Sullivan Saga 3: Sullivan's Watch (8 page)

Sullivan leapt back as Ives fell toward him, flailing wildly to get the creature off. Sullivan kicked it in the head, causing it to rise up and face him, then fired, hitting it square in the chest.

Ives writhed on the ground, cursing. Blood was seeping from his shoulder. “It opened the same damned wound!”

“Relax, Jeff. I’m going to give you something for the pain then get you patched up, okay? But first I need to get you back into the ship. It’s not safe out here.”

Ives nodded, and Sullivan put his hands under the injured man’s armpits. He dragged him back aboard the freighter and slammed the hatch shut.

Bill was standing in doorway of the cockpit. “My god… is there anything I can do?”

“Yes. Just stay in there and watch the monitors. Let me know if you see any more of those things.” Sullivan unstrapped the medical kit from the wall. “It’s okay, Jeff. You’ll be patched up again in a minute.”

KATE ALEXANDER SAT in the empty room. They had planned to have her father’s study transferred from Silvanus to their new home on Faris, but Frank Allen had visited and Sullivan had left before that could be done.

Kate looked into the corner of the room where Allen had appeared. They had been standing by the window shortly before that, planning their new lives. She had thought all of this was finally over, that he would finally be able to keep his promise to her. But as before, something bigger than either of them had taken him away.

Kate still didn’t know what that thing was. It had something to do with the aliens who had been involved in attacking the parallel Earth Frank and Rick had visited, but beyond that, she only knew that Frank had told Rick he needed to get to Earth. She only knew that he was gone again, possibly in danger, and because of the distance between Earth and Faris, she would not know for months if anything happened to him.

Kate got up and walked to the window. She looked out on the wooded area behind the house. A large oak tree—this wood was a recreation of an Earth forest—stood at the edge of the property. It was big enough for a tree house, a swing. She could see it so adorned in her mind’s eye and imagined the shouting and laughter of children coming to her through the open window.

Kate felt a slight chill. She moved to close the window but paused. The air outside was warm. The chill was coming from within.

She spun around and saw a mist gathering. She backed against the wall and waited. As the mist took the form a figure, she could see that it was in the shape of a man. Finally the face of Frank Allen formed and solidified.

Kate smiled. “Frank!”

Allen smiled back. “It’s good to see you, Kate. But I can’t be here long. There’s something I have to tell you.”

“What?”

“Do you have much food in the house?”

“Some. Why?”

“Go to the store; buy as much as you can. The aliens Rick told you about… they’re moving more quickly than I anticipated. Liz is probably pushing things along because of me.”

“Because of you? I don’t understand.”

“Because I’ve found a way to stop them. Liz and the other entities want to see all planets inhabited by humans destroyed, or at least fragmented beyond recovery, before I have a chance to do anything.”

“What’s happening, Frank?”

“Earth is under attack. The animalistic creatures Rick told you about are wreaking havoc on the ground while the aliens are doing their best to destroy Earth’s defenses. They lost the first battle, but more are coming. And they’re opening up wormholes on the other planets, too, sending the creatures through to spread panic and keep the other planets’ defense forces away from Earth.”

“They’re coming here, aren’t they?”

“Yes. They can only sustain so many wormholes at a time, but they’ll get here eventually. I want you to buy food and water, Kate. And get some lumber to seal up the windows and doors. Do you have a weapon in the house?”

“Yes. Several, actually. Rick saw to that.”

“Any energy weapons?”

“No. Solid projectile.”

Frank frowned. “The suits the clawed aliens wear are a kind of armor. If it comes to it, you’ll have to fire at the exposed parts of their bodies—their arms and legs and mouths—but only a shot through the mouth will kill them.”

Kate nodded.

“If you see any other kind of alien… the weapons you have won’t hurt them. Hide or run.”

“Thank you, Frank. I will.” Allen looked momentarily distracted by something, and Kate held out her hand to him. “Before you go, tell me about Rick.”

“Rick is okay. He’s on Earth.”

“Why did you need him?”

“Because I knew I could count on him to do what needs to be done. But I’ve just discovered something interesting. My connection to him—our friendship—is stronger than the entities anticipated. Of all the people in the universe, he has the best chance to succeed because I’ll be there to watch over him. And I will, Kate. I will do everything in my power to keep him safe.”

“And what about you, Frank? Are you safe?”

“Don’t worry about me. The entities can hurt me, they can try to stop me, but they can’t get rid of me altogether. I’ll be okay.”

Kate nodded. “Let me know what’s happening whenever you can.”

“I will. I love you, kiddo.”

Kate smiled through her tears. “I love you, too, Frank. And when you see Rick….”

“I’ll tell him. He knows, but I’ll tell him.”

Kate nodded and watched as Allen’s features grew indistinct and faded away into mist.

ALLEN FELT HER energy almost immediately upon his return.

“That was very clever of you,” Liz said.

“You can’t blame me for wanting to protect my friends.”

“No, I can’t. But I see you’ve discovered the secret… that Richard Sullivan enjoys an extra level of protection because of you.”

“Yes. I had suspected it, but I was finally able to unravel the details in spite of your attempts to cloud my perception. I’m growing stronger, Liz. I’m able to break your shackles more and more easily.”

Liz raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I suppose you are. But it won’t matter. Within a week, this will all be over. Earth will be destroyed, and the rest of the inhabited planets will not be far behind. Do what you can to keep Richard Sullivan and Kate Alexander safe for a few more days. It’s only postponing the inevitable. But know that you’ve forfeited any chance of ever seeing Liz—the real Liz—again.”

Allen smiled. “Liz is dead. Rick and Kate are alive. She would want me to do this.”

“It’s hopeless, Frank.”

“No. Like I said, I’m beginning to see more. A lot more. I only had glimpses before. Now I know for a fact that there is a way to stop you. You’ve known about it all along, of course. You could have removed the danger long ago, before you led the aliens to Earth, but now it’s too late. Your desire to use the aliens against us made you make the wrong decision. Now you can’t do anything but watch and wait. You set the pieces, Liz, but then you sat back and let someone else move them.”

“You’re still blind, Frank. There’s still so much you don’t understand.”

“I don’t think so. I realize now that much of my blindness was self-imposed. I didn’t know how to use this new form. I didn’t know what it was capable of. And that suited you just fine. I don’t suppose you’ve ever known anything else, but I was—I am—human. And if there’s one thing humans do exceedingly well, it’s adapt.”

Liz extended her energy toward Allen, but it was pushed back almost as quickly. Surprised, she thrust toward him more forcefully. This time he gave slightly.

“Yes,” she said, “you are stronger. But still not as strong as us. You may be able to adapt well, but not quickly enough. You’ve played a good game, but your time is up. Anything you try to do, we can and will stop you. We may not be able to destroy your energy, but we can spread it so thinly across hyperspace it’ll take you millennia to reform. Checkmate, Frank.”

Allen smiled. “Not quite. I still have one move left. It may not win the game, but then again, it might.”

GENERAL WILLIAM ADAMS scanned the reports ticking by on his monitor. The wormholes were appearing in more and more cities and had even been seen in some smaller towns. Even more disturbing, a new type of enemy was now coming through. The animalistic creatures were bad enough, but they weren’t armed. Ground troops were now encountering actual alien soldiers. They were fully covered by armored suits. Fortunately, they couldn’t withstand hits from energy weapons, assuming the range wasn’t too great. Unfortunately, shots from solid projectile rifles and handguns seemed to be completely useless.

Adams had seen footage from one of the encounters. The aliens had four limbs and walked upright. In fact, because they were completely obscured by their suits, there could easily have been humans inside but for one notable fact: they stood, on average, around seven feet tall.

The weapons they carried seemed to be remarkably similar to the energy weapons humans had developed in terms of function, but their range and power was significantly greater. They had somehow been able to overcome the limitations that made solid projectile weapons still the better option for human foot troops. The increased range of the alien weapons meant that the soldiers who were armed with energy weapons had difficulty getting close enough for them to be effective.

Now, however, the Army was running into a supply problem. All the energy weapons had been issued and, as the fighting escalated, the battery packs were being depleted more quickly than they could be recharged. Tanks and other vehicles with high-caliber weapons were being used where possible, but because the alien soldiers were infiltrating populated areas, expanding the use of these weapons would lead to civilian casualties.

General Adams heard a commotion outside his office. A second later, a frantic knocking came at the door.

“Come in!”

His secretary threw open the door. “Sir, we have a problem.”

As soon as she spoke, the reports began appearing on his monitor. Enemy soldiers had infiltrated the base. The Army had, of course, taken extensive steps to guard the perimeter, but it appeared the aliens had opened wormholes inside the base itself.

General Adams began contacting his subordinates, trying to get a better idea of what was going on. He could see, from various cameras, that there was heavy fighting in three separate locations.

One camera angle showed him the active wormhole. In under a minute, two dozen alien soldiers came through. As soon as they were clear, the wormhole disappeared. Adams tried contacting Colonel Jansen, who was in that area, but was unable to raise him.

On another camera, he spotted the wormhole again. It was up against the side of the command center. The aliens made quick work of the guards outside and moved in.

Adams shot up and grabbed the energy rifle he’d stowed in the closet. He clipped on a belt with extra energy packs and a couple of grenades then stepped into the outer office and began calming the men and women there. They worked desk jobs and had received little field training. “All of you, get inside my office,” he ordered.

Adams left the outer office and made his way into the hallway. The MPs guarding the top floor of the command center glanced nervously back at him. Adams noted that they were armed with standard rifles. “The two of you, get in there and keep those people calm and quiet.”

“Sir?”

“I’m the only one with a weapon that can hurt these things. I’ll try to lead them away.”

“Sir, I can’t allow that,” said one of the MPs.

Adams glared at the man. “That’s an order.”

“Yes, sir.”

The two men went into the office, and Adams closed the door behind them. He knew the automatic locks wouldn’t stand up to fire from an energy weapon, but he hoped he’d be able to keep the aliens from trying to gain access.

General Adams walked over to the stairwell and opened the door with his access card. He put his head inside and heard the sound of someone—or something—coming up the stairs. The aliens couldn’t gain access to the elevators without a keycard and an eye scan, so it made sense that they’d blow the locks to the stairwell door and come up that way.

Somewhere down below, men started yelling. The voices were quickly followed by the sound of rifles firing and the discharge of energy weapons.

Adams felt for one of the grenades on his belt. The sounds of fighting died away, and the footsteps resumed. Based on the sound, the enemy soldiers were on the floor directly below him. Adams pulled the pin on the grenade and tossed it down before slamming the stairwell door shut.

The explosion shook the floor and, after waiting for the cloud of smoke to be sucked out by the air vents, Adams reopened the door and quietly made his way down the stairs. Half a flight down, the sprinkler system came on, muffling the sound of his descent.

There were three aliens on the landing between the floors. Two of them were dead, and the third appeared to be badly injured. Adams watched as a pool of brownish-black fluid pooled beneath the alien’s body and was carried away by the water from the sprinklers.

The sound of more footsteps, these moving much faster, came to him from below. Adams sprinted down the rest of the way to the floor below. He reached for his keycard but stopped as he saw that the door had already been blown open by an energy discharge. He didn’t know if there were alien soldiers on the floor, but there were definitely more coming up the stairs.

Adams pushed the door open and scanned the hallway. He counted four bodies on the floor. Movement at one end of the hallway caught his attention. An alien soldier had emerged from one of the doorways and paused momentarily as it caught sight of him. Adams, his energy rifle already at the ready, squeezed off a shot and caught the alien squarely in the chest. It fell backward and convulsed twice before it was finally still.

A flash of movement through the window in the stairwell door made him turn. Another alien was climbing the stairs. Adams unclipped his other grenade, pulled the pin, cracked open the door and lobbed the grenade through.

He retreated halfway down the hall and ducked into a recessed doorframe as the grenade exploded. He peeked out and saw that the stairwell door had been blown open, mangled so badly that it couldn’t be closed again.