From: cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows)
Newsgroups: alt.prose,rec.games.frp.archives
Subject: Robotech/Rifts Crossover (part 5 of 7)
Date: 1 Sep 92 16:02:50 GMT
Followup-To: alt.prose
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.

ROBOTECH/RIFTS CROSSOVER
 
By Chris Meadows
 
Chapters 31 through 53, and an Epilogue
 
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DEDICATION:
 
This story is dedicated to Carl Macek, for making (or mangling,
depending on your point of view) Robotech; to the people at
Palladium Books (especially Kevin Siembieda, Alex Marciniszyn,
and Kevin Long) for their superior role-playing game products;
and last but certainly not least, to all the people on the
Robotech Mail Server at USCVM who asked for the story and then
helped me work the bugs out, especially Dave Deitrich.
 
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A SHORT NOTE:
 
Okay, here's the final installment.  This includes Chapters 31
through 40, and the thirteen (fourteen, if you count the
Epilogue) chapters I wrote after that.	I'm putting them all
together so there's only two files to send; 0-30 and 31-54.
     More to come, after the Epilogue (no peeking, now!).
 
    cut here  cut here  cut here  cut here  cut here  cut here
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Chapter 31: The Coalition Takes a Hand
 
 
     General Ross Underhill was sitting at his desk watching
footage on the viewscreen.  This footage had been confiscated
from Colonel Sebastian Mortifax, one of his underlings who had
since killed himself.
     Underhill wished that he could talk to Mortifax now,
interrogate him about the vehicles shown in these pictures.
Underhill thought he knew almost every robot and power armor on
earth by sight, but these he did not know.  And they were too
advanced to be new prototypes.
     As he watched a motorcycle become a suit of power armor and
smash three of the SAMAS armor units that he HAD thought were the
greatest ever made, Underhill knew that even though their design
was fundamentally human, these airplanes and motorcycles had not
come from this planet, or even this dimension.  They had to have
come through a rift.
     However, the pilots WERE human...perhaps they could be
bargained with...or tricked.  Ross HAD to have these machines!
 
     Underhill met with his subordinate, Colonel Thaddius Lyboc
of the Chi-Town Espionage Division.  Lyboc had contacts with half
of the city, and perhaps the contacts of those contacts had heard
about this force of robots passing through.  Of course it would
be dangerous to tell Lyboc TOO much...
     Underhill had a printout made of the giant vehicle the
robots were travelling with, waiting for a frame when none of the
robots was in the picture.  He gave this to Lyboc.  "I need you
to get in touch with your...friends, and see if any of them know
anybody who has seen this vehicle.  I need to know where it is.
It's probably somewhere to the south of us, perhaps heading for
El Dorado.  Wherever it is, I need to know immediately, is that
clear?"
     "Yessir," Lyboc said.  "I'll get right on it."  On his way
out of the office, Lyboc thought, Why do you want this thing so
badly, General?  If it's that valuable, maybe I should find it
for MYSELF...
 
     "...And that's when I stepped in and transferred the footage
to my office," Underhill finished.  He was addressing Emporer
Karl Prosek and his son Joseph II.  "Now all I know is this:
These strange new vehicles that change into robots appeared in
the southeastern sector of the continent, what used to be called
Florida or Georgia, about two months ago.  They've been
travelling northwest from there ever since.  They attacked one of
our field operations and delayed it long enough to rescue the
individuals we were trying to capture.  Then one of the
double-planes showed up at Kirksville when you were making your
appearance there, and destroyed the two Skull Transports that
were to pick you up.  This is apparently also when that fool
Mortifax noticed them.  He set up a network of Skull Transports
and robots to track the aircraft to its home base and deployed a
batallion of mechanized infantry to attempt to capture it.
However, he did not know that there were more of the planes, and
these other robots and power armor too, to thwart the Coalition
battlegroup."
     The Emporer nodded.  "And you believe that these robots are
extradimensional in origin?"
     "Yes, sir," Underhill said.  "I know every robot or power
armor currently made, and those are nothing like any I've ever
seen."
     "I see."  Karl Prosek rested his chin in his hands, deep in
thought.  "And you say their pilots appear human?"
     "Yessir.  As far as I could tell."
     "Hmmm.  Well, as soon as you discover their location,
dispatch an agent to the site.  Have him investigate.  If they
are human, we negotiate with them for acceptance into the
Coalition.  If not, or if they refuse, we destroy them."
 
 
 
Chapter 32: At SMSU
 
 
     Chris Meadows and Joe Moore had been drawn to investigate
the appearance of the Invid.  Leaving Chris's bike behind, they
carefully crept north from Craig, avoiding the Invid patrols that
now covered the landscape. As they got closer to Wells, Chris
said, "Look!" and pointed at one of the groups emerging from the
disturbance between Wells dormitory and Cheek Hall.
     This group consisted of two of the human-sized Invid
Enforcers, one Shock Trooper, and three humans.  And these humans
were definitely NOT Invid Royal Command Battloid pilots.  In
fact, they were wearing body armor and carrying energy rifles
that both Chris and Joe recognized as being from the Rifts
role-playing game!
     "What's going on here?" Joe wondered.  "Robotech Invid and
Rifts humans, together?"
     "Yeah, well unless I miss my guess that's a rift that
they're coming out of," Chris pointed out.
     "Tell me something I can't guess," Joe Moore replied.
     "Give me the shotgun and the 9 millimeter," Chris said.
"I'm going to see if I can find a human who's not wearing armor."
     Joe opened the radio (which he was still carrying with him)
and withdrew the weapons.  He pulled out the .38 revolver and the
.45 automatic for himself, and slung the boom box shell on his
back again.
     "Quick, get back!"  IMMKMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM;
Chris pulled Joe Moore   :/\:>>>Madison Street (One Way)>>>>>>>>:
back into the recessed   :||:   ZDDDDD?  ZDDDDDDDD?             :
doorway on the east side :N :   3Cam- 3  3 ZDDDD? 3 <- Wells    :
of Siceluff Hall, the    :o :   3pus  3  3 3    3 3             :
classroom building just  :r :   3Union3  3 3    3 3   ZDDDDDDD? :
south of Wells and to the:t :   @DDDDDY  @DY    @DY X 3Cheek  3 :
west of Cheek.  An Invid :h :Siceluff -> ZDDDDDDDD?   3       3 :
patrol walked by.        :  :            @DDDDDDDDY   @DDDDDDDY :
     "Whew!" Chris said. :  LMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMKMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM9
"That was too close."    :  : MAP OF WELLS AREA : X = The Rift  :
     "In here," Joe said.HMMJMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMJMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM<
"We'll go through Siceluff and come out by the Campus Union."
     "Good idea.  Let's try to get around north of Madison Street.
Maybe they'll be thinner up there and we can get a good shot at a
lone human."
     Chris and Joe made their way through, and came out the west
side.  They were yelled at for running, but managed to make it
without being stopped or their guns being noticed.  They ran
north, ducking behind a trash receptacle as some Invid walked by.
Then when they came to Madison Street, they noticed the giant
robot and two Cyclone Riders standing next to the police car on
the north side of the street.
     "This is shaping up like one of the stories you used to
write, Chris," Joe Moore said.
     Chris Meadows shook his head.  "If I were going to write a
Robotech/Rifts crossover story, I CERTAINLY wouldn't include
myself in it.  It would be laughed at as obvious escapism/wish
fulfillment through writing, and probably no one would read it."
     Joe shrugged.  "Well, come on, let's go over and greet them.
I've always wanted to see Cyclone Armor up close..."
 
     "So you see, I CAN'T call in the National Guard.  Only
governor Marshall Gordon can do that," McNair said weakly.
     "Then your dimension and a lot of your people are sunk,"
Jack said.  "They're probably carrying off prisoners right now."
     "But--but--"
     "That's a VR-052 Battler, and that's a VR-038-LT 38-Lite,
right?  Oh, and that would be a Triax X-500 Forager Battlebot,
wouldn't it?"
     "What?!" Jack and Lt. Martin Jackson said in unison, turning
around.  The person who had spoken was a college student wearing
a grey sweat suit, glasses, and a black, white, and yellow
bicycle helmet.  He was carrying a sawed-off shotgun and a 9mm
auto pistol, though he was pointing neither of them at anybody.
He had dark hair and some five o'clock shadow, indicating that he
hadn't shaved in a while.  Behind him was a shorter kid, with
brown hair and glasses, in blue jeans and a grey shirt.  He had a
couple of pistols stuck in his belt.
     "Who are you?" Jackson asked, unconsciously reaching for his
Gallant.  "And how do you know about our mecha?"
     "I read about it.  VR-052 Battler Cyclone, GR-97 forearm
missile launchers, GR-103 chest plate mini-missile launchers, the
whole works."
     "Read about it?  But--but--"
     Chris shrugged.  "I can't explain it either.  All I know is
that there is a Robotech cartoon series here, as well as a series
of Robotech novels and even a role-playing game.  And comic
books."
     "And how about my robot?" Sam Fort asked, leaning out the
hatch at the top.
     "There's a Rifts RPG, too," Chris's companion volunteered.
"I'm Joe Moore," he added as an afterthought.
     "Sam Fort," Sam said.
     "Lieutenant Martin Jackson, REF Science Division," Jackson
said.
     "Jack," said Jack.
     "Hey, wait a minute, Joe Moore," Jackson muttered.  "Don't I
know you?"
     "I don't think I've ever met YOU," Joe said.
     "Um, I notice the Invid are overrunning the campus," Chris
said. "Not that I don't mind, but don't you think we should do
something about it?"
     "What's this 'we' stuff?" Joe wondered.  "Isn't
Invid-fighting dangerous?"
     "Yeah, this isn't some game, kid," Sam said.  "Leave the
fighting to the professionals."
     "I am professional."  Chris worked the action on the
shotgun.  "Show me one of the guys without armor on, and I'll
show you just how professional."
     "Well, all right!" Martin Jackson said.  "Let's get to
work."
 
 
 
Chapter 33: New Hazards
 
 
     "Sir, the repairs on Section C-09 are complete," a corporal
reported to Captain Steele, and handed him a compu-clipboard.
Steele glanced at it, used the attached light pen to sign his
name to it, and handed it back.  "Good.  Get me a status report
on, uh, G-02."
     "Yessir."  The corporal strode out, and Steele sank back
into his desk chair, relaxing for just a moment.  Then he sat
back up again and pressed a button next to his computer console.
     "Yes, Captain Steele?" his secretary asked.  She was sitting
at a desk in the next room, helping him direct the repairs by
screening out all the requisition forms and status reports that
didn't require Captain Steele's attention or approval.
     "Do you have a report on the interrogation of the enemy
prisoners?"
     "Uh, just a minute, sir, let me check."  The sound of keys
clicking came through the open intercom link, and she said, "Uh,
yessir.  Shall I send it through?"
     "Yes, please.  That will be all.  Thanks."  He pressed
another button to terminate the communication as the data he had
requested started coming up on his screen.
     It looked bad.  The troops captured were recon troops, much
the same as Steele himself had once been.  They had admitted that
they had succeeded in sending back detailed pictures of all the
mecha and the GMU to their headquarters in Chi Town.  They had
been acting under the command of a Major Mortifax, who had
apparently been tracking the Alpha-Beta fighter dispatched to
pick up Dr. Peltzer.  It was likely that there would be more
attempts to capture Robotech mecha in the future, some of which
might be successful.
     "Great.  Just what I need, something ELSE to worry about."
Steele rested his aching head in his hands.  He'd been getting
very little sleep lately, and what with the worry of the Invid
attacks, the repairs to the GMU, and now THIS, he hoped he
wouldn't collapse before the job was done.
     BEEP!  "Sherelynn is here to see you, sir," the secretary
said.
     "Send her in," Steele replied, collapsing back into his
chair and closing his eyes.  He heard her footsteps as she walked
into the room and sat down at a chair in front of him.
     "You don't look so good, Captain Steele," Sherelynn said.
     "I just have too many problems I have to deal with right
now, and not enough sleep to do it with," Steele said.
     "Here, let me help you."  Steele felt her hand on his
forehead, then he suddenly felt a great deal better.
     "Hey, I feel a lot better now," Steele said.  "What did you
do?"
     "I just eliminated a few of the poisons in your blood," she
replied.  "But I came here to discuss some serious matters."
     "Oh?  What?"  Steele was all ears, now that his head didn't
ache anymore.
     Sherelynn leaned forward in her chair and propped her arms
on the desk, exposing a cleavage that would have paralyzed many
men.  As Steele was intimately acquainted with the body parts in
question, however, he only turned slightly red.
     "Oh, sorry," Sherelynn said, realizing his problem.  She
leaned back in her seat, which was much better for Steele.
     "Now," Steele said, "I believe you had something you wanted
to tell me?"
     "Yes, I do."  Sherelynn relaxed.  "In this dimension, there
are many areas that are greatly strong in magic.  These areas
have hundreds or thousands of ley lines running through them, you
see."
     Steele nodded.  "Yes, I do.  Go on."
     "If the GMU continues on its present course, it will pass
into one of the strongest of these areas on the North American
continent in just under twenty-four hours.  It's called The
Magic Zone."
     "Tell me about this magic zone," Steele said.
     "The Magic Zone encompasses the entire Missisippi-Missouri
river system and the land to either side of it.  There are
perhaps thousands of individual ley lines running among it.  You
can even see the glow at night, from hundreds of miles away."
     "Oh, so that's why the glow to the west has been so bright
for the last week or two," Steele realized.
     Sherelynn explained some more about the Magic Zone.  "You
say the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis is the center of it?" Steele
asked when she finished.
     "Yes," Sherelynn replied.  "When the rifts came, a huge
rift opened and fused with the Arch.  Unlike other rifts, it
seems that this one cannot be closed, no matter how hard the
magicians try.  From it, magic has spread up and down the entire
Mississippi River.  The whole thing is magical, and is full of
nexus points--places where two or more ley lines cross, and where
rifts are likeliest to occur."
     "And this is bad?"
     "Yes, very bad.  All sorts of demons and monsters could be
waiting there for us."
     Steele considered.  "Hmm.  This is all I need.  Well, then,
I'll put the entire GMU and all the forces on full alert for
tomorrow."
     "That would be good," Sherelynn said.  "I've travelled too
long with this vehicle, and with a certain individual on it in
particular, to want to see it destroyed in the Magic Zone."
     Sherelynn stood and stretched, causing Steele nearly to
suffer a heart attack.  "Could I come by your quarters later
tonight?" Sherelynn asked.  "I would like to...discuss some
things with you."
     "I would be delighted," Steele said.  "Come by around
2300, okay?"
     Sherelynn nodded.  "I'll be there."  She raised her arms
above her head, shimmered, and vanished.
     "I've never seen her do THAT," Steele muttered, getting back
to his work.  "I wonder how--Well, she IS a dragon..."
 
 
 
Chapter 34: Steele's Appointment
 
 
     Steele was not a little nervous at being summoned to Lt.
Col. Avery Bowaz's office, but he was more annoyed than nervous.
This call was interfering with Steele's duties in the GMU repair
effort (and more impartantly, with the late-night appointment he
had made with Sherelynn...), and he hadn't had more than two
hours of sleep in the last twenty-four hours.
     Steele pressed the DOOR OPEN button and walked into the room
when the door slid open.  As always, he marvelled at how sparsely
furnished the office was.  No carpet, no pictures on the walls,
not even anything on the desk other than the computer terminal
and a picture of Bowaz's late wife.  Steele was aware that Bowaz
liked to think of himself as a "warrior, like the Spartans of
old," but this was a little extreme, was it not?
     Steele sat down on one of the non-upholstered chairs in
front of the desk with a sigh.  "You wanted to see me, sir?" he
asked, closing his eyes and letting his head sink backward.
     Bowaz nodded.  "I know how hard this is on you, Remington,"
he said.  Steele opened his eyes and looked up.  This was the
first time Bowaz had used his private nickname for him since
they'd crossed over into this other dimension.
     "I don't know what you mean, sir," Steele said because it
was the response required by the military ethic.
     Bowaz shook his head.  "Oh, yes you do, and I do too. You
never could stand routine tasks.  You feel compelled to give
whatever you're doing your utmost attention, and when you do that
you always neglect yourself in favor of the work."  As Steele was
about to make another contradictory comment, Bowaz raised his
hand to silence him. "Now that's an admirable quality, if you
have the disposition for the kind of work you're being forced to
do. But you don't, not for this effort.  And that's why I'm
reassigning you."
     "Oh?" Steele asked.  "Sir?"
     Bowaz nodded.  "What I'm about to tell you must not leave
this room.  It would be devastating to the morale of our men."
     Steele nodded.  He was familiar with such restrictions. "Go
on, sir."
     "We're running out of missiles."
     Steele sat bolt upright.  "What?!  But why?!  How?!  Sir."
     Bowaz sighed.  "Apparently it's part of our mindset. We've
become too dependant on our missiles, and thus we use them to the
virtual exclusion of all else.  Indeed, missiles and the GU-XX
gun pod are the only weapons the Alphas and Betas are equipped
with."
     Steele nodded.  "And?"
     "When one of the clerks was doing a routine inventory, he
happened to calculate the rate at which we've been using
missiles.  And to put it simply, it is not good.
     "If we continue using up our missiles as fast as we have
been, our reserves will run out in about two more months."
     Steele listened calmly to this bombshell.  "What are we
going to do about this, sir?"
     Bowaz punched a button on the computer terminal and turned
it to face Steele.  On the screen was a map of their current
location, which included what had once been southern Arkansas and
western Mississippi.  "There is the city/state of El Dorado, an
ally of the Coalition."  He pointed to a small position marked on
the map.  "According to Sherelynn and Moore, this is a major
population center.  Here, we might obtain information about
whether we can get more missiles to function in our mecha or not.
And perhaps also find out more about the Coalition.  You will
take a Cyclone Cycle up there to try to find out about those
things."
     Steele nodded.  "And should I also look for information on
how we might get back home?"
     Bowaz raised an eyebrow.  "Why should we want to do that?"
     Steele was flustered.  "I thought that we--"
     "Yes, yes, that was my plan too, when I first found out what
had happened to us," Bowaz said.  "But now I have rethought our
mission."
     "You have?"  Steele was very tired, and this made him a
little slow.
     "Yes, I have," Bowaz said.  "The Robotech Expeditionary
Force liberates planets, does it not?  Well, here is a planet
that needs desperately to be liberated, though whether from
supernatural creatures or from tyrannical states, I do not yet
know.  In El Dorado, I hope we can find out just which side we
should be on, and then ally ourselves with it.  A grand cause,
don't you think?"
     Steele thought Bowaz had finally gone over the edge, but he
said, "Indeed, indeed.  When do I leave?"
     Bowaz turned the computer back toward him and punched
something else up.  "In two days.  We will be passing through
something called the 'Magic Zone,' and Sherelynn and Joe Moore
both concur that we will need every available man for this.  But
after we're safely past the disturbance, you will be free to go."
He pressed another key, then rose.  "I suggest you return to your
quarters and get some sleep.  You look worn out."
     Steele rose, too, and nodded.  "Yessir."  He saluted, Bowaz
said, "Dismissed," and Steele walked out, heading back to his
room and a rendezvous with a certain beautiful dragon.  He was
thinking about what Bowaz had said.  Was it indeed their
"mission" to take sides in the one huge battle that seemed to
rule this planet?  Or had Bowaz finally fallen victim to battle
fatigue?  Steele was too tired to concentrate on it at this
moment.  He would think about it in the morning, or at least
after he was able to relax a bit.
 
 
 
Chapter 35: Encounter in the Zone
 
 
     After making love that night, Sherelynn and Steele lay in
bed talking to each other.  Steele related his earlier encounter
with Lt. Col. Bowaz and finished with, "I'm afraid the pressure's
finally gotten to him."
     "What do you mean?" Sherelynn asked him.
     "He's always imagined himself a Spartan warrior," Steele
said. "His office, his living quarters, his demeanor all attest
to that.  It's just one of those little idiosynchrasies that make
us all different from each other. Or it was, until now."
     Sherelynn nodded.  Steele continued, "And now he's got this
grand vision of 'liberating' this planet from whatever ails it."
     Sherelynn shook her head.  "Far too much ails this world for
all the equipment you have here to do much good at all."
     "I know.  But he seems to think he can free this planet
almost singlehandedly," Steele said.  "I think he's finally lost
it."  He sighed.  "What am I going to do, Sherelynn? Take over
the GMU because he's crazy?  He is my superior, and he'd call it
mutiny, and rightly so."
     "You'll do what you think is right," Sherelynn said, rolling
over toward him and embracing him.  "As long as he doesn't
actively do anything to put the GMU in any danger, it's all
right, isn't it?"
     "Yes..."
     "So just watch him, and if he starts to do anything
dangerous, then you can take appropriate steps."
     "But by then it may be too late," Steele said.
     Sherelynn kissed him to cut off any further comments, and
they proceeded from there.
 
     As the sun came up the next day, they were on the bridge as
the GMU thundered on toward the Mississippi River and the
so-called "Magic Zone," which was visible to the west as a great
blue glow just beyond the horizon.  Steele was taking a turn in
the pilot's seat, and Sherelynn was sitting in the co-pilot's
station beside him.  Lieutenant Colonel Bowaz was absent from the
bridge.
     Steele watched the ground and air ahead of the GMU carefully
for any possible trouble.  He was aware that the Alpha fighters
were flying sweeps ahead of the Ground Mobile Unit, but you never
could be too careful.
     At the back of the bridge, the elevator doors swished open
and a Cyclone Rider stepped onto the bridge clad in full Saber
Cyclone power armor.  This wasn't unusual, of course; when there
had been enough REF troopers to staff the GMU completely, it had
been common to have two or three security officers in power armor
on the bridge, to guard against possible acts of sabotage, or
something like that.  But such officers were rarely seen on the
bridge any more.
     This Saber-clad soldier was followed by another person in
Cyclone armor, this a VR-052 Battler carrying the EP-40 40mm
pulse beam gun.  They slid their helmet faceplates up, to reveal
Cyclone Rider Felix Weidmann in the Saber, and Glitter Boy pilot
Joe Moore in the Battler.
     "Hello," Felix said, waving.  "We were bored, we heard that
we were going to be passing through this 'Magic Zone' thingie
shortly, and so we decided to come on up to the bridge and watch
from here."
     Steele grunted and turned back to the control board,
noting that Weidmann was beginning to sound once more like
he'd been before the loss of his natural arm.  "This is the
first time I've seen you in a Cyc since..."
     Felix nodded, then realized that Steele couldn't see him nod
and said, "Yes."  He shrugged.  "I just realized that it didn't
do anybody any good for me to mope around.  I've got this thing
on my arm and all the wishing in the world won't bring my real
one back, so I might as well live with it."
     Joe was just about to say something when a light on Steele's
display panel started blinking, accompanied by a beep.  His
fingers played over the touch-sensitive control board.  "Hmm.  We
seem to be reading some strange electromagnetic energy
fluctuations.  I set the science station to alert me to any such
anomalies.  Sherelynn, do you sense anything?"
     In the co-pilot's seat, Sherelynn brushed a lock of her
long, luxuriant white-blonde hair back from her face and closed
her eyes in an expression of deep concentration.  "Yes...it's
close, just over the next rise."
     Weidmann and Moore looked at each other, and flipped their
visors down over their faces as one.  The radar tech moved over
to the science station and hit some buttons. "I'm reading a very
high concentration of the energy form associated with ley lines,"
she reported.
     Sherelynn nodded, eyes still squeezed shut.  "It's a triple
nexus point--three lines crossing at the same point." She gasped.
"It's very powerful!  I can feel it...There could be trouble."
     "And it's almost high noon," Moore pointed out.  "Some
magical activity goes on at noon and midnight, doesn't it?"
     "Yes," Sherelynn said.  "That is true.  Not as much as at
sunrise and sunset, however."
     Steele directed a division of Cyclone riders to check it
out.  "This could just be a false alarm, you know," Steele said.
"I mean, how likely is it--"
     Sherelynn cried out, interrupting Steele.  "There's
something happening there.  I--I feel it!  A rift is
opening...and something is coming out.  Something horrible!"
     Felix Weidmann and Joe Moore ran for the elevator.  As its
doors closed, Captain Steele raised the throttle, then got up and
ran over to the weapons station.  He flipped switches and pulled
levers.  "Arming missiles," he said, grimacing as he did so.
"Arming main cannon."  The vibrations reverberated throughout the
entire ship as components slid apart, rearranged themselves, and
locked together again, permitting the rapid-fire laser cannon
atop the GMU to deploy itself for firing.
     Sherelynn rose, and whispered to Steele, "I am sorry, my
love, but you know why I must go."
     Steele nodded.  "Return safely."  Sherelynn ran from the
bridge, long hair streaming behind her.  Seconds later, the light
blue/white dragon that was Sherelynn's natural form passed
overhead, flying toward the hill's crest.
     A minute later, the GMU crested the hill.  Now Steele could
see the three intersecting ley lines, and the glowing bright
nexus point in the center.  And emerging from it was a monster
the like of which Steele had never seen before.
 
 
 
Chapter 36: Who'll Stop the Rift?
(With apologies to Credence Clearwater Revival)
 
 
     Explosions were becoming audible to Chris Meadows as he
peered around the corner of the Campus Union at an approaching
man with a laser rifle.
     "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Joe Moore whispered in
his ear.  "One shot from that thing and we're toast!"
     "Yeah, but one shot from this--"  Chris waved the sawed-off
shotgun.  "--and he's dog meat.  Now shhhh."
     The man came closer.  He was clad in green pants made from
some rough cloth, and a tan leather vest, no doubt home-made, and
his dark mustache and beard were not neatly trimmed. The only
thing high-tech about this person seemed to be the TX-11 laser
snipers' rifle he was carrying.  The gun resembled an automatic
pistol with a long barrel, a sniperscope, and a metal stock
attached.  Chris wondered how he'd come into it, then pushed the
matter from his mind.
     As the man turned the corner, Chris raised the shotgun and
pulled the trigger.  Ka-BLAM!  The gun bucked in his hands, and
the man went down in a spray of blood.
     Joe ran out from behind Chris and grabbed the rifle, now
slick with the man's blood.  Then he looked closely at what was
left of the man, and gasped.  Chris looked, and nearly fainted
himself.
     The shotgun blast, coming at point-blank range as it had,
had blown a hole right THROUGH the man--Chris and Joe could see
the red-stained sidewalk and grass through the man's corpse as it
lay on its back.
     "I think I'm going to be sick," Joe said, dropping the
rifle.  It clattered to the ground, and Chris picked it up.
     "Try to hold it in until I can get whatever e-clips this guy
has on him," Chris said, steeling himself against the task at
hand.  He reached to the man's belt and pulled off two of the
longer type of clips.  "Good, 40 shots right there.  Wonder how
many are in the gun itself...?  Ah, 17.  Good."  Then he turned
away and threw up on the sidewalk.
     "Feeling better?" Joe asked.
     "Yes, a great deal better, thanks."
 
     Lt. Martin Jackson, the REF field scientist who had come to
Rifts and from there to this world where the Invid were invading
the Southwest Missouri State University, looked around him from a
vantage point atop the SMSU Campus Union.  There were Invid
everywhere--and not a darned thing could he do about it.  There
were just too MANY of them!  If the entire REF force from the GMU
were here, THEN they might have a chance.  But as it was, it
would take the intervention of the National Guard (or some other
heavily armed squad) to do any good.
     Jackson hopped back down to Madison Street, where the
enigmatic Operator, Jack, and the robot pilot, Sam Fort, waited.
"They're still taking prisoners and marching back through the
rift with them.  We have to DO something."
     "But what?" Jack asked.  "There's too many to stop with main
force, even with all the weapons we have here."
     Sam pointed over to the west, where about five or six police
cars had driven up and the police were now beginning to cordon
off the area. "Look at that.  At least someone's doing SOMETHING
sensible."
     "And look at THIS," Chris Meadows said, running up with a
laser rifle in his hands.  Joe Moore was right behind him.  "Now
I can hit those Invid where it hurts!"
     "Don't make me laugh," Jack said mockingly.  "If one Invid
gets off a shot anywhere near you, you're parboiled."
     "Well, yeah, I'm still working on that one..."
     "As I see it, there's only one way to defeat the Invid
here," Sam Fort drawled.  "At least, if what I understand about
rifts is correct..."
     "Which is?" Lt. Jackson asked.
     "Close the rift."
     Jack snorted.  "Easier said than done, Fort.  Anybody around
here got a Shifter on tap?"
     "What if we killed the guy who is maintaining it?" Chris
asked.  "That might do it."
     Jack shrugged.  "Who can say?"
     "Count me in," Chris said.  "I've always wanted to see Rifts
in person.  Are you coming, Joe?"
     "Are you kidding?" Joe asked.  "My dad would KILL me!"
     "I really doubt that," Chris said.  "Isn't that him being
carried away in the grasp of that Invid there?"
     Joe grabbed Lt. Michaels' binoculars.  "Oh my God, you're
right, it is!  We have to save him!"
     "Okay then, it's settled.  Oh, by the way, Lt. Michaels?  I
think you might be interested in stopping by my room over in
Wells there, so we could pick up the Robotech RPGs and
videotapes.  I'm sure you'll want to take a look at them."
 
     Ten minutes later, all the stuff Chris wanted to take along
was in the luggage compartment of Sam Fort's TX-500 Forager
robot.  He left a short note to Mulcarro, his superior in the
agency that had been running the drug bust he'd been supposed to
help make, explaining his reasons for blowing it and suggesting
the use of anti-tank missiles against the Invid.  He also left
one to his parents, telling them that he had gone to another
dimension and might never be back.  Then he closed the door and
was gone from Wells, maybe forever.
     Shortly thereafter, they stood at Madison Street and looked
south toward the rift.  "Everybody ready?" Lt. Jackson asked.
     "Let's do it!" Chris replied from the passenger compartment
of the Forager battlebot.  He felt a little scared--he'd never
even SEEN a rift before, let alone passed through one.  Before
today, he hadn't even thought they were real!
     "Well, here we go," Chris muttered.  The robot and Cyclones
ran for the rift, and then they were through!
 
     On the other side, the interior chamber of the Invid Hive,
there was nobody, save two figures.  Most of the other Invid in
the Hive had been called away to other duties, leaving just the
one Enforcer that had let the humans in, and Tal, the rogue
Shifter who had opened the portal in the first place and now
maintained it through his strength of will.  Tal was not aware of
the Enforcer's presence, because of the immense concentration
required to maintain a dimensional portal so far from a ley-line
juncture. Zyjinn was helping him, by feeding in his immense
supply of psychic energy for Tal to focus, but it was still a
strain.
     And then the robot and Cyclone Cycles emerged from the rift.
Tal looked up, saw them, and gasped.  "No--wait!" he said as they
raised their weapons.  They fired.  Tal was engulfed in a huge
explosion.  The rift closed.
 
 
 
Chapter 37: Swallowed!
 
 
     Elsewhere, however, another rift was open that would have
been better closed.  The location was on the Magic Zone, just
east of the Mississippi river, where the GMU was passing through.
It had just crested the hill east of where the rift actually was;
and Sherelynn, Jason Weidmann, and Joe Moore the Glitter Boy had
all gone to help fight whatever it was that was emerging from it.
     And now, as Steele caught sight of it for the first time, he
wished he was elsewhere.
     It was almost indescribable.  It looked like a cross between
a worm and a snake, with a huge, gaping, toothy maw, two small
bulbous eyes, and four tentacles positioned equidistantly around
its circumference.  It was a dull brownish-grey in color.  And it
was GIGANTIC--as it parted its great jaws and emitted a roar that
shook the earth, Steele estimated that its mouth was at least 150
feet across!  It wasn't even all the way out of the rift, but
there was already about two thousand feet of it protruding.
     The Alphas and Betas were firing their missiles at it, the
Cyclones were aiming their guns, and Sherelynn was flying
straight at it and strafing it with her frosty breath, but none
of this was doing much more than annoying it.  Conscious of the
waste of missiles, Steele ordered, "Draw back!  Draw back,
everybody, and prepare for firing of the main cannon!"
     He moved over to the weapons console and prepared to slam
his hand down upon the red button to fire the main cannon.  But
not all the fighters had heard the orders to pull back.
Sherelynn continued diving at the gigantic thing and blasting it
with her breath.
     Then Steele watched, horrified, as the creature flicked out
a five-hundred-foot-long tongue at Sherelynn as she passed in
front of it.  The tongue wrapped itself around the bluish-white
dragon and drew back into the worm's mouth, taking Sherelynn with
it!  The creature swallowed, and a lump passed slowly down its
body.
     "No!!!" Steele yelled, leaping to the pilot's seat and
frantically pressing buttons.  The floor of the GMU opened
beneath him, and the hydraulic system attached to the pilot's
seat lowered the chair through the hole and to the ground in
front of the GMU.
     "Recon Alpha 39, land in front of the GMU immediately,"
Steele yelled into his radio mike.  As the requested plane came
to a stop on the ground, Steele pulled off his headset, jumped
out of the chair, and vaulted to the cockpit.
     "Out!" he yelled at the surprised young man in the cockpit.
     "But what--why--?"
     "Never mind, just get out!"  He nearly threw the man from
the cockpit, then sat down himself and punched the controls for
takeoff.
     "Uh, Captain Steele, we still await firing of the main gun,"
someone said over the radio.  Steele irritably turned it off.
     "All right...let's hope I can get this right," Steele
muttered, aiming the plane right at the worm's mouth.  Shoving
the throttle full forward and keeping a careful hand on the
controls, Steele passed right between the worm's teeth and down
its throat.
 
     Now that he was inside, Steele pulled back on the throttle
and converted to Guardian.  It was dark here, so he flipped on
the spotlights.
     He was in a kind of a tunnel, a hundred and fifty feet in
diameter, that continued downward.  Its walls were pink tissue
that faded into darkness up and down.  "Hold on, Sherelynn!" Steele
yelled over the PA system.  "I'm coming!"  He pulled back on the
throttle and the Veritech descended into the darkness.
     It was nearly a thousand feet down before the tunnel ended,
in a pool of greenish slime.  Several gigantic skeletons floated
in this muck, as did a struggling blue and white dragon.
     "Help me!" Sherelynn called up to Steele.  "I'm stuck in
here, and sinking fast!"  Even as she spoke, Sherelynn's
hindquarters slid deeper into the mire.  She struggled against
it, but all that did was make her sink faster.
     Steele lowered the plane to within a few feet of the surface
and said, "Grab the mecha's hand!"  He extended the Guardian-mode
Alpha's right arm to Sherelynn, who took hold of it with her
foreclaws.  "Okay, now hold on tight!"  Steele shoved the
throttle forward and tried to lift the dragon out of the grasping
mire.
     It was no good--Sherelynn's weight, combined with the
tenacity of the muck, prevented his lift from having any effect.
Then Steele had an idea.  "Can you change to human form?"
     "Yes!" Sherelynn said.  "I'll try that!"  Still holding to
the mecha's arm, Sherelynn began to change.  She grew smaller,
and her features melted and ran into a more human configuration,
ripping free of the green mire as she did so.  In just a few
seconds, the dragon had reformed into a human, now held securely
in the Alpha's right arm--covered with green slime, but otherwise
okay.
     "Now I'd better get us out of here."  Captain Steele checked
the Alpha's missile indicators.  There were 40 left.  "Hold on
tight--I'm going to try to blast a way out."  He selected a spot,
targeted it, and fired all 40 missiles, groaning inwardly at
having to deplete further the GMU's already waning supply.  The
concussion, especially in the confined space, was deafening, but
it had the desired effect--a hole, fully 40 feet wide, was blown
in the worm's side.  Steele flew out of it, Sherelynn still in
hand.
     But this wasn't the world he'd flown into the worm from!
This place had three orange suns and a pink sky, and the land as
far as he could see was a solid mass of 150-foot worm segments.
"Hey!  Where's the GMU!"
     It was Sherelynn who caught on.  "Above us!"  Captain Steele
looked up to see a glowing spot in the sky, from which the worm
he and Sherelynn had been swallowed by was slowly falling.  It
was the rift they'd come through!
     Sherelynn shifted to dracoform and flew up toward the rift.
Steele followed, and they both passed through as the worm fell
out.  Instants later, it closed beneath them.
     Steele set down on the ground, opened the cockpit, and
climbed out.  He walked over to the GMU, where the pilot seat was
still extended to the ground, sat down in it, and raised it back
up to the cockpit.
     "Someone else take over for me," he said.  "I'm going to my
quarters."  He left the bridge, a little shaky but still under
his own power.
 
 
 
Chapter 38: More Troubles in the Magic Zone
 
 
     Steele collapsed onto his bed in something of a state of
shock.  Not fifteen minutes ago Sherelynn the ice dragon, the
woman he had fallen in love with, had been swallowed by a
gigantic worm from a rift, and Steele had commandeered an Alpha
fighter to go in after her.  Now the adrenalin rush had faded,
leaving him utterly exhausted.
     Then Sherelynn, in her human form, emerged from the small
adjoining shower, a towel wrapped around her body and another
around her head.  She sat down on the bed next to Steele.  "Thank
you for rescuing me," she said.
     "It's just the standard fairy tale, you know," Steele
replied.  "The handsome young hero comes to the aid of the damsel
in distress."  He grinned.  "Only this damsel happens also to be
a dragon, whom young damsels are usually rescued FROM.  We're
getting the fairy tales all mixed up here, aren't we?"
     Sherelynn chuckled softly.  "Very true," she said.  She
removed the towel from her head and let her still-damp hair fall
free.  Even wet, it remained untangled and beautiful.
     "You look very..." Steele started, then stopped because he
couldn't find the words.
     "Thank you, Steele."  Sherelynn let the other towel drop,
and Steele reached to the light switch and darkened the room.
 
     Their interlude was interrupted a half-hour later by the
buzzing of the intercom.  Steele hit the audio only button.
"Yes?"
     "Recon has sighted more alien creatures ahead of us," the
female radar tech from the bridge said over the 'com.
     "Describe them, please," Steele said, rolling out of bed and
pulling on his trousers.
     "Body of a horse, and a spiny reptillian neck and head, with
a set of clawed arms.
     "A melech," Sherelynn whispered, too low for the intercom
mike to register.  "Ask how many there are."
     "How many are there?" asked Steele, slipping his shirt on.
     "About twenty or thirty."
     "I'll be right there."  He snapped the intercom off, slid
into his boots, and pulled on his gunbelt with Gallant H-90 and
rifle stock attached.
     "They're totally evil beasts," Sherelynn said, reaching for
her leather jerkin.  "They derive pleasure from torturing and
mutilating others.  They must be destroyed."
     "Well, we'll see what we can do," Steele replied, opening
the door.
     Ten minutes later, Steele and Sherelynn strode onto the
bridge.  "What's the approximate location of the melechs?" he
asked.  "The alien creatures, that is."
     "About two miles northwest of us, sir," the radar tech said.
"I'm getting pictures now."
     "Twenty or thirty of them shouldn't give you any trouble,"
Sherelynn said.  "Even that many would be easy prey for one or
two of your armored Alpha fighters."
     "They seem to be attacking a party of humans," the radar
tech said as the pictures came up.  They were obviously taken
from an overhead Recon Alpha.  They showed a herd of the strange
creatures surrounding a group of about six humans, some mounted
on horses, others on foot.  The monsters had many of them on the
ground and were striking relentlessly at them.
     "We have to help them!" Steele said.  "Recon Alpha, attack
immediately.  Rescue those under attack.  Also, Cyclone squadrons
to the following coordinates.  Cyclone squadrons to the following
coordinates."  He gave the designation for the area under attack,
then nervously sat down in the chair to wait.
     The picture veered crazily as the mecha taking the
photographs swooped in for the attack.  In split-second glimpses,
Steele saw several melechs down, and others being hit by
missiles.  "Bring any casualties to the GMU for medical
treatment," Steele added as an afterthought.
     "Roger.  We have some incoming now."
     "I'll meet you in the mecha bay."
 
 
 
Chapter 39: Escape from the Hive
 
 
     "Which way now?"
     "Don't ask me, I'm not an Invid tour guide!"
     Thus went the conversation between Jack the Operator and Lt.
Martin Jackson as their Cyclones and the Forager robot ran down a
tunnel in the Invid Hive, with pursuing Invid mecha not far
behind. Shortly after they had blasted the Shifter who was
keeping the rift open, they had encountered a group of angry
Invid who apparently wanted to avenge his death.
     There were about 20 of the Invid Troopers, whose sole
armament was their razor-sharp steel claws, devastating at
close-range.  There were ten or so Shock Troopers, exactly like
the Troopers save that they mounted heavy plasma cannons on their
shoulders, which they were firing a great deal now.  There were
two Pincer Command Units, the larger mecha that mounted dual heat
cannons on their shoulders, powerful enough to blast a hole in a
street.  And there were five Invid Scouts, smaller versions of
the Invid Trooper.  And they were all hot on the group's heels.
     "Do something!" Joe Moore yelled over the radio link.  "I
don't want to end my life as Invid road pizza!"
     "Shut up, Moore, you're not helping much," Jack shot back.
     Chris grabbed the laser sniper's rifle he'd picked up back
at SMSU.  "I'm not just going to sit here doing nothing."
     "What are you doing?!" Joe asked.
     Chris climbed the ladder to the gunner's hatch at the top of
the robot and opened it.  "Laying down a little suppressing
fire."  He aimed the rifle and let off a few shots.  Most went
wild, but one penetrated the sensor eye of one of the Shock
Troopers, which fell backward, causing more of the Invid to trip
over it, and more to trip over them.  "All right!" Chris whooped,
climbing back down inside.
     "That won't hold them for long, though," Sam Fort said.
     "Let's try down this side passageway," Lt. Jackson decided,
swerving around and racing off.  Jack and Sam Fort followed.  The
tunnel twisted and curved, but showed no signs of getting any
closer to an exit.
     Then the Invid squad that had been chasing them showed up in
front of them.  The Troopers and Pincers raised their weapons to
fire...
     "Stop!" a modulated voice shouted.  A lone Enforcer had just
stepped out between the Invid and the group.  "Your orders are
countermanded.  Return to the Central Chamber to await further
instructions."
     The Invid lowered their weapons, turned, and marched off,
leaving Jackson to say, "Well what in the--?"
     "Why did you save us?" Jack asked.
     The Enforcer turned to them.  "Follow me.  I will show you
the way out on one condition."
     "And that is?" Jack asked suspiciously.
     The Enforcer floored them with its response: "That you take
me with you."
     Lt. Jackson gasped.  "But why?"
     "I must speak to your superior."
     "Should we trust it?" Jack asked over the radio.
     "I've never known any Invid to behave like THAT," Chris
Meadows volunteered.
     "It could be a trap," Joe Moore suggested.
     Lt. Jackson shook his head.  "That Enforcer could have just
let those Invid kill us.  We owe it our lives.  The least we can
do is go along with what it says."
     Jack shrugged.  "Okay.  Into the jaws of death we go..."
     So the group followed the Enforcer, and it led them past
further Invid interference to the exit, and deactivated the force
field so that they could pass through.
     "I can't belive this," Chris muttered, looking back through
the hatch at the Invid Hive.  "This is actually Rifts we're in.
And that's a real Invid Hive.  Never thought I'd see one of
those."
     "Quit babbling," Sam Fort suggested.  Chris took his advice
and sat back down in the passenger seat.  "How long 'till we get
to the GMU?"
     "At least a couple of weeks," Lt. Jackson replied,
"depending on how far they've managed to travel by now.  But
we'll get there, don't worry."  And have I got something to show
them, the field scientist silently added.
 
 
 
Chapter 40: More and Different People
 
 
     Steele and Sherelynn stood at one of the doors to the mecha
bay, observing the people they had just rescued before going in
to talk to them.  They were already surrounded by a crowd of
curious on-lookers, and Steele'd had to request a squad of
Cyclone Riders to keep the crowd back.  The group was composed of
six people, mostly humans.  They had left their horses outside,
under Cyclone guard.  Two of these people were wearing flowing
robes over body armor, and one was followed by a wolf.  "Those
are Shifters," Sherelynn whispered to Steele, pointing them out.
"They are the ones who manipulate the rifts--open and close them,
et cetera."
     "Perhaps we should talk to one of them about getting home,"
Steele said.
     "Perhaps they might be able to help," Sherelynn agreed.
"But I doubt it."  Then she pointed to a third figure, this one
dressed in what appeared to be a World War I airplane pilot's
ensemble--leather helmet, jacket, gloves, and breeches, goggles,
long silk scarf, and polished black boots.  He had some sort of
rifle slung over his shoulder, and a sword at his belt.
     "Who IS this guy?" Steele wondered.
     "He's a Techno-Wizard," Sherelynn said.  "Remember, I told
you something about them earlier."
     "Oh yes, the people who combine magic with machines."
Steele shrugged.  "That's something I bet Sgt. Irrout, the
bio-maintenance engineer, would like to take a look at.  But what
in the world is THAT?"  He gestured at a--CREATURE--that stood
erect like a man, and had hands like a man, but it LOOKED like a
German Shepherd!  Its body was covered with brown fur, and its
face was that of a dog.  It wore a kind of loose-fitting plate
armor, and there was some sort of a long claw-type device on its
left wrist.  It also had a sword and a pistol at its belt.
     "That's a 'Dog Boy.'  The Coalition makes them.  They're
mutations of dogs, like something out of that book by the
Pre-Rifts author, Wells, I think he was--THE ISLAND OF DR.
MOREAU.  They turn animals into people, and use their special
psychic abilities to hunt down supernatural and magical
creatures, like myself.  They're as smart as people, they use
weapons the same as people--but the Coalition refuses to treat
them that way."  She grimaced.  "They treat them like pets, like
animals.  And they accept that, for the most part.  Just one more
reason why I hate the Coalition."
     One member of the group was made entirely of gleaming metal.
It looked like something out of an old vid Steele had seen--THE
TERMINATOR was the name of it.  "And that's a, uh--"
     "Full-conversion 'borg," Sherelynn supplied.  "Someone who's
had just about everything but his brain replaced with metal
parts."
     "Ugh," Steele said.  "Can't imagine why anybody would WANT
to do that."
     The last person Steele looked at was the leader of the
group.  This man's chest was covered in gleaming metal, but other
than that he seemed completely human.  He wore a sword at his
belt, and had an old hunting rifle slung across his back.
     "That's a Cyber-Knight," Sherelynn whispered.  "They are the
roving champions of the land, seeking out evil wherever it may
lurk and destroying it.  That metal on his chest is a form of
armor that most Cyber-Knights have implanted."
     "Sounds like my kinda guy," Steele muttered.  "Let's go talk
to 'em."
     Steele and Sherelynn made their way through the crowd to
where the group of adventurers stood at the end of the mecha bay.
As they got closer, they were able to see that Dr. Peltzer, the
cyber-doc they'd picked up in Kirksville to help Felix Weidmann,
was bandaging some large gashes in the Dog Boy's leg, and some of
their other medics were tending to one of the Shifters.
     As Steele and Sherelynn walked up to them, the Dog Boy
straightened up, turned, and pointed at Sherelynn, muttering
something to one of the Shifters.  The Shifter nodded, and Steele
let his hand drop to the butt of his Gallant for a few seconds,
looking the Dog Boy straight in the eye.  He wanted no
misunderstandings, and he thought the best way was to make things
clear from the beginning.
     The Dog Boy nodded back, a look of understanding in his
eyes, and Steele relaxed.  He turned to face the Cyber-Knight.
"Hello.  I'm Captain Steele of the Robotech Expeditionary Force."
     "I am Sir Peter de la Tere, of the village of Morganstern,
not far from here," the knight responded, offering his hand.
Steele took it.  "I thank you for saving us from those melechs."
He shuddered.  "I hate those creatures."
     "It was the least we could do.  See someone else in trouble,
we just have to help out."
     De la Tere looked around.  "I have never seen a vehicle such
as this."
     "It's a new model, from a company that's just started up,"
Steele prevaricated.  "We're, uh, field-testing it.  The same
goes for those motorcycles and airplanes."
     Sir Peter nodded.  He could probably see through the lie,
Steele reflected, but he was courteous enough not to indicate it.
"I see.  Well, we must be on our way, then.  Who knows what
creatures might have come upon Morganstern without us there to
protect it."
     Steele nodded.  "See you around."
     As they turned to go, the Techno-Wizard said, "Hey, Sir
Peter, I would like to stay here for a while."
     "Eh?  Why's that?" the knight asked.
     "I would like to take a closer look at some of these amazing
machines.  That is, if Captain Steele doesn't mind."
     The knight shrugged.  "If Captain Steele doesn't mind, very
well.  You know the way back to Morganstern."  And with that he
led the rest of the group down the ramp to their horses.  They
mounted up and rode off, leaving the magician standing alone in
the mecha bay.
     "Captain Steele, I'm Michael Fosser," the man said, offering
his hand.  Steele took it.  "I'm good with machines, and so-so
with magic."
     "It's nice to meet you, Michael," Steele said.  "If you
don't mind, I'd like to ask you a few things..."  Steele, Fosser,
and Sherelynn walked together toward an exit.  Steele hoped Lt.
Col. Bowaz wouldn't object to having yet another guest aboard the
GMU.
 
 
 
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