The Ship Finder Read online

  As Raven's squad members struggled up the incline, they tried not to make themselves easy targets. They stealthily climbed the big hill, taking care not to create silhouettes against the sky.

  Wilson speculated, did Terac's squad attack us, or was it another detachment of rebels? If they don't know that Lena and I are on their side, they might kill us. He had no desire to endure the pain of death, even if he could live again.

  Corporal Remington glanced down, as a beam of light formed a red spot on his chest. An instant later his body exploded when a laser-guided grenade hit him and detonated. The rebels had a new weapon, designed to destroy each enemy soldier forever.

  Bluish smoke wafted up from the bits of rag that had been Remington's blue work shirt. Wilson smelled burned skin and cloth. All that could be gathered was the man's DNA.

  When Remington died, it was the first time the Sunevians had seen the laser-guided grenade and its terrible effects. This new weapon chilled them to their bones.

  Wilson had smashed and cut his left arm on a jagged tree branch when he hit the ground after Remington's body had exploded. Wilson bled from the gash, and his nerves sent pulses of pain throughout his arm like hammer blows. He gritted his teeth, got up, and ran twenty feet. He dove to the ground and crawled to relative safety behind a mound of dirt at the top of the hill.

  A laser beam illuminated the clay where he had been a fraction of a second before. The grenade that followed exploded and sent shrapnel out from the point of its impact. Wilson was down flat when jagged bits of metal whistled by him.

  Salty sweat rolled down his forehead and into his eyes. They burned, and he was unable to see clearly for a few seconds. Wilson wiped the perspiration away with his shirtsleeve and peeked over the dirt pile. Two cyborgs and a clone charged up the hill, moving forward one at a time, alternatively covering one another with rifle and ray fire.

  He raised his ray pistol and aimed in the direction of a rebel who was on the attack. Wilson squeezed off a shot, missing the cyborg on purpose. But Raven's ray shot cut a hole in the rebel's belly, and he collapsed and burst into flames. Black smoke bellowed up like a smoke signal from the destroyed mass that was once a living, breathing intelligent being.

  "Wilson, can you see anyone behind us, over the hill?" Raven asked. He aimed his weapon again and fired at yet another charging rebel.

  "I don't see anybody," Wilson replied. "Let's get down there and back into the jungle."

  "Okay," Raven said.

  Lena snaked part way down the hill to lush vegetation on the slope, then slipped and rolled forty feet down the rest of the steep hill. She came to a stop amid thick leaves that hid her. Wilson fired at a second enemy and pulled the shot to the side, but one of Wilson's shipmates blew off the rebel's mechanical left arm. The wounded cyborg continued to charge. Raven fired and hit the enemy soldier's left leg, and the beast-like creature buckled and fell. Even so, he still fired bullets from his mini-gun.

  A sharp pop next to Wilson's left ear caused him brief pain. A bullet from a conventional firearm had missed his head by half an inch. He wondered, why do I still aim away from the rebels, even if they're on my side?

  As more cyborgs ascended the hill, a burst of bullets and ray beams just missed him, kicking up puffs of dust. Wilson's wounded arm throbbed, and though it was painful, he dove and rolled down the hill.

  From the crest of the hill Raven tossed an old-fashioned hand grenade at a dozen cyborgs, and it exploded among them. He was the last of his party to roll down the hill and into the dark jungle leaves below. He now was Wilson's enemy, but he was a good officer, loyal to his soldiers.

  Above his heart Wilson wore a holster and the heavy, ancient pistol that Lena had given to him from the encounter with the thugs in Honolulu's Chinatown. The big silver pistol was his ace in the hole – a last resort. Maybe its metal could even deflect a death ray or a bullet with his name on it.

  Some cyborgs had old, conventional arms, so the pungent smell of cordite, primitive gun smoke, invaded Wilson's nostrils as Raven and the remainder of his squad moved deeper into the jungle. Rebels yelled and broke branches behind Raven's fleeing troops and sent a chill of fear through Wilson's body.

  Chapter 34 – Jungle Fight

  Tiny insects buzzed near Wilson's head and stuck in his eyes while the air was thick with humidity. The 100-degree heat intensified his headache. His head throbbed nonstop, and sunlight flashed through breaks in the canopy of trees above, impairing his vision. Short of breath, he, Richard Raven, Ricardo Yarnell, and Lena Lavelle thrashed through the jungle while the rebels chased them. The rest of Raven's squad of twenty Sunevian soldiers was dead.

  "Hold up!" Raven said between gasps. The four stopped on the side of a hill. "I'll plant a micro-fusion bomb here. Take cover behind the next rise. Be with you in a minute. I'll set off the MFB when the enemy comes up." Raven took a marble-size bomb from his backpack. He unsnapped the radio control trigger from the explosive and began to scratch a small hole in the dirt to hide the MFB.

  "Let's go," Yarnell said. Lena and Wilson followed him. Wilson struggled forward, tripped on a root and fell. Lena stopped to help him up.

  "You good?" she asked.

  "Yeah," he said.

  They resumed climbing the steep jungle hill still behind Yarnell. Wilson grabbed bushes and small trees to pull his body up the last few yards to the hilltop. Lena rolled over the top of the knoll, and Wilson skidded down beside her and Yarnell.

  "The MFB might just stop the rebels," said Yarnell, who started to catch his breath. His face was muddy from soil mixed with sweat.

  "I hope so," Wilson replied. The stomp of boots on vegetation came from above them, and Wilson aimed his ray gun toward the noise. Raven peeked over the hilltop and then slid down to his colleagues.

  "The enemy is almost to the bomb," Raven said. "I saw their scout. I don't think he saw me." Raven pushed the micro fusion bomb's radio control trigger.

  The blast rocked them. Moments later, dirt, small pebbles, shattered branches, and other plant parts pelted them.

  "Come on," Raven said. They rose and moved farther into the jungle. Even if the rebels were now his allies, Wilson hoped that they had had enough and would quit their pursuit.

  "I've got another one of those bitches," Yarnell said. "We should plant it here, and march for an hour. Then if we detonate it from a couple of miles away, they'll think we're close to where the second bomb went off."

  "Good idea," Raven said. "We should wait about thirty minutes and then place it."

  "Okay," said Yarnell. "I'll set one up a half hour from now." He glanced at his watch. "My watch has stopped. It must have been hit."

  "We should split up," Wilson said. "It would be harder for the rebels to get us all."

  "We're better off if we stick together," said Raven. "Headquarters will send a rescue team when they get a distress signal from the ship's black box. If we're all over the place, they might not find us all."

  "I agree," said Yarnell. The four trudged through the jungle for another twenty minutes and came to a clearing, which they skirted. They didn't see rebels behind them. Big flies buzzed near Wilson's head, and some landed on Lena's face. She and Wilson had given up shooing them away.

  "I'm not sure if the black box survived the blast," said Raven, as they slogged along to put more ground between themselves and the rebel squad.

  "We'll just have to do the best we can," said Yarnell. "Each pack has a couple of ready-to-eat rations. We can hunt. There's got to be some fruit in the jungle."

  "Let's rest," said Raven. He set his pack down and sat on a high tuft of grass on the edge of a sunny glen. Yarnell sat near him while Lena and Wilson walked to a shady spot under the cool leaves of a broad-leafed tree. Yarnell and Raven were far enough away so that Lena could talk quietly with Wilson and not be heard by the two men.

  First, she kissed Wilson's lips, and then whispered, "I received a confirmation signal that Art Terac's squad has tracked my GPS signa
l. Be ready to run when they find us. If he's at their front, we'll know him by his blond hair."

  "Okay," Wilson said, and he returned her kiss. Her lips were tender, even if her kiss was a deception. For a split second he thought she was Rachel.

  "No more, now," Lena said, and she pushed Wilson away.

  "Raven and Yarnell are ready to go," Wilson said. He had seen that the two men were standing and talking. Yarnell pointed to his watch, and Wilson saw that a faint red light was flashing on Yarnell's timepiece.

  Wilson stood up, and helped Lena to rise. Then they approached Yarnell and Raven. All of the sudden Yarnell trained his ray rifle at Lena and Wilson. "You have some explaining to do," Yarnell declared.

  "What?" Wilson asked. Lena put her right shoulder against the side of Wilson's chest. He felt her reach for her holster, which she wore on her back.

  "The GPS tracker on my watch tells me that one of you is sending a signal to the rebels," Yarnell said, and he brought his rifle to his shoulder. "Drop your weapons."

  "Why would you get this signal only now?" Wilson asked, as he tossed his new ray gun onto the ground. He still had his old ray pistol in his holster.

  "I smashed my watch on something when we were getting away. Two minutes ago, I pushed the battery back in place, and the GPS tracker flashed. It got stronger as you came near."

  Lena shoved Wilson to her right, rolled away, fired her ray pistol, and hit Yarnell in the forehead. A fraction of a second before Yarnell was hit, he had fired. His ray bounced off the antique pistol strapped over Wilson's heart.

  Raven struggled to unsling his rifle from his shoulder, but the sling caught on his backpack strap. Wilson drew his old ray gun from his holster, fired, and hit Raven. Afraid of killing a rebel ally if surprised, Wilson had set his weapon to "shock."

  "Yarnell's dead," Lena said. Tears dripped down her face. "I thought my pistol was on shock." She fell to her knees, wrapped her arms around her head, and sobbed. High-pitched whistles came from several directions, and Lena looked up. She wiped tears from her face.

  "That's the signal Terac used when he broke me out of jail," she said.

  From behind the undergrowth, rebel fighters stepped out, their ray rifles aimed at Wilson and Lena. A man with blond hair appeared from behind a bush. "It's Lena Lavelle and Dr. Wilson, men. It's okay. They're on our side," said Art Terac, the clone rebel.

  The rebels lowered their weapons, and Lena stood up. Her ray gun dangled in her left hand as she trotted to Terac and then hugged him.

  "I'm glad you found us," she said. "A cyborg squad chased us."

  "They were the National Guard," Terac said. "Word about you didn't get to them. They're dead now, destroyed by an MFB explosion. Did Raven's people set it off?"

  "Yes," Wilson said, as he walked closer to Terac and Lena, who still clung to each other.

  Lena released the blond rebel from her embrace, and her face flushed under a film of dirt that coated her skin. "Bill and I pulled our shots off target, even though we finally realized the National Guard troops had no idea who we were," she said.

  Terac pointed to Yarnell's corpse and Raven's crumpled body. "Looks like you took care of them. We should blow them to bits to make sure they won't be after you again."

  "No, Art." Lena said. "We want them alive. I didn't mean to kill Yarnell. I just wanted to shock him."

  "Raven's only stunned," Wilson said, and he pointed to the "shock" setting on his pistol.

  "He'll die anyway, and Yarnell can't come back, even with the help of the best nano meds the Great Leader's people may have," said Terac.

  "What do you mean?" Lena asked.

  "The war will be over in hours, and we're going to win," Terac said.

  "What happened?" Wilson asked.

  "Do you remember the last dose of nano meds we gave you that had anti truth serum chemicals and some other stuff in it?"

  "Sure," Wilson said.

  Terac slung his rifle over his shoulder. "The other stuff included a dose of some shit that protects us from the lethal virus we dropped all over Sunev a few days ago. The virus not only attacks people who are unprotected from it, but it destroys the protective nano chemicals in their bodies."

  "That's genocide," Lena said. "Did our forces release the virus here, too?"

  "No, but my squad's bodies carry it," Terac said. "If we breathe close enough to Raven and Yarnell, it will spread to them. But don't worry. All of us have an antidote to the virus in our systems. Everyone on this planet has been vaccinated, except these two guys." Terac pointed at Yarnell's body and the unconscious Raven.

  "Do you have some emergency doses of the antidote?" asked Lena.

  "Yeah," said Terac, "I've got a few extra doses."

  "Give one to me," Lena said.

  "Why?"

  "What do you think, Art?" she said. "I'll give it to Raven to save his God damned life. Almost everyone else on Sunev, except those who got the antidote, will die, right? So what's the problem? He's one man. Give the shit to me, now!"

  "Okay," said Terac, and he placed his pack on the ground next to Wilson. Then Terac took out a small olive drab plastic case, and he unsnapped its cover. He grabbed a hypodermic needle with an ampoule of the antidote, and handed it to Wilson. "You're the doctor."

  Wilson prepared the shot, stuck the needle into Raven's arm, and pushed the plunger that drove the life-saving dose into his body. Wilson hoped the antidote would act fast enough to save Raven.

  Lena and Raven had been friends, maybe even lovers. She had admired Gandhi and Martin Luther King, who believed in nonviolence. But Lena had already killed most of the crew of The Ghost Liner when she set off the bombs on the ship. Then she had sent a lethal ray into Yarnell's head, even if by mistake.

  Her body was shaking, and she said, "What about all the innocent civilians, clones, and cyborgs on Sunev? How many are dead or will die because they didn't get the antidote? Are we any better than the Great Leader and his bunch?"

  "It was total war," said Terac. "If we hadn't let loose the virus, they might well have destroyed us all."

  "We don't know that," said Lena. "But we may just have killed every man, woman, child, clone, and cyborg on Sunev except for a few we chose to save. Our people have played God. We've wiped out the civilization that created us."

  "They created us in their image," said Terac.

  "You said it," said Lena. "We did a ghastly thing."

  "But the war is won. It's over," said Terac.

  "Yes, and I'm sick of it," said Lena. She sat next to Raven and looked at his thin face, his gray hair, and the crooked grin that even now was formed by his lips.

  "I'll use some smelling salts to wake him," Wilson said.

  "Better disarm him first," said Terac.

  Wilson picked up Raven's rifle and tossed it to a rebel fighter and then removed Raven's pack that contained a mini-fusion bomb. Finally, he searched Raven and took his pistol and a knife strapped to his ankle.

  "Okay, here goes," Wilson said. He crushed an ampoule of smelling salts under Raven's nose, and he stirred. Then his eyes opened.

  "What the hell happened?" Raven asked.

  "You're a prisoner of the rebels," Wilson said.

  "Why did Rachel fire at us?"

  "She's not Rachel. She's Lena," Wilson said.

  "Oh, so they switched places," said Raven. "What about you, Bill?"

  "I'm a rebel, too," he said. Wilson looked down at the ground for a second, and then looked back at Raven.

  "I thought so, but I was in denial," Raven said. "And I thought 'Rachel' was a little less lively and acted a lot like Lena."

  "What will we do with the other one?" asked a skinny rebel soldier. He pointed to Yarnell's body.

  "When we leave, we'll blow him apart with a grenade," Terac said.

  "We might be able to bring him back to life with nano meds if we act fast enough," said Lena. "We could restore his memories from Central Computer Storage. The war's over."

  "The war
is over?" Raven mumbled.

  "Yes, for all practical purposes it is, and most Sunevians are dead or dying from germ warfare," said Lena. "The rebels spread a killer virus that Sunevian nano medicine can't stop."

  "Won't that kill everyone, if it gets loose on Triod?" Raven slurred.

  "There's an antidote," Wilson said. "I gave you a shot of it when you were out. Lena insisted."

  "What are you going to do with me?" asked Raven.

  "Just let him go," said Lena as she turned to Terac. "There aren't many Sunevians left, except those who got the antidote."

  "He's a prisoner of war, Lena," said Terac.

  Lena walked to Terac and put her hands on top of his shoulders. As the rebel team stared at the two of them, she turned Terac aside. "Art, I don't want you to act like the enemy. Let's start now to heal the wounds of war."

  While Terac and the rest of his squad were distracted, Wilson stealthily reached into Terac's pack and took out a bottle of rebel nano meds as well as the plastic case of antidote doses. Then he prepared another shot.

  Terac looked into Lena's eyes. He hesitated.

  Out of Terac's sight Wilson moved to Yarnell's body and stuck the hypodermic needle into his arm.

  "Art, we ought to give Raven his weapon," Lena said. "Let him go. Just keep the mini-fusion bomb."

  "I don't know," Terac said. He shook his head.

  Wilson worked fast, pouring rebel nano medicine into Yarnell's wound, and then taping a pen-sized device to the wounded man's chest to send electric pulses to his heart. Not sure the antidote would circulate, Wilson pushed down on Yarnell's chest over and over again. Wilson touched Yarnell's neck and felt a weak pulse.

  "The God damn war's over! Let Raven go," Lena screamed. "Let's just be done with it, Art."

  If I can save Yarnell, it'll take a couple of weeks to regrow his damaged skull and get him out of danger. Lena told me bone can grow as fast as deer antlers do on Earth, about a quarter inch a day, about the fastest any mammal can produce tissue, Wilson recalled. Nano medicine makes brain cells grow even faster. But the rebels need to get Yarnell's memories from computer backup, and copy them to his brain. It's a good thing his last thoughts are gone. He won't remember dying.