The Imprisoned Earth by Vaughn Heppner

Author:Vaughn Heppner [Heppner, Vaughn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-17T06:00:00+00:00

-28-

“Step it up,” I told the one-eyed guard.

He glanced back at me and must have noticed that I felt the pulse in Schaine’s throat. In reality, I pressed a key spot on her throat. If I did it long enough, it would kill her. I just wanted to render her deeply unconscious.

The guard hurried, and I strode after him. After we’d crossed most of the plateau, with the rest of the guard detail trailing us, the one-eyed guard pointed at a leather curtain. It hung before an entrance in a vertical cliff wall that went straight up. The cliff looked smooth, machine-made.

Without preamble, I shouldered aside the cape, entering a gloomy cavern. A faint glow ahead provided me with a modicum of illumination. I headed that way and tripped, almost pitching Schaine onto the stone floor. A glance back showed me a thick power cord that snaked deeper into the gloom. Looking back, I saw that the cord went into a rocky recess just before the hanging cape.

That was interesting. Why would a digitized Dr. Calidore need a power cord? Maybe just as important, what supplied the power?

Heading toward the light, I tried to understand how Calidore could have become the all-important oracle in so short a time. I hadn’t been with the Wind Runners and Fighting Hunge for very long, surely not enough time for Calidore to maneuver his way into telling these people what to do or drastically changing their destiny.

I strode for the light, taking a turn in the cavern and now squinting the nearer I came. It was a bright arc light. Maybe the Fighting Hunge had gotten it from the Wind Runners.

The cavern narrowed back here. I noticed several banks of machines to either side. There were also a few radar-like dishes slowly moving back and forth. Was that for show? I actually saw two rods sticking up in a V with a purple electrical current working up it like a bad 1950’s science fiction movie. We had found the oddest books in various Nevada ruins, including those written by movie critics.

“Halt,” I heard in Dr. Calidore’s all too familiar voice. The sound was loud, louder than his computer-slate speaker should be able to produce.

I glanced around, spying a big speaker unit. I noticed a shelf in the very back and saw the computer slate lying there. Cords snaked to a unit beside the slate. Maybe Calidore had a wireless connection to the bigger unit.

“Long time, no see,” I said.

“Jason Bain?” Calidore asked, sounding surprised. “I thought you died years ago.”

As softly as I could, I set the red-haired lizard queen on the rock floor.

“What happened to her?” Calidore asked.

“Better question is what happened to you? How did you manage all this? And how in the world can you say something so ridiculous as that I’ve been dead for years?”

“It isn’t ridiculous as it’s been over seven years since I saw you last.”

“What?” I asked, sounding winded and feeling weak. Was he serious?

“I’ve begun to wonder if we initially landed at a temporal anomaly.

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