The Temporal Knights

The Temporal Knights

By

Richard D. Parker

Also by Richard D. Parker

The Temple Island Series:

The Black Horseman

Assassin of the Heart

Elsewhere

The Best of all Possible Worlds

For more information please visit my website at http://www.richarddparker.net/

For Laurie, Mike and Tim

My family, my friends. Always.

Copyright © 2013 Richard D. Parker

Smashwords Edition

The Temporal Knights is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locals is entirely coincidental.

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Epilogue

Prologue

What to do about the anomaly?

Eradication? The thought left T7 very uneasy.

Strange and alien they were, unlike any other successful life form encountered thus far. Obviously a lower order in every respect, barbaric and unstructured, yet they thrived!

T7 sprawled alone in his chamber and brooded. He was still undecided even though there was now little doubt that this bizarre species posed a real threat. A year ago he might have debated the point, but after the initial attack failed, no such opinion could be entertained. He alone among the Council of Thinkers reserved judgment. His peers found this species incomprehensible, utterly repulsive and completely deserving of eradication. T7 agreed, but remained unnerved by this life form. As a collective, they were wholly uncooperative and arcane, an underdeveloped species that was certainly a growing threat to the galaxy.

For the others the decision was simple, but something about this life form left T7 troubled and fearful for the first time in his life. T7 did not understand this form. They were utterly perplexing.

From time to time the Colony’s expansion brought them up against other life forms that were not completely understood, but these species were less successful, less resilient, less a complete mystery. Always in the past, there was at least a foundation for understanding, not so with this new and strange form. The Council was in the dark about this species and T7 knew it.

These beings were completely abhorrent, with their live births and slimy exoskin, but there was something about them that held T7 captive, enthralled, and anxious. T7’s elongated body shivered at the unwelcome thought of having another being squirming and feeding inside his body, thriving and growing within, until finally it was forced from an orifice like a piece of living excrement. The very thought was disgusting; enough to cause him to go blank at times when he considered it. T7 shivered again; he did not understand this vile species and he was afraid.

The form first came to the attention of the Colony some 47 revolutions ago when regular radio transmissions were detected coming from the planet. In the beginning they were viewed as a curiosity, something to study. They were not yet an interplanetary form when the first Colony ship arrived to study them. In fact, they were only very rudimentary fliers, but they were savage to the extreme.

As a species they were disorganized and lacked any semblance of cohesion, instead they were separated into thousands of small collective hives each trying to gain an advantage. At first they were mistaken for a form in the very early stages of development, not a threat, only an amusement. But their Thinkers were very impressive, and their technology grew exponentially. This strange form went from first flight to interplanetary in only about 70 revolutions. It had taken the Colony, the most successful form in the galaxy, nearly 1300 revolutions to accomplish the feat, and another 800 revolutions to go from interplanetary to interstellar. Who knew how long it would take this form to go interstellar? This unknown fact, plus the bizarre makeup of their hives and their extreme warlike tendencies made the Colony very wary, and it was agreed that the form should be considered a great threat. A decision had to be made and made quickly before the form became interstellar and began to spread like a sickness. And so a verdict was reached…eradication. T7 was the last to agree on such a path, but in the end the threat to the Colony outweighed any other course.

However, T7 urged caution. This form was something completely new. That it was successful was no longer a question, but how they achieved such success was a great puzzle. Even now there were hundreds of little colonies still fighting one another for dominance. Every other successful life form encountered in the galaxy had already coalesced into one uniform hive, all working for the collective good. This form was in chaos. Yet their Thinkers were obviously superb, frighteningly so. T7 didn’t understand how this could happen; the species’ hierarchy was completely upside down. There were as many Queens as there were workers and warriors. In fact, it appeared that Queens could function as workers or warriors and still beget offspring. It made no sense and followed no pattern. Successful chaos! There were still many, many questions, and that made T7 uneasy. But a decision had to be made quickly, which was outside the nature of the Colony, and T7 finally agreed...eradication.

The initial attack began as the first attack on other forms always began; the Colony attacked the Queen, or in this case Queens, billions of them. This was a time honored, time tested tactic, and it always...always succeeded. Attack and kill the Queen and no hive, no matter how bizarre, could survive. And initially the attack appeared successful with the new form as well, even if the workers and warriors did not grow lethargic and die with their Queens. This was puzzling at first, but not considered a large setback, after all, what could be done without Queens? In time, the males would die and that would be the end. Even now, their hives were in chaos. Yet after a full revolution, another strange thing happened; the workers and warriors began to pull together, to cooperate. Strange, but still not considered very threatening, and then the Colony discovered something utterly horrifying. This strange species was creating new Queens.

This was not possible!

Only Queens may beget Queens, but somehow the workers and warriors were doing it. Now the entire Council shared T7’s unease.

Eradication...immediately! Aside from T7, who had yet to voice his opinion, the Council had approved an all out attack.

This was the last, best way to protect the Colony. T7 had little doubt the warriors of the Colony would be able to handle the alien form. Their new Queens were not yet mature, and battle would come down to simple attrition. The alien form was still unable to move off the planet; unable to hide, and they would die before the multitude that was the Hive. No, T7 had complete faith in the Colony’s warriors, but his faith was not so great with their Thinkers. Could they outmatch the Thinkers of this strange species? T7 was not so sure, and he was the highest Thinker in the Colony. But with the Warriors outnumbering the alien form 10,000 to one, victory was assured.

Eradication.

T7 finally decided, but the uneasiness did not go away.

Chapter One

The company moved slowly, methodically down the rocky hillside. Each man knew that one false step could mean the death of them all, but they continued on just the same. Despite the danger, they inched their way slowly closer to the deadly cell, crouching, even crawling at times, in their effort to move with absolute silence. The darkness helped. It was a perfect night, utterly black with a new moon and a consistent breeze that came down off the Rockies to the west, strong enough to sway the branches of the nearby trees and rustle the leaves. The continuous movement of the surrounding foliage was the perfect cover for both sight and sound.

Major Matt Thane sat quietly in the rear behind a large boulder, dressed in full battle gear. He watched over a group of men laying claymores and other booby traps on the outskirts of the closest Skawp cell. The men moved silently…and very precisely, despite the darkness, having long adapted to both the strange world of night vision and the guerrilla tactics needed to inflict harm on the enemy; such tactics were the only truly proven method of success against their strange, alien enemy.

During the day such an exercise would be unthinkable, nothing more than mass suicide, but in the dark of night, the Skawps were vulnerable. At night they were sluggish but far from helpless. It only took seconds for a Skawp to rip a captured soldier to pieces, but at least at night they could not locate their prey with anywhere near the efficiency that they displayed in the day. In fact in the darkness they could barely see at all, instead they relied on a primitive form of sonar. It was not nearly as finely honed as the domestic bat, but it allowed the aliens to move about to some degree.

During the deepest part of the night, the creatures would lumber about screaming ‘Skawp Skawp Skawp,’ in the hopes of tracking and finding their prey. It was an otherworldly and frightening sound, especially when the creatures were systematically approaching your position. Major Thane and his comrades learned quickly that as long as they remained very still they were relatively safe, at least until the Skawps blundered close enough to catch their human scent. The Skawps olfactory system was highly developed, but even so they moved about quite slowly after dark, at least until they were close to their intended prey…then they attacked lightening fast. Even in the black of night they were very lethal for the careless. But the soldiers that the Major watched over were far from careless; in fact they performed their jobs as if the lives of all of mankind depended on them, which was exactly the case. They attacked at night, always at night, when the enemy was slow and vulnerable. It was the only way.

During the daylight hours the Skawps were frighteningly fast and very deadly. The Skawps were not bipedal, instead they moved about like an animal, on all fours and occasionally on all sixes when speed was essential. The aliens only stood about four feet off the ground, though the largest were over nine feet long. They had a hard, dark bronze exoskeleton and four full time legs. On their upper body they had one very long arm, full of wiggling tendrils that were incredibly strong. The sticky appendages were used for snatching and holding their victims. They also had a pair of shorter, slasher arms that were tapered and ended in razor sharp points. The slashers were primarily used for slicing apart their prey but they could also be used as legs for speed. It was estimated that the Skawps could run nearly fifty miles an hour for short distances, and any human beings they caught in their sticky grip were quickly and efficiently killed.

The tendrils at the end of their long arm were more like tongues than fingers and could grip and hold with python strength, but they could also perform very delicate work such as handling all sorts of equipment, including firing their deadly pulse laser weapons. They could even operate human rifles and pistols in a pinch. The Skawps had large, oblong heads and a narrow mouth full of tiny sharp teeth, but they rarely attacked by biting, preferring to kill with their slasher arms instead. They had a total of six very small eyes grouped close together just above the mouth. The human scientists who studied them did not believe the Skawps had binocular vision, and shared the opinion that the creatures evolved in a binary star system since their night vision was so weak.

Nearly all Skawps were at least seven feet in length and could scurry very, very fast across even terrain. What was puzzling was that they did not seem overly intelligent and as far as anyone could tell did not communicate through verbal means. There were rumors of another species of alien, a species similar to the Skawps but much more intelligent. A few soldiers, years ago, had reported seeing such beings in the presence of the Skawps. Rumor had it that these smart aliens had very large, white heads and big round eyes, but no one still alive could corroborate the claim. And after the endless years of war, no one much cared.

It was nearly six years ago that the first assault hit the upper atmosphere, unnoticed by then Lieutenant Thane and his colleagues at Peterson Air Force Base, home of the U.S. Space Command and the Air Force Command, but there was no shame in their lack of detection. The boys just up the road at Cheyenne Mountain, the headquarters of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, were not aware of the attack either. The Skawp’s salted the atmosphere with a deadly poison, and within five days every woman, girl, pre-pubescent boy and non-virile male was dead. Nearly 5 billion people almost overnight, including Matt’s wife Cindy, his seven-year-old daughter Shelley and his two-year-old son Matt Jr. What followed was unbridled grief and then chaos, filled with indiscriminate murder, rotting corpses and deadly disease, and finally Martial Law. It took nearly two years before the majority of the United States was stabilized. Even then no one was aware that the Earth had been deliberately attacked, and testosterone, long viewed by many to be the scourge of everything violent in humans, turned out to be the savior, a natural antidote. In time, humans, that new and remarkable species that had only dominated the Earth for a few thousand years, found a way to persevere, and with the announcement of several test tube female births it was assured that the species would defy nature itself and survive…but then the Skawps struck again.

Three years later, to the best of Matt’s knowledge, there were 971 human beings left on planet Earth.

Matt shook his head to clear away the unwanted thoughts and returned his focus on the Skawp cell. Almost immediately he spotted slow but steady movements to the right of his squad.

Thermal sighting, he whispered to his computer and on the helmeted view-screen the landscape was now displayed in heat signatures. Friendlies appeared on the screen as green dots, and any unknowns were lit up red. The surrounding rocks were still radiating the day’s heat and gave off a confused pattern, so Matt switched to a new night vision system.

Microwaves, he whispered and the computer swiftly complied. Again he spotted movement to the right of the crew.

Magnify vector three...seven...one, Matt whispered and immediately identified four Skawps moving carefully around the group’s position. Matt cursed silently then toggled over to the General Battle Frequency or GBF.

Sergeant, we have confirmed Charlies, vector three...seven ...one and circling. Disengage and move your troops to vector seven…five…five. There was only a slight pause.

Roger, an angry voice replied.

Matt cursed again, but fell utterly still and quiet when he spotted the stationary Skawps concealed directly along the line of retreat he had just given his company.

Cancel that, Matt quickly called in, additional Charlies in vector four...three...one…stationary. Retreat back to vector eight...five...five on the double.

No one said anything but the company, represented by green blips on the Major’s shield display, complied instantly with his directions and headed straight back and out. Major Thane however, was busy. First he targeted the stationary enemy’s position with his high intensity invisible laser and logged it into his weapon’s memory system then he concentrated on the moving Skawps now in vector six...one...two. The Skawps were still moving slowly, apparently unaware of the location of the company. The Major hoped they were just routine sentries, fumbling about in the dark, hoping to foil a night attack, which came often. The company was almost out of danger when a trailing soldier stepped on a loose rock and caused a small slide. The Skawps quickly moved in.

Skawp! Skawp! Skawp! The aliens screamed, honing their sonar.

Full retreat, Matt called out and fired a 20mm smart round at the stationary enemy. He did not wait to see if it struck, having already stored the exact distance to the target in weapon’s memory with his laser. After firing, the round simply counted its own revolutions until it had gone the prescribed distance then exploded its dual warheads spreading shrapnel in a deadly uniform 20 meter spread. The concealed Skawps were shredded while Matt concentrated on tracking the moving enemy, which were now heading along an intercept course. Matt followed their movements for several seconds then picked a forward spot along their path and fired his invisible laser at an outcropping of rock. Three seconds later the Skawps moved into position under the outcropping and Matt fired. Almost instantly all the alien sentries were killed, but now the hive was buzzing with turmoil as thousands of Skawps poured out of their fortifications. The night quickly filled with their weird alien cries as they systematically hunted the retreating humans.

Skawp! Skawp! Skawp! The noise was deafening even from a distance. Matt met his company at the correct vector and they moved quickly back to the trail which led to Cheyenne Mountain. Behind them the sky lit up with exploding claymores and mines, as their enemy blundered into the booby traps.

Base this is 3rd Company moving home...Skawp Cell alerted... Sergeant Moore reported in.

Roger...return to base, headquarters replied and the company immediately increased their speed to put as much distance as possible between themselves and their screaming enemies.

It was a quiet walk home. Their mission had failed; the Skawps were sure to trip most of the mines and traps in the night and would now have a clean avenue of advance toward the mountains the following morning.

As they pushed through the large tunnel leading to the bunker, the company slipped beneath the twin powerful flamethrowers mounted on each side of the main entrance to the Cheyenne Mountain complex. Thankfully no flame appeared and they were allowed safe passage, but when the Skawps arrived the twin weapons would be able to fill the tunnel with fire and heat for nearly an hour.

The enormous main door hung slightly ajar, anticipating their return. The door was approximately three feet thick and made of an incredibly strong and thick steel alloy and weighed more than 25 tons, but it was so perfectly balanced it could be swung by a pair of soldiers. They saluted the sentries and passed angrily through the small opening and into the compound.

Damn Skawps! Matt yelled to no one in particular as he moved farther into the main tunnel and then into the large debriefing room just off the main entrance. By now all the companies were returning to base, their entire mission compromised. Everyone was going to be in a seriously bad mood. The Skawps would gain a lot of ground tomorrow, something they could ill afford, especially now near the end.

You slipped up Major, Sergeant Alan Moore accused, as he pushed past and bumped Matt on his right shoulder. Matt glared down at the stocky sergeant but did not retaliate or contradict his assessment of the night’s events.

Easy Alan, Captain Tom Hersey said coming between them. It happens, he added and put a hand on the Sergeant’s shoulder, but Alan shook it off.

He can’t slip up now...everything depends on him, he replied, staring fiercely into the Major’s eyes, but then with a grunt of disgust he headed off toward the back of the room.

Not everything, Hersey called after him and then shrugged to Matt. Soon a driver pulled up in a caravan of battery operated cars and a host of people climbed out including General Joe Wilder, Supreme Commander of all U.S. forces, Colonel Stephen Peebles, Colonel Stuart Lemay, Lee Robertson, the technical director of the facility, Captain Jon Cummings, the chief engineer, and Eve, a four year old girl and the only survivor of the Colorado test tube babies. Her face lit up when she saw the men milling about and she ran to them. The demeanor of every soldier in the room softened immediately. Eve ran over and hugged Matt’s leg then climbing up into Tom Hersey’s arms.

Sergeant Moore walked over and gave Matt an apologetic smile before reaching over and taking Eve from Hersey. She smiled and kissed him.

They have us pretty well sealed off now, Moore reported to General Wilder, showing no more signs of hostility toward Matt. I’d estimate they gained nearly two miles on us yesterday. How did the other teams do?

Surprisingly well, Commander Wilder answered. Fifth Company was partially compromised, but the others completed their missions without incident. It will be enough we think. Jon assures us that the main door will hold out for at least 24 hours, he added and looked for reassurance from his chief engineer, who nodded.

As everyone knows, Lee Robertson began, though that fact did not keep him from repeating the obvious ad nausea. The Skawps, while technologically more advanced, are much slower at adaptation and do not fight well against automated weapons. Once through the outer defenses their lasers will make very short work of the defense door…but it will take them time to circumvent the flamethrowers and the other booby traps we’ve set up for them. Robertson was a tall, lanky man, completely bald except for a small ring of silver hair that circled his head just above the ears and then merged effortlessly into his great bushy sideburns. His face lit up as Eve wiggled out of Sergeant Moore’s arms and came to stand next to him

Commander Wilder nodded, and along with everyone else put up with the lecture, knowing that Robertson was valuable in ways other than his oration skills. Over the years, Robertson and his team managed to learn a great deal about the Skawps from a captured fighter spacecraft.

Surprisingly, it only took six weeks to break the fairly simple codes of the alien computer systems. Once Robertson and his team gained access, information poured into the facilities mainframe where it was analyzed, translated and spit back out for the scientists to study. The Skawps were bizarre and alien, and in the beginning almost incomprehensible, but in the last two years Robertson had made great strides in understanding the enemy. Each day his team of scientists learned more and more, though even after several years they’d processed less than a tenth of the information stored within the alien computers. There was an enormous amount of data.

The Skawps were a very old species, at least a hundred million years older than humans. They were a brutal life form, attacking anyone they perceived to be a threat and from what Robertson and his team could determine they made peace with no one. Those they didn’t consider threatening they ignored, those deemed a threat were destroyed…always.

The Skawps society was made up of different casts, and they were not to be thought of as individuals. The Skawps were part of a hive culture, more akin to ants or bees than anything else on earth, certainly closer to an insect social structure than to anything remotely human. The Skawps that humanity fought on a day to day basis were part of the soldier cast, not particularly intelligent, but they were very, very deadly, and waged war with a singular purpose…the utter destruction of the enemy, no matter what the cost. War was all they did. It was their sole purpose for existing, and while their tactics were not particularly sophisticated by human standards, what they lacked in finesse they more than made up for in numbers. There were untold billions of warriors…a steady stream of soldiers that simply overwhelmed their smaller, deadlier opponents. But the Skawp warriors were just part of a multitude of casts, including scouts, workers, nurturers and a host of others still not yet understood. Toward the top of the hierarchy was a group the Skawps referred to as the Brains, a relatively small group but they had enormous influence and made most, if not all of the decisions for the hive. And of course, at the very top were the Royals, made up of a fairly small group of fertile males and the Queen, the only female in the Skawp hierarchy as far as Robertson and his group could determine.

The translated data revealed that human beings were not the first victims of the Skawps’ aggressive nature. In the past million years or so, thirteen intelligent life forms had been attacked and systematically destroyed. From the archives it was discovered that all the civilizations destroyed by the Skawps were just beginning to explore space. They all had the misfortune of being located within the local group of stars that surrounding the Skawp’s home sun, which if the maps could be believed, was only thirty-two light years from earth.

The Skawps were slow, deliberate and tenacious. But humans were tenacious as well, and it was in the Skawp’s own computers that Robertson discovered the key to possibly defeating this formidable enemy. It was a very small ray of hope, but Robertson found it, nurtured it, and with God’s will, would turn it into reality. This hope, this one spark, was why the rest of the group took his lecture in silence. Lee Robertson was a very, very smart man, even if he did not quite grasp the retention skills of his colleagues.

And what about our Door? Will it work? Will it be ready in time? Matt asked and everyone looked to Jon Cummings.

It does work. We’ve already tested it several times, attempting to calibrate the proper bearings. We’ll be leaving in T-minus 12 hours and 38 minutes, he answered looking at his watch.

Matt just stared at the man with his mouth hanging slightly open, and though the brains of the facility said it was true, he could hardly grasp that the concept actually worked. It was something out of the movies...something out of science fiction, but then of course, so were the Skawps.

We’re going then, Sergeant Moore whispered in awe.

Jon nodded. There will be no coming back, however. We cannot seem to locate any coordinates in the future. We are not sure moving to the future can even be done, and have to assume it cannot. In any case it would be years before we could create enough power to operate a Door again.

You’ve tested it? Matt asked cautiously and both Jon and Lee nodded.

We’ve powered it up and sent through several test objects, Lee explained.

Test objects?

Lee shrugged. A wrench, two apples, a cup of water, and a cat, he said.

How can you be sure it worked if there’s no returning? Matt asked, finally coming to his chief concern.

The engineer and his boss shrugged in unison. It powered up and the objects are no longer here...that’s all the proof we’re going to get, Robertson said with finality and everyone fell silent, considering the implications.

We’re like Twain’s Yankee, Matt finally commented.

Who?

"You know, Twain’s Yankee, ‘The Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.’ If we succeed in going back, our situation will be very similar." Thane explained.

Colonel Lemay grunted. Yes, but this time we’ll be bringing along machine guns and hand grenades.

And don’t forget flamethrowers, Moore added with a laugh.

Yes…well we’re out of time, General Wilder added. Either we succeed or fail with the Door. The Skawps and extinction are the only other option.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, letting the statement sink in.

I need to get back to the reactor, Jon said simply then saluted and left.

Thanks Jon, Joe Wilder said to his back. Alan, you need to get your team coordinated. I want those trucks fueled and ready. The size of the Door will be increased to accommodate the alien ship and the fleet of vehicles we’ll push through it, but because of the larger size there’s really no telling how long the field integrity will hold up. The Door uses up energy exponentially, depending both on its size and time of operation. The trip through is going to be very, very dicey.

Alan nodded and was dismissed and then both General Wilder and Peebles turned to Matt.

Major, the Skawp ship and the nuclear warheads will go through first with you and your team. Whatever else happens you must get through, otherwise this is all for naught.

That is not entirely true, Sir, Robertson corrected, Dr. Rice and I both feel with the contingent we’ve gathered, and with the technology we’ll take back with us, we have a real chance to advance the course of history.

Commander Joe Wilder grunted, unconvinced. He was a stocky, bulldog of a man, with dark piercing eyes, completely no nonsense. And you Brigadier General Peebles... Wilder began and surprised them all by holding out a set of stars to his friend and right hand man, will be going through directly after the ship.

Peebles stood stunned for a moment but quickly gathered his wits. It should be you going through first… he began, but Wilder shook his head.

No…I’ll not leave any men behind if the Door does not hold, he explained. "It’ll be up to you if I don’t make it. If that’s the case, I believe you’ll have your work cut out for you, history may be a bit more stubborn than either Robertson or Rice imagine.

No one said anything for long moment.

Murphy says I’m stubborn too, Eve said solemnly, catching the mood of the grown-ups around her.

Everyone broke out laughing, and though Eve was confused at first, she finally laughed with them.

Get your team ready, Commander Wilder said to Matt, both men still smiling. It was good to laugh despite it all.

Matt nodded. Yes Sir, he said and left the room then immediately went to a hall phone and dialed up his co-pilot and good friend. Captain Murphy Giles answered on the first ring.

Get our flight plan together, and meet me at conference room 10b near my quarters in one hour, Matt said simply.

§

The flight team met exactly one hour later as planned. To survive in the current world everyone had to be efficient, exact, and demanding. At this point, humanity’s survival required fortitude, discipline and a great deal of luck. Those still alive were the toughest, most tenacious and disciplined people the world had ever seen. Until the very end they survived...they were the fittest of the fit.

Such thoughts glided through Matt’s mind as he surveyed his team members. They were tough men, all of them, no matter what their beginnings; the hot fires of war and death had forged them into the hard, deadly soldiers they were. Robertson and the rest were convinced that the men defending Cheyenne Mountain were the very last of mankind, that they were all that stood between continued existence and extinction. Deep down however, Matt prayed that other human beings somewhere were hiding and biding their time…surviving. He was not concerned with who or where, whether it be the Afghans hiding in their rugged mountains, or the Russians deep in Siberia, or perhaps a few thousand Chinese, the tenacious Vietnamese in their jungles...he truly did not care. He just hoped and prayed that somewhere, humans were clinging to life, hiding or fighting, so that humanity would not be fully erased from this world.

Matt blinked and noticed that everyone was staring at him expectantly.

All right, he said stalling and looking once more at each of his team members. To his right was Captain Murphy Giles, a tall fit man with wildly curly hair when it grew long. Murphy was quick to laugh and smile, and was Matt’s co-pilot and second in command during the flight. Also on the team were Lieutenant Harold Wells, technician and paramedic, and finally Lieutenant Gary Turnbull, nuclear specialist and supply officer. A small team, just the four of them...commanded to seek humanity’s revenge and destroy its enemies.

As an overview I’d like Murphy to run down the actual flight plan.

Murphy smiled. All thirty-two light years, he quipped then cleared his throat and became very serious. We’ll take off almost immediately after passing through the Door. The trip to the Skawp’s home planet is already programmed into the spacecraft’s computers. Over the first six months we will accelerate to approximately 99.85% the speed of light. In Earth time it will take just over 400 years, but as you all know, as we near the speed of light time will slow down for us, and the perceived time of the trip will be just over three and a half years. Once we’re in the enemy system we’ll fly over the Skawp’s capital city and release two of our nuclear weapons.

Whether or not the first attack is successful in killing the Queen, approximately four hours later we will fire the remaining two warheads into the center of their capitol city. As you know the nukes are all bunker busters and should penetrate through the surface and into their network of underground tunnels. Each warhead should be able to penetrate the Skawp’s defenses up to a quarter of a mile if not farther, depending on resistance, where they will detonate.

It’s the hope and belief of Director Robertson that if the Queen is not killed, then perhaps the destruction will put the Skawp’s behind the accelerated advance on earth. If we complete our mission and survive, then we will return home and see. Murphy paused for a moment looking each crewmember in the eye.

Total elapsed time of the mission from an Earth-time perspective will be about 850 years. If all goes well, we will return to Earth approximately 270 years before the Skawp’s first attack. Hopefully this will give us enough time to help in the advancement process if General Wilder and the rest fail.

Everyone was silent, grim and determined.

Turnbull, Matt finally said.

"Well, one thing we can be sure of, water will not be a problem. The ship’s fusion engine will create more water than the fission engine can process. Quite ingenious really. The Skawp’s are not fools despite what we think of their warriors and their fighting methods. The engines are completely self-sufficient and it’s anybody’s guess just how long they can operate on the initial water supply we will take aboard, though Robertson assures us it will be far longer than our trip to and from the Skawp’s home world.

Food most likely will not be a problem either; the ship is sufficiently large enough that we can store enough freeze-dried and canned food to last us about ten years. We will also take along live tomato, potato, and bean plants. How they will grow in the weaker gravitational environment we don’t know yet, but studies aboard the International Space Station give us hope. The ship is large enough to store nearly everything we may need, though it will seem quite cozy after three and a half years together. In any case we shouldn’t starve...unless of course Einstein is completely wrong."

Matt smiled and nodded to Harold.

I don’t really have much to add, except that as the ship’s Medical Officer I will demand that we exercise regularly. The artificial gravity created by the Skawp’s ship is only about three-fifths that of Earth’s gravitational pull. Enough to hold everything in place, but not enough to keep our muscles and bones fully developed. However, with enough strenuous exercise we should be able to keep the atrophy to a minimum...and we will take our vitamins.

I have a feeling that boredom and cabin fever will make exercise very enjoyable, Matt answered. And since I am the Commander, and the officer in charge of entertainment and psychological well being, I’m pleased to tell you that we will have millions of movie titles stored in our computer’s hard drive, along with the entire contents of the Library of Congress. We’ll be taking nearly every book known to man. We will also have regular classes, learning everything from second and third languages, to astronomy and physics, and basic mechanical repair. The Skawp’s quantum computers can store a massive amount of data and we have loaded nearly everything ever known to man...and everything ever known to the Skawps. The amount of information is staggering. We’ll study the Skawps, deciphering and reviewing what the computers translate. We will keep busy gentlemen. Our years in space will not be wasted time. Are there any other questions?

There were none, mainly because the men were so committed, but also because none of this was a surprise. There were very few secrets in a community of less than a thousand souls, especially when everyone was working for the common good. They all knew the options and they all volunteered for the mission. Each had their reasons. If the trip through the Door was successful, they could have chosen to stay and live out their lives with some sort of normalcy, but it would not have been their world, nor would they ever conquer space and travel to the stars. Who knew what the future out there might hold? It was enough to lure even the most unimaginative man.

Dismissed then, Matt said. Get your gear and personal effects ready. Gary, I want you to make the final checks on the ship. We move through the Door in exactly, he continued, checking his watch, T-minus 10 hours and 12 minutes. I want to have everything ready and waiting exactly eight hours from now. Everyone will report to the ship at that time.

It took Matt only about fifteen minutes to pack and prepare to leave, that left seven hours and forty-five minutes until he was needed at the ship. It seemed an eternity. He dropped down on his bunk and tried to sleep, but in less than ten minutes he was up again. He couldn’t seem to drive away the thought that human beings would soon be extinct on Earth...at least on this Earth. Frustrated, he paced his quarters, then on impulse he rummaged through his pack and pulled out a picture of Cindy, his wife, and his two kids, Shelley and little Matt. He sat and studied their faces for a long while, not wanting to forget any nuance. In those first years he dreamt of his family often, cruel dreams full of happiness and love before the scenes morphed into the sickly-sweet smell of decaying flesh and dense clouds of buzzing flies. Most nights he woke screaming out in horror and loss. He hated to dream. In his dreams, his family came alive again in every respect, the sound of their voices and laughter, and the way his kids smelled just out of the bath. Sometimes he could almost feel his wife’s soft breath on the back of his neck as he slept. He hoped he would always remember. Finally he sighed and stuffed the picture back into his bag, checked his watch, took one last look around just to make sure he had not forgotten some meaningful bauble, and then headed down to the ship.

Gary was there and saw him coming.

You’re about seven hours early skipper, he said with a smile.

I couldn’t sleep.

Well, Murphy’s inside running a diagnostic on the computer and flight systems and Harold’s been puttering around here too, he added with a soft chuckle. I guess none of us can get out of this place fast enough to suit. He nodded to the commotion that was going on throughout the large hangar. Surrounding the ship were Humvees, trucks, and a few half-tracks, with men swarming around them making last minute preparations for the journey. Matt guessed that over half of the installations population was already down in the hangar. He smiled and took a few steps toward the ramp that led into the ship, but stopped as Murphy came running down.

Good you’re here, he said grimly. I just talked to Commander Wilder; it seems the Skawps are a little ahead of schedule. Departure time has been moved up. We leave in two hours. Just then the alarm sounded and a similar announcement blared over the loud speakers.

He wants to see you in situation room 102, level B.

Matt nodded. Stow my gear will you? he asked and headed off, not hearing the reply.

Ten minutes later he entered the room and found the Commander alone.

Ah, good, Major Thane, he said with a nod and a slight, grim smile. Is your team ready?

Matt nodded. Yes Sir. We could leave now if needed.

Yes, that seems to be the consensus, but I’m afraid Lieutenant Cummings needs a bit more time to reroute our energy needs. But he will be ready in just under an hour, so be set at that time just in case, Wilder said. Come walk with me, he said moving out of the room. Once in the hallway they were bombarded with official aids coming to the General with last minute suggestions or questions, and it took several moments before they were relatively free.

I thought you should know that I’ve decided that two volunteers should be left behind to manually detonate the nuke here at the mountain. We’ve erased all possible information about the Door from our computer systems, but the hardware will still remain. I’ve decided that this is too dangerous to leave to automation. We don’t want any clues at all left behind for the Skawps after we’re gone. If the nuke doesn’t blow, they may be able to piece together what we’ve done, where we’ve gone. Christ, the answer to the Door is in their own computers. It’s too important of a job to be left to machines.

Matt nodded, suddenly sick to his stomach, but aware of the necessity of the situation. It would be a mighty sacrifice for anyone. Wilder noticed his look.

We have to be sure! The nukes have to detonate! It’s imperative or I wouldn’t ask this of anyone.

I know that Sir.

Duncan Hoff is one of the volunteers, Commander Wilder said softly.

Matt’s ears began to roar, and his heart beat wildly in his chest. Duncan had been his close friend since before the first attack. He was there when Cindy and the kids died. They were the last of the pilots from Peterson Air Force Base.

Carl Knubley is the other... Wilder said mostly to himself, but Matt hardly noticed.

You can find them in 22d West, he added and Matt headed off.

Major Thane, Wilder called to his back and Matt turned around, his face frozen in pain. If there was any other way... his voice trailed off and Matt suddenly noticed just how much his commander had aged these past few years.

‘God he’s an old man,’ Matt thought, and nodded that he understood.

I want you on that ship in twenty minutes, Major, Matt heard as he spun and headed off running to 22d.

Yes Sir, he yelled but did not stop and did not turn around.

He burst into room 22d to find Duncan bent over Knubley’s shoulder staring at a computer screen, monitoring the progress of the Skawps against the flamethrowers.

Man, but they are a stupid lot, Duncan said standing and catching the eye of his friend. They held the look for a long moment.

You heard, Duncan said simply, and Matt was again painfully aware of the haunted look in his friend’s eyes. Duncan had been held out of the fighting for several weeks now. He had that look; the look of a man on the breaking point where he was a danger not only to himself, but also to everyone around him. It was the look Matt himself would have acquired had the war gone on only a month longer. It was the look of a supremely tired man.

Matt nodded, trying to control his emotions.

Look, Duncan started, it’s not like we were going to see much of each other in the coming years... He stopped as his throat suddenly constricted. Knubley stood and left the room without a word, only nodding slightly on his way out.

But why? You could have a new life...

I haven’t had much of a life since Tammy and Suz died, Duncan replied, suddenly quiet, thinking of his lost family. I really don’t know what’s been keeping me going all these years, except maybe revenge...and our friendship. But I’m tired, he added, finally bowing his head, and I’m empty, and I consider it a huge privilege to explode the bomb that will kill so many of these…bastards. You have your bombs to drop and I have mine.

But... Matt started but stopped as his friend looked up, his face a mixture of resignation, determination and relief. It was the look of a soldier about to make a suicidal attack on the enemy. It was the look of a man ready to die, a man who no longer cared to go on living, just so long as the constant fear and anxiety disappeared with the life he was too tired to protect any longer.

I’m tired, Duncan finally whispered. Matt nodded and stepped forward and they embraced each other for a long time.

You can do something for me though, Duncan said finally stepping away.

Anything.

When you drop your bombs, tell that bitch of a Queen that they’re a gift from Duncan Hoff.

Matt was surprised by the fact that he was smiling and even laughing a bit.

You bet, he said, and they stared at each other for another long moment.

You’d better get to your ship, Duncan said and Matt nodded, his eyes welling with tears he thought he no longer possessed.

See ya, he said uncomfortably, and they hugged again quickly this time and Matt started out the door.

See ya, he heard as he left.

§

At T-minus ten minutes everyone was in place and most of the sixty vehicles in the convoy were running and ready to depart. Fear was a very real thing, palpable, part of the air around the complex. This was a trip into the ultimate unknown. The space-time coordinates were set and the connection was complete. Lee Robertson and the engineer Cummings were beginning the process of enlarging the Door to a maximum of twenty-five feet wide by thirty feet high. This was a very small space for the vast amounts of energy it required to create, and downright small for the number of vehicles they needed to push through. They would not have a lot of time before the energy supply of the complex was completely depleted. It was a simple question of give and take; the larger the Door, the more energy it used, and the more energy it used, the less time it could remain open. Even this relatively small Door would strain the maximum capacity of both the main and auxiliary generators as well as the entire back-up battery supply of the facility, and the battery supply was a healthy one, the largest of its kind in the world. But getting through was really the least of anyone’s worries. At the top of that list was; does Door actually work?

At T-minus five minutes it was evident that something was happening. The soft crackle of static electricity and the sharp smell of ozone permeated the room, and a fuzzy distortion appeared in the direction where the Door was supposed to form. Matt ordered the ship closed and sealed, relatively confident. He figured that locked in the ship as they were, his crew probably had the best chance to survive the crossing. If the Door only partially worked and they ended up in deep space, at least they were in a ship, and not in a damn hummer.

By now all the vehicles were in line and running, holding just over nine hundred and fifty anxious human beings. The twin towing vehicles were the only thing between the alien ship and the Door, so as Matt took his place behind the main console he had an ideal view of the forward hangar. Captain Giles sat on his immediate right, with Lieutenant Wells and Lieutenant Turnbull sitting just behind them. The ship itself was powered down and waiting. Her engines would not be fired up until they reached the other side, and the success of the trip was confirmed.

At T-minus four minutes an announcement blared over the loudspeakers that the Skawps had defeated the automated tunnel defenses. Matt glanced silently over at Murphy, each knowing that it would not matter what the Skawps did anymore, just so long as the Door functioned properly. And it better function on the very first try, because they were out of time.

At T-minus three minutes the power generators for the Door were turned to full and the lights of the complex went completely out for a moment before the back-up lights came on. There was a faint, silvery metallic shimmering hovering in the air as the energy conductors heated up. The shimmering steadily grew stronger. It looked vaguely like the heat waves emanating from a concrete highway on a hot, August afternoon. The far side of the hangar was still visible through the waves, but the view was growing distorted.

Field integrity at fifty percent, the loud speakers announced.

At T-minus two minutes the shimmering effect was very strong and an occasional bolt of lightning sliced quickly across from one side of the Door to the other, however no noise accompanied the strike. A dark blue tint was creeping in from the edges of the shimmering Door.

Field Integrity seventy percent.

At T-minus one minute the shimmering effect was definitely electric in its movements and beauty. Bolts of electricity were now crossing from one side of the Door to the other with regularity. The dark blue tint covered roughly ninety percent of the Door, and the far side of the hangar was now completely obscured.

Warning! Skawps are in the facility! Warning! Skawps are in the facility! The loudspeakers blared and suddenly nearly every light in the place went out to slow the enemy advance. Warning alarms shrieked loudly in an attempt to hinder the Skawps sonar.

Field integrity ninety percent.

At T-minus thirty seconds the field integrity was at one hundred percent and the crossover was a go! The Door was now a mass of electrical discharges on a large blue-green background. The far side of the hangar was completely hidden, as was their final destination, obscured in a mass of electrical discharges. It would take a leap of faith to push through into the unknown, into the abyss. Matt’s hands were shaking, and he was sweating profusely from every pore, as the towing vehicles started forward, gently pulling the ship into motion.

My God! Wells said mostly to himself, eyes wide as he stared at the strange phenomenon before them. No one else spoke or turned their eyes from the spectacle in the front of the ship. Everyone present knew that it was either take this plunge into the unknown, or die at the hands…or claws of the Skawps.

The front of the tow vehicles hit the Door and immediately the electrical bolts concentrated on their hoods. As they pushed through, the front sections of the vehicles were no longer visible, but still the ship moved forward. They moved slowly at first and they all watched in fascination as the men driving the lead vehicles hit the electrical discharge. To the soldier’s credit they did not panic as they approached the storm and from Matt’s vantage point they moved through without apparent injury, but there was no real way to tell. And then they were gone, hopefully over to the other side. The tow vehicles were now invisible, but the ship was still moving forward at a crawl, and then with a jolt, the forward motion increased and they were at the Door.

Heaven help us, Wells said again, apparently the only one of the four who could find his voice, though the rest of group completely agreed with his sentiments. And suddenly they were in the Door and darkness. The air pressure grew alarmingly fast despite the sealed environment within the ship, and they all grabbed their ears trying in vain to equalize the pressure. Darkness and pain for a long moment and then suddenly light. All at once their ears and sinuses popped, ending the pain and bringing huge relief. And then they were rolling down a grassy hill still joined with the towing vehicles, but apparently slightly out of control. Thankfully they were not going very fast and within moments they reached the bottom of the hill and rolled to a stop. Matt and the rest in the ship sat quietly for a moment just staring at the countryside around them. The day was sunny with great puffy white clouds moving rapidly across the sky. They all watched as the men driving the tow vehicles jumped out and looked past the ship back up the hill. As if on commanded they all jumped from their seats and ran quickly toward the exit to the craft.

As the ship’s door opened the first thing they noticed was the sound of lightning ripping through the air and the crash of thunder following deafeningly behind. The din was incredible. They all raced outside and stared back up the hill.

From this side, Matt and the others could see the hangar in Cheyenne Mountain clearly and the long line of vehicles moving slowly toward the electrical discharges and the Door. Lightning was everywhere, shooting high up into the sky or striking the ground and with each bolt thunder crashed, incredibly loud and frightening. Slowly the line of trucks and Humvees crossed through the Door and with each passage a sonic boom echoed across the land. The noise rolled out and away over the hilly countryside as truck after truck coasted, engines silent, down the hill toward the ship. This continued on for several unbelievable minutes when all of a sudden the electrical charges stopped and the Door snapped closed.

The day grew ominously quiet. Two trucks were midway through when the Door’s integrity collapsed. The first was cut right through the middle, the other just before the cab. The half truck quickly rolled to a halt, dragging its axle in the dirt. Seconds later a dozen or so men scrambled out of the back, horror spread over every face. Behind them came one lone, piercing scream. Matt instinctively ran toward the vehicle joined by a host of others. They all quickly converged at the back of the truck. Inside two men were dead, cut completely in half from the top of the skull to the crotch. One man, Dave Norton, lay screaming on the floor of the truck. He must have been leaning a bit because his left arm was gone at the elbow and his body was cut in half just below the hips. He was looking at where his legs used to be and screaming, but his missing limbs were now in a different time, a different place. Blood was everywhere, and at first everyone just stood and stared at the doomed man. Then, without warning, a shot rang out and everyone jumped, even Norton, though for different reasons. His screams stopped abruptly.

Colonel Lemay, who was standing directly to Matt’s right, holstered his side arm. General Stephen Peebles stood beside him, grim faced.

Any more coming through? the General asked as Matt continued to stare at what was left of poor Norton.

No Sir! someone answered and the General’s frown deepened, and then it hit Matt suddenly, like a hammer blow; Commander Wilder was not among them.

In fact, far into the future, the Commander was staring silently at the place where the Door existed just seconds before. His hummer was directly behind one of the halved trucks. Men were climbing out of the back, horror stricken.

Field integrity Zero, he heard the loud speakers say. He just had time to step from his vehicle before a swarm of Skawps flooded into the hangar. Instantly gunfire and laser fire erupted in the semi-darkened room, creating a macabre strobe light effect. Commander Wilder drew his sidearm, intent on joining the fight but before he could fire his weapon the world went white and Duncan Hoff had his revenge.

Chapter Two

Every vehicle is down, Newton reported. We think the trip through the Door fried all the electrical systems."

Can they be repaired? General Peebles asked, very concerned.

Yes. We brought enough spare parts, but it’s going to take time.

Peebles nodded looking about at the landscape for a moment. Colonel, he said turning to Lemay. Establish a perimeter...one klick out. We’ll make camp here until our transportation has been repaired. Anyone not directly helping with the repairs should be assigned guard duty...full battle gear, and get a bug up. I don’t want to be surprised by Skawps or anything else.

The Colonel saluted and turned to go.

And Colonel...I need a personnel count...who exactly made it through.

Lemay nodded.

Matt turned to Lieutenant Turnbull. Check the ship, especially the electrical systems.

I’ll do a full diagnostic just to be sure, Gary replied and headed back down the hill just as Lee Robertson and Gordon Rice walked up toward the General. They were an odd pair; Robertson was very tall, thin, and bald, whereas Rice was shorter, thick and broad, with a shock of very red hair and pale Gaelic features.

As soon as you know anything concrete let me know, the General said to Matt, who saluted and then moved off with Murphy and Harold. They all headed down to the ship together.

On the way, Matt studied the surrounding countryside. They’d landed, so to speak, in the middle of undulating grasslands. The immediate area was sporadically covered with large, jagged rocks, not quite boulders, which were strewn about in no particular pattern. The sky was now overcast, the clouds moving along very fast, and it was cool, the temperature probably in the middle sixties. He felt very exposed and half expected to see Skawps come pouring over the horizon, catching them in the open. Thankfully his fears were unfounded and the landscape remained empty, which was a blessing except for the fact that there were no people about either. The wind, whistling over the grassy hillsides, helped to give the area a very empty feel. Wherever they were, the countryside felt very, very desolate. One thing was sure however, they were not in Colorado anymore; there were no mountain peaks visible in any direction.

It took them nearly an hour to assess the damage to the ship and it wasn’t good. For some unknown reason the main engines were offline, and though the electrical systems were not a complete loss there was substantial damage. Matt helped Gary painstakingly check the wires and leads. Most were intact, but they found a few fused together in some strange places. Harold thoroughly checked the onboard computer systems and had to replace one memory card and a motherboard. Thankfully, the computers came back online rather quickly, even though the engines did not, but at least now