Chapter 11: Counterstrike

"Do you think it'll work?" Ka-Kachima peered uneasily out at what appeared to be an ordinary enough camp site.

"It'd better!" Phil's eyes were points of blue fire in the twilight. "If we don't make a clean sweep of it, we won't get a second chance. This is the only way we have of reaching them."

These raiders were using a different technique than the first gang. Ranging over a much wider area, they preferred to use canisters of poison gas rather than armed hunters to gather their booty.

"Here they come," a warrior hissed, holding up one of Charley's detectors. "They come closer, fast."

It was Phil who first spotted it. High in the air above the camp site the air seemed to thicken and curdle. Rippling like oil on water, the spot grew in size until it was several feet across. It moved, drifting sideways until it was poised directly over the camp site. A string of black dots dropped from it, spreading to fall in a rough circle and spewing out clouds of yellowish smoke as they fell. There was a flurry of movement around the campfire as hidden watchers pulled on cords, and then all was still.

"Why don't they do something?" Ka-Kachima's whisper was ragged with tension.

"Waiting for the gas to thin out," Phil told him. "There, now they're dropping down closer."

The portal expanded as it dropped to ground level, landing with its back to them so that all they could see was a disk of dull silver. Men poured from it, heading for the still forms of the dummies around the fire.

"Now!" The Speaker called out an order, and the clearing erupted in a flurry of action. A hail of crossbow bolts shredded the air, striking down the men in the clearing and whistling through the portal before it could be closed. Clawed and furry warriors poured through after them, carrying the fight to the enemy.

"Look out!"

The stutter of a light machine pistol punctuated Phil's shout. Warriors stumbled and fell, blood staining striped fur, but the answering thud of crossbow bolts cut down the one guard who had managed to draw his weapon. Warriors fanned out through the corridors of the dome, striking down opposition as they found it.

"This place is ours!" A triumphant warrior brought the word. "Come and see. There are strange and wondrous things here. Also, there is a door that will not open. Someone speaks behind it, but we cannot understand the words we hear."

Phil, Rowlf and Harg followed the excited warrior down steep ramps until they were far below the main level of the base. They passed by large rooms carved out of the naked rock, rooms piled high with the spoils of a dozen different worlds. Uncut gems and lumps of precious metals were mingled with bales of goods and works of art. The corridor came to an abrupt end, closed off by a stout steel door.

"Listen," the warrior commanded. "The voices come from beyond here."

Pressing their ears to the cold steel, they could indeed hear voices. Rising and falling, they seemed to be in a hot argument but only distorted echoes filtered through the solid metal of the door. As they listened, one voice rose above the others in a passionate cry, and then all was silent.

"That was Audrey," Harg snarled. "Get this door open! Hurry!"

"I'll try." Turning his attention to the combination lock that held the door closed, Phil gave the knob a tentative spin. Bending closer, he saw that the rim of the knob was etched with tiny letters, and he had the gleam of an idea. Hesitantly, he turned the knob from letter to letter, spelling out J-O-R-D-A-N. He was finally rewarded by a muted click, and with a faint sigh of displaced air the door swung open. Harg led the charge, the others hot on his heels. At the other end of a large room a small knot of figures broke apart. The two smaller ones were dragged along by the third one as he dove for the portal behind him. Harg launched himself after them, only to crash painfully against a blank wall of rock as the portal disappeared.

"Tha' was Jordan," he raged. "He took Audrey with him!"

"Audrey and Luana both," Phil grated. "Let's get back to the portal room, see if we can get anything out of the prisoners. Maybe we can find out where he took them."

"It was back to Aurora," Rowlf told him. "I could smell the air of our home valley."

"What'd you three run into," Charley greeted them. "You look shook."

"We ran into Mr. Steve Jordan," Phil answered. "He beat it back to his base on Aurora, and he's got the women with him."

"So he thinks he got away, huh?" Charley cackled gleefully. "We'll see about that. Gimme a couple of hours to fix this here portal, and I'll drop you anywhere on Aurora you want."

"Just drop me in Jordan's hip pocket." Phil grinned wolfishly at the thought. "All I want is to get my two hands on him..."

"My warriors also have a stake in this," The Speaker growled. "By the time Charley-Burke finishes his magic with this new portal, they too will be ready."

The first captured portal was soon busy shuttling warriors to where they could be picked up by the new one. The tension grew and thickened as Charley made the final adjustments to the new portal, and by the time he announced that it was ready the silence could have been cut with a knife.

"Just hold your horses," he told them. "First, I've got to find his base."

The oval framework of the portal flared blue, clearing to show an expanse of prairie. The scene jumped and spun erratically as charley got used to the controls. A low range of hills appeared on the horizon, rushing at them and disappearing from view. It was replaced by another range of hills, and another until Rowlf yelped, "Stop!"

"What's wrong?"

"You passed it! Go back, and more to the left. There, that's our valley. Jordan's base is on the other side, that's right. Now, go around a little more to your right, just below the rim."

His fingers rock-steady on the souped-up controls, Charley steered the portal down to the mouth of a cave. Shrinking it down to a mere point, he let it drift inside, seeking the entrance to the inner passages. He found it, and the guard posted there never knew what hit him. The portal dilated behind him, and a muscular arm locked around his neck. He disappeared back through the portal, which clamped down once more to a dot so his brief struggle couldn't be heard.