Uncertain
Futures: Part Three
By
Brad Marsh.
Evan,
Bear and Carron stood just outside the gateway inside the control room; their
blasters were holstered. The dozen fur clad Eskimo’s with the muskets did not
move, they didn’t even seem to blink. Then just as Evan was about to speak to
them, their forms shimmered and were replaced by a dozen Native American braves
in buckskins and moccasins. The muskets where replaced with Winchester repeating
riffles. With a start Evan, Bear and Carron dropped to the floor behind a panel
of blinking comps.
“
What the fuck is going on? “ Bear demanded drawing a Beretta 92FS that Laskesh
had allowed him to take from the armory back at Cerberus.
Before
Evan could answer, a loud voice boomed through the control room. “ Throw down
your weapons and you will not be harmed. “
“
How do we know your word is worth anything? “ Evan shouted back “ How do we
know you won’t just kill us once you’ve disarmed us? “
“
You don’t? “ the voice replied “ But you have only seen a fraction of the
power I can wield against you. If you refuse to comply, your passing will be
long and hard. It is your choice. If I am lying then at least your deaths will
be quick and relatively painless.“
Evan
tossed his Colt 1911 out around the desk; it skidded across the concrete floor.
Bear throw out his Beretta and Carron tossed out his SIG Sauer P226, both
blasters skidded across the floor and stopped near Evan’s Colt. They all stood
as one and came out from behind the comp panel. The Native American’s had been replaced by a dozen green
garbed army soldiers holding
M-16A-1
riffles. One of the soldiers moved to retrieve the trio’s weapons from the
floor. They motioned for the trio to move out into the main corridor, where they
broke into two groups of six. One group led the way down the corridor, with
Evan, Bear and Carron following, the remaining six soldiers fell in behind them
as they moved along the corridor. Who ever was controlling the dozen or so
soldiers knew at least some basic military knowledge. The soldiers kept their
distance, never allowing the trio to get with in striking distance, an
ever-watchful eye on them.
They
were led past more than two dozen closed and sec locked doors, during their
stroll through the redoubt. It looked abandoned, but the presence of the
soldiers told it’s own story. Not to mention the unseen owner of the voice
that had ordered them to surrender. There
was at least one person running the redoubt, and they had at least minimal
knowledge of how to maintain and use the redoubt comps. That made them a
dangerous and unknown quantity. The soldiers leading the way came to sudden stop
in front of a large steel armaglass door that stretched from floor to ceiling.
When the door began to rose half way up and stopped, the lead soldiers stepped
aside motioning Evan and his companions inside. The trio entered as the door
began to descend once more. They entered a large conference room, where Field
Marshall Thrush’s right hand man Commander David Harris was seated at a large
highly polished red wood table.
He
was holding a cup of steaming coffee, a Government model Colt .45 hand blaster
lay on the table in front of him, with in easy reach. “ Come in Captain
McCaffery. We have been expecting you, though we had not expected you quite so
soon. “
“
Sorry we’ll come back later if this is a bad time. “ Evan replied turning
back towards the sec door, which had closed behind them.
“
Please stay a while. “ Harris replied with mock formality “ We have so much
catching up to do.”
“
I was never one for idol small talk. “ Evan responded “ I like to get
straight to the point. Cut to the chase sorta speak.“
“
You have always been a direct man, Captain. “
“
Lets cut the one up head games and get to the fuckin’ point. Where’s Thrush?
“
“
The Field Marshall was not available to greet you. He had important business to
attend to elsewhere. As soon as I deal with the three of you I will be joining
him. What I want to know is how you got here? “
“
We followed Thrush through the gateway, only we were shot off somewhere other
than his destination. We attempted another jump, hoping to get home, but we got
you instead. “
“
Where did you get the hardware? I know you carry a 1911 as you side arm Captain
but the Beretta and the SIG Sauer were in factory new condition, far beyond
anything you could have obtained back in your reality. “
“In
the first reality we came to we came across people who had access to factory new
blasters. They were kind enough to impart them to us.“
“
Kane and his meddling companions. “ Harris replied.
Evan
struggled to keep his surprise from showing on his face. But he couldn’t keep
the note of surprise out of his voice. “ What? “
“
I will take your tone of voice to mean that my guess was right. Of all the
places the Field Marshall would have liked you to land, Kane’s reality was not
one of them. “
“
Thrush fears Kane. What I can’t figure out is why? He seemed like such an
average guy. Nothing special. Maybe that crazy Gatekeeper guy I saw during my
first jump was right about Kane being the Guardian of the Deathlands and all
that shit.“
“
Kane is nobody. He is a piece of temporal trash and a minor nuisance to the
Field Marshall. He will be dealt with in do time. He may be dead already,
getting cold as we speak.”
“
I have feeling that Thrush will have a harder time killing Kane than he thinks.
He could kill him when he was in my reality. What makes you think Thrush will
have better luck in some other reality. If Kane is the Guardian of the
Deathlands that means he’s that is the Guardian no matter what reality he’s
in. It’s just a different version of the same old game. “
“
That is merely speculation. You have no facts to base that assumption on. “
“
Only the words of spector who called himself the Gatekeeper. He knew a lot about
Thrush as well. He seemed to believe that Kane would best Thrush. “ Evan
replied with a smile “ Thrush may have won he battle back in our reality but I
have a feeling the War is far from over. “
“
That may be so, but the three of you won’t be around long enough to see any of
your predictions take place. You’re going to be dead, just like Kane and his
Companions. “
“
Oh I doubt that as well. “ Evan replied “ This Gatekeeper fellow told me
that the three of us have a destiny to for fill back home. Our world needs us
now that Thrush is no longer grinding us down under his boot heel. I think
you’re the one who will be dead before this visit as you call it is over. “
“
You are very confident for an unarmed man. “ Harris replied his hand sliding
over to the Colt .45 lying on the table at his elbow. A smile forming on his
face.
“
Who said I was unarmed. “ Evan replied tensing his wrist muscles. The buzz of
electrodes was accompanied by the sound of a fully loaded Sin Eater slapping
into Evan’s hands. Bear and Carron were almost as surprised by appearance of
the big boar hand blaster as Harris was. With no trigger guard on the compact
blaster, the moment the deadly blaster slapped into Evan’s waiting palm the
gun roared. Evan fired off a dozen rounds easily in the second or so Evan had
his finger on the trigger. Harris dove off his chair sending the Colt .45
automatic sliding across the polished marble floor of the chamber were it
stopped several yards out of reach. At the sight on the blaster Bear and Carron
turned towards the panel behind them that controlled the door. As it began to
rise, they both slipped under it and out into the hall. “ You should learn to
search your guests better.” Evan shouted as he fired two spaced round from the
Sin Eater into the panel that controlled the door. He then slipped out the door
behind his two companions. He slapped the button that would close the door once
more with his palm once he was safely out in the hall. Once the door slipped
back into its recessed groove in the floor he shot the outside panel as well.
The dozen green garbed soldiers were gone. Both Bear and Carron were several
hundred yards away having raced back down the corridor towards the Gateway once
the door was open and the corridor appeared deserted. They had stopped at the
first bend in the corridor, waiting for Evan seeing as he was the only one of
them armed at the moment. Evan strode to them, taking the lead as the trio
headed towards the gateway control room.
In
the back of Evan’s mind was the fact that Harris was still alive and armed,
though he had shot up the two door control panels, know of them knew if there
was another way out or not. Not to mention the unsettling fact that the Green
garbed army men where MIA at the moment. They reached the control room several
minuets later, finding the door wide open, just as he had left it.
The
room was devoid of life, no Eskimos, Native Americans, or soldiers to greet them
this time. Their weapons were sitting lined up on one of the desks near the
gateway door. Bear and Carron reclaimed their handblsters. Bear handed Evan his
Colt 1911, which he holstered on his hip once more. He pushed the Sin Eater back
into it’s wrist holster and head for the Gateway, Bear and Carron in tow, each
of them clutching a drawn blaster. They closed the door, holstering blasters,
and sat on the floor, but the now familiar hum did not come, nor the wispy white
mist that signaled the start of a jump. But nothing happened.
“
Now what? “ Carron exhaled
“
It looks like our pal Harris isn’t about to let us leave so soon. “ Evan
replied
“
What now? “ Bear asked getting to his feet and drawing his blaster once more.
“
We go out and finish this little game with Harris. They’re no other choice. We
need to find out what he did to the gateway and reverse it, otherwise were stuck
here.“ Evan replied getting to his feet as well. Watching as Carron followed
suit across from him. They turned towards the doorway as a shadow loomed on the
other side. Drawing his Colt 1911 Evan opened the door and stepped through all
in the same motion. The green garbed Army men greeted him; one of them had begun
to move towards the door. Evan fired his Colt, aiming with instinct, the Soldier
who had been moving to open the door, pitched over with a neat round hole in his
forehead. The other soldiers shimmered once and disappeared into thin air. When
Evan looked back to the body of the soldier he had shot, but it too had
disappeared as well.
“
What the hell did you do? “ Bear asked from his crouched position behind Evan.
“
I shot one of those soldier guys, he fell to the floor and then the whole bunch
just disappeared. I had a theory about them; they were just for show. An implied
threat that most people would take seriously. But they have no actual ability to
implement violent measures. “
“
Looks like your theory checked out. “ Carron replied dryly. “ Can we get out
of this crypt already and get to kicking some serious ass. “
“
We have to find Harris first.” Bear replied “ From what we’ve seen this
place is a huge sprawling Redoubt. This makes Cerberus look like a log cabin out
in the woods. How are we suppose to find Harris in a place this size?”
“
We don’t, we make the son of a bitch come to us. “ McCaffery replied “ But
we can’t kill the bastard before he tells us how to get back home again. “
“
When he comes looking for us he’s going to be coming to chill us, he’s
already told us that Thrush ordered us dealt with, which means chill our
ass’s. How do we get him to tell us how to get home before he forces to either
chill him or he chills us? “
Evan
smiled at that “ I’m making this shit up as I go. They didn’t exactly
train officers for this kind of thing before we were commissioned. The way I see
it I’m not a captain anymore and Carron isn’t a Sergeant anymore we’re all
equal until we get home.”
“
How does that solve our present situation? All it does is blur the lines and
make things even more confusing. All without solving anything. That’s great,
just great. “ Carron muttered
“
Drop it. “ Bear hissed “ This isn’t the time or the place. “
Carron
nodded briskly, “ Your right. What now? “
Without
a word Evan strode out of the control room, turning right and heading off down
the corridor. He stopped three doors down at a down labeled CSCN Office. His
newly acquired Sin Eater slid into his hands with a meaty smack. He fired to
rounds in the doors access panel, causing the door to slid sideways into it’s
nitch. The room was full of monitors and comp equipment on all four walls. The
door he had just open was the only way in or out of the room. Evan stepped
through, with Bear, and Carron on his heels. He sat down at the main comp
terminal and began nimbly tapping in commands on the keyboard. Suddenly the wall
monitors flickered into life, showing various inside views through out the
redoubt. A few more keystrokes and the several of the views changed, to external
views. What they saw made them all gasp. All four outside views showed the star
speckled vastness of deep space; they were on an orbiting space station.
“
I don’t see any familiar constellations.” Bear announced
“
Nor me. “ Evan agreed “ I’m not sure where in the Milkyway anymore. We
definitely on a space station of some sort, more than likely were in the inner
cog of the station. No windows of here.”
“
This could be a trick of some sort, like those hologram soldiers Harris used
earlier. “ Carron said, “ How do we know what we’re seeing is real? “
“
I was thinking the same thing. “ Evan replied “ We’re going to have to
make our way to the outside edge of the complex or whatever this place is, then
try and find a window to verify where we are. “
“
Thrush isn’t even here and he’s managed to screw us again. “ Carron
muttered as the trio turned and headed back out into the corridor once more. As
their feet touched the concrete floor of the corridor a blinding light met them.
They stopped dead in their tracks, gapping at the sight that stood before them.
The Redoubt was gone, replaced by a rolling rain forest, that reminded Evan of
his trip to the Amazon in Central America a few years before he joined the
resistance. That prompted Evan to turn and look behind him. When he did he got a
second shock, because the room they had walked out of no more than thirty
seconds before was gone, replaced by more rolling forest.
“
This is really fucked up. “ Bear whispered as he took in the rolling forest.
“ It just gone from weird to bizarre and straight to fucked up. “
“
Where still in the redoubt. “ Evan said suddenly. “ We have to be. This is a
parlor trick just like the view screens that showed constellations we had never
seen before and the holograms in the control room. This is just another of
Harris’ tricks. Standard psychological warfare. “
“
You mean mind games? “ Carron asked
“
Exactly. If we find away out of this maze we’ve inadvertently stumbled into
we’ll find Harris and our way home. The answers somewhere in this Rainforest.
“
“ But where is this all coming from? “ Carron asked, “ There’s some kind of pattern here only we’re not seeing it. “
“
I think I know. “ Bear replied “ Or rather I have a theory. “
“
Go ahead. “
“
When we were in Cerberus Brigid showed me a computer file that was a journal
written by a woman named Mildred Wyeth. She was part of a roaming group of
friends who were the first ones to use the gateways after the war in that
casement. Her and those that traveled with her became heroes to many. Two of the
entries in her journal were about an Amazon rain forest and a space station they
had visited. There have been to many weird things going on for that to be just a
coincidence.“
“
Your right. But what does it mean?
“
“
I’m thinking Harris is using that journal as a way of playing this game he’s
got us playing. Once we find out how we fit into his plan then we’ve found our
ticket home.
“
What did the journal say about Amazon rain forest? “
“
Not much, just that she and her companions ended up jumping to a small concrete
hut with just a gateway and the control room. They encountered the natives who
though they were all flesh and blood, reincarnated gods. One of there party was
an albino and he fit into one of the legends, he was like some returning king.
Only the natives tried to sacrifice their long lost king to their serpent gods
and they paid a heavy blood price for their trouble. “
“
Then the Gateway must not be far from here. “ Evan replied as he began walking
towards the tree line. Bear and Carron followed, the forest quickly swallowing
them up.
To Be Continued
October 2000