Chapter 2       "This stinks!" yelled Ellen to the open Martian air. Wreaked machinery littered the the landscape, what might once have been an e-frame or part of a jumptroop's armor was now something less than scrape. "So you have said" replied Shanita, "yesterday, the day before that, and everyday prior for the last month. Can you not think of something more original?" Ellen scowled and muttered a curse under her breath. Shanita was right of course, that's what burned her. Since they had arrived on this desolated version of Mars, they found that the ring system they had brought with them did not have a charged power source. While the system did use power generators, it still required a 'kick-start' from a typical fusion pack. Unfortunately they didn't have one. Shanita's armor did not possess a power source that could be removed and Ellen's exo-armor just didn't have a pack powerful enough. And so, yet again, Sterling left a day ago in search of one. Shanita walked over to one of the empty crates near the now set up ring system. She found their last bag of rations and removed two cans from it. "Time for lunch, come and get it." said Shanita emotionlessly. Ellen kicked a shard of metal from the dirt and stomped over to her. She took the can and without so much as a word, sat down on the ground and opened it. Using her fingers, she spooned the paste-like meat into her mouth. Shanita sat down in front of her and began to do the same. "What do you think did this?" To Shanita's surprise, Ellen actually gave a civil answer. "I don't know. I've been examining the wreckage in the area and the damage done to this stuff, it doesn't match anything I've seen before." "Me either." added Shanita. "It's almost..." Ellen stopped mid-sentence then went back to eating. "Go on, tell me." prodded Shanita. Ellen stared at Shanita a second, as if attempting to determine if she was serious. "Okay, I was going to say it almost looks like something ripped this stuff to shreds, like it was eating it or something." Ellen watched Shanita take in her theory and then continued eating. "Well?" asked Ellen. "Well what?" returned Shanita. "Aren't you going to take a jab at me, for my lame theory?" "Its not 'lame', as you put it." said Shanita. "Really?" said Ellen dubiously. "Really." replied Shanita. Ellen continued to stare at her, waiting for the jab she knew just had to come. Shanita looked up from her can of food to see Ellen staring expectantly at her. "Given all that we have experienced in the last month, is it really so out of the ordinary that I might find the concept of a metal-eating creature that lives in another dimension, plausible?" "I didn't think of it that way." commented Ellen. They continued to eat in silence for a few minutes. "He's overdue." noted Ellen. "I know." answered Shanita. "So what do we do about it?" asked Ellen. "What we have been doing. We wait." * * *       "Jared my friend!" Jared Mathison rolled his eyes at the mention of his name. Lt. Stan Remes dropped his dinner tray in front of Jared's. "Something I can help you with, Lieutenant?" "As a matter of fact there is..." began Remes. Pellegrino, who was sitting beside Mathison, decided to interrupt. "Lay off him, he's had a rough day." "So I heard, how's the arm?" asked Stan. "Healing nicely." replied Jared. Stan sat down in front of the two jumptroopers. "I've got an assignment for you that you can't possibly refuse." "Somehow, I doubt that." answered Mathison. Stan put up his hands, "Hey now, at least hear me out before you turn me down." "Okay talk." "You remember Nara Burns, right?" Jared nodded his head. "Well, she still holds some influence with 'the powers that be'." explained Remes. "Most of 'the powers that be' are her personal friends." noted Jared. "Right, well she is sending her assistant on a special fact finding mission and she needs a military escort." "Me?" offered Jared with a cock of the eyebrow. "You got it. I need someone I dependable with a strong background in computers, that's you." "Forget it, get someone else to babysit her." said Jared dismissively. "Okay," replied Stan, "I just thought that with her contact on Earth being Rita Torres, you might be interested. But..." Jared did a double take. "Rita? Earth? When do I leave?" Remes smiled "I just knew you would see things my way. Of course, there is a catch but I'm sure its nothing you can't handle." * * *       Shanita's short range comm unit activated and Sterling's voice came over the line sounding worried. "Shanita, come in. Are you there?" Shanita removed the palm sized device from her pocket. Wright drew closer so she could hear. "Shanita here, go ahead." Sterling was breathing heavy, it sounded like he was running. "I have good news and bad news." "I am in the mood for good news." said Shanita. "Ditto." added Wright. "I found what I thought was junkyard. There was an energy signature present there. I found a couple of half charged fusion packs." "That is great! What is the bad news?" "Bad news is, it wasn't a junkyard I was in, it was some kind of nest." Wright and Shanita glanced at each other. "What kind of nest?" "Not important," answered Cy, "what is important is that the inhabitants are chasing me and there are a lot of them." Wright grabbed at the comm unit, "What do they look like, and how many?" "I'd say about fifty to a hundred. Four legs, big eyes, horned tail, and a whole mess of really sharp teeth and claws." answered Cy. "How far away are you?" asked Shanita. "Turn around." answered Cy. Behind them, just coming over the last dune on the horizon, came Sterling. A hoard of the ferocious beasts were following about 30 meters behind him. Shanita squinted. They did indeed look to be all teeth and claws. They also seemed to be covered with thick armor-like plates that sort of looked like metal. "Some kind of metallic based life form? Silicon based perhaps?" ventured Shanita. Wright jumped over to her duffel and pulled out her blaster rifle. She slung the duffel onto her back and hoisted her weapon. "Save the biology lesson and start shooting!" She picked a random alien and opened fire. At the present distance, the shoots did little more than anger the beasts. Shanita extended her armor and activated her weapons. While Ellen's blasts were marginally successful, Shanita's attack was devastating. Her shots of green plasma carved away chunks of the creatures' outer armor. A black liquid that Shanita took to be blood leaked from the wounds. Though many of them fell, more kept coming. Wright switched to using grenades and found them much more effective. As her barrage landed within the ranks, numerous animals soon found a leg or two missing. Some thought the descending grenades to be food and caught them in their open mouths, only to have them explode within them. Cy drew his weapon and fired a wide barreled burst. His bio-energetic field activated, energy flowed through his hand into the conducting metals of his weapon's handle and subsequently into the oncoming ranks of animals. Like a bulldozer, it plowed through them, felling many but leaving many more to avenge them.       "We are so screwed!" commented Ellen. Cy reached the encampment, tossed the fusion packs to Wright and turned to continue fighting. "Hook those up and get us out of here!" "Okay!" Wright let her rifle hang from her shoulder as she raced to the ring system. She quickly popped one fusion pack in each generator. As the animals grew nearer, Shanita switched to plasma missiles increasing the number of kills she obtained with each shot. Cy holstered his weapon and opted to project his bio-energetic field directly. It was more stressful for him but allowed for a much wider blast area. The blue energy leaped from his hands destroying everything in its path and buying Wright the precious time needed to open their escape route. "The packs are in, now what?" "20 meters and closing." reported Shanita. "Activate the start up sequence - hit the big red button!" yelled Cy. "15 meters." added Shanita. Ellen slapped the red button on the console in front of her. "Now what?" "The coordinates should be preset to take us home! Just hit the green button to send the instructions to the primary ring c.p.u. and tell me when the first rift opens!" Ellen hit the green button and watched the center of the ring as it began to distort. "Come on, come on!" she urged, as if it would help. "10 meters!" "This is going to be close!" noted Cy. Suddenly the area behind them brightened. "Its open, now what!?!" "Push the lever on the left forward, then hit the yellow button! Hurry!!!" answered Cy. Ellen pushed the lever forward and hydraulics began to move the secondary ring forward. Suddenly it jammed. "No, no, no! Not now, God-dammit!" "Five meters!" reported Shanita. She heard Wright yell and turned to see what was wrong. "Shanita, look out!" screamed Cy. She turned in time to see the open maw of one of the creatures bearing down on her. Because it was so close to her, she fired her plasma cannons at it. The blasts ripped it apart piece by piece and it finally fell at her feet. "Retreat." ordered Sterling. As Shanita turned, the beast that she thought was dead made one last try for her. The creature's lunge carried it wide to Shanita's right. So its mouth missed completely. Its three clawed hand was another story. The razor sharp spikes ripped through the armor covering her right side, knocking Shanita over. She scrambled to turned herself over and fired a single shot to the beast's head, stopping it permanently.       Wright, in the meantime, tried desperately to get the ring system unjammed. Out of time and frustrated, she rammed her fist into the console. It sparked and fizzled. Just as she was about to mentally chide herself for the action, the hydraulics reactivated. As soon as the secondary ring went through the primary rift, she hit the yellow button. "Its done! Let's get the hell out of here!" Sterling shot one more blast of energy, then turned and ran for the rift. Shanita ran along side him, though she seemed to be having trouble keeping up. Ellen removed a grenade from her rifle, pulled the pin and set it on the console. "Don't want these things following." she said to herself. With her task complete, she ran through the rift. Sterling and Shanita were right behind her. Sterling stopped just short of the portal, staring at the control console. "That doesn't look right." he said. "Who cares!" yelled Shanita as she tackled him, carrying them both through the portal. The creatures that were following them hesitated, showing more interest in the metal that made up the ring system than the organics which had just escaped. Wright's grenade detonated, disabling the portal. The beasts sniffed the air a moment, and unwilling to go home empty handed, began to devourer what the organics had left behind. * * *       A thumping sound filled the personal quarters of Lt. Kaz Takagi. He rolled over in his bunk and put a pillow over his head in response. The pounding continued. "Go away!" yelled Kaz from under his pillow. The pounding continued, even louder than it was before. Unable to take it anymore, Kaz relented. "Computer, open door." The door slide open to reveal an annoyed Jared Mathison. "Its about time, Takagi." "That's Lt. Takagi," corrected Kaz, "show some respect." Jared strode into the room, kicking a few bottles as he did so. "When you start acting like an officer, I'll make a note of trying." retorted Jared. "Ooo, tough talk, have you been talking to J.T.?" murmured Kaz. Jared ripped the pillow from Kaz's grasp and pulled him upright in bed. "Get showered and change your uniform." "Since when are you the boss of me?" asked Kaz. "Since Lt. Remes informed me that in order to go to earth, I got to take your sorry butt with me. Now get up!" Jared yanked Kaz to his feet and gave him a push toward the door. Kaz turned around, a little irked at being treated like a child. "Is that all I am to you Jared? A means to an end? I thought we had something - a real soldier's bond - ya know?" Kaz stumbled forward, falling into Jared's arms. "Uh! You're drunk!" "Am not." mumbled Kaz. His stomach churned, Kaz's eyes bulged and he exhaled its contents onto Jared's right shoulder and then the floor. "Okay, maybe a little." conceded Kaz. Jared heaved Kaz onto his now soiled right shoulder and carried him down the hall to the showers. He dumped him into a stall and turned the water on, dousing him with cold water. "I'm going to change, you have until I get back to get your act together or I report you to the Captain and you'll sleep this off in the brig." Jared stormed out of the shower room, leaving Kaz to debate the advantages and disadvantages of prison. * * *       Ellen Wright hoisted herself off the ground with alarm klaxons blaring in her ears. Sterling was already on his feet helping Shanita get up. She seemed like she was hurt. "Where are we?" she yelled. Sterling left Shanita leaning against a wall and bounded over to Wright. "Looks like we're on a ship - Exofleet design - which means in about thirty seconds a security team will be all over us." Sterling pulled a small palm sized device from his pocket and handed it to Ellen. "Put this on your belt." Sterling clamped one of his own into place. Ellen noted that Shanita also wore one. "What are these?" asked Ellen. "Personal holoprojection and cloaking unit. Hit the right switch on the underside to turn it on and off. I'd suggest you turn it on, by the way." Sterling hit the right underside button and he faded from sight. Wright felt him grab her hand. "So we don't lose you." he said. "Whatever." mumbled Wright as she activated her own unit. "What about the wench?" "Her armor has a thermographic vision mode. She'll be able to follow us. Now shhh!!" The two doors leading out of the room opened and full security team entered the room. They stared a moment, then holstered their weapons. The uniforms they wore didn't look recent, neither did the weaponry they carried. One of them spoke, "Security team Alpha reporting, everything looks clear. Any further anomalous readings?" A voice answered through the comm unit he carried. "Negative. Everything looks normal." "We'll run a sensor sweep just to be sure, Alpha team out." Unseen by any of the room's occupants Wright, Sterling, and Shanita silently exited. They headed down the hall and into the recesses of the ship as the sensor team arrived.       Having found a deserted portion of the ship, the trio decloaked near an access terminal. "Okay, what the hell did you do to the ring system?" demanded Cy. "Nothing. I did everything you said to." replied Ellen, more than a bit irked at his questioning of her actions. "Why don't I believe you?" mused Cy. Ellen just stared back at him, unwavering. "Listen Wright, if you want to get home I suggest you tell me what happened back there. Because I can't get us home unless you do." Ellen shifted her stance a little, clearly uncomfortable with what she was about to say. "I...sort of...forced your machine to work." "Define forced." demanded Cy. "I hit it, it didn't like it." stated Ellen. "Well that's great, we're stuck here." "You can't blame me!" yelled Wright. "Keep your voice down." hissed Cy. "And why not? Its your fault." "I...you're right." Cy raised an eyebrow, surprised Ellen had admitted her mistake instead of blaming him. "Well, let's not worry about that now. What's done is done. We'll just have to figure out where to go from here." Shanita slumped against the wall and retracted the head piece of her armor. "You alright?" asked Cy. "Those things gave me a little scratch to remember them by - hurts a little, that is all. Might I suggest that we find out where we are." She pointed to the access terminal. Cy nodded in argument. "Good idea." He began to bang away at the keyboard, bypassing a number of security lockouts as he went. Ellen peeked over his shoulder. "How can you do that so easily?" "I helped Professor Algernon design some of the ship systems used in my reality. They were based on these designs, to improve them, I had to learn everything about them." "And that included every little back door and secret password, huh? Pretty slick, for an Elt I mean." Cy smiled, "I'll take that as a compliment. Here we go." Ellen watched the screen. A small window appeared, displaying the ship's manifest. Sterling read allowed from it. "EFS Normandy, registry number FF-608, Exo-frigate, launched July 1, 2117, from Sedna Planitia Fleet Yards, Venus, Commissioned on August 4, 2117." Ellen read the bridge plaque dedication from the manifest, "'Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.' - Theodore Roosevelt. Sounds like my kind of people." "God, I hope not." said Cy. "Ya know, I expect that from the wench, but I almost thought you had more class than that." "Where is Shanita?" asked Cy. They turned around to she her collapsed on the floor. Cy rushed toward her. He cradled her in his arms. Her eyes fluttered open a moment, then closed again. Her armor retracted, exposing the deep wounds on her right side. Ellen rummaged through her duffel and pulled out a small rag. She tossed it to Sterling. "Its all I got." Sterling pressed the cleanest portion of the rag to Shanita's side. She moaned softly in response. "This isn't enough." stated Cy. "No kidding." said Ellen sarcastically. Cy shot her a scathing glance. He picked Shanita up and walked her over to Ellen. "Take her." "I can't carry her, she's too heavy." said Ellen. "You haven't even tried." Cy gently placed Shanita in Ellen's arms. She struggled under the added weight but managed to hold her up. Cy walked over to the access terminal again and typed in a few more commands. Finding what he wanted, he shut the terminal down. He took Shanita back from Ellen. "There's an empty crew quarters not far from here. We'll take her there, then you'll watch over her." "And where will you be going?" asked Ellen, clearly not thrilled at the prospect of babysitting Shanita. "To find a Doctor." On to Chapter 3