Read Online The Temporal Knights by Richard D. Parker - Free Book Online

immediately took off down the rut of a road. Captain Gardner did not respond at first as his Bot continued to fall from the sky, and a few seconds later the plane disappeared from view.
    “Gardner, raise your altitude...” Moore yelled with equal excitement, as the hummers raced down the road. “We cannot see your position.”
    “Roger...roger...maybe three miles to the southwest...flying over now...”
    “Negative!” both Moore and Lemay yelled at the same time, but Peebles kept quiet, just listening, understanding exactly what the report meant...people. He looked up and found Major Thane staring back at him in rapture. On old Earth there were no people, save dead ones. They’d made it...somewhere at least.
    “I... is it possible?” Robertson said in disbelief, though he’d built the damn thing that brought them here. It was entirely too much for even the knowing mind to comprehend, like walking through the gates of heaven, everyone wanted to believe, most said so, few truly did.
    “...ying over...holy mother Mary! They’ve spotted me,” Gardner added, not purposefully ignoring the orders coming through his headset. He just wasn’t listening to them.
    “Captain raise...”
    “Women! I see women...two, maybe three of the contacts are wearing dresses...coming around...there are females here,” he confirmed and a great roar went up around the command tent.
    “What are they doing?” Peebles asked. They were patched into Gardner’s helmet but the jerking motion of the plane and pilot’s head gave a distorted picture.
    “Uh…running...and screaming,” Gardner admitted.
    The hummers topped a rise and spotted Gardner’s plane, maybe two miles away and turning sharply.
    “Magnify forty,” Moore said and his visor complied.
    “Patch into Moore,” Peebles ordered and his screen immediately filled with the same thing Moore saw...people in the distance running, obviously for their lives.
    “Captain, raise your altitude now,” Peebles said without shouting, though the order somehow came out that way, “before you give them all a heart attack.”
    “Roger,” Gardner answered, finally hearing something other than his own heart hammering in his chest. As he pulled back on the stick he was surprised to find that he was sporting a powerful erection. His plane immediately began to climb, but his eyes were still on the people…the women, below.
    “We’ve done it,” Dr. Rice said and his eyes sparkled with unbridled excitement. All around men were either cheering loudly, or standing silently in stunned disbelief. Two men fainted dead away and half a dozen others were throwing up, but even these men were happy beyond all imagining.
    “We’ve done something,” Peebles answered.
    “Women,” Matt said and felt a tug at his groin. He looked down and then up, smiling sheepishly at the others.
    Peebles, an older man, just laughed at him, but felt the very same stirrings.
    “Gardner climb higher and see if you can spot any possible destinations,” Sergeant Moore ordered calmly, bringing the command team back to the present situation.  His vehicles were quickly closing in on the position of the fleeing people, though everything was still hidden by a distant rise.
    “Roger... climbing. The…targets are fleeing along the road to the south and west...climbing,” Gardner paused for a moment then continued. “Yes! I see it across a small creek, back in some timberland, a small town...walled and surrounded by cultivated fields. Hold on, getting a reading, 5.52 miles away.
    “The people?” Peebles asked, though he could now see them in the distance through Moore’s face shield.
    “Still running...”
    “How far would you estimate the town is from camp?” Colonel Lemay asked.
    “Not far, ten or twelve miles tops. I’ll get a more accurate reading on the return trip,” Gardner said now back to his normal, professional self.
    “Return to base,” Peebles immediately cut in. “I say again, Captain,