Hell's Hoplites - Book 1 - Thebes - 16 - Chapter 15

Chapter 15 -

Sol System - Thebes - Theban Archive

December 11th 2535 AD - 20:45 GMT

“Yeah it will be if one of you assholes doesn’t haul me up before I lose all feeling in my arms and hands,” Jack called from inside the shaft.

“Jack,” Suzanne said her voice a sob of relief.

“Yeah that’s my name don’t wear it out,” he said with a grin looking up at her.

“What are you ten,” Samuel said reaching down and grabbing one of Jack’s arms as Fox did the same thing on the other side.

“Sheesh, no one has a sense of humor anymore,” Jack grumped half seriously as Fox and Samuel pulled him up.

“You bastard,” Suzanne said punching him in the stomach.

“Oomph, what the hell was that for?” He asked her.

“That was for scaring the crap out of me,” she told him and then locked her lips onto his and grabbed the back of his head to hold him in place.

“Oh I like that much better,” Jack said after she released him.

“Thought you would,” she said with a smile.

“Well gentlemen and ladies it looks like we’ve got a clear path to the Archive,” Jack said waving a hand at the empty shaft.

“Yeah but how do we get down there?” Fox asked.

“That’s a good question it sounded like it took quite a while for Rice to hit the ground so climbing down will probably be out of the picture,” Samuel said.

“Taki will probably know how,” Jack said and pulled out his comm.

“Marie, David bring Taki in everything is clear.”

“We kind of wondered who won considering all the gun fire stopped,” David said and a few seconds later the three of them entered the archive ante-chamber.

“Yeah well we won sort of with a little bit of help,” Jack said with a small shake of his and glanced behind himself at the empty elevator shaft.

“So where’s Rice?” David asked.

“Down there,” Samuel said motioning with his thumb over his shoulder.

“Oh,” David said looking past the former Marine.

“So what now?” Suzanne asked.

“I’m assuming we need to get down there,” Jack said motioning with his hand behind himself and then decided to move several feet away from the open elevator.

“Yeah only problem is we don’t have enough rope to get down there,” Fox explained.

“What is the problem father?” Taki said stepping forward towards Jack and looking up at him.

“Oh, Taki,” Jack said blinking still not used to being called father. “We don’t have anyway to get down to the archive,” he told her.

“It is simple father all you have to do is enter your personal access code and place your palm against the panel,” Taki explained.

“Uh, I kind of forgot my pass code,” Jack said patting at his pockets as if he were looking for a piece of paper with the code written on it.

“But father you know it, there is no way to forget it,” Taki insisted.

“Uh,” Jack said blinking again.

“Why don’t you try that code you used on Mars,” Samuel suggested.

“Oh, totally forgot about that,” Jack said and walked over to the panel next to the elevator shaft and tapped in the code he’d used numerous times on Mars and a hand shaped impression extruded from the panel and Jack pressed his hand against the panel.

After a few seconds of nothing happening Jack was just about to say something when marble doors slid shut across the elevator opening and then slid back open.

“That’s interesting,” Suzanne said leaning in to peer at the floor of the elevator shaft.

“What?” Jack said peering over to look inside the shaft.

Instead of a bottomless black pit there was now a milky white almost translucent floor to the elevator but no walls could be seen save for the shaft walls.

“Is it safe?” Marie asked suspiciously.

“Only one way to find out,” Jack said and pushed Samuel towards the opening.

“Hey, what the hell,” Samuel said stutter stepping onto the elevator platform.

“Oh don’t worry I knew it was solid,” Jack said.

“Asshole,” Samuel muttered as the whole group stepped onto the white platform.

“So how does this thing work?” Fox asked.

“Well it appears to be some sort of solid light projection held together with a magnetic field…Ouch,” David started to explain.

“I meant how do we get it to move?” Fox said after clouting the younger man on the back of the head.

“Oh, dunno, is there a control panel of some kind,” David said peering around.

“I’m not real sure,” Jack said and then the platform started sliding downwards at high speed.

“I guess you just had to think it,” Suzanne said.

“I’m surprised it worked at all then,” Samuel said dryly.

Jack shot him a dirty look and made sure that a fresh magazine was seated in his M4.

The platform came to a gradual slow halt at the bottom of the shaft and then dissipated as it touched the lower level’s surface.

Walking out of the shaft everyone was stunned to silence by the enormous size of the underground facility. The ceiling soared a kilometer over their heads and the walls to either side as well as the back of the chamber must have been another kilometer distant each. The area they were standing on ended abruptly in a great yawning chasm that stretched over three quarters of a kilometer into the distance before another shelf could be seen across the way with an obelisk like object shrouded in shadows.

Jack looked around more closely and saw what looked like two metallic sphinxes resting on their haunches to either side of the shaft they had come down. Rice’s broken body lay at the foot of one of them and the woman that had shoved both him and Jack into the shaft was now impaled on the upraised pointed metallic wings of the other.

“Bad way to go,” Suzanne whispered glancing at the dead woman whose eyes stared sightlessly up at the ceiling.

“She worked for a mad man and got what she deserved,” Fox said.

“It’s still a hard way to go and she did try to stop him before he killed Jack,” Suzanne said.

“Yeah but nearly took me on a long drop with a sudden stop in the process,” Jack grimaced and moved towards the edge of the chasm.

Peering over the lip of the platform he shone the light attached to the M4 down into it and saw complete and utter darkness with no sign of a bottom.

Samuel stepped up next to him and opened one of the pouches on his LBE vest and pulled out three Cylium sticks. The faint sound of the glass beads breaking as he bent them seemed to echo up from the chasm and then he shook them vigorously before chucking them outwards and down.

After about ten minutes the light of the sticks disappeared and everyone stared for probably another five minutes and didn’t hear the impact of them hitting the ground.

“Okay note to self do not fall off of platform into bottomless pit,” David said as if writing it in a journal.

“Good plan let’s try and not do that then,” Samuel said crouching down and leaning over the edge to take a look at the wall of the chasm.

“What do you see Samuel?” Jack asked crouching next to him and grabbing the back of his belt and the drag handle on his vest just to be on the safe side.

“There is some sort of indentation and a socket with something that might be a retractable bridge pulled into it,” Samuel said after about a minute’s worth of examination.

“A retracting bridge that long,” Marie said in surprise.

“Yeah seems like it,” Samuel said standing up and clapping his hands together to clean dust from them.

“Anybody see a control mechanism anywhere?” Jack asked letting go of the drag handle.

At the question everyone except Taki and Jack spread out and started looking for some sort of mechanism to activate the bridge.

Jack took the time to get a good look at the cavern around them. The platform that they were on covered about a half kilometer by two kilometers; the walls were a smooth highly polished black malachite flecked stone that didn’t show any age or wear, not even so much as any pitting.

Looking up at the ceiling he shone his light towards it and what he at first thought was stalactites became more clear and he saw that they were actually four sided pyramids that were hanging down from the ceiling each looked like it was exactly the same length and width and perfectly formed.

“Huh looks like they were designed to deaden sound, probably from the surface and from in here,” Jack said musingly.

“What are they looking for father?” Taki asked him.

“They are looking for a way to activate the bridge so we can get across to the other side,” Jack explained still looking around.

“Why do they need to do that father,” Taki said walking towards where the bridge was retracted and started to step off into the chasm.

“Taki! Wait no!” Jack shouted grabbing for her arm but was too late as she started to drop.

Fearing he would watch the young woman fall to her death Jack blinked in surprise as she dropped about half a foot and then the bridge started to extend over the chasm.

“What’s the problem?” Suzanne asked as the others ran over to where Jack was standing dumbfounded.

“Uh, nothing I guess,” Jack said finally.

“Hmm, I guess Taki found a way to extend the bridge,” David mused as the bridge continued to extend at a rate of about five feet per minute and the bridge itself was about twenty-five feet across.

“Yeah by walking off into space,” Jack said his heart still thumping from the scare.

“You mean to tell me we’ve been searching this platform for an hour and all we had to do was step off onto the bridge,” Marie said.

“Yeah apparently, I’ll tell you what next time you can just walk off into the chasm then,” Samuel told her.

“Err, no thanks,” Marie said and shut up.

“That’s what I thought,” Samuel said dryly.

“So are we just going to stand here and argue over who’s dumber or are we going to follow Taki,” Suzanne said gesturing to the girl who was now several hundred feet away on the still extending bridge, it seemed to have picked up speed as well.

“Alright, Fox, Samuel, Marie, David, you guys follow Taki we’ll be right behind you,” Jack said.

The others rushed out onto the still moving bridge and caught up to the girl who was standing at the leading edge of the bridge.

David looked around and then down feeling a surreal sense of vertigo as he felt himself moving without walking as the bridge continued to move towards the far side.

“So I guess this is the end of it then,” Suzanne said looking over at Jack.

“Was it all worth it,” Jack said quietly.

“Yes it was all worth it,” Suzanne told him. “I’d have done it all over again just to be with…,” Suzanne started to say but her words were interrupted by a spray of blood that come out of her mouth and chest as a metal looking spike retracted from her body.

“Suzanne? Suzanne!” Jack shouted rushing forward to catch her as she started to collapse to the ground in a boneless sprawl.

Cradling her in his arms he looked up to see one of the metallic sphinxes that had been on stands next to the elevator shaft entryway jump down off its pedestal.

As Jack watched the metallic creature’s tail flicked spraying droplets of Suzanne’s blood across the platform and then split apart into a fan shape that started rotating at high speed.

Dragging Suzanne along with him Jack rolled behind the other sphinx where the body of the dead woman still lay transfixed on its upraised wings.

“Are you alright?” Jack asked her.

“I…, I’ll be fine,” she said coughing and sending a fine mist of blood spraying across Jack’s face.

“Dammit,” Jack said and tore a bandage out of his small med pack and tied it tightly around the wound in her chest.

“Stay here and don’t die or I’ll drag through the pits of hell to bring you back if you do,” Jack ordered her.

“I’ll try my best love,” Suzanne said bloody fingers trailing across Jack’s cheek and then dropping by her side as she fell unconscious.

Jack paused for a second to make sure she was still breathing and then peeked around the corner of the pedestal to see the creature pacing across the platform trying to locate him. On the bridge the others hadn’t seen or heard a thing as they looked ahead to where the Theban Archive sat quietly across the chasm.

Another quick look showed him Rice’s body missing from the puddle of blood it had been lying in.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Jack said and a red hot anger suffused him his vision tunneling down to pinpoints for a second before it expanded back out.

“RICE!” Jack shouted standing up from behind the pedestal and bringing up the SPAS shotgun.

At the shout the metallic sphinx spun on its axis and the other members of the group looked back towards the platform and then drew weapons and started running back towards Jack.

“Let’s not get your friends involved in this Mr. Sikorsky,” Rice’s cultured tones emanated from the head of the sphinx with a metallic ring to them.

As Jack watched hatches popped open on the sphinxes back and several miniature missiles rose from the hatches and swept towards the group on the bridge and impacted.

Jack stood frozen as the smoke cleared showing him the piled bodies of the last of his friends.

“Rice you just made the worst mistake you ever could have,” Jack said flexing his hands on the grip and slide of the SPAS.

“Empty threats Mr. Sikorsky what could you possibly do to me,” Rice scoffed.

“Kill you again,” Jack said.

“Well we’ll see who kills who,” Rice said and then roared as he charged forward.

Jack dove to the side pumping and pulling as he went emptying the SPAS in less than a ten second span the buckshot and flechettes bouncing and scattering away from the sphinx and even the rifle slugs flattening out and spanging away.

A heavy metal foot with twelve inch claws tried to follow Jack and eviscerate him as he rolled across the platform. One of the claws almost caught him on a down swipe and a judicious block of the SPAS kept him from dying but it bent the shotgun in half destroying it in the process.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for decades, ever since you were born I’ve heard nothing but complaints from Kawamura about how your family has done nothing but mess up his plans time after time, and then he found the girl and wouldn’t shut up about that,” Rice bellowed bringing his foot down again hard enough to gouge out a foot deep crater in the platform.

“You sound like one of those whiny bastards in high school that bitched just because the prom queen didn’t ask them out or didn’t get a new car from mommy and daddy for graduation,” Jack mocked rolling out from under the metal monster and un-slinging the M4 from his back.

“Whiny, whiny, lets see how whiny you think I am after I stomp you to paste,” Rice roared and the sphinxes tail lashed forward the end rotating faster and faster like a buzz saw.

“Blah, blah, blah,” Jack said pulling the M203’s trigger and slamming a 40mm HE round right into the creatures head where it impacted protected by the mane of metal around it.

“You forget that those things don’t arm until they pass thirty feet,” Rice told him the tail whipping forward.

Jack rapid back stepped firing burst after burst with the tail darting back and forth to block each set of rounds until the chamber locked back on an empty magazine and the tail darted forward to try and eviscerate him.

“Don’t think so,” Jack said blocking the whipping buzz saw tail with the M4 only to have it cut in two.

“Man you are seriously pissing me off, that is the second gun of mine you’ve destroyed,” Jack said flinging both halves at him only to watch him swat the first one aside with the tail cutting it in half again and smashing the other with one of its paws.

“It won’t be the only thing I destroy today, after I get done killing you I’ll take the archive as my own and then the Solar System and then from there the galaxy,” Rice raved as he tried to crush the dodging mercenary.

“Thinking a little small aren’t you, I mean why not try and take over the whole universe,” Jack mocked deflecting a strike from one of the paws with his combat knife just barely.

“Oh the universe will come soon enough but I wouldn’t want to bite off more than I can chew,” Rice told him and then roared rushing forward.

“Wow next thing you’ll want some manatees with particle beams on their heads,” Jack grunted dodging another swipe from the paw.

“Why keep dodging Sikorsky, I’ll get you eventually and if you make me take too long I’ll gut you like a fish and leave you to flop on the ground,” Rice said and then charged.

“Ooh, now we’re getting into the gruesome death threats and bodily dismemberment categories,” Jack said.

“Now for the 50,000 dollar answer what has four legs, a tail, bad breath, and goes clang,” Jack said.

Rice roared again and charged but Jack dodged out of the way and Rice collided with the other pillar holding the second Sphinx hard enough for it to tumble off and land on him.

“That’s right the answer is: who is Edgar Rice the backstabbing piece of garbage,” Jack said in a cheesy game show host voice.

The taunting only further enraged Rice who charged at Jack.

“Ole,” Jack said dodging to the side and watching as the metallic sphinx ran off the edge of the platform and went plummeting over the edge.

“Freaking finally,” Jack muttered breathing heavily as he moved back towards where Suzanne lay injured.

“Hey babe, how you doing?” Jack asked her as he propped her up against himself.

“Where are the others?” she asked.

“Dead,” Jack said quietly.

“Dead,” Suzanne tried to exclaim but ended up coughing up blood and then passing out.

“I’ve got to get you back to the ship,” Jack muttered to the unconscious woman.

Picking her up gently Jack started over to the entrance where the lift was and carried her inside. The floor lit up around his feet and rapidly took them both back to the surface.

Back in the upper building he hurriedly carried her outside making sure not to jostle her too much and cause even more damage he was only a few feet away from the SUV when it shot straight up into the air, flipped over several times, and then impacted nose first with the ground and crumpled like a tin can.

“My insurance is probably going to go up again he muttered and set Suzanne in the shade of one of Rice’s vehicles and then pulled out both FN pistols setting them to burst fire.

Above him a coughing roar echoed in the flat air and light gleamed off of silver metallic wings as the sphinx flapped them quickly to stay in the air.

“Alright asshole I am seriously getting tired of you killing friends, destroying my rides, and in general irritating the piss out of me,” Jack said opening fire on the metallic sphinx.

Round after round spanged off of the metallic body but Jack didn’t stop and ducked and weaved as the evil genius in the metallic body tried to rip him apart.

“What do you really think you can do against me with those, your shotgun, assault rifle, and grenade launcher didn’t do a damn thing against me,” Rice taunted.

“Thanks for reminding me about heavy ordnance,” Jack said running for the crashed and crumpled SUV laying several dozen feet away.

Diving and rolling he barely missed being skewered by the claws of one of the sphinx’s feet.

“Oomph,” Jack said slamming into the mangled tailgate of the SUV and coming to a stop.

Reaching into the vehicle Jack grabbed the first thing his hand touched and pulled out the six-barreled 7.62mm mini-gun that had been loaded into the back of the vehicle.

“Hey Edgar suck on this,” Jack said bringing up the multi-barreled weapon and pulling the trigger back he listened as the motor for the barrels spooled up and then started rotating and spewing bullets like a fire hose.

The sphinx wove and dove trying to avoid the rounds as Jack swiveled the gun across the sky the tracer rounds reaching out like claws to finally impact with the wings of the sphinx and turn them into metal Swiss cheese.

Rice roared in anger and pain and fell rapidly towards the ground and slammed to a halt on his stomach.

The impact threw Jack back against the remains of the SUV and he lost his grip on the mini-gun.

“Unh seems like you need to lose some weight Edgar,” Jack said wiping blood from a cut lip from his face.

“Did you really think you’re little toy would stop me Sikorsky,” Rice said standing up and shaking himself like a dog ridding itself of water.

“No but I was hoping you would get close enough for me to do this,” Jack said standing up and pulling out his back up piece an old Jericho Model 945C.

“What do you think you’re going to do with that Sikorsky,” Rice mocked.

“This,” Jack brought the pistol up aiming carefully and fired.

The bullet impacted on the high explosive grenade that had wedged itself between the sphinx’s head and metal fan like mane and detonated the pound of composition 10.

The force of the blast threw Jack again but he held onto the Jericho and after a few seconds managed to stand back up and worked his jaw trying to relieve the deafness in his ears after the explosion.

Walking over to where the shattered Sphinx lay Jack kicked it over on its side his Nanno-enhanced muscles leaving a large dent. Crouching down he examined the monstrosity his eye sight zooming so that he could see the intricate details of its manufacture and was finally able to spot a hairline crack running along the stomach from the neck to the tail.

Pulling out a Kabar he pried at the edge until he could get the blade fully in and torqued the knife in a circle it snapped the blade off but left a gap large enough to get his fingers into.

Anger and adrenaline fueled strength allowed Jack to spear his fingers into the crack and grip its sides.

With an explosive grunt of exertion Jack curled his fingers on the interior of the tear and heaved ripping the hole wide enough for him to get a better grip.

Pulling, prying, and tearing Jack ripped the metal carapace open wide enough to yank Rice’s body out of the metallic monstrosity.

“Well looks like you have me at a disadvantage Sikorsky,” Rice said coughing up blood a fine mist of it coating Jack’s face.

“I’d say I have you at more than a disadvantage,” Jack told him hauling him within an inch of his face. “Frankly I’d say I can finally end your murdering, psychopathic life Rice,” Jack said and slowly shifted his grip to where he had one hand on the man’s head and another on his shoulder. It was hard to find a clear spot to place his hands with all the wires and cables leading from Rice’s body to the destroyed metal sphinx.

Changing his mind for a second Jack shifted both hands to the man’s shoulders and jerked roughly tearing him free of the cables and wires and Rice screamed in agony as the imbedded cables tore loose and slashed and cratered his skin.

“I’m completely paralyzed,” Rice said after a few heavily panting breaths. “You wouldn’t kill a paralyzed man would you?” Rice asked smiling and showing blood soaked teeth and gums.

“Show me a paralyzed man and I won’t,” Jack told him and swiftly switched grips and broke Rice’s neck with a resounding crack and then crushed his wind pipe with the edge of his hand.

“And just to make fucking sure you’re ass doesn’t ever come back,” Jack said pulling out both FN’s and emptied the thirty-round magazines on burst fire into Rice’s head and body.

“May the devil have a fun time with you Rice, although I doubt even he would put up with your blackened soul for long,” Jack said turning to walk away.

Reaching the spot where he had left Suzanne he bent down to pick her up. “Suze, it’s time to get you back to the ship and get you some medical care babe,” he told her quietly.

Suzanne didn’t reply and Jack bent down to check the pulse at her throat and found none.

“Oz, Oz, do you have propulsion yet?” Jack asked the AI over the comm.

“No, power systems, and propulsion are still down, we only still have auxiliary,” the AI told him.

“Dammit, dammit,” Jack said and started doing CPR on Suzanne.

“What is wrong Jack?” the AI asked.

“The others are dead, and Suzanne is going to be if I can’t do anything to help her,” Jack told the AI between breaths.

“Jack, I’m still receiving signals from the GPS transponders that everyone one has; the only one that is flat-lined is Suzanne’s,” Oz told him gently.

“She can’t be dead Oz,” Jack said angrily as tears streamed down his cheeks.

“I’m afraid she is Jack, she’s been so for the last ten minutes, even if you could somehow manage to resuscitate her she would be a complete vegetable,” the AI told him.

“No, she’ll come back, she has to, I lost her once, not again,” Jack yelled as he stood up and slammed his fist completely through the side of the SUV.

“Jack, Jack, its Samuel where are you?” Zion asked and Jack could hear people retching in the background.

“I’m up top,” Jack said tiredly as he sank down to the ground and leaned his head against the SUV.

“Is Suzanne with you?” Samuel asked.

“Yeah, she is,” Jack answered.

“Thank god,” Samuel said.

“God had nothing to do with it, just the devil’s bad sense of humor,” Jack told him quietly.

“Say again Jack I didn’t catch that,” Samuel said.

“Nothing; Are the others alright?” Jack asked quietly.

“Yeah, a little worse for wear from whatever that shit is, thankfully it being extremely old it didn’t last very long,” Samuel told him.

“That’s good,” Jack said.

“Taki, Taki, what the hell are you doing, we need to get to the surface,” Jack heard Samuel shout.

“What’s going on?” Jack asked worriedly and stood up quickly slapping fresh magazines into his FN pistols.

“Taki’s still moving towards the archive,” Samuel told him and then yelled something at the others.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Jack told him. Bending down he picked Suzanne’s body up in his arms and ran back into the building.

Back in the building he rushed for the elevator shaft and almost fell back down it before remembering to activate it.

A tense few minutes later found Jack rushing out of the elevator and running towards the bridge to the other side only to slide to a halt.

The forward edge of the bridge had detached itself from the rest of the long span and was moving rapidly towards the other side of the great chasm and Taki stood motionlessly looking straight ahead.

Hopping down he ran to his group of friends at the end of the bridge that had stopped halfway across the chasm.

Samuel was standing with his rifle in his hands an indecisive look on his face as he watched the small portion of bridge rapidly shot across the gap.

“What the hell happened?” Jack asked setting Suzanne down on the bridge as he looked around at the others.

David was flat on his back his glasses askew and still apparently unconscious, Marie was bent over hear knees breathing heavily and Fox was curled in a fetal position snoring.

“I don’t know, we got hit by whatever that thing launched and I woke up to find Taki standing at the edge of the bridge and then it just broke free and started shooting across,” Samuel told him.

“Dammit, now what’s going to happen,” Jack muttered picking up Suzanne again.

“Well if it worked for her maybe it’ll work for me,” Jack muttered and looked down staring at the bridge.

“Come on you bastard,” he shouted at the edge of the bridge and jumped up in down in greater and greater frustration. He was about to walk back towards the others when the portion he was standing on started moving rapidly practically causing him to fall off backwards and he had to juggle Suzanne for a minute.

“Taki, I’m coming,” Jack yelled to the young woman almost to other side of the chasm.

Taki turned her head towards Jack her eyes large and somewhat glazed looking as she looked at him. “Don’t worry father the archive is just calling is all,” she told him.

“What do you mean the archive is calling,” Jack asked her then looked back at the others still on the main portion of the still slowly moving bridge.

“It’s been waiting all this time for our return and its calling for us to make it active,” she told him slowly.

“Oh great now some super duper computer is making a collect siren call,” Jack muttered and then looked down at Suzanne. “Don’t worry love I won’t lose her as well,” he whispered quietly.

Taki’s portion of the bridge finally reached the other side of the chasm and she walked slowly and steadily towards the large obelisk that was at the center of the opposite sides platform.

“Come on, come on,” Jack griped as his portion of the bridge finally clicked into place with the one Taki had been on.

“Taki I don’t think it’s so safe getting so close to that thing,” Jack yelled to the girl.

“Don’t worry Father this is part of my function,” Taki said stripping out of the jeans and t-shirt that Patricia had helped her pick out.

“Ah, Taki I don’t this is the time to be playing strip poker,” Jack said with a strangled laugh.

A rack popped up out of the platform and Taki removed a light blue colored garment from the rack and slid into the confines of the duty suit and then continued to walk up to the obelisk which split apart a blue glow emanating from within.

“Taki dammit stop,” Jack ordered lowering Suzanne to the ground and running forward.

“Do not worry father everything will be fine, Thebes will be reborn and the clock will be allowed to move forward again,” Taki told him and stepped backwards into the light as the obelisk closed around her.

Jack reached the large object just as the crack sealed and the light disappeared. Pounding a fist against the obelisk Jack only succeeded in injuring his hand which he then had to raise to shield his vision as a bright light pulsed out from the obelisk and washed over the entire cavern.

When his vision cleared Jack found himself looking at himself or at least someone who really, really looked like himself save for the streaks of gray that radiated out from his temples.

“Well if you’ve gotten this far that means you’ve found Taki and found your way to your home world and the threat of the War Machines has been finished,” the gray haired figure said walking back and forth in front of Jack.

“Now I’m not sure how much time has passed but obviously technology has advanced to the point of where you can travel in space again,” the figure said.

“Who the hell are you?” Jack asked the man.

“I guess before I proceed any further I should introduce myself since you were but a babe when we last met,” the figure told him.

“Last met,” Jack muttered not understanding.

“My name and rank is Colonel Amon Kelargo although during these last few years I’ve come to be known only as the Colonel, at the end I was the highest ranking military officer left alive,” the figure said quietly.

“But enough about that, that is the past and this is obviously the future my son,” the hologram of the Colonel said.

“Son, you aren’t my father, you may have given me your DNA but you aren’t my father,” Jack muttered not angrily but somewhat tiredly.

“Also hopefully you’ve found the Project Dryad Terraforming information,” the figure told him.

“Project Dryad,” Jack muttered.

“Project Dryad was to be our crowning achievement in DNA manipulation and Nanno-viral technology. The Project was to be a terra-forming project that would allow for the use of a single person the ability to terraform an entire planet in less than a week,” the figure told him.

“A person able to terraform an entire planet in less than a week, how is that possible,” Jack muttered.

“With the splicing of plant and animal DNA into the subject we were able to create the first Dryad. We only ever had one successful test subject, a Mare Thandilan, she was dying of cancer and the project was able to revitalize her body, it was also found that the Nannites that were cultured in her body were able to heal unnatural wounds and in some cases even unnatural death,” the figure told Jack.

“Unfortunately Mare was killed and the facility destroyed during a War Machine attack so we were no longer able to go any further in our research, however what little data we could collate after the attack shows us that while the subject was completely healed she would after being planted and starting her Terraforming she would become catatonic and non-responsive,” the figure sighed.

“Our research also indicated that she would also start spawning more Dryads in a grove at that point our research fell apart and the war increased between us and the War Machines,” Amon told him.

“Now I’m sure you are asking what a War Machine is,” Amon started to say.

“OZ!” Jack hollered over the Comm ignoring whatever else the hologram had to say.

“Yes Jack,” the AI replied.

“Any power on those engines yet,” Jack asked.

“No, the engines are still dead,” Oz replied.

“Dammit,” Jack said and picked up Suzanne and jumped back on the section of bridge and spread his legs wide to keep from falling off of the racing section.

Three quarters of the way across the chasm the bridge was still extending and Jack’s portion slammed to a halt against it nearly spilling him to the ground.

“What’s going on Jack?” Samuel asked.

“No time,” Jack shouted racing past him and then taking the gravity pad to the surface; gingerly setting Suzanne in the passenger seat of the only remaining SUV he raced the vehicle back to the Hoplite II.

Somehow Jack was able to make the return trip to the ship in less than a quarter of the time it had taken to reach the archive.

Jack slid the SUV to a halt sideways at the end of the cargo bay ramp and grabbed Suzanne racing into the vessel.

“Oz I don’t suppose our guest is awake yet is she,” Jack hollered as he ran through the halls.

“No, her life signs still show a state of catatonia,” the AI told him.

“Dammit, dammit, dammit,” Jack muttered over and over again as he raced for the med-bay.

In the med bay he set Suzanne on the table next to the plant woman. “This had better work Amon,” Jack muttered his eyes wet with unshed tears of hope. Reaching over he placed the girl’s fibrous hand on the wound in Suzanne’s chest.

Going around the side of the med-bed Jack smacked the plant girl on the face several types in rapid succession. “Corona wake up I need you,” Jack told the still unconscious girl.

“Come on Corona, come on, come on,” Jack said shaking and slapping the girl rapidly in succession.

Finally after almost half an hour of that Jack was finally able to awaken the girl whose eyes slowly opened showing a completely green eye with shafts of yellow spiking through them.

“Where am I?” she whispered her voice sounding like the wind whispering through autumn leaves.

“You’re on a ship, far away from your bastard father but that isn’t important now. The woman I love is dead and you are the only person capable of bringing her back to me,” Jack told her.

Corona sat up on the med-bad and looked down at herself not saying anything but green tears started to flow down her cheeks.

“Aw jeeze I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Jack said.

“No it is not your fault, the last thing I remember is my father having tea with me and now I wake up as this,” she said bringing her bark covered hands to her face and more green sap like tears spread out from below them.

“What has become of my father?” she finally asked sniffing.

“Dead, we killed him,” Jack said quietly. “I’m sorry but it was necessary to do so.”

“Don’t concern yourself my father was an evil sick man working for another evil man,” Corona told him.

“Not to interrupt and be pushy but you may be able to help Suzanne,” Jack told her.

“What’s wrong with her?” Corona asked.

“She’s…, she’s dead,”

“Dead, how can I help with that?” She asked confused.

“You’re body has been turned into some sort of uber terra-forming device that is also able to heal wounds and solve short term death,” Jack told her.

“How is that possible?” Corona asked looking confused.

“Your father used technology created by a race called the Thebans whose planet we are now on,” Jack told her.

“Why did he do this to me?” she asked somewhat hysterically.

“My guess is some perverted, god complex,” Jack told her becoming agitated. “Look Miss Masloff I don’t mean to be pushy or anything but my girlfriend is dead and I really need you to help her,” he pleaded.

“But I don’t know what to do.”

“Please just try.”

“O…okay,” she finally stuttered. “But what should I do?” She asked plaintively.

“I guess maybe lay your hands on the wound or something,” Jack urged her.

The young woman placed her bark skinned hands on the wound in Suzanne’s chest. Nothing happened for several seconds and then green light started to flow down her arms and around the wound and then traced over Suzanne and Corona’s bodies until it grew so bright Jack had to look away and then a sudden burst of bright green light blinded him and he felt some force pick him up and toss him against the med-bay’s wall.

Standing up Jack stepped to the med-bed just in time to see Corona step back and then Suzanne let out a wrenching breath sitting up and puking up chunks of phlegm, bile, and blood.

“Oh god I haven’t felt this bad since spring break,” Suzanne muttered wiping a hand across her face only managing to smear bile and blood across her lower face.

Jack tackled her and both of them went down in a pile of arms and legs on the other side of the med-bed with him kissing her long and hard until both ran out of oxygen.

“Okay, okay love I appreciate the smooch and all but shouldn’t we finish taking out mecha Edgar?” Suzanne asked him.

“Babe you’ve been dead for over an hour,” Jack told her.

“Dead, you’re kidding right I feel pretty good for being a corpse,” she said looking down at the hole in her black t-shirt. “Oh I guess something like that would kind of kill me.”

“Well, it seems our friend here,” Jack said stabbing a thumb in Corona’s direction. “Was mutated using Theban technology by her father, what her father didn’t realize though is that she’s a living breathing Terra-Forming device,” Jack explained.

“How is that possible?” Suzanne asked.

“Technology way beyond ours,” he told her with a dry tone.

It looked like Suzanne was about to say something but the two of them were interrupted by Corona standing up a far away look covering her face.

“What’s the matter Corona?” Jack asked.

“It’s calling to me, it sounds like it’s in pain,” she answered distractedly.

“What’s calling to you,” Suzanne asked.

“The planet, it’s been alone for so long, the radiation killed all the plants and animals, scorched the ground and left it burned and cracked,” Corona explained her voice still distant and green tears rolling down her cheeks once again.

“What do we need to do?” Jack asked.

“I have to go to where the largest remaining body of water is,” Corona told him.

“And where would that be, and how are we going to figure that out?” Suzanne asked confused.

“I may have a way,” Jack said and pulled his comm out.

“Samuel,” he called over the unit.

“Yeah, where are you at?” Zion asked.

“Back at the ship,” Jack told him. “But look I need you to approach the Archive and ask it a question,” Jack told him.

“Uh, how do I do that?” He asked.

“I don’t know just walk up and ask it,” Jack said in frustration. “Ask it where the largest remaining body of water is.”

“Okay hold on a second,” Samuel said and signaled off.

It was nearly thirty minutes before Samuel came back on the comm; Jack was ready to start chewing his lips and pull hair out as his foot tapped the floor. Suzanne was still sitting up on the med-bed her breathing still a little ragged, and Corona was still staring at the wall green tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Jack, okay that whole archive thing is weird, I hope it gives us Taki back after this is over,” Samuel said.

“I agree but what did it say about the body of water,” Jack demanded.

“Okay it said that it is right under the archive itself, apparently the cliff that building is on is actually a peninsula that at one time jutted out into a sea,” Samuel told him.

“Alright we’ll be there in about an hour,” Jack said logging off.

“Suzanne grab the girl and let’s get the hell out of here,” Jack told her.

“Right I think I can do that,” Suzanne said getting off the med-bed and lightly grasping the woman by her arms and guiding her back to the cargo bay and down the ramp where the SUV sat still running.

Jack got behind the wheel while Suzanne placed the girl in the back seat of the vehicle.

“We ready to go?” he asked her.

“Looks like it,” Suzanne said. “But I think we need to get the girl to the archive as soon as possible she’s starting to bud or something,” Suzanne told him shaking some flower leaves off her hand.

“Oh,” Jack said dropping the big SUV in gear and backing around then speeding back across the barren wasteland that the planet of Thebes had become.

Jack swung the SUV to a halt just short of an hour outside the Archive’s upper building only to have the rear door sheared from the vehicle and tossed across the clearing.

“I can sense it,” Corona said dazedly and strode over to in front of the building and raised her arms to the sky.

“You must shut off the shield for me to do what I must,” the plant woman told Jack.

“Will you be able to make the planet whole again?” Jack asked her.

“Yes even now I can sense the huge reserves of water under the planet’s crust and the irradiated seeds that have lain dormant under the dirt, I’ll be able to bring these all back but I need the sun to do this,” Corona told him her eyes going to the sky.

“I’ll do what I can,” Jack said and motioned to Suzanne who nodded her agreement to stay and watch over the woman.

Jack ran into the building and down into the Archive; racing across the bridge they found the others waiting for them near the obelisk but staying well clear of it.

Putting a hand on Suzanne’s arm Jack nodded his head towards the others.

Approaching the Obelisk he cleared his throat. “Archive I need you to deactivate the cloaking shield,” he ordered licking suddenly dry lips.

“Identification verification required,” a smooth melodic voice informed him.

“How do I do that then,” Jack muttered.

As Jack watched a portion of the stone obelisk extruded from the main body and formed into a long platform with the indentation of a hand.

“Please place your hand in the scanner,” the voice ordered him.

“Like I haven’t heard that one before,” he muttered again and sighed placing his hand palm down in the indentation.

“Please hold still.”

“Like it could be that haaaaggghhh,” Jack screamed in pain as a blast of pure fire raced through every nerve ending of his body and held him in a rictus of pain his back arching and every bone and muscle creaking to their extent.

Finally after what seemed an eternity of pain and fire Jack fell to his knees gasping, shaking, and sweating weakly.

“Neural and genetic mapping is 100% complete,” the obelisk called out. “Deactivating planetary shield system.”

“Good and here I thought all that pain and anguish would be for nothing,” Jack panted out sarcastically.

“Talk to me Suze,” he called into his comm unit

“It’s amazing, truly amazing the shield has deactivated and the sun is shining through.”

“What about Corona?”

“You’ll have to come up and see that for yourself,” Suzanne told him.

“All right we’ll be up in a few minutes I just need to catch my breath for a second,” he told her still panting.

“Don’t take too long this is truly amazing,” she told him awe sounding in her voice.