‘Copy that,’ Dominique replied, and glanced at Alesandro. ‘Let’s get this done, then we can head over to help Tao.’
They hurried over to the console indicated on their visors, and Alexandro used his laser to cut off the cover.
‘This the right one?’ he queried.
‘So I’m told,’ Dominique replied. ‘Just scramble it.’
Alesandro wasted no time. He swept his laser around the inside of the console until there was little or nothing left of the electronics and stood back to admire his work.
‘I don’t think that’s going to be of use anytime soon,’ he said, a big smile on his face. ‘Ready for rendezvous with Tao.’
Dominique stood frowning. ‘That was too easy. This is a major part of Sama’s strategy. There should have been one guard at least.’
They headed cautiously towards the door and had got no more than a few metres when the alarms stopped.
‘Wow, that’s a relief,’ Dominique said. ‘Audio-safe mode and polarisers off. Maintain combat mode.’
‘Copy that.’
It was much easier with these two facilities discontinued. They were extraordinarily useful, of course, but produced a feeling of claustrophobia and isolation that you just wanted to be rid of at the earliest opportunity. In fact, all the packages built into the agents’ suits carried a mixture of benefits and drawbacks, and even the force field was restrictive during close-quarters combat. Ultimately, it came down to the experience of the agent to determine when or whether to institute one of the facilities – and when to discontinue it.
They were about to leave the engine room when a sudden sound made them stop. It sounded like a flock of huge birds, and appeared to be coming from above them, beyond the ceiling. Both agents drew their lasers and waited, listening and hardly daring to move. Dominique put her ear to the door but could hear nothing.
‘Doesn’t seem to be anything in the corridor. I don’t know what that noise was.’
She opened the door and glanced out, confirming that it was empty before signalling to Alesandro to follow her. Slowly, they started along the corridor, slightly spooked now because of the sound of the wings, and watching out for the sudden appearance of El. They’d gone perhaps ten metres when the ambush was sprung. As with the other agents, hatches opened in the ceiling, in front and behind them. What was different, however, was that there were only four El.
‘Shit!’
Dominique wasn’t going to surrender without a fight. The odds were only two to one, and, despite their size, she felt they had a reasonable chance of taking down these bastards. She and Alesandro stood back-to-back, not the best arrangement for close-quarters fighting but the only possibility under the circumstances.
The El raised their hand weapons, and Dominique grinned. The two agents still had their force fields operational, so guns weren’t going to be effective. She signalled to Alesandro to be prepared to attack on her mark and waited. Let the El commit themselves with their hand weapons, then she’d attack before they could draw their swords.
The El fired – and it wasn’t at all what Dominique had been expecting. It was obvious now why they were working in pairs, and why the ship-wide alarms had been discontinued. One El of each pair fired a laser, low powered so it would pass through the force field, but blindingly bright when shone onto eyes that were no longer protected by polarising filters. The second El of the pair had an acoustic weapon, and now that audio-safe mode was no longer operational, the ultrasonic beam that hit the agents rendered them insensible in seconds. It was all over in no time– a classic non-lethal attack that proved highly effective. The El picked up the unconscious bodies of the two agents and headed towards the “holding cell”.
§
Over in the stasis room, Tao, Sol and Micha were conferring on the best course of action when Jiao informed her of the fate of the other three teams. The AI’s had arranged between them to keep multiple, fluctuating channels open. They’d agreed on a pre-set variation of frequency based on a complex algorithm that they didn’t think even Sama’s technology would be able to crack and, so far, they’d been proved right.
‘The other teams are all taken,’ Jiao said. ‘Two teams are unharmed but locked in a guarded room. Dominique and Alesandro are unconscious and being carried in the direction of that room. We know where the room is, because the AI’s were able to pinpoint it before they were taken away.’ She showed Tao the position of the room on the HUD map. ‘It’s not far from here.’
Tao had been feeling increasingly depressed as the news was relayed to her, but now felt a surge of hope.
‘You mean, a rescue mission?’
‘It would make sense. The more agents we have to protect Micha, the better.’
‘Yeah. You’re right.’ She relayed the news to the others. ‘So, it makes sense to institute a rescue mission,’ she said. ‘Then, when we’re all together again, we’ll head off to the bridge.’ She began to move towards the door.
‘I think you’re wrong,’ Sol said, making no move to follow her.
‘What?’ Tao hadn’t even considered dissention at this stage in the mission, and certainly not from Sol. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Sama’s obviously a clever bastard. He’s been one step ahead of us all the way, and I think we were just lucky not to have been taken as well. I’m sure he’ll have learned very quickly from his failure with us and now he’s luring us into a trap.’
‘Okay, but we’ve learned something too. We’ll go cautiously and keep combat mode, audio-safe and polarisers continuously active. They can’t crack that combination, so if they want us they’ll have to fight hand-to-hand – and I think we’ve already demonstrated our abilities in that area. We won’t be caught unawares, Sol, and we must get our guys back.’
‘There must be another way.’ Sol was feeling very guilty about challenging Tao amid so much chaos, but he was certain he was right.
Tao stood for a moment trying to think of alternative strategies but couldn’t come up with anything remotely plausible. If they reached the bridge with their current small numbers, they’d almost certainly be taken, even though Micha and some of his officers were now armed with their recent opponents’ weapons. In addition, they’d also have to try to protect those El that hadn’t got themselves weapons – more than ten. That would be almost impossible once the fighting started. No, they’d be better off setting their colleagues free – and if that involved another fight, well, they might be able to acquire some more weapons.
‘Sorry, Sol. I don’t think there’s any other option.’
Sol frowned and looked around the room. ‘What do you think, Micha?’
‘I think Tao is correct when she says we have little chance of taking the bridge with our current numbers,’ Micha said. ‘I also think you are correct in saying this might be a trap. On balance, I’m afraid I must agree with Tao.’
Sol nodded dejectedly. ‘Then I’m sorry, but I’m not coming.’
Tao stared at him in shock. ‘Not coming? What’ll you do?’
‘I’ll start a little guerrilla war on the side. If I can pop up in various places and cause a bit of damage, I might be able to pull some of the El away from you.’
‘But you might get killed.’
‘Tao, any one of us might get killed on this mission. It strikes me as pure good luck that nobody has up to now. Now don’t argue, girl. Go get the other agents and give any El you find a taste of your lasers. I’m off.’
To everyone’s astonishment, he walked out of the door and turned down the corridor in the opposite direction to the room where the other agents were being kept. There was a moment of complete silence and everyone’s gaze shifted to Tao. She didn’t waver in the slightest.
‘Alright,’ she said. ‘Sol’s made his decision. The rest of you, follow me.’
Chapter 36
Tao led the way out of the stasis room. She was followed by Pyotr and Fareena, the unarmed El, and finally Micha and his small number of arme
d El taking up the rear. There was relative silence now that the alarms had been discontinued, but Tao was taking no chances, and insisted that the agents keep all their facilities active. Jiao provided her with directions and it wasn’t long before they came up on the door to the room that was supposed to hold the other young agents. They stopped, and Tao beckoned for Micha to came forward.
‘Anything we should know about this room?’ she asked.
Micha was frowning. ‘There’s something,’ he said. ‘Something way down deep that I can’t access because of the ongoing effects of stasis. I would advise extreme caution.’
‘We’re already at high alert,’ Tao said. ‘My people have all their protective gear active, so we should be immune to light and sound attack, energy weapons, and even gas. I’m not so concerned about hand-to-hand combat because I think we’ve already shown we’re up for that. Is there any other threat you can think of, Micha?’
‘There are the folded space weapons that you’ve already seen, but I’d discount those. It needs three at a time to enclose one individual and I don’t believe they could be effective against the numbers we have. It’s the room itself that bothers me. There’s something on the edge of my memory, but I just can’t get it.’
‘In that case, I suggest you and your crew remain outside the room and keep watch. We’ll go in and free our friends. Jiao, any hint of ceiling access to those flight paths in there?’
‘None at all,’ Jiao said. ‘This door is the only way in or out.’
‘Then it’s probably what we think it is – a holding cell. Is that what’s bothering you, Micha? Only one way in and out?’
‘I don’t know.’ The El looked confused and frustrated, clearly still trying to access his errant memory. ‘It might be.’
‘Never mind. We need to go.’
Tao opened the door and glanced in. It was empty except for the captured agents, who were sitting in the far corner, manacled hand and foot to the floor. She beckoned for Pyotr and Fareena to follow her, and the three of them hurried across the room and set about destroying the manacles with their lasers.
The captured agents stood with some difficulty, stretching, and rubbing their hands and feet to get the circulation going again. They were in a sober mood, chastened by their failure to achieve their missions and embarrassed that they’d been taken prisoner so easily. Dominique and Alesandro were the only ones who could at least claim some success, having been able to destroy the weapon before being captured. Overall, though, the mission so far wasn’t going very well.
‘Unforeseen circumstances,’ Tao said. ‘We weren’t to know Sama would have changed the rooms around and altered the map. He didn’t have that much time, but he seems to have accomplished minor miracles. The main thing is, the weapon’s been destroyed, so that buys us some time. We’ve also freed Micha, and that could change everything if we can re-establish him as captain.’
There was a faint whistle from the doorway and Tao saw Micha beckoning frantically. Obviously, someone was coming, so it was time to get out of here and regroup. She waited while the last remnants of the manacles were removed then led the little group back towards the door. That was when things began to go wrong in a big way.
They’d just reached the middle of the room when the door suddenly slammed shut, and no amount of trying from their side could open it. Tao shouted for Micha to open it, but she could hear sounds of combat coming from the other side and could only assume the worst. She drew her laser, intending to cut her way through, but before she could start, a voice came from a speaker in the far wall – a voice she remembered from her previous visit to the ship.
‘Agent Chen, this is Captain Sama. I suggest you do not try to forcibly remove that door.’
Tao hesitated, uncertain now, then there was a sudden loud clanging, and the entire room lurched so violently that most of the agents lost their footing completely. They climbed slowly back to their feet, struggling against the sudden shift in the angle of the floor. The whole room was tilting, and there was a sense of forward motion. Sama’s voice came again.
‘The “room” you are in is an escape pod. There are a number of these around the ship, but they’ve never been used and most of us had forgotten about their existence. I only found them while I was investigating blueprints of the ship’s design, in preparation for the assault I knew would be coming. And I realised I had the perfect use for one of them. The pod you’re in is currently being ejected from the ship, so if you damage that door you’ll be exposed to open space. There’s no airlock.’
‘Shit.’ Tao holstered her PWC. ‘Don’t worry,’ she whispered to the others. ‘Once we’re clear of the ship, we’ll also be clear of the mentalic blocking field, so we’ll be able to fold home. We may not have achieved all our objectives, but now we know more about the ship’s defences, we’ll be able to design another assault.’
‘I expect you’ll be considering folding away as soon as the pod is free of the ship,’ Sama said, making Tao wonder whether he might have latent mentalic abilities of his own. ‘Unfortunately for you, that won’t be possible. The pod will be retained alongside the ship and will still be encased by the ship’s blocking field. It becomes the perfect holding cell for mentalic beings such as yourself. Meanwhile …’ There was a short pause. ‘Ah, I’ve just been told that Micha and his rag-tag group have been recaptured and are, even now, being returned to the stasis chambers. I believe that ties up all the loose ends.’
‘At least your weapon’s been destroyed,’ Tao said, unable to resist the dig. ‘We’ll think of some way to get out of here, believe me.’
‘You may or may not find a means of escape. That’s of little interest to me.’ Sama seemed to be preening, his voice oily and smug. ‘However, the so-called weapon you destroyed was a decoy. The actual weapon is a mere three days away from completion and will be deployed as soon as it’s ready. I’d say your failure is complete, wouldn’t you?’
There was silence from the agents, even Tao unable to think of a ready riposte. Then gravity disappeared as the pod was ejected from the ship.
‘Magnetic clamps on,’ Tao ordered, and the magnetic soles of nine sets of boots were activated, allowing them to walk on the floor, ceiling and walls, even though their concept of up and down was suddenly redundant. ‘Take deep breaths if you experience any nausea and try not to puke. We could be in here for some time and we certainly don’t need that floating round with us.’
She walked away a little from the rest of the bunch and squatted on her haunches for a silent discussion with Jiao.
‘So, what do we do now?’ she telepathed. ‘The bastard seems to have thought of everything.’
‘He actually has thought of everything. We’re completely blocked, both physically and mentalically. Our only hope is Sol. He remains free – and he’s very resourceful.’
‘Yeah.’ Tao sighed as she thought back to her brief conversation with Sol such a short time ago. ‘He was right, wasn’t he? About the ambush, I mean. I should have listened to him. I wonder if Sama knows he’s still on board.’
‘Unlikely, since he appears to have taken pains to get us all in this pod together.’
‘So, there’s still a chance. If Sama deploys that weapon …’
‘I know – it would be a disaster. Even if it resulted in the correct answer, it would be by means of genocide. And if it produces the wrong answer, the whole universe is doomed.’
Tao stood and re-joined the other agents. ‘I think you can disable audio-safe, polarising filters and force fields,’ she said. ‘Combat mode off. Now listen. I suspect Sama can hear everything we say in here, so all conversations of a tactical or mission-sensitive nature should be carried out via PWCs. Understood?’ There were eight sets of nods. ‘Okay.’
Tao telepathed Jiao and the AI passed her next comments on to the other AIs, who relayed it in turn to their human partners. ‘We’re stuck, no doubt about it. I can’t see a way out, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one, and I w
ant everyone to work with their AIs on the problem. Meanwhile, we’re not entirely screwed because Sol is still free on the ship. He might be able to do something, even if it’s just destroying the real weapon. The main thing is not to give up. I’ve been in pretty tight spots before this and have always found a way through.’
She looked round and was buoyed up by the determination that was etched on all the agents’ faces. They were a good bunch, and she felt that together they might still find a way to escape.
‘Alright Jiao,’ she telepathed. ‘Time to get down to some serious work.’
§
Deira paced round the house, feeling bored, useless, and worried. It was the day after the agents had folded out to the El ship, and she’d expected to hear something by now if they’d been successful. The fact that everything remained quiet didn’t bode well, and she knew that, if everything had gone pear-shaped, she needed to form another body for Adam and get him out before that weapon could be used.
She was frustrated because she was, at bottom, an action-freak. She enjoyed doing stuff, and if that stuff was fighting adversaries of one kind or another, so much the better. In the past, she’d been one of the most advanced agents on the planet, the other being Sol. Now, her lack of a PWC made her the weak link among the agents, forever precluded from visiting the infra-low unless she could use somebody else’s AI, and consequently, forever blocked from significant mentalic self-development.
She’d just spent a couple of hours attempting such self-development and had achieved very little. At her level, she needed instruction, like the young agents received during their training schedules and, even if she could move on, she’d still have to accomplish the time-fold before she could seriously begin to bootstrap herself. The more she fretted over it, the more she worried that she was never going to get beyond this point. This looked like the end of the line for her as far as mentalics was concerned. Yet, for some reason, she couldn’t accept that. She wanted more.
Gods of Titan- The Cosmic Constants Page 30
