The Temporal Knights Read Online Free PDF Page B

completely out for a moment before the back-up lights came on. There was a faint, silvery metallic shimmering hovering in the air as the energy conductors heated up. The shimmering steadily grew stronger. It looked vaguely like the heat waves emanating from a concrete highway on a hot, August afternoon. The far side of the hangar was still visible through the waves, but the view was growing distorted.
    “Field integrity at fifty percent,” the loud speakers announced.
    At T-minus two minutes the shimmering effect was very strong and an occasional bolt of lightning sliced quickly across from one side of the Door to the other, however no noise accompanied the strike. A dark blue tint was creeping in from the edges of the shimmering Door.
    “Field Integrity seventy percent.”
    At T-minus one minute the shimmering effect was definitely electric in its movements and beauty. Bolts of electricity were now crossing from one side of the Door to the other with regularity. The dark blue tint covered roughly ninety percent of the Door, and the far side of the hangar was now completely obscured.
    “Warning! Skawps are in the facility! Warning! Skawps are in the facility!” The loudspeakers blared and suddenly nearly every light in the place went out to slow the enemy advance. Warning alarms shrieked loudly in an attempt to hinder the Skawps sonar.
    “Field integrity ninety percent.”
    At T-minus thirty seconds the field integrity was at one hundred percent and the crossover was a go! The Door was now a mass of electrical discharges on a large blue-green background. The far side of the hangar was completely hidden, as was their final destination, obscured in a mass of electrical discharges. It would take a leap of faith to push through into the unknown, into the abyss. Matt’s hands were shaking, and he was sweating profusely from every pore, as the towing vehicles started forward, gently pulling the ship into motion.
    “My God!” Wells said mostly to himself, eyes wide as he stared at the strange phenomenon before them. No one else spoke or turned their eyes from the spectacle in the front of the ship. Everyone present knew that it was either take this plunge into the unknown, or die at the hands…or claws of the Skawps.
    The front of the tow vehicles hit the Door and immediately the electrical bolts concentrated on their hoods. As they pushed through, the front sections of the vehicles were no longer visible, but still the ship moved forward. They moved slowly at first and they all watched in fascination as the men driving the lead vehicles hit the electrical discharge. To the soldier’s credit they did not panic as they approached the storm and from Matt’s vantage point they moved through without apparent injury, but there was no real way to tell. And then they were gone, hopefully over to the other side.  The tow vehicles were now invisible, but the ship was still moving forward at a crawl, and then with a jolt, the forward motion increased and they were at the Door.
    “Heaven help us,” Wells said again, apparently the only one of the four who could find his voice, though the rest of group completely agreed with his sentiments. And suddenly they were in the Door and darkness. The air pressure grew alarmingly fast despite the sealed environment within the ship, and they all grabbed their ears trying in vain to equalize the pressure. Darkness and pain for a long moment and then suddenly light. All at once their ears and sinuses popped, ending the pain and bringing huge relief. And then they were rolling down a grassy hill still joined with the towing vehicles, but apparently slightly out of control. Thankfully they were not going very fast and within moments they reached the bottom of the hill and rolled to a stop. Matt and the rest in the ship sat quietly for a moment just staring at the countryside around them. The day was sunny with great puffy white clouds moving rapidly across the sky. They all watched as the men