Guns And Dogs (20 page)

“Probably posing as a human.”

“Species-change?”

Argos nodded. They pulled up to a diner. In front was a phone booth. “That Lycarian transmission reading is emanating from inside the diner.” Johnny eyed the phone booth. “Geez, I haven’t seen one of those in ages.”

Argos tried suppressing a grin. “Kid, I grew up with those things.”

“I know Argos, you’re practically a fossil.”

Both Jessie and Studs barked. Argos turned towards them, and shot them a disparaging glance. “No respect from the younger generation,” he said playfully.

Before Johnny could step out of Gina, Argos slipped a restraining arm across Johnny’s chest. “Wait, don’t get out just yet.”

“Why?”

Argos looked over the diner, then the phone booth. “Call it a hunch.” He put Gina in reverse and backed away from the diner’s parking lot until they were clear across the street in another parking lot.

“Can I get out
now
?” Johnny asked.

“Yes, but keep an open communication link with me. I’m going to have Gina scan that diner and phone booth.”

“Don’t you think you’re overreacting?”

“Johnny, in this business you learn to take extra precautions, or you end up dead.”

Tir was looking outside the diner window when Gina pulled up outside. The vehicle’s propulsion system confirmed it as an Antimatter Driven vehicle. She sipped the strange drink the humans called
coffee
and watched intently while her enemies eyed the phone booth from inside their vehicle. She wondered why they hesitated to approach the booth. Didn’t they detect her life sign readings? The hand-mine she left inside the booth would detonate it once they were in range.

“Move closer to the phone booth, you stupid humans,” Tir whispered.

The vehicle reversed its position from the phone booth. Tir had to refrain from slamming her fist down on her table; she didn’t want to look suspicious in public.

So she watched. And waited.

“I don’t like this,” Argos said. He checked his own scanner and scratched his cheek. “There’s now a Lycarian life sign reading coming from inside the phone booth. And the transmission we tracked here has stopped.” He looked at the phone booth. “I don’t see anything inside that booth; this is damn peculiar.”

“Yeah,” Johnny said before stepping outside. Jessie and Studs squeezed out of the back seat and wagged their tails ominously.
Do they know something?
Johnny thought. He knew how sensitive dog perception was.

“I’m tired of standing around like a lamp post,” Johnny said. “I’m going in.”

“Not without backup you’re not,” Argos said. Both Jessie and Studs barked repeatedly as they caught up with him. A trickle of apprehension gripped his spine so he paused and waited for Argos, who looked like he’d aged a decade. His forehead resembling cracked pavement.

When he reached for his gravity pistol inside his shoulder holster Argos restrained his wrist. “Johnny you’re acting like a real greenhorn today. No weapon. Can’t let folks of this era get a glimpse of future technology.”

“But we’ve got our scanners out,” he said in an agitated voice.

“Yeah, but we can always say they’re transistor radios. Folks used those around this time.”

Jessie and Studs crossed the street and circled the phone booth. Argos looked agitated that the dogs had gotten ahead of them. They were barking so loudly Johnny could hear them clear across the street. “What’s up with them?” he asked.

“In all my years of working with those two, whenever something bad is about to go down, they get jumpy.” Argos shot Johnny a firm glance. “Proceed with caution.”

Tir saw the canines circling the booth and sniffing it as if it was a sweet treat.
Get away from there you cursed four-legged beasts.
The canines were barking so loudly she could hear them from inside the diner. Even two patrons sitting on the counter swiveled around on their stools to look outside the window. “This is going to ruin everything,” Tir said. She threw a few coins on the table and ran through the front door of the diner. It was risky, but the canines had forced her hand. Outside, she saw two humans approaching on foot from across the street. One brawny dark-skinned man and a shorter white-skinned youth. They eyed her suspiciously. The two canines caught her scent and turned towards her, eyeing her human disguise. Ducking behind a parked car, she moved stealthily towards her own vehicle and slipped inside. Tir started her car and slowly pulled out of the diner’s parking lot.

“This doesn’t look good Johnny,” Argos said. “Jessie and Studs aren’t letting up with their barking.” Johnny watched as the dogs turned their heads towards them and continued yelping.

“They must’ve picked up a scent,” Argos said.

“Lycarian? But didn’t you imply the saboteur most-likely had a species-change?”

Argos waved the dogs back towards him and they came running. “A species-change can change your appearance but Lycarians have very strong pheromones, what our scanners cannot pick up directly dogs can detect because they’ve been specially trained. Why do you think those two are part of our team?”

Johnny exhaled, then his eyes noticed his scanner had detected an energy build-up coming from inside the booth. “Argos!” he said, grabbing his friend’s arm. “Run!”

As they turned away the phone booth exploded.

Tir had driven half a mile when she heard the explosion. A part of her wanted to circle back and make sure the two human agents tracking her were dead. But she was running out of time, and if she was spotted it would look conspicuous. Even if they had survived, she’d gained an advantage over them with her head start. Tir turned her attention back to her mission, and headed towards the Apollo 11 launch site.

The force from the explosion hurled Johnny, Argos and the two dogs across the street. They were lucky there weren’t any vehicles passing by when Tir’s detonator went off. A red fire ball rose up from where the booth once stood, sending shredded metal pieces flying everywhere. The explosion had also caused the diner’s windows to shatter and Johnny heard screams coming from inside the establishment while bits and pieces from the destroyed booth rained down from above. Johnny saw both Jessie and Studs lying a few feet from where he had landed and it wasn’t until he ran his hand through his hair that he realized his forehead was bleeding. “Shit,” Argos said. Johnny turned and saw his friend trying to stand up. His field jacket was rumpled and he was rubbing his leg. As soon as Argos saw the dogs sprawled out on the road he cursed loudly.

Johnny slowly rose from the hard pavement. In the background, he could hear frightened people rushing out of the diner to their cars. His leg felt like it’d been twisted around like a bottle cap, but he was able to put his weight on it, so he was grateful for that.

He approached Argos who was cradling Jessie in his arms, Studs had already recovered and was licking her face. “How is she?” Johnny asked. Almost afraid to receive an answer.

“Her hind leg is broken,” Argos replied. “But other than that she’s fine.” He looked back at the diner and scowled. “We need to get her back to Gina. I have painkillers and a bone-mender in the medical field kit.”

Johnny pointed to the diner patrons, some of which were being helped out by the dining staff “What about them?”

“I hate to leave injured civilians behind, but we cannot interfere with the past.” He carried Jessie back towards Gina while Johnny and Studs followed. In the background Johnny heard sirens. “They’ll get treatment,” Argos added. “Now we gotta help this brave girl here and be on our way. When I get my hands on that Lycarian, I’m gonna rip its limbs off.”

July 15
^th,
1969

Tir abandoned her Chevrolet Impala less than three miles from the Apollo 11 launch site assigned to Launch Pad 39A, part of Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center. She’d lost precious time wasting it on the humans and their canine trackers, so she would have to limit her NASA targets to two instead of three. That would still be enough to accomplish her mission, so long as there were no more delays. She checked her scanner and surveyed her target. NASA security wouldn’t know she was in and out until it was too late, and by then she would have returned to her recovery site and whisked back to her own time.

She left the service road leading to the launch site and saw the large barbed chain link security fence in the distance. Beyond that, her sharp Lycarian eyes espied the Saturn V rocket on its launch pad, its pointed shape resembling a giant space needle.

Looking around she didn’t see any sign of security guards or perimeter vehicles so she broke radio silence. An agitated image of Grendis appeared, the hazy projection of the holographic emitter made his eyes look like red coals, probably due to interspatial interference as she spoke to him across centuries. “Tir?” Grendis said. “What is it?”

“Forgive me My Lord, but I have run into a minor difficulty, two human time-traveling agents have located my presence.”

Grendis scratched his muzzle and shook his head. “Did they see you?”

“No. But I have evaded them and reached the target area.”

“This is disturbing news, Destroyer Tir, to think the humans now have the means to manipulate time.” Grendis paused for a moment and contemplated the situation while Tir waited for him to resume speaking. “Thank you for the update. Be aware, I will deal with this human threat so they will no longer trouble us. Grendis out.”

Tir turned her attention towards the security fence again, then, using her Lycarian strength, she ran towards it and leapt above it, spinning like an acrobat before landing on the other side. Now inside the launch area, she made her way quickly towards Kennedy Space Center.

After leaving the diner Argos activated Gina’s cloak and they took off from the ground. At their current speed they’d be right outside the launch area within 15 minutes.

Argos focused his attention on flying Gina as they passed through the dense clouds. Gina’s detection devices would alert them of any oncoming aircraft should they get too close. “Hang on everyone. We’re almost there.” His voice appeared strained, and Johnny knew it was from their narrow escape at the diner. The idea of losing one of his dogs to the Lycarian’s trap had transformed Argos into a man filled with rancor.

Johnny almost felt sorry for the Lycarian saboteur. Almost.

After ambushing a NASA launch technician, Tir made her way inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB. She tucked her hair under her white hard hat and checked to make sure her name badge was secure. The technician’s body would remain hidden for now, and by the time it was discovered she would have already accomplished her goal. There was a strong chance that his presence would be missed, but she couldn’t worry about that now, she was in the endgame, and had to complete her mission successfully.

After emerging from a utility closet, Tir checked to see if anyone was around before proceeding down a corridor and into the main assembly area. Once there, two technicians passed by her. She nodded at them and they reciprocated her gesture. After they’d disappeared around a corner she pulled out her scanner and ran a quick sweep of her surroundings trying to find the best places to set charges. The high bay structures towered over her like metallic skeletons. Looking over her data she had two targets in mind: one was the transfer aisle which transported launch vehicle components to the high bays, the other was the Launch Control Center outside which sat adjacent to the VAB. She only had time to lay charges in one so she eyed her schematic scans carefully and decided to target the transfer aisle—its destruction would essentially cripple the entire assembly complex, and render the Launch Control center useless.

She removed four charges from her pocket and programmed a quad of them to detonate 3 minutes after the primary charges on the Saturn V went off. After arming them, she flung the charges towards the high bay structures and they took off like fireflies. Two charges would attach themselves to both sides of the high bay structures.

She felt a wave of relief wash over her; half her charge deployment was complete.

Now came the tricky part: sabotaging the mobile launcher platform that carried the Saturn V rocket and the Apollo 11 vehicles. She found a jeep and drove towards the launch pad.

“I’ve located the Lycarian,” Johnny said. Gina was cloaked, hovering above the VAB. “And I’ve detected a massive energy build-up.”

Argos eyed the main computer monitor and shook his head. “She’s laid down her charges inside the VAB, heaven knows when they’ll go off.” Behind them both Jessie and Studs began barking loudly in the back seat. “What is it?” Argos asked his dogs.

He saw them staring at the detailed infrared monitor, which was picking up an image of a young woman dressed like a NASA technician. She hopped inside a jeep and sped towards the Saturn V rocket. “What the hell is a lone technician doing driving off towards the rocket at this hour?” Argos asked sarcastically.

“That’s gotta be our saboteur,” Johnny said, “she’s gonna try and pop the rocket.”

“She’s dividing us,” Argos said. “Now we’ll have to split up and deal with each target separately.” Argos put Gina on Autopilot. “Drop me off below,” he told the computer. “I’m going to try and disarm the charges below, you and the Dobermans have got to get her before she takes out that rocket.” Argos then scanned Jessie’s leg to see if it had fully healed. When he was satisfied that it had he smiled. “Those dogs are about to earn their paychecks.”

Johnny looked at Argos wondering what he meant. Argos, noticing Johnny’s confusion, said, “make sure you get their tactical packs from the trunk and strap them onto Jessie and Studs’ backs before approaching the rocket. They’ll know what to do!” Then he disembarked Gina to begin his mission.

Tir climbed the skeletal frame of the mobile launcher. Her muscles flexing underneath the shadow of the Saturn V rocket. With her Lycarian metabolism and strength she had easily reached the second stage of the rocket.