ARMS Helm's End: (Book 7)

by Stephen Arseneault

  Harris chuckled as he flexed an ankle. "Don't know. Seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Besides, how many times you get to crash on a starship and walk away from it?"

  "Well, let's make this our last."

  "Agreed."

  Tawn walked across the wall, looking up as smoke billowed in through the door that now sat eight meters above their heads. "And how about crashing one on its base for a change. You're making it difficult for us to get out."

  Harris ran a scan. "Speaking of that. I'm showing a couple hundred degrees about twenty meters outside that door. We may not be going out through there."

  "Is there another way?"

  Harris looked around the room, fixing on a pair of small doors on the opposite wall, fifteen meters above their heads. "Those look like escape pod hatches?"

  Tawn moved over and began to climb up the consoles that lined the front of the bridge. "We're about to find out."

  The smoke from the fire continued to fill the room. Tawn reached the far wall, five meters from the nearest hatch door.

  Harris waved smoke from in front of his facemask. "Can't get to it?"

  "Nothing to grab but the handle itself."

  "That's an awful long jump. You don't look too stable up there."

  "I'm not. This console is flimsy."

  Harris looked around. "If we had some rope you might be able to lasso it."

  An explosion in the out hall saw a three meter flame shoot into the bridge compartment, burning bright for several seconds before falling back into the billowing carbon mix that was beginning to heavily obscure their vision.

  "I'm going for it."

  "Don't think that's wise."

  "Would you rather burn alive?"

  "You make a good point."

  Tawn braced herself as she crouched to get maximum spring from her legs. A hard leap saw a single hand grasping the handle of the possible doorway to freedom. The Biomarine swung back and forth for several seconds before steadying herself to the point of grabbing hold with her other hand.

  Harris said, "I think you should come back."

  Tawn looked down with a scowl. "What?"

  Harris chuckled. "It was a joke."

  "You're an idiot."

  "I can be. But who's the one dangling fifteen meters in the air here?"

  "I'm going for the open."

  After pulling herself close, she allowed her body to drop as she spun the handle. The door flipped open, ripping it from her grasp. She fell the fifteen meters, slamming into the wall beside Harris in an awkward way, her left leg twisting up behind her as her femur snapped.

  Harris surveyed the damage. "That does not look good."

  Tawn winced. "Doesn't feel all that good either. Suit held me together as much as it could, but this will need setting."

  Harris shook his head. "You're gonna hate me for straightening you out here. And without seeing that break, we may be doing more damage than good."

  "Just do it. Felt like a clean break, and we need to get out of here."

  "You ever had a broken leg before?"

  "No."

  "Then how do you know it felt like a clean break?"

  Tawn stared for several seconds. "You gonna do this or what?"

  Harris took a deep breath. "Reach over and grab that bar."

  Tawn's face contorted as she stretched. "Like this?"

  Harris sat, gently grabbing her foot as he put his right boot on the base of her rump. "You'll know if it goes in place."

  A hard pull and a grunt was followed by a scream. "Gah! Mother of Domicile that hurt!"

  "More pain or just feeling numb?"

  "It set. Now pass me that bar. And rip out a few of those wires from under that console. I'll splint myself. You get up and out of that hatch."

  Harris stood and retrieved the materials needed for a splint. A hop had him on the first console and on the way up. Seconds later, he was looking at the open hatch door from the top of the console.

  Tawn scowled. "You part monkey or what?"

  "Just always been good at climbing."

  After a crouch and a leap the hundred twelve kilogram Biomarine stump found himself dangling from the hatch frame by one hand. With a hard pull, he got his other hand on the other side. With a swing and a near flip his body was halfway through the hatch. Grabbing an interior handle, he stared down through the smoke at his partner.

  "Looks to be intact. Don't know what will happen when I pull that lever, but I'm certain it will take me away from here. Hang in there and I'll—"

  Tawn waved a hand with a further scowl. "Just go already, before we both burn!"

  The hatch was pulled shut. Harris strapped himself into the small Burrell seat. The launch lever was pulled and the escape pod jettisoned. After rocketing about fifty meters into the air the pod fell back to the ground, slamming hard into the rocky dirt of Helm. The inertial dampener disengaged and a disoriented but intact Harris Gruberg emerged.

  "I'm out. Dampener did a good job of absorbing the impact, but not fully."

  "You hurt?"

  "I slammed my head into the console."

  "Yeah, but are you hurt?"

  Harris chuckled. "A little dazed, but the fog is clearing."

  "You coming to get me or what?"

  Harris laughed. "Well not if you're gonna be so pushy. Hang on, I'm looking through the survival gear for rope. And we have it. Thirty meters worth. Just hope it's strong enough to hold big old you."

  "I have a broken leg and I'm trapped on a burning starship. You think your jokes are cheering me up?"

  "Is it my delivery? Maybe it doesn't come across right when I'm not there to act it out in person."

  "You coming?"

  "Climbing the hull as we speak. Hold your grumpy horses. I'll be right there."

  A second explosion rocked the ship, throwing Harris a meter in the air and nearly off the side of the downed behemoth.

  Tawn said, "You better pick up the pace. That fire's coming in here now like a furnace blast."

  "Almost there. Hang on. Gotta pop this latch."

  The door swung open, a torrent of heat and smoke rushed upward. The flames coming from the hall grew as the moving air provided oxygen.

  Harris leaned back as close to the hole as he could. "Suit exterior showing a hundred seventy degrees. I'm tying off the rope."

  "For what?"

  "So I can come down there and get you?"

  "You'll do no such thing. I'll tie myself off. You pull me up. Now, let’s bust it, because my suit cooler is flashing a warning at me."

  Harris complied. One end of the rope was tied off and the other dropped through the open hatch. Tawn moved herself into position, getting a firm grip.

  She tugged at the line. "Ready when you are."

  "Hope this thing doesn't snap from the heat."

  "You trying to cheer me up again?"

  Harris chuckled as he grunted and pulled. "I'll pull, then you pull. Got it?"

  "Just go."

  The strong hands and muscular arms of both the slug and the stump worked to win Tawn her freedom. Twenty seconds after the grunting had begun, Harris was pulling her up through the hatch. Thirty seconds after, they were on the outer hull, Harris carrying his injured partner on his back. A suitable site was located on the exterior, and the Biomarines climbed to the ground.

  Tawn glanced up, thinking about what they had just overcome.

  Harris grabbed her around the waist. "Come on, this thing could still blow."

  "Take us back to where we first came in."

  "Why?"

  "That's where I left the water."

  Harris rolled his eyes. "Great. I guess that means we're now in even bigger trouble."

  "Why?"

  "That spot is about fifty meters that way, up under this ship."

  Tawn sighed. "Just when you think it can't get any better."

  — Chapter 17 —

  * * *

  When they reached the base of the hill where F
arker had last been seen, Harris turned back to look at the ship. Flames raged and smoke billowed.

  "I have to go back."

  "What? Why?"

  "Water. We won't make it two days out here without it. And that structure the colonel and his men were in is about a hundred forty kilometers that way."

  "Leave me here. You go and get water and help."

  Harris chuckled. "As tempting as that sounds... no. We go together. Now wait here for me while I search that ship for water. They have it on there. I just have to avoid the fires."

  "And the explosions."

  "Those too. Be right back."

  Harris hustled down the hillside and across the open expanse. At the side of the ship he climbed the hull before racing over to the still open rampway. He disappeared inside.

  Tawn opened a comm. "Tell me what you're seeing."

  Harris chuckled as he moved down a smoky hall. "How’s that gonna help?"

  "Keeps me from being bored and thinking too much about this leg."

  "If you hadn't been so sloppy, you'd be walking around right now."

  "You do know that I know where you sleep, right? I don't have to walk to use this blade on your gut."

  Harris laughed. "You're a class act, Freely. Glad to have you as a partner."

  "Some partnership this is. Stranded on Helm, and I have a busted leg, and you a dead dog."

  "Don't say that. He may still be functional. And besides, we're gonna need him if we want to get back to Midelon. Wait... this looks like a dining hall. Wish I'd brought that rope."

  "Don't go in if you can't get out."

  "I'm not stu—"

  Another explosion rocked the downed transport. Harris was thrown forward and into the open doorway, slamming into the far wall at the bottom of a five meter drop.

  "You OK?"

  "Took a chair leg right in the ribs. Didn't penetrate. And I can still breathe, but there's no doubt gonna be a bruise."

  Tawn smirked. "This has got to be our best outing yet. What else could happen?"

  "A lot else could happen. Don't be inviting it. Hey... I have jugs of water. Think we hit the jackpot."

  "You still have to get them out."

  "Who's trying to cheer up who now?"

  Harris scanned the room before going on a rampage of stacking chairs and tables. After looking over his shoddy creation of a ladder, he enabled his helmet cam.

  Tawn asked. "What am I seeing?"

  "My way out. Now I just have to figure out how to carry those jugs while maintaining my balance and not collapsing that monstrosity."

  "Well, be careful. I am gonna need your help to get out of this place. And why'd you turn on the cam?"

  "Thought you might enjoy the suspense."

  A twenty-liter jug was hoisted up under his arm. The first few steps were wobbly, but a shift in the base table set things right. A careful, controlled climb had the first of four jugs placed up into the hallway. Three return trips saw the Biomarine pulling himself into the hall and upright.

  "Wasn't so bad."

  "How you planning on carrying those?"

  "Hmm. Guess I need a pole for my shoulders. And something that will fit through those loops."

  A careful climb had him back down in the dining hall and milling around. A bar used as part of a rack was removed and tossed up through the opening. After climbing up, he placed the bar through the jugs and hoisted them up onto his shoulders. A short walk later, he was back on the outer hull. The jugs were carried to the ground individually.

  A huffing Harris stopped as he reached the resting Tawn. "We have water, and I need some. My pouch is dry."

  Tawn gestured. "You have eighty liters right there in front of you. Have at it."

  The forward half of the transport exploded, sending debris in every direction. A concussion wave knocked Harris from his feet.

  Tawn chuckled. "Not our day, is it?"

  "Let's get up and over this hill. I'll fill my pouch on the other side."

  "How we gonna work this?"

  Harris looked around. "Sit tight. I'll move the water over and come back."

  "So the water's more important than I am?"

  "Yes. Without it we definitely die. Without you, I actually have a better chance of living."

  Tawn chuckled. "Plain spoken enough I guess. Have at it."

  Five minutes later, a huffing Harris returned. "Let’s get a move on. All slugs to their feet."

  "I could use a hand."

  Harris clapped.

  "That wasn't even up to your normal low standards."

  "I saw the opportunity and I took it."

  The climb up and over the hill with the hobbled Tawn took twice as long as the water run. Harris came to a stop in front of the jugs, leaning down to open one up.

  Tawn pointed. "I think we just found your friend."

  Harris looked up. "What?"

  "Farker. Isn't that part of him over there?"

  Harris grimaced as he sprinted over. Looking down, he took in a long breath. "It's a leg."

  "Anything else?"

  "Hang on." He climbed over a set of boulders and disappeared behind them for several minutes.

  "What's going on?"

  "I have him. He's shut down. Don't know if it's permanent or not."

  An anguished looking stump carried his partially dismembered pet up to Tawn and the jugs.

  Tawn pointed. "Well, go get his leg. We might need that if we're gonna repair him."

  The leg was retrieved, and the saddened Harris Gruberg stood over Tawn, looking it up and down.

  Tawn asked, "You tearing up?"

  "Maybe... a little."

  "It's a robotic dog."

  "It was my dog. And he saved our lives more than once."

  "You didn't tear up when Idiot was thought to be gone."

  "That's different. He's a robot. This is a pet. Getting attached to a robot would just be silly."

  Tawn held in a chuckle. "Well, put him down and get yourself watered. I don't want you drying up on me out here."

  A ten minute break was taken and both Biomarines’ water pouches were refilled.

  Harris stood, looking back up at the top of the hill.

  "Where you think you're going?"

  "Back to the ship. If I'm going to be carrying all this junk, I'll need a travois."

  "You get me a crutch and I can carry myself."

  Harris chuckled as he began to walk away. "With that leg? Fat chance."

  "I'm not useless, you know."

  "Be right back."

  Half an hour passed before the Biomarine topped the hill. Bed linens that had once graced a Burrell officer's quarters were now stretched between two long poles.

  Tawn looked over the contraption. "Not bad. You think it will hold us?"

  "We're about to find out. And just so you know, this won't be a comfortable ride at all. Lots of bouncing and jarring."

  "I'll just have to suck it up and take it, then. Been in pain before. Just don't bump me up on purpose."

  Harris returned a half smile. "I'll do my best."

  The four jugs of water, the broken Biomarine, and the dismembered dog were loaded on. Harris moved to the front where the travois was lifted into service. The long march toward the colonel and the others had begun.

  Four kilometers were covered in the first hour. They took a break, followed by another pull. Each hour saw a similar pattern. After eight such sessions, Harris sat on a low rock, resting his head in his hands.

  "You OK?"

  "Fatigued and dried out."

  "You are drinking water, right?"

  "Trying to conserve."

  "You let me conserve. You stay hydrated. You're doing all the work. And as you said earlier, I can't live without you, but you can live without me. So tank up."

  Harris refilled his pouch before standing. "At least it will be getting dark soon."

  "Still just as dry, right?"

  "Yeah, but it's cooler. I won't be sweating out t
he vents on my boots. For this kind of environment, these suits should have a retaining reservoir for your sweat and urine."

  "That's kind of nasty."

  "You filter it first, you know."

  "Doesn't make it any less nasty."

  After six additional hour-long pulls, Harris was exhausted. Five hours were spent napping before the travois was again on the move.

  Tawn said, "We did thirty kilometers yesterday. That says three and a half days to go."

  Harris glanced back. "Already plowed through one of those jugs. We need to pace it or we'll dry out."

  "I'll cut back. You keep yourself in top condition."

  Harris chuckled. "Glad we got on that training kick. I can't imagine my out-of-shape self dragging big Tawn around this place. We'd have gone half the distance and used twice the water already."

  "We have two MREs each. Haven't eaten for more than a day. You think we should hit them at our next stop?"

  "Was trying to push it through until tonight. Don't know if I can."

  "Next break we open one up. I'll take a quarter, you eat the rest."

  "I'd argue with you, but you're right. I'm burning the calories here. Hey, this might be your chance to drop those last few kilos you've been looking to get rid of."

  "Yeah, diet by death. Sounds like a wonderful plan."

  "We'll be pushing it, but we should have enough to get there. I just hope there's still a there… there."

  Day two, being a full day, allowed a trek of thirty-eight kilometers. Day three saw thirty-one. Day four twenty-six.

  Harris tossed the fourth jug to the ground. "That's it. No more water. Pouches are full. Fifteen kilometers to go."

  Tawn nodded. "We can do this. That's half a day. You can have the water in my pouch. Get your rest and we'll hit it again before sun-up."

  Harris took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "We have to keep moving. I won't make it long in that sun if my water is out."

  "You're exhausted. At least take an hour."

  "Don't have an hour to spare. Still no comm with the colonel?"

  "No response from hails, but I'm getting suspicious because I'm not picking up any signals at all. You think the Burrell have jammers running?"

  "Could be. Would also be possible everyone has left this unforgiving beast of a planet. Might not be anything out there to emit a signal."