From: cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows)
Subject: Robotech/Rifts Crossover (part 2 of 7)
Followup-To: alt.prose
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 16:01:17 GMT

     The way the computer analyzed the images and spat them out
on the HDD (head-down display, as opposed to the head-up display
used for targeting), there was a massive force of infantry and
robots attacking a small fortification built into the side of a
hill.  Tentative ID registered as Coalition SAMAS power armor
(the exact characteristics had not yet been programmed into the
ident computers), plus some of the larger units that could be,
from Sherelynn and Moore's descriptions, Coalition UAR-1 Urban
Enforcer robots and Coalition Spider Skull Walkers.  The Urban
Enforcer's main recognable feature was the gigantic rail cannon
built into its right shoulder; the Spider Skull was almost
exactly what its name suggested--a great big skull on six
metallic legs, with railguns and other weaponry built in.
     Many of the smaller units were not registering the body heat
that footsoldiers, even armor-clad ones, would normally be giving
off.  They had to be some sort of robot.  Moore had mentioned
something about Coalition autonomous robots, though he hadn't
gone into specifics.
     All the forces were firing their weapons at the fortified
hill, and Steele could tell that it wouldn't be long until the
hill fell.  Most of the automated cannons had been destroyed now,
and the only other sign of resistance was laser rifle fire from
slits in the side of the hill.  "The hell with this," Steele
muttered.  "I can't just stand by and let the Coalition destroy
this place."  He shoved the throttle forward, switched the
thrusters to rear-vector, and instructed the computer to go for
target lock.
     The Alpha swooped in, surprising a lot of troops.  The tone
sounded in the cabin to indicate target lock, and Steele let four
of his missiles go, then four more.  Two surprised Enforcers blew
sky-high.  He easily dodged fire from a Spider Skull as he
rocketed past the clearing, then came back around and took out
two more enemy robots.
     "Okay, time to lay my card on the table."  Steele reached
forward with his right hand and pulled back on the mode-changing
lever.  In seconds, the Alpha fighter had become an Alpha
Battloid, GU-XX 35mm tri-barrel gun pod in hand.  "Eat THIS,
Coalition jerk-offs."  With cannon fire, he took out five of the
smaller robots, then dived to the right to avoid a missile fired
from an Urban Enforcer.
     "Oh, do you want to play rough?  All you had to do was ask!"
Steele fired eight more of his missiles, and more enemy robots
were destroyed.
     From across the clearing, Steele heard more gunfire.  It was
the Cyclone unit he'd dispatched earler, coming to his aid.
However, against several hundred Coalition robots, the outcome
would be chancy, at best.  Steele riddled a few more robots with
his cannon, dodged flak from two Urban Enforcers, then called for
reinforcements.  "Captain Steele calling Ground Mobile Unit.
Captain Steele calling Ground Mobile Unit.  Have encountered
hostiles; need immediate reinforcements. Repeat, have encountered
hostiles; need immediate reinforcements. Coordinates--"  Steele
dodged another missile attack and countered with a few missiles
of his own.  "Coordinates Tango Lima Delta 47.  Urgent, repeat
urgent.  Steele out."
     Within minutes, the main force of Alpha and Beta fighters
had arrived.  As they used more missiles to put down the hostile
force, Steele was free to slip around behind the fortified hill
in his Alpha Battloid, to try to find a way in.
     In all, the hill was about two hundred feet tall.  There was
a large metal door at the base, about thirty feet tall.  Steele
knew that the Alpha would fit through, easily.  He just had to
find a way in.
     As he was pondering the question, one of his subordinates
radioed to him, "Sir, the enemy is breaking through.  We can't
hold them much longer."
     "Roger.  I'll be fast."  There was no time for subtlety
here.  Hoping no civilians were behind the armor plate doors,
Steele executed a jump-kick with the thirty-foot Battloid that
caved them in.  He stepped in, broadcasting over his
loudspeakers, "I come in peace!  Don't shoot!  I'm here to
evacuate everybody before the Coalition breaks through and
destroys you!"
     "Up here!" someone yelled.  Steele looked around.  He seemed
to be in some kind of gigantic repair bay, with robot parts
scattered all around.  Steele looked up, and saw two humans
standing on a metal catwalk about level with the Battloid's head.
Steele extended the Alpha's hand, and they climbed on.  "Are you
the only ones here?" Steele asked.  They nodded.
     "Who are you?" one asked.
     "That'll have to wait until later.  Right now, we've got to
get you out of here."  Steele switched to Guardian mode and
skated out the door.  "Okay, I'm clear," he said over the radio.
"Give 'em one last blast and let's get out of here."
     Soon the Alphas had withdrawn at supersonic speeds.  It had
been agreed that they'd break in different directions and circle
around to get back to the GMU, so they couldn't be tracked there.
Steele was the only one who flew directly back.  He wanted to get
the two people he'd rescued safely aboard, for debriefing.
     But it seemed that incidents were the order of the day, for
the instant he left the clearing, two fast-moving blips showed up
on the scope.  They were some sort of sky cycles, like in an old
sci-fi vid Steele had seen once.  And they were firing missiles.
     Steele was limited by the presence of the two men in his
Alpha's hand--he couldn't perform high-G dodging maneuvers lest
he inadvertantly injure them.  He loosed some missiles of his
own, but the two bikes blasted them out of the air.  It was
beginning to look pretty serious for Steele, when suddenly help
arrived--from an unexpected quarter.
     One minute the air was clear; the next it was there.  A
great bluish-white dragon was gliding through the air, barely
fifty feet away.  It angled its gigantic head toward the two sky
bikes and let out a blast of frost from its mouth.  The engines
of the bikes froze (and so did the pilots), and they dropped
toward the forest below.
     Steele said over the loudspeakers, "I don't know who, or
even what you are, but thank you."
     The dragon nodded, as if in acknowledgement, and banked
away.  Steele gazed after it in awe, for it was truly a beautiful
creature, aesthetically.  It looked like the ones he'd seen in
old fantasy vids, only it had a more majestic air to it.  Steele
wondered why he had the feeling he'd seen it before.  "Probably
because of those movies," he muttered, heading for the GMU.
     He made it without further incident.  Upon landing, he
jumped out of the cockpit to meet in person the two people whose
lives he'd saved.
     One of these people was a young man, in his early twenties.
He had dark hair and eyes and a rebellious expression on his
face.  He wore a home-made leather vest and pants, a woolen
sweater, and combat boots; a canvas utility belt with multiple
compartments, holster included, was at his waist; and he carried
a small leather duffle and a canvas knapsack that obviously
contained tools.
     The other was an older man, in his fifties and balding..  He
wore a slightly dirty labcoat, glasses, and a pocket protector,
and the bulge under his left shoulder seemed to indicate a
holster of some sort.
     The younger one had one of his hands on the side of the
Alpha and wore a slightly zoned-out expression.  "Man!" he said.
"This is quite some machine.  Reconfiguring modular construction,
telepathic control system, and a power source that I can't quite
get a line on."
     Steele gawked, for he had just described the Alpha without
having even been inside of it.  Of course, it could just be lucky
guesses...
     "Jack has a strange psychic ability that lets him
communicate with machines and intuit their inner workings," the
older man explained.  "I find it very strange, myself, but the
workings of the human mind, especially in these times of magic,
may well exceed the expected."  Then he realized that they hadn't
introduced themselves.  "I'm Thornton Smitty, doctor of robotics,
and this is my assistant, Jack."  He held out his hand to Steele,
who took it.
     "I'm Captain Steele, Robotech Expeditionary Force."  His
introduction seemed to be lost on the man, who was gazing
wistfully off to the east.
     Jack disengaged himself from the machine and turned to
Smitty.  He pointed to his wristwatch and said softly, "Thornton,
it's time."
     The scientist nodded and turned away.  "Do what you must."
     Jack turned to Steele.  "Captain, are all your men out of
the viscinity of the hill?"
     "Yes," Steele replied.
     "Good."  The young man flipped up the face of the
wristwatch, which proved to be a false front, and pushed a red
button beneath it.  There was a gigantic explosion from the east,
and as Steele turned and looked, he could see a mushroom cloud
rising.  Jack pulled off the watch and threw it away.  "It's
useless now," he explained.
     "What did you just do?" Steele demanded.
     "I activated the self-destruct I'd rigged on our base," the
young man said.  "What's it to you?"
     "We had been working on new theories of robotics," Smitty
explained sadly.  "We couldn't let that advanced technology fall
into Coalition hands."  He was clearly broken up about it.
     "Don't let it bother you, Dr. Smitty," Steele said.  "I have
a feeling that the robotics you're ABOUT to see will make the
robotics you'd been working on look like children's toys."  He
led them up to the now-halted GMU, and they went inside.
 
 
 
Chapter 10: Fracas in the Library
 
 
     Dr. Smitty was amazed when he got into the mecha bay.  "What
is this?" he asked.  "I have never seen a repair and storage
facility of this caliber outside of the Coalition.  And these
vehicles--I've never seen the like."
     "That's because they're not from this dimension," Jack said
sullenly.  "They're D-Bees."
     "What?!  You're sure?" Smitty turned to him.
     "Positive.  I read the mem banks on that fighter plane."  He
nodded at Steele.  "Quite a machine."
     "Uh, thanks."  Steele wasn't quite sure what to think of
this Jack person.  Had he really been able to tap into the
Alpha's flight computer, just by touching the plane's skin?
Steele didn't believe it, but there didn't seem to be any more
logical solution.
     As they passed by one of the GMU's REF Gladiators, in for
servicing Thornton stopped and asked, "May I?"  He pointed at one
of the open access panels, and it was obvious he wanted a closer
look.  Steele sighed.  "Well, it's against regulations..."
     Sgt. Barry Irrout showed up.  "What's against regulations?"
     "Dr. Smitty here, a robot scientist, wanted to have a look
at the Destroid."
     Irrout shrugged.  "I don't see any harm in it, as long as
he's supervised."
     "Hey, what about me?" Jack asked.
     "Oh, you can hang around too," Steele decided.  "We won't
need to debrief you until later."  He left the room, covertly
assigning one of his Cyclone troopers to keep an eye on the two
newcomers.
     That evening, in the small cubicle that passed for an
Officer's Lounge, Steele sipped some coffee while reviewing on a
small portable terminal the statistics of the days's battle.
According to the computer tally, the fighter forces had been able
to take out fifty to seventy percent of the Coalition forces, and
the nuclear explosion had almost certainly demolished the rest.
The average number of kills per fighter was 19.7.  Average per
Cyclone was 8.2.  The REF forces had suffered minimal casualties,
with the loss of one Cyclone and moderate damage taken to one
Alpha.  "Not too bad," Steele thought.  He turned off the
computer and flipped down the screen.
     But his thoughts returned to the dragon, an ice dragon he'd
decided.   He had never seen such a thing before, and was still
having difficulty believing it to be real.  "I wonder if we'll
meet again," he muttered.
     His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of energy blasts.
Grabbing his Gallant pistol, Steele ran toward the sound--then
stopped.  He didn't want to run right into the combat.  He didn't
even have CVR armor on.
     Steele decided to take the back way--through a series of
bulkhead tunnels designed to provide access to the mobile wheel
units and escape hatches.  He opened a bulkhead door that said
"FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY" and made his way into the dimly lit
metal tunnel.  The clanging sound of boots on metal echoed down
the tunnel as Steele dashed down a short stairway.
     The gunfire had settled down, though every once in a while
there was a loud KA-CHOOM sound as some heavy energy weapon
discharged.  In seconds, Steele was at a hatch that he placed
about right behind the gunman with the loud weapon.  He carefully
turned the wheel set into the door, hoping that it wouldn't
squeak and give him away.  By some miracle, it turned silently.
Steele slowly pushed open the door and looked out into the GMU's
small but comprehensive CD/comp library.
     The gunner was Jack.  He was kneeling behind a metal console
bank that offered some protection and firing the heavy energy
pistol that he'd carried in his belt over the heads of some
CVR-clad guards.  "You just stay back there," he was yelling.
Steele observed with some trepidation how much damage the pistol
was causing.  The ceiling bulkheads were made of 6-inch-thick
polymer armor, but there was already a medium-sized hole there.
     Steele went online with his Gallant and put a shot into the
floor to Jack's left.  "You just put the gun down right now."
Jack did as he was instructed.  "Now stand up really slowly."
     Steele picked up the gun and stuck it into his belt, making
sure that the safety was set and the muzzle was not pointing
straight down.  "Now I want to know just what's going on here,"
he demanded of the guards.
     "We found him in here, sir," one of them said, "and told him
to halt.  He ignored us, and I fired a warning shot.  Then he
pulled his gun and started shooting at us."
     Steele looked around.  "I wasn't aware that the library was
a restricted area."
     "But sir, the bulkhead door was locked and sealed, because
the librarian was off duty," the other guard said.  "There's no
way he could have gotten in here without breaking in, and we were
going to question him."
     Steele looked at Jack, who stared back sullenly.  "What were
you doing in here?"
     "I wanted to get some information on the history of the
dimension you come from.  I figured the library was the best
place to start.  Then, next thing I know, these goons are firing
at me."
     "But how did you get in if the door was locked?" Steele
demanded.
     Jack shrugged.  "Wasn't locked for me."
     Steele sighed and looked around at the damage.  There were
burn marks on the walls of the library, one console had been
perforated by gunfire, and there was that hole in the ceiling.
"Way to go, guys," he addressed the guards.  "You handled a
'minor break-in' and only managed to destroy one console, the
ceiling, and the walls.  Maybe you'll get to the floor next time,
eh?"  He noted the names on their armor.  "I'll deal with you
later.  Dismissed!"  The guards stumbled over themselves in their
eagerness to get out of there.
     Steele turned to Jack.  "And as for you, you're on probation
for the next few days, mister.  If I hear about any more
incidents like this, you're in the brig."
     "What about my gun?" Jack asked.
     "I'm keeping it, for now," Steele replied, walking out of
the library.
 
 
 
Chapter 11: Invid
 
 
     Fifty or sixty miles away from the GMU convoy, a small
division of Invid mecha was sweeping the countryside.  This
division consisted of four Invid Armored Scout ships and one
Shock Trooper.
     These Invid were following Bort's directive--to secure for
the Invid one of the mysterious blue walls of energy that
infested this new land.  Though the Invid Regis had not made any
comments regarding these disturbances, Bort thought it worthwhile
to investigate.
     DISTURBANCE SIGHTED, the trooper thought back to the Hive.
AWAITING FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.
     Guidance came in the form of a message from Bort.  "Secure
the area.  Destroy any humans or other threats."  As there were
no humans in the area, the deed was done in a very short time.
     Next, a troop of Enforcers, the Invids' version of power
armor, arrived.  With them came one of the Hive's other
humanoids, a scientist named Zyjinn.  Zyjinn walked into the
glowing area, despite protests from the Enforcer troop.
     Zyjinn suddenly felt raw power flowing through his body.
"This is amazing," he thought.  "It's as though the Regis herself
were here.  I feel as strong as the Regis!"  Then, shocked at
such sacreligious thoughts, he hurriedly ran back out of the
line.
     "These walls of light, these--these LINES, are beyond my
comprehension," Zyjinn reported to Bort.  "They seem to be
composed of latent psychic energy."
     "Of what use could they be?" Bort, at his throne in the
Hive, wondered.  "Why would the humans have put them there?"
     "I am of the opinion that they are a natural phenomenon,"
Zyjinn said.  "I cannot think why this earth would have them and
the one we came from would not, however."
     "Would they interfere with the growth of the Flower of
Life?" Bort queried.
     "I believe that they would," Zyjinn replied.  "I cannot be
positive; however, our experiments with the Flower of Life on
Garuda and Peryton would seem to indicate that psychic energy
present in this magnitude interferes with the Flower's life
cycle."
     "I will defer to your opinion in this matter," Bort decided.
"We will begin setting up test farms in locations distant enough
for you to consider safe immediately.  Please return to the Hive
for consultation."
     Zyjinn did, though he cast a wistful eye on the ley line.
Never before had he felt such raw power.  Then he got his--were
they EMOTIONS?! (Unthinkable!) under control, and marched off
with the Enforcers.  His first duty was, after all, to the Hive.
 
     In the mean time, two days passed for the GMU.  It rolled
further and further north, passing by villages and single
habitations.  In most of these, the people huddled, scared, in
their huts until the GMU had rumbled past.  In one, people fired
energy weapons at the GMU (not doing it any significant damage).
     Thornton Smitty and Jack proved to be an asset to the GMU;
for Smitty knew a great deal about the current state-of-the-art
in robotics (Sgt. Irrout spent a great deal of time with him,
pumping him for information on current designs), and Jack was an
expert mechanic, both robotic and otherwise.  Even Irrout was
astonished.  "That man has a genuine affinity for machines," he
confided to Steele.  "I have seen him repair machines simply by
whacking them once or twice with a wrench, and reprogram balky
computers with little more than a touch.  I tell you, if he isn't
psychic, I don't know what he IS."  Jack worked in the mecha bay
a great deal, "to keep in touch with the machines."  Of course,
Colonel Bowaz initially balked at this, saying, "He could be an
enemy agent, a spy, for all we know!  And you're letting him work
around our Robotech mecha?!"
     Only when Steele promised to keep a close eye on Jack did
Bowaz relent.  "Remember that library incident.  If something
else like that happens, he goes into the brig!"
     Steele hadn't mentioned his doubts that Jack could even be
KEPT in the brig.  He seemed to gain access to computers,
regardless of access codes or other restrictions, merely by
touch.  And with computer-actuated code locks on the brig cells,
there was probably nothing that could be done.
     Sherelynn hadn't returned in those two days.  Steele was
getting worried.  He kept seeing that luscious body dead in a
ravine with a knife sticking out of it, or in the bloody jaws of
some wild animal.  Finally, Steele took his Cyclone and rode out
looking for her.
     However, it was not Sherelynn that he eventually found. He
had pulled into a clearing to rest when three familiar-looking
shadows passed overhead.  Steele looked up--and gasped.  Invid
Shock Troopers.  But what were they doing here?!  It didn't
matter; if Steele could get off a few lucky shots they'd be dead.
He fired his thrusters and leaped up into the air.
     The Invid detected the Protoculture expenditure and turned
as one.  Steele fired a blast from his EP-37 pulse cannon that
took the first Shock Trooper through the middle of its sensor
eye.  It fell, leaking green fluid.
     The other two Troopers, however, both got off shots, which
Steele dodged by the skin of his teeth.  Another blast from the
cannon, and a second Shock Trooper fell.
     But the third one was more savvy than the other two.  It
dodged all of Steele's shots, then returned fire with one of its
own.  BOOM!  Steele's Cyclone tumbled out of the air, and his
left side felt like it was on fire.
     The Saber Cyclone crashed through the trees to land in a
small stream on the ground.  Steele staggered to his feet and
forced himself to look down at where he'd been hit.  Sure enough,
blood was seeping through a hole in his armor.
     Steele staggered.  The pain and blood loss was making him
weak.  Above him he saw the Shock Trooper's shadow through the
trees.  It was searching for him, and almost had a fix.
     "Well, fix this!" Steele gasped weakly, locking onto the
Trooper with his shoulder targeting system.  He triggered all
twelve of the concealed mini-missiles in his chest.  The Invid
was completely destroyed.
     Steele staggered to the edge of the stream, and climbed out.
He tried to engage his boosters, but he was too weak to stabilize
properly and crashed to a landing in the trees.  He got up and
stumbled a few more steps, then collapsed on the ground.  He
passed out, as his blood seeped out to turn the sandy soil red.
 
 
 
Chapter 12: Full-Scale Attack
 
 
     Corporal Felix Weidmann and Glitter Boy Joe Moore had become
good friends.  Joe often accompanied Felix on the perimeter
patrols after dark, and would sometimes let Felix try piloting
the Glitter Boy (in exchange for the same privileges with Felix's
Cyclone).
     Now they were both sitting in the cafeteria, discussing
robotics, alternate dimensions, and life in general over bowls of
the GMU's singularly unappetizing vegetable beef soup.  Moore had
just eaten some of it, then threw down his spoon.  "Eugh!  This
reminds me of what we had at Parkview!" he said in disgust.
     Weidmann was looking down the table at Jack, who had just
gotten something from the cafeteria's autodispenser.  Moore
followed his gaze.  "Yeah, he is a strange one," he said,
divining Weidmann's thinking.
     "What I'd like to know is how he got the vender to give him
pizza when it wasn't even on the menu!" Weidmann muttered.
     "Huh?  Hmmm."  Moore leaned back in his chair, thinking.
"From what I've seen of him, I'd have to say that he's an
Operator."
     Weidmann turned to Moore.  "Huh?  What's that?"
     "A person who knows 'the secrets of the old ones,' at least
where it comes to machinery.  Very secretive, and it's been said
that some of them have psychic powers that enable them to
mentally interact with machines.  'Telemechanics,' they call it,
but as to what it really is, your guess is as good as mine."
     "Well, he must know SOME secrets.  I didn't even know that
thing MADE pizza."  Weidmann picked up his tray and stood up.
"What do you say we go and pay our man Jack a visit?"
     "I have no problem with that," Moore replied, following
suit.  They walked down the table and took the empty seats to
either side of Jack.
     "Hello," Felix said.  "We saw you down here and decided to
pay you a visit.
     "Leave me alone," Jack muttered, concentrating on his food.
     "I understand your name is Jack," Joe said.  "Jack what?"
     "Just Jack," the Operator replied.  "As in 'of all trades.'"
     Felix nodded.  "Is Dr. Smitty a good friend of yours?"
     "We've known each other on and off for several years.  Look,
why this interrogation?  I've already been 'debriefed' by your
brass.  Can't you just leave me alone, let me eat in peace?"
     "Okay, okay."  Joe and Felix moved back up to their original
positions.
     "So what do you think?" Felix Weidmann asked Joe Moore.
     "I think it might be best if we kept an eye on him for the
next few days."  Felix agreed.
 
     The next day, as the GMU rolled on up the state, Lt. Col.
Bowaz called a halt.  There was an obstacle ahead, a gigantic
chasm that had probably been caused by an earth movement in the
wake of the coming of the Rifts.  "Funny, I read in an old
fantasy book somewhere about there being a great chasm across
Florida," Weidmann muttered.  "By Piers Xanthony, or something."
     Bowaz had called the halt because the only way across would
be to activate the GMU's hover thrusters and fly over--but he
didn't know how.  He needed to dig up the manuals that he'd never
bothered to go over before, and try to teach himself how to run
the thing.  "We could be here for DAYS," Field Scientist Martin
Jackson confided to Joe Moore.  "If only Captain Steele was
here--he's the only one who's really expert at thrust maneuvers."
Steele had been missing for several days.  Search parties had
failed to find any traces of him.
     None of the REF troops was aware of it yet, but an Invid
Scout was in the chasm, watching them.  And it was relaying what
it saw back to the Hive.
     The Regis, who had managed to make psychic contact once
more, viewed the transmission of the human mecha with great
interest.  "Eliminate these Robotech Rebels!" her voice
reverberated throughout the Hive.  "Eliminate them!"
 
     A detachment of Invid Royal Command Battloids and Pincer
Command Units was to destroy the REF detachment.  It flew north
until it reached the chasm, then flew along inside it, for cover.
The first sign the REF had of the impending attack was when it
emerged from the great crack, cannons warming up.  Fortunately,
the REF had not been lax about its perimeter patrols.  Enough
Destroids and Veritechs were available to knock back the first
wave and give the rest of the troopers time to get to their
mecha.  Klaxon alarms sounded throughout the ship.
     In the repair bay, mechanics rushed to ready the remaining
mecha for combat duty.  Felix Weidmann was pulling on his armor
as Joe Moore ran up to say, "What is it?!"
     "Invid attack," Weidmann explained.   "I have to go repel
it."
     "I'm coming too."  Moore ran to his Glitter Boy, opened it,
and climbed inside.  After a brief systems check, he closed the
front and slammed it into gear.  "I'm going to show those Invid
what it means to mess with a Glitter Boy!"  He ran down the
steps, bringing his gun up to fire.
     "Not near the GMU!" Weidmann yelled over the tac frequency.
     "Right!" Moore said, dropping his gun back and going hand to
hand instead.  He leaped up and punched through the sensor eye of
an unwary Pincer; it fell, leaking green fluid.  Then he ran
TOWARD the chasm.
     "What are you DOING?!" Weidmann asked, firing his Scorpions
before even converting to power armor.
     "Trust me.  I know what I'm doing."  With a mighty, jet-
assisted leap, Moore hurdled the chasm, touching down on the
other side, well away from the GMU.  He brought up the railgun.
"Now let's ROCK AND ROLL!!!"
     BLAM!  BLAM!  BLAM!  Invid fell left and right.  Colonel
Bowaz recognized the effectiveness of the Glitter Boy's weapon
and the vunerability of Moore to close in attacks while firing it
and said, "I want Cyclone Squad C over there with Moore right
now to provide cover for him.  We can't afford to let the enemy
take that gun out!"
 
     In all the fracas, Dr. Smitty's assistant, Jack, had been
all but forgotten about.  As everybody was running about to get
to their battle stations, Jack stood in the middle of a corridor,
confused.  "What's going on here?!"  But no one had time to
answer him.  They were all running this way and that, pulling on
battle armor, and checking weapons.  Jack was painfully aware of
his own empty holster.
     "Well, if no one will TELL me what's happening, I'll just
have to find out for myself."  He found a door access panel
through which he could link to the main computer, then put his
hand on the keypad and concentrated.  Jack didn't know exactly
HOW he did it; he just knew that he could.  Within seconds, he
was receiving the images in his mind's eye: insect-like fighting
machines that could only be Invid!
     Jack ran to the mecha bay, trying to find a way in which he
could help or otherwise participate.  When he got there, his eyes
lit upon a Battler Cyclone someone had left unattended, and the
weapons and Protoculture rack standing nearby.  "Jack, my
friend," he thought to himself, "this could be your lucky day!"
 
     "Beta 4, you have an Invid on your tail!"
     "I know, but I can't shake him!"
     "Don't worry, I'm on my way.  Targeting...locked.  Missiles
running...he's history."
     Conversations like this were heard all over the tac net as
the battle progressed.  "Lead them to me," Joe Moore yelled.
"They're no match for my glitter gun."  The Cyclones around him
weren't all that puny either.
     When the battle was over, the only casualties were three
Cyclones; two had been destroyed by enemy fire and one had
disappeared from the mecha bay.  Jack was gone, too.  It wasn't
hard to find a connection.
     "I should have guessed that he would be tempted by this new
technology," Thornton Smitty sighed.  "As a robotics scientist, I
confess I'm rather tempted myself.  He's always been a bit
impulsive."
     "We can't afford to weaken ourselves by sending men after
him," Bowaz declared.  "We'll just have to continue without him.
IF I can figure out how to get us across that blasted chasm."
     It was Lt. Martin Jackson who finally figured out how to
activate the thrusters.  Under his inexpert guidance, the giant
battle wagon took to the air and made its way (barely) across the
chasm.  Then it had to go back again, to ferry across more of the
Destroids, who couldn't jump or fly across by themselves.  And
again.  By the end of the day, Lt. Jackson was a nervous wreck,
and Lt. Col. Bowaz assured him that he would be promoted very
soon.
     And the GMU rolled on.
 
 
 
Chapter 13: They Try Again
 
 
     Bort sat on his throne in the Brain Chamber of the Invid
Hive, reviewing the battle as seen through the eyes of the Pincer
Command Units.  As he watched the images that the brain projected
on the wall, he grew more and more angry.  "They defeated us
easily!" he raged.  Then, to the brain: "Dispatch an attack force
three times the size.  We must destroy them, lest they stand in
the way of our seeding efforts."
     "Further en masse attacks are not advised," the brain
responded.
     "What?!" Bort all but screamed.  "How DARE you countermand
my orders?!?"
     "Strategic analysis of human resources indicates that attack
forces of up to ten times the size would, in all probability,
easily be defeated.  Further, we cannot afford to lose more mecha
in fruitless efforts; all Invid mecha are needed for the
Seeding."
     Bort was enraged, but not so enraged that he could not see
the merit of the brain's words.  He could also sense that the
Brain had a better attack plan.  "What is your idea, Hive brain?"
Bort asked.
     "The strategy is this:  During covert observation by Enforcer
units, it has been observed that the humans have grown lax in
their defense of entry ports to their vehicle.  If it were
possible to get a squadron of Enforcer armor units inside it--"
     "I see!" Bort interrupted, eyes gleaming.  "They may be
eliminated in the end, but they will surely do enough damage in
the meantime that our next attack will be victorious!"  Bort was
unaware that the Regis had had similar thoughts about the
transplanted Hive.  "Make it so, Hive mind, make it so."
 
     In the night, sixty or more miles away from the Hive,
metallic legs moved into position.  A troop of twenty Enforcers,
the Invids' answer to motorized power armor, waited in the
forest, a hundred yards away from the GMU's night campsite.  They
watched and waited, as they had been doing for several days since
the first report of active Protoculture mecha.  But now the order
came down: invade the Ground Mobile Unit, kill the humans, and
blast everything in sight.  The leader Enforcer took these orders
with something akin to human glee.
     The plan was simple: go in through the open mecha bay,
spread out through the corridors, and gun down any humans and
electronic equipment in sight.  A last check on the laser rifles,
and then they were running across the open field.  The Cyclone
guard on duty saw them, and started to raise his gun, but three
of the Enforcers fired in unison to take him out.  That was when
the battle really began.
     The Enforcers moved up the ramp, cannons blazing.  The
repair bay was almost deserted at this time of night, and the
Invid met only light resistance here.  The three Gallant-firing
mechanics held out for as long as they could, then escaped
through one of the emergency bulkhead hatches.
     The Invid moved through the corridors of the GMU, arm plasma
cannons and concealed laser blasters firing at anything that
moved.
 
     On the bridge, Lt. Col. Bowaz was startled out of his sleep
and out of his seat again by the klaxon alarms.  "Turn those damn
things off!" he yelled.  "What's going on here!"  Then he heard
the blaster fire in the corridors and knew that it was serious,
whatever it was.
     Just then, the three mechanics burst onto the bridge,
smoking Gallants still in hand.  "Sir, we've been invaded by
Invid!" one of them blurted out.  "About twenty of them!
Enforcer units!  They're moving through the GMU shooting at
everything!"
     Bowaz wasted not a moment.  "Get all our Cyclones on it,
immediately!"
     "Sir, many of them are cut off!" one of the control techs
yelled.  "According to sensors, the Invid have managed to
collapse central corridors 1, 4, and 7 at several main junctions.
It'll take at least twenty minutes to clear all of the debris
away."
     "Then get moving on it, this instant!" Bowaz yelled.
"Meanwhile, have our CVR-armored troopers move through the
emergency tunnels to try to surround the Invid.  We have to do
everything we can to stop them before they reach the control room
and engine room!"
 
     It just happened that Corporal Felix Weidmann and Glitter
Boy Joe Moore were in the same area of the GMU as the Invid.
They were in Felix's quarters at the time, playing each other a
quick game of Veritech Simulator.  Felix was winning, because
he'd had more experience at the game.
     Then the explosions were heard.  Felix and Joe jumped up
immediately, the game forgotten.  "What is it?!" Joe asked.
     "I don't know," Felix said, grabbing a Badger submachinegun
from the wall above his bed and slapping in the clip of
high-explosive armor-piercers.  "But I intend to find out.  Come
on!"
     Joe picked up the rifle that he'd brought with him from his
Glitter Boy armor, which he'd told Felix was a Juicer JA-11
three-in-one rifle, and followed.  "Hey, wait for me!"
     When Joe caught up to Felix Weidmann, he said, "What is it?!
What's going on?"
     "The Invid have gotten into the GMU," Weidmann replied.
"Looks like it's up to us to take them out."
 
 
 
Chapter 14: Different People, Different Battles
 
 
     Corporal Felix Weidmann moved stealthily up the corridor,
Badger submachine gun in hand.  He was following the twenty Invid
Enforcers who had somehow made their way into the ship, watching
for an opportunity to eliminate some of them through skillful
manipulation of his weapon.
     Behind him came Joe Moore, whose Glitter Boy power armor
packed the most powerful robot-mounted weapon any of the REF
troops had ever seen.  He wasn't in it now, though he wished he
was.  He carried the special JA-11 German rifle commonly used by
Juicers.
     As they rounded a bend in the corridor, Moore took up a
firing stance and drew a bead on the rear-most Enforcer's head.
He flicked the fire selector over to the ion blaster and pulled
the trigger.  The Enforcer's head exploded.
     Weidmann swore--he had planned to find a better vantage
point before blasting.  In the middle of the corridor, he was
woefully open to return Invid fire.  But all this took only half
a second.  In the time after that half second, Weidmann had taken
out the head of another of the Enforcers with the explosive
Badger bullets, then dropped to the floor as several laser
volleys whistled over his head.
     Moore was firing bursts from the ion pulse rifle part of the
JA-11 to cover his friend.  Felix managed to crawl into a
corridor branching off from the main one, there to stand up and
fire around the corner.  They had eliminated one more Enforcer
between them before the Invid apparently recognized the futility
of this battle and retreated up the corridor in the direction
they'd been heading.
     "What now?" Moore asked.
     "We'll try to get ahead of them," Weidmann decided.  "We'll
take the emergency bulkhead tunnels and hatches.  Come on."
     "Shouldn't we try to get to the Cyclones?" Moore asked.  "I
mean, we don't stand a chance against them in a direct firefight
without armor."
     "Hmmm."  Weidmann thought for a few seconds.  "That is a
good idea.  All right; the mecha bay is back that way.  Hurry."
 
     It took about five minutes to reach the bay.  Weidmann
wasted no time in getting on the CVR armor; Moore did the same.
Fortunately, the Invid hadn't bothered to shoot at the Cyclone
mecha--apparently they hadn't recognized them.  They'd been more
concerned with shooting up the electronic consoles, most of which
could easily be replaced from spare stock.
     Joe Moore pressed the concealed switch to open the front
panels of the Glitter Boy armor.  With a pneumatic hiss, the GB
unsealed.  "What are you doing?" Felix asked.
     "Suiting up, of course," Joe replied, climbing in and
sticking his head up into the Glitter Boy helmet to check the
instruments.
     "Are you kidding?!  You can't use that gun in here, and that
Glitter Boy armor wouldn't fit through the corridors."
     "Oh, you're right."  Joe stopped, crestfallen.  "But what
WILL I use?"
     Felix gestured to a nearby Cyclone.  "That, of course."
     "Ah!" Joe rubbed his hands together.  "Cool!"
     "This is the first time you'll actually be taking it into
combat, so be careful," Felix said through his CVR helmet which
was now secured in place.  "You're armed with a full load of
missiles and the EP-40 30mm pulse beam gun.  Just point and
shoot; that's all there is to it.  I've checked you out on
everything else."
     Joe nodded, latching the armor into place on his arms and
legs.  He straddled the Cyclone.  "Let's go slam those Invid," he
muttered.
     Felix Weidmann raced the motor, popped a wheelie, and raced
off down the corridor.  Joe Moore followed.  As they raced
through the passageway, Felix yelled back to Joe, "I never
thought I would get the chance to do this!"
 
     Lt. Martin Jackson was not a happy camper.  In fact, he
wasn't any kind of a camper at all, and he definitely wasn't
happy.
     Jackson had been in one of the GMU's small science
laboratories, about eight by ten feet in length and width, when
several Enforcers had stomped by.  Now, about a minute later, he
stuck his head out the door and followed the progress of the
aliens up the corridor.  They seemed to be splitting up, with
about three going down each offward-branching corridor.  Lt.
Jackson pulled his Gallant H-90.  "Let's go hunting," he said to
it, mainly because it sounded like something Clint Eastwood would
say in this situation (though he would never admit it, Jackson
was a fan of the old shoot-'em-up movies and wished he could be
more like their heroes--a desire accentuated by his exclusion, as
a scientist, from combat missions) and partly because that was
what he was about to do.
     But first he pulled out a small electronic device, a kind of
compu-clipboard in miniature, and turned it on.  He pressed some
buttons, and a corridor map of that particular level of the GMU
appeared on the clear glass.  "Let me see...the weapon storage
room is here, and I'm here, and the Invid went, uh, up these
corridors.  That means...I'm cut off from all weapons except
this Gallant."  He tapped the sidearm slung at his waist.  "Hmmm.
Enforcers can be cracked with Gallant fire, but it's tricky."
Lt. Jackson reached over to a computer terminal and entered a
few commands.  "Yep, definitely cut off.  But..."  He looked
around at the well-stocked chemical lab.  "Yes, that would
definitely do the trick..."
     Jackson crossed to the storage shelves.  His finger went
down the line of sealed bottles and flasks, searching out the
lables which told what chemical or gas was in each specimen jar.
He selected several decanters, made sure they were sealed
tightly, and dropped them into his pockets and belt pouches.  A
minute later, he started up the corridor, on the Invids' trail.
     It wasn't long before Lt. Jackson caught up to them.  He
first saw them as he rounded a corner in the corridor.  Quickly
he dropped back behind the corner and flattened himself against
the wall.  "Okay, Jackson," he muttered to himself.  "Don't lose
it now..."  Deactivated Gallant pistol in his right hand, with
his left he reached down to his belt and carefully retrieved a
small chemical container.  This was the easy part.
     "Now let's see if I've still got it..." Jackson muttered.
He had been the battallion bowling champ for three years running,
back in a different division of the REF.  He now used that skill,
stepping out from behind the corner and rolling the small jar
along the floor.  He jumped back and held his breath as the small
bottle rolled smoothly along the floor, ending up with a clink
against the foot of one of the Enforcers.  The Invid in question
was facing the opposite way and did not appear to notice.
     "Now comes the difficult part."  Jackson psyched himself up
for the most risky stage of this operation.  "Heck," he muttered,
"it's now or never."  He switched on the Gallant and jumped out,
firing as he went.  His first two shots went wild, but the third
hit the bottle.  The Enforcer next to it never knew what
happened--the exploding bottle took him out.  The Field Scientist
ducked back around the corner and turned off the Gallant, lest
the Invid spot him by its radiation.
     "One down, and two to go," he muttered.  "Now let's just see
what else I picked up..."
 
 
 
Chapter 15: Different Battles, Part II
 
 
     Glitter Boy Joe Moore and Cyclone Rider Corporal Felix
Weidmann roared down the corridor on their Cyclones, regardless
of the danger of collision in such a confined area.  All
personnel had already received news of the Invid attack and were
arming themselves to take out the enemy--but by the time they got
to their weapons it could be too late.
     Felix skidded his Cyclone to a halt, forcing Joe to do the
same.  "According to radio reports I've been getting, there's a
bunch of 'em around the next corner.  Let's switch to Cyclone
Armor and go in blasting."
     "Right."  Joe concentrated and found the mental pattern
necessary to activate the Cyclone's telepathic control system
while simultaneously pressing the reconfiguration switch on the
right handgrip.  The motorcycle changed, coupling to places on
the CVR armor to reinforce it and provide to its wearer the
benefit of servo-powered strength and maneuverability.  As the
booster rockets built into the back locked into place, Joe raised
the EP-40 and said, "Okay, I'm ready."
     Felix, who had changed simultaneously, checked the sights on
his rifle and said, "Engage your targeting sensor and let's go.
There are five of them, by my estimation.  Easy pickings."
     "I understand.  Targeting array up, sensors locked."  Joe
ran around the corner and brought up the gun.  As it came up, its
own laser targeting system fed data into the targeting device in
front of Joe Moore's right eye.  The crosshairs slid into place
and Joe let loose a blast that took the Invid's head off.
     "Wow!  This is just like my helmet scope in the Glitter
Boy!" Joe said, firing on and destroying another.  The remaining
Invid were now alert to the threat, and took refuge behind some
pieces of heavy machinery.
     "Time for a bit of precision," Corporal Weidmann decided,
raising his left arm and firing a Scorpion plasma mini-missile
from the launch tube.  Though it tried to dodge, the third Invid
bit the dust in a ball of flame.
     Joe had his gun up and was lining up on the next Invid, when
he was knocked off his feet by Felix Weidmann.  "Hey, was that
really nec--" Joe began angrily, turning his head.  At that
instant, a laser blast separated Felix's right arm from his body.
The blast would have hit Joe, if Felix hadn't knocked him out of
the way.
     As Felix collapsed, Joe caught him and gently lowered him to
the ground.  Then he turned to the Enforcer that had sneaked
around behind them to deliver the laser blast and said, "You're
dead.  You're very dead."  All twelve of the mini-missiles in his
Cyclone's chest compartments flew out and destroyed the offending
Invid.
     "Now it's your turn."  Joe turned to the last remaining
Enforcer, and fired his EP-40.  It deflected the blast with its
circular buckler-type shield and returned fire with the
bazooka-like cannon mounted on its right arm.  Joe rolled out of
the way and blasted again.  It dodged again, and laid down a
barrage of fire that very nearly finished him.
     Joe fired again, not taking time to aim, to distract the
Invid as he moved in closer.  He threw himself against the wall
to avoid more cannon fire, then was too close for the Invid to
use its cannon on him.  Now they were within the realm of
hand-to-hand combat, a field that Joe was, to say the least, not
inexpert in.
     The Invid didn't seem to know what to do.  Joe took
advantage of its momentary hesitation to throw a left to the
chest area, followed by a right uppercut to the front of the
elongated head.  The Enforcer reeled back, then recovered itself.
It ejected the cannon, which fell to the floor, but retained the
shield.  As Joe threw another punch, it parried with it.
     Even as he struggled with the Enforcer, Joe Moore was amazed
by the power of the compact power armor he was in.  "This thing's
easily as powerful as my Glitter Boy," he thought.  "Much more
maneuverable, too," he mentally added as he ducked out of the way
of the Invid's first clumsy attempt to punch him.  "Hmm,
evidently this one's not too well trained in hand-to-hand
combat."
     But it was learning fact.  The Enforcer got several good
jabs in that staggered Joe and fetched him back against the
opposite wall.  As the Invid reached for its cannon to finish him
off, Joe got to his feet and ran at full speed toward the Invid.
Too late, the alien looked up as Joe's shoulder hit its chest,
sending it flying back against the wall.  Joe kicked its gun
away.  "You won't be needing this," he decided.
     The Invid got back up, and charged him.  Was he starting to
get it angry now?  Joe moved to the side, and delivered a
side-kick to its back as it passed him.  The Enforcer fell to the
ground.  Joe waited for it to get up, then spun and brought his
foot up in a spin-kick reminiscent of Bruce Lee (though a bit
clumsier) that knocked the Enforcer on its back again.
     "Time to end it," Joe decided, looking nervously at the
ceiling.  He hoped it was high enough.  Well, it had better be.
     As the Enforcer got sluggishly to its feet, Joe jumped, his
right foot coming up as he did, hitting the Invid just under its
chin and going up, up, up, and through.  The Invid Enforcer's
head left its body, and went flying through the air like a
football, tumbling end over end, until it hit the wall.  Green
liquid spouted both from the severed head and from the neck of
the Enforcer body.
     Joe landed on his feet, shook his head as if to clear it,
and looked at the body of the Invid for a few seconds.  Then he
remembered his friend, Felix Weidmann.  What was he going to do?
 
     Lt. Martin Jackson peered cautiously around the corner.
The armory was just about ten yards up the corridor, but between
him and the armory entrance were two Invid Enforcers.  The wise
thing to do would have been to call it off, and Lt. Jackson was
tempted, but he refused to give in.  "Would Chuck Norris, or
Clint Eastwood give in?!  Never!  And neither will I," he told
himself.  "I just have to think of the right way to do it."
     And then Jackson had it.  He pulled two containers from
opposite sides of his belt and set them on the floor.  Next, he
removed an empty bottle from his belt, and opened it.  He poured
the contents of the two jars into the bottle and hurriedly sealed
the lid.
     "Now..." he muttered.  "It's party time."  Chuckling under
his breath at the corny line he'd just used, Lt. Jackson stepped
out into the main corridor and threw the container at the Invid.
As hoped, it shattered on the floor, and within seconds, a thick,
black cloud of smoke billowed out.  Jackson slipped on the
infra-red goggles he often carried with him and ran for it.  The
Invid could hear his footsteps, but couldn't see him.  But he
could see THEM as plain as day.  He passed within four feet of
one, and splashed it with the contents of one of his bottles as
he went by.  The Enforcer emitted a wierd, uncanny, inhuman
scream as the molecular acid ate through its armor and into the
creature inside.
     Laser blasts echoed through the hallway, and one or two hit
close to Jackson, but he wasn't worried; the remaining alien was
firing blindly through the smoke--the chances of it hitting
anything were very slim.
     Just twenty feet more; ten feet...Martin was sweating and
breathing hard.  If he could just make it to the door...Then he
was in!  Praying that the Enforcer hadn't pinpointed just WHICH
door he'd gone into, Jackson looked around to see just what he
had available to him.
     This weapons storage facility was actually an MP
mini-stockade.  There were a couple of small cells for detaining
prisoners, a desk for the security officer-of-the-watch (which
had been unoccupied for a long time because of the understaffing
of the GMU), and a few weapons lockers.  It was to these lockers
that Jackson turned now.
     "Initiate emergency command protocol omega," he instructed
the computer.  "Access code is 'Hunter 1'; request voice
recognition as Lt. Martin Jackson, Science Division."
     The computer beeped and cheeped incoherently, then replied,
"Cannot comply with your request.  Linkages to main computer are
non-functional."
     Jackson made an incoherent noise, then pulled his Gallant
and blasted the main locking mechanism.  As all the locker doors
flew open, Jackson looked inside.  "Hmmmmm.  Promising.  Very
promising."
 
     Outside, the smoke had finally cleared.  The solitary Invid
Enforcer was contacting the Hive for further instructions.  They
came.
     "Find and eliminate the commanding officers!" the Regis'
voice came through weakly.  "They will be in the control bridge,
at the front of this vehicle.  Eliminate them!  Eliminate them!"
     Then a VR-038-LT Cyclone stepped out of the armory door.
"The only thing that's gonna be eliminated around here is YOU,"
Lt. Jackon Jackson said, firing the Cyc's RL-6 Heavy Rocket
Cannon.  The Enforcer dodged and returned fire, but was destroyed
by Jackson's second mini-missile.
     "Now to head to the bridge," Jackson decided.  "If any
Invid made it there, we'll be in big trouble."
 
 
 
Chapter 16: Counting the Costs/Finding the Doc
 
 
     Through the diligent efforts of the REF troopers Bowaz had
sent through the emergency bulkheads, the rest of the Invid
Enforcers had been totally destroyed.  However, they had
inflicted major damage to the GMU's interior.  The biomaintenance
engineers shook their heads at some of the damage, which would at
best take months to repair completely.
     Meanwhile, in the medical bay, Joe Moore stood nervously by
the side of the bed in which Corporal Weidmann was lying.  The
doctors standing by the bed shook their heads at the readings
coming from their EKGs and other monitoring equipment.  "I don't
think he'll live more than a few hours, at best," one said.  "The
system shock is too pervasive."
     Lt. Col. Bowaz stood by Moore's side, arm consolingly on his
shoulder.  "He was a good man."
     "More than that," Joe said.  "He's a hero.  If only there
were some way..."  He was silent for a moment, then his face lit
up.  "Hey, wait a minute.  Maybe there IS!  Colonel Bowaz, I know
someone who can save this man's life.  All I need are two things:
rapid transport to pick the guy and his equipment up, and
payment.  His services don't come without a fee, y'know."
     "What kind of payment?" Bowaz asked.  "I'm not sure we
have--"
     "You have more than you think.  Look, a lot of what you have
here could be sold as 'pre-rifts artifacts' on the black market.
That makes it worth a lot.  CDs, videotapes, all sorts of things
like that.  But we have to hurry.  By my estimation, the guy's
about a thousand miles or so away from here, in a minor Coalition
city in the state of Chi-Town.  If I could have the services of
one of your Beta fighters...?"
     Bowaz nodded.  "Of course.  I'll put two of my best men on
it right away.  I'll just tell Captain Steele--"  Then he stopped, as
he remembered that Steele wasn't there anymore.  "Blast it, I
wish I knew where Steele was."
     Joe Moore nodded.  Captain Steele had vanished a week or so
previously, without a trace.  Some had suggested that he'd gone
AWOL, but Joe didn't believe it.  "I wonder where he is right
now, myself."
 
     Fifteen minutes later, a Legios unit (linked Alpha and Beta
fighters) was streaking through the skies at Mach 8.  The pilots
had grumbled about how foolish it was.  "Radar is sure to pick us
up," the Alpha pilot had said as they were strapping in.
     "It doesn't matter," Moore had replied, pulling on his CVR-3
helmet.  "We're faster than anything they've got.  Trust me on
this one."
     "Target area coming up," the Beta pilot said.  "Prepare for
drop, mister.  We'll be back by in two hours."
     "Right," Moore replied, stepping onto the release hatch in
the Beta's bomb bay.  He had a Battler Cyclone on, armed with the
four Scorp missile tubes and nothing else.  He wanted it to be as
inobtrusive as possible when in motorcycle mode.  He was carrying
other equipment, however.  This included a Gallant pistol and
grenades of various types.
     "Three...two...one..." the voice came over the radio.
"...DROP!"  The floor went away from under Joe, and he tumbled
toward the ground.  He barely managed to engage the thrusters in
time to slow his fall.  He didn't manage to stop it completely,
however, and the falling power armor cut a wide swath through the
conifer trees on the hillside on which he landed.
     A minute or so later, Joe Moore picked himself up off the
ground and checked for broken bones.  "Nope; just a few bruises,"
he decided.  "Now to find out where I am."  He jumped and ignited
the Cyclone's thrusters to fly up above the tallest tree.  "Ah, I
see.  There's the road, down in that valley.  Oh, and there's
Kirksville."
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