Hints of frost remained on the trees, but the sun shined intently through a clear blue sky, baking away all but the most stubborn patches of ice and snow despite sub-freezing temperatures.
Frost or not, the trees looked familiar to Trevor. Towering Maples, thick Oaks, legions of thin White Birch, and finally rows of evergreens standing like sentries atop the mountains surrounding the lake basin.
He did not ask Major Nina Forest what they called the lake on this Earth. However, based on maps she provided, he found the correct coordinates and, from the navigator's seat on the lead ship, directed a trio of 'Skipper' helicopters to the place known on his world as Harveys Lake.
The threesome descended and banked over the half-frozen waters.
"Should be on the western edge," Trevor pointed out the large cockpit window.
Nina followed his gaze and steered the craft in that direction. Her wingmen did the same as they neared the end of a ninety-minute flight.
Trevor felt goose bumps ripple along his arms. He spent two days arguing with Nina to convince Director Snowe to authorize the expedition. Trevor felt certain that after a week of intense training, the troops could handle a real mission. After all, these were not rookies but battle-hardened veterans who merely needed a reminder of what they could accomplish.
Nina initially opposed the idea for two reasons. First, the Chaktaw were over due for an attack. Second, she explained that none of them were familiar with the estate. She said her Trevor never mentioned any such place and that-in another point of differentiation with his world-by the time she met him, her Stone had already assembled an army.
That army apparently did not include K9s. Indeed, Nina's people did not even know what a 'dog' was, although she did know wolves. Yet another difference and perhaps another avenue to unlocking the secrets he might find answers to on this parallel world.
The Skippers circled the western bank. Trevor pressed his nose against the cockpit glass and searched with both his naked eye and binoculars.
At first glance, the area did not appear developed but as he surveyed the hillsides he saw what had to be homes, albeit of a much different architecture. These appeared built almost directly into the side of the mountain with only a portion of the dwelling sticking out. It made him think of how he utilized the cave behind his mansion to shield the runes.
Very few of those homes remained intact. He saw more burned and blasted rubble than standing structures.
Regardless of the difference in building style, everything felt familiar. He could nearly see the humans of this Earth, before the invasion, spending summer days on the banks of the lake, splashing in the water, fishing by the shore.
That made him remember Jerry Shepherd, and how he fished these waters during that first year after Armageddon.
He turned to Nina and asked, "Okay, so far I've met you, saw my statue, and I know there's a Jon Brewer here, and you had a Gordon Knox who was killed. What about other duplicates? Anyone else I'd know?"
She steered the craft into a sharp bank and replied, "Probably. Give me some names."
"Jerry Shepherd. He was a police officer and a friend of yours and is a General in my army."
"Knew a Jerry Shepherd back when I was a cadet. Haven't seen him in years."
"Okay, what about Garrett 'Stonewall' McAllister? Or my friend who's with me, Reverend Johnny?"
"Nope and no. Never heard of either."
Trevor turned his head and spied Johnny sitting in the passenger area with a squad of soldiers and mumbled, "Well, probably not enough room in eight universes for more than one of either of those guys. Wait a second, there it is."
He pointed at what had to be his estate on this Earth. At least, it matched the location and it certainly looked the part: a big residence, this one surrounded by a wooden barrier instead of an iron fence, sturdy-looking stone walls comprised the main house, and he saw a second floor balcony that easily passed for the twin of his own.
Like the rest of the homes around the lake, this mansion was built into the mountain side, meaning it stood further from the water's edge. It also lacked a landing pad, forcing Nina to steer the three Skippers to a clearing among the evergreen trees at the foot of one of the mountains on the southern bank, about half-a-mile from the mansion.
As they flew toward the landing zone, Trevor felt a sense of deja vu; the same sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as when he returned from the airport flying an Apache for the first time only to find that his estate had been attacked by Red Hand tribesmen. This time, instead of seeing K9 and human bodies on the grounds, he saw a hole smashed in the barrier wall, burn marks on the stone balcony, and bomb craters across the grounds.
A dead place.
Before they landed, he already wrote the script. The Trevor of this world had been chased from his lakeside sanctuary but managed not only to survive, but to build an army and then a city.
Major Forest eased the ship to a gentle landing. The other two set down to either side.
As she shut off the controls, Nina warned for the third time, "This is hostile territory. We can’t stay long and at the first sign of trouble we got to bug out, you know?"
He barely heard her. His mind focused on the mansion and what he might find there.
Soldiers, including Corporal Brewer, disembarked the Skippers, scouts fanning out while the main body marched across the field and through the woods at a fast pace. Something shadowy and slimy scurried off; a bird of some kind cawed from a high branch.
Trevor walked in big strides with Johnny on one flank and Major Forest on the other. They exited the woods and found rubble where a church stood on Trevor's world. As they rounded the pile of debris and approached the road, Trevor stopped.
Two carcasses lay there. Big bodies, scavenged to the bone. He recognized the skeletons by one of the few parts remaining intact: circular rows of teeth that easily identified the cadavers as Jaw-Wolves.
"Dear Lord in Heaven," Reverend Johnny gaped at the bones.
Trevor said to Johnny more so than anyone else, "If Jaw-Wolves had attacked the estate on our Earth in the first few months, we would not have stood a chance, either."
Johnny pointed at the holes in the road ahead and remarked, "Jaw-Wolves don't make bomb craters so they must have had help."
"This whole thing," Trevor said, "it stinks like The Order to me."
He led them forward again, this time at an even faster clip. They walked along the wall protecting the estate until reaching a breach and entering the grounds where they found another Jaw-Wolf carcass.
Major Forest barked orders, "First squad, form a security perimeter. Second squad, split into teams and enter the structure. We’ll wait-"
Trevor did not listen. He chambered a round on his bullpup assault rifle and marched to and through the arch-shaped front door. Nina could do nothing other than follow.
Things differed from his home a universe away. Rougher interior textures, slightly larger doorways with an arched look as opposed to straight rectangles, lighting fixtures shaped like hour glasses, and moist air due to half the building being inside the mountain. The furniture lacked flare-much more utilitarian-but made to fit a human form. The walls had been picked clean of any decorating and the remains of battle-bullet holes, burn scars-littered each room.
Nonetheless, the place felt the same in spirit. A home converted into a bunker; a place big enough to store the seeds to rebirth a world, isolated but still in close proximity to civilization.
Regardless of what had driven him from this place, Trevor's counterpart on this Earth started here. He felt it. He knew it. And that meant answers might remain.
Stone moved quickly through the first floor, his flashlight shining over damaged walls and smashed furniture, chasing away bugs and small mammals. Whatever ghosts lurked here, they guarded their secrets stubbornly.
Frustration turned to anger. He ordered, "No one goes in the basement except me."
"Okay, fair enough," Major Forest said and then she ordered Corporal Brewer, "Establish a command post on the first floor. Set up scanners and communications."
Trevor ascended a set of wide, stone stairs to the second floor. The Reverend and Forest followed. With each step up he moved faster until he ran into what would have been his office.
An oval-shaped table made of some kind of plastic dominated the room surrounded by the remains of broken chairs. Against one wall stood a circular storage rack where only burnt pieces of unreadable paper remained. Piles of plaster blended with the warped and splintered wood planks of the floor giving each of Trevor's steps a crunch, crack, or snap.
The room felt like a microcosm of the entire planet; broken and failing, much like the people of Thebes who were drowning in Armageddon, waiting for the next wave-the last wave-to push them under.
And why?
Because I failed.
He kicked a broken chair sending it spiraling into a wall. He paced back and forth, pumping his fists as if trying to strike the phantoms that had overrun this Trevor's redoubt.
Johnny eyed Trevor, engrossed in the sight of a man facing an image of his own downfall. Nina, meanwhile, strolled through the destroyed room with a sense of awe in her expression, maybe fear; like a child in a dinosaur museum.
"How did this happen? I have to know how this happened!"
"Trevor…" Johnny spoke delicately. "We've seen the evidence in the form of bones."
"There’s a reason. I did something wrong. I made a mistake…"
Stone surged toward Nina, taking her by surprise. She retreated a step but he grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Tell me! He had to have told you something! Why was he chased from here?"
Johnny came to her rescue, "Trevor Stone! Get a hold of yourself!"
The Reverend’s hand looked placid enough but he had more strength in that one arm than many men had in both. He smoothly but forcefully pulled Stone away from the woman.
"Calm yourself!"
"I have to have the answers! I have to know!"
"Maybe you’re not meant to know. Maybe this place is not for you!"
Stone threw Johnny’s hand from his shoulder and grunted. His chest heaved in and out in frustrated breaths. He pinched his nose and closed his eyes as the nightmares that must have befallen the mansion danced in his imagination.
Wind rattled against the cracked, arch-shaped glass doors of the balcony beyond which they heard that wind whistle through the trees surrounding the dead home.
The radio on Nina’s utility belt crackled to life with Corporal Jon Brewer's voice, "Major, we have a radar contact. It's big and coming our way."
"That's it," she said to the men. "We're going to have to evacuate."
Trevor grumbled, "Is it that Steel Guard you told me about? They're coming?"
Nina raised her communicator and asked, "Have you identified the radar contact?"
"One battleship," the Corporal's shaky voice replied. "Approaching from the east."
Trevor stepped to the balcony doors and peered out through the spider web crack in one glass panel. He produced a set of compact binoculars and aimed them east. He saw something…a speck in the blue sky.
He repeated what she had told him earlier, "The Steel Guard of the Geryon Reich."
"Who is that?" Johnny asked because he had missed that conversation.
Nina said, "They control most of the east coast of this continent."
"Based on what she's told me, Rev, we haven't seen these guys yet."
Major Forest stepped toward the hallway and said, "It doesn't matter. We have to go."
Johnny stood in the middle of the room, looking first to Forest as she urged evacuation and then to Trevor who stared out the window toward the approaching threat.
"It does matter," Trevor said without turning. "Will they attack as you suggested?"
"Trevor, look, I know you're eager to get started, but we're not equipped for a full-scale battle. They've got a battleship that could blast apart this side of the lake in about thirty seconds."
"But they won't use it," he said. "That's what you said."
Nina grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes as she corrected, "I said they preferred not to use it. Their main batteries drain a lot of energy. But we’re about thirty soldiers. Their ground forces won’t need the main guns to take us out. We have hardly any heavy weapons."
Footsteps announced the arrival of Corporal Brewer in the upstairs room.
"Major, should I pull in the men and retreat to the Skippers?"
Trevor turned around and Reverend Johnny recognized the glare in his friend's eyes. He told the other two, "I don't think retreat is on Mr. Stone's mind."
"We have to pull out," Nina said. "There’s nothing here, you know?"
He did not appear to hear her. He said, "They’re coming in from the east on the southern side. They’ll pass right over our parked Skippers before they get here."
"Yeah, well, damn good reason to get moving. Their air-to-air defenses will knock the Skips right out of the sky. We’re running out of time."
A message from the Major's radio interrupted their conversation. A message in human tongue but delivered by a monotone voice that could only come from a computer of some kind, probably a translation computer.
"THIS TERRITORY IS CLAIMED BY THE GERYON REICH. YOU ARE ORDERED TO WITHDRAW IMMEDIATELY OR BE DESTROYED."
The speck in the sky grew larger as it approached the mountain rim, becoming a full-blown dot descending as it moved.
Johnny pronounced, "Now order the ranks, and fling wide the banners, for our souls are God's and our bodies the king's…"
Trevor turned to him and asked, "New Testament?"
Johnny admitted, "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I’m expanding my repertoire."
Nina tried to keep things on track. Her voice grew a little louder and a little shakier.
"Trevor, I know you’re upset about this but we don't have either the firepower or the numbers to combat the forces onboard that ship."
"You said they will disembark troops," Trevor repeated the knowledge of Geryon tactics Nina had imparted to him on the way in.
"Yes," she agreed. "They will dispatch Golems."
"Controlled by the Battleship."
Nina clarified, "By soldiers hooked to virtual reality controls. We’ll need heavy weapons to knock out the Golems."
Johnny told her, "I fear Mister Stone is suggesting that you don’t need to knock out the Golems, as you say. You need to knock out that ship."
Corporal Brewer watched the conversation with beads of sweat growing on his forehead despite the cold. His consternation burst and said loudly, "They have air-to-air defenses on that Battleship that can knock anything out of the sky!"
Trevor walked over to Jon Brewer and stood before him, looking up at the taller man.
The discoloration remained from his broken nose but the Corporal refused to wear a bandage anymore. More important, his obstinate, bossy nature suffered an even deeper wound that day in the training center. Trevor hoped that that injury to this Jon Brewer's pride might allow something new to be born, as had happened on his Earth.
"Stop thinking about what we can't do and think about everything we can."
The statement puzzled the Corporal. Or perhaps the way Trevor studied his face unnerved him.
Nina said, "Even if we had a missile, they'd probably intercept it, but that doesn't matter because we don't have any surface-to-air missiles. So we can't take that ship down!"
He stared at Brewer but spoke to Nina, "Look at how they are approaching. Think about what we need to get the job done. Then you'll realize we do have a missile. As for the ground forces, well, me and Corporal Brewer here are going to devise a means of frustrating them. We don't need to defeat them, just buy time."
Corporal Brewer looked to his Major. She gaped back at him, equally dumbfounded.
"Do tell, Mister Stone," Johnny asked almost playfully. "How is it you plan to strike that vessel from the heavens?"
"Actually, I’m not going to do it. Major Forest here is."
Her gasp was audible. She said, "Okay, you have a plan. But what are we going to gain? Why the risk?"
Trevor alternated his eyes between her and Brewer as he said, "I told you I expect victory. How long has it been since you've tasted that? It's worth the risk and it's why you brought me here."
"WITHDRAW OR BE DESTROYED."
"Let me show you-all of you-what we can do."
– To Trevor's eyes, the Geryon Battleship resembled one very large zeppelin with two smaller, similar blimps bulging out to either side, giving it three nose cones, three tail fins, and room for a very wide carriage underneath.
At the rear of the 'center' dirigible rotated a large propeller that looked more like it belonged on a submarine or under a cruise ship than pushing along an aircraft. Indeed, it spun in a slow, lazy manner to the point that it could not be solely responsible for the ship's momentum.
Colored in a shade akin to rust, the Battleship sported sharp gray lightning icons in circles on both sides of the main fuselage.
A large but surprisingly nondescript undercarriage hung from the belly in the form of a large rectangle with one long, shaded windshield facing forward. However, through his binoculars Trevor spied lines dividing the carriage into parts, suggesting a modular nature.
Several small antennas and radio dishes protruded from various points along the hull. Gun emplacements projected from each of the four corners resembling miniature howitzers. No doubt part of the extensive air-defense network protecting the otherwise vulnerable gas giant. It seemed that knocking it down was a problem in regards to getting close enough to hit it.
Fixed to the bow was an innocuous-looking gadget resembling a cross between a cannon and a transmitter. Further inspection revealed a series of conduits flowing the length of the craft between this contraption and the engine assembly at the rear of the ship. According to Major Forest's account, this main gun could blast the mansion to pieces with one shot, but each of those shots consumed a great deal of power.
Their eyes-particularly Corporal Brewer's-had bulged when he informed that his plan depended on the Geryons using this main gun.
That plan began with Trevor and Corporal Brewer leading the bulk of the human soldiers to occupy a cluster of three buildings not far from the Skipper landing field: a large house, a cottage, and a boathouse. Taken together, they guarded the likely Geryon approaches to the estate both through the woods and along the road.
Major Nina Forest, Reverend Johnny, and two additional soldiers made their way to the Skippers, hurrying to get there before the enemy, which they did. They found hiding spots inside the large helicopter-like flyers.
"Let us hope," Reverend Johnny remarked to the Major as they crunched in a dark corner of a wheel assembly, "that our foe does not merely blast these vessels into smithereens."
"They won’t. As long as there’s a chance to salvage these ships they’ll leave them intact. I mean, the Geryons may be in better shape than we are, but every resource is, like, precious here. You know?"
"Ah, yes, I understand. Currently, Major, I am worried about only one resource, my precious ass. Which is, yet again, in the hands of Trevor Stone."
The Battleship floated three hundred feet above the southern side of the lake and hovered. Smaller propellers on the sides of the ship served as stabilizers.
Two rectangular sections of the undercarriage on the craft broke away-fell-to Earth on cables aiming for a patch of burned-flat woods. Big metal ‘legs’ spun from each corner of the landing barges as they dropped. The featureless blocks hit the ground hard but those big legs absorbed the impact, bouncing while the umbilical cord cables wobbled overhead, still attached to the mother ship.
As they stabilized, the front of each opened to form a big ramp. The Golems of the Steel Guard marched out into the sunshine.
These metallic machines stood ten feet tall on two legs with hydraulic muscles, part of a skeletal body colored scarlet red. Large bolts served as joints on the knees and elbows. Their faces were sharp, almost beak-like with two glowing yellow cameras serving as eyes.
Two arms ended in three thick clamps. Similar but wider designs comprised the ‘feet’. Tubes atop each arm suggested fire arms while other attachments of various design suggested additional means of dealing damage.
Twelve of the beasts marched out of the drop container followed by smaller, tracked machines resembling boxes on wheels-maybe covered mining cars-lined with chutes, tubes, and ports to aid them in re-supplying the remote-controlled Golems.
One final wave of attackers emerged from the container, a squad of ten living, breathing Geryon infantry. These humanoid aliens dressed in battle suits made of some kind of leather/metal mix. A tight-fitting helmet covered their heads with a strap supporting what resembled a ball gag but was, in fact, a communication mechanism.
Only slivers of skin could be glimpsed through slits and openings in their protective gear, revealing a pale, soft hide.
Each of the Geryon infantrymen wielded some kind of high-tech cross bow.
The Steel Guard marched out from under the shadow of their floating Battleship and advanced into the woodlands on a direct course for the field where the Skippers parked. As they did, the cords on the elevator barges grew taut, the doors closed, and both of the crate-like carriers retracted into place underneath the dirigible…
…Jon Brewer stood next to Trevor in the upper level of a home. He had just finished communicating with his squads. Everyone was in place.
"They are headed our way," Brewer spoke with a hint of excitement in his voice.
"Good. They’ll pass by our ships then come here."
"Sir, have you thought about what we'll do if they discover Major Forest and her team?"
Trevor nodded, "Yes."
"You have? And what is it we’ll do then?"
"Die…"
…Nina heard the sound of her own breath, and sound of the Reverend’s breath, and the distant hum of the parked Battleship as its engines droned in some type of neutral setting.
Then she heard the approaching mass.
A purr and hiss of hydraulic gears accompanied each step of a Golem's leg.
She knew these robots to be a dangerous lot because the pilots controlling each Golem sat isolated from the battlefield in the floating fortress overhead, facing no more danger than a child playing a video game.
By the same token, that lack of fear could translate into a lack of caution.
"Dare I ask, Major," Johnny’s normally loud voice sounded out of place in a whisper. "Have your people ever tried to interrupt the signal between the operators and their automatons?"
"Of course we did. But this is how they fight, you know? They’ve spent a lot of time getting it right. Scrambled frequencies, encoding, all that."
The Rev appeared ready to ask another question but changed his mind when he felt a soft vibration as the first wave of Golems walked into the field…
…"So it’s going sit up there and let its ground troops do the dirty work," Trevor said.
"I sure hope so," Corporal Brewer replied in a voice that suggested the idea of bolting entered his mind. "They could wipe us out in about thirty seconds if they decide to."
"Jon, I mean, Corporal, to win this war you have to take chances."
Brewer wiped sweat from his brow and remarked, "Well, this is a big chance."
Trevor examined his defenses yet again from the broken window on the top floor of the large home. Again, the primary building material consisted of stone but this particular structure was one of the few 'homes' that stood alone as opposed to sprouting from the mountainside.
On his right flank, further up the soft slope of the lower mountain and beyond the main house’s back yard, was a kind of guest cottage, a single-story structure with a tall roof. A squad of human soldiers hid there armed with their assault rifles as well as a handful of fragmentation-style grenades and a heavy machine gun.
To his left flank stretched a front yard then the lake perimeter road. On the far side of that road was a big boat house built on a pier over icy waters. Inside waited another squad equipped with the only surface-to-surface anti-armor weapon in their possession. The weapon could be fired multiple times, but they possessed only a handful of projectiles.
The last squad joined Trevor and Brewer in the main house, a dilapidated structure lacking any furnishings; just empty rooms most showing signs of battle damage.
In addition to their standard bullpup rifles, the men in the house brandished a pair of heavy machine guns and several high-yield explosive charges with remote detonators. Trevor had them rig some of those explosives around the perimeter while a they anchored a few more of those charges to rocks to add weight and allow them to be thrown like grenades if necessary.
"They should be at the Skippers by now," Trevor cocked his ear toward the east as he spoke. "I don't hear anything. That's a good sign. If they had spotted Nina, we'd hear gunfire."
Brewer did not appear to listen. He pointed to the east and nearly shouted, "Look!"
The line of Golems and their supporting infantry appeared, moving among the barren winter trees. The eyes of the machines glowed fiercely.
The closest Golem raised its arm and a volley of explosive shells slammed into the main house…
…Nina and Johnny had sat quiet while the enemy searched the parked Skippers. The garbled transmissions of the infantry and the bleeps and buzzes of the robots had reverberated all around their hiding spot for several minutes.
When the Geryons found nothing, their small army continued on its way. Or at least that is how it sounded to the stowaways’ ears.
A few minutes later, the first sounds of battle sounded: the hollow thoot-thoot of the Golem’s main guns; the recognizable rat-tat-tat of human assault rifles.
"Well, I say we may-"
Nina held a finger to Johnny’s lips. She then produced a softball-sized object from her utility belt. Johnny saw tiny circles along its surface.
She tossed it out from their hiding spot in the starboard landing gear hatch. It thumped to the ground, rolled, and then came to a halt.
From a pouch on her utility belt, Nina pulled a small monitor which, when she switched it on, displayed a collage of images. She enhanced each and cycled through those images: a close-up shot of a landing gear wheel, a meaningless shot of the blue sky, a rock, and then a picture just outside their hiding spot showing one of the Golem machines and two Geryon infantrymen standing guard among the parked skippers…
…As the Steel Guard approached the human positions, the attackers split into three distinct sub-groups to deal with each of the three anchors of the line.
Brewer saw bullets bounce off the Golem armor and shouted, "We can't put a dent in them!"
"We don't need to," Trevor replied. "This is about slowing them down. Do that and the rest of the plan will come together."
Of course, Trevor thought, the entire plan is based on an assumption. A likely assumption but an assumption nonetheless.
Brewer warned, "In coming!"
Stone, the Corporal, and the two other soldiers in the room scattered. A small missile-not much larger than a firecracker-smashed through the window and exploded in the ceiling with a shower of sparks. Trevor felt hot splinters pepper his battle suit as he dove for cover behind the remains of a large pot, perhaps a planter.
Smoke spread through the room causing gasps and coughs, but it quickly dispersed as fissures and cracks in the walls and roof brought in a flow of air from outside.
"Incendiary charge!" Corporal Brewer spoke the obvious; the missile had erupted in heat and smoke instead of shrapnel.
Trevor found his feet again and observed the battle once more. He saw three Golems and a couple of Geryon infantry men march toward the boat house.
A trail of gray and white smoke shot out from the boat house to meet them. At the head of that contrail, an anti-armor rocket. It slammed into the lead Golem with a solid clang, like a hammer striking an anvil. The impact caused the upper half of the remote-guided robot to twist and it stumbled back a step…then righted itself.
"Damn," Trevor muttered as the Guard raised its arms and fired exploding shells into the boat house. Big splinters of wood fell off and part of the outer wall sagged, threatening to collapse and take his left flank with it.
Trevor raised his radio. "Third squad! Status report!"
One of the Geryon infantrymen raised his crossbow and let a shot fly. A red bolt arrowed into the besieged boathouse.
At last a radio response from third squad in the form of a panicked voice, "Two men down! Shit, the missile didn’t stop it! Shit!"
"Relax, Pickering. Trust me, that bad boy is hurting; just take another poke at him. Stay focused on the mission."
The portable rocket launcher fired again from the boat house and scored another hit on the exact same Golem. This time the warhead found a critical system. The war machine went limp and then tumbled over, its eyes glowed no more.
"Whooeey! That did it, soldier! Keep up your fire!"
An excited trooper radioed back, "Shit yeah! That did the trick!"
The enemy force moving to engage the boat house paused, no doubt having second thoughts about storming the dock. Instead of moving forward, they stood off and traded pot shots with the defenders.
Perfect.
"Our right flank is in trouble," Corporal Brewer warned.
Trevor raced across the top floor of the main house. He felt a shudder from somewhere below, the result of missiles and shells pounding his command post.
From the south-facing window he saw the remains of a back yard complete with some kind of rock garden and patio. In that split second he thought of how much he had in common with the people of this Earth.
They had summer cookouts, too.
Further up the hill, four Golems and a half-dozen enemy infantry approached the cottage. The Geryon foot soldiers tightened their formation, using the metal bodies of the robots as cover the way Trevor’s home world soldiers might huddle behind tanks.
"First squad, you copy? Answer me, first squad! Use your grenades. Aim for the enemy infantry, forget about the Golems. Hit the infantry."
Despite heavy suppression fire from the Geryon machines, first squad soldiers bravely broke from cover long enough to lob grenades at their enemy. Trevor heard a scream above the rip of bullets and the clap of explosions; someone paid a price for their courage.
The first grenade fell far short of the enemy, its deadly shrapnel wasted on open air.
The second hit in front of a Golem which merely stutter-stepped from the concussion.
A third exploded in a halo of carnage encompassing a Golem and two foot soldiers, barely scratching the paint on the former but tearing into the latter. Instead of dying immediately, the two Geryon infantrymen writhed on the cold ground crying in their alien language as blue-red blood streamed from sliced veins.
This bought more time for both the cottage's defenders and the entire line…
…Reverend Johnny bolted into the open with his machine gun blasting away. His shots killed one of the humanoid sentries instantly. The other dropped to the ground in search of cover.
Bullets bouncing off its metal exoskeleton, the Golem targeted the pesky intruder. Somewhere high above in the confines of the air ship the Golem's "driver" watched a video feed and moved a joystick to take aim.
As the mechanical creature reacted to its operator's inputs and lined up a shot on Reverend Johnny, Nina took advantage of the diversion, raced in behind the remote-controlled machine, and deposited an explosive charge among the gears and servos of the beast.
Muffled among the metallic innards, the explosion sounded in a soft pop that belied its power. Gears, wires, and chunks of armor flew away, nearly catching Major Forest in her retreat.
A secondary explosion announced the breech of the Golem's ammunition cache and served as the final act of its destruction. As the cloud of shrapnel dissipated, two machine legs stood in the field supporting nothing more than a lonely steel rod.
Nina admired her work while Johnny shot the remaining Geryon soldier dead.
"Okay," she said. "Let’s do it."
Two human soldiers emerged from hiding spots in empty external fuel pods. They joined Major Forest and the Reverend as they boarded a Skipper…
…With the flanks holding for the moment, the Steel Guard unit concentrated on the main house at the center of the defensive line, sending four Golems to assault while the remaining infantrymen stayed in the rear area with the supply wagons.
Explosive shells and missiles came with renewed concentration at the house. A slab of wall tumbled like an avalanche of rock but failed to cause a general collapse. A small fire started on the first floor but stamping boots quickly extinguished the flames.
Blast after blast, round after round peppered the defiant home, suppressing human counter-fire and emboldening the Steel Guard to close in to point blank range. From there they fired through broken windows.
Suddenly one of those Golems flew into the air, its rigid form looked nearly comical as it pin wheeled like a toy robot tossed across the playroom in a tantrum. The boom of the remote-detonated charge followed, shaking more stone loose from the house.
The machine returned to Earth hitting with a heavy thud. One of its "eyes" flickered and ceased to function; one robotic hand twisted and broke. Nonetheless, the Golem struggled to its metal feet, still operational.
Then a second explosion detonated along the main home. A Golem fell on its side, another one staggered. While the beasts worked to regain their balance and bearings, a soldier leaned out a second floor window and dropped a package toward the attackers. That package detonated chest-high on one Steel Guard. The severity of the explosion cracked both eyes, spun the head entirely around, and blasted the torso area. The Golem shimmied in a mechanical seizure then fell.
From his position above, Trevor saw the entire Steel Guard assault hesitate. Apparently the operators decided the price in valuable machines might be too high, particularly when they could eliminate human resistance in one quick stroke.
It seemed Trevor's assumption would prove correct…
…Nina sat in the pilot’s seat, Johnny kept watch at the rear ramp, and the other two soldiers hurriedly opened supply crates and worked controls.
"I say! Major Forest! It appears their dirigible is on the move!"
Nina heard Johnny’s report. She moved faster. A discussion erupted between the three working to prep the Skipper.
"Arming missile warheads."
"Opening fuel tanks and flooding lines."
"Shutting down fire suppression systems."
"All power systems on line and functioning at one hundred percent."
"Ammunition crates are open."
"What about these frags? Leave em’ here?"
"Leave them."
Reverend Johnny boomed, "The battle ship is approaching! It’ll be upon us momentarily!"
"Releasing engine safety locks."
"Charging power cells to maximum."
Nina stood and turned to access an overhead power regulator.
"Hells bells, Major, the beast is upon us."
"Calm down, just calm down. We can't do anything yet," she said. "They know they lost a Golem at the landing site. They may be expecting us to go airborne."
Johnny countered, "Or they might blast us right here, on the ground."
"We pose no threat on the ground. Well, unless they give it some thought."
A shadow cast over the Skipper, causing Nina to go silent. However, the Geryon Battleship did not open fire but, rather, proceeded toward the battle zone, certainly aiming to obliterate Trevor's forces with its main gun.
"Excuse me, Major," Johnny said. "Waiting until they have passed us by would defeat the purpose, would it not?"
Nina glanced at him and ordered, "Every one out!" while she remained at the cockpit controls with the shadow of the armored blimp passing by overhead…
…"Here they come," Corporal Brewer spoke the obvious.
Trevor did not respond. Either they would be dead in a few moments or the Geryons would be mortally wounded.
The Battleship made of one big Zeppelin and-seemingly-two smaller ones slowed its approach. It drifted a few hundred feet above the tree tops east of the defensive line. Trevor felt confident-but not certain-that the craft was still at least partially above the clearing where the Skippers parked.
The main gun came to life. Conduits running along the undercarriage from the rear engine area to the bow glowed with a soft green light, flowing from the rear end to the hybrid cannon/transmitter-like contraption at the front of the craft.
A brilliant, thick beam fired from the main battery in one long stream of energy. That energy hit the guest cottage just up the hill from the main home.
The brilliant light caused Trevor to shield his eyes. It seemed as if the daytime sky added a dozen more suns to its blue canvas. A blast of heat swept across the battlefield. A sound like crackling flames filled the air.
The beam hit the cottage like a fire hose of boiling water jetting onto a slab of ice. The house and the ground around melted away into tiny fragments, some of which flew up and outward. The building…the men inside…everything, gone.
When the beam stopped, nothing remained of the cottage. No debris, no burning embers, no melted bodies. Only a deep, black crater surrounded by shiny specks of what resembled glass.
Geryon infantrymen standing among their Steel Guard raised their fists and cheered.
The Battleship’s gun pivoted and pointed directly at the main house…
… Nina glanced out the cockpit glass at the gigantic, three-headed Geryon dirigible floating by and realized that it passed one hundred feet to the port side of the parked Skipper. As she turned two dials on the main control panel, she heard the whir of the rocket positioning gears as they tilted the engines in obedience to a new setting.
Now comes the hard part, she thought, acutely aware that the designers had never foreseen the need for any kind of timing mechanism for emergency booster activation. She dialed up 'rocket output' to one-hundred and twenty-percent; far exceeding design specifications and, of course, safety parameters but programming the added build up would buy her a split second's delay between ignition and lift off.
First, she pushed a big red button. Hydraulic jacks began retracting the rear exit ramp. If she did not close that ramp, the ship's trajectory would be adversely affected.
Nina felt her heart beat. Before it beat again, she slammed the EMERGENCY BOOSTER activation switch and raced toward the closing rear ramp.
Exploding plumes of thrust melted the frozen ground under the Skipper’s wings. Smoke and sparks of fire danced around the shivering rockets as they nearly split apart due to the overload of thrust.
Nina jumped through the last sliver of daylight peeking in the closing ramp just as the wheels left the ground. Despite having her wind knocked out, she instinctively threw her arms over her head. She gasped for breath as her world filled with the roar of the boosters detonating in a controlled, focused explosion.
The Skipper went airborne. Not a flying ship, not a helicopter, not a plane but an impromptu guided missile. Its rotors did not even turn and the angle of its ascent was far from perfect as it raced skyward, aiming for the underbelly of the beast.
The Geryons’ anti-air batteries fired frantically at the approaching hulk of metal.
Nina crouched to a knee and watched the ad hoc missile fly toward its target. She saw panic in the Geryon's anti-air fire. No doubt they prepared for the Skippers to take off and make strafing runs but failed to consider a suicide flight, particularly in this manner.
Nevertheless, a shell from one of the flak guns hit the rocketing chopper in its starboard side. The engine there smashed to pieces; the thrust sprung loose from the containment of its baffle. Instead of funneled to push the craft up, the now-uncontrolled explosion of that rocket spread in all directions. The Skipper tumbled as it climbed. For a moment-a long, hair raising moment-Nina feared the missile would miss.
It nearly did.
Instead of impacting the undercarriage and command module of the Zeppelin as planned, the Skipper cart wheeled into the outer wall of the port side mini-blimp. The spinning mess of metal and more hit like a burning bullet. The rust-colored cover of the air ship crumpled then punctured. The flaming wreckage of the smaller craft continued to spin as its remaining engine casing lost integrity. It became a whirling ball of disintegrating aircraft, eviscerating the zeppelin in a jagged line.
Then the secondary explosions inside the Skipper began. With fire suppression systems disengaged, the auxiliary fuel tanks erupted as did the fully-flooded fuel lines.
Next came the ammunition caches. The bang and pop of grenades and bullet cartridges was lost in the rumbling blasts from the armed warheads fixed beneath disintegrating wings.
Finally, as the whole ball fell to pieces, the batteries-overcharged to the point of instability-exploded.
Debris from the Skipper fell to Earth leaving behind a long gash in the side of the Geryon Reich’s Battleship. Flames flashed from that gash as the volatile gases inside ignited. The entire aircraft listed as the explosions acted like a thruster, shoving the beast off-course.
Nina heard alarms ringing inside the giant ship. She heard engines roar to life as the pilots tried to regain control.
"I dare say, perhaps we should evacuate ourselves to-"
Johnny did not need to finish his suggestion; a rain of debris-most of it on fire-fell onto the field. First small chunks from the Skipper, then larger pieces from the Battleship…
…Trevor watched the beautiful destruction from the top floor of the badly-damaged summer home. Below him, human and Geryon infantrymen diverted their attention to the sounds of destruction above and behind them.
For his part, the usually boisterous Brewer stood in a trance mumbling over and over again, "Wow."
Trevor seized the opportunity and told this mirror image of his friend, "This is how you win this war, Jon. Every battle is a roll of the dice. You don't play it safe, you don't second-guess. Know your enemy and go for the throat."
Brewer turned to him, his eyes wide and his lips still mumbling.
Trevor put a hand on the taller man's shoulder and told him, "You have it in you. I've seen it. Stop being such an arrogant ass and you'll find it."
He did not know if he got through. Was it even possible to get through to this alternate Brewer? It had taken the shock of invasion plus personal failure to change the Jon Brewer he knew, could a victory such as this do the trick here?
Trevor hoped so. He missed the advice, the camaraderie, and the strategic mind of his friend. Perhaps he could find it again in this man, if only he could unlock it.
The sound of an explosion carried over the battlefield. The Geryon Battleship-the one with the rust colored exterior and gray lightning icon-turned and descended. The flames in its side grew; the aftershocks of the successful attack rippled beneath the surface of the craft.
It was dying.
The nose swung down. The rear propeller seemed unaffected, spinning in the same lazy motion and helping to speed the craft's doom as the aft rose and momentum drove the Battleship toward Earth.
"Look," Brewer pointed to the war zone below.
The Golems staggered back and forth, some throwing their arms in the air as if fighting off phantom attacks.
Trevor chuckled. No, he laughed. An evil laugh.
"Controlled with virtual reality modules, right? Look at them," metal arms flailed, heads swiveled. Trevor laughed again. "Their pilots are burning up there in the ship and we get to watch it through their pet robots. Say, looks like that guy got his arm caught on fire," one of the Golems waved its right arm around as if there might be flames there but, of course, it was the operator in the dirigible-not the robot in the field- alight.
"Burn you bastards," Trevor mumbled
As the dirigible plunged into the lake, the Golems stopped acting and stood silent.
Trevor radioed, "First and second squads, attack."
The human soldiers from the remaining two houses poured out and quickly overwhelmed the handful of flesh-and-blood Geryons, most struck down from behind while staring in horror at their falling mother ship.
A sound like thunder rolled across the basin of the lake. It bounced off the sentry mountains and cried toward the heavens. It was the sound of the Battleship crashing into the lake; sinking into the lethally-frigid waters.
– While most of the troops stood by the water's edge shooting any swimming Geryons who managed to stave off hypothermia, and Reverend Johnny led a patrol to sweep the surrounding forest for stragglers, Nina hurried in to the mansion.
Corporal Brewer and two men hovered over radar and communications gear there. When he saw her, the Corporal quickly reported, "Radar is clear."
The report did not interest her.
"Where is he?"
Brewer answered with a glance toward the ceiling…
…Trevor stood on the balcony, the remnants of doors open behind him.
He stood and watched the corpse of his enemy. The Battleship’s front was fully under water, the back half still burned. Smoke from a dozen small fires and as many large ones joined to form a massive stream of black and gray rising to the blue sky.
Behind him, Major Forest hurried into the office. She saw him, calmed, and then slowly walked out onto the balcony next to the man who had engineered their unlikely triumph.
He felt her presence but did not look to her.
Together-side by side-they gazed upon the spoils of battle. A fireball burst from the dead ship. A moment later the clap of the explosion reached their ears.
Without turning, she spoke with the slightest — merely a hint- of awe in her voice.
"You did it."
The carnage on the lake hypnotized Trevor with the realization that, yes, he had done it. As he had done time and time again. He had brought ruin and death. He had vanquished another enemy. And it had come to him as easily on this world as it had come on his own many times, without one visit from the Old Man, without any K9s at this command, and far removed from the library of knowledge hidden in the basement of his house.
He replied to her in an even, unemotional voice, "That’s just the start of what I can do. What I’m going to do."
Nina did not argue, she did not say a word. She stood there, equally transfixed by the destruction he wrought.
The fire from the burning dirigible sent a wave of heat across the lake in every direction. Not enough to mask the cold of winter, but enough to make the surreal scene of the massive Battleship’s disintegration tangible.
Trevor’s head cocked to the side slightly. So slightly she did not notice.
His eyes cast over and down. Over to her.
Those eyes crawled up her body from her feet to her hair, studying every line — every lovely line- along the way. He saw the glint of explosions and fire in her eyes, although he was not sure if that glint were illusion or real.
Trevor’s arm reached…slowly…across the void between them. His fingers touched at then curled around her waist. She said not a word as he yanked her close. Her ponytails bobbed with the sudden movement. His other hand also found her body while her arms instinctively draped over his shoulders as they had so many times long ago.
He kissed her. Intense. Deep.
Trevor kissed Nina and he did not want to stop. His hands massaged her back as if to convince himself of her reality. Her fingers dug into his shoulders like claws. He pulled her even closer to feel every exhilarating curve in her body.
A mushroom cloud of fire and smoke and shattering debris blasted out from the destroyed hulk as it entered the final act of its decent to a chaotic end.