V: The Crivit Experiment Read online

  DEMON IN THE SAND

  The moving sand mound, now only a hundred feet from the goat, must have made some sound because the animal suddenly raised its head and turned. It bleated once and tried to back away, but the mound accelerated, and suddenly two long snaky tentacles came up from the sand and wrapped themselves around the helpless goat. The goat screamed, and then the tentacles dragged it down under the surface.

  Whatever was under the sand was either eating the goat right there or it was going back deeper, because there was no movement now, no mound skimming just under the surface.

  Durk made it over the fence in one step and then ran toward the truck. He didn't remember opening or closing the door. He was just suddenly driving like hell back across his fields. Good, solid clay fields where no sand-demon could go.

  Other V books from Pinnacle

  V

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  THE PURSUIT OF DIANA

  THE CHICAGO CONVERSION

  THE FLORIDA PROJECT

  PRISONERS AND PAWNS

  THE ALIEN SWORDMASTER

  ATTENTION: SCHOOLS AND CORPORATIONS

  PINNACLE Books are available at quantity discounts with bulk purchases for educational, business or special promotional use. For further details, please write to: SPECIAL SALES MANAGER, Pinnacle Books, Inc., 1430 Broadway, New York, NY 10018.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  V: THE CRIVIT EXPERIMENT

  Copyright 1985 by Warner Bros. Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

  An original Pinnacle Books edition, published for the first time anywhere.

  First printing/May 1985

  ISBN: 0-523-42466-3

  Can. ISBN: 0-523-43441-3

  Printed in the United States of America

  PINNACLE BOOKS, INC.

  1430 Broadway

  New York, New York 10018

  9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  An S522 Ebook Conversion

  THE CRIVIT EXPERIMENT

  Chapter 1

  There was no moon, and what little starlight there was was blocked out by the dense foliage overhead. The four figures moved through the trees of the Park, close enough together that they wouldn't lose each other. It was easy keeping quiet here, where the Park forest was tended, but as they went south they passed beyond the area under management and entered the part that was still as it had been when the Research Triangle Park had been developed years ago.

  Here there were briars, brambles, and other vines, including poison ivy. Mark Casey, the only one with any combat experience, led the way by dead reckoning. Though they all knew where their destination lay, none had ever been there, nor had they traveled this route before. Humans were not welcome at the research complex which the Visitors had taken over from General Electric six months ago.

  It was only a little after midnight, still early for the kind of exploit on which they were engaged. But unlike the raids that still occasionally got TV coverage, this trip to what was now the Visitor RTP Area Administration Center would fail utterly if it was even suspected to have taken place. They were not going to attack, to fight, or to destroy, but to spy.

  Behind Mark was Lester Ortega, short and dumpy compared to Mark's tall, slender frame. He kept his hand gently on Mark's back, to keep track of his leader's position. Separation of more than a few feet would lose him in the dark. Behind him was Steve Wong, not much taller than Lester, but thinner even than Mark, his body hard and stringy. Behind him came Anne Marino, taller than the two men in front of her, her eyes and ears directed to either side and behind, letting herself be led by her hand on Steve's back.

  They did not speak as they walked, nor when they stopped at the edge of the untended area. Ahead were more trees, mostly pines sixty or so feet tall, but the ground was a carpet of pine needles instead of a tangle of undergrowth. As they had rehearsed it back at the woods surrounding the Data Tronix building to the north, they came up beside Mark and leaned toward him so that they could hear his whisper. This was just in case the Visitors had sound detectors aimed in their direction.

  Mark was peering through the subtly lessened darkness, trying to locate their position. An occasional star peeked down through the pine branches high overhead. The ground sloped gently down toward the south, and he thought he could see a denser area to his left, which should be the shallow bed of a run-off creek, dry except after a heavy rain. If that was correct, then he knew where he was. He'd studied the topo maps of the area carefully, though it was different actually being there.

  He hunkered down on his heels, and the others did likewise. That close to the ground, their soft whispers should be distorted by the ground itself and not recognizable if they were being listened to.

  "If we're where I think we are," he whispered, and the others had to lean nearer to hear him, "the GE building is just over a rise ahead. Spread out a little bit, try to keep your neighbor in sight, count two hundred paces, then stop."

  They did not vocalize their response, but stood up again, forming a line to right and left of their leader. Lester took the far right, then Mark, then Steve, with Anne on the far left. She had the better night vision, and so was given the flank where there was more likelihood of running into trouble with undergrowth. They spread out until they were about ten feet apart, and barely visible to each other.

  Mark made a small sound with his mouth, a kind of kissing noise that might have been a bird or an insect calling. With that signal they set out, trying to keep a straight course, and keeping as quiet as they could. Silently they counted. At seventy-five, by Mark's count, the ground began to rise gently, though the hill ahead of them was invisible. At step one hundred eighty-three, the shallow slope leveled off, and he stopped at two hundred.

  He looked around. None of the others were in sight. Once again he made the small noise, and heard Lester responding from his right. Cupping his hands, he chirped toward the left. Steve answered, and then chirped again, a predetermined signal that Anne, farther away, had seen something. Mark chirped back at Lester, waited until the smaller man joined him, and then went toward his left flank. Occasional chirps kept them on course.

  Their line had lengthened considerably in the short march, and Anne was fifty paces left of Mark's position. She was now lying on her stomach, peering across the top of the ground toward a tiny spark of light off through the trees. Since the Visitor center was the only building in this part of the Park, that had to be what was ahead of them.

  They paused a moment, to calm themselves, to focus their attention, and on Mark's signal they started toward the light. Though they now knew where their destination lay, they still had to keep track of each other And they had to be more quiet than ever. They didn't know if the Visitors had sound detectors aimed in their direction, and they had to be careful of the possibility.

  The tiny light ahead flickered as they moved, now blocked by a tree, now revealed again, it grew lighter, and then there were other lights visible. Abruptly they came to the edge of the tended forest, and bare lawn swept down to what was supposed to have been the General Electric research facility, before the Visitors had come nearly two years ago, and which had stood empty for a year and a half. Far off to the left they could now hear the faint sounds of traffic on the highway that ran south from Durham past the east side of the Research Triangle Park. Trees there obscured the headlights of the few cars going by. Trees beyond the Visitor center formed a black shadow, higher than the facility itself, so that they coul
d not see its outlines. To the right of the building were the parking lots, intended to serve a staff of five hundred, now holding only four skyfighters in various configurations, and a half-dozen ground vehicles.

  And halfway between them and the building were the pale blue horizontal lines of an energy-beam fence. But Mark was prepared for that. After a silent consultation with his fellows, he started across the lawn, crawling on his stomach. One by one, in single file, the others followed him, being careful not to dig into the rough turf and thereby leave any tracks.

  The light of the energy fence was bright enough to see by. Each beam, as big around as a quarter, was separated from the next above and below by only ten inches. An occasional insect sparked to destruction as it touched the pale blue light. A small explosive charge could destroy one of the pylons from which the beams emanated, but that would give them away and might not even give them access.

  Instead, Mark took an object like a long, flexible vacuum cleaner hose from Steve's back. At each end was a large lens, covered with a lens cap and attached to a short, sharp spike. Mark inched up to the fence, placed one spike into the ground, and pushed it down until the lens was at the same height as the lowest beam. Then, moving to the right, he placed the second lens similarly. They were just far enough apart so that he could reach both lenses at the same time. He took off the lens caps, and then with one quick movement pushed both lenses into the path of the beam at the same time.

  If the beam were broken for longer than it would take for a rabbit or bird to be destroyed as it passed through it, an alarm would sound inside the building. He had that much leeway. The light of the beam entered one lens—he didn't know which one—and was fed through the massive fiberoptic bundle encased in the tube connecting it to the other lens. They now had a clear space about three feet wide, with the next beam up twenty inches from the ground.

  From Lester's back Mark took a second light pipe, this one with longer spikes, and performed the same operation, shunting this second beam around as he had before. One more light pipe from Anne's back, and they had a clear space wide enough for one person, and high enough to let that person go through in a low crouch instead of a crawl. The light pipes were long enough that they could be pulled well back and out of the way of anyone trying to go through this seeming hole in the fence. Mark was first.

  They left the three rerouters in place, in anticipation of their departure. Staying low to the ground, they moved closer to the building. There were no spotlights illuminating the grounds, just the faint glow of several windows on the first and second floors. Just a few windows—with a staff of about twenty, most of the building was left empty.

  But there were guards, at least two of them. Their posture and walk as they patrolled indicated that they were expecting no trouble. Mark and the others intended to give them none. It would have been easy to sneak up behind one of the Visitors and slit his or her throat, but a body, or even a missing guard, would have alerted the Visitors that someone had come here, and that would have defeated the purpose of this expedition. For the plans to work, the Visitors couldn't even suspect that any humans had been near tonight.

  It was Steve's turn to lead. He took out a tiny map, its markings dead black on a super-white surface so that he could read it if there was any light at all. He waited until the guards were out of sight around a corner of the building, then led the others toward a loading bay at the other end of the structure. But as they neared, they could hear the strangely resonant voices of the Visitors.

  There was no concealment. Steve made his decision quickly and scuttled across the lawn to where concrete traffic stops at the edge of the parking area cast a slightly deeper shadow, and threw himself into its dubious protection. The others followed suit. Only the brighter light of the guard-post area protected them, making the Visitors' eyes less sensitive than they might be to the dark. They did not wear their dark glasses here, since this level of illumination was what they preferred. Had the guards been standing in a darkened alcove, they could have seen the invaders easily.

  The four humans put their heads together so that they could see Steve's map. He pointed to the place on the sketch that corresponded to the loading dock by which they had intended to enter, and then to another place, farther around toward the side of the building. The front faced south, and they were at the north. At the side were several other entrances, which under normal circumstances would have been lit up at night. Even if they were tonight, they had to take the chance, because there was no getting in the way they had planned.

  To get to the other possible entrance, they had to cross the parking area. This was paved with gravel, and it made a lot of noise as they walked, but in compensation, they were able to hide behind the flyers and ground cars. The alternative entrance was in fact dimly lit, but there were no Visitors in sight. They waited until the guards came around, ambling easily and talking softly to each other. When they passed the corner on their way to the guard station, the four humans went quickly to the slightly recessed door.

  Mark got out the key that had been specially made for this expedition and tried it in the lock. It entered perfectly, but wouldn't turn.

  "Let me," Anne whispered. Mark made room for her at the door.

  She took a small bundle from her jacket pocket, including what looked like a pair of glasses. When she put these on, twin pencil-thin beams of light shone out, crossing just inches in front of her eyes. She knelt at the door so that the lights illuminated just the lock itself and no more. Then she took two dental picks from the bundle and inserted them in the lock.

  "They teach you more than physics and computer science at Caltech," she muttered as she worked. Her right-hand pick sought the tumblers, the one in her left hand held them in place as she lifted each one. At last she seemed to be done. Mark reached over her head and delicately turned the knob. The door opened, Anne withdrew her picks, and they all went inside.

  "Don't let the door close," she hissed as Steve came through last. He caught it just in time. Anne wiggled the inside knob—the bolt stayed shut. She pressed it in and with a bit of adhesive tape fastened it tight. The outer knob would still feel locked, and the regular latch would keep the door closed, but from inside they would be able to open it easily.

  "Good," Mark said as Anne let the door close at last. Then he turned to Steve. "Where are we?" he asked.

  Steve took out another map, a larger one more prosaically printed. On it was a complete plan of the ground floor of the GE building, now the Visitor RTP headquarters.

  "This is the shipping department," he said, pointing. "See, right there are the loading docks and the warehouse areas, but here is where all the offices are for that." He traced a line with his finger. "We have to go through here ... and there're the stairs to the basement."

  "You lead," Mark said.

  The inside of the building was pitch black once they left the immediate area of the door. As they had in the woods, they went single file, hands on the person ahead, while Steve led the way by feel and by his memory of the map. It seemed to be going well until Steve suddenly stopped.

  "I've got to have a light," he whispered. They clustered around him so the beam from the dimmed flash that Anne held wouldn't shine farther than their own bodies. Steve looked at the map, looked around at the room in which they now found themselves.

  "They've changed the partitions in here," he said. He checked the map again. "It looks like they've divided the stock area up into smaller rooms. I have no idea where the stair is from here."

  "Is there another way down?" Lester asked, fidgeting nervously.

  "There's a central stair just beyond the shipping offices," Steve said. "We'll have to go back to where we came in."

  "Well, let's go then," Mark whispered. "It's after two."

  "Let me memorize the map a minute," Steve whispered back. "Okay," he said after only a few seconds. "Lights out, follow me."

  He led them back to where they had entered, and then into the darkness
again. Up a hall, into a large room which they traversed by going along the wall, out a door, and into another space, which, they could tell by the sound, was large and empty. From somewhere came the muffled sound of voices. Steve hesitated a moment, then turned them toward the left. Mark, immediately behind him, heard him fiddle with a doorknob, and then felt Steve's shoulder lower as he started down a flight of stairs.

  At the bottom Steve asked for light again so he could check out the basement floor plan. They did not speak, and it took him only moments to decide where they were and which way to go. He led them on, into an area where there were dim lights shining in the ceiling. Even Visitors could not see in absolute darkness, and the lights here indicated that this part of the building was occasionally visited.

  They went down corridors, across what looked like a handball court, past showers and lockers, and through a heavy door into another hall. "This is where we should have come down," Steve whispered, pointing to the right, where a stairway descended from the floor above.

  They moved quickly now, having rehearsed this route before. The corridor lights were very dim, but there was enough light so they could see where they were going. Steve paused at another heavy door, a security door, where once again Anne went to work. She quickly had it open and they all went inside.

  This door opened with a simple press bar from within, and when it was shut, sealed off all light. In the pitch blackness Anne felt for and found the switch.

  "This is the right place," Lester Ortega said as the lights came on, nearly blinding them though these lights too were set for the aliens' preferred lower illumination levels.

  It was a small room, with heavy power buses set into the walls, wires and cables of all kinds coming down conduits to boxes, breakers, panels, and connectors. This was the heart of the building—all electrical lines joined here in a giant ganglion before being sent out to the world or in to offices and stations inside.

  Once again it was Mark's turn to take command, as Anne kept an ear to the door Though no light could get out, sound might, and if she heard anybody in the hall beyond, she would turn off the lights and all would fall silent.