Days of Future Past - Part 3: Future Tense Read online

  Days of Future Past

  Part III - Future Tense

  Published by John Van Stry

  Copyright 2017 John Van Stry

  Copyright John Van Stry 2017

  Cover Credits: eBook Launch (http://ebooklaunch.com/)

  No part of this eBook may be reproduced in any form without expressed, written consent from the author.

  Any resemblance between characters in this story and people living or dead is purely coincidental. Any resemblance between places, locations, organizations, companies, things, imagined or actual is also purely coincidental. This is a work of fiction created by the author and the author retains all rights to the material in this story.

  License Notes

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be copied and given away or re-sold to other people, backup copies for your personal use are allowed. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, then please consider purchasing your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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  Days of Future Past Trilogy:

  Past Tense

  Present Tense

  Future Tense

  Hammer Commission Series:

  The Hammer Commission

  The King of Las Vegas

  Wolf Killer

  Loose Ends

  Portals of Infinity Series:

  Portals of Infinity: Champion for Hire

  Portals of Infinity: The God Game

  Portals of Infinity: Of Temples and Trials

  Portals of Infinity: The Sea of Grass

  Portals of Infinity: Demigod and Deities

  Portals of Infinity: Reprisal

  Portals of Infinity: Kaiju

  I would like to thank the following people for their support:

  Andrew Waters via Patreon

  Chad Glidden for his support with everything else

  Chapters

  - 1 -

  - 2 -

  - 3 -

  - 4 -

  - 5 -

  - 6 -

  - 7 -

  - 8 -

  - 9 -

  - 10 -

  - 11 -

  - 12 -

  - 13 -

  - 14 -

  - 15 -

  - 16 -

  - 17 -

  - 1 -

  I yawned and rolled over on my side to watch Sarah and Heather as they swam and played in the pond, enjoying the view rather shamelessly as neither one of them was wearing anything.

  "What are you smiling at?" Heather asked, grinning at me.

  "My wives," I grinned back.

  She laughed and went back to cavorting with Sarah; neither of them was shy about showing their own feelings for each other. But then they weren't shy about showing those feelings to me either.

  I think I was finally getting used to the idea that not only was I married, but I was married to two women who loved me as much as they loved each other.

  The last several weeks had actually been rather pleasant. Coyote had steered us to a forgotten small town that was once known as Paradise Valley, in northern Nevada. It was forgotten because of the destruction caused by the 'yellow volcano' the top of which you could actually see off to the northeast, if you were standing up on one of the nearby mountain tops.

  According to Sarah, when the volcano blew, which apparently happened during the big slam, it destroyed everything within a couple hundred miles. Either by shockwave, falling rocks, poisonous gases, lava, or all the glaciers on top of all the hills melting almost instantly.

  I got out a map after she told me this and she pointed at what had once been Yellowstone National Park. Now it was a massive volcano and most of Idaho had been devastated, along with a lot of Wyoming, Montana, and parts of northern Utah and Nevada. Apparently the destruction went as far as eastern Oregon and the western half of both of the Dakotas. The 'Nev Wastes' was pretty much a name for everything to the south and west of the volcano now.

  But stuck in this valley, this town had survived, sort of. A rather large bolder had landed in the middle of town, and by large I mean about the size of a football field. It had leveled just about everything in town as well as dammed the small stream coming through, which had created the pond the girls were now using.

  We'd found a nice place to stay, just outside of the remains of the town. It looked like it had once been a ranch of some sort; most of the buildings had fallen down ages ago. But the main house had a rather well built cellar that had included a concrete roof. I don't know if the builder had been a survivalist, or just liked to overbuild things, but in either case, we had a nice dry and secure place to sleep.

  "I need to you leave tomorrow."

  I sat up and looked over to my left. Sure enough, there was Coyote.

  "Why hello to you too," I sighed.

  "What? No, 'thank you for the vacation, Coyote?'" he said, smirking at me.

  I grinned back at him, "My parents didn't teach me any manners. What's your excuse?"

  "Why, I didn't have any parents of course," he said and gave one of those little bark-laughs of his.

  "Well, I do appreciate the rest," I told him. "So where are we off to next?"

  "I need you to deal with a small problem, which means heading to a relay station a couple of days travel to the east of here."

  "A relay station?" I asked, a bit curious.

  "Aybem uses it to communicate with some of his resources, as well as a few of the forestry and weather satellites that have managed to survive in orbit. It's the least important one, he has several after all, so it should be lightly guarded."

  "What does Aybem need weather satellites for?"

  "Riggs has his army getting ready to march off to Aybem's stronghold. Once he gets going, it should take him about ten days to get there and meet up with the armies of the Cheyenne, Apache, and Ute tribes. The forestry and weather satellites make it possible for Aybem to track Riggs' forces and deploy ambushes and counterattacks.

  "By removing this little bit of intelligence gathering, it will make it much easier for Riggs to gather his armies around Aybem's stronghold."

  I nodded, it made sense.

  "Okay, so we go to this relay station, and then what?"

  "I'll tell you want you need to do, once you get there. But without the satellites, Aybem won't really know where Riggs' forces are, until they've laid siege to him, as Riggs prepares his final assault."

  "And then what? I'm guessing you have another job for me to take care of during Riggs' siege?"

  "Your job, plain and simple is to make sure that Riggs does not fail."

  I shook my head, "I don't see how I'm going to be able to do that. First off, Riggs and I don't really get along all that well. Hell, I think Heather has plans on shooting him the next time she sees him."

  "Not unlike her plans to shoot me?" Coyote snickered.

  I glanced over at the pond, Sarah had Heather pretty well distracted. I don't know if that was because she noticed Coyote was here, or just because she liked abusing Heather.

  "I think Heather may forgive you, now that we've had some time off," I chuckled. "But," I said returning to my original point, "how am I supposed to make sure he succeeds? I can't command his armies if he dies. Not that I could do anywhere near as a good a job with them as he can."

  "Paul, this isn't about winning the battle at Aybem's stronghold. It's about going inside his lair and killing him. That is the goal of all of this. Aybem isn't going to come out, ever. Someone has to go inside and destroy him. Riggs knows that, a
nd now you know it too."

  "So you want me to go into his lair," I paused a moment, "why the hell do they always call it a lair?" I grumbled at that. "And kill some big powerful, what? Warlord? Mage? Demon? Just what the hell is this guy anyways?"

  "Yes, all of that. And well, if I called it his office, you wouldn't take it seriously, now would you?" Coyote said with a smirk.

  "So just how am I supposed to get by all of Riggs' army, Aybem's army, and make my way into his 'lair'?"

  "Why, by sneaking in of course."

  "Ha, ha. Very funny. I don't think dressing up in a western union outfit and trying to deliver a candygram is going to work all that well."

  "Ah, but I know something that neither Riggs, nor Aybem knows."

  "And that would be?"

  "Aybem's lair is in the hills to the east of the old spaceport. Hills that are riddled with tunnels from when they mined copper and gold there."

  I sat up straight and stared at him.

  "Did you say spaceport?"

  "Yes. The mines you want are to the west of Ruth, south of highway fifty. The remains of the spaceport are about fifteen miles east of that, on the other side of the hills."

  "They had spaceports?" I said, still staring at him.

  Coyote nodded, "Yes, they had spaceports. And space travel, space stations, Moon bases and all of that."

  "Interstellar flight?" I prodded him.

  Coyote shook his head, "No, just ships within the solar system. And it wasn't very fast."

  "Hey! Fleabag! What are you doing here!!" I heard Heather yell.

  "And that would be my cue," Coyote grinned and I turned to see Heather raising a rifle, stark naked and dripping wet. Damn if she didn't look good like that.

  "Heather!" Sarah was laughing.

  "Dammit! He disappeared on me!"

  I shook my head and sighed.

  "So, does this mean we are leaving?" Sarah asked, coming over to where I was sitting and picking up a towel. She looked good dripping wet as well.

  "Tomorrow," I nodded. "You never told me they had spaceflight before the war."

  Sarah shrugged and dried off. "There is not a lot of history on it. There were a lot of people who did not like it, supposedly, and there was some kind of labor dispute. I think there was even a strike or something involving it. But then the big slam came and everyone was so busy trying to survive that disaster that I guess nothing more was ever written down about it."

  "So what happened to everyone? In space that is?"

  Sarah shrugged, "No one knows. Or if they do, they are not talking. I would guess either they came back here, or died up there."

  I shook my head and thought about that. Space travel. Not just a couple of trips to the Moon and then giving up, like back in the early seventies before I was born, but regular travel, with bases on the Moon and all that stuff.

  "I wonder if there are any rockets left?"

  "After all these years?" Sarah shook her head and picked up her clothes, "I doubt it, and even if any did survive, what kind of shape would they be in?"

  "What are you two talking about?" Heather asked coming over.

  "Space travel," I told her. "I had no idea it had gotten so big."

  Heather shrugged, "Eh, I'm not much for ancient history. So what does our task master want now?"

  "Riggs is preparing to march on Aybem. So it's time for us to go and help him out, and for me to make sure that Riggs kills him."

  "That'll be quite the trick."

  "Huh?"

  "He's supposed to be what, two hundred years old? Sarah?" Heather asked looking at Sarah who had put her pants on, but had left her top off.

  "At least three," Sarah said. "No one really knows just how old he is."

  "What is he?" I asked, "An elf?"

  Sarah shook her head, "No one really seems to know. The stories from the orcs and others who have been captured make him out to be something different. Some people think he is a demon or the like. He is like ten feet tall, has skin like stone and a crown of snakes or some such thing."

  "Coyote told me he never leaves his lair?"

  "If it is his place of power, he won't leave it while under attack. But none of the stories we have ever heard say he can not leave it," Sarah shrugged again. "Back when he was first encountered, it was while leading orcish armies across the wastes to conquer or drive out the other factions."

  "Well, I woulda asked more questions," I turned and looked at Heather, "but someone didn't give me the chance."

  Heather blushed all the way down to her navel and looked a little embarrassed as she got dressed.

  "Okay, Okay, I promise not to shoot the flea bag anymore."

  "And don't go shooting Riggs either," I warned.

  "Not until after he has killed Aybem at least," Sarah added with a smile.

  - 2 -

  I was lying prone just behind the hilltop, looking over it at a small light brown concrete building just below the summit of the next mountain over. There was an antenna tower on the top of the mountain, with a number of microwave dishes on it, and several other antennas coming off the top and sides of the tower.

  Most of the microwave dishes looked to be damaged, and a couple of what I guess were antenna mounts looked like some of the antennas that had once been on it were missing now as well.

  "What the hell is that place?" Heather asked, looking at it through the scope on her rifle.

  "Coyote says it's a relay station and it's being used by Aybem," I replied, studying it through my binoculars.

  "What else did he say?"

  "Not much, as you were about to shoot at him before I could question him any further," I chuckled.

  Heather scowled and tried not to look embarrassed.

  "So, he wants you to go in there?" Sarah asked, also looking at the small building through her binoculars.

  "Apparently, yes, he does."

  "Well, it must be important, because there are guards stationed by it, and a camp farther down the mountain side."

  "It can't be too important," Heather replied, "I only see two guards by the building and I suspect less than a dozen in the camp below."

  "It's important," I told them as I steered my binoculars back down towards the camp.

  "But Aybem has several of these; this one is just a backup."

  The camp, when I found it, was about a third of the way down the mountain from the top, situated on the dirt road that led to the top. A road that got considerably narrower the closer to the top it went. The camp also had only two guards on duty, but considering the location and the surrounding terrain, I doubted they needed any more than that.

  "More likely the guards are to ward off any locals who come to scavenge," Sarah said putting away her binoculars and sliding back down the hillside a few feet. "We are fairly deep in the Nev Wastes here, so it is not like they would have to worry about any real attacks."

  "Good point," I agreed. "So, what do we do?"

  "Kill 'em all," Heather said.

  "How?" I asked as Sarah just grinned and rolled her eyes.

  "Well normally I'd say to pick them off from here," Heather started, "but the wind down the valleys between these ridgelines and hilltops can be pretty squirrelly, so at this distance I'd probably miss."

  I looked at Sarah.

  "They are beyond the range of my magic; we will have to get closer."

  I nodded and started to move backwards out of sight of the camp, "I suspected as much. I guess we'll just have to sneak up there tonight under cover of darkness and take them out."

  "We might as well go have an early dinner and get some sleep before the sun goes down," Heather said, backing down from the top as both Sarah and I eyed her butt.

  "Oh, definitely, I like the idea of going to bed early," Sarah teased and Heather scowled again, only she was blushing now as well.

  "Definitely bed," I agreed and Sarah laughed, as Heather blushed even deeper.

  We waited until midnight. Then after Sarah had ca
st spells on each of us to improve our night vision, we headed out.

  Moving from where we had set up our camp to the base of the mountain that the relay station was on took at least an hour. Once there we spent a few minutes looking for a good spot to leave our horses, which we had been leading rather than riding through the darkness. Horses and extra gear secured, we then started up the dirt path to the camp. According to my watch it was almost three-thirty in the morning when we finally came to the last bend on the path before we'd come into sight of their lookouts.

  "This late at night, I doubt they'll see us," Heather whispered on the radio and in my ear. "Orcs don't have the best night vision, but don't take any chances; they may have night scopes or a see in the dark spell."

  I nodded my agreement and we started our way directly up the hillside, leaving the road. The plan was to come around on the camp from the west, rather than continuing up the dirt road, which approached from the east after a switchback where the main guard post was. So once we'd gone up another couple hundred feet, we turned to our right and started to carefully move through the scrub.

  When the orc camp was just starting to come into sight we stopped and checked our weapons. Heather would move up and around until she had a good line of sight on the camp. Once she was in position she would signal us over our radios, then Sarah and I would head into camp, me leading.

  Heather would then snipe the guards, after which Sarah and I would move from tent to tent and kill the others while they slept.

  Sure, that wasn't fair, but fair can get you killed. Besides, they're orcs, who cares?

  Ten minutes after Heather moved out I heard a click in my headset, and I started around into the camp. I heard several muted 'whooshes' as Heather's bullets flew by, as well as one loud grunt, but that was it.

  "Guards are down," Heather whispered into my ear over the radio.

  I looked around the camp, there were four tents.

  I approached the first one and as Sarah pulled the flap open, I stepped inside.