The Evolution of Vaughn, page 14
“Not yet! We’re still too high!”
“I’m going to melt!”
“It’ll hold, you have to trust me!”
“Two sixty!”
“Hold!”
“Two eighty!”
“Hold!”
“Three hundred degrees! Vaughn, we have to roll!”
“On my mark!”
“Three twenty! It’s burning my legs!”
“Three!”
“Vaughn, your back is glowing!”
“Two, one! Roll! Twenty-four thousand meters!” The pair rolled over, face down, cooling the back of the armor. They both knew rolling too soon would melt their face masks in the ever growing air density. “Extend!”
The pair unlinked, and extended the gliding wings from their back. The g-forces were intense as they arced upward, bleeding speed. “Arc up, Fre. You’re still too fast,” Vaughn called as Fresia blew past him.
“I can’t! Flaps won’t deploy.”
Fresia was rocketing towards the surface. Without the flaps on her wings, it was impossible to pull out of the dive. “Use your arms. Point them out in front of you. You have to get more air under you!”
She extended her arms in front of her, which threw her into a violent flipping end-over-end roll. Vaughn pulled his wings in and bent at the waist, putting him into a steep dive. He accelerated towards Fresia, hoping to get to her before she cratered. The HUD in his visor started flashing red, warning him he was outside operational thresholds.
“Yes I know, stupid suit,” he mumbled, diving towards the woman who’d been at his side through the most harrowing moments of his life. “I’m coming, Fre.” She was spinning violently, tumbling through the air. Vaughn smashed into her and wrapped his arms and legs around her. “Got you!”
He deployed his wings again, and strained to hold on to her as he pulled out of the dive. “Hold on to me,” he yelled through teeth gritted against the strain. “Don’t let go!”
Less than ten meters above the tree tops, Vaughn leveled the pair of them out. The wings weren’t powered, he had no thrust. They were going to crash into the trees; he had about fifteen seconds left. “Find a tree; hit it with your grapple. I have to let go now.”
Fresia pointed her arm at the tallest tree and fired the grapple. Thin monofilament line shot out of her arm, and she was pulled from his grasp, swinging in a wide arc around the tree. Vaughn banked hard, steering for the top of the same tree. He grabbed it as he passed and folded his wings. The top of the tall tree bent almost in half as he spun around it, before letting go and falling fifteen meters from the top.
He landed on his feet two meters from Fresia. “See? No problem,” he said confidently. “We got this. Halle, two by two, safely down. Do your thing.”
“Good luck, Captain,” Halle said. “I hope to see you in a few hours. Halle out.”
“Alright, we’re on our own.” Vaughn opened the map on his forearm and gestured with his other hand as he spoke, pointing out important locations. “According to The Maxists, the facility is forty kilometers north-east. Once we get out of these trees, it’s swamp the rest of the way. Sliuvargs can hide in fifteen centimeters of water, so be on your guard. Take this,” Vaughn said, ejecting the weapon holster on his thigh and handing Fresia the Archbishop’s rail gun.
“What are you going to use?”
Vaughn flicked his right wrist. “Remember my ion field device? I adjusted it into a stream.” A small cylinder ejected into his hand, and a green jet of ionized particles streamed out about a meter from the hilt. “I realized the field could be narrowed to a tiny thread.” He swung the cylinder at a tree beside them. The trunk was thicker than Fresia’s leg, but it cut through it as if it offered no resistance. The tree slid off the stump, then crashed to the forest floor, away from them.
“You are a remarkable man, Vaughn Troupe. Remind me not to fuck with you.”
Vaughn turned off the device and stored the cylinder back behind his wrist. “Why, Fresia Werts. That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” Vaughn turned and ran to the northeast. “Let’s go get my son.”
Chapter 21 King Sslex the Wise
Date: 432nd Year of Emperor Valek Foger XXVI
The pair ran through the woods, crashing over downed trees and vaulting obstacles. The suit did most of the work. The hardest part of learning to operate the suit was to remember to keep your arms and legs relaxed, and use only fine motor skills to control it. Adjusting your body to relax your thighs while using your toes to run takes significant practice, but Both Vaughn and Fresia had extensive battle-suit experience.
After only a few kilometers, the trees ended and the real danger began. Vaughn stopped them when his toes touched the first water of the swamp, sending ripples in the green slime that floated on top of the water. “They’re cold blooded, so thermal imaging is useless. Infra-red helps some, but isn’t reliable. Assume they are all around us.”
Vaughn stepped into the swamp, leaving a path of clear water where his thighs pushed the slime to the side. The smell was so putrid that it made it through the suit’s air filtration system. As he ran, the suit was refilling its oxygen containers, but until they were full, he couldn’t breathe canned air.
Almost immediately, three Sluivargs stood up, green goo dripping down from the tops of their heads. They were large creatures, between two and two and a half meters tall. They had huge mouths with hinged jaws, which allowed them to open their mouths almost one hundred eighty degrees. Row after row of long, sharp, meat shredding teeth curved back into its mouth. Once it sunk its teeth into you, the only way to go was down its throat. They stood on their back legs and thick, scaly tail. When they ran, they ran on all fours, tail streaming out behind them for balance.
Vaughn flicked his wrist and swung the cylinder like a golf club, bisecting the lizard-man attached to his leg. At the same time, Fresia squeezed the release on the rail gun. It let out a high pitch whine, and then there was a massive boom. The projectile tore through the Sluivarg, creating an exit wound the size of Vaughn’s fist.
Vaughn grabbed the last one, and put the long thin beam of charged ionic particles to the lizard-man’s throat. “What is in the building.”
“Metal men. Crunchy outsside, deliciousss inssside,” the creature hissed.
Vaughn cut its arm off.
“Itss will grow another. Itss will eat yousss.”
Vaughn cut its other arm off. “What is that building!”
The creature didn’t even flinch. “Its doesssssn’t know.”
“How many E’Clei are in there?”
“Many.”
“How many!” Vaughn yelled.
“More than youssss,” it replied. Vaughn cut its head off and dropped the corpse into the fetid swamp water, then took off running again. He made it about thirty meters before they were once again surrounded.
“This is going to take forever.” Vaughn swept the lizard men in half, and continued running.
“We have to convince them not to attack us,” Fresia said, splashing through the swamp water.
“Any ideas on how we do that?” The ground leveled out, and for a couple of minutes they were running along a small weed-covered patch of dirt.
“Fear?”
“Wonder how many we have to kill before they’re afraid of us? I killed thousands on Thagew. By the end, Hold and I were standing back to back surrounded by a circle of dead lizards. They kept coming and we kept killing, until they were gone. We exterminated every one of them.” The ground ran out, and they were back in the swamp. At the edge of the water, two huge trees were pushed over, and the pair continued running between them.
Vaughn suddenly skidded to a halt, holding his hand out to stop Fresia. “Back up, slowly. It’s a trap. They’re funneling us in. Have you seen any trees that big since we hit the water? Something dragged those trees.”
The pair backed up slowly, but they were too late. A giant vine net swept them off their feet, dragging them underwater between the two trees. The second water hit the air intake, the suits sealed, and an oxygen meter appeared on Vaughn’s heads up display.
He couldn’t cut himself out because Fresia was on top of him. “Fre, use your hand-blades. Cut us out.”
“I can’t. My arms are pinned.”
“I can’t get to mine either. Suggestions?” As he spoke, the net dragged them under a large log, and pinned them between the log and the bottom of the swamp.
“Wings? Maybe they’d cut the vines?” Her voice carried a panicked edge.
“Worth a shot.” Vaughn’s display lit up with Sluivarg all around them. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it now, they’re all around us.”
Fresia expanded the wings on her suit. The vines creaked in the slowly moving water, and then snapped. Before they could free themselves, the Sliuvarg moved in, swimming around and around the pair with vines. Although the wings cracked the vines, the spinning movement of the Sliuvargs bogged them down with even more vines. Vaughn was flipped over, face down in the muck. So much silt was kicked up by the lizards, Vaughn couldn’t see an inch in front of his visor, but he felt himself being dragged, feet-first through the water.
“Can you move at all?” Fresia asked.
“Nope. Let’s see where they take us. Be ready.”
After a while, the pair was dragged out of the water, and Vaughn was lifted up and set on his feet. A clawed hand wiped the muck off his visor. They were in some sort of hut. Torches burned along the sides of the room, dimly illuminating the inside. The biggest Sliuvarg Vaughn had ever seen was standing in front of him. His long snout slowly swept side to side. Symbols were carved into his scales, swirling circles and geometric patterns adorned each individual scale, which created larger patterns all over his body. He held a staff that looked like a small uprooted tree. The roots at the top swirled around a massive blue gem.
One of the lizard people spoke. “Sslartvass, king of SsSliuvargsss hasss words for metal men.”
Vaughn could just barely wiggle his fingers enough to turn on the external communication. “Our fight is not with the Sliuvarg. We regret the deaths of those that attacked us.”
The king stepped forward and opened his mouth threateningly, snapping his jaws several times before he spoke. “Why are you here, metal skinsss?”
“We need to get inside the building on the other side of this swamp.”
“Why do metal sssskins wish to enter bug-people’s hut?” The Sliuvarg’s eyes were on the top of their head, and the Chief’s muzzle was almost twenty centimeters long. It was almost comical the way he leaned in and pointed his long snout over Vaughn’s shoulder so he could get his green and gold slitted eye directly in front of his visor.
Vaughn surveyed his surroundings. Even if he could activate the twin blades that sprang from his armor, he wasn’t sure he’d have the ability to move them before several sets of massive jaws and razor sharp teeth closed on various parts of his body. “They have taken my son. I wish to free him.”
The chief said, “Bug-people are too ssstrong for metal men. Bug people make metal men into more bug people.”
Vaughn opened his visor. The sudden movement surprised the chief, whose reaction was to open his mouth and snap it shut. These creatures were uneducated, but intelligent. They’d set a complex trap for him. They had a well-built subterranean living space, which must have required some significant engineering to keep dry underneath a swamp. He used the distraction of opening his visor to slip the vines a little, allowing him some room to move his hand. “I will find my son, and I will destroy that facility.”
The chief thought for a few seconds. He stepped back and looked at Vaughn and Fresia. “I am Sslex, king of SSliuvarg. Bug-people have taken hatching ground. Many eggs lost. You kill bug people, SSliuvarg will allow you across our swamp. You no kill Ssluivarg.”
Vaughn flicked his wrist and brought the ion cylinder to his hand, slashing through the vines binding him. The room was illuminated by the green glow, and the dozen guards around the room rushed him. Vaughn turned the cylinder off and slid it up into its holster on his wrist, and King Sslex rapped his staff on the ground.
The guards froze in mid-step.
“I mean no harm to your people. I do not wish to kill you.” He left his visor open and maintained eye contact with the king.
“We have deal. You kill bug people, we no kill you.” The king stepped forward holding a long tooth on a leather cord. “You wear this. Is my tooth. SSliuvarg no attack bearer of King Sslex tooth.”
Vaughn took the tooth. “Thank you, King Sslex. It is an honor to carry your tooth.”
Sslex nodded towards two guards. “Ssled, Sslage, you go with metal man. Make sure he find bug people hut.”
The two lizard people pounded their fists two times in their chest, bowed, and turned to walk out. Ssled turned to Vaughn, “King Sslex give order. We go now with metal man.”
Vaughn held out his gloved hand to the king. “My name is Vaughn Troupe. Among my people, we clasp hands when a deal is struck. In my culture, a handshake is a binding contract. Once you shake hands with someone, honor requires that it be done.”
“I will sshake your hand, Vaughn Troupe. Sstrange metal man. You sspeak of honor when we have witnessssed none among any other of the sssoft-sskinss.” The king moved forward, clasped hands with Vaughn.
“Thank you, good King Sslex.”
Vaughn cut the vines around Fresia, and the two of them followed their guards out of the room. “Ssoft skinsss keep up. We move quickly.” The two huge lizards dove into the water. Vaughn and Fresia followed, turning on their external lights to help with the murky swamp water.
Eventually, the water gave way to land. The Sliuvargs pulled themselves up onto dry ground and stopped to rest. Their muscles had to be on fire. Cold blooded species were less able to counteract the lactic acid that built up in muscles, causing the burning sensation when overused.
Vaughn was anxious to keep moving. “Climb on our backs,” Vaughn said to his escorts. “We’ll carry you for a while. Otherwise, we’re going to leave you behind, and King Sslex would be angry at you for not fulfilling his wishes.”
The two lizard creatures looked at each other and ruefully climbed onto the back of the two Humans. “Just point which way to go. Try to keep me on land as much as possible; we’re faster on the dirt.”
Vaughn took off at run, winding through the swamp. Sslage kept them on firm ground as much as possible, and they covered the distance at an astounding pace. After about two hours of running, Sslage tapped Vaughn’s shoulder. He stopped, and his passenger slid down off his back.
“It’ss jussst ahead,” Ssled pointed. “We cannotss go any farther.”
“Do you have any idea how many bug-people are in there?”
Ssled shrugged. “More than usss,” he said, gesturing to the four of them.
“More than us when we were talking to King Sslex?”
“Yesss.”
Clearly the Sliuvargs were not going to be able to communicate any further information, if they were unable to count.
“Thank you for coming with us. Go tell King Sslex we will fulfill our promise.”
The two lizards dropped to all fours, took two bounding steps and dove into the water. Vaughn and Fresia crept forward. Both of them activated their camouflage at the same time.
Chapter 21 Saving the Hatchery
Date: 432nd Year of Emperor Valek Foger XXVI
Vaughn and Fresia crept about a kilometer through the swamp and heard the sound of machinery. The pair came to the edge of a large, wide river that ran in a perfectly straight line for almost a kilometer in any direction.
“This is where they drain the swamp to make ground firm enough to build in,” Vaughn said. “We’re here.”
The pair waited on top of the steep bank, watching for any sign of a patrol. Fresia whispered, “We could wait here for hours. I’m going to go take a look.” She skidded down the bank, causing a small avalanche of dirt and gravel to follow with Vaughn just behind her.
A Sliuvarg burst out of the water, grabbing her.
“King Sslex ordered us safe passage!” Vaughn said, holding up the tooth.
The Sliuvarg dropped Fresia and dropped to its belly. “Sssorry,” it intoned, its voice much deeper than any of the others they’d heard.
“Have you seen any bug-people close to the water?”
“Yess. Bug-people come sssometimess.” Dozens of Sliuvarg heads appeared on the water. “We cannot eatss them, or they kill our eggsss.”
“We’re going to free your hatching grounds. Take your people to the hatching grounds. If they make a move on your eggs, kill them. We will make sure more bug-people do not come.”
“They make sounds that hurt usss. We cannot get clossse to them.”
“So that’s how they did it,” Fresia muttered. “Sonic weapons.”
“Get as close as you can, we’re going in,” said Vaughn. The Sliuvarg were monsters by any definition. They attacked in numbers, ate anything that moved, and seemed to have a particular taste for Humanoids. Even knowing how many people they’d eaten on other worlds, Vaughn couldn’t hold them responsible for their actions. They came from a place where anything that moved was food. They didn’t know any better. Their species didn’t have the typical Humanoid respect for life. It was just how they evolved. What the E’Clei had done to them was just as bad as what they did to Humans or any other race. They controlled them and forced them to act against their nature. He felt sorry for them.
Vaughn and Fresia crossed the river as the Sliuvarg swam off down the river towards their hatching ground. The far bank was almost ten meters taller than the close, and it was only once the Humans got to the top that they could get a real feel for what they were up against.
The structure was large, easily eight hundred square meters. There were no guards that they could see patrolled the outside. This clearly wasn’t a military base. Vaughn and Fresia were deep inside E’Clei territory on a planet filled with flesh eating monsters. There was no reason to guard the facility.
