Valkeryn 2: The Dark Lands (23 page)

Morgan shook his head. ‘Nah, sounded like… thunder, or a roar or something.’

Anderson just shrugged and went back to watching two of his colleagues playing poker at a nearby table. Morgan continued to listen, straining to hear anything out of the ordinary over the continual howl of the wind.

They had tried planting motion sensors on the other side of the gateway in the New Zone, but the distortion from the gravity made any readings meaningless. Motion sensors were also abandoned in the tunnel, as the air density changes from the sucking effects of the vortex also made them worthless. They relied on camera feeds, but they made everything look oily and shimmering. And as a fall-back, they used line-of-sight – entering the collider tunnel – but that, only if necessary.

Morgan’s neck continued to prickle. ‘I should take a look.’ 

‘Knock yourself out.’ Anderson motioned over his shoulder, but then seemed to think about it. He turned and grinned. ‘Might be Samson coming back. Don’t get in that dudes way, he’ll knock your teeth down your throat, and that’s when he’s being friendly.’

Morgan grinned back. ‘Guys a big pussy… but don’t tell him I said that.’ He pulled a flat card from his pocket and slid it down along the reader slot, immediately turning the indicator light green. The door buzzed, popped open and Morgan stepped up and into the connecting tunnel to the acceleration chamber.

He dropped down into the main shaft, and grabbed hold of the metal railing specially constructed so anyone entering could keep their balance in the gale force winds now permanently rushing around in the huge ring shaped tunnel.

Standing inside he could feel the energy being displaced within the tunnel as one of the world’s most powerful proton-antiproton colliders continued to send particles around its diameter. The massive device was supposed to achieve an optimum atom smashing speed of pretty much the speed of light.

Morgan looked into the mow manhole-sized oily thing hanging in the air. It was a dark nothingness with soft looking edges – a giant wound in the universe that refused to heal. He stared into it, transfixed and uneasy at the same time. As he continued to look, he saw there were stars inside, as well as colors and swirling images – a drug addict’s psychedelic nightmare.

‘Anything?’ Anderson’s tiny voice in his ear made him jump.

‘Nothing but a lot of fast moving ghosts; I’m coming back.’ Morgan turned to the side tunnel just as an enormous thump made the ground shake beneath his feet. He spun, perhaps expecting to see Samson returning from the mission. He froze – it wasn’t.

As an experienced military man, he rarely suffered from indecision, but the sight that met his eyes temporarily short-circuited his decision making process. The giant black and orange monster got to its feet, having to hunch over in the eight-foot circular tunnel. It filled the entire width with its bulk, and as if the nightmare couldn’t get any worse, another thump and a second rolled in behind it.

‘Hey, Morgan, what’s going on in there?’

‘Fu… fu… fu…’ Words wouldn’t come to Morgan. The creature lowered its head, green eyes fixed directly on him. Morgan felt his muscles lock up, and then the thing roared with a sound so loud it made him stagger back and wet himself at the same time.

*

Harper stuck a knuckle in his mouth and backed away from the screen. All he could do was point. The two giant ogre-like beasts had made it into the antechamber room, and were rapidly and brutally decimating the men inside as if they were nothing but straw dolls.

The small-caliber ceramic weapons did nothing against the beast’s thick armor and bulk. Harper was glad there was no sound considering the screaming he knew must be happening in the room. A small mewling escaped his throat, and while he watched over the next few seconds, bodies, and bits of bodies, were strewn everywhere.

The monsters paced, their huge chests bellowing in and out.  When one lifted a human leg to its mouth, Harper felt his muscles unlock. He hit the alarm button, and then threw up.

Chapter 26

Time to Put the Cat Out

Hanson turned to what was left of his team. ‘Teacher wants us to hold the line.’ He looked each in the eye. ‘We’ll hold the line.’

As one the team responded. ‘Hold the line.’

Hanson nodded and then looked up at the huge cone shaped hill. ‘It’s getting worse. Must have pulled all the crap from the tunnels – at least we won’t have to crouch anymore.’ He turned to use his field glasses on the landscape, switching back and forth from light enhance to thermal.

‘No sign of company yet.’

Lieutenant Bannock used a small flashlight to check the surface, its circle of light like a hound dog as it raced over the ground at the foot of the hill.

‘We might be too late – there are tracks.’

The group gathered around the indentations – deep pad marks the size of dinner plates with long clawed ends. Hanson cursed softly. ‘Looks like a small scouting party. Two, maybe three at most.’ He straightened. ‘Our mission is unchanged. Bannock, you just volunteered to re-enter the gate and tell the other side what’s going on. You will then return with support. Farfelle will accompany you to the gateway, while we set up some perimeter defenses on the high ground. Be on guard – the hostiles might still be in the tunnels.’ His face was grim. ‘And I hope they are, because at least they’d be severely restricted in their movements.’

‘Fish in a barrel.’ Bannock checked his weapons.

Hanson stepped in closer to him. ‘Be prepared to encounter hostiles the second you arrive. If they managed to take out any guards stationed at the gateway at the other side, you’ll be jumping right down their throat, so to speak. Remember, you’ll be disorientated, they won’t be.’

‘No sweat boss, nothing I can’t deal with.’ Bannock turned to wink at Farfelle who nodded to his comrade.

‘Good, we’ll be at the top of the hill with our back to the tunnels, so I really hope it’s you that returns.’  Hanson grinned and slapped him on the arm. ‘Let’s get this party started.’

*

Bannock turned and gave Farfelle a quick thumbs-up and then turned back to the oily smudge hanging over the tunnel wall. He had to brace himself as a wind blew back towards him making it difficult to remain upright. Specks of dust, debris and moisture spattered against him, forcing him to squint. It was lucky he couldn’t see what had sprayed back at him – the warm red droplets might have given him cause for more caution.

‘They’re not in the tunnel. Means you got a reception party waiting for you. Dive, roll and come up shooting.’ Farfelle had to shout to be heard.

Bannock nodded. He rolled his shoulders. He was a big man, six two and 220 pounds, and he still struggled to force his way to the gate. Another step and he was at its absolute edge where there was a pool of calm – the beginning of the warp. He sucked in a breath, and jumped.

Just like his first time coming through the other way, there was a momentary sensation of weightlessness, and then a lack of any other sensation against his skin. There was a feeling of giddiness like you get on a rollercoaster if you kept your eyes closed. Time meant nothing in this space between dimensions. Everything he knew was thrown in the air – light,
dark, hot, cold, noise, silence – it could have been only seconds, or it could have been years.

Bannock landed hard and rolled. He shook his head quickly and opened his bleary eyes just as a thunderous roar split the rushing air swirling around him. His instincts took over; he dived and rolled again, this time coming up pulling the rifle from over his back.

Bannock’s vision cleared, but he felt strange, like a hundred small hands were grabbing at him, his belt, his guns and his knives. He saw it now, a Lygon coming at him like an orange and black locomotive. The creature’s enormous bulk filled the round collider tunnel. He had seconds to react. But as soon as he had the skeletal black HK416 in his hands, the massive magnetic pull from the gateway ripped it from his grip, and dragged it back through the portal.

Now he knew what was tugging on his body and armaments – the increased gravity pull from the gateway was trying to reclaim him, but would settle for all his metal weapons first. He would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire – he imagined the look on Farfelle’s face, when the gun went sailing past him in the dark tunnel.

Another thunderous roar, and Bannock felt the cold chill of panic start to creep up his spine. Up close the beasts were truly terrifying, even for a battle hardened elite soldier like he was. He needed more time, he needed space – he turned and ran.

Bannock sprinted, knowing that the four miles of tunnel would eventually bring him right back to where he was now. He knew his chance of escape was nil. But he also knew he didn’t need to escape, he just needed a few extra yards distance so he could mount an effective challenge. He accelerated –
just a few extra seconds
. He stopped, turned and dropped to one knee, pulling his sidearm in a firm, two-handed grip and sighting down the squared barrel at the approaching creature.

What he held was not a ceramic weapon designed to be less attracted by the vortex, but a fifty-calibre AE Desert Eagle – one of the most powerful handguns in the world. The gravity vortex dragged at the weapon, and Bannock strained to keep it steady. He knew that even though he held a formidable weapon, it would still be useless against the inches-thick metal plates the beast wore as armor. However, that wasn’t where he aimed. He fired, once.

The bullet entered the left eye of the charging beast, dropping it at his feet, dead.

Bannock snorted in disgust. ‘That’s right – this world is already taken.’ He noticed the massive teeth were coated in blood – it had been feeding, and he could guess what on.

He cursed, scowling at the dead Lygon. He would have kicked it if not for another mighty roar smashing down the tunnel – this one emanating from outside the acceleration ring tunnel, and within the antechamber itself.

‘So… there were two of you.’

He started to jog towards the cross tunnel exit.

‘Time to put the cat out.’

*

Albert Harper paced nervously at the back of the room while the soldiers, talking rapidly but quietly, dominated the front. General Langstrom had assumed control of the gravity anomaly project, now simply called the Fermilab Error, as if it was some sort of mistake Harper and his fellow scientists had made in the monthly balance sheet.

Langstrom was a direct presidential appointment and was required to report to the Oval Office daily. The man was a brusk, no-nonsense soldier, but Harper found him easier to work with than the intolerable and ambitious Colonel Marion Briggs.

The General listened to Bannock’s debrief, nodding a few times and asking questions here and there. He was particularly interested in Colonel Brigg’s capture and her being turned to lead the Panterran and Lygon attack on the Delta team… her Delta team. His brow became more creased as he listened to Bannock talk, and Harper guessed that losing an asset like Briggs, one who knew their tactics, weapon capability, distortion gateway location, and even the layout of the laboratory itself, concerned him greatly.

For his part, Bannock stood in an at-ease position, but his rod straight back and direct stare looked anything but comfortable or casual. Langstrom read through some notes he had made, and then sat forward.

‘So, to summarize what we know; they took out about twenty fully armed Deltas in under six hours, and captured and then turned a seasoned field leader who now seems to be leading them. We now know they have a significant land force of dedicated and physically powerful individual combatants, and added to that, they have now acquired modern weapons. Finally, and more concerning, they now know where we are and how to get here. That about sum it up, son?’

‘Yes, sir.’

Langstrom exhaled long and slow, then stood to pace around the monstrous corpse laid out on the floor. He knelt and pulled back one side of the lips, looking at the huge teeth. ‘Good Christ.’ He stood, shaking his head. ‘Well then. Let’s hope Teacher finds that diamond, fast, or we might as well all go and live under a rock.’

The general paced some more, rubbing his jutting jaw. He stopped and turned to Harper. ‘We’re not ready. We need more time. Time to properly secure these facilities, time to evacuate local residents, time to formulate some offensive strategies, time to…’ He clicked his fingers. ‘I could have a hundred tons of concrete poured over that damned acceleration chamber by morning.’

It took Harper a second or two to realize he was being addressed. He wandered closer, carefully avoiding the Lygon body. ‘It would do little more than buy us an extra day at most. Most of the material would be flung out into the New Zone, and probably cover the soldiers who are defending it. The anomaly would still be there under the concrete, growing, and eventually absorbing, us.’

Langstrom grunted, and Harper guessed he knew as much. The general turned back to the Delta Force soldier still standing rod-straight.

‘Bannock, I can get you two hundred soldiers in a few hours. But no significant armor or vehicles – just can’t get it down here.’

Bannock continued staring straight ahead. ‘Begging your pardon sir, but that number of troops would just be falling over one another. The access tunnel is a one-man-at-a-time-trip. What we need are more multi-skilled Special Forces, some RPGs and plenty of ammunition.’

Langstrom didn’t blink, trusting his man in the field. ‘I can get you twenty more Deltas in an hour. You stay here to brief them, and then I want you to report to the medic and take some down time.’

‘Twenty will do fine, sir.’ His eyes finally alighted on the general. ‘Looking forward to briefing the new men, but, begging your pardon sir, I’d like to go back through. Teacher is still out there. I’ve fought these things and it’s going to take every skilled pair of hands we’ve got to do that. He wanted us to hold the line. I promised to do that – fight or die, Sir.’

Langstrom looked up at the tall young man for several seconds, and then nodded. ‘Understood.’ Langstrom saluted and stepped back to the desk to gather his notes. An enormous ripping sound came from outside the windows, and Harper crossed the room to the large pane of toughened glass. The swirling purple-back clouds were gathering speed. Jagged bolts of lightning struck the ground, one hitting the perimeter guard house and exploding it into matchsticks.