The Search for Gram (29 page)

Jotunn Jail, 14 Herculis ‘a,’ Unknown Date/Time

K-Mart paced back and forth, pausing periodically to look out the door to see if any Jotunn were coming. The fight on the other wing must be drawing all the remaining guards; it didn’t appear anyone had noticed the giant he killed was no longer replying on the radio.

The Sila working on the transport device looked up. “You know, it doesn’t help me to think with you walking around like that,” he said. “I’m almost done. Just a couple of seconds more.”

K-Mart stopped pacing and listened to the sounds of gunfire in the distance. The volume had dropped by half; one of the Sila slug-throwers must have been put out of action. 

“
Your friends need your help,
” said Bordraab. “
You must come and free me, and you must hurry.
”

“
I know I need to hurry,
” said K-Mart, “
but I need to wait for the box to get you out.
”

“
We must join the fight soon,
” replied the dragon. “
If we go now, we may yet be able to save them, but the Jotunn are readying for a final assault on their position. You must come get me, and you must do it
now
!
”

“
On my way,
” replied K-Mart. He turned back to the Sila.

“I am finished,” said the male working on the transporter box. He held it up for K-Mart to see. “It functions the same way the rod does, but has more power for bigger targets.”

“Will it work for a large number of people simultaneously?” asked K-Mart.

“Sadly, no,” the Sila replied. “I don’t know why, but it won’t. It wouldn’t with the Efreet, anyway. They needed a box that was tweaked a little differently.”

“The Efreet have already been here and taken the boxes for mass transportation between the universes?”

“Yes, several days ago,” replied the Sila. “They took the 10 boxes I had ready and left. I can make another, but it will take me at least 30 minutes. I have most of the parts I need, but will have to make several of the connectors.”

“Yeah, we’ll need one of those,” K-Mart said. “Keep working on it, and I’ll be right back. I’m going to get help.”

He pushed the button on his rod, turned invisible and left at a jog. He didn’t need the invisibility; he didn’t see a Jotunn the entire way to the dragon’s cell.

He arrived at Bordraab’s wing, out of breath, to find a Jotunn face down on the floor 50 feet from the dragon’s cell. The giant was missing half an arm, and a trail of green blood led the rest of the way to the cell.

“Plan B?” K-Mart asked, becoming visible.

“Yes,” replied Bordraab. “Unfortunately, my reflexes were slower than I thought. While I was able to bite his arm, I wasn’t able to grab him before he could pull away. Sadly, he made it further down the corridor than I could reach. If you could get the keys from him, we can go help your friends.”

A quick search of the giant didn’t turn up any keys, nor did K-Mart see any places where they might have been. “I don’t see them,” said K-Mart. “If they are in a front pocket, I don’t think I’m going to be able to get them. I can’t lift him; he’s too heavy.” K-Mart went over to the cell. The bars were too close together to allow either him or the box to squeeze through. He turned the box in several directions, but it still didn’t fit. “Crap,” he said, “I don’t think this is going to work.”

“Well, then you should go back and save whomever you can,” said Bordraab. “Without my help, your friends will be dead within minutes.”

“Give me a second,” said K-Mart. “There’s got to be a way we can do this…I’ve got it. If you could move to one side of the cell, I will run toward the other side. When I get to the bars, I will push the button on the box and go to the other universe. Since we’re on the second floor here, I’ll be up in the air there. Once I materialize, I will push the button again and come back into this universe, but I will then be inside your cell. If I time it right, hopefully I can jump high enough that I won’t be embedded in the floor when I come back.”

“Can you do that?” asked the dragon. “Forgive me, but you do not appear very athletic, and there are many lives at stake.”

“I think I can do it,” replied K-Mart, “and the bottom line is we don’t have much choice. Once I’m in with you, I can climb on your back and activate the box again. Hopefully, you can fly a little bit or something to break our fall. Once we’re safely on the ground in your universe, we’ll move to where my friends are, and transport back in, taking the Jotunn by surprise.”

“I will be nearly as surprised as the Jotunn if all of that goes according to plan,” replied Bordraab. “Still…it is better than anything I can come up with at the moment, so I am all for trying it. Hopefully, you’ll at least get the box in here so I can escape, even if you kill yourself in the attempt.”

“You’re just a bundle of optimism, aren’t you?”

“Getting free
is
a positive for me,” said Bordraab. “I
am
being optimistic…from my point of view.”

“Never mind,” said K-Mart. “If you would give me a little bit of room, I’ll give it a try.”

“Now who is not being optimistic?” asked Bordraab. “There is no trying, there is only doing. You can either do it, or you can’t.”

“Yeah, right,” muttered K-Mart, steeling himself for the attempt. “I think I’ve heard that before.” He crossed to the other side of the passageway and took a breath. As he let it out, he started running. The bars of the cell came up fast, and he jumped and pushed the button. He vanished…

Wendar, Day 13 of the Second Akhet, 15th Dynasty, Year 14

…and materialized in the other universe. As he had figured, he was in the air, and he began falling. He pulled his knees up to gain a little space and pressed the button again, rolling in the air…

Jotunn Jail, 14 Herculis ‘a,’ Unknown Date/Time

…to crash down onto the floor of the cell on his back, the box cushioned safely on his stomach.

“You made it,” noted Bordraab. “Is the box okay?”

“I’m fine; thanks for asking,” grumbled K-Mart, slowly getting to his feet. “No more than a broken rib or three. And yeah, I think the box is good too.”

He turned to find one of Bordraab’s eyes inches away from his face. The dragon seemed
much
bigger up close, especially the dragon’s eye, which was bigger than K-Mart’s entire head. K-Mart realized he wouldn’t make much of a snack to the dragon; the creature was enormous!

“Hey, umm…we’re still friends, right?” asked K-Mart.

“I have no intentions of eating you, if that is what you are worried about,” replied the dragon, its breath smelling strongly of chlorine. “We are in a hurry, climb onto my back and let us get going.”

“I never thought to ask,” said K-Mart, sitting down in the space between its wings, “but you
can
fly, can’t you?”

“I could fly quite well before my time in the prison cell,” said Bordraab with a sniff; “however, I am sure my wings have atrophied somewhat since I have been caged. They should still work well enough to get us down.”

“Ready?” asked K-Mart.

“I have been looking forward to this for some time,” Bordraab replied.

“Here we go, then,” said K-Mart. “On three. One, two, three!” He pressed the button, and they transferred to the Jinn Universe. The dragon’s wings unfolded to their full 130 foot wingspan and flapped once before the pair crashed to the ground.

“
Guh!
” moaned K-Mart as Bordraab’s bony spine was driven up between his legs.

“Sorry,” said Bordraab, “it appears my wings have atrophied more than I realized. Hmm…it also appears I am not immune from some measure of hubris.”

“Yeah…kind of…noticed that,” gasped K-Mart, fighting back waves of nausea. “I—”

Pop! Pop! Pop! Bap-bap-bap-bap-BAP!
The sounds of several guns firing interrupted K-Mart, followed by the sounds of high-speed projectiles hitting Bordraab in the chest, before whining off.

“If you would please dismount,” said Bordraab, “I
am
capable of dealing with this.”

K-Mart slid from the dragon’s back, and Bordraab charged off in the direction of the shots. His bulk hindered K-Mart’s view of what was happening, but to judge by the way several screams were cut off suddenly, he appeared to be winning.

It was over in less than five seconds, and Bordraab returned to where K-Mart waited, still hunched over. “Don’t attack a dragon unless you’re very sure you can kill it,” said Bordraab.

“Important safety tip; thanks,” said K-Mart. “I’ll make sure I remember it. Umm…it looks like you have part of a…leg, I think, sticking to your upper lip.”

Bordraab’s forked tongue snaked out and removed the offending matter. He flapped his wings to circulate the blood, and hurricane force winds blew leaves and twigs in all directions. “I feel
better!
” the dragon roared. “Hurry! It is time to kill Jotunn!”

“Dude
,
” said Sergeant Jamal Gordon, his voice muffled by the confines of his dead suit. “Did anyone, like, get the license plate number of the bus that hit me?”

“Our suits are dead,” said Calvin, removing his helmet. “So are our weapons and implants. I’ve seen this before. The barrel the Efreet just detonated was some sort of explosively-pumped flux generator.” In counterpoint, all the suits beeped. “Those beeps are from the suits’ emergency backups. We’ve got two hours until the containment fails, and our suits blow up.”

“Blow up?” asked Sergeant Tomaselli.

“Yah, mon,” said Sergeant Andrews. “In two hours, the antimatter in our suits is gonna meet the matter surrounding it and then ka-boom! We all go bye-bye.”

“Back-up weapons everyone,” said Night, shrugging out of his suit. Most of the squad was doing the same. “Pile up the suits; we’ll use them for protection.”

“Urr…” said a voice from behind Calvin. He turned to find Sergeant Graham leaning face-first on the doorway. She wasn’t moving. “Graham, are you okay?” he asked. “Medic!”

“Not…okay,” said Sergeant Graham as she slowly straightened. “Operating on…battery back-up. Primary life support…and systems…fried.”

“What can we do?” asked the squad’s medic, Corporal Higuchi, as he ran up.

“Nothing you…can do,” said the cyborg. “Need specialists that…not here. Eight minutes…battery power…remaining.”

The lights in the passageway came back on, illuminating the shapes approaching the Terrans.

“Efreet!” yelled Sergeant Lancaster, throwing himself to the floor. “Down!” Several flechette throwers fired, and a wall of metal hit the squad.

Corporal Higuchi fell forward onto the cyborg and slid to the deck, at least six large flechettes in his back. Calvin felt for a pulse.

There was none.

“Jones, Lancaster, get that door re-wired,
now!
” said Night. “We’ve got to get in there, ASAP!”

“Love to, sir,” said Sergeant Lancaster, unconsciously ducking as a flechette ricocheted off the bulkhead next to him. “There’s only one problem. It’s fried too. There’s no way we’re getting in there with what we have available. We need something to power the board, and I don’t have anything.”

“Take…this,” said Sergeant Graham. A panel swung open revealing an Alliance battery pack. She pulled it out and handed it to Sergeant Lancaster.

“What’s that?”

“Emergency…life support...power,” said the cyborg. “Won’t last…long…anyway.” The cyborg turned and slowly threaded her way through the troopers firing at the Efreet.

“Hey, where are you going?” asked Lancaster, who had appreciated having her bulk shield him from the flechettes as he worked.

“Going to…give you…time,” said Sergeant Graham. Her Mrowry autocannon and her primary targeting systems were dead, but the shotgun in her right arm was still functional, as was the manual sight in her right eye. She fired several shells into the nearest Efreeti, whose head exploded under the double ought buckshot loads. She continued down the passageway, firing every few steps. Flechettes slammed into her proto-flesh and ricocheted off her exposed metal parts, but she continued down the hall.

Her life support system out, each step took more of her flagging willpower as her brain died from oxygen starvation. Operating on sheer determination, she reached the next intersection and fired a burst of shells into each of the Efreet hiding there. The last Efreeti dove into her, trying to bring her to the ground, but her bulk was more than he expected. Her combat knife extended from her left wrist and stabbed down into the top of the Efreeti’s head. The enemy dropped to the floor.

She looked up just in time to see the laser beam that killed her.