Free Scrapyard Ship 4 Realms of Time by Mark Wayne McGinnis Page B

much for comms protocol, he thought with a smile. “Can you bring your medical bag? Seems Bristol took a mean fall.”
     
    * * *
     
    On the move again they approached the ridgeline. The hairy figures were gone and the South African plains were relatively quiet. Bristol, checking his instruments, was clearly on edge. Several times Jason saw Bristol out of his peripheral vision, watching him, assessing him. As long as Bristol kept his mouth shut, he’d live through the day, Jason thought. They moved up into the rocks, slowing their pace. Halfway up the ridge, a hidden valley dipped down into an area the size of three adjacent football fields. Jason’s eyes were drawn to several caves.
    ping, ping, ping.
    “ Yeah, it’s definitely here. Like close,” Bristol said.
    “ Can you tell which one?” Jason asked, now seeing four caves of different sizes—two against the hillside and two cavernous openings on the ground before them.
    “ Um, let me see …” Bristol moved forward, stopping every so often to check his readings. “If this fucking thing would stop blinking out …” Several steps later he moved off to the left toward one of the caves on the hillside. “Well, it’s probably this one.”
    “ Probably?” Billy said, not even attempting to hide his disdain.
    Bristol looked up but held his tongue.
    “ All right, we’ll check it out.”
    Jason turned and signaled for Traveler. As he approached, Bristol took a tentative step back.
    “ We’re going in; we’ll need several sentries out here. Same with you, Billy,” Jason said. Billy and Traveler turned and gathered their teams.
    Jason approached the cave and realized that it was the one most often used. Nearly all the hillside grass had been trampled away, leaving clear-cut pathways into the dark void ahead. Hearing running feet behind him, Jason turned to see Orion jogging up the hillside in his direction.
    “ Cap, I was thinking.”
    He waited for her to reach him and nodded for her to continue.
    “ Maybe we should set our multi-guns for stun or heavy stun. Just seems overtly cruel to come into their home and start killing everyone. Even if they do attack.”
    “ Agreed. Go ahead and spread the word.”
    Orion opened a channel and spoke the directive. Each of the SEALs stopped and seemed to stare off in space, accessing their HUDs and making necessary changes.
    Standing at the mouth of the cave, Jason realized just how immense it was—guessing it was one hundred fifty to two hundred feet wide. Turning, he saw five rhinos and five SEALs taking up positions around the valley. With one exception, the rest of his teammates were headed up to join him at the mouth of the cave.
    “ Bristol, you’re going to have to move quicker than that. Get up here and help direct us.”
    The team cleared a path for Bristol as he made his way to Jason’s side. Still looking at his instruments, he pointed. “In there.”
    “ Really? You’ll need to do better than that.”
    Bristol continued forward and veered off toward the right, eventually disappearing into the darkness. Echoes bounced off the rock and into the black void above. Their helmet lights came on and Bristol came back into view. Both Jason and Billy hurried to catch up. There was something in the far distance, something—a flickering light—a campfire. Billy communicated to the team to spread out. Jason thought it strange that he’d yet to see any cavern walls. This was even bigger than the cavern beneath the scrapyard. The ground was definitely sloping down now and he found himself having to check his forward momentum. They walked for close to an hour in the darkness. He’d been aware of the growing number of red icons appearing on his HUD. Hundreds of them.
    “ Cap, I’m feeling uneasy about this,” Billy commented.
    “ Just take it slow. So far I’m sure we’re just a curiosity to them,” Jason said, trying to sound calm.
    The cavern they were in suddenly closed down to a ten-foot-wide roughly