Thirty-four
Their flight through rocky, narrow corridors led to a
dead-end. A metal hatch in the stone wall opened onto the cramped
interior of a vehicle in a two yard-wide tunnel.
More explosions sounded from overhead. The ground
quivered beneath Wallace's feet. Dust settled from the ceiling.
"Please get in," Sasha urged.
Melanie went in first and took a front seat. Wallace
joined her. The three Saur scurried in back and Sasha slipped behind the
controls at Wallace's side. A glass barrier slid up to block off the
corridor. Their vehicle accelerated violently.
The quick and furious ride ended in a forty-foot high
cavern lined with a pedestrian walk and elevators built into the wall.
Wallace was more willing to enter one of the elevators for the trip
topside, although the doors opened onto the interior of a large steel
chamber with seams lined with heavy rivets rather than the outdoors he had
been hoping for. "We will wait here until our surface forces are ready
for us," Sasha said.
Melanie walked to the far end of the chamber, turned,
and sat down. "What is this place?"
"A bomb shelter of sorts," Sasha said. "The forces
that power the portals are dangerous. Sometimes control is lost and there
is an explosion."
Melanie was calmly disbelieving. "All this has come
about in the two thousand years since Willington?"
"All except the portal technology," Sasha said,
"which was given to our technicians by our Lord Maligoth to save the Carn
and the Saur from the error of their ways."
Melanie raised an eyebrow at Wallace to show her
surprise. "Then you know about Maligoth."
"The Carn know of Maligoth," Sasha said icily.
"Sasha, how did you manage to gain the trust of the
Saur so quickly? You were gone only a handful of hours."
"The Saur were preparing to contact humanity when I
arrived," was Sasha's reply. "My arrival altered their plan only to the
extent that I will accompany them to your world as their spokesperson."
A holographic image of a Saur appeared in the center
of the chamber, spoke briefly, and then vanished.
"They're ready for us," Sasha announced. "We have
ten minutes or so before the Carn will notice the unauthorized portal. If
we are not gone by that time, we will be captured and publicly devoured."
The same elevator that had brought them to the
shelter delivered them topside. They stepped out into another enclosed
arena near panels of metal similar to the one that had hosted their portal
from the burning basement of the farmhouse.
A broad window with a view to the outside along the
base of the dome caught Wallace's attention. He stopped to look out over
desolate terrain covered in ice and low hanging clouds. "Is it winter
here already?"
Sasha paused to consider his question. "It is winter
brought on by burning cities and burning forests and the smoke that has
risen high into the atmosphere. The sun is hidden and the cold has
intensified until most life outside has died. That is why the Carn need
the clean meat of your bodies in your unpoisoned world to feed their
young. The animal herds of our world are dead or too sick to use as
nourishment."
A portal opened nearby showing an image of a sunrise
over Dale City. Wallace recognized a church steeple towering in the
purple sky. Sasha held her hand out to him. "Qualin wants to see. Shall
we show her our world?"
Wallace took her hand. The Saur bravely led the way
through, and Melanie silently brought up the rear.
The Saur placed devices Wallace suspected were
locating transmitters just outside the portal. An instant later, the
stadium was lost to view as the portal collapsed.
The Saur stopped to watch the rising sun. They stood
out as something alien against the familiar environment. Wallace could
imagine how strange he and Melanie had looked to the Saur in their own
world, pale creatures, soft to the touch, and standing almost as tall as
the dreaded Carn.
Melanie wandered about in an effort to orient
herself. She caught sight of a road nearby and pointed the way. "We're
probably going to have to walk to town. If we're downwind of the fallout
from that explosion, we're dead."
A distant part of the horizon smoldered. The smudge
against the dawn sky seemed not to be a threat, although Wallace knew of the
danger of radioactive fallout. The unburned carpet of dead leaves at his
feet told him that the heat flash hadn't reached this far. Maybe they
were safe for now.
Melanie tried to maintain a brisk pace along the
county road, but the three Saur were easily distracted. They pointed in
astonishment at every living thing in view, birds with only two wings, a
rabbit, and even insects. They squatted in a circle and discussed the
remains of a squirrel flattened by passing traffic.
Headlights crested a hill ahead against a sky still
dark with retreating night. The Saur scrambled to their feet and huddled
near Sasha. Melanie stood her ground and held her hand out to stop the
approaching vehicle. Wallace had forgotten about her sidearm. The gun
was so compact, it fit in the palm of her hand without showing itself.
The white van stopped fifty feet away. A halogen
spotlight swept over them from inside the vehicle. And then came the beat
of approaching helicopters. The Saurs put their hands over their heads
and wailed in terror as the wind and the noise mounted.
The helicopters dipped low to the ground a few
hundred yards to either side. Armed troops rained from open cargo doors
and spread out like a dark carpet across the countryside. A loudspeaker
sounded from the van.
"Identification, please!"
Melanie rattled off a number. "Cass, Melanie J.!"
Moments later, the helicopters moved away. Relative
calm returned. The hordes of ground soldiers had blended into the
underbrush and stayed put.
The Saur looked to Sasha for guidance. Sasha
gestured toward the vehicles and aircraft as she spoke the Saur tongue,
explaining what was happening as best she could. When she glanced at
Wallace at one point, it was not Sasha who met his eyes. It was a strange
and exotic woman named Qualin who shared Sasha's altered body. But Qualin
was not a creature who unnerved or repelled him. The Saur were
mild-mannered, but highly intelligent, and courageous.
"Step forward," the amplified voice called from the
van. "We'll give you a lift back to camp."
"That sounded friendly enough," Wallace said
hopefully.
Melanie gave a sigh of relief. "Yeah. As long as
the ASG is still in control. The military would have settled for a
posthumous autopsy of the lot of us."
The interior of the van was white enamel, empty and
well lit. Melanie went in first. The Saur balked until Sasha joined her,
then they, too, hustled aboard and sat closely at Sasha's side.
The driver of the van and a passenger were two men in
white radiation suits carrying carbines wrapped in plastic. They closed
and locked the doors. Moments later, the van turned around and
accelerated smoothly away.
"I don't believe it," a familiar voice over an
intercom.
"I'm going to get a promotion for this," Melanie
replied with a smile, "aren't I, General Rathburn?"
"Have we been attacked by a nuclear power, my
dear?"
"The explosion was leakage through a portal," Melanie
said to the disembodied voice. "The war is being conducted elsewhere."
"Are the three small individuals who I think they
are?"
"Two of three variants of the invading species,"
Melanie said. "When do we begin our debriefing? It's going to take time,
but I'm really bushed."
"I'll settle for a cursory description of events
until you've caught some sleep."
Melanie leaned back against the cushion of her seat.
She sighed. "Yes, General. Thank you, sir."
Wallace's head, too, was spinning with fatigue as he
counted the hours since he had last rested. He wanted to close his eyes,
but Qualin was studying him, assessing him, undoubtedly conscious of
Sasha's lurid memories of their relationship. "I love you, Wallace," she
said unexpectedly, and then in another tongue altogether, "Qui silenbi
norsiq."
Wallace stared at her, chilled to the bone at having
been addressed by the alien part of her.
"It means that I trust you with my life," Sasha said.
Melanie opened her eyes and glanced between the two
briefly, then turned her head and feigned sleep. Wallace thought it a
good strategy. Sasha turned her disquieting attention to Melanie and
stared at her with her disconcertingly dark eyes.
Wallace was hoping for a few minutes rest. He was
jostled awake a short time later when the van stopped and the door were
thrown open.
