Traveller - L.W. Samuelson (free e books to read online TXT) 📗

objects on the ground.”
“How you know that?” asked Willy.
“My dad’s a combat pilot. They have cannons on board plus they carry four heat-seeking Sidewinders. The missiles keep a constant angle to the target so they can hit an object that’s moving to an intercept point. If they fire one of those at us we’re dead,” Tim replied.
“This is going to be fun!” Traveller enthused.
“Fun? What’s fun ‘bout dodgin’ missiles? Let me out at the next corner, fool,” Willy said frantically.
“Don’t worry Willy. There are all kinds of places to hide,” Traveller reassured. He had dropped the spaceship down to tree skimming level. “In case we don’t get out of this, thanks for the blood Bro’”
“Man, my life just be looking up and suddenly I’m in a ship of fools ready to meet my maker. Ain’t no justice in this world. No justice at all,” Willy said before he closed his eyes.
Traveller turned on the ship’s all-frequency communications systems and the three hundred sixty degree visual system. The F-15 pilot’s voice came through crystal clear as the jets passed over the area again. “This is Captain Jenkins of the United States Air Force. Please identify yourselves. Repeat, this is Captain Jenkins of the Unites States Air Force. Please identify yourselves.”
“You can’t answer them,” Tim said. “If they get a hold of this spaceship, you’ll be locked up forever explaining how to work it and where you came from.”
The screaming noise of the jet engines grew louder again. “Either identify yourselves or land your craft. This is a warning! You will be fired upon if you do not respond,” Captain Jenkins reiterated.
“Watch this,” said Traveller. Suddenly the spacecraft dropped down leaving everyone’s stomach in the air. The spaceship hovered inside the tree tops that pointed like arrow heads into the sky. The high pitched screaming diminished as the jets flew over their position. Traveller sensed movement behind him as Tim and Jesse were removing something from the cargo hold.
“I hate playing cat and mouse with the U.S. Air Force,” Willy said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I’m on it,” Traveller said. When he elevated, the spaceship showed up on both jets’ radar systems. Even though they were at high altitude, both of them fired a Sidewinder at the blip on their screens. The second the missiles were released, they registered on Traveller’s view screen. He accelerated and banked left. The missiles hit the top of the trees and exploded flipping the spaceship sideways into a roll.
Traveller lost control of the ship momentarily until it automatically stabilized. “Excuse me for living. Those guys are out to kill us,” he said. The ship was heading west by the time it responded to Traveller’s will.
He looked behind him. Jesse and Tim had rolled themselves up in the tarps and padding they had taken from the hold to keep from being battered to death by the rapid movement of the ship. Both of them had their heads covered so they couldn’t see what was happening.
Operating on instincts, Traveller stopped the pod in midair. He engaged the thrusters on the bottom of the ship and it shot straight up. He spotted a treeless ridge with a gigantic snowdrift on its eastern side.
Traveller pushed the accelerator to full throttle headed for the drift. “Guys get out of the sleeping bags and get your backpacks. Stand by the door. Be ready to jump and run when I open it. Get as far away from the pod as you can. You too Willy. Unstrap and get your backpack. Put the medical kit in my pack, set it by the door.”
The ship was picking up speed. Traveller guided it toward the part of the drift that had edged over from the wind. He aimed for what he hoped would be deep snow. Suddenly he cut the engines and dropped the stabilizer bars. When the ship glided into the drift, chunks of snow flew into the air. The ridge of white collapsed onto the ship.
Traveller opened the door. “Go, go, go!” he yelled. Snow fell onto the deck, only half the opening was clear. Jesse threw his backpack out before jumping through their window of survival. Tim followed with Willy right behind him. “Run, get as far away as you can!” Traveller screamed as they picked up their packs.
There was no running in a snow drift, but the three men were able to wade down the drift to where it ended in a stream caused by the melting snow. They crossed at the bottom of the ravine splashing into the water. The men kept going up the slope on the other side into the trees.
Traveller pushed the red self-destruct icon on the control panel. He set it for two minutes before calmly grabbing his pack and slithering through the partially blocked door. He could hear the jets screaming in for the kill as he slid down the drift on his belly wiggling like a seal. Just before he got to the water, he rolled over and dug his heels in. Now he stood up and ran through the stream then up the slope to a rock he had spotted on the slide downward. Traveller clambered behind the rock with his hands over his head just as the ship exploded. Snow and mud erupted into a volcanic shower that cascaded down into the surrounding area. The sound of the explosion was followed by the screaming jets passing a few hundred feet above the trees.
Traveller stood. He ran in the direction his friends had taken. He met them coming toward him. “You made it!” Jesse said with relief.
“Good Lord Bro’, that was one helluva an explosion,” Willy said as the four men met and hugged. “We’re alive. Thank God Almighty, we’re alive!”
Chapter 38 - Escape from the Hills

“We’ve gotta get out of this area,” Tim said. “They’ll be sending the National Guard down here to investigate.”
“Take the lead, Jesse. Pace yourself,” Traveller ordered.
“Let’s go northeast. We need to get across the road to Pomerelle as soon as possible,” Tim suggested.
Jesse set a brisk pace. Whenever they came to a bare ridge, he would stop at the tree line, check for helicopters or planes, and when the coast was clear, the men would run to the opposite tree line. No one spoke or joked. They were putting every effort into breathing and getting away.
It took over an hour to get to the road leading to the ski area. They stayed in the trees listening for vehicles. An ambulance roared by with its lights flashing, sirens blaring. The silence returned in its wake.
Jesse checked the sky. When he motioned, they slid down the bank onto the road and ran across into the trees on the other side. “Take five,” he said lying down on a pine needle bed underneath an evergreen.
The men lay on their backs panting, too tired to communicate. Even Traveller was exhausted. Five minutes stretched into ten before they caught their breath. The sun was just past mid-sky.
“We can slow down now,” Tim said. “We will want to go east. Stay high in the trees.”
“Next time anybody asks me to go camping, ain’t no way, no how. They was shootin’ missiles at us man!”
“Probably the Ku Klux Klan, Willy,” Jesse joked. “This is Idaho.”
“I thought they were all in northern Idaho,” Tim said.
“That was the U.S. Air Force fools,” Willy informed them.

The men kept walking east until late in the afternoon. They stopped on a game trail to rest. “We’re not going to make it today,” Tim said looking at the position of the sun just above the western horizon.
“You sayin’ we have to spend the night out here? Ain’t got no sleepin’ bags, not even a blanket,” Willy said incredulously.
“Not only that, but we won’t be able to start a fire,” Jesse said.
With great disappointment, Willy complained, “Good Lord when the dogs all run. I’m just gonna get out in the open, wait for a plane, give myself up.”
“We’ll be okay. We can gather pine boughs and spoon together,” Tim said.
“Spoon together? Man I like the girls, ain’t gonna be no spoonin’,” Willy replied.
“Come on, you can spoon with me,” Jesse joked putting his arm around Willy.
Willy jerked away, “Don’t touch me honky!”
Jesse looked at Tim with a twinkle in his eye, “What’s the matter Willy? Am I giving you the willies?”
“Stupid Jesse, stupid, stupid, stupid,” Willy pronounced shaking his head. “Here we are gonna freeze to death and all you do is joke. There be a bigger fool, I’d like to see ‘im.”
While his friends were jawing, Traveller had found a depression under an evergreen. It was covered with a deep layer of pine needles. He twisted two long hanging branches from a nearby tree and then placed them in the prospective bed.
“Let’s help him,” Tim suggested getting his hatchet from his backpack. “I’ll cut’em off, you guys layer’em in.”
“Gosh dang it, sleepin’ out here in the cold. Probly get attacked by a mountain lion. Bet it’s sneakin’ up on us right now. Hope it likes white meat ‘cause I’m too beautiful to be eaten,” Willy complained as he placed branches on top of the others.
By the time the bed was finished, the sun had fallen behind the mountains. In the semi-dark Traveller passed some synthowafers around and shared his water with everyone on. The men had placed their backpacks on the edge of the bed for a wind break.
Traveller pulled a lightweight space blanket from his pack and spread it out. It was just wide enough to fit over three people. When the cold deepened with the dark, Tim, Jesse, and Traveller crawled underneath the blanket with Jesse in the middle. Willy lay on top of the boughs with his arms folded while they spooned together to keep warm.
After a half hour had passed, Tim said, “Spoon right,” and everyone shifted positions except for Willy. His teeth were chattering and the boughs shook with his shaking.
“It’s warm in here,” said Jesse. “You can spoon with me.”
“I ain’t . . . I ain’t spoonin’ with you honkie.”
“Suit yourself. If you’d rather die of hypothermia, that’s your problem,” Jesse said.
An hour later, the dark intensified as did the bitter, high elevation cold. “Spoon left,” Tim said and everyone rolled over. “You okay?” he asked Willy.
“My feet be freezing. My hands’re froze and I can’t feel my ears anymore,” Willy replied.
Traveller lifted his blanket, “Get in here Bro’.”
“Anybody say anything to anybody ‘bout this, I’ll rip their guts out and serve’m to’em on a platter,” Willy said as he rolled inside the blanket to spoon with Traveller who held Willy tight against him until he quit shivering.
“Spoon right,” Tim said a half hour later.
The foursome spent the night trying to stay inside the blanket to keep warm. No one slept much with all the spooning, but they did keep from freezing to death.

“Oh Lord, what an awful night that was,” Willy said the next morning as he stood rubbing his sore neck.
“It could have been worse. At least we’re not eating raw salt pork and hard tack for breakfast,” Tim said as he distributed an apple and some jerky to everyone. When they finished eating, Tim led them into the rising sun eastward toward their base camp.

It was noon on a windy cool day before they got to the hill that led to the vehicle. Jesse ran down the slope with excitement. “I can’t wait to start the Scout and get warm.”
“Whadda ‘bout me? I spent hafda night ‘thout