Part eight
The room was dimly lit by a plasma lamp on a long workbench. He sat on a short chair and hunched over his task. The small device was damaged but familiar looking all the same. He peered at it through his magnifier, the design was complex and the patterns seemed so familiar. Was he missing something obvious? Where had he seen this kind of work before? He leaned back in the chair and raised his arms above him for a long stretch. He had been at it all day now and was growing weary. He thought about the events of the previous day and their failure at the canyon. He thought of his friends Skek and Carnod that would never come back now. Where were they and what had happened at the last stand on the small hill? no one could return to that place, the gateway had been destroyed and the interdimensional pathway had been scrambled to save the remaining force from decimation by those of the lidless eye. Undoubtedly they are now looking for the escape route of the Defenders to finish the task that they had started on that evil day. He missed his friends…. it seemed so incomplete. Not being able to tell them goodbye, now they were gone and no one knew where they lay. A grim look passed over his face, he was uncomfortable with the sentimental. He said softly: "What does it matter where you lay when you're dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you."
"What's that, Bundy?" said Cisco as he walked into the room. "Oh nothing." Bundy muttered. "We all miss them, all of them." Cisco said. "They saved us all with their lives." Bundy composed himself and looked up at Cisco with a scowl. Cisco put his hand on Bundy's shoulder. "What are you working on?" Bundy had forgotten that this was a secret and said: "Saxon gave me this damaged display panel, I am trying to get the destination data out of the chip." Cisco's eyes grew wide and Bundy realized that he had let the cat out of the bag. "When did he give this to you?!" Cisco asked. "I saw him in the canyons the night before the attack, he had pulled this from Stormbringer's pocket after he died." Bundy filled Cisco in on all of the events leading up to Saxon's disappearance. "Can you get the data from the chip?" asked Cisco. "Well, I've been working on it all day and I haven't been able to wake the chip up." said Bundy. Cisco peered through the lens of the magnifier and took a close look at the circuitry printed on the face of it. "There is a pattern here, Buns." he said "Let me have another look." Bundy peered closely at the circuitry again and wiped his bleary eyes. He increased the magnification and refocused the lens. He rotated the device under the scope and it became clear to him as it was turned upside down. There was writing in the circuitry of the chip itself. So small was the writing, and so cleverly hidden in the very circuits of the chip itself as to be almost undetectable to any with an untrained eye. The words read:
"I, Diehard made this in the captivity of the evil one. Date stamp: UT2052.73"
"This was made by Diehard himself, in the early part of last year, Cisco….. Look!" Cisco looked into the eyepiece and squinted. "Sure enough, is there any other writing on this thing?" Bundy began to turn the chip over and over in his magnifier. "I don't see anything else, but Diehard wouldn't risk the message itself to simple circuitry that could be discovered. He is way to subtle for that. He would more than likely put a pair of small terminals to an isolated part of the chip, so one could pull the data in binary form from the unused memory circuits." Bundy looked for the telltale signs of the isolation loop. He hoped it wasn't on the damaged corner of the chip which had been thwarting all of his efforts to retrieve the destination gate information. "He used to pull this kind of stunt at the academy all of the time. He kept his Cheat sheet information hidden and pulled it up during the tests to help him pass the exams. He never needed to, he was a legend in my early days there. An actual prodigy. Why I remember one day in Engineering 101……. WAIT! Here they are…. Hand me that pair of lead ends from the O-scope, Cisco. Set it to internal trigger and set the frequency to fifty milliseconds, I want this data slow. We may only get one chance at this and I don't want to smoke this circuit like Saxon did the main data. It should have been protected by it's isolation from the rest of the chip. Bundy touched the leads of a small Nimh battery to the isolation circuit and a wave form appeared on the scope, it began to repeat itself. There were six series of eight numbers each. As they reappeared, Bundy flipped on the recorder and kept the data to hard disk. In a few moments the chip began to show signs of heat failure. Smoke rose from the isolation circuit and the O-scope screen went blank with one flashing trace at regular intervals. "I think we have it, Cisco!" Bundy shouted. "These are all locations in interdimensional space. It looks like a log from a gate display panel of the old style. I can pull up this information He input the numbers into his computer and waited. In short order order and with no delay the location data of the isolation loop was being worked on by the computer. Bundy looked up at Cisco and said: "You know, I saw something strange before the gate closed. There was an enormous power surge on the other side. It looked like the frontal wave of a temporal rift, bigger than any I have seen before. My sensor pegged instantly and had only started to drop when the gate was destroyed and no more data could pass that way." "What do you make of it?" asked Cisco. Bundy looked at the readings on the data transfer from the isolation loop and said: "I think they may have developed a superweapon. With a large enough rift in space time an entire universe can collapse in on itself. No one has been able to focus a rift that I am aware of. The technology is dangerous. Without something to limit it's size, the rift could end all life in that universe including the operators of the device. I didn't think anyone had the nerve to test something like this until now. I hope that I'm wrong, but we still need to check it out. If they have developed such a weapon, we are doomed." Cisco looked at the door to see if anyone was near: "Keep this between us for now, Buns. I don't want this to help demoralize the men any further. We are less than two hundred now and I am not sure what our next move should be. We are going to need some help, that is for sure."
In the lower rooms of the base medics were tending to the wounded. Mangoboom walked into the area and saw Sheepman talking to Mongoose in a corner near the bed where the grizzled old Cyberjim lay sleeping. "Hows he doing?" asked Mango. Sheep looked over his shoulder and answered: "Not bad at all for a man who took a full power sniper round to the temple. They had a little trouble finding enough skin on him for the graft, heheheheh." Mango looked down at the sleeping drill seargeant, he seemed to have the skin on his face pulled tightly back. "Well he wouldn't be here at all if it wasn't for you, Moongoose." "It's Mongoose, Sir." he replied. "Oh, I thought I heard Jim call you Moongoose at the canyon." Sheep laughed and said: "What did he call you in the early days, Mango?" Mangoboom smiled and said: "I'd rather forget that, I think. What do you think we'll be doing next? I don't think it is safe for us to stay here at Ironfort anymore." "That's just what we were talking about, Cisco is being very quiet about all of this." said Sheepman. "He had all of the remaining captians in for a meeting this morning and afterwards they came out with little pep talks for all the squads. Really they had nothing to say other than cheer up. I don't think they have any idea what to do. I wonder if we are going to disband." "Don't even start a rumor like that!" Mango said under his breath. "We'll get back on top of this in no time, you'll see." Mongoose picked up his rocket launcher from the corner and slung it over his shoulder. He looked back and forth at both of them and said: "I don't think it is time to give up, yet." and with that he walked off to the upper regions of the base. "Don't get me wrong, Mango…. I want to get back at them badly. I just don't think that we will be able to do them any damage without some serious reinforcements." said Sheepman. "Yeah, you're right. I wonder where we are going to find them. That was all of us at the canyon. We are completely crushed, it will take generations to rebuild the group." Mangoboom said as he left Sheepman with the old man in the bed.
Meanwhile, Saxon watched as the dark figure approached from across the valley floor. He could see now that the man was wearing the skin of some black creature. The emblem on his chest was a thin red cross, his head was covered with a black hood and only two red slits for the eyes could be seen on it. Was this really a man or some shadow creature of the night. Saxon moved his hand on his weapon up to the safety and clicked it off. Other than that he made no movement. The women had armed themselves and were a little more obvious about their intent. They all raised their weapons and pointed them at the strange man walking towards them. Garrick put his hand on one of the muzzles and pushed it down while saying: "This man could have killed all of us and only chose to slay our enemies. I think you might want to give him the benefit of the doubt." Saxon nodded at the common sense of what the old man had said and flipped his safety on again. The figure was now coming up the hill and slung his long rifle over his shoulder. As he approached them he reached up with one hand and removed his hood. They were astonished to see the features of a young man in his middle teens with a wide grin and a sharp eye. "Don't shoot me!" He laughed as he came near to them. "You have the features of your father, I'll be willing to wager that you are the son of the legendary Q-tip." said Garrick. The young man looked down and said: "Yes, Q-tip was my father but I never knew him. I live not far from here with the friendly giants in the ruins of the great city of men on the foot of those far hills. I am the ward of their master Lord Ogre-Biter. My name is Dark Assasin." Garrick said: "Come inside and have something warm to eat, I'll stoke up the fire and we can share tales of adventure on this fine morning."
They all went inside and sat around the hearth as garrick's wife put on some stew and poured them all a drink of a warm cider that had a bit of a bite to it. After a time Garrick began to speak: "You may not know it but you two are related, Saxon. Q-tip was your father Alton's older brother. You are cousins and it shows. I knew both of your fathers when the city of men was lively with thousands of families of Defenders. Q-tip was killed in the great betrayal and Lord Alton secretly hid both of you with his friends as you were too young to fight for yourselves." "How do you know all of this? " asked Saxon. "I am an old man now, but there was a time when I was a Defender too. I was entrusted with the care of the girls you see here. The Lord Ogre-Biter was given young Dark Assasin to care for and your father, Saxon, left you near the sea at a small cottage owned by a fisherman. Your father loved the sea and wanted it to leave it's mark on you also. I have a feeling that this is not a chance meeting of lost souls, some greater purpose is afoot. I am thinking that it is time to right what is wrong." Saxon took another drink of his cider and looked at Garrick with his stern eyes: "The Defenders are again a mighty army and are now looking for those who serve the lidless eye. I have another quest and I cannot go on your adventure or theirs. I would be willing to take you to them, but I must walk alone on my own path." Dark Assasin said: "I crave adventure, I will come to meet these Defenders and help with their revenge, I'm ready for anything." "What do you know of battle, you are far too young for this work." said Aurora. Garrick put his hand up and stopped Dark Assasin from answering: "We all had a first battle, to make sure that what we are about to embark on is not our last battle we should try to get along with one another." Aurora looked at the ground and poked at it with a stick from the fire. Saxon looked over to Dark Assasin and asked: "What is that skin you wear?" "It is the skin of the Gorthaur," he answered. "I slew him myself five years ago. I like it because it blends in with the surroundings and reflects the natural color of the environment when it is wet." Garrick looked astonished: "You killed the Gorthaur? You will make a formidable adversary indeed." "He wasn't that hard to finish, I just had to wait a long time." said Dark Assasin. "How did you see him, his kind are invisible to the naked eye when they are alive." asked Garrick. "I didn't see him, I smelt him. It took months to get the stench out of this hide. We had been pestered by this vile creature for years and I thought if I could find his hiding place I would just have to wait until his smell passed by. I dressed up much like a bush and waited at the most likely place for two days. I was about to give up when I smelled him pass me. I put one round through the place where I thought his chest should be and got lucky." Dark Assasin obviously enjoyed making light of this and smiled a wide grin, he was proud of this and it showed. Garrick said: "You are a phenomenally good shot, you have your father's eye for distance, that is evident." "Well, I can't go on any adventure without letting my Lord know where I am going. I must return home first." said Dark Assasin. "We will all go together, I would like to see Ogre-Biter again. He may want to send help with us or come himself. Does he still live in the catacombs under the city?" Dark assasin looked up and said: "We all live there, the catacombs are the city now." Saxon stood up: "We should go soon as I have little time left and must continue my quest as soon as I lead you to my comrades." With that they all packed their belongings and headed for the ruins of the city of men. Garrick's wife waved goodbye from the door: "Take care of yourselves, and dress warmly at night!" she called from the door.
They marched across the valley and through the low hills, it was late in the day when they arrived at the edge of the forest that surrounded the ruins of the city of men. "We will be challenged before long as we enter these woods, they are gaurded by those that live under the ruins." said Dark Assasin. "I'll go first as they will recognize me. They entered the forest and walked along a little used path for a mile or so until a voice came from the side of the trail: "STOP THERE! Stand still and state your business in these woods." "It's me, Barth," said Dark Assasin. "These are my friends." Out of the undergrowth rose ten large figures, each of them was armed with a large heavy gun and they all stood two feet taller than Saxon. "You know the law, young master. No one is allowed to pass without the leave of his honor, Lord Ogre-Biter." said the man who first spoke, apparently Barth. "We are on our way to see him now." Said Dark Assasin. "Now, now, young laddie…. you know the law. No one is allowed to see our entrances to the city on pain of death." said Barth. Saxon, always the diplomat said: "Why not blindfold us and lead us to the city without letting us see the route? Will that do?" Aurora said: "No one is putting a blindfold on me, I don't see anyone here big enough to try it." Garrick said: "Now then, it is their land and their law, perhaps the young master will be willing to go blindfolded himself as a gesture of fair play." Dark Assasin was short with Garrick as he said: "I don't see why I should walk blindfolded in my own land." Barth said to Saxon: "You are a wise man, all will go blindfolded including the young master here who needs to learn a little humility." Aurora said: "As long as he will go blindfolded, I will too. Saxon, I will hold you accountable for every stubbed toe and scraped shin, this was your idea." "Now young missie, we will lead you well. I take full responsibility for any one who trips on this journey." said Barth. "I want to see Dark Assasin's put on before I wear one." said Aurora. "Can we just get on with it?!" said Saxon.
With that they placed blindfolds over their eyes not so tightly that they were uncomfortable, just enough so they wouldn't slip as the possibility of stumbling was still there regardless of Barth's promises. When they all had them on they were spun around to lose their sense of direction and the large men led them deeper into the forest taking many twists and turns along the way. Saxon thought much of this must be unnecessary, and wished he could be back at his task. All he could think about now was Lisbeth and his new hope that she may be alive and held captive in a location that he could reach. Further into the forest they went until they started to go downhill on a pretty steep grade. They had reached what seemed to be the bottom of the hill when they heard other voices up front. It seemed that Barth was explaining the group to someone guarding the path ahead. After a bit he heard some laughing and someone poking fun at Dark Assasin for not being able to see him while he was passing by. Dark Assasin growled as he passed the man. Saxon smiled and continued to follow along as they entered what appeared to be a cave by the sound of the water dripping all around. Soon he could hear the sound of water running as if they were standing by a rather large stream. He heard the familiar sound of oars in oar locks and someone tying off a cleat on a dock of some kind. He was led into a boat and when all were aboard they rowed along for a few minutes around a bend. Once they were around the bend Barth told them all that they could remove their blindfolds.
What Saxon saw was a wide stream running in a dimly lit tunnel that had a brighter blue light at the end. They were in a long boat with four large men at each end rowing in silence. Barth stood in the prow and held a lantern that lit the walls they were passing by causing the minerals in the rock to sparkle with an otherworldly iridescence. They continued along the stream to a place where there was a small wharf. Barth threw the bow lead to a man standing on the wharf and he tied it off to a metal cleat. They all got out of the boat one by one and were led into a gate house where Barth used an intercom to speak with someone else quietly. They were bade to leave there weapons at the gate house and continued on through to a large cavern with a valley that concealed a large underground city. Light was everywhere coming from blue orbs on posts lining every street. In the center of the city was a large keep carved from the very stone of the cavern itself. As they walked down the main avenue people looked out their windows and doors to see what was to be seen of the strange travelers on their way to the hall of their Lord Ogre-Biter. Down one alley to the right Saxon saw a large force of men with those big guns marching to an unknown location within the city. That this was an underground city of giants was self evident. How they had come to be here and what they were up to puzzled him. It seemed that the city was prepared for war. Dark Assasin leaned over to him and said: "There is my master's house." They rounded a bend in the road and there stood the fortress of stone with a heavy contingent of men in the courtyard. As they approached the gate it swung open and the door warden stepped out. Where are you going with these people, Barth?" said the man. Barth looked up to the tower in the fortress and said: "They seek an audience with Lord Ogre-Biter and his ministers. This may be the sign we have been waiting for." The door warden let them pass with an excited smile on his face.
They crossed a short yard and went into the tower. Up many steps of stairs they hiked until they had come to the top. In the top of the fortress was a large hall and on a large chair behind a table sat the great Lord Ogre-Biter himself. He was a large framed man with many battle scars on his exposed face and arms. He recognized Garrick instantly. and said: "It has been a long time, old friend. Where have you been all of these years?" "I have been waiting for this moment like you have all of your life, the time is now for the evil to be undone. This is Saxon, the son of Alton." Saxon stepped forward and greeted Lord Ogre-Biter with a firm handshake. "Pleased to meet you, sir" he said with a small smile. Ogre-Biter stood up and clapped him on the shoulder with his big hand: "You look just like your father. I am glad to see that his line has survived in you. I see that you have met your cousin Dark Assasin. I would hope that you two can grow to be friends." "The time is running short," said Garrick "are the catacombs in the area of the Hall of Slipgates still intact?" "Regularly serviced and ready for use." said Ogre-Biter. Garrick looked around the room at the ministers that stood in waiting and said: "Is this a good place to talk, or should we find a private area to speak about the things to come?" Ogre-biter turned with a swish of his cloak and said: "Follow me to my chambers and we will make plans for battle." They followed him into a small room through a door behind his large chair. In it was a table with enough chairs around it for them all to sit. "First let me tell you what I have been doing." said Ogre-Biter "We are now over twenty thousand strong and are growing day by day as more giants come down from the mountains to join up. The ones that are ready have been trained in the use of all manner of heavy weapons. These are fierce fighters and will be prepared to cut the enemy in half using this." With that he pulled a large gun from underneath the table. Fully five feet long and barrel heavy, it was like a mobile, shoulder mounted sentry gun. Only a very large man, or a giant, would be able to wield it. "These things are capable of spitting out sixteen hundred rounds per minute and a man of normal size would be bowled over trying to fire it. I myself can barely stand up while firing the thing. These giant men that you see can carry these things over long distances and fire them easily for hours. They will blow through one inch plate steel in about five seconds when the fire is concentrated at one point that long. What they do to a line of lightly armored enemies is beyond belief. I can put thousands of these in the field at a moments notice anywhere a slipgate can drop a man to fight. We are ready!" Garrick looked at the weapon and smiled: "This is good news, we are off to meet the main contingent of Defenders at a place that Saxon will take us to. They are ready now for the battle to end all battles. Once and for all the Lidless eye will be closed forever. We need to meet with their leaders and talk of sharing resources to achieve victory over the evil one." "We can meet them now if you like," said Ogre-Biter "I will take you to the Hall of Slipgates and you can see the work we have done. You will find that I have not been idle all of these years."
They went out of the stone keep to a remote location in the city where a large building stood with a wide door like an airplane's hangar. Two guards stood at attention as Lord Ogre-Biter bade them to open the wide door. As it rose Saxon could see that it led to a wide ramp which had a turn to the right at the bottom some one hundred feet into the building. As they followed Ogre-Biter they could hear their footsteps echoing in a large open space below. When they rounded the bend they could see the Hall of Slipgates and the hundreds available in row upon row filling the hall to it's far reaches. Technicians worked among them and a short bank of them was heated up and ready to go. Ogre-Biter explained that these needed no destination gate. They all worked in tandem with each other and would drop men right next to each other without teleporting them into each other. When space was tight the gates would delay travelers until room at the destination became available. "We have taken the danger out of Slipgate travel." Ogre-Biter said with pride. "These gates can put all twenty thousand of us anywhere within fifteen minutes." "That is quite an accomplishment." said Garrick "Reinforcements, anytime, anywhere at a moment's notice." Ogre-Biter beamed a wide toothy grin at Garrick and said: "Reinforcements my eye, we ARE the main battle force wherever we go. My men are armored so well that they are nearly invincible to anything other than a heavy detpak at very close range, even then they can probably survive the blast and continue to fight on." "That is a bold statement coming from you, Ogre-Biter. I know that you do not tend to exaggerate much." said Garrick. "Lets go meet with your Defenders, Saxon. Enter the destination on this pad and just step on the gate when you are ready." Ogre-Biter handed Saxon a small remote device that fit easily into the pocket. He punched in the key destination sequence and his own passcode to Ironfort. They all stepped onto the waiting pads and left at once, this time there was not a bone jarring crunch. The pain had also been taken from Slipgate travel it seemed.
They arrived at Ironfort simultaneously and in the main hall, not the gate alcove. There were streaks of dried blood on the floor leading from the alcove and heading into the basement infirmary. They followed the path of the blood and went into the base unchallenged. As they entered the lower hall they could see what was left of the Defenders. Less than two hundred men tending wounded and sitting against the walls of the lower hall. Saxon looked bewildered and Aurora said to him: "This is your mighty army?"
To Be Continued……….