Title : Running with the Pack
Author: YS McCool
Rating: PG
Date  : 20 November 1999
Series: Upgrade #29
Summary: Carolyn Plummer reunites with her son, and Jim and
Blair take the young Sentinel/Guide pairs for training.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Sentinel characters, nor do I
make a claim on them.  Established characters are the
property of Pet Fly Productions and UPN.  Original
characters are the sole property of the author.


                          Upgrade # 29
                     Running with the Pack
                          By YS McCool


"First we need some rules," Blair Sandburg said firmly as he
stood at the end of the disembarkation ramp with his Shield
and sentinel, Jim Ellison.

"I'm not a kid, Chief," Ellison snapped.  "I can keep my
cool."

"I *know* you will, Jim.  I expect nothing less from you. 
What I'm worried about is the recriminations."  The doctor
waved his hand in the air in the classic "scale of
escalation" movement sign--clouds, dove, bird of prey, gun,
weapon of mass destruction.

Ellison's determined expression melted into a smile as he
patted the smaller man on the shoulder.  "Chief, you're too
late.  My wife took me aside and *explained* how we should
welcome Carolyn for Byron's sake."

"Claudia is keeping *you* in line?" Sandburg asked
incredulously.

"Yep.  She's the only one in the house I'm afraid of,"
Ellison responded seriously.  "Except maybe Cecil."

"Smart man," Blair acknowledged.  Sandburg turned back to
watch the double doors of the landing shuttle swing open. 
The people dribbled out in small groups.

"She's near the back of the crowd, letting other people pass
her," Ellison explained.

It was good someone could see her.  All Blair could see
clearly were the people who had made it halfway down the
ramp.  Maybe he should have his eyes checked.  Or maybe he
should stop comparing his eyesight to Jim's.

"Here she comes," Jim announced as he moved forward.

By the time he could get a clear view of Colonel Plummer
through the milling crowd, Carolyn was in Jim's arms.  She
was tall, quite beautiful with rich brown hair and legs to
die for if such things were a concern of Blair, Married Man. 
Sandburg waited patiently while his Shield calmed the woman
and then headed his way.

"Colonel Carolyn Plummer, this is Doctor Blair Sandburg." 
Jim  got everyone moving as a large group of Space Navy
personnel boisterously made their way down the ramp.

Carolyn shook Blair's hand once they were clear of the
group.  "It's nice to meet you in person, Doctor Sandburg. 
Your kind letters have meant the world to me."

"Letters?" Jim hissed near Blair's ear.

The doctor ignored his friend.  "Thank you, Carolyn, and
please call me Blair."  Sandburg rolled out his most
charming smile.  "I wanted you to know you were welcome." 
Sandburg checked his datapad, which was signaling him.  He
frowned at the message.

"What's wrong, Chief?" Jim asked.

"Mom says the Ellison clan have arrived in strength, and
they're eating us out of house and home."  He waved the
datapad at Jim.  "According to this, they plan to steal from
the Guardians next."

Carolyn gasped.  "They'll be killed."

Jim snorted.  "I think my clan will be appeased with a
slight roughing up if they get the food.  A hungry Ellison
is a dangerous thing."

"Don't I know it," Blair said.  "We need to stop at the
shops and load up."  He took Colonel Plummer's arm.  "I was
lying in the hospital, barely on the road to recovery, when
the 'stomach who walks like a man' strolled into my room and
began eating my kosher meal."  Blair pointed at his guilty
Shield.  "And he had just finished his own meal."

"I was *starved*, Chief," Jim explained.  "I *barely* made
it on your leavings."  Ellison gave Blair his most pathetic
look.

"They weren't leavings, Jim, they were grabbings," Sandburg
asserted.

Carolyn laughed.

                       ---<<<<<[]>>>>>---

"How do I look?" Byron asked Daryl.

"Like you're going to bolt," the telepath said dryly.  He
looked closely at his sentinel's face.  The younger man's
cheeks were so red they looked almost bruised.  "What
happened to your face?"

"My Great-Aunt Ida nearly took my face off with a double-
cheek pinch.  Don't let her get a grip on you," Byron
warned.  "She may be old, but she's got more strength than a
woman half her age."

Daryl smiled.  "I've already met her.  The *entire* Ellison
clan was here for Jim's wedding.  Most of them came for
Maxine and Robert's and Blair and Jet's wedding.  Quite a
few came for Shelly and Matthew's wedding also."

Byron just shook his head.  "I can understand why they would
come for Jim's wedding and *maybe* for Blair's since he's an
official member of the clan, but why Maxine, Robert, Matt,
and Shelly?"

"Because we're family," Daryl explained.  "We would rather
see each other at a joyous occasion than at a funeral." 
Banks slipped his arm around the shoulders of the shorter
man.  "Don't try to prioritize this in military terms, guy." 
Daryl straightened his friend's collar.  "You look good. 
Let's go downstairs."

The gathering had spread out of the Sandburg-Ellison
Victorian across the street to the Banks-Rosenberg Georgian. 
The neighboring families, Coleman, Hall, Pendergrast, and
Von Kemp, had opened their yards and houses to overflow.

It was weird not stepping over Guardians as the two men made
their way from Daryl's home to Byron's house.  The last
group, some ninety strong, had left just two days before. 
Only nine immigrating Guardians remained in the
neighborhood.  Most of those Guardians had no ability to
mentally project, but all understood the Guardian-Human
language.

Daryl introduced Byron to some of his countless Ellison
cousins before steering the two of them toward the barbecue
set up in the big back yard of the Sandburg-Ellison house.

Hawthorne was overseeing a small staff of four in food
preparation.  With an uncertain number of attendants, plus
the legendary stomachs of the Ellison, Banks, and Rosenberg
families, it was better to be over-prepared.

Daryl and Byron took charge of moving the rented furniture
out onto the lawn and putting up the buffet tent.  Banks was
waiting for his sentinel to find the words to express
himself.  Daryl had learned that this could be a long
exercise, and patience was the key to getting Byron to open
up to his new guide.

"I'm angry with her," Byron said as he tied off the rope he
had been using to move the tent into its final position.

"She thought you were dead," Daryl began softly.  "That's
why she left."

Ellison turned his intense blue eyes on Banks and did
nothing to stop the tear rolling down his cheek.  "I'm not
mad because she left.  I'm mad because she never came back." 
He sniffed.  "No matter how much I dreamed of it, she never
came for me."

Banks hugged the smaller man tightly and rocked him.  "If
she had known, she would have moved Heaven and Earth for
you.  I know it," Daryl explained as he patted the heavier
man.  "I would."

Byron nodded and relaxed into Daryl's embrace.  Ellison may
have started his life low on hugs, but Daryl was pleased to
see his sentinel was catching on.


                       ---<<<<<[]>>>>>---
                                
                                
Blair purposefully left Carolyn and Jim alone while he went
into the cheese shop.  His assertion that he couldn't
*afford* to pay for Jim's nibbling habit and kit out the
refrigerators was both comical and untrue.  Blair just
wanted to let them work on their *relationship*.

Whatever that was.

There was a time when Jim would have walked through fire for
this woman.  There was a time when all his imagined future
children were gifted to him from her body.  But that was a
long time ago.  Twenty years.  Twenty years in which he had
become a totally different person.  Twenty years in which
she must have changed also.

"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?" Jim asked,
breaking the silence.

Carolyn sighed, looked down at her hands, then looked up at
Jim.  "I didn't want you or your parents to take him away." 
She fidgeted with her hair.  "I mean, we were both
protected, but I was still pregnant.  You were the only
candidate.  Major Oliver--" she paused.  "It was a setup. 
You and I had broken up.  Suddenly I was transferred to
another unit per an unofficial request from your father.  At
least that was the story I was given.  It made me see how
much power your family had over me."  She waited, her dark
eyes boring into Jim's.

Ellison had more questions and tons of recriminations, but
for Byron's sake, he was going to let it slide.  What good
could possibly come of it now?  Blair would have been proud
of the higher reasoning that went into the decision.

Jim had been cloned without his permission and Carolyn had
been impregnated with his clone without her permission.  It
was the only explanation, as she obviously had not been part
of the conspiracy.

"What happened the day... the day he was born?" Jim asked.

"I was overdue by almost three weeks.  I was getting weaker
and weaker.  I remember waking up in agony.  I was rushed to
surgery."  A hitch had entered the woman's voice, and Jim
waited for her to continue.  "They did a Caesarian."

"Did you see the baby?" Ellison inquired.

"No, I was sedated immediately after they announced he was
dead."  Carolyn looked out the window at the bustling crowd
on the sidewalk.  "Later I broke into the computer.  The
autopsy said Byron had died because of an aortic embolism. 
He was too small to save."  Plummer shuddered.  "For years I
berated myself.  If I had taken better care of myself.  If I
had taken leave from duty earlier.  If I hadn't knotted
myself up over you and your parents.  If.  If.  If."  
Carolyn's voice trailed off into silence.

Jim gently reached and touched his former lover's shoulder. 
"They stole him from you," he interpreted.  They sat in
silence for a long time.  "I noticed you never married,"
Ellison said, interrupting the silence.

"I couldn't... What if it happened again?  I decided to keep
other people's children safe."  Carolyn hugged him suddenly
and fiercely.  That was how Blair found them.  

Sandburg simply loaded the car himself and flew them to the
next stop.  Jim wasn't allowed to come into the bakery
either.

                       ---<<<<<[]>>>>>---
                                
Carolyn gasped at the sight of Blair and Jim's house, make
that mansion.  Of course someone like Sandburg could afford
such a home.  How Jim had eased himself into this place was
probably one of the great mysteries.

The house was an authentic Victorian.  A type of house she
never considered as still existing except in the movies. 
The place was magnificent, surrounded by gardens that were
being trampled by a large crowd of people and a few
Guardians.  On the back was a three-story tall conservatory. 
It was like a dream sequence where the hero struggles
against countless odds across a barren landscape and arrives
at an oasis of clean water, clear air, and edible food.

Her son lived here.  Her son who must have learned to hate
her after all this time.  The son whose loss had nearly cost
Carolyn her sanity.  Byron, her child, returned from the
dead.

Plummer was so nervous that she was clinging like a limpet
to Blair's jacket.  The sweet man didn't even try to pry her
off.

"He understands, Carolyn," Sandburg assured her.  "Come on,
nineteen years is too long to be apart."  Blair took her arm
and led her into the house.

Just inside the door, a beautiful little girl with a thick
cloud of coal black ringlets grabbed Jim's leg.  Ellison
scooped up the little girl and leveled her off like an
attack bomber.  He buzzed her around the foyer and into the
family room.  The child squealed happily.

"That's our god-daughter, Vicki Brown."  Blair smiled at his
friend as Jim continued to "fly" Vicki around the house. 
"Jim's hopeless over her."

The two of them left Jim to his avionics and made their way
through the house and into the backyard.  A tent was set up,
people lined up for food from the buffet, and a group of
children were playing with Guardians.

One unfortunate large male, who looked vaguely like a brown
and white boxer,  was currently wearing an old-fashioned
space merchant's hat while the 'pirates' boarded his
decorated sandbox or space ship.  The giant simply pushed
them out of his vessel and onto the thick grass.  This did
not stop the kids from continuing to try to take the
Guardian's 'ship'.

Carolyn had been so caught up in this vision, she hadn't
noticed the two young men coming to where she and Blair
stood.  The first young man was very tall, handsome, and he
looked vaguely familiar, but it was the second young man who
stole her breath.  It was Byron.

She had known that her child would be the image of his
father, but she truly had not been ready for the impact of
seeing a grown man smiling shyly at her.  He was so
physically close to Jim, but still so very different.  The
way he stood, his more slender build, the slight wave in his
hair, which Jim had always kept under control by keeping his
hair very short.

Carolyn had imagined this moment since the day her child had
been born.  Every year, on the anniversary of his birth and
death, she had revised the speech until it was perfect for
the age he would have been.  It had taken *years* of therapy
to make her stop. 

So here she stood without a single coherent thought in her
head and her son gazing at her with so much expectation.

The taller young man nudged Byron.  Her son cleared his
throat and then spoke.  "It's nice to meet you."

Plummer nodded, then wrapped her arms around her son's
sturdy frame.  Slowly, his arms came up and wrapped
themselves around her.  For a moment, she dared dream that
things would be all right.

"It's a miracle for me to see you," she whispered against
his shoulder.  She stroked her son's face.  "You're alive,"
she whispered in awe.

"Yes, I am, and so are you," Byron agreed.  "Let's go into
the house so we can talk."  

Carolyn followed her son into the house.


                       ---<<<<<[]>>>>>---

Byron checked his backpack for the eighth time before
closing the top.  He, along with the rest of his former
class of sentinels and their new guides, was going to Orion
V for training as pairs.  Overseeing this special time would
be the only sentinel expert he knew--Blair Sandburg and his
father.

He was excited about the whole adventure, except he was
worried about Daryl.  A city kid, Daryl was unused to
roughing it in any manner whatsoever.  Byron would have to
stay on his toes for his guide's sake.

Byron shouldered his backpack and headed down the stairs. 
As he moved down to the first floor, the unfamiliar weight
of his medallion smacked lightly against his chest.  At the
bottom of the stairs, the young sentinel lifted the item and
admired it for at least the hundredth time.

He could still feel the warmth of his mother's hands as they
rested at his neck contrasting with the sharp cold of the
metal on his hairless chest.

                            . . . . 

"It's been in the Plummer family for over six hundred years. 
It's supposed to be passed from parent to eldest child when
that child comes of age."  She straightened his collar. 
"Now I'm passing it onto you."

In dollar value, it wasn't that expensive, or wouldn't be if
it weren't for its age.  The true value was that it stated,
for all the world to see, that he *belonged* to a family, he
had a lineage, and people who would know if something
happened to him.  Something he had only dreamed of having
just a few months before.

"Now a part of me is always with you," his mother had
whispered as Byron had read the unfamiliar Latin phrases
encircling a raised facade of the ancient capitol building
of the United States.

"I'll take care of it," Byron said firmly.

Carolyn smiled.  "I know you will."

                            . . . . 

"Earth to Byron, we're ready for lift off," Daryl called.

The young sentinel came to attention immediately and stepped
outside to greet his guide.  Banks was waving at his little
sister.  According to his guide, she had figured out that
her most attentive slave was slipping off.  She was not
happy.

"Waving from here because it's safer?" Byron asked.

"You know it," Daryl agreed.  "She's got the Rosenberg eyes,
man.  She knows I'm going to be gone for a while, and she's
making me suffer for it."

Byron snorted.  "Come on, Daryl, she's just a baby.  How
dangerous can she be?"

Daryl briefly increased his mental contact with his
sentinel's mind.  Byron gasped when he realized he
understood the emotions coming from Maria.  "How do you
stand that?"

"I turn it down, just like you do," Daryl responded
solemnly.

"Are you two planning on *walking* to Orion V?" Jim asked
impatiently from the APV.

The two young men piled into Jim's vehicle and blasted off. 
Below them, their families went back into their home where
they would probably begin a chant for their safe return.

After a long silence, Daryl cleared his throat.  "So, what
kind of entertainments can we find on Paradise, Orion V?"

"Camping, hunting, and tracking," Jim responded with great
enthusiasm.

"No vids?" Daryl asked in a horrified tone.

"No," Jim responded evenly.

"Hey, Blair, you said your communications system was up,"
Daryl accused.

"It is," Blair assured his cousin, "but it's strictly
communication where we're going."

Daryl pretended to scowl.  Byron was enjoying the show.  "I
better not turn into a caveman," the psychic warned.

Byron snickered.  His father looked back and grinned.  "It's
too late, kid.  We'll have you thumping the wildlife over
the head with a club you carved before you know it."

"Ugh, ugh," Byron and Blair chanted in unison.

Daryl lost the battle to keep his face serious and laughed.


The rest of their group were already on the transport which
would take them, supplies, seed, livestock, and an entire
medical clinic to Orion V.  They would spend at least four
days setting up the clinic before going into the wilderness
to hone their skills.  Byron couldn't imagine coming up to
the level of his father's partnership.  Blair often
understood what his father was thinking before the older man
could articulate it.

Byron glanced over at Daryl, who was trying to "frighten"
the other guides with horror stories of slave labor,
sleeping on rocks, and being eaten by dragons.  Byron
couldn't imagine how he had made it through his life without
his guide.  Hopefully he would never know.

                       ---<<<<<[]>>>>>---
                                
Jim sprang out of his tent with only his boxers on and
dashed toward the howl, which had snapped him out of a sound
sleep.  Racing toward the call, Ellison found one of the
guides, Eliza Lethbridge-Stewart, waist deep in the stream
with a laughing juvenile Guardian on the bank.

"You... FUR BALL!" Stewart shouted as she struggled toward
the opposite shore.

Eliza's sentinel, Janine Everett, passed Jim like a streak
of lightning, jumped over the Guardian, and sloshed through
the water to her guide's side.  The young women helped each
other to the shore.

Ellison came to a stop by the Guardian and glared.  The
Guardian smiled, waved a paw, then gave it up and trotted
away.

Blair arrived with half his face still covered in foam from
shaving.  "What happened?"

"One of the Guardians, who aren't supposed to be this far
south," Jim added for the benefit of the Guardian who was
still within hearing range, "nudged or pushed Eliza into the
stream."

"He pushed me into the ICE COLD stream," Eliza added from
between chattering teeth.

"Get into your tent and strip," Sandburg ordered.  "Dry off
and change clothes.  I need all of you to break camp right
after our meal.  I'm sorry we can't stay here any longer. 
If we've seen a juvenile, there are bound to be pups and
adults."

"Chief, this isn't their territory," Ellison interrupted. 
"This place has everything we need for training.  We're
already putting a strain on the guides as it is," he added
softly.  "Let's face it, this is the closest they have ever
come to hardship."

Blair nodded.  "Okay, let's leave Daryl and Byron in charge,
and you and I will go track down the elders and ask them to
stay away from our training area while we're here."

Ellison liked that idea and nodded his agreement.  Just
before Blair turned away, Jim's finger, totally on its own
accord, drew a smiley face into the foam on Blair's right
cheek.  Sandburg rolled his eyes and walked away without a
word.

Jim was just a naughty boy at heart.

                       ---<<<<<[]>>>>>---

Byron was lucky in that Daryl had been trained in weapons
and hand-to-hand since he was old enough to stand
unassisted.  Not all of the other sentinels were so lucky. 
While his father and uncle were off to make peace with the
local Guardians, Byron took over the hand-to-hand training.

It was a daunting task because some of the guides had never
actually hit anyone before.  It was nice they had grown up
in such a civilized place, but their futures might not be
limited to Earth.  Within the next ten years seventy-five
percent of the human population would live on what were
identified as "frontier worlds"--where the law of the land
was often the law of the gun.

Daryl was currently "helpless guide" to Hyu Akira's "bad
guy", while Byron lay on the ground as "a wounded sentinel". 
The other sentinel was one of the few people from his old
base whom Byron called friend.  He could have learned to
like the girls, but he had always felt very awkward around
them since he realized they were 'different'.

Akira attempted a side-throw on the much larger man but had
to tuck and roll out of it when Daryl twisted the sentinel's
arm and brought him down to the ground.

Daryl then demonstrated the move again and worked with each
guide until they could duplicate it at speed.

"Sandburg to base," the datapad chirped.  Instantly, silence
reigned in the camp.

Daryl snatched the device.  "Hey, guys, what took so long?"

"We found out that the juveniles were out here for training
also.  We've made a pact to stay out of each other's way,"
Sandburg explained.  "We're heading back now.  We should
make it before dark."

"Understood," Daryl responded.  "We'll have supper waiting
for you."

"Great," Blair responded.  "I can hear Jim's stomach
rumbling, and I don't know if I'm fast enough to outrun
him."

Daryl laughed hard.  "He wouldn't dare, Blair.  Claudia
would finally leave him for me."

"True," Sandburg agreed, "and he needs her more than he
needs food."

Byron could hear his father say, "Don't let her hear you say
that.  I might end up on a diet."  It had just the right
amount of pathos in the tone.  Byron needed to work on this
tone, which was obviously essential in getting your guide to
take care of you.

The group finished their training, made a meal, then cleaned
up.  As essential as combat training was, bonding time was
even more important.  Byron and Daryl were sitting in a
shallow pond and communicating mentally.  

Unlike the stream, which flowed straight down from the snow-
capped mountains, this pond was spring-fed and warm.  They
bathed in it because the metals in the water, which bubbled
up with the heated water, were bad for human consumption,
but perfect for bathing.

The training he had in the military had not prepared him for
coming into almost constant contact with such a powerful
mind.  But for all that power, Daryl was the gentlest of
people.  So gentle that even the baseless fear of his little
sister that he wouldn't come back hurt him.

How could such a gentle soul survive in deep space?  There
was no doubt about it, Byron would have to go with his
guide.  Keeping Daryl on Earth was not an option.  Byron
would far rather have their first alien contact made by
someone like Daryl than someone like Brackett.

The sound was faint, but quickly went up in volume.  Byron
looked up and saw a small ship coming in at an angle so
sharp, it had to be out of control.  As it skipped along the
branches, it left a trail of blacked trees.

Ellison dashed out of the pond and grabbed his clothes.  He
wasn't surprised to find Daryl ignoring his own state of
undress and snatching the datapad.  "Blair, Jim!  Ship
crashing right toward you.  Guys!"

"What?" Jim asked.  "DIRT!!!"  There was a terrible crash,
then silence.

"Jim!  Blair!  Somebody answer me," the psychic begged.  No
one did.  Banks closed his eyes, released his contact with
Byron, and sought.  Ellison could swear he saw a distortion
like heat rising from a hot surface surround the older man's
head.

"Found them," Daryl announced as he looked around the camp. 
Everyone had already gathered.  "Gwen, Martin, I need you to
gather all the medical supplies and pack them.  Don't forget
the stretchers.  Eliza, Janine, remove the training clips
from the weapons, kit each weapon out with full power packs
and magnifiers, then distribute them to everyone.  Donald,
Cindy, I need you to head back to the APV and then home in
on our signal for a pick up.  Cindy, it's going to be a
hairy landing, but I believe in you."  The selected
sentinel-guide pairs dashed away to their tasks.

"Are we leaving anyone in camp?" Akira inquired.

"No," Daryl responded flatly.  "It's just things.  Nothing
here is worth our family's lives."

"When do we leave?" Byron asked.

"As soon as we have our weapons and clothes," Daryl answered
stoically.  "They're both badly hurt, and whoever was in
that ship survived.  They're not human."


                       ---<<<<<[]>>>>>---

Blair had been secretly pleased with himself because he was
easily keeping up with Jim's much longer strides.  If they
hadn't been making such good progress, Sandburg would have
thought Jim was taking it easy on him.

The scenery was lush, the bird songs and animal noises
charming, and the air was warm and pleasant.  Almost as
pleasant as the company.  The two friends had discussed the
next stages they wished to complete with their students; how
much paternity leave Jim was going to take; whether they
would have to shoot Rafe because Del Rio took a transfer and
dumped him; and would they really be able to work on their
book with a new baby in the house?

Blair slowed when he heard the datapad chirp.  That signal
was suddenly drowned out by a high screaming sound. 
Sandburg was almost blindsided by Jim when the sentinel
grabbed him and threw them both behind a stand of boulders.

Just to the north of their position, a ship struck the
ground and sent up a fireball, which would have surely fried
them both.  Just the heat from the blast made Sandburg
sweat.

"Good move, Jim," Blair said.  Ellison didn't respond. 
Almost afraid to look, Sandburg checked his sentinel.
Ellison was unconscious with a very nasty bump on his head
from where he had struck a small outcropping.  

Using his sense of touch, coupled with his extensive medical
training, Sandburg fully assessed his patient.  Jim had
broken his right leg, torn ligaments in his shoulder, and
knocked himself out.

Sandburg then noticed his own injuries.  Compared to Jim, he
had gotten off lightly.  He had twisted his knee, scraped up
his back--

A bellow of pure evil and hatred issued from the crater
where the scout-sized ship was partially buried.  Blair's
injuries could wait.  Sandburg placed Jim over his shoulder
and moved swiftly and steadily away from that inhuman sound.

                            . . . .

Jim awoke to find himself lying on a makeshift bed.  He
could feel a tingling in his fingers, a headache the size of
the moon, and a throat so dry tumbleweeds would snub it. 
Blinking, he took in his surroundings.  There were cooked
birds, the local equivalent of squab, and roasted tubers on
a plate made of thick leaves, a coconut-like shell half
filled with juice, and Sandburg looking like he was making
his 'last stand' beside the mouth of the cave with Jim's
rifle.

"Chief?"  Ellison was embarrassed that his voice cracked so
much.

Sandburg walked away from the cave mouth, but never took his
eyes from it, nor did he loosen his grip on the weapon. 
"Good to see you up, Jim."  Blair spared a quick glance at
his friend.

"What kind of trouble are we in?" Ellison asked as he forced
himself up into a sitting position.

"I'd like to lie to you, but we are in seriously deep doo-
doo right now," Blair admitted.

This was bad.  Sandburg had used the phrase only once that
Jim could remember.  It was the time serial arsonist 'Mad
Jack' McCray had rigged their only escape from a burning
building with explosives.  Ellison shuddered.

"Are you cold?  I don't dare add to the fire," Sandburg's
voice was full of pleading for Jim to understand that his
friend's comfort normally meant the world to him, but not
when it could get them killed.

"No, just remembering the last time you said we were in deep
doo-doo."  Ellison felt the bone knitter disengage from his
leg.  "How long have I been out?"

"Almost two hours," Sandburg reported as he placed the
knitters back into his case.  Blair edged cautiously back to
the front of the cave and returned to his vigil.

Ellison looked around.  The datapad had "repair needed"
flashing on its screen, which meant it was kaput.  Sandburg
had managed to carry him, deal with Jim's injuries, as well
as capture and cook a meal.  The sentinel raised his coconut
drink in salute to the smaller man.

"Chief," Jim began after finishing the entire contents of
the improvised cup.  "Who or what is hunting us?"

Blair still didn't turn away from his position.  "I've only
caught a glimpse of it, but it looks vaguely human."  Blair
gulped.  "Except that it's either wearing the tightest armor
I've ever seen, or it's covered in scales."

"How big is it?" Jim asked.

"About a half a meter taller than Simon," Sandburg reported
dryly, "and it's heavier than Simon, Joel, and Rafe rolled
together."

"How--" Jim began.

"You remember the soft ground area we passed on our way to
the Guardian camp?"

Jim thought back.  They had found soft ground and Blair had
laughingly suggested they make 'mud angels' since it would
never snow in this region.  "Yeah."

"He sank a bit with every step.  I checked the ground while
I was getting food.  We sank at most twenty millimeters, but
it sank more than ten times that distance.  Worse, it's been
shooting the place up with some kind of sonic cannon.  I
don't envy you the pain you'll be in when you hear it while
you're awake."

Jim whistled softly.  This was bad.  Person or persons
unknown seeking them, and the kids, okay, young adults, left
by themselves.

"Have you tried reaching Daryl mentally?" Ellison asked as
he reached for the food.

"No, my head hurts too much to try.  I couldn't afford to
pass out.  Finish your meal so I can take care of myself." 
Blair said that so blandly Jim knew the man was in serious
pain.  Ellison ate his food quickly and traded places with
Sandburg.

Jim checked their location.  They were at the top of the
steep slope he had used to chart their path into Guardian
territory.  Ellison could plainly see the drag lines of the
ropes Blair had used to move him and their equipment up the
cliff.

It was getting dark out there.  The kids would be frantic
when Jim was unable to call or respond to them.  He hated to
think of those over-civilized young people suddenly finding
themselves on their own.


                       ---<<<<<[]>>>>>---

Byron made everyone stand back while he examined the dead
Guardian.  It was a juvenile, perhaps five-years-old, a
young male once full of life and mischief.  Now there was a
hole the size of his fist in the Guardian's side.  It was
one of the most horrible things he had ever seen.  He backed
away.

"Byron?" Daryl called.

"An energy weapon I would guess, but one that doesn't leave
a burn trail.  Whatever this thing is, it's shooting at
trees, rocks, and now Guardians."  Byron turned to face the
group.  Lydia, Akira's guide, had such a look of cold hatred
on her face, it was amazing the guilty simply didn't
instantly turn to ash.

"Let's move," Byron commanded.

Janine was their best tracker.  Her skill wasn't just
because she was a sentinel.  Everett seemed almost to be
able to speak to the ground and hear it as well.  Ellison
followed her without hesitation.

Janine's arm came up, then she leveled her hand.  Everyone
instantly lowered.  Ahead of them was the beast they were
hoping to lead away from their injured relatives.  

It wasn't human, but there were traces of a human scent
attached to it.  By the sound coming from it, there was a
thick, gooey liquid running just underneath its armor.  The
armor itself looked more like scales, and Byron could detect
no seam or closure on the mottled blue-gold surface.

~Jim and Blair are alive and up that slope,~ Banks reported. 
~Unfortunately, that thing is between us and them.~

~Daryl, are you getting anything from it?~ Byron sent.

~Rage,~ Daryl responded.  ~Total, mindless rage.  No
coherent thoughts, just the desire to kill and destroy.~

Byron checked to make sure everyone had received Daryl's
message.  The looks on their faces said they had.

"Byron, at least eight adult Guardians are thundering our
way," Gwen announced.  "They're moving very fast."

"I hope they don't think we killed their child," Martin
prayed.  The guide, who was in real life a promising young
artist, was probably seriously rethinking his new life
choice.

"We could explain," Eliza suggested.

"No time," Byron countered.  The young sentinel knew the
creature was heading off.  Right toward his father and his
uncle.  "We have a rescue to make."

                            . . . .

Jim was feeling better now.  If you were going to be trapped
in a cave with a light weapon and little hope of rescue, it
paid to be trapped with a universe-class physician.  Ellison
stole a quick glance at his guide.

The sentinel didn't have to be psychic to know that as much
trouble as they were in, Blair was more worried about the
camp.  What if the thing decided to make for the camp?  What
did they have to stop it?  Not much.

They had little to fear from the local flora and fauna, and
weapons would have only antagonized the Guardians.  Which
meant Jim was only carrying his rifle, and Sandburg had no
weapon at all.

The only thing Blair had been carrying was his med kit and
datapad.  The med kit had come in handy for both the
Guardians and themselves.  Several juveniles had training
injuries and happily lined up for treatment and Sandburg's
patented light touch.

"Chief, we're not going to die in this place.  This is our
retirement place, and I'll be damned if some movie monster
is going to take it from us."  Jim looked back at his
friend, who gave him a weak smile.  "Blair, you're starting
to scare me.  Are you all right?"

"Yeah, Jim.  A little out of sorts now that I'm past my
adrenaline rush."  The doctor gave himself an injection and
scanned himself again.  "Keep watching, I'll take care of
myself."

Ellison didn't like this one little bit, but he really
didn't have much choice.  He kept scanning, hoping the
creature would move west so the two of them could escape.  
Jim knew he could carry Sandburg all the way back to the
camp if he had to.  For Blair, he could accomplish a lot.

~Jim, it's Daryl.  We're following the creature back toward
you.~

"WHAT!!!" Jim shouted.

"Jim, what's wrong?" Sandburg asked.

"I can hear Daryl.  They've come to rescue us."  Jim
grunted.  Rescued by their students, what an embarrassment.

~Don't be a jerk, Jim,~ Daryl warned.  ~We've got a monster
in front of us and about eight truly pissed off Guardians
coming to avenge the death of one of their children.~   The
psychic paused to let that part sink in.  ~Now here's where
we are and what we have.~

Ellison listened carefully and built the scenario in his
mind.  He wanted Janine, Daryl, and Byron taking the largest
weapons because they had all proven to Jim they had the
skills necessary to do what needed to be done.  The creature
was first, the Guardians, when they arrived, would have to
be dealt with later.

Dusk is a time where optical illusions are most prevalent. 
Jim and Blair had spent countless hours working in this
lighting.  Luckily for them, all their sentinel-students had
also had extensive training in almost every conceivable
light situation.

The creature roared out of the trees and tried to separate
Martin and his sentinel, Gwen, from the rest of the group. 
The branch he rushed by snapped forward and hit Gwen in the
mid-section.  She went flying.  Martin, who really did
deserve the title 'wouldn't hurt a fly', calmly shot the
creature in both eyes and then its throat.

Bellowing, the creature struck blindly at the young guide. 
Martin ducked under the swing and ran toward Gwen.

Three separate weapon's blasts came an instant after Jim
heard Byron yell "fire".  He was just barely able to dial
down his hearing in time.

The creature was tough, standing up to the weapons far
longer than Jim would have thought possible, but the weapons
fire eventually brought it to its knees.  Even then, it
tried to make a last launch toward Janine.  

The young female sentinel calmly continued firing until the
thing dropped into a smoking, semi-charred heap.

The smell could make you beg to sniff an open sewer.


The Guardians had arrived while the firefight was going on. 
Wisely, they stayed back out of the line of fire, but took
stationary positions outside the altercation in case the
creature decided to make a run for it.

Daryl went and spoke to them.  They departed after each of
them moved around the body and sniffed.

Moments later, Jim's APV came gliding down onto a ledge
which was so narrow only one set of doors could be opened. 
Sandburg, whose right knee looked like a fat purple balloon,
slid in gratefully and began explaining what he needed Daryl
to do.

Jim waited for the second pickup.  He had grabbed the
"incident" camera from inside the APV and brought it around
to film the creature.  As much as he wanted to think this
was their first alien, he knew better.

A long time ago, in another life, he had heard such
creatures discussed.  Bio-morphic something, something.  The
armor was partially organic, partially metallic.  The claws
were augmented.  The teeth were metal.  It had holes
underneath its arms for gas pouches.  It was a perfect
killing machine for a war that never came.

During those years, every military leader seemed convinced
that the next rock they turned over would reveal aliens--
woman-stealing, man-killing, land-grabbing aliens who would
eat their brains, which were small pickings indeed.

So things like this were dreamed up and sometimes created.

"Sir?" Janine called.  "I found a part of the ship you'll
want to see."  Everett turned over the hull plate that had
the Special Corps symbol on it.  

Jim sighed.  "Welcome to the real world," he muttered to the
young woman.

"Sir, I have a question," Lydia interrupted.  "Do you think
they deliberately sent it here, or did it escape?"

Ellison looked up toward the sky.  "I don't know, but I
promise you, I will find out."



                      -- End Chapter 29 --