The Soldier: The X-Ship

by Vaughn Heppner

  He gasped, expelling air, breathed deeply and shook his head. All right, the elevator had stopped. That didn’t mean this was the end. This meant he had to take another approach.

  He went to the controls and pressed a button for it to head down. Instead of responding, an electrical hiss, smell and smoke, lots of smoke, began pouring from the control panel. The smoke forced him back. He turned away, held his breath and narrowed his eyes to slits. He examined the ceiling, spotting a panel. Reaching up, he began coughing as the electrically caused smoke continued to billow. There would be rocks, stones, debris and maybe even boulders on top of the elevator box. As he unlatched the locks, the panel began creaking. He stepped to the side and tore open the last latch.

  The panel crashed against the elevator floor as stones and rocks rained down. Cade grabbed the Gyroc and pouch of shells, dancing out of the way. The rocks and stony debris kept pouring down.

  He half expected the elevator to start up again. It did no such thing. Coughing from smoke and dust, covering his eyes, he waited. The burnt electrical and smoky stench was making him dizzy. He had to get out of here.

  Shouldering the rifle and pouch, swinging them to his back, he looked up through the smoke and leaped as hard as he could. His hands caught an edge. He hauled himself up with simian ease, crawling onto the top of the elevator. There were indeed boulders and stony debris here, and the elevator smoke billowed out of the panel opening.

  He moved to the side and breathed marginally better air. Then he looked up, seeing illumination…maybe a hundred meters or more. The shaft was smooth metal. There were no cables or other means to haul the elevator. It might have used repulsors underneath.

  A small explosion in the controls started a fire in the elevator. How long until the elevator plunged into the depths?

  Examining the metal-skinned shaft, Cade could see no way to scale it, as he had no rope. Could he hurl one up a hundred meters? No. That meant—

  Underneath him, the elevator shuddered and lurched downward several meters before stopping. If it did that again—

  Inspiration struck. Cade lay on his stomach on the top of the elevator as best he could, reaching out with the soles of his boots against one side of the shaft and pushing with his outstretched hands against the other. He was a big man, with long legs and arms, and stretched out like this, he barely reached from the narrowest side to the other. Using pressure alone, pushing with the soles of his boots and hands, he reached up a few centimeters with his right hand and pushed, reached up several centimeters with his left foot and pushed. With this painfully slow process, he started to climb the shaft, and it was barely in time, too.

  He’d ascended a bare meter from his starting position when the elevator shuddered once more, creaked against the sides and suddenly plunged down.

  Cade closed his eyes and waited, pushing harder than ever. Several seconds passed and then the elevator box crashed against the bottom floor. That shook the shaft and weakened Cade’s pressure hold. His right hand slipped—he pushed harder with the left, and the shaft, the metal sides, stopped shaking.

  Cade inhaled deeply. He didn’t dare crane and twist his head to look up. He had over one hundred meters to climb like this. If he lost strength before reaching the top, he would plunge down to his death below.

  “You can do it,” he whispered.

  Well, if he couldn’t, he’d die. Thus, he started back up one painful centimeter at a time.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Aboard the Descartes, Dr. Halifax observed through the sensor scope. A light in the scope indicated that the planetary ship sent a message to the teardrop-shaped vessel on the other side of Avalon IV. Almost immediately, the smaller ship received a reply.

  Halifax would have liked to know what they two groups said to each other. That would take better sensors than the scout possessed. He did not see the teardrop-shaped vessel, but he did observe the new ship. It turned around, expelling exhaust. That was interesting. It decelerated, no longer trying to leave low orbital space. Logic suggested that some communication from the tech people aboard the teardrop-shaped vessel caused the change.

  Perhaps twenty-five minutes later, a large cargo hauler appeared. It had taken a wide loop, avoiding the lone orbital’s half-a-million-kilometer range to head for the open part of the planet.

  Halifax’s nerves became strained. The hauler—an atmospheric entering ship—might spot him. It came much closer to the drifting Descartes than any ship had so far. Fortunately, the scout remained over a million kilometers away from the hauler, and the hauler did nothing to indicate anyone aboard it had seen the scout.

  Even so, Halifax was trembling and feeling exhausted by the time the hauler reached the other smaller ship.

  The sensor scope showed that the two vessels exchanged communications. Now, both ships started down for the planet. The actions of the cargo hauler strongly suggested that there were valuable objects on the surface.

  “Right,” Halifax said. Rohan Mars had once told Brune they wanted to save the woman who crashed-landed on Avalon IV. The large fighter proved someone had left the surface. He doubted it was Cade. Who did that leave as a pilot? Obviously, the woman.

  Despite his strained nerves and fear, Halifax’s ever-present curiosity was highly piqued by all of this. Just what kind of goldmine was on the Avalon IV? Why hadn’t the Patrol sent down teams to gather it?

  Rohan Mars and his kind had left a long trail of dead for the tech company hauler to reach this point. Did that suggest that Rohan Mars and his androids knew what they would find down there? The doctor gave that a seventy percent possibility.

  “Are you alive, Cade?” Halifax asked aloud.

  A small part of him wanted to follow the cargo hauler and fighter down. Maybe he could sneak up on them and use the .50-calibers to destroy them. The larger, wiser and more careful part of Halifax caused him to laugh. Why should he risk his life when he could simply wait for them to leave? He could go down then when it was safe.

  He rubbed his jaw. There was another worry. How long would it take the Patrol to know someone had destroyed an Avalon IV orbital? Such a message couldn’t travel faster than the fastest FTL ship. Did the Patrol send a warship to the Avalon System periodically?

  As Halifax debated these things, the cargo hauler and large fighter entered the planet’s upper atmosphere. They both slowed, taking their time. Halifax was so absorbed with their descent, that he almost missed the teardrop-shaped vessel’s actions. It had taken a wide loop and now started moving toward the planet.

  A shiver of terror went down the doctor’s spine. The teardrop-shaped vessel moved to within 900,000 kilometers of his location. Then it decelerated and began drifting, perhaps directing its sensor scopes onto the planetary surface.

  This was bad. A sensor team over there might accidently find him. He couldn’t change anything now, though. It was time to tiptoe and shut down every unnecessary piece of equipment lest he give himself away. He thought about manually readying an anti-missile rocket, but rejected the idea. Stealth was the only way to stay alive. A little luck might help, too.

  Halifax exhaled slowly, beginning to start the full shutdown, wondering if it was time to turn off the heater as well. He nodded, deciding he’d wear a spacesuit in here until the teardrop-shaped vessel went somewhere else.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  The soldier’s arms quivered with exhaustion as he neared the top of the elevator shaft. He’d worked up almost one hundred and forty meters, having been optimistic in his earlier estimation. Several times, he’d stopped to regain his strength.

  The problem would be getting out of the shaft. He tensed as he readied for it, his fingers slippery with sweat. Tentatively, he reached up, his fingertips feeling the gritty, dusty edge. He swallowed, wanting to bray with laughter now that he’d reached this far. Instead, he concentrated, his fingers brushing away grit and dust. This was the moment. He shoved with his feet, pushing forward. His other hand shot up, the fingers
slipping on the edge. At the same time, his torso and legs swung down. He grunted as they hit the shaft wall, his fingers almost slipping from the edge. If he lost his grip, he’d plunge to his death.

  Cade bellowed and forced his arms to move, to start pulling him up. He was so damned exhausted from the ascent, however. He tried to push upward with his boots, but they just slipped against the metal edge. A second bellow heralded his last effort. His biceps shook as he slowly hauled himself upward. His fingers held their meager purchase through pressure alone. He grunted and swung up his right leg, and the boot held on the edge. He heaved, rolling onto the edge of the elevator shaft. He didn’t stay there, but rolled over until he’d put a meter between him and a plummeting death.

  At that point, he shuddered as sweat poured from him. His body shook and he couldn’t stop it. He closed his eyes, thankful to have made the brutal ascent.

  Eventually, thirst drove him upright. He slid the heavy Gyroc rifle and sling pouch from his back, digging out a water flask. He sipped, washing out his mouth and swallowing. Too soon, the flask was empty. He looked around, seeing wall shards, rocks and debris in the building part of the cave. Fortunately, the rockslide hadn’t sealed off the entrance.

  He doubted any of the nearby Nian had survived the X-ship’s blast off.

  “No rest for the wicked,” he quoted. Groaning, his muscles quivering and aching, he climbed to feet, gathered his equipment and started for the exit. It was good to walk, even if he shuffled. He climbed over rocks, soon finding himself in the open. Much of the protecting wall was gone, blown over from the X-ship’s blast off.

  He stood there, considering. Several years ago, Rohan Mars had told Brune the tech company would send someone down for him and the girl. If Tara had used the X-ship to leave, it made sense she’d successfully attacked one of the blocking orbitals. Had she reached a waiting tech-company vessel? If she had, wouldn’t they send down people to gather the Web-Mind?

  A harsh smile stretched the soldier’s lips. He looked around and headed for the top of the other cave, the hill that had held the entrance and had been part of the defending wall.

  He needed shelter, but even more, he needed a sniper location. He cradled the heavy Gyroc rifle. It was an interesting weapon. This one launched a .75- caliber spin-stabilized rocket shell. After ejecting from the barrel, the rocket ignited, giving the bullet the majority of its speed. The rifle was recoilless, which meant that even though it fired high-caliber bullets, it was of relatively light construction and didn’t slam against the shooter’s shoulder each time and thus wear him out.

  The highly versatile weapon launched various types of rounds. The Armor Piercing Explosive round (APEX) had a big motor and a heavy projectile. There were shrapnel rounds that acted like a line-of-sight mortar, a smart rocket that could fly around objects, and sabot rounds where the outer shell burned off to add effectiveness against hardened targets.

  The soldier grunted in lieu of a laugh. He had to figure out their probable action and develop a counter given what he had. His first question was this: should he press the detonation switch and blow the Web-Mind below while he could? Would the signal reach the cyborg construct? Maybe he should leave it as backup, in case the tech company personnel killed him. The booby-trapped Web-Mind might then kill them afterward.

  He decided to wait, as it gave him tactical options.

  The soldier climbed the hill and looked around. Nearly five hundred meters away was a jumble of boulders. That should be far enough that he could hide if shuttles or haulers landed nearby and still close enough so he could work his way closer when they weren’t looking.

  He eyed the cloudless sky. The time was around midafternoon. He was in rocky hill country. A few birds soared in the distance like vultures. He didn’t spy any ground animals. They must have fled after the X-ship took off.

  He started for his destination, soon reaching the mass of jumbled boulders. He sat in their shade, wiped his brow and looked up. He spotted a new kind of bird. This was interesting. He hadn’t seen any like that before. They grew larger and came down fast—

  “Those aren’t birds.”

  It was the X-ship and—he squinted—and a big cargo hauler. His gut tightened with anticipation—then he realized that he hadn’t had time to test the Gyroc. What would he do if it failed to fire?

  He made a face. He had the grenades. He had a laser emitter. If the Gyroc failed…

  At least he was out of the elevator shaft and had a soldier’s chance to battle the hated enemy. He might have been asleep for a thousand years or more, but he was getting to fight the enemy he’d been trained to kill. Whether the tech company people knew it or not, they were cyborg enablers. That made them targets.

  And those ships…

  The harsh grin reappeared. All he needed was one of the ships and he had a ticket off Avalon IV. He’d worry about the waiting mothership when the time came. Right now, he had a cyborg pilot and tech company people to kill.

  From the shadows of the boulders, he watched the two descending ships. It was spellbinding, mesmerizing—with a start, he realized he hadn’t loaded the rifle yet.

  He took an APEX shell and slotted it in the rifle, closing the breech. He waited to activate the rifle. Maybe the two ships had sweeping sensors. Would they see his heat signature? Would they even bother with that? If sensors did spot him, those in the ships might think it was a Nian team hiding here.

  The two vessels grew larger still. Abruptly, the cargo hauler began floating. That indicated working gravity repellers. The X-ship did not have that luxury, but came straight down with its thunderous thrusters slowing its speed. The soldier checked where it looked like the ships would land. The X-ship would be eight hundred meters away. The cargo hauler was coming in closer, maybe five hundred meters from his position.

  The soldier nodded, waiting. He would not attack until the two vessels touched down and his enemies exited. He didn’t want either vessel getting away.

  A knot tightened in his chest. So much would depend upon a functioning Gyroc. Still, if the rifle or shells didn’t work, the enemy might not know he’d tried to fire at them. That was something at least. He could quietly begin Plan B.

  The two ships lowered more. The X-ship was even more thunderous now.

  The soldier retreated deeper into the jumbled boulders, set down the Gyroc, opened his mouth and pressed his hands over his ears. The ground shook, and the boulders around him stirred. He watched them, debating working out of them before they shifted too much and pinned or crushed him. The noise level rose to a crescendo and just as quickly stopped altogether. Thankfully, the ground and boulders stopped shaking. The soldier removed his hands, picked up his heavy rifle and worked outward. He halted in the shadows, watching the big cargo hauler ease down like a feather.

  Anticipation grew. For good luck, he raised his rifle and kissed it. If he won today—

  “Don’t think about that now,” he whispered. He had a mission, maybe the most important of his life.

  He eased forward more, and then he waited with the rifle in his lap. A Gyroc was a wonderful weapon in the right hands. The soldier’s eyes gleamed. Soon now, he hoped he would repay Rohan Mars for murdering one of Battle Unit 175’s Force-Leaders, good old Jack Brune.

  “Just wait,” the soldier said. “Wait a few more minutes and you’ll have your fill of vengeance.”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Tara Alor was unhappy and wary. She had not wanted to come back to Avalon IV and certainly not go near the crypt. Leaving the proscribed planet had felt glorious. Having to turn back and guide Rohan’s team to the location upset her. The android leader had insisted, however, leaving her no choice. Worse, Rohan had chided her over the comm unit regarding Cade.

  “I slew his counterpart once,” Rohan had told her from the cargo hauler. “I can do it easily enough again if I have to.”

  Rohan hadn’t faced Ultras in battle, though. She had. They were not ordinary humans, even the Centurion
Grades. They’d been genetically bred for war. They’d also given Cade time to get ready for them. On no account did she want to leave the X-ship.

  “Tara,” Rohan said over the comm, the message received directly in her brain because she was still jacked in. “You must come outside and show me the way.”

  “Perhaps it’s wiser if I stay here,” she said.

  “Enough of your nonsense,” Rohan said in his steady android voice. “Even supposing Cade is alive, there are many of us and only one of him. We are armed. At best, he has an emitter.”

  “I already told you he has one.”

  “You can walk among us. We will shield you from him.”

  “How do you suppose he survived the androids in the crypt? He must have slain them.”

  “Destroyed is the correct word,” Rohan said. “Now hurry, Pilot, I am not in the habit of having to repeat myself.”

  Tara knew Rohan was overconfident, but he could never hear that even if she told him. Rohan would probably insist that his cybertronic brain simply did not allow him arrogance of the sort she suggested.

  Pulling the jack out of her neck slot, Tara knew a moment of disorientation. She shivered, feeling naked as she resumed using her own senses. Everything was so immediate using her eyes, ears and nose. She lacked the X-ship’s protection and resented it.

  “Excalibur,” she said, caressing a control.

  Perhaps of all the cyborg creations, X-ship pilots retained most of their human personality. Tara Alor had bonded with her vessel. Leaving it now to face an Ultra soldier—

  She opened the hatch, crawled out and decided to collect some gear. Rohan had grown impatient. It was time to do his bidding and make sure she earned the rewards for a job well done.

  She broke into a run, hurrying through a corridor.

  ***

  Tara rushed from the X-ship, which landed farther from the cave entrance than the cargo hauler.