Fort Dinosaur (The Directorate Book 6) Read online

  Fort Dinosaur

  Pam Uphoff

  Copyright © 2017 Pamela Uphoff

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN

  978-1-939746-25-2

  This is a work of fiction.

  All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional.

  Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from an upcoming release

  What I'm Reading

  About the Author

  Other Books by Pam Uphoff

  Genetic engineering lifted psychic powers above the random background of coincidence. Backlash and prejudice against 'Magic' and 'Satanism' resulted in the exile of all genetically engineered people to dangerous worlds; not-quite-parallel earths they weren't expected to survive.

  Fourteen centuries of turbulent Earth history later the exiled "magicians" have been forgotten, rediscovered, clashed with . . .

  The Empire of the One grew from the accidental stranding of an early cross dimensional exploration party of the genetically engineered, two years before the Exile. They arrived in the middle of a war, where the three great powers, China, the Islamic Union, and Greater Argentina vied for possession of the no-longer-radioactive ruins of Europe and North America. The marooned explorers used their special talents, and a lot of flimflam and fast talk to place themselves on the top of the Islamic Union as the New Prophets of the One True God.

  Fourteen hundred years later, their descendants are still the elite of a united world with twelve cross-dimensional colonies.

  After several deadly clashes between Dimension Age civilizations, the newly fledged Department of Interdimensional Security and Cooperation is attempting, with fair success, to keep the peace among the growing number of worlds exploring the Multiverse.

  So Exploration Teams from the Empire of the One can explore new worlds, support science projects and . . . find things they hadn't expected.

  Chapter One

  14 Jumada 1405 yp

  Gate City, North America

  Ebsa hauled his footlocker and pack off the autoflat and sent it away. Warehouse sixty-three. A big one, old, needed paint. But it was new to him, the name of the man he was reporting to, a stranger. Exploration Leader Acty!

  He tried to straighten out his face, to erase the grin. An Exploration Team! It is exactly what I want. I know it's new, but it cannot possibly be worse than proofreading field teams' reports and marking all the typos. Any field assignment will beat another six months of that! Even coordinating equipment for teams going Across was better, no matter how much I wanted to be the one going Across.

  He knocked and entered. The echoing, open, vehicular space was bare of anything but a small amount of trash and debris, and a table full of people turning to look him over. He set down his stuff and walked over.

  "Team Leader Acty? I'm Ebsa Clostuone."

  A middle-aged man nodded. "Yes . . . we were wondering who the hell you were and why you were assigned to us. Clerk."

  "I suppose that depends on the job." Ebsa ignored the dig. He was used to it. Damn it, not a single familiar face. Oh well. Time to prove my worth all over again.

  "We are assisting in the construction of a permanent site to study dinosaurs. And handling the supply logistics."

  "Oh, well. I do have some experience there. Both with dinosaurs and science project support." Ebsa looked over the team and tried to hide his dismay. At least the two women looked fit, in the muscular sense. Four men, lots of gray hairs showing. No big deal, but the paunches . . . the litter of snacks and drinks all over the table . . . "So how many of you are expert shooters?"

  Backs stiffened.

  The black-haired woman leaned forward to glare. "This is a scientific study of dinosaurs in situ. Live dinosaurs. Not a hunting expedition."

  "Yes, ma'am, but for the sake of the scientists' safety, it may be necessary to kill one. Or, of course, they may want to dissect a specimen."

  The team leader cleared his throat. "We're heading out in an hour for the start of a two-day planning session. This morning we're going to get a briefing on logistics for dinosaur worlds. We'll talk about specifics afterwards."

  He scowled at Ebsa, then nodded at the others. "Okli Withione is my second-in-command. Pied Neartuone, Ulte Withione, Howl Withione, Ijdu Neartuone. Or to keep it simple, Okli, Pie, Ultimate, Howl and I-do. Call me Acty. The two end rooms are empty, pick one."

  Ebsa nodded politely and backtracked to grab his backpack and footlocker. Carted them past the silent people watching him. He headed for the next-to-last room. I will not look like I am hiding from the rest of my team. His thumbprint opened the door and hopefully registered him as the room's new resident. Roomette, if one wanted to be technical. Bare bed frame, small desk, tall locker, barely larger than his footlocker.

  Behind him, he heard an indignant female voice. "A Clostuone! I know we're a spare parts team, just being thrown together so they have enough warm bodies, but did they have to dredge so low?"

  Spare parts. Dredge. Good thing I have an indestructible ego.

  He set the backpack on the desk, footlocker on end against the locker, and walked back out.

  Six cool looks.

  "So are there mattresses, or are we being spartan and tough?"

  Okli pointed at the far side of the garage. Two mattresses, leaning against the wall. "Take your pick, Closey."

  "Umm, if you want to insult me, call me Kitchen." Ebsa eyed the ranks of doors along the wall. Lav, shower, kitchen. Yikes. We don't merit rooms in the Director's mansion? Or does this warehouse predate such luxuries? "I take it we'll be spending more time here than in the field?"

  Silence. One, I'm already starting to look fondly back at proofreading.

  He hauled a mattress to his room, ignored the others and poked around. Found sheets and blankets, ordered a snack from the automat. Dammit, this won't work. I need to know these people.

  He marched back to the table and sat down. "So, is there a construction unit going through to do the building?"

  Acty sighed, leaned back. "We haven't been briefed yet. We're still team building." Another sigh. "Welcome to the team. Tell us about this dinosaur experience of yours."

  "It was a ten week assignment. Internship, for me. Escort and protection for a quartet of grad students and their doctor. We were working around archosaurs, early dinosaurs, and late dinosaurs. The team was a four strong, experienced Exploration Team, and us three interns. We took three crawlers, and One, the size of those critters, I wouldn't want to be in anything smaller."

  A sniff from one of the women. "I dare say the planning session will include recommended equipment."

  Acty nodded. "And then we will send in the equipment request." He glanced at his watch. "We might as well go now."

  Guess we aren't going Across too soon, if even the vehicles aren't ordered yet.

  They were the smallest group of people in the small auditorium. The biggest group just had to be builders. Half of them were in work boots. All of them looked experienced. And unhappy. They sprawled out comfortably, but their arms were crossed and they scowled
at the big screen with its triceratops pic while they talked among themselves.

  Then there were the obvious academic types, sitting close together. Their expressions varied from excited, to put out, to horrified as they looked around at the other groups.

  An eight-man Action Team. Unfortunately no one he knew. "At least we'll have shooters," he muttered.

  Acty scowled at him, and led them down to an empty sector. After a glare from Howl, Ebsa shifted a couple of seats away and sat alone.

  The fourth group was in nice suits. Administrators and their staff. Their scowls were aimed at each other.

  Ebsa caught a snatch of a comment.

  ". . . not our job, send Explorer Teams." The woman speaking was tall and muscular, fit despite the gray in her short strawberry blonde hair.

  Senior Administrator Kael. Holy One. She's with the Action section. Ebsa very subtly invoked a directional hearing spell.

  "You've got a team handy, and Exploration is fully committed. We're throwing a scratch team together, but they have insufficient field experience for something like this, and no experience working with each other." And that was the Subdirector of Action and Exploration. Ebko Withione Shanghai. Who was apparently having trouble getting his two sections to co-ordinate.

  Maybe they ought to have left Action and Exploration as two subdirectorates . . . but I've heard that Director Ajki is trying to dilute the Action Teams and their bully-and-rape culture. Good Luck!

  Kael shrugged. "Then put this project off, or recall an experienced team. Exploration's scheduling problems are theirs, not mine." She glanced at two other men, who both glared back.

  "All they need are a couple of weeks, until the walls are up."

  Oh, not bloody likely! Walls don't protect people who go outside of them to study the animals.

  An old man doddered out to the raised platform in front of the screen. "Right, looks like everyone's here early. Eager to commit suicide, in my opinion. After all you lot are insane enough to want to study dinosaurs. I'm sure you've all seen the results of that study two years ago, and salivated over all the data they managed to collect in just a few days. Don't fool yourselves. You're playing with dangerous animals and with any luck you'll all die and stop these absurd studies.

  "So, first we have a little vid for you of that scientific expedition which, by the way, came very close to disaster. These are taken from the black box vidcams on the crawlers, so they're not always well aimed. Stay awake. This is what is going to happen to you."

  The vid started.

  A prairie with scattered groves of trees, in the middle distance, a crawler. People standing around pointing and aiming cams . . . and finally backing toward the crawler as the T-Rex strides into the cam's field of view.

  "Oh shit." Ebsa managed to keep that subvocal. And relived the terrifying near disaster. Showcased, cut and reframed, and sped up. Very much to his relief, his face was never clear in any of the shots.

  The Action Team loved every bit of it, whooping, laughing . . . Ebsa looked over at his own teammates. At least Acty looked horrified. The rest were looking skeptical.

  Pie snorted as the vid ended. "Pulled him out alive? Fat chance I believe that."

  Ultimate nodded, "Fairy tale. Stupid, especially riding the T-rex."

  "Probably staged with mechanical dinosaurs." I-Do shrugged and looked over at the academics. "Impressed the One Hell out of them, though."

  The boss types were still arguing. Ebsa shifted over a couple of seats to hear better, while he fired up his comp and started typing up a list of what he needed to know about this expedition.

  "You'll just have to postpone until you can get a team back. I need to get this team set up—half of them are just back from medical leave—and working with their new teammate. We've some emergencies, high priority, so we're fielding every team possible."

  One of the other administrators sneered. "Like we don't have the same priorities? I'm already stretched thin, all these new gates, all these opportunities for us, for universities, for colony companies . . . I'm putting office people in the field to protect them. Yeah, I know your problem child beating up half his teammates was probably not conducive to team coordination. But they could learn to coordinate with the replacement while guarding the construction crew. Might be good for them."

  Oh? Ebsa stood up and stepped closer.

  Kael snorted. "Point. I could give you a week, so long as all they do is guard and practice." Her glare dropped to Ebsa, then her brows drew together. "Do I know you?"

  "Yes, from Montevideo. Umm, this problem child of yours, can he shoot?"

  "Oh, you're that boy. Yes, damn his hide, he can shoot." A glance at the now blank screen. A humorless grin showed all her teeth as she turned back to the men. "There you go, Obso. I'll send your team a shooter. They can keep him for the whole project, with my blessings. My Team comes back in a week."

  Subdirector Ebko glared at her departing back, then waved one of the men forward. He mounted the podium.

  Ebsa scooted into the row in front of the team and kept typing on his comp.

  "Right. I'm Administrator Obso. My staff will be coordinating all the equipment requests and supplies. Construction Chief Ignu will be in charge of the first stage, building a safe camp. Doctor Yffi Withione is heading up the study." He frowned between the Action and Explorer Teams. "And we'll have Action Team Twenty-nine to provide security for the first stage. Exploration Team Forty-eight will be providing support and logistics through the entire project. The structure will be left in place for further studies."

  "Now, questions?"

  Ebsa jiggled his computer and just happened to have the screen of his comp tilted so Acty could read it . . .

  As least the man was clued in enough to take a hint.

  "Were the crawlers we saw on that vid sufficiently robust for this?"

  The administrator sighed. "No, you may not have a tank."

  "Yes, sir. And do the builders have their own quarters for Across?"

  The construction chief looked around. "We're good. And we've got chow for a month, not that we ought to take longer than a week, but you never know."

  Acty looked over at the Action Team. They shook their heads. And of course the scholars wouldn't have their own.

  "Right. Four bunkhouse crawlers, coming up." Ebsa muttered. "Medic?"

  Okli glared at him, but raised his voice. "Will we have a medic along?"

  "No. You all have field aid training."

  Acty glanced at Ebsa's growing list. "Right, we'll add a lab crawler with a docbox. And an electronics crawler for solid dependable communications and so forth."

  "You do have a budget, Team Leader."

  Ebsa highlighted a line and Acty nodded. "Some of the crawlers will be returning early. Once secure quarters are built, both the construction crew and the Action Team will leave for home."

  The administrator nodded. "You do seem to have a solid grasp of the needs. Anything else?"

  Highlighter.

  "Action Team Leader? Will you be bringing weaponry and ammunition?"

  "We will do that requisitioning ourselves." The Team leader was eyeing them with speculation, instead of contempt, now.

  Ebsa made a mental note to get weapons for themselves. Brisbane Armory twenty millimeter. With penetrating explosive rounds. Twelve millimeter, stunners and shot guns. Something in ten mm might be handy as well. Never tried lasers on them.

  "How often will we have gates, for supply runs?" Howl was getting in on the mouthpiece action.

  Administrator Obso turned to his own computer . . . "Excellent. Our request for a permanent gate has been approved. It will route from an Algae world we're studying, as they don't want a gate directly from home to a dinosaur world. Once that is installed, you will have no limits on supply runs."

  Acty didn't need prompting. "Time frame for that?"

  "Two weeks." A quick frown at the Action Team. "Possibly three. Disco's also scraping up people wherever they can, an
d pressed for time to do everything."

  Okli eyed Ebsa's growing list. "Make sure to order twice as much consumables as you think we'll need, no telling when we'll get resupplied."

  "Yes, sir." I'll play subservient clerk for however long it takes to train my bosses. Hell of a note. He made a note about fuel. And to check with the crew about exactly what they'd be building and the type of power supply for it. Water supply.

  He eyed the university group. Yikes! Five women . . . and two . . . well, he wasn't actually sure. Quick head count . . . eighteen total.

  He tapped out a note to ask the group about any special equipment they needed transported Across.

  "Some bloody clerk. You really do have field experience, don't you?" Acty muttered.

  "Yes, sir."

  Acty snorted, and got up to walk over to the Construction Chief. Shook hands.

  Attaboy! Ebsa rose and followed him, the rest of the team stirring and moving that direction.

  "So, tell me what you're going to be building?" Acty said.

  "A steel panel wall. Thirty meter diameter. Then twenty squishies, with plumbing and power."

  Acty hesitated, nodded as if remembering Ebsa's notes. "What power supply, and what about water?"

  "Solar panels on everything, deep well, with filters and pumps, pressure tank." One of the other engineers sniffed. "Do we need to explain everything to you?"

  Ebsa hesitated. Acty nudged him. "Don't be shy, ask."

  "If the walls are solid, well, we'll need some good vidcam placement so we know what is outside before we open the gate."

  Eyes narrowed. "Good point."

  The academics joined them, then. Doctor Yffi looked at the Action Team, closing in from the other side. "And you will respect the privacy of the female researchers."

  "Of course." Acty's Alpha stance needed work, but it was better than nothing.

  Ebsa looked over at the group. "How many women do you have?"

  The nearest woman bristled. "Do you have a problem with us . . . " She gave up searching for a term of disparagement.