Morning Star Full Novel

Chapter 22

That evening, Tony looked to the sky above examining the stars, puzzled by what he saw. Sitting on a fallen tree, he unpacked an electronic instrument from a steel box and placed it on a tripod. He pressed a switch and the gadget began to hum. Lights blinked in a rhythmic pattern darting back and forth across the illuminated screen. He pressed another button and the internal compass spun until it found North.
He waited for the machine to read the stars above through its camera and give him a readout. It blinked an error message and asked to be reset. "What the hell?" he thought and pressed the reset button. Again it came out with the same message. Tony stood up and craned his neck looking to the black sky above. His eyes caught the problem and a shiver went down his spine. There was a bright orange object just to the left of the center star of Orion’s belt.
"Hey you! Come over here," Tony yelled to one of the guards motioning with his hand. The guard ran over and stood holding his rifle in ready position.
"Did you see something sir?" he asked looking off into the pasture.
"No, I mean yes, I want you to look straight up and tell me what you see."
The guard looked up and said, "Stars sir."
"Anything out of the ordinary?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, there’s an orange moon up there. I didn’t know we had two of them."
"We don’t," Tony responded. "I was just curious if you were seeing the same thing I was. Thank you. You can go now."
"Yes sir," he replied and ran back to his post.
Tony now realized his machine was reading an error because it did not recognize the star pattern with this object in view. He leaned over and punched in an override code. "Just tell me what I need to know," he said to the machine watching it blink. The machine’s readout glowed green in the dark making reading it quite easy. A long beep followed by a short one told Tony it had finished its computation. Tony sat back on his rear as he finished reading the display. It read plus or minus fifty years of the date 2010. He now knew they did not time travel at all.
Other than the strange orange object high above him, the star pattern looked as familiar to him as it did a week ago before the mission. He suspected it all the time. We went nowhere. Or did we? He sat and rubbed his temples thinking about the possibilities.
"Rhine!" he heard from camp and looked up at Ramsey coming towards him. "What have you found out?"
Tony chuckled under his breath and closed his eyes. Looking up at Ramsey he said, "I can only guess at this point."
"Alright then, guess."
Tony picked up a rock and tossed it at the tree next to Ramsey. "Best guess would be…" he said and paused thinking how to say it. "We jumped dimensions."
"Dimensions?" Ramsey asked unconvinced.
"My star time calculator tells me we have not jumped in time at all. At least not within fifty years."
"Fifty years ago there were no seven foot tall bat things running around on the Earth. Are you telling me these things sprung up in fifty years?"
"No I am not. We are in a different reality."
"Yes you are Doctor Rhine. Were are the rest of us?"
"I don’t know."
"How do I get my men home?"
"You don’t," Tony said firmly.
Ramsey stood silent. He paced back and forth thinking of what to say. "Are you telling me that this hi-jacking has turned into a suicide mission?"
"Looks that way," Tony replied leaning back on his palms. "You said this might be a one way trip."
"At least we had a fighting chance against a hi-jacker. You knew about this all the time?"
"Yes I did. I had no idea you weren’t in on it. I realized back on the plane when you told me about this hi-jacking scam, that they used this as a cover story to get your team on the mission."
"Cover story?"
"They knew you would never volunteer for a suicide mission."
"Why the hell did you doctor?"
"I knew my fate. I had nothing to lose. I am sorry."
"I bet you are," Ramsey said and turned back to camp. Tony sat alone in the dark with his machine contemplating the fate of the men. He was truly sorry.
Ramsey stood behind a group of his men sitting around a campfire and looked at their faces afraid to tell them the truth. He chose not to. "I need five men to volunteer for a recognizance mission."
"Where to captain?" one of the men asked.
"There is some kind of settlement due East from here about twenty miles. Two of the men identified it from the air on the way down to this God forsaken hell hole."
"What kind of settlement sir?"
" That’s what we need to find out. Any volunteers?"
No one raised their hand or spoke up. Ramsey pointed to the first five closest to him and told them to ready the ATV. "I want this mission going in fifteen minutes!"
Tony came up from behind Ramsey and asked, "How much fuel do you have?"
"Over half a tank. They can go two hundred miles I estimate."
"Where are your reserves?"
"We had five hundred gallons on the C-130. The other ATV ruptured its fuel tank and burned. That is it."
"Maybe we should wait until light? That is our only working vehicle."
"Doctor!" Ramsey shouted loosing patience. "Maybe you haven’t figured it out yet, so let me make this perfectly clear. I am the commanding officer; I make all the decisions concerning where we eat, where we crap, where we take a leak. If you don’t like it I would ask you to take a long walk out in that field. Do you understand me?"
Tony stepped back and swallowed hard. "Yes sir," he replied and walked back to his tent.
The sounds of gunfire shot forth from the far end of camp. Machine guns and rifle fire filled the air, along with the muzzle discharge flashing against the trees like a strobe light. Ramsey’s radio crackled and sputtered finally uttering forth a voice from within.
"We need support in section three! We’re under attack!"
Ramsey put the radio to his lips and yelled, "Air support to section three!"
"Negative on the air support!" the voice, said across the radio. "We need ground support! This is something different!"
Ramsey took off running towards section three yelling for the recognizance team to be ready to roll on his command. The closer he came to section three the louder the gunfire became. He squatted down behind the sergeant in command of section three and tapped him on the shoulder.
"What do we have?" Ramsey asked ducking down behind a fallen tree.
"Don’t know sir," the sergeant answered. "What ever it was took out two of my men standing guard. They weren’t the same as those things before."
"You didn’t see them?’
"I got a quick look sir. It is awful dark out there."
"What did you see?"
"About six feet tall, on four legs. Looked like a buffalo or something."
"A buffalo?"
"Crap I don’t know. It came out of the tall grass and took them out."
"Are you using your night vision?"
"Yes sir. I can’t explain it."
"Alright sergeant, do not let this perimeter get compromised again!"
"Yes sir," the sergeant said and scurried around the fallen tree to assist his men.
Ramsey peeked over his cover and looked out into the darkness. The rifle fire had subdued to a few pops hear and there. He ducked back down and checked his rifle clip making sure he had adequate rounds available to defend himself if necessary.
From Ramsey’s radio, a voice yelled, "Recognizance team ready to roll on your command sir!"
"Go! Repeat go!" Ramsey yelled into his radio and clipped it back on his belt.
"Affirmative, team out," came from the radio, then silence. Ramsey looked to his sergeant keeping his head ducked behind the fallen tree. "Do you have night vision?" Ramsey whispered.
"Yes sir," the sergeant replied and handed over his night vision goggles to the captain. Ramsey put the glasses to his eyes and peeked over the log. For as far as the eye could see, the area was clear.
"Sergeant," Ramsey said, "Is there anyone posted on the other side of camp?"
"I have two men posted."
"Send ten more to assist. I have a feeling they are checking for weak spots."
"Who is checking?"
"You tell me sergeant," Ramsey replied and took off running towards the other end of camp with the night vision goggles in tow. He ran through the brush and over ground clutter passing the campsite on his way to the other side of the woods. He could hear the footsteps of the ten men reassigned to the other end of the woods behind him.
Minutes later, he stopped at the edge of the woods and looked out onto the vast dark grassland before him. His men gathered around waiting for his orders. He placed the goggles to his eyes for the second time and his heart began to pound. "I need five men in a line over there," he said pointing to his left, "and five over there," pointing to his right. "We have an enemy threat approximately two hundred yards out spread across the field." He stood silent for a moment listening to the sounds of the night trying to see if they were making any sounds. "Do we have a flare gun?" he asked his men.
"Yes sir," replied a man from the right side.
"Let me have it," Ramsey said holding out his hand. The private handed Ramsey the flare gun and stepped back. Ramsey pointed the gun at the sky above his perceived threat and pulled the trigger. The flair shot fifty yards into the night sky and popped open with a brilliant yellow flame that lit up the night like day. For the first time the men could see something on the horizon. A few men stepped forward gawking in amazement as they observed the strange sight before them.
"What the hell is that?" one of the men asked.
"Looks like some sort of extinct dinosaur," another answered.
"What is that on top of it?"
"I don’t know," he replied as he strained to make sense of the creatures standing out in the field.
"I need a tripod mount machine gun here ASAP!" Ramsey shouted. "What ever those things are, they are not compromising out position!"
Two of the men took off running back to base camp to retrieve the gun. Ramsey motioned for one of his men to come over. "Take these," he said and handed the man his night vision goggles. "I want you to inform me the second those things start to move. If they attack, take as many out as you can. Got it?’
"Yes sir!" the private replied and put the glasses to his eyes.
Ramsey took off running back to base camp to organize the defense of his position. Dashing through the woods, he could hear the distant sound of machine gun fire in front of him. "I’ve been decoyed!" he thought and picked up the pace sprinting back to his first position. He ran through base camp and yelled to his men to guard the supplies and stay put. Back into the woods he ran breathing heavy and tiring as he weaved between the tall trees.
Back at his old position he again ducked behind the fallen tree, locking a full clip into his rifle. All around him were the sounds of gunfire and the smell of smoke. He poked his head over the log to see two dead creatures, bloody and shot up, lying next to two dead riders. The riders looked human.
He reached to his belt and unclipped the flare gun. He quickly reloaded it and shot a round into the sky above. With a pop and a fizz the flare opened up and illuminated the scene for all to see. Ramsey watched as one of the creatures ran from the tall grass onto the clearing at the edge of the woods. Its long fur whipped around as it spun in a circle guided by a sword-wielding rider. The human atop the creature tried in vain to cut down the soldiers hiding in the woods, only to be shot by a volley of machine gun fire and sent crashing to the ground.
In the light of the flare, Ramsey could see the other creatures’ retreat back into the tall grass. A moment of silence followed as the men waited for their orders.
"Collect the dead!" Ramsey shouted to his men. "Take the bodies back to camp!"
Back at base camp the bodies of the human warriors were laid out side by side, riddled with bullet holes and covered in blood. The soldiers gathered about and looked upon the dead at their feet. The three were human males between twenty and forty years of age dressed in rags and skins.
"They look like people," one of the soldiers remarked. "Or at least they used to," he added with a chuckle.
"Get some light over here," Ramsey said and knelt down beside one of the dead men.
"Who are they captain?" one of the men asked.
"How the hell should I know," Ramsey replied not taking his eyes from the body before him. "Why don’t you ask him yourself?"
Tony pushed his way through the crowd gathered around and stood facing Ramsey across from the dead men. Tony held a flashlight on the bodies reflecting the light in the wet blood. Tony knelt down and stared at one of the men with a curious look upon his face.
"What is it Rhine?" Ramsey asked.
"I’ve seen this man before," Tony replied.
"Where?"
"I think I have seen his picture before."
"Go on!"
"This sounds strange, but I remember a picture hanging in my grandmothers house. This guy looks like…" Tony stopped and scratched his chin looking to Ramsey. "Don’t get me wrong here. He just looks familiar."
"Like who?"
"My Uncle Seth," Tony replied.
"You know this guy?"
"No. He died before I was born."
"You think this is your dead uncle?"
"Of course not! I said it just looks like a picture I’ve seen before. That’s all."
"How can you tell anything with all that blood?" one of the soldiers asked. "He’s shot up pretty bad."
Tony leaned over the dead man and wiped the blood from his face. "You’re right, this can’t be my Uncle Seth" Tony said.
The dead mans’ eyes opened and Tony shot back.
"Watch out!" Ramsey yelled and stood, stepping back from the body.
The blood covered body sat up and braced itself against the ground with its palms down on the dirt. "Did someone say my name?" it asked looking around at the crowd gathered around.
"Is that your name? Is Seth your name?" Tony asked.
The man turned his head to Tony and said, "Yes, Seth is my name. Who are you?"
"Tony," he replied. "Tony Rhine."
Seth’s eyes opened wide as he looked upon Tony. "My brothers’ son?" he asked.
"Yes, I think, but how?" Tony asked.
"It is beyond you my nephew. It is good that you have made the journey."
"Journey to where?"
"Hell my dear nephew. You have come to Hell!"