Cutlass Sharpened (68 page)

The group traveled along the mountain,
heading for another ideal point to search as Steven’s voice carried
despite the deluge. “I can’t believe it. Can any of you?”

“
It’s too outlandish
not
to be real.” Commented
Jacob right next to him and about half his size. “Too many thing
are finally adding up. Sure there are massive freaking holes, but
these are two separately connected sources of info. The Geo Record
spoke of the greatest warrior and that sexy bombshell back there
just said Oliver, or whoever the hell he was, was the strongest
Solarian and Renee, damned if we all didn’t know she’s the
deadliest woman power-wise. I watched her grow up as a babe and she
even use to help me in the engine room from time to time as the
ankle biter she used to be… so she isn’t this Reten, but we got
lucky she could trick the systems and help us access that
place.”

“
Do all of you also get the
feeling this isn’t all a coincidence?”
Thought Sparky to them all.
“It is as
if something behind the scenes is manipulating events.”

Deegen couldn’t help shifting uncomfortably
though no one noticed.

“
Whoever they may
be.”

“
Nevertheless, we have just
eighty hours or so before we are left behind. With more Keptl a day
from us, who knows how long we can spare. The captain is keeping a
close eye, but swiftness is in our best interest.” Satellite
chirped as he stayed perched on a shoulder and suffered through the
too hot rain. Cooling rain wasn’t bad. Hot rain wasn’t like a bath.
Not even close.

“
Rere!” Bell howled as she
found the entrance that was mostly blocked.

Stephanie, Sparky and Jacob stayed back as
the thee Hunters stood shoulder to shoulder holding their arms out
to act as guides as they began levitating rocks too large to be
moved by hand. Between the three they spent over an hour clearing a
path. Jacob was a useless level One and Stephanie was a Four in
psionic strength. Yet three class one Hunters, which had to be
Class Seven and above to be one, could do impressive feats. Working
together sped up the process and took up the slack.

Rubble tumbled downhill and at last a deep,
dark tunnel was revealed. But before going in Deegen said “I’m
going back to my fighter. Someone needs to keep air support since
our flyers are out of commission in this storm.”

“
Agreed.” Stone did and both
Deegen and Bell loped back to the ships.

Together the rest slid into the cave that was
actually a steep hallway heading down, but not so steep as to slip
and fall uncontrollably. Hunter shoulder lights beamed deep along
with Jacob’s handheld orbs. He tapped the inside of his inner
forearm display and one light lifted off and flew deeper down,
making sure it was safe and structurally sound.

The plan was to check out the largest open
space found and they took the safest, least damaged route.

Collapsed hallways were common, but between
Stone and Steven they cleared debris that had plugged some areas,
but left the unsound area be.

Eventually they got so deep that only fine
dust and water reached the large space. First words out of Jacob’s
mouth was “Jackpot!”

It was basically a cavern filled with water
below, but on the other side was a rack behind a locked cage
showing several Star-sabers of different shape, but not all were
swords. There were axes, lances, maces, flails, bows and they
weren’t ominous black. Some were pretty. They were dusted over
well, but vibrant of ancient metal from a long ago era and peoples.
Next to it in another closed rack was little black cubes of some
unknown purpose and off to the side of that was another door.

“
This must have been one of
the flight decks we saw earlier before the inevitable crash.” Stone
said, taking everything in. “It would make sense weapons were kept
near their fighters… hey, look beneath the surface of the water,
that is one of the fighters we saw in the demo.”

“
Damn, I doubt if anyone can
fix that level of damage let alone me.” Jacob knelt and looked
below the drop off. “It’s barely considered a waterlogged lounge
chair than a fighter. It’s forward wings are useless. And far too
large to take back with us.”

Steven came forward and aimed his spear at
the water to shoot a quick bolt of lightning and through his helmet
said “The water is eighteen and a half meters deep. I’ll go first.”
He stepped back and shrank the spear to holster on his hip before
leaping over the edge to dive feet first with arms out. He loudly
splashed to make the cave echo and ripple the reflected light all
over the walls from the hovering orb in the middle.

Visor and Satellite shook the water from
their armored feathers as the others followed Steven’s example
before flying over the swimmers going to the weapons locker.

Steven helped Jacob and Stephanie up onto a
slimy, angled walkway made of dark blue metal. Stone didn’t require
an extra hand.

Jacob went right to work examining how the
lockers were fastened. The goods were all piled in the bottom left
corner from the crash, flying off the shelves and stands they once
were placed upon. He pulled a specialized mechanic’s toolkit from
the pack slung over his shoulders, then a laser pen, the laser
being able to slice through steel like soft butter. His clear-faced
helmet darkened around the eyes before a sharp red stream of light
sent white hot sparks flying. He slowly cut the rusted over lock
clean off before putting the pen away and extracting a lubricator,
a special spray that eats away oxidized iron and is no larger than
a tube of lipstick. He shot four puffs on each hinge and waited a
few minutes before using his thumb to wipe the softened rust
away.

Then he pulled out a metallic bag and said
“Spread it out wide, boys, we don’t want to lose these cubes before
we know what they are.” The aluminum looking bag opened wide and as
soon as feet held the bottom on the inclined walkway and hands held
the rest up did Jacob pull the flap. The locker opened and hundreds
of black cubes tumbled out to all be caught between the Hunters and
the durable bag they carefully closed.

Jacob took another bag out to repeat the
process where dozens of weapons were held. It was Stephanie though
who made him stop as she found the weapons weren’t like Oliver’s.
She explained “His cutlass generated a slight gravity field as well
as a barrier that wouldn’t let it cut when not in his hand. These
weapons though do have the hardness of his blade, but none have any
power to protect up if you decide to drop it all like foolish grave
robbers. They’ll cut right through us. Without power they’ll cut
through anything. To be safe we need to take them one at a time and
make sure they don’t touch anything. The door holding them would be
better to use as transport as it’s made of the same stuff.”

“
Then we take the whole door
with us.”
Sparky made the
decision.

Jacob cut the lock off and it took twice as
long for each and every of the four hinges.

Stone said “Everyone get back. I’ll levitate
it.”

He brought the top down gradually and once it
was level he mentally encircled his senses around the arsenal and
drew them along to the center of it and spread them out so the
mound would not shift. Then he gradually set it down and laid the
other end in his hand to keep it all level.

“
Now what is behind door
number two?” Steven asked as it was beside the spoils.

Jake looked at his forearm to say “Better not
open it where you are standing. I can’t identify what is pushed
against it, but they are small, like coins… more than a ton’s
worth.”

“
Okay.” He backed aside and
mentally tried separating the door. “Not happening. Maybe Renee
could do it, but I sure as hell can’t pry it. Jacob, toss me that
cutter. I’ll give it a boost and maybe sneak a peek at least
inside.” The laser was tossed over and Steven funneled extra energy
inside and the extra efforts made cutting power twice as effective.
He began and it took a good three steady hours to make a circle the
size of one’s head. Between himself and Stone, they steadily
worked.

At the end, before Steven could move, the
metal core being cut out smacked heavily into his helmeted face as
a deluge of small things flooded out. He was knocked off balance
and tumbled back into the underground lake once a place where
fighters parked and were lunched. Everyone screamed his name, but
he surfaced waving a hand. “I’m alright. It just rang my bell a
little.”

More poured onto the slippery walkway and
into the lake. Stephanie’s gloved hand scooped some and said “It
looks like the condensed version of Beasts… but covered in mildew.”
Her nose wrinkled.

“
I think you’re right.”
Stone said, picking up a few pieces. “It would make sense to store
these since one could feed Oliver for weeks depending on what it
came from.”

“
Check inside.” Visor said
as Steven shook his helmeted head and swam back.

Sparky managed to angle his
head and get one eye. His glow warmed the dark space.
“The room is very large, but overturned crates are
where the food pills were stored and has made it a mess, but it
certainly would be a way to feed many people like Oliver for many
centuries given the size of the crew we witnessed battle the
Goliaths. And I see many more crates still whole.”
He turned back to the others.
“Continue cutting so we may take as many unbroken crates as
possible.”

“
Wouldn’t it be faster to go
get Renee to melt the doors like she did at Galicom’s
factory?”

“
She is where she needs to
be now, Visor. It may be a Solarian granary, but we need to make
sure there are no valuables in other containers. Keep cutting with
Stephanie while Stone, Satellite, Jacob and I visit the third
target area the captain gave us.”

“
Cover more ground, got it.”
Steven looked down. “Shit, I dropped the cutter when I fell.” He
dove underwater and Stephanie joined him.

Stone floated the bag of cubes as well as the
weapons on the former door and sent them across the expanse,
struggling harder as distance required more effort, but he set it
all down on the upper ledge they originally jumped from and helped
with the search for the cutting laser.

Eventually Stephanie found it and the group
split up.

“
And that is the full amount
I can disclose considering your access level and how much of my
memory remains intact.” Allai said in a much more understandable
speed.

Renee sat between Oliver’s legs in a chair to
cock her head. She had listened to the continuous stream for over
eight hours. His thighs tantalizing, breaking the irritation that
kept her from blowing her lid. Now that she could speak, Renee
wanted answers. “Tell me what the Flame of… whatever you called me
means.”

“
Flame of Adunm. As I said
before in heightened speed earlier, for the recording device she
uses…” The gesture was to Jessica typing away next to them. “refers
to the fable to entertain children from a time before my creators
ventured into space ten billion years ago roughly. It was told that
a female of red hair and the temperament of a volcano waiting to
erupt was the mother of all. She was violent, unstoppable and stood
above others. That is until she found the force which could tame
her need to show her might. Adunm was the tallest volcano of the
world in which evolved who you call Solarians.

“
But the fiery female one
day met the unstoppable sea of Cereo, the male. His power of storm
and sheer vastness was her match. Her equal and source of
stability. From her boundless heat and his endless patience cooled
what would become the land. From them they made their first child.
On this land began the pools for life. Adunm would often get angry
and wipe out children who displeased her, but it was always Cereo
who always pulled her back. She began to see he let her get mad and
cooled her so that his plan to let the strongest of their children
become more.

“
General, you went by Adunm
not by your own, but given by the elders as only the strongest
female was given it. Your temper as well as strength held no equal,
but you also had love. To my records, you made sure each time you
got pregnant that you and General Mantiv left everyone after you
killed sixty seven other women who looked at your match. Your
hormone levels during pregnancy made you lose control. To avoid
more murder you and he stayed away for each time you wished for a
child. After the births you were less hostile and could be around
other females and not fear your instincts.”

“
Good to know.” She looked
at Oliver and would take the advice one day. “Can you tell me why
my sense of smell isn’t as acute as his?”

“
Female evolution didn’t
require heightened smell because of your offspring’s potent odors
that harm the nasal passages in males. If the child moves their
bowels it makes the father move away. Also pregnancy as well as the
scent of your young brings Beasts from near and far. The male
places himself away till the child is cleaned and in the path of
any creatures intent to do harm.”

“
Basically like every man
who can’t change a diaper. It seems human men and Solarian aren’t
different.” Renee snickered and Jessica joined in.

“
Convergent evolution is
practical. The one you call Sparky is not normal in regards of
convergent sentience. Solarians too evolved from an apelike
creature like humans. Walking upright is a great advantage, but the
Drakes evolved long necks to compensate for that aspect. Merely
look to the Creelin and see they too are bipedal and roughly…
humanoid, as you say.”