Beyond the Shroud of the Universe Read Online Free PDF

Calvin to step away from him.
    “Testing a hero spirit’s helpers is always so much fun,” he said as he cut loose the zip ties. “It does, however, take something out of them. You may have to carry him if you want him to come along with us.” Nightsong motioned for the Terrans to precede him up the passageway. “Let’s go.”
    Calvin reached down to help the priest to his feet and found him greatly reduced; the cleric was nothing more than skin and bones. He pulled the priest’s arm over his shoulder and lifted him easily from the chair.
    “Let’s go,” Nightsong repeated. “We don’t want to be here when the pistols explode.”
     
     

Grendel’s Cave, Fredensborg, Denmark, October 2, 2021
    “Damn it,” Master Chief swore. “I told him not to run off without me. Now look!”
    “What?” Night asked.
    “They’ve been gone too damn long, sir,” Master Chief said, pointing at the watch on his wrist. “They should have reported back by now.”
    “Yes, they should have.”
    “Well? Aren’t we going to jump in and find out what went wrong?”
    Night looked at his watch. “Yes, we are,” he said. He turned and started back toward the tunnel leading out of the cave.
    “I thought we were going in after them,” Master Chief said.
    “We are,” Night said, “but I’m a naturally suspicious kind of guy. I don’t think I want to jump into the same place where they went in. Whoever got the CO may still be sitting at the jump point waiting for us to show up so they can bag us too. I know it’s dangerous to jump in somewhere that hasn’t been surveyed, but it’s less dangerous to do that than to jump in where we already suspect there’s a problem.”
    A smile crossed Master Chief’s face. “I like your thinking, sir,” he said, nodding. “Let’s go kill some damn lizards.”
     
     

Chapter Five
     
     

Anti-Denmark, Anti-Earth, Unknown Date
    “I don’t get it,” Calvin said. “I thought you said you killed Wayland.”
    “You’re really not very smart, are you? I am Wayland. Nightsong came to kill me, but the sentimental fool just couldn’t do it when it came time to pull the trigger. I killed him, instead.”
    “What? He let you go?” Calvin asked.
    “Oh, no, he shot me,” Nightsong said, lifting up his tunic so Calvin could see the scar in the center of his chest. “His mistake was in caring too much for me. He flinched as he pulled the trigger and hit me too high.” He pointed to a spot about three inches below the scar. “If he’d shot me here, he would have hit my heart, and I might not have been able to save myself, nanobots or not.”
    “Obviously you had the nanobots, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
    “Indeed. As awful as you are at your own history, even you have to realize how horrifically primitive medicine was on your planet at that time. I mean, really. Leeches? How is a leech supposed to cure anything? Praying to your peoples’ miserable gods wouldn’t have helped either. I had to come up with a better medicinal plan, or I would have died from their treatments if I had ever been wounded in battle.” Nightsong’s eyes lost focus as he went back in his memories.
    “So, what did you do?” Calvin asked when the silence had gone on for several seconds.
    “I made a deal with Arges to supply me with medicinal nanobots and taught myself how to be a life-based Eco Warrior. I became so good at healing the locals believed I could speak to the gods. I refused to worship their pathetic gods, though, so one day I made up my own pantheon on a whim. Odin, Thor, Freyr…” he stopped to laugh and then continued, “I gave them a better religion, even though it was completely made up.”
    “Wait; you said Arges helped you?”
    “Of course he did. He was always there to provide me with whatever I needed, as long as I did what he wanted.” Nightsong picked up the rod from the table and again motioned for the Terrans to precede him through the fissure.