| Chapter 37 | Chapter 39 |
Part V
38
New Allies
Mare Tranquillitatis, September 10th, 2047
John still could hardly believe it all. As he made big strides towards a small hill, carrying a huge polypropylene box, John looked up over the edge of the box at the crescent Earth above him in a state of disbelief. He was really walking on the moon!
But his moonwalk wasn't what troubled John the most. No. The thing that troubled him most was the fact that he had agreed to work with her and that he had no way to verify if what those three had been telling him was indeed the truth. But what options did he have, really? Missing eight years of memories would have been difficult enough to cope with without all the surreal things that were part of this reality. Stuck on the moon in an alien spaceship with an old man, a geeky student, weird grey hominids and her. John had a hard time keeping his blind hate for the aristocracy from taking control of his senses. Was he really working with a New Babylon operative? Damn!
John looked back at the cigar-shaped spaceship for a second. Yes, this was the third perimeter point. John stopped and put down the huge box he had been carrying. It was amazing how much he was able to carry in the low gravity of the moon. Four huge lead batteries to power the twelve construction lights that were to make up the perimeter. And then there was the huge weapon in pieces. There were two batteries left. John took out one of the lead batteries and placed it on a relatively-flat surface about three metres from the top of the dune.
Without the box obscuring his sight, John took a minute to soak up the moment. Soak up the amazing sight he was witnessing in order to help himself get grounded in this new reality. As he turned his glance back to the spaceship, he now saw how the octopod cigar-shaped ship could indeed have resembled the image of a headless eight-legged horse. The idea that this living ship indeed was the horse Sleipnir from Norse mythology was just too silly to be true, but still, it was. It was asleep. If it hadn't been for skill memory being separate from conscious memory, John could never have left the ship. The silly old man may be stuck with the mind of a fifteen-year-old kid, but his skill memory still allowed him to activate the airlock system in the spaceship. He too had skill memory. Skills that could only be explained if indeed he was a New Zion agent—if indeed John was missing eight years from his life. A life where he had apparently become one of New Zion's very best agents. A life where New Babylon had lost the war and had fled to live on a sorry excuse for a Mars colony. A life also where the Copyright Wars had ended and all war factions other than New Zion had been disbanded. They had gotten away with it. The Quants had gotten away with killing his dad. The idea alone made John furious. Without the Quants, John wanted to project all of his hatred towards New Babylon, towards Gwen, but he realized she didn't deserve that. Yes, John hated everything Gwen stood for, but she wasn't as bad, as evil as he had imagined Babylon to be. And now, he had no other resort than to work with her if they were to survive.
"Agent Bridgewater, what's the holdup?" The nervous voice of young Robert spoke in John's earpiece.
The young bloke had been here before, and what he had found here had him truly on edge. If it hadn't been for young Robert Gottschalk and his convincing plea that they are in danger of being ripped to pieces by a horrific moon-dwelling monster, John would have never agreed to cooperate with a New Babylon operative. Without the imminent danger that Robert had so convincingly argued they all are in, John would rather have remained in the much-more-comforting version of reality where he was a prisoner of war and this messed up post-war moon reality was just smoke and mirrors designed to confuse him. But it wasn't smoke and mirrors. However surreal this new reality was, fleeing to the ignorance of the reality John knew and felt comfortable with, however tempting it had been, truly wasn't an option. Robert wasn't making things up. The ancient moon landing site that John had seen from checkpoint two had left no doubt about that.
"Everything is just irie my friend, I am wiring up the lights for checkpoint three right now, no need to get uptight about the schedule," John responded.
As John hooked up the last of the three construction lamps, John started wondering about the tech that could make up the monstrous robot that Robert had been referring to. The lights needed to be old-school filament-based lamps. There were so many things John needed to try and wrap his head around. Somehow the monstrous robot was supposed to be completely invisible in both LED lights and in the dim light emanating from the crescent Earth. Only full-spectrum sunlight and the light from these large ancient filament-based lamps would illuminate this monster. And then for the lamps themselves. Another completely baffling piece of this new discomforting reality. There was no replication tech on the ship. None. But Gwen, the New Babylon operative, used some kind of unstable portal technology. John had been on the receiving end of this tech but still, it was hard to accept that something like this could even exist. John shivered at the idea of this technology in the hands of New Babylon. But that was old thinking. Old enemies. These were new times with new enemies to fight. New enemies that called for new alliances.
"Checkpoint three ready, moving on to checkpoint four"
"Forget checkpoint four" Gwen's voice spoke into John's earpiece. "You need to come back here now! Take the weapons, leave the lights and the batteries and get your New Zion ass back to the ship now! We have an object in sight between checkpoints one and two!"
A rush of adrenalin went through John and as he instinctively grabbed hold of two parts of a large weapon and started running, not for the ship, but for the location that Gwen had referred to, John realized it was the real him reacting here. The wintered agent that John didn't remember being, was completely psyched up and ready to fight whatever was there. For one moment the young corporal, the old John that John did remember being objected, but that boy, that boy wasn't him. That much John realized now. He might not have the memories, but his skills and instincts, those were the real John. His memories were just the memories of a shadow of an insecure and angry boy that John had once been.
No fear. Conversely, his own lack of fear was the only thing that, although only slightly, scared John at all. As John made huge elongated leaps towards the unknown danger, the contours of the huge wolf-like robot that Robert had described became visible. It was just standing there motionlessly on top of a huge dune.
"John! The perimeter! You are almost a hundred metres past the perimeter, fall back John, fall back now!" The almost panicking voice of Robert Gottschalk spoke. John stopped his stride.
"Roger that. I have a good shot at him from here. I will take one shot and then retreat back behind the perimeter."
"No no no no no no no! Get back behind the perimeter now John! You don't know how fast and agile Fenrir is, you won't have time!"
"I've got this kid, don't you go and worry about me now."
John took the gun anchor parts off his back. On Earth, John would never have been able to carry the over 200 kg of a full sized railgun on his own, let alone carry it around, but here on the moon the parts together only weighed the equivalent of about 35 kg. As John anchored the gun to the rock formation below it, he got ready to take his shot. The huge wolf was just standing there towering above the landscape. It probably didn't know it was visible right now, it wasn't to the targeting laser of the railgun. But John knew he could do this without. He didn't remember but he knew. Skill memory.
John took aim straight between its eyes. The wolf was hardly even moving. This would be an easy kill. The robot might be huge, but there was no way a clean hit with this full-sized railgun wouldn't bring this monster to the ground. As John pulled the trigger, John already knew. This would be a perfect kill. The huge wolf stumbled and John was absolutely sure it was going to go down. But it didn't. John aimed once more, another clear shot just below its ear. Then as the wolf raised its head, and opened its huge mouth in apparent agony, the third and last round cleanly into its mouth, up into the base of it's skull. As John pulled the trigger the third time, he felt a sharp pain as the anchored railgun hit John in the face. John stumbled and fell down backwards to the ground. Three perfect kill shots. John hadn't left anything to chance. The kinetic energy from the shots had been so strong and so shortly-spaces that the last shot had actually made the railgun anchor come loose. As John looked at the rock formation, he realized just how lucky he had been just now. The massive rock had partially turned to sand due to the kinetic forces that it had been subjected to by the railgun anchors. That last shot could have easily have killed him. Instead, the force was merely that of a very strong man punching him in the face. It would hurt for a few days, sure, but this could have ended so much worse for John.
Looking at the hill, John expected to see the lifeless corpse of what for all appearances was a huge wolf, but then as John saw what was standing there unharmed, no, not just unharmed, bigger and stronger than before, a feeling of complete confusion went through John's very soul. The wolf was standing there again, in the exact same place that it had been before, shaking its head like a big dog that just came out of the water. No, he wasn't just imagining it. The wolf was not just unharmed. It was bigger than before. Why didn't it strike back? Why didn't it attack? John removed the anchors from the railgun and looked around for another rock formation.
"Guys, I think this wolf is going to be more of a problem than I first thought. Robert, keep your eyes on the screen, if the beast moves on me I need to know immediately. I'll need a few minutes to set up a new position."
"Will do. But don't start shooting again before checking in Agent Bridgewater, sir," Robert spoke, somehow much less nervous than before. This while John's failure to kill the wolf and the fact that the wolf had somehow grown in size now had made John himself a bit nervous. How in heaven's name could it have survived three clean kill shots? How could it defy the laws of physics by growing bigger as a result of getting shot?
Then, as John was taking apart the railgun in order to move the parts to the new rock formation he caught a movement in the corner of his eye. The wolf had started moving towards him. Not fast, but at its current size, even with a slow stride, it would catch up with him pretty quickly. John started running towards the perimeter.
"Damn you, Robert, asshole, you were supposed to watch my back!"
"I'm sorry I didn't warn you and you got startled Agent Bridgewater, sir, but there is no need to be alarmed, sir. She is awake. Azraella is awake. Seems that we have a new ally, sir."
John kept running as fast as he could. Taking large leaps over the Moon's surface.
"Fuck you asswipe, how does Azraella being awake help me? Fenrir is going to have me for breakfast because you didn't have my back!"
"Calm down soldier," a soothing female voice spoke in John's head. "The wolf is our new ally. She isn't coming to eat you." John realized it was her. It was Azraella. The grey hominid who had erased his memories. While John's mind and his instincts both wanted John to keep running, there was something else happening in his mind. Things were going to be alright. John felt they would. John stopped running and turned to face the approaching wolf. As he saw how close the wolf was, his instincts fought for control of his body and John reached for where John realized he must have routinely worn a hunting knife. But then a calmness came over him as the huge wolf calmly laid down its huge head just three metres from John.
"Listen up soldier: I need you to set her free. I have negotiated a truce! Fenrir here has agreed to help us fight the Jötnar in exchange for her freedom."
| Chapter 37 | Chapter 39 |