Overture (Earth Song) (32 page)

“
Oh fuck!” she said and snatched at her side arm. Wilson reached over and held her arm down.

“
Handguns just piss them off,” he warned her. From two sides men opened up with their assault rifles. The Komodo sloth looked like a giant howler, right down to the six legs and basic proportions. The two forward eyes, bigger and more advanced she would learn later, were fixed determinedly on the target. The two smaller rearward eyes swiveled sideways and watched the men who were now firing at it.

The
gunfire was aimed just behind the rudimentary rear eyes. Careful dissection of the first two specimens showed where the animal’s brain was located. Their skulls were heavily armored from the front while the side bone was thinner. They raked their bullets from front to back along its skull, bone and blood exploding into the air. The bullets found their mark and the charging monster jerked, crashing to the ground. One man stepped in and fired several shots at point blank range into its spine, right behind the head. Amanda made a face which Wilson noticed.

“
Even with the brain dead they can be dangerous,” he explained.

“
Primitive nervous system,” she said. “I’d like a specimen to examine more closely.” In the lull between the first attack and the arrival of the second monster one of the men trotted up with their new ordinance. The rifle was almost too big for one man to carry. It sported only a five round magazine and the bullets were longer than a man's hand.

“
Hurry up, son, here it comes,” Wilson warned as the forest went quiet.

“
Haven’t shot one of these in some time,” the man explained as he locked its breach open and quickly stuffed massive bullets into an empty magazine.

“
Give it to me,” Wilson said impatiently and reached for it. The man surrendered the weapon without complaint as the Komodo sloth roared and burst from the tree line much closer than the previous one.

“
Ammo,” Wilson hissed. The soldier stuffed a final round into the magazine and slapped it into his commander’s hand. Wilson cocked the gun’s butt on his hip with his left hand as he took the magazine in his right, slapped it against his helmet to seat the rounds, and then smacked it home in the magazine well. With amazing self-control in the face of a charging dinosaur, he transferred the gun to a right-handed stance, swept the bolt forward, released the safety and put the weapon to his shoulder.

The
animal was only twenty feet away when the huge rifle gave its answering roar. The recoil was enough to make Wilson take an involuntary step back, and the muzzle blast knocked Amanda’s beret from her head. The bullet smacked into the sloth between the front set of eyes, the impact a powerful thump that Amanda felt in her solar plexus. Most of the head exploded like a meaty hand grenade, and the beast fell like a marionette having its strings cut. It slid to a stop in the sandy soil less than a foot from their boots.

“
Hail to the chief!” one of the men yelled and they all cheered. Wilson handed the weapon back to the soldier who had been about to use it.

“
Practice with that weapon soldier, but do not expend any ammo.” The man nodded and ejected the spent cartridge. “And police that brass. There’s no way to know if we’re going to get any more of that kind of ammo.”

“
Nice shot, Colonel,” Amanda said as she retrieved her fallen beret and swatted it clean on her fatigues.

“
Thanks sergeant. You can have that one as a specimen,” he said and gestured at the dead lizard. “We’ve got enough cooked up for a few weeks anyway. See if you can figure out what makes them tick. I’m tired of sleeping with my gun like it’s a girlfriend.”

Amanda
said she would and went to look over the huge predator. It was like an alligator but with the speed of a lion. It fell with its mouth gaping open and she could see line after line of serrated teeth, much like a shark.

Amanda
glanced at the pristine arboreal forest around them and cocked a head. “What kind of a hell-hole evolved you?” she said and leaned closer. She reached out to see if the teeth curved inward toward the jaw line like a shark when suddenly the head jumped and the jaws snapped closed. Someone grabbed her arm and jerked it back just before the jaws closed.

“
Didn’t you hear the Colonel, Sergeant? These things have a hard time understanding they're dead.” She looked to see the same soldier who had brought the big rifle. “You need to sever the spinal column to be sure.”

“
Don’t do it with this one, I need it as a specimen.”

“
The Colonel said you were a scientist. Well, better leave it here to finish realizing it’s dead.”

“
You bet. I’ve got a lot of work to do anyway,” she said and headed back to the cabin. She needed to get organized and find her dissection kit. Geology was her specialty but today she was a biologist. The idea of doing the first exploratory work on an alien organism was too exciting to pass up. “I’m going to be here the rest of my life; I might as well start with my food.” In the cabin there was already a pair of howlers on top of her bunk busily mating. She took a couple pictures then set to organizing her lab.

Mindy stayed up all night going quietly insane. As the sun began to climb above the eastern Manhattan skyline she was on the ragged edge. Most of the night was spent with her eyes closed while she sat in a chair and watched alien stars in her mind's eye like a planetarium. Many years ago she had learned to use the self-imposed blackness as her own personal planetarium to project vivid images of the night sky and see the passages of comets, planets and asteroids. In the dark recesses of her mind she imagined constellations seen from far away worlds.

There
was the Arrow, the Dragon, and the Crow. Circling below the Crow was the Horse, slowly moving upwards to maybe merge into the others over the ages. “But how do I know that?” she wondered. “I could watch these stars until I die and they would never move more than an inch.” She opened her eyes and had to squint against the light showing through the apartment windows. Billy stayed at his own apartment last night. One look at her when she got home and he’d known that company was the last thing she wanted. So he left her to her thoughts. She ate the food Harold made earlier then crawled into an old musty chair where she spent the night.

Mindy
groaned slightly as she got to her feet, abused muscles creaking in protest. Now on her feet she realized in a hurry how much time had passed since she used the bathroom and was forced into an unladylike rush to the toilet. Afterwards she prowled through the quiet apartment and started some breakfast. While she was cooking she tried once or twice to use her planetarium. All she saw was a red haze. Her brain was too abused to go any farther. Besides, they had to be at work in a couple hours. Once breakfast was started she headed for the shower.

It
was so early she didn’t bother checking if Harold was already in the bathroom, and that was how she caught him sitting on the toilet masturbating. “Oh shit,” she barked in surprise.

“
Damn, man!” he yelled and yanked a towel over himself.

“
I-I’m sorry, Harold, I’m really, really sorry!” she pleaded through the doorway.

“
Just leave me alone,” Harold moaned and she retreated to the kitchen, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Sometime later he came out into the tiny living room. She took the food off the burner and took a shower. Later Harold was dressed and had taken over cooking. As they ate neither said anything.

The
silence held until they were in the elevator of the leased federal building and heading toward their shared office. “So you think that chick in data processing will have the disc ready today?” he asked. Mindy let a little sigh of relief escape before she replied to the idle office chatter. As he followed Mindy out the elevator door he couldn’t take his eyes off her well-shaped ass. It was the very image he was holding firmly in his mind as he pleasured himself.

It
was a normal and routine day. They heard no one else was going through the Portal for two more days so that was one less thing to occupy Mindy's mind. The next day would be much more auspicious. Aries was due to make its rendezvous early in the morning. The fact that the asteroid was on a collision was common knowledge. Generally people were excited and optimistic.

Now
that everyone thought Aries would save the day, the press was full of non-stop, around the clock coverage on how bad the damage from Lebowski could be. Thank goodness Aries would save the day before Lebowski hit! In the Portal Project all the section leaders pushed their people even harder. One of the rumors was things would get harder to do in a few days.

Lunch
time arrived and neither of them left. The already crowded office started to resemble a college prank. Four of their co-conspirators arrived. From under her desk, Mindy produced a box of forms and a notebook. Harold took out a small old-fashioned laptop computer. The others brought their own equipment and records. They passed around notes on requests for things they had seen which bore merit. Equipment that was actually necessary, people who had the technical knowledge they were looking for, scientists and tradesmen were all on their lists.

The
group had been working for several days and finished their first list of personnel which Mindy dubbed their “Chosen”. Now they moved on to equipment. Free of the military mentality or a politician’s hidden agenda, the job went ten times faster. Harold and Mindy sent off a series of e-mails to scientists they knew asking questions they themselves couldn’t answer. When the answers arrived the responses were factored in. Amidst all the work, they were also having fun. It wasn’t every day you got to plan an exodus to another world. Aries fever was affecting them too. For a time they even managed to forget it was real.

Then
lunch was over and the others said goodbye. The reality of the situation came crashing in to leave Harold and Mindy spending the rest of the day struggling through their work. They went back to reviewing idiotic requests for equipment that had no use whatsoever on an alien world and did their best to make it look like they cared.

That
evening they returned to their apartment building but Harold walked past instead of going in. “Where you going, Harold?”

“
I’m really not in the mood to sit in the hall and listen to you two fuck,” he said and waved over his shoulder. “There’s a bar a couple blocks down, I’ll be back by nine.”

Mindy
watched him go with a frown on her face. She was happy to be with Billy but her relationship was obviously making it hard on her old friend. The fact that she'd talked him into coming out here and that they had once been lovers probably wasn’t helping. As Mindy reached the apartment she found Billy waiting. She was trying hard to avoid making a decision that she had been considering for a couple days.

Billy
knew something was going on when she didn’t jump him the moment she came through the door. He quietly sat the food on the table for them to eat. “I feel like we’re married,” she said to him. Billy grinned and passed her some of the lime chicken he'd made. “I mean, you’re waiting for me every day I get home with dinner ready and then we make love and we usually fall asleep together.”

“
That sounds like a complaint.”

“
No, it isn’t really.”

“
I get off my shift more than an hour before you; it’s just convenient for me to be here and make dinner so we can spend more time together.”

“
But we didn’t even talk about this or anything, it just happened.”

“
I like being here with you.”

“
We don’t even know if we’re…”

“
What?”

“
You know, we don’t know where our relationship is.”

“
You need a road map?” He got up and came around the table to stand in front on her. “Maybe we’re both afraid to say it?”

“
Say what?” she whispered.

“
Then I’ll do it first. Mindy, I love you.” Tears welled up in her eyes and began to fall down her face. “I know you just left a relationship and came here for something a lot bigger than me, but I fell in love with you the day I arrested you.” She put a hand to her mouth and stifled a tiny laugh that turned to a sob. “If this is too much for you, I’ll leave. I’ve been married and I fucked that up. I wouldn't blame you if you wanted me gone.”

He
took a step back and she grabbed his hand. “Don’t go, please?” she cried.

“
Why not?” he asked, his eyes bright and shining.

“
B-because I love you too, asshole!” she cried and jumped up into his arms. “Why is it always so damned hard to say those words?”

“
Because they mean so much,” he said as they held each other.

“
It’s terrible to say it and find out the other person doesn’t reciprocate.”

“
Only thing worse is to find out that what you thought was love wasn’t.” They held each other and felt their hearts beating almost in time. “Now I need you to tell me something else,” he said to her.

“
Anything,” she said. He gently urged her to sit back down as he took a deep breath.

“
The world is going to end, isn’t it?” She looked at him and opened her mouth, then closed it. He'd managed to put most of the pieces together himself. To answer him straight out could be dangerous to her status with the Portal Project. “I realize you aren’t supposed to say anything or maybe you don’t know it for a scientific fact, but I want to know what
you
think. I believe Aries has a chance.”

“
I don’t think Aries will succeed,” she said. That wasn’t related to the Portal Project, I can at least say that, she thought.

“
I guess that’s enough of an answer for me,” he said. Quick as a flash he produced a small fabric box and was holding it out to her. “We don’t have a lot of time, so I want to get married as soon as possible.” She opened and closed her mouth like a fish. “Hey, if your wrong and Aries succeeds and the world survives, you can just divorce me.”

“
I don’t want to divorce you,” she said. He looked away from her face and down to the box in his hand.

“
Oh,” he said and started to put it back in his pocket. “I guess I made a mistake.”

“
No, you don’t understand. I don’t want to divorce you. I want to be your wife for the rest of my life.” He looked up at her and she bit her lip and nodded her head.

“
A divorced cop as a husband is okay with you?” he asked, wanting to be sure.

“
And an old maid astronomer is alright for you?”

“
I wouldn’t be here with a ring in my hand if it wasn’t.”

“
Well, there isn’t another man in the world I would rather have.” He took the ring out and put it on her finger. “There’s only one condition.” he looked at her curiously. “We need to move into your place; this just isn’t fair for Harold.”

“
He’s still burning a candle for you.”

“
I know, but that candle went out on my end years ago.”

They
were sitting on the couch watching the news when Harold came in. He just looked at them and headed for his room. It was Billy that stood up to stop him. “Harold, I need to tell you something.”

Harold
stopped, brushing his shaggy hair out of his eyes, and turned to face Billy. Mindy looked at him critically, worried about how much he’d had to drink. Harold could get a tad boisterous when under the influence. She was worried he would take a poke at Billy. While Harold might be a tough guy, he was no match for a trained police officer. Not even when he was sober. “Yeah, what’s up man?”

“
I know we’ve been kind of rude to you, but it wasn’t our intention. This is your place with Mindy here and I have just sort of moved in.” Harold nodded his head, his way of saying ‘that’s cool man’. “Well, I just wanted to let you know things are going to be different from now on.” Harold looked from Billy to his friend and his eyes narrowed. “I just asked Mindy to marry me.”

“
And what did you say?” he asked, his head turning slowly to look at her.

Mindy
tried to smile of for it to turn into a slight frown as she held up her left hand with the ring on it. It had once belonged to Billy’s mother. “I see,” he said simply, then added, “Congratulations,” before continuing to his room and closing the door behind him.

“
Well, he took that well,” Billy said and went back to sit next to his fiancée. Deep down she knew just how much pain her old friend was in.

“
I want to move to your place tomorrow after work, okay?” she asked him.

“
No problem,” he agreed. “You have so little here we can do it in my cruiser. Do you want to send for any of your stuff from Oregon?”

“
Let’s wait until after the 21
st
, shall we?”

“
Sure, I understand.”

She
stood up and tugged him to his feet. She wanted to feel him against her, and inside her, so she could forget all about the look on Harold's face when she held up that ring. Thankfully, he was as good in bed as always and she soon forgot everything except the ancient movement of their bodies against each other. A few feet away Harold was not nearly as successful in forgetting. Their rooms were too close together and he could hear every sigh, every cry of passion, and every one of his dreams going up in flames.

* * * **

Volant reclined in his electronic bed at the hospice he was living in while recovering and watched the data feed through his computer. The first of the satellite imagery to finally penetrate the debris plume above New Delhi was coming in and it was horrendous. Most of what had once been a city was destroyed. He clicked on the associated analysis button and read the report.

“
Preliminary analysis indicates a thermonuclear blast was detonated at ground level in the New Delhi Golf Course at five fifty-five AM local time on May 3
rd
. The exact yield cannot be determined. It is estimated at five hundred megatons. Loss of life to this point is between nine and twelve million locally and another million within a hundred miles. The first question is to explain where India obtained a nuclear weapon more powerful than the largest thought to exist. Continuing, the blast demonstrated a high order of efficiency, at least ten times more so than any nuclear device previously detonated.