron. “They are already raising a family back in the Stargate Village.”

“That is remarkable,” reports Tyron. “I like their size. Perhaps there would have been more of them left in my world if they didn’t get so huge and scary as Drogon and the others before him. Why did you bring Freida along?”

“Ferrell was concerned that you might need a ride when we go to explore your world,” answers Dr. Croft.

“Interesting,” answers Tyron. “The dragons in this world were only bonded to one person. They wouldn’t let anyone else ride on them unless their master was riding on them as well.”

“While many of us have loyal human friends, we are not bonded to just one person like the dragons were in your world.” answers Ferrell. “You can ride on me or my mate if you want when you are ready to show us your world.”

“You are most kind,” Tyron tells Ferrell. “You are not so scary as Reigel and Viscerian were when I took the collars off of them in the dungeon they were chained in. Let me introduce to the leaders of Iron Stone Bay.”

It is a most interesting visit with the two dragons being the center of attention. Still, it takes a while until the village leaders, then the villagers, to accept that Farrell and Freida are nothing like Danary’s dragons and that they are able to talk to them as intelligent beings. The two split up with Farrell traveling with Tyron to talk to the village elders and Dr. Croft with Freida to visit with the villagers.

Farrell is having a most interesting day with Tyrion and the village elders as they talk about the politics of years past as compared to the Game of Thrones movie he has watched. He finds that the reality of many of the events that have happened in the past are nothing like those he saw in the movie series that he has watched. “Drogon was actually 42 years old when he destroyed the Iron Throne and flew off with Danys body to the East,” Tyron tells Farrell. “Dr. Croft is correct in that he was four times your size and that dragons in this world never stop growing. Bran tells me that Drogon died from a broken heart after Queen Danarys was killed. He had carried her body to Dragonstone to look for the witches to being her back to life. He did not know that they had all vanished with the death of the Night King which broke the zombie spell and ended the war with the White Walkers at Winterfelt. An expedition sent from Kings landing to Dragonstone found their remains where they were cremated in the volcano. You are the first dragons to appear in this world since that event.”

“Our history would have been vastly different had our dragons been as intelligent and grew no bigger as you,” Rolloff tells Ferrell. “I’m sure that they would still be in this world instead of being forced into extinction. I’m impress that your kind is living as equals in your world of the two suns. It would be interesting if some of you were to relocate in our world to repopulate it with dragons.”

“Unfortunately, our protocol for establishing settlements in newly discovered worlds prevents us from doing so,” answers Ferrell. “It would be too disruptive of your society if we, or my human friends, were to establish settlements here. We are taking our chances that our visit is not going to disturb your culture as we learn more about your history and the fictional story that was written about it.”

“You are indeed a wise dragon,” Rolloff tells Ferrell. “Just your presence here is a shock in itself. Still, you will need to be careful in this world given how our people have lived in fear of dragons and those that controlled them throughout our history.”

“I certainly intend to be very careful in this world,” answers Ferrell. “We have lost so many of our kind in past wars with the humans in my world. Yet, it has been so wonderful living with them after Sandra became friends with me. We were the key to ending the war with the humans in my world.”

At the same time, Dr. Croft, with Freida, is among the villagers learning how their fishing village economy functions. “Your economy is very similar to the Vikings we made contact with 11 years ago,” Freida tells the group that has gathered to see them. “What was interesting about their village is that their leader’s daughter had been raised with a dragon they raised from a stolen egg. We found Jerrie and Hilda when Alexander had rescued them from an attack from a nest of large predators that attacked them with poison quills. As there were other dragons with us that were looking to establish new homes for their families, they went with us to visit the village where Hilda was raised. They soon formed an alliance with the villagers and a flock of dragons that had been attacked by raiders. They helped to repel a raid on their village. The Vikings there were able to recover several stolen eggs that were returned to their mothers. Well over a hundred dragons live with the villagers as equals.”

“Remarkable,” Captain Warner answers. “I find it so hard to believe that a dragon is telling us her story of life in her world with humans. Where is your world located?”

“We are located in a world with two suns,” Freida tells him. “It is located far away above this world. It is so far away from here that the two suns just appear as a pair of stars in your night time sky.”

“How can that be?” ask Captain Warner. “Is your presence here the result of some kind of magic?”

“No,” answers Freida. “We are here as a result of some future scientific technology. I don’t expect you to understand how it works. Eventually, your society will advance in developing it’s technology and learn how one can travel to the stars you can see in your night time sky.”

“Wow!” answers Dr Croft. “You dragons keep surprising me every day with your intelligence.”

That evening, both dragons, Dr Croft, Tyron, Captain Warner, Rolloff and Ahab meet with everyone in the village to tell them what their plans are for their visit. “In the morning, I will bring over Leader and Firefox.” reports Ahab. “That way, the four of you can all explore this world together.”

“Your world’s dragons would actually let anyone ride on them?” asks Captain Warner.

“If they can determine that the person that wants to ride on them is honorable, then yes.” answers Dr Croft.

“Then, it is settled, I will take you on a tour of our world in the morning.” answers Tyron.

“You can ride on me,”Ferrell tells Tyron. “I would like to learn more about your story of Fire and Ice.”

“I would be more then happy to share that story with you,” answers Tyron.

It becomes quite an evening as Farrell and Tyron spend their time with Dr Croft and Freida listening in to the story of Danrys rise to power with her dragons she hatched from the last three eggs that were left in Westboro.

In the morning, Dr Croft, Tyron, Captain Warner, and Rolloff, along with Farrell and Freida, head to an open field where they meet up with Leader and Firefox.

“How do I get on a dragon to ride on it?” asks Captain Warner as he stands next to Freida.

“That’s what Jon Snow asked Danarys the day he first rode on Reigel,” answers Dr. Croft. “She told him that nobody knows how to get on a dragon until they get on one. Just watch me as I get onto Freida. The other dragons will lay down so that you can get on them. Just be careful of their wing membrane when you get on them. You don’t need to steer them. They will follow Farrell.”

As a nervous Captain Warner gets on Leader, he tells him. “Relax, I won’t harm you.”

“How is it that you know our language?” Captain Warner asks Leader.

“I have learned several languages,” Leader answers. “Can you tell me why I frighten you?”

“When I was ten years old, Danarys attacked our village with her three dragons. A lot of the villagers were burned to death including my father.”

“I’m sorry,” Leader answers. “I didn’t know.”

“That’s all right,” Captain Warner answers as he is calming down. “You had no way of knowing any of the details of what happened here 25 years ago. I can’t believe I’m going to tell you this. I actually like you.”

“I can feel how relaxed you are becoming,” Leader tells him, “Enjoy the ride.”

The flight heads North to Castle Black and the Great Ice Wall. It still remains with the one section having been breached where the Night King had used a zombie dragon to destroy it. Flying beyond, they get to see the Tree and the frozen lake. Beyond, the terrain becomes open forest with farmland where Jon Snow lives in exile.

“It’s so hard to believe that a dragon, even one as large as Viserian, could do so much damage to such a huge wall of solid ice,” Farrell tells Tyron.

“It may have had something to do with the power of the Night King,” answers Tyron. “Even though he had lost half of his face in the fight with Danary’s other two dragons at Winterfeld, he continued to be a threat until the zombie spell was broken with the death of the Night King.”

“The villagers are hiding in shock when the four dragons come in to land. They start coming out of hiding when their mayor spots Tyron on Farrell with his assurance that they are safe.

In the visit that follows, both Dr. Croft and Farrell learn that Jon Snow was killed when he was attacked by Dire Bears as he was building a home in the deep forest. There was no reason given as to why that happened. His badly mauled body has been found, along with the body of Ghost, his loyal Dire Wolf, by a village hunting party.

The tour continues with another long flight to reach King’s Landing that late afternoon. They land next to the ruins of The Red Keep where Bran is expecting them and already has assured the people of the town that these dragons will do them no harm. The formalities go well as Bran pets every dragon on the forehead as they exchange words of greeting.

The next morning, Farrell and Dr. Croft are taken for a tour of the ruins of The Red Keep. “We chose not to rebuild this place when we rebuilt the town,” Mayor Kelly tells them. “Leaving it in ruins is a representation of how unlimited power can corrupt those wield it.”

“Unbelievable,” Farrell comments as he looks at the melted remains of The Iron Throne. “None of us dragons could have done what Drogon did to it even if we had all combined our fire attack on it at once.”

The tour continues where they go below into the dungeon where they see the broken skull of a huge dragon on display. Farrell is shocked by the size of it as it is about as big as he is.

The tour finishes up where Reigel and Viscerian had been chained in the dungeon. “Sandra,” Farrell tells Dr Croft. “Lets leave. This place gives me the creeps,”

“It’s quite all right,” Tyron tells him. “It was most frightening to me when I came down here to take those collars off of them. They were about your size the night that I let them go. If I had not been drinking all of that wine that night, I would have never done it.”

The tour wraps up with a flight over the island of Dragonstone. “This place is just as desolate as it is created in an old mod map for an old video game known as Ark Survival Evolved,” Dr. Croft tells Farrell.

“This was the only place where we could find Dragon Glass to forge into weapons that would kill the White Walkers,” answers Tyron.

“How were you able to forge such a brittle material into weapons?” asks Dr Croft.

“It wasn’t easy,” answers Tyron. “It was a most difficult task to cast this material into arrowheads and daggers.”

The tour ends that evening back in the fishing village where everyone bids farewell to their guests. “It has been a most wonderful experience to fly on and talk to these dragons,” Captain Warner, Rolloff, and Tyron tells them.

“It was most interesting to visit the actual location I saw in your story,” answers Farrell.

“If the dragons in our world had been like these dragons, our history would have certainly been a lot different,” Tyron tells them.

With that statement, Dr Croft and the four dragons are teleported back to the Obelisk of the Land of the Two Suns.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 39 A most interesting return.

 

“What happened?” asks Willard Croft. “You were only gone for less then a minute.”

“What do you mean we were gone only for a minute?” asks Farrell. “We were in Westboro for over a week. Where’s Leader and Firefox?”

“They are at the Egyptian Village,” answers Willard Croft. “Why do you ask?”

“They were with us in Westboro,” answers Sandra. “Just what is going on here?”

“Lets get back to Stargate Command and find out,” answers Willard Croft.

Back at Stargate Command, a most puzzled Ahab comes out to greet Dr. Croft, Farrell and Freida. “Westboro has vanished,” he reports. “I lost track of you three the second you were teleported there. That has never happened before to any of our explorers to the other worlds, even those worlds on the quarantine list.”

“Still, we must have been teleported to somewhere,” answers Dr. Croft. “The three of us went somewhere for over a week.”

“It sure felt real,” answers Farrell. “It was a most interesting adventure visiting those landmarks and the people living there.”

An investigation is ordered to find out what just happened with the trip into Westboro and if it was real or not.

At the meeting the following morning, Willard Croft files his report.

“The only thing that I can figure out is that you were sent to the equivalent of a Star trek Holodeck,” reports Willard Croft after studying the data of the visit. “It must have been arranged by the creators of the Stargate to satisfy Sandra’s and Farrell’s interest in the Game of Thrones story.”

“That is most interesting given that I had never made such arrangements,” answers Ahab.

“It may have been a test to see if we would violate our directive about settling and influencing the cultures of other world,” answer Helena.

“I don’t know about that,” answers Dr. Croft. “We have certainly altered the course of this one with our ending the war between the Egyptians, the Vikings, and the dragons, then uniting all but one of the factions here into living in peace with each other. We definitely altered the course of those living on Extinction when we rescued everyone surviving in the cave and sent them to Amissa.”

“Then, I would have to assume that your trip was made as a reward for how you two set the stage for uniting this world in peace.” answers Helena. “Where you went has no gate address at the Stargate. It is why you were sent directly through the Obelisk terminal.”

“That now makes sense,” answers Willard Croft.

“Still, it was a wonderful experience,” reports Farrell.

There are still a number of new worlds that we have discovered and will soon be sending probes to them to study what they are like.” reports Willard Croft.

“We have found an ocean planet nicknamed Atlas. It consists of thousands of islands where the indigenous population have explored and set up settlements. They are a seafaring people that have organized into clans that fight for control of their home islands. Their technology is mostly that of the Caribbean Pirates of the 16th century with a touch of Steam Punk, ghosts, and mystical creatures.”

“Another world we have found we have called Scorched Earth. It is a desert planet once inhabited by nomadic tribes. It is a dangerous world of extreme heat, violent storms, vicious creatures, and very aggressive dragons.”

“Ragnarok is another world we have just began to explore with the stealth drones. It has many remarkable features that are similar to what exist in Iceland and Norway. The Southern areas range from tropical jungle to dune deserts. It looks like that it was inhabited at one time with a mid evil culture according to the ruins we have found there. Two other worlds we have checked out are of a similar nature.”

“Then, there is Aberration. While the surface is a hellish wasteland of fire in the day time and a reaper infested death trap at night, The extensive underground cave system has many inhabitable biomes. It appears that some futuristic society once lived there, then abandoned that world for the safety of another.”

“With the discoveries of other worlds that are connected to the Stargate, we have no shortage of worlds that we can visit or even settle in.”

Indeed, that appears to be the case just in this story of exploration by those that fled the Armageddon which soon erupted on the Earth. I shall end this story here but will soon be working on a separate adventure of the exploration of Atlas, the pirate world of islands and conflict.