The Crystal Warriors by William R. Forstchen Read Free Book Online Page B

hill. Beyond them the broad open valley was bathed in silvery light.
    "We better get a move on, Captain."
    "Yes, you're right. But to where?"
    Mark was silent.
    "I remember a movie I saw in your country. What one of the characters said seems appropriate for this situation."
    "What was that?"
    Ikawa smiled, looked over to Mark, and extended his hand. "It is an alliance then, until we return home?"
    "Yes, until borne," Mark replied, and grasped Ikawa's hand firmly.
    "You know, Captain Phillips, somehow I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."
    Mark gaped at him for a moment and then a smile crossed his face.

Chapter 4
    T hey had walked for several hours, crossing a terrain of gently rising hills covered in waist-high grass and occasional groves of small windbent trees. The twin moons, low on the horizon, were still shining brightly over the plains, and ahead on the horizon there was the faint glimmer of the coming sunrise.
    Kochanski found himself wondering what color and type of sun he would see. He was now firmly convinced that at the very least they were light-years, if not galaxies, away from home. The star fields were different, and even with the brightness of the twin moons, he could see glowing star clusters arcing across the heavens, spanning the sky like beads on a necklace―most of them far brighter than the Milky Way.
    Kochanski no longer shared his thoughts with the others. His comments only frightened them, and after the first hour he learned to walk in silence and helped with the carrying of Jose, who drifted in and out of consciousness.
    Someone nudged him from behind: Giorgini.
    "Do you see something over there?" Giorgini asked, pointing behind them.
    "Where?"
    "There, low on the horizon."
    He followed where Giorgini was pointing and saw what appeared to be a darker blackness moving across the far horizon. He didn't want to say anything yet―the others would simply say it was his crazed imagination.
    "Naw, you're seeing things." But he kept his eye on it―something was there. It seemed to be headed towards the place they had come from. Moving low, it disappeared, came back up, then disappeared again as though it was hugging the valleys to avoid detection.
    Kochanski moved forward to Mark's side.
    "Say, Captain," be whispered. "Giorgini and I think we've seen something moving in the sky behind us."
    Mark looked off where Kochanski pointed but now there was nothing.
    "What was it?"
    "Couldn't tell. It seemed to be flying and was like a dark cloud moving across the sky low to the horizon."
    Mark thought for a moment. The bogey could be their exhausted imaginations, but after that character with the lightning bolts he wasn't taking any chances.
    He scanned the terrain in front. A quarter mile ahead there was a small grove of trees, their forms silhouetted by the twin moonlight. If something was looking for them, it would be as good a place as any to make a stand.
    "Captain Ikawa, there might be something behind us."
    Kochanski explained what he had seen and the Japanese captain's reaction was instantaneous.
    "Quick march," Ikawa cried, and he directed his men towards the grove.
    Several minutes later there was a flash on the horizon behind them; then another. A rumbling boom like thunder washed over them.
    "Bet they're back where we first came through," Kochanski ventured, and Mark grunted agreement.
    They pushed faster, and some of the Japanese sprinted ahead to secure the grove for the rest of the group.
    "Something's coming," Lieutenant Younger shouted from the rear of the column. The cloud was visible again, and moving towards them.
    The party broke into a run―the four men carrying Jose lagging somewhat behind.
    "Holy shit, it's coming in quick!" Giorgini screamed. Turning, he cocked his carbine, ready for a fight.
    "Fire on my command," Mark cried, and falling in with the four stretcher-bearers he turned with Giorgini to provide cover.
    The cloud turned, cut to one side, and then came sweeping in directly