Chapter 8
The assault team of twenty entered HAB 12. Once inside, three of them, including Jason, fell flat on their faces.
Ricket said, “Gravity here is slightly denser than that of Earth’s, Captain.”
“Thank you Ricket. That would have been nice to know ahead of time,” Jason replied, getting back on his feet. He dusted himself off and looked back through the portal window where he received smiles and waves from inside The Lilly. The window itself had a glowing blue frame around it. At the portal’s side was a metal sign on a pole that was a combination of strange symbols, something that represented HAB 12—below it was a hinged metal box, which he assumed contained the access keypad.
“Also, as you’ll notice, our HUDs indicate the access port we just entered through as a blue rectangle with a corresponding signal level.”
“I see it; it’s reading level 25. I take it that’s what we’re looking for with the other one?”
“Yes, sir, but that port will show up purple—we’ll see it once we are within thirty miles,” Ricket said.
Jason nodded and looked around, ensuring that everyone was present. “Listen up. No one goes anywhere by themselves—find partners and stay with them.” At that, everyone broke up into pairs. Jason noticed Dira and Morgan had selected each other to pair off with.
"I thought I'd see more wildlife," Morgan said to no one in particular—looking through his riflescope and panning the horizon. “I’m ready to begin hunting season—right here in HAB 12.”
"We've entered the area of the HAB 12 habitat with the least wildlife—basically arid desert," Ricket responded. "Note that the quadrant you are in is indicated on your HUD readout."
Jason looked toward the far horizon and adjusted the optical zoom. First, past this desert, was quadrant 2, with its rocky terrain and dark red cliffs. Next would be quadrant 3, with its open plains and green pastures, and finally quadrant 4, where—at the far end of HAB 12—a forest of tall trees grew. "Okay, we’ll work our way through 2 and 3 and finish off in 4 if we haven't found the port sooner," Jason said.
Two blocky-looking large hovercrafts appeared from behind the cliffs in quadrant 2, soundlessly moving across the terrain thirty feet off the ground and headed in their direction.
"How cute, they look like big mail trucks," Dira said, smiling. Jason marveled at her light violet skin and long eyelashes for the umpteenth time. She moved to get a better view. To Jason she seemed to glide with effortless gracefulness. Each battle suit had been custom tailored for each team member based on full-body scan measurements. For that reason, the fit was perfect, comparable to having a second skin. It wasn't that Dira's battle suit fit better than anyone else's, it just seemed to look better on her than anyone else. Her long legs, narrow hips, and curvy backside had instigated more than a few leering glances—Jason’s included. He wondered if she was aware of the effect she had on men, or perhaps she just didn't care. Then he realized she was staring back at him, eyebrows raised. Caught in the act, he quickly averted his attention to something Ricket was saying.
"Those are the feeding drones," Ricket responded. As if on cue, the two crafts stopped in mid-air. A moment passed before one of them opened a hatch and dropped several large slabs of meat onto the ground, no more than fifty yards ahead of them.
"Something tells me we don't want to be standing this close to those things at feeding time," Billy said.
"Multiple red icons!" Morgan yelled, spinning on his feet and positioning himself in a protective stance in front of Dira. Jason and Billy exchanged quick glances; both scowled at his overreaction.
Jason inspected his HUD, viewing new life sign icons approaching from three sides.
“They seem to be at a considerable distance. Let's head out, people," Jason said, moving off at a slow jog in the direction of quadrant 2. Orion quickly moved from the back of the pack to the front. Her long, muscular legs gave her nearly twice the stride as anyone else. Once even with Jason, he could see she was smiling. Orion wasn’t just competitive, she was a maniac. From arm wrestling Billy’s SEALs in the mess, to challenging anyone to beat her run-times in the gym.
“Captain, there are a few things we didn’t have time to discuss earlier this morning,” Orion said. “I mean about our equipment.” Jason picked up his pace a little to stay even with her. In the middle of the pack, Morgan said, “F*ck—what’s the rush?” evoking chuckles from just about everyone. Jason let Morgan’s comment go.
“What type of things are you talking about, Gunny?”
She laughed. Then she was gone.
Jason did a double-take, thinking his eyes had deceived him somehow. He scanned his HUD for her location. Perhaps she’d fallen behind in the pack, although that seemed unlikely. HUD icons included a two-letter name designation. The icon with the GY designation was gone. Jason slowed, feeling his heart rate increase. The team slowed down and came to a stop. There was a tap on his shoulder from behind; then a finger pointed toward an outcropping of rocks twenty yards ahead. Sitting lotus-style, like a Buddhist monk, Orion waited for them to catch up.
“Looks like someone’s built a phase-shift device into their battle suit?” Jason called up to her.
“Nope,” Orion replied, looking smug. “Anyone else have a guess?”
Rizzo spoke up: “It’s not the suits, it’s our new combat belts.”
“And the prize goes to Mr. Rizzo!” Orion said in her best announcer’s voice. Everyone looked down at their new combat belts. Several had complained earlier about them being awkward and heavy. Matte black and slightly over six inches wide and an inch thick, the belts seemed overkill for holding their Kay Bar knives and miscellaneous utility equipment.
“We thought about adding the phase-shift components to the suits themselves, but our rhino-friends don’t wear battle suits. But if you’ll notice, they are wearing a specialized belt we provided them with.” The chattering group turned and looked at the ten rhino warriors. Each wore a new belt—much bigger than their human-sized versions.
Jason shushed everyone. “Let’s bring it down a notch or two—this isn’t play time—we’re on a mission here. Go ahead, Gunny.”
“Let’s start with the rhino-belts.” Orion waited for the snickers to subside from the new phrase she’d just coined. “Since our robust warrior friends do not wear helmets and don’t have access to our HUD system, that technology has been integrated into their wrist bands.” Orion jumped down off the rock and pulled Traveler away from the group. She pointed to the large black band on his wrist. “There’s two spring-release buttons on each side. Go ahead, Traveler.” With fingers as big as bananas, Traveler compressed the two side buttons on his wristband. The faceplate flipped open and the inside of the plate came alive with a miniature spatial representation of the local terrain. “This is similar to what the rest of you are going to see on your HUDs, and—this is important—once you select your phase-shift location. Go ahead, Traveler—use the touch screen to select the distance and elevation to where you want to phase-shift.” Traveler looked at the small display, then looked up and around at his surroundings. Once he’d correlated what he was visually seeing compared to the view on the small screen, he nodded and grunted his approval. He touched the screen. “Okay, folks, he’s just activated the unit and set the coordinates. He has twenty seconds to press the Activate key. Go ahead and press it, Traveler,” Orion said. Traveler disappeared. Everyone spun to see where he’d gone.
“Can I get one of those for my ex-wife?” Billy asked with a wry grin and to more chuckles.
Atop the same rock Orion had shifted to earlier, Traveler stood tall with his hands on his hips. His fellow rhino warriors cheered, then in unison smashed their heavy hammers together over their heads—their own unique version of a high five. The sound thundered and echoed into the distance.
“Several more things you need to know about the belts,” Orion said. “First, you need to be extra careful where you’re phase-shifting to. Take care not to shift into solid rock or into the side of a mountain. Second, your phase-shift belts are limited to a thirty-yard radius. And third—and probably most important—because of extra-power consumption you’re limited to no more than five shifts per hour. Any questions?” Orion asked.
“So, when can we try it out, Gunny?” Rizzo asked, smiling like a kid with a new toy.
Orion looked over to Jason for approval. With his nod, everyone, including Jason himself, began to disappear and reappear within a thirty-yard radius. They were having fun. Even the typically serious rhino warriors were making the equivalent of laughing sounds. Within several minutes, all had used up their five phase-shifts. Unnoticed, twenty-five light blue raptor-like creatures called Serapin-Terplins, more commonly called Serapins, had completely surrounded the assault team.