F
U T U R E B A R R I E R
( The
3rd Novel )
Secret Technology,
Unrequited Love, Absolute Vengeance
© June 2018 Written by David Wicker
Please do
not reprint without permission
CHAPTER 56 -
"A Stitch In Time"
[
CHOOSE A
DIFFERENT
CHAPTER TO
READ ]
* * *
This chapter is Rated: TEEN
As I slept, the team from the future, exited the time travel Gate.
Passing through the exit, they had finally arrived at their destination - in my time. And not without cost. Both Flair Johnston and Kohr Jenkins were lost to the horrors of the Gate. Flair to be consumed by the walking behemoth earlier and Kohr to some ... well, he didn't really know what to think.
He saw or thought he saw an absolutely beautiful woman, like some kind of ice princess - turn him into snow, and then ravenously started to eat the same snow as if it were somehow food for her.
Surviving was himself, captain, corporal Hudson, and corporal Micks.
Yet when they arrived, they were shocked at what they saw. The reports said they would arrive in an orderly underground society ruled by someone deemed not human named Arkos, yet what they stepped into was madness and chaos !
Flyers were half-plastered to walls telling citizens to evacuate Arkos since their leader had passed. Those citizens who remained were clearly ruthless cutthroat bandits, thieves, and b******s. All ready for vandalism, rape, and murder.
"Weapons." Corrigan said tersely. Both Hudson and Micks whipped out their guns while Corrigan pulled a new one from his pack as, you remember earlier, inside the Gate, some strange force drew his primary weapon into the sky.
"Let's play it safe for now. Set for stun." he said. He looked around. They were on a street corner and fires were everywhere. There was so much broken glass on the ground it was like clear-colored snow.
As Corrigan was deciding what his team could do next, a frenzied woman in a torn shirt approached them.
"Happy happy !" she yelled maniacally. "Joy Joy !"
She then wildly tried to take a bite out of Corrigan's neck but was met with the business end of his gun. The arc of blue energy that appeared a moment later collided with her in the head causing her to fall over in an electrically induced sleep.
The strange noise of the gun discharging its bolt drew attention from other evil elements down the road. They eyed the trio warily, deciding whether to jump them or give respective distance.
"We're in plain sight in the middle of the street !" he yelled to his team.
"Let's find some safer ground, then." Micks suggested.
They dashed a short distance to dive into a building that was half standing. It was clear percussion grenades were used to devastate the windows and door, but for now, they were safe.
"Our first mission is to find Cheani." he said. His team nodded. He took off his backpack proper now and retrieved a sensor device. It looked a little like a small Frisbee but with a myriad of controls and lights on the top.
He switched it on and at once it began to pulse in a pink but steady light.
"She's alive !" he said with a grin. His other two soldiers smiled as well. If they could find her, half of their mission would be complete. They had to reach her to find what happened here and - where Dev could possibly be.
Numbers appeared on a display screen of the Frisbee, pointing the direction and distance where she was.
"Is everyone ready ?" he asked.
The two remaining team nodded their heads.
"Good, we have a fix on her position. Let's go !"
With that they vacated the broken building and, sticking to the alleys, started to hone in on her position.
It was clear Arkos was once a truly beautiful city. Large crystalline structures now lay smashed as vagabonds and outlaws lay waste to them, all in hopes of stealing whatever valuable items may lay inside. Fortunately for the moment, no-one was paying attention to them and was either more interested in attacking fleeing residents or looting and pillaging what lay left.
* * *
"Here." he pointed to one doorway that lay half off of its hinges. A battered sign read, "Laboratory 3."
The trio stepped inside and at once saw trash everywhere. Half-eaten food wrappers, newspaper clippings proclaiming the demise of Arkos, and bits and pieces of plastic and metal where nefarious people had smashed the equipment and furnishings.
"The signal is stronger over here." He held the Frisbee and a plaintive beep sounded showing they were quite close.
Then they saw her. Or so they thought ! It was Cheani's face but she looked much younger. She was roped together with two other attractive women.
"Cheani !" Corrigan cried and cut loose the three women. the other two didn't even utter a word of thanks and just ran out the back door at top speed.
Corrigan reached into his backpack to pull out a basic jumpsuit for Cheani as little of her clothes remained on her. Fortunately it was a special fabric that fitted according to who it was sized. There was a bit of an angry hiss as the outfit shrank considerably to fit Cheani as for all sakes and appearances she appeared to be no more mature than 10-years old !
"The Gate." she said as her gag was untied from her mouth. "It changed me. Did you have any trouble yourself ?"
Corrigan nodded tersely, "Yes, we lost two of our team. And for now, that's not important, we can mourn later. It's vital you tell me where Dev Borne is. He is the key to the plugin we must retrieve or destroy. One, the other, or both."
Cheani couldn't tell much as she had only met me briefly, and saw me from a distance. But she did relay, "He was being held prisoner in Arkos by a woman named Stefani Charteiris. To my knowledge, she is now dead. That's what the general gist is I was understanding. Also, the city is in chaos because Arkos is also apparently gone. I don't know any more than this."
Corrigan sat with her to think for a moment. Cheani pressed, "What will you do ?"
Corrigan staggered to stand for a moment and reached into his back pocket for what appeared to be a large gold coin, like a double-sized silver half dollar.
"Cheani, you've seen enough action, soldier. You're headed back to report. Let everyone know back at Central what has happened. Tell them we lost Flair Johnston and Kohr Jenkins. Include this Recording chip to show all what has happened to us to date."
He pulled a small hard rectangle from the side of his helmet where a small video-recorder was taking in everything he saw.
He handed her the items and continued, "Last we heard, Dev was a boy, and history records him as not one to deal with conflict at all. I doubt very seriously he is here in this hellhole. On my orders, we are leaving this smashed city to climb to the surface of Wanabee. It's my bet he's still with his family there. We may be able to retrieve the plugin from there."
As Corrigan was fitting a new recording chip to the side of his helmet, Cheani piped up, "I just remembered. Tyr was here too."
Corrigan whirled to look at her, "Are you sure, soldier ?"
Cheani nodded, "I'm certain of it. But - she's not as history painted her, sir. She's young, like Dev, just a teenager, and for all the time I knew she was here, she did not exhibit anything even remotely close to the barbaric behavior we have recorded from her years past. If anything she seemed - for lack of a better word, vulnerable, like Dev, sir."
Corrigan puzzled his wiry chin. "Well that is interesting. You don't think it's a disguise or something ? Remember, she originally comes from the Spectral Universe. A barbaric dimension to be sure."
Cheani nodded again, "I know my history, sir. That's where she's supposed to come from. But this Tyr. She was something quite different. Not at all the super warrior we have recorded in our journals, sir. She's just a kid, really. A little girl."
She then stood up. "I'm ready, sir."
Corrigan put a supportive hand on her. "We also don't have anything in our history records about Arkos being destroyed by vandals and thieves, either. I know we have worked very hard to not change history in our traveling to the past, but it seems we may indeed already have. Let them know of these changes when you return as they may not be reflected correctly in history books."
"Yessir." Cheani bowed respectfully, stepped back a few feet, then touched the center of the gold coin. The coin lit up from the top and bottom and hovered in the air for a second. A moment later a beam enveloped Cheani all around and she vanished in a pretty rainbow stream of highly concentrated energy and light.
In seconds both her and the teleporting coin were gone.
Corrigan muttered to himself. "At least one piece of technology we have that works effectively. As for the rest of you, Hudson and Micks. Our immediate mission is to find a way to the surface from here. We'll catch up with Dev and Tyr and find out then just what is going on."
They each saluted respectfully, "Yessir !"
With that, Corrigan took the Frisbee and using a USB plug, connected it directly into one computer there that had not been smashed. He asked for a layout of all of Arkos and, more importantly, where the exits were to lead to the surface.
After a few minutes of asking the computer questions, he pounded his fist down on the solid table angrily.
"What's up, captain ?"
"According to the computer there is only one exit. One. And cameras and sensors from the computer show it is heavily armored by a team of soldiers. I'll bet you brass to buttons that it's not Arkos, but some faction that has taken over here. And I doubt they'll let us by willingly."
"What are we going to do ?"
Corrigan took his gun out and clicked it from "Stun" to "Mete."
He then responded to the question, "It's pretty clear a fairly organized team of outlaws are running things here. I doubt we'll be able to stun all of them. Set your weapons for Mete. We may have to do a wide-scale disruption of their troops to force our way to the surface."
He paused as they each adjusted their weapons to the desired setting.
He looked at his two remaining soldiers. Painfully he felt the absence of the other two. Waste of life, he told himself. Their lives could've been saved only if ... IF !
"Move out." he barked angrily to cover up any appearance of melancholy he was feeling.
The three stormed out of the room and returned back to the alleyways to approach the one and only exit from Arkos, and as Corrigan said, it was indeed heavily protected.
The original Arkos armor for the government had been appropriated by these people and they all wielded standard Arkos rifles additionally. While they were originally equipped for tranquilizer darts, Corrigan had no doubt these were modified to be lethal now.
END OF
CHAPTER 56
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