screaming Matchstick off and angrily tossed it over the cliff. But the small alien's attack hadn't been in vain. It gave Everett and the remaining soldiers enough time to get over their shock and start firing at the beast.
Bullets ripped into the mother from all directions. Some bounced off and one even grazed Collins on the forehead, but others found damaged places in the already battered armor of the mother Talkhan. It staggered backward and lost its footing, trying in vain to straighten as more rounds tore into its armored skin and found soft spots. The tail swung in a slow arc, trying to strike something, anything. Finally it made a last lunge toward Sarah and its antagonists as it stumbled one last time and fell to the ground, unmoving.
A moment earlier Gus had been unable to control Mahjtic. As soon as they saw what was going to happen to Major Collins, the alien, without a moment's hesitation, jumped from the old man's arms and leaped onto the Destroyer's back in a show of pure hatred. Gus had seen it all as if he had been watching outside of his own body. He remembered his own screams as the mother had grabbed the little being and thrown it off the cliff. Now he just went to his knees and placed his hands over his eyes.
Major, Valley Forge is broadcasting; they say they have something moving on the valley floor.'
Collins turned to look at his second-in-command, wincing as he did from at least two cracked or broken ribs.
Collins looked at Sarah. 'You stay until Gus is out of here; nobody gets near Matchstick unless it's someone from the Group, clear?'
'Yes, sir, nobody will touch them.'
Collins and Ryan turned away, and with Everett helping them they climbed back into the base camp. Jack went to the Pave Low ramp and took the headphones from the 101st sergeant who was already holding them out.
'This is Site One Actual, what have you got exactly?' he asked, wincing at the pain in his ribs.
'Site One, we have an intermittent contact bearing on heading 445, moving east at a high rate of speed. Contact is larger than previous targets, repeat, larger than previous targets. It comes shallow then goes deep; we lose it at that point until it comes shallow again. GPS confirms from remote sensors. Contact is definite and now is being joined by at least ninety smaller targets. Over.'
'Roger, Valley Forge, Site One will advise,' Collins said as he quickly tossed the headset to Ryan and turned, and, in pain, ran for the cliff overlooking the valley. Ryan looked at Everett and followed.
Sarah left Gus and Matchstick and climbed the cliff face and joined them at the edge, wondering what they were looking at.
So far they hadn't seen any indication of movement from the sand and scrub below. When Jack locked his eyes on the prone body of the mother, he saw a few underdeveloped eggs that had burst from her abdomen wounds, and that started him thinking.
'How big around was that hole we came across near the diner?' he asked, still looking at the dead form of the parent Talkhan.
'Twenty-three, twenty-five feet in diameter,' Everett answered, following Jack's eyes to the mother.
'Too big,' Jack mumbled.
'What do you mean 'too big'?' Sarah asked.
'Look, this has to be the mother. It's larger than the ones in the tunnels, the tail and stinger are more developed than the smaller ones, and if I'm not mistaken, those are eggs. That hole we saw down there was too damn big for this animal. Whatever made that hole is huge, much larger than this creature.'
'God, I didn't see it,' Everett said.
'What in the hell do we have out there now?' Jack said.
As they watched, they saw the sands below the mountain about two miles distant shimmer and start jumping and vibrating, creating an eerie blurred effect.
'What the fuck?' Ryan asked no one. 'Look!' He pointed to the right. 'Who in the hell is that?'
Collins looked but didn't see it at first. Then he hobbled over to one of the tables and started slashing reports and other equipment from it until he found what he was looking for. He grabbed the binoculars and turned and focused on the thing that was kicking up dust to the west of where the AWACS said the target was.
'Damn, is that the engineers? They were the only unit east of us, correct?'
'They reported in about ten minutes ago. They confirmed Orion was active,' Ryan said.
'Shit, get on the radio, Ryan, and warn them off, they're heading right for whatever that is down there!'
THIRTY-THREE
The president was standing and drinking a glass of water when General Hardesty leaned over and saw the remaining command element at Site One as they were gesturing wildly at something below in the valley. Then his attention was diverted by the frantic call from Ryan in Arizona.
'Mr. President, something seems to be happening,' he said.
As the president turned toward the large monitor, the general turned up the volume on the radio frequency.
'It's huge, Site One, and it's breaching now!' they heard the call from the AWACS.
'For God's sake, what now?' the president asked the room, but they all were busy standing and pointing at the remote camera relay from the valley.
The sight was one that all who witnessed it would never forget and would in the years to come haunt their nightmares. The undiscovered male breached the surface of the valley floor and shot into the air fifty feet, trailing dirt and sand in its wake. The multicolored armor plates of its neck were caught in the rays of the sun and sparkled, sending reflections of deep bloodred against the purple of its body armor. Then suddenly at least eighty or ninety of the smaller offspring shot up and out of the desert floor, mimicking the male. They formed their arches on both sides of the larger Talkhan. The animal was huge. Collins estimated from head to foot it was at least thirty feet fully erect. The male Talkhan hit the top of its arc and gracefully curled and rolled and entered the desert hardpan on its back and disappeared beneath the splash of sand and rock, quickly followed by the others.
'God, they're headed right for the Humvee,' Jack said. 'Ryan?' he called.
'Can't raise 'em!' Ryan called while still holding the headphones to his head.
As everyone from the valley, the White House, and the Event Center watched, the male surfaced again exactly in the path where the Humvee was speeding back to Site One. It sent the vehicle into the air 150 feet, paying it no more attention than it would a small bush. The beast roared as it started its fall back into the soil. The Humvee crashed hard back to earth; the entire armored vehicle was now upside down and crumpled.
'Site One, this is Valley Forge. Target has changed aspect and is moving toward sector 327. Repeat, target is now moving toward sector 327,' the AWACS reported.
'Roger, sector 327,' Ryan said. Jack was already heading to the Pave Low where Ryan had a map laid out on the ramp. Ryan quickly circled the area in red marker. 'Goddammit, Major, the bastards are making a run out of the valley.'
'Right for the funnel, into the last line of defense,' Jack said as Everett joined them. 'Contact Niles and relay to the ranchers to get the cattle moving.'
'Then let's get ready and blow the crap out of it,' Everett said.
Jack thought as he looked below at the line of collapsing tunnel as the beast ran for the eastern gate of the valley, quickly followed by its siblings. His eyes went to Sarah and the others.
'Gentlemen, the remote trigger for the weapon is in the Humvee,' Jack said simply.
'Then we better go get it,' Ryan said.
It was Everett who knew what Jack already did. Carl turned and watched as the surviving tunnel teams and Event personnel were covering the remains of the three pilots killed in the mother's final attack and helping the fourth, who was lying on the ground bleeding to death.
'Jesus Christ! Can we get a break here?' Carl said for the second time that day, then looked to the sky in frustration.
'Is someone going to let me in on what's going on?' Ryan asked.
