[Retrieval] The Vault

You might want to read this story first.

Standing in the white corridor, Hatchet let his eyes roam around the corners, looking anywhere but at the keypad on the door at the end of the hallway.  One of the scientists bent over the keypad, typing in a complex sequence, while his companion stood by and looked back nervously at Hatchet.

The keypad wasn't the answer.  The thing was utterly secure; no one could hack through it without leaving evidence behind.  There had to be another way in.

Eat You Alive

The two men headed straight for my table, tucked back into a corner at the back of the bar.

I felt my unease growing as I sized the pair up.  I'd assumed that my watchdogs would be normal men.  Mercenaries, maybe, or ex-military.  A couple muscle-bound toughs, easy to dispose of when I no longer wanted them watching me.

But when these two men entered, their eyes immediately found mine, not even bothering with the rest of the bar's patrons.  The bigger of the pair showed no change of expression, but the little one flashed a brief, smirking little grin at me.

I'd picked the table at the back so that I wouldn't be interrupted.  Now, I found myself casting longing glances towards the bar's rear exit.  Maybe I should have sat closer to the door.

Book 42 of 52: "The Guard", by Peter Terrin

Holy hell, what a strange book.

A little bit of background: "The Guard" was originally written in another language, but was translated to English.  It's won prestigious prizes in Europe, and is supposed to be an "apocalyptic fable."  I'm not sure that's how I'd describe the book, but it's certainly... weird.

And not always in a good way.

First Contact

A thousand cameras followed the alien saucer as it dropped smoothly out of the sky, down towards the front lawn in front of the White House.

Frowning, I hefted the silver flask in my hand.  I usually made more of an attempt to keep the flask hidden from Arthur, my producer standing just behind Charlie the cameraman, but I couldn't manage to exert the effort tonight.

After all, all of us were feeling pretty distracted.

A post-apocalyptic firefighter's call

The siren wailed, cutting through all other noise inside the firehouse.  Throughout the building, men and women paused in their current activities, their heads rising up like deer sniffing at the breeze.

In the break room, I cursed as I fought at the blankets on the cot that tried to ensnare me, wrapping around my limbs.  By the time I managed to fight my way free, I could already hear the rhythmic thudding of boots as the other firefighters hurried downstairs.

Book 41 of 52: "1634: The Baltic War" by Eric Flint and David Weber

Here we go, book 3 in the series!  This is, of course, the sequel to 1632 and 1633, following our time-lost Americans dropped back into 17th century Germany.  At least the naming scheme for the books is pretty consistent, right?

Well, up until this point.  From here on out, the timeline splits a bit as we follow around several different groups.  The book that is the apparent sequel to this one is called "1634: The Galileo Affair", and is set at the same time as this book, but follows different characters.

It's growing too much to keep track of!

The Man in the Field, Part II

Continued from Part 1, here.

I sat at my desk, my fingers interlocked in front of me.  My cup of coffee, the third one of the morning, slowly grew cold beside me.

The body was down on the slab in Samuelson's back room, and I'd carefully locked up that briefcase in our evidence locker.  Lewis had helped me put the thing in there, although neither of us spoke a word for the entire ride back to the station.

It was only after the thing was out of sight, under lock and key, that we started to drift back to normal.  I gave him a couple tasks to do - run down the prints off the dead body, try and get an ID, check for a wallet or other personal items - and sent him off.  Maybe we'd get lucky, find the guy in the system.

I, meanwhile, had a tougher decision to make.

The Man in the Field, Part I

We got the call fairly early in the morning, according to the front desk's note.  Some farmer found the body, out walking his dog.

And that was lucky, too, I thought to myself as I rubbed my hands together.  I always chose the thinnest pair of leather gloves I could find, for dexterity, but they didn't hold in heat worth a damn.  The engine on my unmarked car was running full blast, but the heater always took twenty minutes to warm up.

Sitting beside me, Lewis stamped his feet on the floor and huffed into his own cupped hands, making a sound a bit like a coughing dog.  "Gah!  Is it always this cold?" he complained, wriggling his fingers.

Book 40 of 52: "1633" by Eric Flint and David Weber

Last week, I read Eric Flint's "1632."  Given the title, it should be easy to guess that this book, "1633", is the direct sequel - and you'd be correct!

Once again, we're back with our time-displaced West Virginians in the middle of Germany, smack dab in the center of the 30 Years' War.  Of course, by now our heroic Americans have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with - and word of their presence is spreading!  How are the other nations going to adjust?

Sparring

"Again."

For a moment, as my vision swirled, I thought that I saw three copies of the man, standing over me.  All three copies wore the same identical scowl as they glared down at me.

"Come on," I heard his voice through woolen ears.  "Get up.  We're going again."

A Scrape in the Dark

I stared up at the ceiling, my eyes wide open and my brain feeling like a skipping record.

Okay.  Silence.  It's lasted a while now - it has to have been at least a minute.  Maybe that means that the sound has-

Scrape.

Nope.  There it is again.

Book 39 of 52: "1632", by Eric Flint

Ever dreamed of going back in time, maybe with a .45 caliber pistol to help smooth things over with the natives?  Well, in "1632", an entire town of West Virginia hillbillies is magically/mystically teleported back to the middle of Europe, in the titular year, right in the middle of the 30 Years' War.

How's it happen?  There's a brief little science explanation, but the "how" doesn't really matter.  No, what truly matters is what happens next - and that's four hundred pages of good ol'fashioned American ass kicking.

[Elements] Be meets Al, K, and V

For reference: https://imgur.com/gallery/OawUY

"Through here!" Alli called to me, her voice barely audible over the rumble of machinery.  "We're close now!"

"Close to what?" I shouted back, although I knew that it wasn't of any use.  The girl had already dashed too far ahead to hear my response, and even though she'd disappeared out of view, I saw a door fly open ahead of me.

Shaking my head, I hurried after her.  What we were even doing here, in this dangerous factory, wasn't clear to me.  But this girl was my only contact, and I had to follow her.