Читать книгу The Last Mission Of The Seventh Cavalry - Charley Brindley - Страница 15

As the morning sun rose over the treetops, Sparks pulled a large camo suitcase from the weapons container and popped the latches. Inside, nestled in foam, was the Dragonfly Surveillance Drone.

The other soldiers came to watch as he carefully lifted the tiny aircraft from its resting place and placed it on the grass. He also laid out a joystick controller, iPad, and several coin-sized lithium batteries.

“It really does look like a dragonfly,” Kady said.

“Yeah,” Kawalski said, “a dragonfly the size of your hand.”

Sparks placed one battery in a slot in the belly of the Dragonfly and checked the wings to make sure they moved freely. Next, he placed a second battery inside a small compartment on the controller. He flipped the switches on the controller and iPad, then lifted the aircraft to inspect the tiny camera mounted beneath the belly. As he adjusted the camera, an image appeared on the iPad screen.

Kady waved, and her image on the iPad waved also. “Yep, that’s us.”

“What a mean looking bunch,” Kawalski said.

“Yeah,” Autumn said, “and some of them smell mean, too.”

“If you would move upwind from Paxton,” Lojab said, “you might find some fresh air.”

“All right, boys and girls,” Sparks said. “Weird science takes over.” He stood and backed away. “Give her some space. We’re ready for takeoff.”

A soft whirling sound came from the wings as Sparks worked the controller. The sound increased as the Dragonfly lifted off the grass.

“Karina,” Sparks said, “pick up the iPad and hold it over here so I can see it.”

The aircraft rose above their heads. “We’ve got a good picture, Sparks,” Karina said. “Can you see it?”

Sparks looked at the iPad, then back at the aircraft as it lifted higher. “Yeah, it’s good.”

Soon, the Dragonfly was at treetop level, and Karina saw the whole platoon looking up, except for her, as she watched the display.

“Now we’ll see where we are,” Sergeant Alexander said.

“We’re probably going to see the Wizard behind his green curtain,” Kawalski said.

“Or a giant movie set,” Kady said.

The Dragonfly rose higher and higher, showing more forest in every direction.

Everyone watched the video display on the iPad.

“Wow,” Lorelei said, “look at that.” She pointed to the long trail behind the army. It stretched away for many miles to the southeast.

“And they’re still coming into the camp,” Kady said.

“Where’s the river?” Lorelei asked.

Sparks worked the controls, and the Dragonfly rotated toward the north.

“There,” Kawalski said.

“Can you go higher, Sparks?” Sarge asked.

“Check the altitude, Karina,” Sparks said.

“How?”

“Touch the bottom of the screen,” Sparks said.

“Ah, there it is,” Karina said. “You’re at fifteen hundred feet.”

“Okay, up we go.”

“Two thousand feet,” Karina said.

“Pan around,” Sarge said.

The video image on the iPad rotated.

“Wow,” Karina said, “I’ve never seen the air so clean and clear.”

“No highways, no cities, no cell towers,” Kawalski said, “no manmade structures anywhere.”

“Hold it,” Sarge said. “Back up. There, ten miles to the north. What’s that?”

Sparks zoomed in.

“It must be a town,” Paxton said.

“A village,” Kady said.

“Yeah,” Karina said, “a big one.”

“Go up higher and zoom in more.”

“Three thousand feet,” Karina said.

“How high can she go?” Kawalski asked.

“About five thousand,” Sparks said.

“I see people,” Paxton said.

Sparks zoomed in more.

“Hey, those are buffalo dogs.”

“Vocontii,” Autumn said.

“Yes, they are,” Sarge said. “And there’s hundreds of ’em.” He looked up at the Dragonfly but couldn’t see her. “Take her up to five thousand.”

Everyone watched the iPad as Sparks reduced the zoom back to normal and the aircraft lifted higher and higher.

“There’s the river,” Autumn said.

“It’s huge,” Katy said.

“Pan around the horizon, Sparks,” Sarge said.

“Look, an ocean,” Kawalski said.

“How far away?” Autumn asked.

“Probably around twenty miles,” Sparks said.

“Mountains.”

“Snowcap mountains,” Kady said.

“Whoa!” Autumn said. “Back up.”

Sparks stopped the pan and rotated back.

“Zoom in,” Autumn said, “there, focus on that mountain.”

“That looks familiar,” Kawalski said.

“It should,” Autumn said. “That’s the Matterhorn.”

“Holy shit!” Kawalski leaned closer to the screen. “It is the Matterhorn!”

“How far, Sparks?” Sarge asked.

“Um…maybe a hundred and fifty miles.”

“Direction?”

“Northeast.”

Sarge unrolled his map on the grass. “Karina, show me the Matterhorn on this map.”

She knelt beside him, studying the map. “There.” She pointed to a peak in the mountain range.

Sarge put his finger on the Matterhorn and measured off a hundred and fifty miles to the southeast. “That river is the Rhone, and the ocean is the Mediterranean Sea.”

“Here,” Karina said to Kady as she held the Dragonfly iPad out to her, “hold this.” Karina ran to her backpack to get her iPad, then switched it on and began flipping pages.

“Sparks was right,” Autumn said. “We are on the Riviera.”

“Thank you,” Sparks said.

“But where are the highways and cities?” Kawalski asked.

Sarge shook his head as he studied the map.

“Hey!” Karina said as she came running back to the group. “Look at the elephants.”

“What?” Sarge asked.

“Bring the elephants up on the video,” Karina said.

Sparks rotated the Dragonfly back to look straight down.

“Zoom in a bit,” Karina said.

Sparks worked the controls.

“There! Stop!” Karina said. “Somebody count the elephants.”

“Why?” Kawalski asked.

“Just do it!”

Everyone began counting the elephants.

“Thirty-eight.”

“Forty.”

“Thirty-eight,” Kady said.

“Fifty-one,” Paxton said.

“Paxton,” Lorelei said, “you couldn’t count to twenty with your boots off.”

“Thirty-nine,” Sarge said.

“All right,” Karina said as she read something on her screen. “Can we agree on approximately twenty-six thousand soldiers?”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Thousands, anyway.”

“I think more than twenty-six thousand,” Lorelei said.

“Listen to this, people,” Karina said. “In two-eighteen BC—”

Lojab laughed. “Two-eighteen BC! You dumb bimbo, Ballentine. You’ve gone completely off your rocker.”

Karina glared at Lojab for a moment. “In two-eighteen BC,” she began again, “Hannibal took thirty-eight elephants, along with twenty-six thousand cavalry and foot soldiers, over the Alps to attack the Romans.”

Several of the others laughed.

“Stupitch,” Lojab mumbled.

“So, Ballentine,” Sarge said, “you’re saying we’ve been transported back to two-eighteen BC and dropped into Hannibal’s army? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“I’m just reporting to you what I see; the Rhone River, the Mediterranean Sea, the Alps, someone saying this place is called Gaul, which is the ancient name for France, no highways, no cities, no cell towers, and all our watches being five hours out of whack.” She looked back at her screen. “And I’m reading off to you the facts of history. You can draw your own conclusions.”

Everyone was silent as they watched the screen on Sparks’s iPad. He reduced the zoom and panned around the horizon, searching for any signs of civilization.

“The Vocontii were the ancient inhabitants of southern France,” Karina read from her iPad. “They cared little for trade or agriculture, preferring instead to raid neighboring tribes for grain, meat, and slaves.” She clicked off her iPad and put it away.

Sparks brought the Dragonfly down to a soft landing on the grass. “It’s two-eighteen BC,” he whispered, “and that’s Hannibal’s army.”

A momentary silence lingered as the soldiers thought about what Karina had said.

“Sparks,” Lojab said, “you’d believe Ballentine if she said the moon was made of blue cheese.”

“Green cheese,” Sparks said. “And she’s right about that, too.”

Kawalski looked at Sarge. “We ain’t in Afghanistan anymore, are we, Toto?”

“Can the Dragonfly go up at night?” Sarge asked.

“Yeah, but we might lose her in the dark.”

“Even with the video on?”

“If we have a big fire going and we keep the camera trained on the fire, I guess I could bring her back down where we are.” Sparks flipped the switch on the Dragonfly and put it away. “Why do you want to go up at night, Sarge?”

“I think we fell into a pocket of the past and it’s just this area around us. Maybe ten square miles or so.”

“Like a wormhole?” Sparks asked.

“Something like that.”

“What’s a wormhole?” Kawalski asked.

“It’s a hypothetical feature of the space-time continuum,” Sparks said. “Basically a shortcut through space and time.”

“Oh.”

“But Sarge,” Sparks said, “we saw the Alps and the Matterhorn, a hundred and fifty miles away.”

“Yes, but we couldn’t see any distant cities. At night, from five thousand feet up, we could see the glow of city lights. Maybe Marseilles or Cannes.”

“Could be, I guess.”

“If we can spot a big city, we’ll go that way until we get out of this crazy place.”