The Traveler (38 page)

He didn't know how long he had been asleep. He knew he liked dozing outside the cave during the nighttime hours for the simple fact the former SEAL hated to be caught in a dead end if a wandering animal was also seeking shelter for the night. He also didn't know what it had been that made his eyes flutter open. He lifted his head from the rock facing and looked around. His fingers touched the Birchwood bow and he waited for the noise to come again. Carl saw that dawn was getting ready to break over this savage land. He adjusted his back and stretched without any noise. That was when he heard the screeching of an animal below him. He looked down into the diffused light of the day. Falling ash obscured a lot of the game trail below. It was because of that whitish-colored ash that he saw what had awakened him. His eyes widened and he inched back closer to the cave's outer wall.

“What the—” he started to say, and then stopped short when the feathered creature broke cover. It was soon followed by two more from opposing directions. The three animals had cornered a fourth. The frightened creature at the center looked like a small tree sloth that had wandered too far from its home. His eyes widened when he examined the three feathered birdlike animals that had its prey surrounded.

The three birds were lizardlike in movement. Their two arms were long and feathered and what made Carl's breath catch in his throat was the fact that these creatures had articulated hands and fingers. They were outstretched as they circled the sloth. He saw the yellow eyes as they watched every slowed movement of the fur-covered tree dweller. The animals were large, standing just about four and a half feet. The feathers along their arms were sparse but brightly colored. These feathers were long while the light down feathers covering their muscular bodies were short and moved with the rising breeze. Instead of the hard beaks of the feathered world, they had lizard snouts, and he could see even from that distance that they were filled with small, sharp teeth. The heads were clean of feathers with the exception of the bright red and blue ones crowning their heads and ran from their crown to the tips of their tails, which moved in dragonlike slowness as they forced the sloth into the center of the game trail.

“Holy shit,” Carl mumbled as the hunters and prey squared off. The sloth with its elongated claws used for climbing sliced the air in front of the three Velociraptors, keeping them at bay with loud hissing and squeaks. The three prehistoric carnivores circled, infuriated that the small koala bear–looking sloth was actually going to put up a fight.

Suddenly a thing happened that blew Carl's natural world to bits. The larger of the three raptors moved quickly off into the bush. This animal was far more brightly colored than its two smaller compatriots. It vanished as the others continued to keep the sloth in check. The lead raptor reappeared and this time it held a long stick in its flexing hand. Everett's hackles rose as he was witness to an animal using a tool to possibly kill with. The leader squawked out orders, which scared Carl even more than the makeshift spear that the beast carried. The alpha raptor hissed and barked again and the circling animals stopped. The leader slowly raised the long stick upward and then jabbed at the frightened sloth.

“Run, damn it!” Everett hissed from his high perch.

Without notice the activity stopped. Carl knew he had voiced his concern too loudly when the leader looked around and its scaled muzzle went into the air and it sniffed. It turned. Its yellow eyes, with quick, jerky motions, looked up and saw the man high in the rocks. It hissed.

The sloth, seeing its break, ran off to the nearest tree and vanished. The other two raptors joined the first as they all looked up at the man. They were quiet as they examined this new element in the morning's hunt. The alpha raptor barked three times and then it seemed to shake its makeshift club at the man who had so interfered with its breakfast.

“Uh-oh,” Carl said as he gathered up his bow. He started to stand up but his boot caught on some loose rock and he slipped. He thought he could catch himself before he came too close to the edge but his other foot got caught up in the quiver of arrows. He knew he had lost and started a fast slide down the incline that had protected him from the night's terrors. He slid down until the breath was knocked from his body as he finally came to rest just off the game trail. He shook his head and then looked around him. His bow was broken in two and his arrows were still in their quiver fifty feet above him. He quickly scrambled to his feet as he saw the stunned raptors looking at him.

“I know, not very graceful, was it?” Carl said just to hear the sound of his voice over the three intakes of breath from the birdlike creatures. Everett slowly withdrew his sheathed survival knife. He eyed the birds as they didn't exactly know what to make of this large animal that had intruded. The two lesser raptors looked to the alpha for guidance. The eyes and head flicked about as the raptor studied Everett. Then it barked twice and its two companions broke and ran to either side of Carl. The surround game was on again. Carl held the knife out to the leader and spoke. “Well, asshole, let's do this,” he said as the raptor eyed him with fast blinks and head tilting when he spoke.

The alpha raised the large stick and that was when Carl knew that it wasn't just a club. The raptor had altered the broken limb for combat. The sharpened end was as pointed as anything he could have whittled. Suddenly the game was changed and Everett knew he was looking at something that shouldn't be. The animal barked again and then stepped toward the larger human. The spear was held out as it started poking it toward Carl. He heard the other two raptors behind him in the bush. Their ragged breathing was almost as frightening as the vision of these out-of-place animals.

One of the smaller Velociraptors charged Everett from the rear. Carl spun as fast as he could and caught the raptor in the throat and then he cut left to confront the other one hidden behind him. That was when the alpha charged with its spear out in front. Everett slammed the knife down deflecting the weapon as the raptor's momentum swung it wide of Carl. The second raptor surprised him and came on from a direction he didn't suspect. It jumped from a tree and then its weight slammed Carl to the ground and that was when he knew he was in trouble as he heard at the same moment the alpha recover from its aborted attack and turn. The one that had knocked him from his feet recovered and then turned, hissing on Everett. He brought the knife up just as Carl raised his weapon. He didn't realize until later that he wasn't using the knife to kill, but merely to use as a shield against the snapping teeth. The animal's jaw came down on the blackened steel of the K Bar knife. It hit and the animal screamed. Then Carl saw his chance and pushed the knife down the half bird, half lizard's throat. The animal tried to scream again but managed only to spill hot blood down Everett's arm as it stumbled backward. It fell and then started its death spasms as Everett tried to stand. He was too late.

The alpha broke from the brush once more, this time with a powerful leap into the air with the spear raised high. Carl tried to bring his arms up for some sort of defense but knew his move would be too late and the knife would never stop the weight and height momentum of the raptor before it sunk the makeshift spear deeply into his chest.

As Everett braced for the searing pain he knew was coming, a miracle came from the same area where the tree sloth had disappeared to. The raptor's flight toward Carl's prone body was snatched away at the last moment by a blur of white, yellow, and red feathers. He rolled away and saw that the raptor's trajectory had been altered big time. He shook his head and then focused on the commotion in front of him. The alpha leader of the Velociraptors was in a quandary as it it hissed at the large roc confronting it. The great bird was now the one doing the circling. Its small wings flapped as it cawed and screeched at the raptor, daring it to charge. The large talons of the roc were scratching away the undergrowth as it was preparing to charge like a bull. Still the raptor held its ground as it hissed out raptor epithets at the large chickenlike bird.

“I'll be damned,” he mumbled when he saw that it was the same roc that he had saved the previous month. The deep scratches that the giant panther had etched into its large beak were the telling factor in his identification. The deep gouges were now a blur as the beak opened and then the roc screamed and attacked.

The raptor knew it was outmatched fighting alone. It threw the spear like an Olympic athlete and, like the terrorists of Everett's own time, it ran away from superior firepower—that being the enormous, sharpened beak of the roc. The large chicken knew not to press its luck with pursuit. It had the instincts to know that the alpha raptor had many friends in the jungles and one roc against a flock had no chance. The roc skid to a stop as the raptor vanished into the bush lining the game trail.

Everett had a hard time getting his heart to slow after the close call. He watched the roc as it scratched the earth with its giant talons as it mocked the flight of its mortal enemy. The giant turned to face Everett. Its yellow eyes blinked in rapid movement. The long neck of the bird craned higher to get a better look at Carl. The rooster took a few tentative steps toward the man who had saved its life. The small wings flapped twice as it stopped only feet away. Everett sheaved the knife and then ventured a step closer to his savior. He stopped when the roc suddenly chirped. Everett's eyes went wide for a moment as he didn't know if that was a greeting or a warning that he was getting too close. The long legs and powerful thighs of the roc remained still as Carl held out a hand toward the scarred beak. The roc leaned over and Everett gently touched the deep gouges that had been close to a death sentence from the earlier confrontation with the large panther. The roc blinked its yellow eyes as Carl's hand came into contact with the hard surface of the beak.

“Well, I guess thanks are in order,” he said as his large hand slid easily over the rough surface of the roc's large and menacing beak. It opened its mouth and then it squawked lightly as its head bent lower at Carl's touch.

Erebus took that moment to awaken from its nightly slumber and announce that it was now fully awake. The explosion of ash and rock flew from the mouth of the crater, and three other smaller mounts close to Erebus did the same. The ash cloud formed immediately and slid down the facing of not one, but four volcanoes. The earth moved and then quickly settled as the ashfall became heavier.

The large and curving beak of the roc nudged its equally large head against Everett's hand. The man smiled and then patted the giant on its head as the world became darker around them. They heard other frightened beasts of the eastern and southern plains as they stampeded away from the death and destruction falling from the skies over their heads.

“Looks like we won't have very much time to sort out this new friendship we have here, my friend.”

The roc squawked again and then nuzzled Everett's hand even harder than before. Then, as the ash cloud grew heavier, the giant raised its head to the sky and screeched. The sound initially came out high-pitched, but ended in a deep bass sound that reverberated against the stark skies. Carl smiled as the roc looked back at him, its red-feathered head dipping to his hand once more.

“You sound like an old-fashioned foghorn, you know that,” he said as he scratched at the roc's feathers on the side of its head. He laughed when he realized he had just come up with a name for his new friend. He pushed the roc toward the game trail.

Erebus rumbled and her three sisters did the same.

“Come on, Foghorn Leghorn, let's find some cover.”

BROOKLYN NAVY YARD

Xavier Morales watched as the tractor slowly moved onto the floor of the makeshift laboratory. He saw Jack Collins and Henri Farbeaux at the front as Collins controlled the tractor and its six-trailer load by remote control. Henri stood opposite him with Jenks and Charlie Ellenshaw bringing up the rear near the first trailer. He saw that all but Ellenshaw had M-4 assault rifles slung on their packs. Their white environmental suits gleamed in the multicolored brightness of the powered-up doorway. The procession halted as they came within fifty feet of the doorway. The steel door slowly closed behind them. He watched as Collins looked first at the large monitor and Morales as he viewed from Nellis, and then he glanced up at the observation room where the gathered department heads watched on nervously. He looked but knew Sarah wouldn't be there and his hindsight regrets doubled. Niles nodded and Alice gave them a small, sad wave of her elegant hand.

“Los Angeles,
this is Group control, we're ready to power up to one hundred and fifteen percent. Are we a go?” Morales asked as his team of technicians excitedly watched from Nevada.

“Group, we are green across the board, ready on your command,” came the reply from the submarine laying tied up at the dock.

“All observers, please lower your eye protection,” Xavier ordered. Sunglasses were placed on faces throughout the observation room and the platform area. “Dimensional Raiders, lower your visors and prepare for power-up.”

Collins shot a look at the monitor and Xavier at the mention of the moniker Raiders, but lowered his visor anyway. Charlie smiled as he secretly loved the new nickname.

“Inject the nitrogen into the doorway,” Virginia ordered from her station as her eyes settled on Master Chief Jenks, who glanced over at her and then nodded his helmeted head. That was when they all heard a frightening sound as the large pumps injected liquid nitrogen into the spinning doorway. The noise was overpowering as the coolant spread through the system to cool it while the lasers cut a dimensional path through time and space. Without the coolant the team would walk into the power of the sun.

“Begin collider sequence, five thousand RPMs first.” Alice closed her eyes in the scientists' silent prayer of,
God, I hope we know what it is we are doing.