The Cagliostro Chronicles II: Conflagration (3 page)

“This place, what do you think I meant? It’s amazing isn’t it?
”

He
glared at her, annoyed, and then began to look around, taking a deep breath cautiously before exhaling and taking a second. He listened closely and heard all manner of winged creatures calling to each other in hoots and whistles, as they flew overhead. The foliage was thick, so thick it almost blocked out the sun. 

“This place is a jungle
,” he announced to no one in particular.

Overhead unseen birds flew past calling to each other somewhere beyond the
verdant tree tops.

After a
moment he called back to Ariel. “So no one has discovered if there’s any intelligent life here yet?”

“Well…” she began, “I th
ink there may be more than meets the eye here, but for some reason my telepathy is not getting a solid feel on anyone, or anything but I sense they are here. It’s just as if they are intentionally blocking me.”

“That’s new
.”

“Yes it is, and it’s a little annoying
.”

“I believe it
.” He smiled and put his arm around her, pulling her close.  They walked over to the landing gear and sat with their backs against it.

“Not the most comfortable of back rests, but not that terrible either
,” Mark noted.

“It
’s better than a rock somewhere.” Ariel turned and looked him in the eyes and smiled. “How are the repairs going?”

He
felt himself relax immediately.

Mark returned her smile.
As he looked into her eyes, he felt himself unwinding like a spring being released after far too long. The tension seemed to drain from him, at least for now.

“Slowly.
We took a lot of damage. We got battered.”

“But don’t forget,” she held a finger up and wagged
it, “we still won.”

“You and I would not be alive to have this conversation right now if we hadn’t
,” Mark nodded grimly, a knowing smile on his face.

Johnson leaned back and looked around, studying the dense foliage that lay just beyond the ship
. “So what do you think, Ari? Is whatever’s out there intelligent? Or just some animal form of life?”

Almost as if on cue, a team of scientists suddenly broke through the foliage running
for the ship, hands in the air and shouting unintelligibly.  Mark and Ari were on their feet immediately.

“Whoa
, WHOA!” Mark repeated himself holding his arms out to stop the running team of scientists.

“G-get
back onboard the ship!” one man stammered as he pushed Mark out of his way, practically frothing at the mouth.

Another shouted as he brushed past, “It’s coming
! Run!”

Mark turned and shoved Ari behind him, onto the entry ramp
. He pulled his blaster in a lightning quick move. “Ari, are you getting anything?”

He knew she was already using her telepathic abilities to
search for whatever mind out there was
coming this way fast.

“Yes!” S
he practically shouted, “But it’s not human. It’s some kind of beast. It’s all emotion and rage, and it’s very angry right now.”

An
Earthshaking roar punctuated her sentence as both of them turned their heads toward the sound. They slowly backed up the ramp. Mark tapped the cuff of his right sleeve. “Red, you better get a security team out here quick.”

“What’s going on?” Red replied instantly.

“The Sci-guys pissed something off, and it sounds like it was something big. It’s definitely heading our way!”

Another roar, closer
, reverberated about them all.

“On our way
, Boss,” Red replied.

“
Mark,” Ari began, “how tall do you reckon those trees are?”

“Well,
we’re beneath the tree cover and the Cag is two hundred fifty feet tall from bottom hull to top hull. Add another fifteen feet of landing gear…” he trailed off.

The trees shook with each successive roar
, until suddenly they split apart, as two tremendous hands reached through them first and then shredded them like kindling to get them out of the way.

A creature pulled itself forth
. Standing almost a hundred feet tall, it stared down at them and bellowed its rage once again. Its huge belly sloshed from one side to the other, and its hairy paws crushed trees as if they were toothpicks.

“It’s an ape
,” Ariel muttered in surprise.

Red and his crew of ten men exited the ship at the same time the huge creature appeared
, weapons already aimed and ready. Its arms hung to the ground and its face was oddly shaped. Its head was a ‘V’ shape, with widely set apart eyes. Its most surprising feature was the color of the beast. Its fur was a bright red. It stood up fully and bellowed once again, then began to approach the
Cagliostro
, rage spilling over its countenance with each successive ear-splitting bellow!

The towering monster roared once more and then heaved itself forward toward the
Cagliostro
. Without hesitation, the ten man security detail along with Mark and Red began firing their blasters at the behemoth.

The monster swung its arms back and forth as if it were trying to clear a pack of mad insects from its body.

“All this firepower, it’s like we’re just stinging it,” Red shouted over the din.

“Yes, I know,” Mark answered. He touched his cuff once a
gain. “Eddie! Shields up and prepare the forward solar cannon.”

Eddies voice p
layed over everyone’s suit comm. “You all better get back in here then and fast. If I fire that cannon-”

“I kno
w all about the distinct possibility of radiation burns and everything else that goes along with it. I designed the damned thing. Just get ready to fire it, and get those shields up now,” Mark reiterated.

Mark turned back to the security team that was
still firing on the huge brute. “Back inside guys, everyone now, that includes you, Red.”

“After
you Boss man.” Red replied.

‘Both of you get inside now!’
Ariel’s mental voice shouted within the confines of both men’s minds, doubling them over.

Mark
rose up first and turned toward Ariel. She expected him to be angry but he was just the opposite. He smiled almost giddily and “Do that to that thing over there.” He pointed at the brute now pounding on the force shield. Each strike of its fists sent sparks showering across the shield.

Ariel looked at the creature
, then at Mark.

“Do it
, Ari. Let’s see if we can drive it off without hurting it.”

She looked at him incredulously
, then nodded slowly. “I’ll try, but it’s a really primitive creature.” Ari turned back and stared at the monster hammering relentlessly at the ships invisible shields.

Almost immediately
the monster grasped at its head and doubled over in much the same manner Mark and Red had a moment earlier. It took a step backward, then another. Each time it held its head but then released and tried to step back toward the ship. Each time it would act as if it were in deeper pain.

Finally the monster turned and thundered off into the forest, smashing trees aside and
leaving a singular path of destruction in its wake with each step.

“You did it
, Ari!” Mark turned back to his girlfriend, who suddenly appeared woozy and in danger of falling. Both Mark and Red caught her simultaneously.

“Whoa there
, Ari,” Red soothed. “We gotcha.”

“Th-thanks, boys.
I got a little lightheaded there, that’s all.”

“Don’t worry about it
, honey. We’ll help you in the rest of the way,” Mark reassured.

The two men looked at each other, worry etched upon their faces.

“Boys, I’m a telepath, remember? I know what you’re both thinking. Just help me inside and let me rest a while. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay
, Ari, here we go,” Mark gently replied.

A
horrible bellow shook the trees about the
Cagliostro
. Both men turned back toward the path the ape had taken, only to see it thundering back toward them, a tremendous boulder held above its head. It stopped short of the shield and hurled the huge rock, smashing it into the invisible shield. Once more the creature roared its defiance and flung itself at the shields, hammering at them repeatedly.

Both men looked at each other and rushed up the ramp
.

“Eddie,” Mark shouted, knowing the
maglovator’s comm system would instantly connect him to the command deck, “Fire at will. We tried to be nice, but this is getting ridiculous.”

“You got it
, Chief,” came DiGenovese’s reply.

The instant the doors opened to the
command deck Eddie was aiming and firing on the brutish monster, blasting holes in the ground at the thing’s feet, knocking it to the ground almost instantly.

T
he huge red furred ape backed up slowly as Eddie continued to fire. The barrage opened up one crater after another in the ground, forcing the hundred foot tall ape to run away into the forest and disappear.

“Nice shooting
, Eddie, but if it comes back again, put a hole in its chest we could fly the
Stargrazer
through,” Mark said.

DiGenovese nodded.
“You got it, Boss.”

Ma
rk turned to his security chief. “Red, take Ari to sick bay.”

“What?” She shouted while jumping to her feet
, immediately becoming light headed.

“Whoa
.” Ari held her head and staggered.

“Red,
” Mark insisted, “take her down there please. I don’t care if you have to toss her over a shoulder to do so.”

“You
got it, Boss,” Red replied as he picked up Ari across his burly arms and carried her into the maglovator. She stared angry daggers at Mark. He shrugged in reply, and then thought,
‘Sorry, Ari, but I want you checked out. I never saw you hurt that badly after using your powers.’

She grunted angrily in mental reply
, then said nothing more.

“Boss!”
  shouted Eddie. “We got company.”

“
What, is King Kong back?” Mark turned toward the view screen to see what Eddie was talking about and froze.

Outside
surrounding the ship and trying to punch their way through the defense shields were at least a hundred men, all naked to the waist, war paints covering their faces. They held spears, crude swords and even
cruder bows and arrows.

But the most disconcerting thing was the color of their f
lesh.

“These guys are as red as that ape-thing was
,” Eddie proclaimed.

“Ye
s, they are. And I swear that war paint is some sort of glow in the dark thing. Look at the way it kind of shines when they enter the shadow of the ship.” Mark commented.

“I’m getting the feeling this is one heck of a weird planet. Giant apes, fire engine red natives
. What else can happen here?” Eddie added.

As if in reply the natives suddenly backed away from the shi
p aiming their crude weapons up and gibbering to each other fearfully.

Red re-entered the command deck from the maglovator.

“Everything okay with Ari?” Mark asked.

“Doc Troiano’s looking her over now
,” Red replied.

Mark nodded.
“Red, outside sound on. I want to know what they are afraid of and give me a view above the ship as well.”

“You got it
, Mark,” the burly security man replied.

Instantly the view switched and they saw
something descending out of the sky, claws outstretched, reaching for the natives below.

“Is that a-”

“Yes, it’s a Pterodactyl, or what would pass for one on this crazy world, Eddie,” Mark finished.

The l
eather skinned avian creature flapped massive wings and dove down toward the natives. The prehistoric seeming beast flew down like a giant bird of prey; it’s leathery wings and cruelly shaped mouth with its razor sharp teeth instilled instant fear into the natives. Its bone ridge upon its skull was the first thing to slam into the invisible force shield that surrounded the ship.

The dinosaur-like creature was instantly stunned. It dropped to the ground
, dead weight. Without hesitation the natives were upon it tearing into it with their knives and spears.