Logan Ryvenbark's Saga Box Set

Table of contents-6

“That’s where we should stand.”

I nodded. “First, we’re going totry an experiment. Blackjack. Come here.”

Smiling, Blackjack walked to the front.“Yes, sir.”

I looked at Tarum. “I’d like to doa test case first. I’m going to test the time belts. You are goingto send Blackjack here into the past. Then he is going to come back—in one piece we trust.”

Tarum gave a baffled stare.

“When you get to your destinationBlackjack, I want you to immediately return. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

I lifted the IMI Desert Eaglesemi-automatic handgun from my holster and put the barrel amillimeter away from Tarum’s head. The Desert Eagle doesn’t lookall much different than most other handguns, but it does have aunique design, with a triangular barrel and large muzzle. Itsdesignis so good only minor modifications have been made to the gun incenturies. You have to appreciate workmanship like that.

“Would you like to change anything inhis time belt before you send him? Because if he doesn’t come back,you’ll have real problems and so will your race. Comprende?”

Tarum stood silent for a minute. Thegrays eyes muddied even more and turned a darker gray. The eyesmoistened. I wondered if Cappnids often cried. He was close to it.After another minute he spoke.

“Yes, I would.”

“Then why don’t you do it? Cajun,get up here.”

In a split second she stood by me. Ikept the gun pointed at Tarum. “I want you to check and see what hedoes. In fact, he’s going to give you a quick five-minute course onhow to use the time belts. Learning the intricacies of time travelmight take a while, but a time belt should be simple enough to use.Then we’re going to test it.” I put the gun barrel againstTarum’s skin. “If you lie to me one more time, I’ll kill you.”

I stepped back and waved the gun.

“Do it,” I said.

Either Tarum was a good teacher orCajun was a quick learner. Probably the latter. In five minutes shewalked back to me and nodded.

“I know how to work them, major.”

“Tarum, I’m guessing all the otherbelts have to be modified too.”

“Yes.”

“Then first we will send Blackjackinto the past. If he comes back, you and I will have a discussion.Ifhe doesn’t come back, we’ll say a brief eulogy for you.”

“Your soldier will return,” Tarumsaid, in a strong voice.

Chapter 13

Blackjack did blink back a minute afterhe left. All in one piece, thank goodness. He reported it was afine,sunny day in the past. His landing point was only about ten yardsfrom the forest. He could see the castle in the distance.

I retired with Astrid, Cajun and Tarumto a small room. I sat across from him at a table while Astrid andCajun pointed their guns at him. I laid my Desert Eagle on thetable.

“So was the plan to maroon us in thepast, or kill us on the way?” I said.

“It was to maroon you and your squad.The man whose orders I followed wanted to kill you personally andwatch you die.”

“He likes the personal touch, doeshe? Who’s the man who gave the orders?”

“He told me his name was GeneralConbor. He came with the Soltarians.”

I grunted. Sometimes in life you haveto deal with the unexpected.

“I should have tracked him down andkilled him long ago. Well, live and learn. I won’t make the samemistake twice. But first things first. Where exactly were you goingto beam us to?”

“About thirty miles from the castlethere is a valley surrounded by mountains. I was told to beam youtothe valley. General Conbor planned to have his armed force on themountain passes. They would open fire as soon as your squadmaterialized. You would have no cover, no place to hide. The battlewould have been over within a minute… except for you.”

“What did the general have plannedfor me?”

“If possible, you were not to beharmed. He wanted to kill you personally. A knife fight. One onone.”

I frowned. “If I recall, on Vanodor,Conbor did wear a couple of knifes on his uniform. For a high-techman, he liked more primitive weapons. The natives said he wasskilledwith them. When he wanted to execute someone, he or she was tied toapole and he would toss his knife at them. Rumor was he could hittheheart almost every time.”

“He said he was your sworn enemy andyou would die by the knife.”

“To paraphrase Cardinal Richelieu, Ihave no enemies, the Federation has enemies. Freedom has enemies.Butif I had any, he’d be at the top of the list.”

Astrid had her gun pointed at Tarum.She eased it up until the barrel was pointed at the ceiling.

“Why did you do what he ordered? He’sthe man who destroyed your race,” she asked him.

“Because the remnants of the Cappnidrace are being held prisoner three hundred years in the past.Conborand the Soltarians did manage to take some of their weapons to thepast. They carved out an area in the northern hemisphere, which iswhere they are now. The ones of my race who survived are beingherdedinto camps, but he said he would not exterminate them if I did whathe ordered. He said my ancestors can have half the planet; thesouthern half. He will build up his forces and, when they take offinto space to conquer other planets, they will leave and my racecanstay in peace. The Soltarians will leave and not return if we dowhathe said. And if I deliver Major Ryvenbark to him.”

“And you believed them?” I said.

Tarum shrugged. “We had no choice.Our planet was devastated by their attack. Before we could get tothepast, eighty percent of our race died. I wanted to save therest.”

“How many of the invaders died whenyou modified the toxin?”

“Many. But I don’t know thenumbers. There are thousands in the past, both men and women. ButasI told you, they breed fast. In a generation or two they canrepopulate the planet. There are also at least three other humanswith the general. One is a military man. The other two arescientists. With the robots and the knowledge they have taken intothe past, they would be a danger to your race. I said fifty yearsbefore, but that might have been a pessimistic prediction.Certainlywithin a century they will have the capacity that your civilizationhas today. That will include space travel and powerful weapons. Twohundred years in the past, I don’t think your race would withstandthem.”

“I wouldn’t want to take thechance. Is what you told us about the castle true? The Soltarianshave their base there, their weapons and their scientificinformationare stored there?”

He nodded. “They are in no dangerfrom the population. Not three hundred years ago. We had no weaponsback then. When they have built other facilities I’m sure they willmove some of their equipment, but right now everything is in thecastle.”

“Good.”

“What do we do?” Cajun said.

“If there are no other majorsurprises, we follow our basic plan. Tarum, do you know how manysoldiers Conbor took with him to the mountains?”

“Close to a thousand.”

“He certainly wanted the odds on hisside.” I looked at Astrid and Cajun. “We travel back to the past,take out the Soltarians at the castle, destroy their weapons andtheir scientific capabilities and then wait until the soldiersreturnand destroy the rest of their forces. As for the rest of thescattered Soltarians on the planet, we’ll let the Sandeling wintertake care of them. Tarum, there won’t be any more major surprises,will they?”

“No, major.”

“Good, since you were trying to doyour best to save your race and because none of my men were killed,I’ll overlook your previous questionable behavior. If you stayhonest with us, we should be able to save your race. Any moredeceptions and the game is off, understand?”

“Yes.”

As we filed out, I motioned toBlackjack; he walked over and pointed to Tarum, his back towardme.

“Keep your eye on him. I don’ttrust him, not a hundred percent anyway.”

“Sure will, major. Don’t worryabout a thing.”

We walked to the transporter.

“It’s easier if we split the groupinto thirds,” Tarum said. “Would your squad like to go first,major?”

“That will be fine.”

Chapter 14

Fifteen men and women, includingAstrid, joined me in the center of the room. When I signaled ready,alow whiz of a noise flowed through the chamber. The world turnedblack for a moment then we found ourselves in a sunny field. Thewindblew some type of Sandeling dust at us; large, puffy grains thatfloated gracefully through the air. To our right the forest stood.Large brown trunks partially obscured by the dark green of theleaveson the drooping branches. Nothing human or alien moved north orsouthof us. In the distance I saw the faint black outline of the castle.Iwaved my arms toward the trees.

“Let’s go.”

The squad ran over and we tookpositions behind the trees. I didn’t know what type of goggles theyhad at the castle, but I didn’t want us spotted by the defenders.The cousin of an Earth owl whooed in the distance. A brown,four-legged creature scurried ten yards away from us. A blue birdseton the branches above us and looked down curiously.

Everything else was still. Leavesswirled slightly in the wind. But besides the brown forest dwellernothing else moved on the planet. There was nothing in sight. Whichwas a good sign.

Tyson focused his long-range binocularson the castle.

“There’s a lot of Soltariansguarding that wall, sir. But there’s not supposed to be anything onthe planet to guard against,” he said.

“That’s true. How many guards arethere?” I said.

“Looks to be about two hundred andit’s a really big wall.”

I grabbed a pair of binoculars andaimed them at the castle. The word ‘castle’ did not do it just.The binocular screen revealed it was a mile long and a mile wide.About ten yards thick. Higher towers on each corner. In the twoupfront, two ugly-looking Soltarians peered out toward thelandscape.I felt a sense of unease. Tarum hadn’t gone into detail about hisrace’s history, but if the Cappnids had a rural economy and rusticexistence, who built this thing? Then again, Europe had somethingofa rural life in the Middle Ages but it did have a lot of castles,although none to my understanding was as large as this one. Due tothe high walls, I couldn’t see much of the insides. I lowered thebinoculars.

“Mr. Tyson. That’s a little largerthan we were thinking. Can your drones take that out?”

“Think so, sir. The range of aneutron bomb is more than a mile. I don’t think it should be aproblem.”

“Can you get a bomb on a drone?”

“Sure, I can. Really big explosivescome in small packages nowadays.”

“A neutron bomb can take out humans.Will it do the same to Soltarians?”

“It should, although I can’t giveyou a hundred percent guarantee. Ninety-five percent, maybe. But wehave backups if the neutrons don’t work.”

I glanced toward our landing area.

“Where’s our second squad?”

“Don’t know. They haven’t arrivedyet,” Astrid said. She was at my elbow. “Something could havegone wrong.”

“I told Blackjack to keep an eye onTarum. That guy still worries me.”

“By the way, how did you know he wasdouble-crossing us?”

I shrugged. “There was no moment ofrevelation. I just had an uneasy feeling about it. Plus, the more Ithought about it, the more that lizard guy looked like the alienswetangled with on Vanodor. Put one and one together and I came upwith‘there’s something fishy about this.’”

“Wow. That’s why they pay you thebig bucks.”

I sighed and looked again at thelanding area. “They should be here by now.”

“I can go back and check.”

“Not yet. Give them about five moreminutes.”

There was silence for four minutes andthen Ritter spoke up.

“Major, we may have a problem.” Hewas looking into his scanner.

“What type of problem?”

“There’s a large force approachingus from the south. Looks like about two thousand soldiers. I’mreading weapons, difficult to say just what type. I’m guessingthey’re just normal laser weapons. Also, sir, just on the edge ofmy scope it appears another force is heading toward us from theeast.”

“How many?”

“No definitive readings yet, but I’dsay about a thousand.”

“How far away are they?”

“Currently about eight miles.”

“Walking, I hope.” I said.

“Yes, it looks like a convoy onfoot,” he answered.

“That gives us some time.”

We could bounce back to the future andsave the attack for another time. But we needed to take out theSoltarians as soon as possible. If we bounced back and allowedthreehundred years of history to proceed, the planet might be a verydifferent place when we reappeared in the future. It’s a paradoxthat when playing with time you never know how much time you have.Ifwe left now, what would the future look like?

And if we stayed, we could be pinnedagainst three armies. I needed the second squad. Our drones andotherheavy weapons were coming in the second and third time jump.

“Major, the gates of the castle areopening,” Tyson said, as he stared through his binocularsagain.

“They’re putting up a welcomesign?”

“No, sir. Soldiers are marching out.Columns of five, looks like.”

“Darn. I didn’t think we sent outinvitations.”

“They’re not carrying white flags,so I don’t think they’re going to surrender.”

“Shucks, there goes my first option.I was going to accept the surrender.”

“Better go to your second option,sir.”

I didn’t tell Mr. Tyson that therewas no second option. We had one plan – attack the castle. I didn’texpect three armies to be marching toward me with only one-third ofmy s quad. I wondered if Tarum had been lying again. Or possiblyGeneral Conbor had covered all his bases. He was a nasty character,but he was very intelligent.

“Mr. Tyson, can you see what type ofweapons they’re carrying?”

He looked through the binoculars again.I was hoping for some good news.