Fallen Empire

chapter 16

                                                                                       Fallen Empire

                                                                                          Blitzkrieg

I.

          …A howl pierces the thick, lush, jungle making Ryland’s heart pound even harder. Burning with adrenaline he leaps to the ground from a tree branch that was concealing him, He Lands on the trail he was following and it is dimly illuminated by the sunlight through the leaves, He feels more at home in this natural environment than the technologically advanced surroundings he has been immersed in of late, but this is still a new experience for him.

It is dawn, not only dawn of a new day, but dawn of a new era of history. The air is not yet contaminated by the usage of man, for they have not been born. There are no signs of civilization with the exception of this trail; the only technology around is the armor that Ryland wears. It is similar to the Guardian’s suit but not identical.  He does not wear a cape and cowl as the Guardian does but has a plaid sash across his chest and back. The face of Ryland’s armor is sectional and follows the contours of his head with half of his face hand painted in blue war paint. The face of the armor has only two openings for his eyes, behind protective shielding with a visor that enhances his vision.

          Ryland knows this trail must lead to someone who shouldn’t be there and follows it with much trepidation. Using his visor he scans his environment in every direction. The jungle is alive and he can hear movement but nothing close enough to him to pose an immediate threat. Ryland reaches the end of the trail and finds a probe made of Cove hovering like punctuation. Its silver color catches his eye first and as he draws closer it turns black.

The probe is smooth on its sides except for the round opening in front that is inhabited by a camera lens. As soon as Ryland comes within sight of the probe, energy pulsates around it and it disappears.

Ryland knows it has taken his picture

“Wheel, at least someone knows I am here.” He mutters aloud as he scans his surroundings for someone who sent the probe. He hears a rustling in the bushes to his left and cautiously pokes his stolen-Roman spear in that direction. Through the opening in the brush, that he made, he spies nothing and exhales in relief. He retracts the spear and turns to retrace his steps only to find the biggest lizard he has ever seen blocking his path. It is as big as his spear, and it is looking him in the eye.

“You’re real cute,” Ryland says in a syrupy sweet tone “now away with you.” He adds in an abrupt change of demeanor. He steps to the side of the lizard and the lizard counters playfully. Once again blocking his path Ryland starts getting agitated with the creature. “I canae’ have pets so you’re nae’ commin’ home with me.”

Ryland tries to ignore this lizard and walk around the other side and it once again blocks his retreat. “I am warnin’ you!” he yells at the lizard. This startles the creature and a fan extends from its neck spewing poisonous venom that would have incapacitated Ryland had it not been for his protective armor. Instead this enrages the Scott; in retribution he raises the butt of his spear up and knocks the lizard to the ground off the path.

“I’m trying to be nice.” Ryland says attempting to ignore the creature and return to his task.

 As the lizard lands it ricochets off the ground jumps towards Ryland. Even though his back is turned towards the creature he is shown the attack with the use of his visor, Ryland catches the reptile. They land on Ryland’s back with his spear in both hands pressing it against the lizard’s neck and Ryland’s foot on the lizard’s stomach. The instant Ryland hits the ground he tosses the reptile overhead.

The lizard lands painfully on the opposite side of the trail, but before the lizard can get his bearings and return to the battle, a saber tooth tiger pounces out of the brush and lands on the lizard… The Tiger begins feasting on the lizard and Ryland takes this as a cue to leave.

Ryland cautiously makes his exit out of immediate earshot of the dinner that could have been him. As he gets clear of the gory scene he runs like a madman away from the s*******r, anywhere but there is the direction he seeks. As he runs he notices the mountain in his peripheral vision is moving as well.

 This takes the wind out of his sails and he starts to slow down. As he slows he takes another look at what he originally thought was a mountain. It is in fact a Dinosaur.

Ryland has been researching history for a whole year now, unfortunately for him he hasn’t studied the Mesozoic era yet. He knew not what to call it, he only knows he has never seen anything that big… moving.

Ryland strains to hear anything over the beating of his own heart; suddenly he hears a rustling in the grass beside him on both sides. Ryland looks around frantically when his sight reveals a raptor directly in front of him. Research never taught Ryland the raptors are carnivores but the smile on the beast left little doubt.

Ryland runs from it not knowing how fast they run, with each step the lizard closes the distance. Another raptor jumps out of the grass in front of him. Both Raptors leap in for the kill when a shriek lets out from a Pterodactyl as it swoops down clasping Ryland’s shoulders.

 The monster takes Ryland soaring over the trees. Its claws superficially scratch his armor and the powerful grip compresses the shoulders marginally. No serious damage to the armor but it is a strong enough grip to take some of the enjoyment out of the flight.

The view is spectacular and Ryland sees for the first time, the new world. He looks over the forest and sees a desert in the horizon and tar pits in both landscapes, dinosaurs of every variety inhabiting the world beneath them.  In this infancy the Earth has never been so alive.

Awestruck in the beauty of this new world Ryland acknowledges the precarious position he is in, “Although this dragon has saved me, I donae think it was an act of kindness, more like hunger” Ryland vocalizes this as he readies his spear. With the spear Ryland stabs the beast’s left wing. The pterodactyl lets out a shriek and relinquishes its grip on Ryland.

For a moment Ryland plummets through the air and lands on the head of the brontosaurus he previously mistook for a mountain. Ryland’s momentum forces him to slide down the down the neck of the mighty beast. The Dinosaurs’ neck is quite bumpy and Ryland has difficulty staying up right. Ryland uses his arms to steady his decent but gravity pulls him faster the longer he moves. Ryland reaches the end of the neck, slides onto the dinosaur’s massive body. Losing his footing causes Ryland to stagger into a role. The energy of the fall takes a while to dissipate and takes its toll on Ryland as he continues to roll halfway down the dinosaur’s body. Eventually Ryland slows to a halt and he takes a moment to regain his equilibrium, feeling a little dizzy from the ugly dismount.

Ryland looks around and sees the top of the neck he just came from is now two hundred feet away. Although he still has another hundred feet before having to worry about falling off the backside of the dinosaur that was too close for his comfort level.

He slowly stands to fully take in the scenery from the dinosaur’s back, “I guess this is the best transportation gets around here” He mused to himself as he begins to trudge his way back to the neck of the beast. After a few steps Ryland hears a familiar sound, the sound of teleportation.

Four men arrive by teleportation; all four have swords made of Cove and wear black masks covering their faces. The masks have only one opening for the eyes and thick black goggles that wrap around their heads covering it entirely. All four men have a chest and back plate made of Cove and wear grey camouflage pants.

Ryland stops moving as his visor shows him their arrival behind him. Ryland’s motionless stance is interrupted because he is standing on the brontosaurus’s shoulder blade. The quartet does not advance so Ryland takes the initiative. He turns to face the visitors and says in a surprisingly friendly way,

 “There you are…No sense in hidin’ behind masks, come on, pack it up an’ go back to where you came from.”

The Visitors give no verbal response but take a step towards Ryland. He attempts to diffuse the situation with a lighthearted threat.

“Now will you look at what I have done here? I’ve gone an’ started us off on the wrong foot.” Ryland says twirling his spear confidently, “You have to leave, you can go on your own or I can make you, either way you’re leaving here today.”

The visitor closest to Ryland attempts to draw first blood; he takes a swing at Ryland. Skillfully dodging it Ryland takes the butt of his spear and sweeps the aggressor off his feet causing him to fall off the dinosaur’s back. The remaining trio charge Ryland. Using the head of his spear Ryland deflects the first visitors attack forcing his opponent to clash with the second’s attack while simultaneously kicking the third attacker knocking him on his back. The first two visitors reposition their swords to avoid the same mistake and attempt a second advance.

Ryland jumps in the air flipping upside down in between these two visitors, catching the first in the neck with the head of the spear and hitting the second visitor behind his knees with the butt of the spear. Ryland continues this motion around to land on his feet as the 2 visitors are knocked down and fall off the dinosaur’s back.

The last threatening visitor leaps back to his feet and starts to come after Ryland. The Scot stabs the dinosaur’s thick hide halfway between himself and the visitor. He uses his spear as a catapult and himself the ammunition, and lands a powerful kick that knocks the visitor off.

Ryland smiles beneath his armor until he looks off to the side to see the end result of a scene below.

The Brontosaurus has just stepped on a triceratops’ nest. The mother triceratops charges the brontosaurus that Ryland is currently on. Ryland looks down just in time to see the horns of the triceratops penetrate the side of the Brontosaurus. The massive animal howls in pain as it topples over. Ryland holds on as long as he can but his grip breaks when the beast hits the ground and he rolls for what seems to him an eternity. As Ryland grinds to a halt, a dust storm, kicked up by the fallen dinosaur, envelops the air covering Ryland completely.

It takes a few moments but Ryland begins fishing himself out of the dirt wiping his visor to regain his sight, “Rough way ta’ travel,” Ryland muses as he wonders why Seren hasn’t joined him yet, “A hover-bike would really come in handy right about now”

Ryland scans the area studying the dinosaur’s path and finds no signs of the visitors he tangled with. Suddenly he sees a faint blue light activate behind him. He walks towards the light; crossing a small field all the while hearing the Raptors feasting on the fallen Brontosaurus. Ryland draws closer to the light and realizes it is a force-field like the one on Vaulkner. He moves next to the force-field and all he sees is the blue smoke until he mentally tells his suit to switch the vision for his visor. Now he sees the body heat of the people inside as well as some of the objects within.

Ryland sees several people inside that appear to be building some kind of stronghold. These visitors are also utilizing the unwilling help of assorted dinosaurs.

They are chained and muzzled and the visitors are forcing them to lift the heavier sections of this construction site. Ryland also notices four bodies moving in the center of this expanse. These new arrivals seem to be injured. By the way they are limping Ryland deduces that they were the ones who greeted him earlier.

Ryland mentally tells his suit to play back what he just saw. The suit plays back his experience from the dinosaur and paying particularly close attention to when the force-field is activated, Ryland gets the co-ordinates he needs. He makes a mental note of the time of day it is when the blue light first activated.

Ryland programs the Temporal Gauntlet to take him inside the force-field moments before its activation. Energy pulsates around Ryland as he is propelled through the Infinity Tunnels.

Ryland exits the Infinity tunnels surrounded by a brief electrical disturbance. He has arrived inside the construction site stealthily he hides behind one of the large pieces of Cove. It is in a pile to be moved later therefore it is also unmanned, an ideal hiding spot.

In the center of the clearing Ryland sees the quartet, who attacked him earlier IS arriving by means of teleportation.  As soon as the quartet arrive the force-field is activated. The blue smoke stretches from the highest point of the construction site to the lowest point around the perimeter. As the force-field encases the construction site the visitors remove their masks. Ryland is stunned to see them unmasked; he has never seen an albino before and here is an entire group of them.

 As their faces are revealed, they look like aliens, to the Scot Ryland thinks this as he continues scanning the clearing.

 He sees the visitors abusing the dinosaurs; they prod at them with electric staffs. Ryland takes notice of the restraints on a Tyrannosaurus Rex near him. It is muzzled, saddled and has a harness connected to pulleys and casters ultimately moving a large block of Cove to a second level. The ingenuity of using this beast like this is impressive but Ryland, not knowing how vicious a T-Rex is, feels sorry for the giant lizard. A mischievous grin graces Ryland’s face as an idea postulates in his head.

Ryland waits until no one is looking to spring forth from his adequate hiding place. He runs as fast as he can to the partially completed construction site to steal another place to hide.

He looks through a wall under construction to see the anchoring chain holding the T-Rex in a productive pattern. One  visitor with an electric staff, who still has no idea that Ryland is watching, guards it.

Ryland moves fast, using the element of surprise; he quietly knocks down the guard. He looks around and sees a few visitors but none see him yet. Ryland tucks his spear in the sash on his back and picks up the electric prod that the guard had. He aims it at the base of the chain holding the dinosaur.

When it jolts the chain breaks and the T-Rex knows that he is almost free and starts struggling for freedom. Ryland uses the electric prod as a pole-vault to land on the dinosaur’s back. As he lands he lets go of the prod and reaches for his back with both hands. His hands reemerge each holding a dagger made of Cove. Ryland runs up the beast’s back wildly cutting the harness on his way up. Flailing madly almost completely free, except for the muzzle, the T-rex is struggles hard to remove it. This makes Ryland journey to the giant’s head most cumbersome. Ryland reaches the top and takes a look at the oversized muzzle. He looks back at the monsters massive eye, “…Just remember who your friend is here,” Ryland says hoping it already knows this. He reaches in a pouch on his belt and pulls out a small disk and places it on the muzzle. A heartbeat passes before anything happens when suddenly the muzzle vanishes. The Tyrannosaurus lets out a blood-curdling wail, tossing its head back in the process. Ryland is propelled off the foul tempered beast by its whim. The T-Rex is far more interested in the eating the people who caught him to watch Ryland land painfully on the second floor of the structure.

•

Ryland wakes on the floor of his room inside Vaulkner, staring at the all too familiar ceiling of his living quarters. He thinks, “What a strange dream that was” and shakes his head. He wasn’t surprised that he fell asleep or that he fell asleep on the floor. With the Guardian’s rigorous training hours, fatigue is to be expected; still Ryland has no recollection of going to sleep. He stands, still in a hazy conscious state suddenly realizing he has slept in his armor again. Triggered by a thought his armor collapses into the cybernetic implants on his spine.

Ryland now has a very clean-cut appearance, all facial hair is shaved and his hair is short. He wears a collarless long sleeve red shirt and black cargo pants… His head is still foggy but he makes his way out of his room and staggers downstairs using his spear as a crutch. His eyes refuse to fully focus until he reaches the bottom step. From there he sees the two-story construction site with the angry T-Rex on the loose. What bothers Ryland, more than the angry carnivore in close proximity, is the feeling that he was just in his own room. “They’re buildin’ Vaulkner…. How’s this possible?”

Ryland tries hard to make sense of this impossible situation when a visitor enters the future site of the computer room. He isn’t looking for Ryland, merely refuge from the T-Rex but he finds Ryland nonetheless, “How did you find us?” Shouts the visitor who is not quite albino but definitely very pale and still wearing the thick goggles the other visitors have.

Ryland’s armor returns to its former state of activation over his clothes, “What’re you talkin’ about? I live here; you’re the one trespassin’!” Ryland says this attempting to defuse the situation with his unique brand of humor.

The visitor, who is not amused, unsheathes his sword and moves closer to Ryland. The Scot readies his knives for battle.

The visitor swings his blade towards Ryland’s head. Ryland blocks the attack with the knife in his left hand. The visitor swings again and Ryland deflects it with the knife in his right hand. Before the visitor can get a better footing to launch another attack Ryland uses his leg to sweep the visitor of his feet. As the visitor falls, before gravity can bring him to the ground: the visitor stabs the floor with his sword giving him momentary equilibrium enough to kick Ryland in the head. Ryland shakes this off and puts his knives back in their sheaths then readies his spear. The arms race accelerates with the visitor aiming a g*n at Ryland. Ryland now recognizes how a g*n works, knows he is beaten and puts his spear away.

“Get over here” the visitor commands.

Ryland hesitantly steps towards the visitor, and quickly darts out the partially constructed wall. The visitor fires his weapon hitting the half finished wall. The shot ricochets all over the structure eventually dissipating on the force-field. Ryland hears the shot but never sees it. He dives behind the wall fragment, and attempts to scan for his attacker when an odd shadow crosses over him shading his view. An ugly feeling overwhelms Ryland; He looks skyward just in time to see the T-Rex leaning over him with its mouth gaping open, eclipsing the sunlight. The bloodstained ivory jaws converge over Ryland as he cries out in terror.