Dryker's Folly: Book 1 in Void Wraith Origins Read online

  Dryker blinked at the unexpected compliment, but stayed focused on the mission. “I’m thinking we set down outside the crater and hike in.”

  “That will take longer. Hours maybe. By that time they’ll have explored the place.” Sheng brushed a lock of dark hair from her face as she looked over her shoulder at him. “We should set down as close to their ship as we can, then try to find cover inside the installation. We need to stop them from getting whatever they’re after.”

  “If you think I’m putting the Folly down inside that facility, you’re nuts. If she gets damaged, my life is over.” Dryker tapped coordinates into the datapad set into the command console. “I only own 12% of her. Letting me name her was just a courtesy. I’ll make you a compromise, though. I’ll set down in the crater, as close as I’m willing to risk.”

  Sheng fumed silently, but said nothing as he guided the ship into the crater. It took far less time than he’d have expected, and he had to keep reminding himself that they were really close to a small planet, not far away from an Earth-sized one.

  The ship settled between a pair of massive granite boulders, shielding it from the crater below. Even if one of the cats glanced up here they wouldn’t see anything alarming.

  “What’s your brilliant plan now?” Sheng asked as the Folly shuddered to a halt.

  “Sneak inside the complex without being spotted, and then come up with a real plan.” He flipped a series of switches on the main console, and systems began shutting down.

  “Just like that? Sneak inside?” She rose with a disgusted sigh, and squeezed past him, toward the airlock. Sheng picked up the chest piece for her EVA, and slid it over her flight suit.

  “A minute ago your plan was to land next to the bad guys and hope we can outrun them,” Dryker pointed out. “The bar for plans isn’t exactly set very high.”

  She scowled in his direction as she continued donning her suit. “Fine, we’ll try it your way. I know I can’t give you orders, and even if I could you wouldn’t listen to them.”

  He grinned at her. “You have read my file.”

  “Can you at least try to elaborate on this plan?”

  “Sure. You said these guys were undisciplined, right?” he asked.

  Sheng nodded grudgingly. “Our intel suggests they’re more like mercs or pirates than any soldiers I’ve seen.”

  “Well, if they’re like any pirates I’ve ever dealt with, they’re lazy. They won’t set proper watches, and they’ll be just as excited about looting this place as we are. I saw the footage from Luna Station. They’re taking everything not nailed down.” Dryker began donning his own EVA suit. “Plus, the cats kicked the crap out of us at Luna, and they disabled the Johnston easily enough. They’re winning. That suggests they’ll underestimate us. They’ll be focused on what they can get, not on who might be tailing them. I know it isn’t much of a plan, but if we’re smart, we might be able to get down there without being seen. We find out what they’re after, and look for an opportunity to use those fancy grenades you brought.”

  Sheng snapped her white helmet into place, then turned to face him. “I’ll take a bad plan over no plan, I guess. Don’t let me down, Dryker. Earth’s future could be riding on this.”

  “No pressure, right?” Dryker snapped on his own helmet. If the Earth was depending on a washed up vet like him, they must be a whole lot more desperate than he’d thought.

  10

  Not So Full of Shit

  Dryker could just barely make out Sheng’s disapproving expression under her EVA’s mirrored helmet as he joined her in the airlock. Her voice crackled over the comm. “Where did you find that thing? The garbage?”

  Dryker glanced self-consciously down at his suit, which admittedly may have contained as much duct tape as fabric. The contrast with Sheng’s bright white suit, complete with the UA logo showing North, Central, and South America, was painful. “You might say that. Let’s just say its former occupant didn’t need it any more, and I can’t afford to be picky.”

  Sheng cycled the airlock and Dryker leapt through the doorway. The decreased gravity made him feel like a god, and he gracefully glided down to a boulder about fifty meters from the Folly. That afforded his first close-up look at the alien installation, and that was exactly what it must be.

  Any notion that this might be a secret Indo base was banished the second he spotted the tall, fluted spires and the hieroglyph-laden pyramids.

  Every last bit of the place was molded from some sort of dark blue metal, almost black unless you shined a light directly on it. The place harkened back to the deep space horror movies he’d so loved as a kid, but being in the real thing was a whole lot less fun. He just hoped something didn’t leap out and attach to his face.

  The cats’ vessel contrasted starkly with everything else, its long bronze form crude next to the installation around it, and most especially compared to the other vessel parked alongside it.

  “At least we hit them hard.” Sheng’s tone was grimly satisfied. “Look.” She pointed at an enormous hole in the aft side of the bronze ship.

  “I’m more interested in the other ship, the one they came for.” His breath thundered in his ears as he bounded closer, grateful for the lower gravity. “If that thing had been constructed by the United Americas it would have been a cruiser class. She’s big.”

  The similarities ended there. The ship appeared to have been constructed from several rectangular blocks haphazardly attached to each other. He couldn’t even begin to fathom the reason for the construction. It certainly couldn’t have been for tactical reasons.

  Near the rear of the vessel a faint blue energy pulsed from what must be engines. The light came not from a traditional engine, but rather from something that looked a lot like a giant sapphire. The gemstone emitted the light in even, rhythmic pulses.

  Sheng landed on a neighboring boulder, and extended a chrome sensor unit. “Those things are putting out a temperature gradient.”

  Dryker leapt again, this time to a better vantage. “Think they’re engines?”

  “Or weapons. Either way, I don’t want to be on the receiving end of them.” Sheng hopped down to another boulder, then bounded again onto a flat plain.

  Movement was easy, but it also meant he had to rely more on his maneuvering thrusters for control. Jumping required precision when a casual kick would cross a football field, but his thrusters compensated for any mistakes.

  “Movement, near the engines,” Sheng whispered into the comm. She extended a white-gloved hand to point at several figures clustered beneath the massive gemstones. “Looks like they’re just as interested as we are.”

  “Can’t say I blame them. That thing is a lot better than their ride.” A sudden thought occurred to him. “Naomi, have you had any luck deciphering the signal?” Dryker hopped down fifteen meters to land on a flat outcrop. The movement gave him a moment’s vertigo, but he recovered quickly. It had been a long time since he’d been on a rock this large.

  “I have translated a minuscule portion.” Naomi paused for just a second longer than a real person might have. “The light burst contains a massive amount of data, which will take months to fully decipher. However, the outermost layer contains a number of mathematical problems designed to help us understand how they thought, and how their language worked.”

  Sheng landed a few meters away, her helmet reflecting the eerie blue glow from below. “So they’re teaching us their language and sending us their history? Sounds like the old Voyager space program.”

  “Yeah, and just like us they probably sent the signal to every local galactic alien-net, or whatever it is these cats use. I’m guessing that’s how our furry buddies found Earth,” Dryker said. They’d nearly reached the installation. That meant speed was now less important than stealth.

  “I still don’t understand how broadcasting the signal into the sun accomplished that.” Sheng’s voice oozed frustration. “Were these guys just hanging out inside it? Do they live there? Sun cats?”

  Dryker glided down to the smooth metal floor, and landed gently behind a black obelisk. “I’m just an armchair physicist, but isn’t it impossible to escape the gravitational pull of a star? Assuming you could survive the heat and pressure.”

  He took a moment to orient himself in relation to the aerial photo they’d taken of this place. They were on the facility’s top level, with small levels descending below them sort of like a stadium. The ships were three levels down, about sixty meters away.

  Sheng landed next to him, easily as gracefully as he’d managed. More so, if he was being honest.

  “We’re close enough that we need a real plan.” She peered around the obelisk, which gave off faint blue pulses on a five-second interval. Some sort of antenna? Or a transponder?

  Dryker peered around the antenna at a cluster of armored figures huddled underneath the gemstones. Their attention was totally fixed on it, and if they’d seen the Folly land, they certainly didn’t seem too concerned. He didn’t really blame them. If sapphires had the same value to their species, then every cat down there could get rich off a single stone.

  “This place is big enough that I think we could creep around the edge of the level above them.” Dryker pointed to the ring above the cats. “We follow it to the other side of the ship and we try to find a way inside while they work on that gem.”

  “What makes you think we’ll have any better luck than they did?” Sheng delivered a sidelong glance that made it very clear what she thought about his plan.

  “Because we’re actually trying to get inside, while they’re more interested in looting those gems,” he pointed out. “Naomi, see what you can find about this ship. It’s got to have been mentioned in that message, and since they clearly left it here for someo
ne to find, I’m betting they included an instruction manual on how to get inside and run the thing. We just need to find where they left the keys.”

  “Let’s just hope that cats haven’t already found them.” Sheng started around the edge of the ring toward the ship, so she couldn’t hate the plan that much.

  “If they have, we’ll just have to encourage them to give the keys back,” Dryker quipped. He patted the more dangerous of the two cargo nets affixed to his suit. The other still held the nugget of rhodium. If he ran out of grenades he could use it as an improvised throwing weapon.

  He could almost hear Sheng’s smile over the comm. “You know what? Maybe you’re not as full of shit as I’ve always believed.” She leaned into a trot and bounded around the edge of the ring, circling the ship. Dryker followed, always keeping one eye toward the cats.

  Most of their path was out of sight of the furry aliens, but periodically they’d come to a break in the structures on their ring, enough to afford a view of the cats. As they grew closer Dryker realized something. “Sheng, I don’t think the cats are wearing environmental suits. Just body armor.”

  Sheng moved cautiously over to peer around another antenna. “I think you’re right. That makes no sense. Maybe their biology is different, but the idea that an organism can survive in a vacuum is terrifying.”

  “Pardon me for interrupting,” Naomi interjected, “but I do not believe these creatures are biologically equipped to survive in a vacuum.”

  “Then how are they surviving without EVAs?” Dryker wished he were closer so he could make out more.

  Naomi’s voice managed smug. “Because this facility has full atmosphere.” It was the first time she’d expressed that kind of emotion, and, come to think of it, this was the first time she’d randomly volunteered information.

  Dryker looked up to the edge of the crater high above them, and realized he’d missed something. A ghostly blue membrane, the same color as the engines, separated the inside of the crater from the rest of the moon. It was faint, like a rainbow after the sun has come out. They must have missed it when they’d entered.

  “So, theoretically at least, we could remove our suits?” Sheng ventured. “If we have to fight, that would give us a much better chance.”

  “Naomi, can you think of any reason why we shouldn’t do that?” Dryker prayed that she couldn’t, because Sheng was right. More mobility would increase their chances of survival. He’d take any advantage he could.

  “Negative, Captain,” she said. “I believe removing your helmet should be safe.”

  He was about to do so when the kind of roar that had likely terrified his ancestors on the plains of Africa echoed up from below, and Dryker turned toward the cats with a sinking feeling. One of them was pointing up in their direction.

  “Shit,” Sheng cursed. “Get to the ship, Dryker. Use Naomi to find a way inside. I’ll draw them off.”

  11

  Self-Five

  Dryker gawked at Sheng as she sprinted from cover. The cluster of cats around the engine took after her the same way their earthbound counterparts would have back on his father’s farm. They saw prey and couldn’t resist.

  Sheng plucked a grenade from the cargo net on the outside of her suit, and whipped it behind her and to the right. It detonated beneath the closest cat, sending the creature spinning into the air on a jet of superheated flame.

  Dryker turned and moved fast and low in the opposite direction. He muttered quietly into the comm as he moved, “You’re insane. You know that, right?”

  “Someone had to do it,” she panted back. “Just get inside that ship, and then send me some god damned help. If you can’t manage that, find a way to blast the crap out of these bastards, and get that ship back to the UA so we can fight them off.”

  The comm went dead, and Dryker focused on each individual moment. He moved quietly, patiently, around the ring until he had a clear view of the ship’s aft side. An arched doorway was artfully sculpted into the dark metal, and seemed to be the only way in. He had no idea how to activate it, but maybe he could puzzle it out if he were close enough to study it.

  He yanked off his helmet and clipped it to his belt, then listened cautiously. The pursuers had moved to the far side of the ship, and it didn’t sound like they’d caught Sheng yet. Dryker mustered his courage, then broke into a full sprint.

  He leapt down to the next ring, and rolled with the landing. Something in his shoulder complained, but he ignored it as he came back to his feet and continued running. The ship loomed below him, and he came up short at the lip leading down to the next level. It was a four-meter jump. Doable, but he wanted to make sure he did it right.

  Dryker jumped lightly, and feathered a thruster on his suit as he approached the ground. He landed better this time, then moved to inspect the ship. “Naomi, can you tell me anything about this alloy?”

  “Working,” she replied cheerfully. A moment later she continued. “The vessel repels all scans.”

  “So how do I get inside?” Dryker stopped outside of the door, and began scanning the surface for any sort of mechanism that might allow him to open it. Rows of glyphs paralleled the door. Maybe touching them would do something?

  He was about to do so when the door slid up of its own accord, and exposed a long tunnel with a high ceiling. It disappeared around a corner inside the ship.

  “Okay, this is way too easy.” He advanced inside the ship, more convinced than ever that something creepy was going to leap from the darkness. He almost put his helmet back on. Did he really want to be the guy who died because the monster got into his mouth?

  The doors slid shut behind him as he stepped inside. No turning back now. Dryker moved up the hallway, and noted that glyphs lit along his path. They must have been motion sensitive. They filled the hallway with bright blue light, which revealed some sort of bridge in the distance.

  He followed the corridor until it dumped him into a small room that may or may not have been analogous to a bridge. A holographic representation of the solar system dominated the center of the room, and a smaller holographic representation of the ship itself rotated over a terminal in one corner. Were they separate stations designed for a traditional bridge crew? What had these aliens been like?

  “Naomi, any idea how I can use these?” He moved to stand next to the hologram of the ship.

  “Working.” She was silent for several moments. “Perhaps touching the controls will be effective?”

  “’Just touch it’ isn’t the advice I was looking for.” He moved around the room, and looked for anything that might be an outlet or other way to interface with the ship’s computer. There was nothing. “Naomi, can you try to establish a connection between this ship and the Folly’s computer?” He knew it was unlikely she’d be able to interface with completely alien architecture, but it wasn’t like he had a plan B.

  “Working.” She was silent for several moments, and he spent that time studying the hologram of the ship. The vessel was more compact than he’d thought, with no obvious weaponry. But the hologram showed blue lines running through all the walls, and he guessed they were power. Far too much power, at least on a human vessel. What did they use all that energy for?

  Naomi spoke again, and her voice sounded surprised. “The architecture is unfamiliar, but it seems to be reconfiguring itself to connect with my systems. It is adapting to communicate with us.”

  “Just make sure it doesn’t infect our ship with some sort of virus. Break the connection if that starts to happen.”

  “Captain.” Naomi’s tone was scandalized, another new emotion. “The time to ensure that I would not be infected was before I connected, not after. If this thing has inserted malicious code, then we are in real trouble, because I have no way to stop it.”

  “Good point,” he muttered. The possibility that the code was already altering Naomi hadn’t escaped him. Hell, maybe the signal she’d been examining had already started the process. Who knew what these aliens were capable of?

  Dryker scanned the bridge again. Was there some way to see through this ship’s sensors? He needed to know what was going on with Sheng. Had the cats captured her, and if so, what would they do with her?