The Prize: Book One (19 page)

"It looks solid enough to me," Ellis said, fingering the crumbling brickwork.

"So did the people back there,” Penn countered.

"What are you thinking?"

"That this is nothing but a giant trap.”  Ellis nodded.  She couldn't shake the feeling of something threatening in the air as if this place itself didn't want them there.

"A trap for what?"

"That I can't say.  To keep someone out… or something in.  I'm not sure," Penn mused, rubbing his chin, "whatever it is, I suggest we take things slowly from here on.”

No matter which way he looked at the city, Penn felt danger, but from where he could tell.  For once his high tuned senses fail him.  It was a feeling he didn’t like one bit.  Before, he always had a feeling of control, of himself and his surroundings, and able to anticipate where an attack was coming from, or a danger that threatened him.  For the first time since he was a child he felt uncertain, unsure of himself.  Part of the reason stood beside him in the form of a certain Sub-Major with a cute tush and the feeling he wanted to stand between her and the unseen danger.  With a soft groan he pushed the emotion aside, as getting laid was the least of his worries, beside which, he’d been down that road before and wasn’t about to make that mistake again. They reached the first row of adobe-like buildings, yet even there, the rough, crumbing brick felt solid to the touch, but when they looked inside it was clear this place had been abandoned for a very long time.  Penn stamped his foot on the paving stones, testing them.  The place smelled like a trap to him, but he couldn't see it.

Ellis spoke up.  “Thrax!  See if you can get to the top of this building.  If you can, have a look around and find a road to the pyramid we can use.  But be careful!”

“Yes, Ma'am,” Trooper Thrax answered, taking off at a trot.  They heard him moving around inside the building, and he called out that he found a stairway to the roof.  A few moments later, he called down.

"Major.  Just around the corner, there's a road that appears to lead all the way to the pyramid.  Looks pretty straight to me.  Oh, by the way, Major, the fountain behind this house is working.”

"Good, come on down.”  A moment later, they heard a scream, then a muffled thud.

"What the hell!"

Ellis and the Captain Carras rushed into the building, expecting to find the trooper at the foot of some sort of stairway, assuming the rotten wood had collapsed under his weight.  In the dim light they saw the building was empty, and neither could see footprint in the thick dust to show Thrax had even been there.  To top it off that there was no stairway to the roof.

"What the hell is going on?”  Captain Carras muttered, looking around, sounded nervous as he tightening his grip on his pulse rifle.

With no way through the building they came back out, and everybody except Penn, rushed around the corner and found find their way blocked by a tall adobe wall.  Cursing, they ran around to the other side, crashing into one another as they did.  Penn followed slowly, surveying the area as he came up behind the others and looked over their shoulders.  Thrax's lay half in, and half out the huge bowl of the cut stone fountain.  His body armor, and helmet should have protected him against a fall of that distance, yet he was dead, as Sergeant Jaxx attested when he checked for a pulse.  Carefully, two troopers lifted him out of the fountain, and rolled him over, seeing water dribbled from his mouth as they did.

"Sainted Mother!”  Someone muttered as more water poured out.

"How the hell do you drown in an empty fountain?”  Ellis cursed, also checking for signs of life.  There weren't any.

"Because when he fell, the fountain wasn't empty, or at least to him, it wasn't," Penn mused, "he said it was working when he was on the roof.”

"But it's not.  It's as dry as a bone, see!”  Captain Carras walked over and lifted out a handful of powdery sand from the fountain, letting it dribble out of his clenched fist as proof, a look of bewilderment on his face.  Penn just shrugged and walked away.

"What in the name of the Sainted Mother is going on?”  One trooper snapped, nervously fingering his weapon as he looked around.

"We need to get out of here, now!”  Ellis said, reasserting command.  ”Spread out, and find that damn road people!”  Wanting to get their mind off Thrax, and back on the mission. 

"What about the body, Major?"

“What about it?”

“We can't just leave him here.”  Sergeant Jaxx complained.

"And how the hell do you suppose we bury him, Sergeant?” Ellis snapped, eyeing the paving stones.  ”Wrap him in his poncho, and we'll collect it on the way back.”

'If we ever make our way back,' was her unspoken thought.  “Penn, lead out!”  This time, the troops didn't argue with her about burying the body.

"Yes, Major." Penn answered, but Ellis was too distracted to notice, choosing too simply obey her command, than respond with a snappy comeback.

Wrapping the body in a poncho, they placed it beside the fountain and followed Penn as he took off around the corner looking for the broad avenue trooper Thrax spoke of.  He couldn't find it.  The passageways twisted and turned at random, with no plan or layout he could discern.  There wasn't even a road to speak of, just alleyway, smelling of rot and decaying that led to another plaza, and another empty fountain.  It didn't seem possible that the alleyways could stink so terrible after all this time, but they did.  No matter how far the troopers walked, none of the narrow passageways got them and inch closer to the pyramid.

"Thrax said something about a road to the pyramid?”  Ellis asked, wiping sweat off her face as she moved up beside him.  The air was hot, dry, and oppressive.

"You've got me.  I don't see any way out of here.”

"At this rate, we won't be there by nightfall.”

"I'm not sure that's actually a bad thing." Penn answered, looking up at the surrounding buildings, and the dark blue sky between them.

"Oh, why not?"

"If there are any traps out there waiting for us, it might be wise to let the Thrakee and the Silurian's trip them, don't you think?"

"You still think this place is a trap?"

"I do.  I can't get over what happened to Thrax in that empty fountain.”

"You have an idea what this place is?"

"Maybe, but I'm not going to say just yet.”

Ellis was too hot and tired to argue with him.  She fell back with the others, and spent the rest of a frustrating day wandering between the buildings.  As night began to fall, their confidence began to waver.  They needed a place to rest, and they didn't seem any closer to the pyramid.  Rounding a corner, Penn stopped in mid stride.  The troopers nearest him saw what Penn had seen, and groaned.  They were back in the same plaza with the same fountain, staring at Thrax's body wrapped in a poncho.  Penn stood staring at the fountain, an inscrutable smile on his face.  There was no way they could have walked around the entire circumference of the city in less than a day, so how could they wound up back up where they started?

"Shit!  This Earthier is leading us around in fracking circles!”  Breen yelled as he trained his weapon on Penn.

"Knock it off, Breen!”  Sergeant Jaxx growled.  I've been watching the sun and my compass.  We've been walking in a relatively straight line all day.”

"So how come we're back here?  Answer me that Sergeant!”  Breen glared at Penn.

“Stand down, Trooper.  That's an order!”  Ellis snapped, getting in Breen's face.

With that he backed down, shooting Penn and Ellis dark looks.  Penn looked at the other two he suspected were IMPSEC, seeing the way they were holding their weapon.  Not exactly at him, but a twitch would.  Trooper Breen and Covers were the two that stuck close to Dana at all time and probably took orders from him.

"This has nothing to do with Penn!”  Ellis swept the group, her face hard.  “We'll camp in one of these buildings tonight and move out in the morning.  This time you lead, Breen!"

"Yes, Ma'am,” Breen answered with ill grace, eyeing Penn.

The troopers made camp for the night, using scrap wood from the broken furniture in the building for fuel.  Although they found sufficient wood to keep the fire going through the night, they had just enough water to reconstitute their dehydrated food packs.  There wasn't enough water for Kaf in the morning, or breakfast.

"I'll go look for some.”  Penn offered as he picked up several camel packs.

“Good luck finding water in this hell-hole, Penn,” Dana sneered as Breen and Covers muttered in agreement.  Ellis shot all three an icy look, sufficient to silence them.

Twenty minutes later Penn returned, packs sloshing with water.  Without a word, he dropped them by the fire where the troops gathered.  The water, cold and clear, tasted like sparkling wine to thirsty throats, yet not one of them said thanks.  Penn went to sit in the corner with his back to a crumbling brick wall.

"Where did you find the water?”  Ellis asked, sitting next to him.

"In the fountain where the trooper died.”  Penn answered softly.

"What!  I don't understand.  Why didn't you say so?"

"I didn't want to start a panic and have the Girl Scouts rushing off in the darkness for no damn good reason.  They're spooked enough as it is.”

"You know what's happening, don't you?"

"Not the why, or the how, but I have an idea.”

"You want to tell me about it?"

"No, it could make things worse than they are.  Just concentrate on getting to the pyramid and nothing else.  Understand?  Nothing else."  By his tone, Ellis could tell he was serious.  “I'll go and fill the rest later, so everyone will have water tomorrow.

With their bellies full, and their water issues temporarily solved, the troopers relaxed, laughing as someone told a joke, or a funny story.  For the moment all was right in their world.  Ellis found she liked sitting close to Penn.  She rarely felt comfortable around males, especially human males that is, and she liked the fact that he didn't feel the need to talk all the time.  She got the impression that Penn was a pool of deep water, tranquil on the surface, but with dangerous, unplumbed depths.

“You said that first day that the jungle was your playground.  Did you mean that literally, or you were jungle trained?”  The corner of Penn's mouth pulled up in a slight smile as he considered her question.

“Before the invasion, when things such as countries had a meaning, I was born and grew up at a military training, and research center in a country called Ecuador.”

“I think I remember that name, something about the Inca?”

“Right.  It was once part of the Inca Empire.”

“That's right, I remember now.”

“At that time the British government had an on-going agreement with Ecuador to lease part of the country for jungle warfare training, and research.”  He stopped for a moment, wondering if the Ecuadorian government knew what kind of research went on there, betting they didn't.  He saw Ellis looking at him strangely, and he raised an eyebrow in question.

“So you were born at this research station?”

“Yes, and grew up there in a village near the town of Porto Libra on the Rio Aguarico river.  What about you?”

“Me?” she smiled slightly.  ”I was born at a research station just outside of Tucson… she hesitated a moment, her brow darkening as if from bitter memories.”  My parents were killed while shopping, when the Imperials dropped a thousand ton rock on the city.”

“Tough.”  Penn murmured thinking of the death of his parents, “until mine were killed in an attack on the base, life was wonderful, or so I thought.”