Invaders: Dreadnought Ocelot (Invaders Series Book 4) Read online

  I shot out of the opening, flying into space, whooping wildly as I did.

  “Have you lost your mind, Logan? Is this what madness is like among your kind?”

  I looked back. More junk blew out of the opening, spewing everywhere. It turned out the hidden Polarion station had been underground, or most of it, anyway. The station was inside a dusty-looking asteroid maybe ten kilometers long and five wide. The floating junk was the only sign that anything was here.

  How long had the station been in existence?

  I shook my head inside the helmet. “Rax, I have to get back to the station.”

  “You forgot to shrug on a thruster-pack, making controlled maneuverability out here impossible.”

  I gulped then, seeing a growing stellar object. It must have been a huge mother, larger than the Apollo Moon Lander, fantastically larger than the Saturn V rocket that had launched the Apollo astronauts from Earth. A bright plume ejected from its rear area in relation to us.

  “Behold,” Rax declared, “the GGS Dreadnought Ocelot. Clearly, it has transferred from Saturn as I suspected it might. Just as clearly, it must have discovered us and the station as well.”

  “Now what do we do?” I whispered.

  “Go to Plan B,” Rax said.

  “Which is what?”

  “You took extra air tanks. Now, you will hold one of them in such a way and release oxygen that it will propel us back to the asteroid. If you fail to do this, Logan, the Polarion who murdered Debby will succeed.”

  -22-

  His amazing statement froze me momentarily. What did he mean, Polarion? A Gigantopithecus had murdered my woman. Where did an unknown and unnamed Polarion come into the picture?

  I shook my head. Right now, that didn’t matter. I had three air tanks. I was breathing the supply in one, had another in reserve and held the last one in my gloved hands. I’d also wrapped my space-suited legs around it and hugged it like Ailuros would have wanted me to do to her.

  Rax was in a spacesuit belt holder.

  “I’m ready,” I said. “Start explaining how I should do this.”

  Rax did, and I released the first portion of compressed air. It jetted from the tank—I gripped it harder lest it slip away—slowing our momentum from the dwindling asteroid. Soon, the spewed air reversed our direction of travel as we headed back for the dusty asteroid.

  “Should we storm the station and use its weaponry against the Ocelot?” I asked.

  “I have already detected transfers from the Ocelot to the station,” Rax said. “I believe Gigantopithecuses are in the process of capturing the station.”

  “What are we trying to do, then?” I shouted.

  “We will attempt to use the portal, naturally. That is the primary means of executing Plan B.”

  “You expected this to happen?”

  “As a Galactic Guard Advisor, I attempt to foresee all possibilities. This one was rather obvious, and considering the nature of our opponent—”

  “What in the hell are you talking about?” I shouted. “What opponent?”

  “Calm yourself, Logan. Concentrate on our flight path. The portal is the best means of completing our new mission.”

  “Which is what?”

  “I will explain later. You must adjust the angle you are presently holding the air tank.”

  With Rax verbally correcting my angles, we flew back so the asteroid soon grew larger and more visible. According to Rax, we had no margin for error. If we failed to enter the portal on the first pass, there wasn’t going to be a second.

  “Oh-oh,” Rax said.

  “What does oh-oh mean?”

  “Please do not panic, Logan, but several space-suited Gigantopithecuses have appeared behind us. I suspect they are attempting to capture us.”

  “What?” I started to turn my helmeted head to look back.

  “No. Do not turn and change the direction of our flight. Concentrate on your task.”

  I did as he suggested, but it was hard not turning. Licking my lips, I held the air tank as steady and straight as possible.

  “Say,” I said. “Why didn’t the Ocelot’s captain just teleport us aboard?”

  “Believe me, he tried and is still trying. I am interrupting the frequency, although I cannot do this for long. We must reach the portal now or never.”

  Now I wanted to look back even more, but I didn’t. I couldn’t afford to lose any concentration. I did spy junk tumbling nearby, debris that had blown out of the hangar bay earlier.

  “You said Polarion before.”

  “Now is not the time, Logan.”

  “Do you know who the Ocelot’s captain is?”

  “I have a glimmering of an idea who it might be,” Rax said.

  “Yeah? And who is that?”

  “Listen carefully. The Gigantopithecuses are gaining on us, as they are using thruster-packs. They are not targeting you with weapons, though. That means they wish to capture you, but most especially me.”

  I blinked sweat out of my eyes, envisioning hours of torture if caught.

  “You must do exactly as I say.”

  “Got it,” I said.

  The crystal spoke and I made changes, moving the air tank to new positions and releasing more air. Believe it or not, we were slowing down so I wouldn’t strike the asteroid too fast and kill me on impact.

  I had my first visual confirmation of the enemy, as a space-suited Gigantopithecus with a bulky thruster-pack jetted past me by thirty feet. White hydrogen exhaust spewed from the back of his seat-like setup. His helmet visor turned toward me. I did not see a hairy great ape face inside, but the stars shining in reflection off the visor. His suited gloves manipulated his thruster-chair. He swiveled and began a new maneuver to catch me.

  “How many more are coming?” I shouted at Rax.

  “Calm, Logan, practice calm.”

  “I’m calm, I’m calm,” I shouted. “Do you see the portal yet?”

  “Of course.”

  “Why doesn’t the dreadnought destroy it?”

  “Clearly, the captain desires a portal. That may indicate he understands Plan B.”

  I was sweating inside the suit even though a conditioner blew cold air on me as it sucked up the extra moisture.

  I zoomed up to the asteroid, flying a parallel course with the surface below. Now began the tricky maneuver of descending even closer to it. I no longer saw the Gigantopithecus or the others that supposedly trailed us. My throat was dry, and I kept blinking. Maybe I should have taken one of the old Earth capsules after all and maneuvered it to the portal. When would I learn to do things the easy way?

  I shrugged philosophically.

  “What are you doing?” Rax said. “That unbalanced my calculations and changed our heading.”

  “Sorry,” I said, readjusting the tank.

  “The nearest apes are one hundred meters behind us and closing fast,” Rax said.

  I saw it then, the portal. At first, it looked like an outcrop of lunar stone. It had a vaguely semicircular shape and was dark. As I flew nearer, I saw that the interior darkness pulsated slowly, and I detected the faintest luminance in a perfect semicircle around the darkness. The portal looked ancient, and it seemed activated, or mostly so.

  “Why hasn’t the station computer shut off the portal?” I asked.

  “This is a unique device,” Rax said.

  “In what way?”

  “In a secret way. The day you are a true Galactic Guard agent I shall tell you.”

  “Why would a GG agent or advisor know such a thing if it was ancient Polarion tech?”

  “You’re veering off course again,” Rax said. “Please pay stricter attention, Logan.”

  My little crystal knew far too much about Polarion things. Was that normal Rax Prime crystal knowledge? The Starcore—

  “Logan, adjust, adjust,” Rax said.

  I gripped the air tank and once more shifted the angle of the exhaust nozzle. We slowed even more. That made my back muscles cr
awl. I could feel the approaching Gigantopithecuses. I imagined their suited ape fingers reaching for me.

  Then, I no longer had to imagine, as another zoomed past me. The suited Gigantopithecus was massive, and his thruster-pack spewed more hydrogen exhaust than the first. I saw him reaching down with his suited ape feet for me, and they barely missed. He kept going, crashing against a portal strut. That turned him and maybe ruptured his suit. His thruster-pack expelled him away from the portal to the side.

  Another shot below me like an underwater swimmer. He reached up and might have caught me, but I jerked my legs out of the way. That shifted our angle of approach.

  The Gigantopithecus was a better pilot than the other, changing his flight path so he shot upward, barely missing the stone structure as he zoomed away.

  “There are more following,” Rax said. “But you must concentrate if you wish to survive.”

  I readjusted the angle of the tank, shifting my flight path.

  “Good, easy, easy,” Rax said. “Lower just a bit more.”

  “How close are the others?” I shouted.

  “Ignore them, Logan. Concentrate on your task.”

  It was hard, the aching need to look back almost impossible to quell. Even so, I lowered and studied the fast approaching portal. It looked different now. I could tell it was an ancient construct instead of just an odd protrusion of lunar rock on a worthless asteroid.

  “Where will the portal take us?” I shouted.

  “Adjust, adjust,” Rax said. “You are off course. You are going to smash against a strut.”

  I shifted the air tank yet again, adjusting just a bit more and was almost down to the asteroidal surface.

  “Now,” Rax said. “Run, Logan! Run for all you are worth, and jump when I tell you!”

  I’d reached the asteroidal surface and moved my space-suited legs as fast as I could, making sure not to bang the soles of my boots too hard against the rock and send us upward into space. I ran like that with the nearly expelled air tank in my arms.

  “Jump!”

  I did, heading up toward the portal.

  “You are off course, Logan. This is no good.”

  I saw that I was going to smash against a portal strut, and twisted the tank valve. It must have hissed whatever air remained because I went slightly to the right.

  “Here we go!” I roared, holding the air tank before me and to the left like a shield. It struck the inner portal strut and jerked hard right, throwing us faster than I had wanted into the black darkness of the portal.

  At the same instant, a space-suited Gigantopithecus crashed against and grabbed me.

  For a second, I could not see, and it felt as if I was no longer moving. Then, it seemed as if I had incredible velocity. Strange sights exploded against my mind, bright colors, dazzling sounds and smells of exotic beauty. I wanted to shout Rax’s name. I wanted to launch a prayer for a safe landing. I wished I had lain with Ailuros. I—the Gigantopithecus and I flew out of a portal with pink clouds in a beer-colored sky. We tumbled head over heels over sand. He lost his grip as we tumbled together. I tried to stop, but I must have been going much faster than I’d realized.

  Then, the space-suited Gigantopithecus went over a stone edge and skipped across water with me tumbling close behind. That slowed both our momentum. He sank faster. I followed, sinking toward a clear stony bottom. It was at that point I saw a terrifying sight, which included the whitest most hideous teeth that I’d ever seen in my life.

  -23-

  I knew I couldn’t possibly be on Earth. Nothing like the sea monster I saw had lived on our planet for eons. It had a gaping, toothed maw like a giant alligator and smooth sides and four fins like a short-necked plesiosaur. It had to be forty feet long, well able to swallow the Gigantopithecus and me whole.

  I hadn’t fallen into low surf, but a sort of giant well or deep-sea inlet. The sea monster seemed to have cruised near because of the Gigantopithecus’s and my commotion.

  There was another splash, another space-suited, thruster-chair Gigantopithecus. There was also a second sea monster. He rushed up in a frenzy, caught the second Gigantopithecus in his massive jaw, turned as blood trickled from the wounded ape and shot into deeper water with his prize.

  Then, a third sea monster appeared. Was there a school of them? He swam toward the first Gigantopithecus. The great ape was bigger than I was and thus, in the sea monster’s eyes, must have been the greater prize. That sea monster caught the space-suited ape, turned and headed into deeper water.

  The first sea monster seemed dazed by his companions, and I realized it was considerably smaller than the other two. That made those two huge, easily fifty or sixty feet long.

  In any case, if the first creature had simply attacked like the other two, I would have died. Instead, despite the blood in the water and the actions of the other two, like a shark, it came near me and then veered away. Perhaps it was testing me, circling to gage the nature and health of its prey.

  No. That wasn’t it. I heard a sonic disturbance, a high-pitched noise. Perhaps one of the Gigantopithecuses had a weapon and had discharged it underwater, creating the noise and causing my sea monster to hesitate at the last second because of it.

  By that time, I had sunk far enough that the water pressure pushed strongly against my spacesuit from all sides.

  “You must act now, Logan,” Rax said through an inner helmet speaker.

  The sea monster had cruised away and veered back toward me. It was barreling in faster than before, using its four smooth fins to good effect.

  I finally remembered the rifle, felt with my gloved hands and grabbed the carrying strap, unslinging it off my shoulder. I could hardly believe it had stayed there and that it appeared intact, unbent and ready for use.

  I glanced down. The stony bottom was fast approaching. I frowned. There were hieroglyphs etched into the rock floor below. They were similar to the type of hieroglyphs inscribed inside ancient Egyptian pyramids.

  “Logan!”

  I looked up and pressed the firing stud. A beam drilled and caused the water around it to bubble. The beam struck the inside of the sea monster’s throat. The creature’s reaction was swift. It snapped its jaws shut, jerked around amazingly swiftly and fled as the beam followed it.

  “Stop, stop,” Rax said. “You are heating the water around us too much.”

  I released the firing stud. My suit conditioner snapped on, and my booted feet struck the bottom rock floor. The water pressure pushed against the suit more, causing increasing discomfort on my part.

  I looked right and left. The nearest side was rocky, and I might be able to climb it up to shore. I had to get out of here before my sea monster or the others returned.

  “This is a disaster,” Rax said.

  “You’re telling me. I was almost a fish’s lunch.”

  “Check your gauges, Logan. The suit will rupture any second.”

  I did see strange faint symbols flashing across the HUD of my helmet. I understood none of them. Perhaps it was Polarion script.

  “Will the fish return?” I asked.

  “It is not a fish, but a reptile, similar to a liopleurodon from your Earth’s Jurassic Era.”

  Water trickled into the suit from somewhere and began filling up my boots. That was when I lost it. I should have remained calm and attempted to climb up the rocky cliff side. Instead, taking a deep breath, I reached up and twisted my helmet.

  “What are you doing?” Rax said.

  The helmet unsealed. I closed my eyes and tore it off and to the side. Water rushed into the suit and the increased pressure gave me an immediate earache.

  I slithered out of the Polarion spacesuit, keeping enough of my wits about me to tear the pack free and grab Rax and the rifle—

  The need for air and my earache drove me to kick and kick. I opened my eyes as I shot to the surface. As I did, the water pressure lessened. I hoped the sea monsters didn’t show up just now and make another attempt for me.
r />   Seconds later, I broke the surface and gasped for air. A quick look around showed I was in an inlet as I’d suspected. There was a seawall and a sandy shore behind it. Beyond the sand were tropical trees and ferns such as I’d seen in dinosaur books as a kid.

  With my equipment in hand, I kicked to the seawall. No other sea monsters showed up just then. Nor did some ferocious land creature appear to finish the job.

  From the water, hurrying as fast as I could, I hurled the pack, rifle and Rax onto the sand. Then, I clambered up, soaking wet, reaching sand and crawling across it to my stuff.

  I hadn’t spied more Gigantopithecuses, so I collapsed, rolling onto my back. I stared up at a pink cloud and noticed the sun. It was much smaller and redder than my sun. That drove home once again that I was on an alien world.

  I sat up and removed Rax from his holder. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. I am also wondering why you have not checked the portal yet or checked to see if more Gigantopithecuses have come through.”

  “What portal?” I asked, looking up at the tree line. Oh. There was a giant stone monolith and a furrow through the sand to the seawall. The portal was a semicircle with illumination on the edges and nothing extraordinary inside. No darkness swirled or other substance. I could look right through the semicircle portal into the jungle.

  “Do you sense more Gigantopithecuses?” I asked.

  “I do not.”

  “Then why did you tell me to search for them?”

  “If the portal activates, more might come through.”

  “Right,” I said, climbing to my feet, collecting my stuff. I trudged away from the portal, heading for the tree line to the left, for the fern and tropical jungle. I eyed the jungle critically. “There must be dinosaurs in there.”

  “A reasonable assumption, given what we faced in the sea,” Rax said.

  I nodded. “Why didn’t you take us to Earth?”

  “You are assuming I had that power?”

  “Did you?”