The Shattered Stars: Breach of Contract

by Vance Huxley

  “Same landing place, then we’ll look into both the nearest holes. Take the squad in Sergeant.” Mickey sighed. “I’ll be with you, but I’m sending a report first to see if Aggie releases some food or air.”

  “Siflis? Take Bells. Bells, you must have a close-in something, or take Magpie’s punch dagger.”

  “I’ve got these.” Short blades slid out of the Trooper’s metal finger ends. “Come on Siflis, I’d rather be fried than freeze to death.”

  “Hang on to me and we’ll use one set of jets. Save yours for later.” The pair set off on a steady trajectory for the alien asteroid. The rest of the squad, except Mickey, watched helplessly because they were out of long-range weaponry.

  “Aggie has the report and it’s on the way but hasn’t released anything. Radar shows the Rangers and Shiva’s Children are on the way now. The Confeds and Indias.” Mickey had tried explaining which conglomerates sent squads from where, but the rest found the squad names were easier to remember than the strings of letters describing the companies. “The capsules are coming in very slowly, so they could take up to half an hour.”

  Bobby smiled, getting back on balance again now the squad were moving. “Once they see us go onto the ice they’ll wait and see what happens. Magpie, what are the Frogs doing?”

  “They’re inspecting their capsule. One of the bledrin Amazons is alive!” Magpie moved up a bit to clear her camera lens so everyone received the view. A solitary figure had caught hold of three partial bodies and set into stripping legs and presumably weaponry. A pack came free so whoever had survived had their head screwed on, and was collecting food and water as well as weapons. “The Putes are pointing at Siflis and Bells.” Magpie waited a moment. “They’re not aiming that thing.”

  Hood chuckled. “That one with a red streak wants Bells alive, so she can keep him as a pet.”

  “She’ll have to house train him first.” Mickey had cheered up as well. That bledrin laser had been a hell of a shock for all of them. Trust the Krauts to come up with something like that. The Japanese also had some sleek gear but any SEPA survivors were still back on the mothership, the big rocket.

  “Contact. Siflis and Bells are on the ice.” The levity disappeared and all of them moved to the edge of the asteroid to look. After long moments Magpie sighed. “No reaction so Siflis got it right.”

  “He’s the nearest thing we’ve got to a space and Alien expert. We go across in pairs.” Bobby thought for a moment, but he couldn’t split the couple now just in case the Aliens decided to lash out and kill the next pair to cross. The survivor would go viral. “Hood and Magpie are rearguard. Come on Mickey, let’s go and knock on the door.”

  “But…” Mickey bit off whatever he’d started, probably a comment about both commanders being at risk together.

  “We can’t cover you.” Hood knew the score, but the big man always tried so hard to do the right thing anyway.

  “It’s the principle. We should have a sniper covering us, and Magpie’s your close protection. Magpie, beat it into his head for me?”

  “I’ll unpack my underwear if he argues. He’ll not leave then.” Both Hood and Mickey stared at her.

  Bobby smiled, caught hold of the Super and activated his jets. He kept to the same steady speed as the first pair in case faster might be construed as a threat. As soon as they landed he waved Magpie and Hood to follow. The last two seemed to take longer, but only because Bobby had to stand waiting.

  * * *

  “Siflis, sneak over there and get a picture of what’s inside.” Bobby pointed to one of the big holes in the ice, then bounced with his hands on the rough surface. “You’ll have to crawl since we’ve got no legs yet. Don’t push off too hard, because the gravity isn’t much.” He turned to Bells. “You go and look at the next hole, just a quick peek and a picture. Crawl and don’t go fast.”

  “We could put our legs on now?” Bobby considered the request, even if he knew Magpie had a thing about having her legs attached. This time she might be right.

  “Put yours on, Magpie. Get Hood to help you since he hasn’t had hands-on for six months.” Magpie giggled as Bobby turned to Mickey. “This won’t be as much fun for us.”

  “After six months I’ll take what I can get.” Mickey sighed. “We’d better attach yours first, because you’ll be more use if it goes viral.”

  “Only because you all pitched in to keep me alive.” Bobby twisted to sit. “It’s easier with two. Stupid idea anyway, stowing our legs behind us. They’d have been better as chest armour.” He unclipped the cover on the end of his stump to present the metal interface jutting from the suit seal.

  “For you maybe, but then Hood’s shot might have just bounced off the Kraut.” Mickey held the leg more or less right while Bobby slid the connections home and felt them click into place. Moments later the nerve and muscle interfaces fired up with the usual couple of seconds of irritation and confusion. “The Kraut legs must have held extra batteries to power a weapon like that.”

  “Probably. Risky because we were only allowed limited extras in the metal, and they can’t have had much else.” Bobby frowned as he clicked the second leg into place. “The Frog missile looked to be a bit more powerful than what’s allowed.” He pulled Mickey’s legs from the clips on the Super’s pack. “You next.”

  “Somebody got rich or the pieces looked relatively harmless spread among all the legs. That’s how the krauts did it.” Mickey raised his leg and tapped the heel on the ice. “That feels better, even if I can’t feel it.”

  “Too true it does.” A smiling Magpie stood above them and stamped gently.

  “That was quick.” Mickey’s second leg clicked into place and Bobby stood before helping the Super up.

  “I’ve told Hood we can rerun once I can get at the sexy underwear.” Magpie really had lost any last vestiges of shyness about her relationship, maybe because of all the flickin on the trip or maybe survival gave her a buzz. “Bells is waving.”

  Bobby looked at the relayed views and waved to the scout. “Siflis, come and look at this.” Both pictures showed a turret with a stubby tube, but the one from Bells revealed half an access hatch in the metal to one side. With legs, it took no time to reach Bells. Bobby looked over towards the Putes, still clustered around their capsule. As he did, a single figure, heavily laden, dropped out of sight around the curve of the asteroid. “The Amazon is down. Hood, keep an eye on the Putes.”

  Mickey looked over the edge. “About six metres, not too deep. In this gravity we could jump down, and up again.” Siflis crawled up to them. “Better yet, Siflis could lower something first.”

  “Is your wire long enough to reach the bottom, Siflis?”

  “I had extra put on the reel, Beebi, for a trip wire if we needed one.” Siflis twisted off the top of a finger, pulled out a length of wire and tied it around the Super’s knife. Siflis used the steel finger nail on his little finger to turn a slot, unreeling the wire until the knife hit the bottom. Siflis turned the slot again, and the wire reeled back up. Bells untied the knife and hesitated.

  “Keep it, Bells. You’ll make more use of it.” Mickey crooked a metal finger. “I’ll scratch someone’s eyes out.”

  “Put on your legs Bells, Siflis. That knife is metal, so our feet shouldn’t cause any reaction.” Bobby would have crossed something for luck, but everyone would have seen. As soon as the last two had legs again Bobby didn’t hesitate, he jumped down the hole before he could talk himself out of it. “Better send another report Mickey. If we get inside the radio might be cut off.”

  “I will. Any idea how to open that?”

  “Simple, there’s a handle.” Five versions of what or you are joking came back. “Seriously, just behind the edge of the ice. I can see it and the other edge of the hatch further in. I’ll use my laser.” After a moment’s thought Bobby cut out wedge shaped sections of ice rather than melt his way in or let the beam hit metal, in case the alien construct reacted. After all, it hadn’t liked t
he Kraut laser much.

  “Aggie has acknowledged the report. She relayed the radar picture and the other two capsules are ten minutes out at present progress.” Mickey looked over the edge. “Do you need help?”

  “Not yet. Stand clear.” Bobby tried twisting left then right, then pulling one end up. The handle moved a little. He took hold of the middle and tried to lift straight out from the door, not easy from his angle but Bobby felt a distinct click. Quickly stifling his thought about spiders welcoming flies, Bobby pulled up harder and the edge of the door lifted. “Its opening. Someone bring a wedge in case I lose my grip.”

  An arm came past with the knife Mickey had given Bells and Hood spoke. “We’re a bit short of loose equipment. I’m here because I’m strong enough to take over.” Hood chuckled. “We heard you grunt when it moved.” They shuffled until Hood got a grip, and he swung the door up and open. Bobby concentrated on slicing away any ice still fouling the door’s path.

  Bobby looked into the wide tube with one flat side and a door at the other end. “We’re in. Everyone come down and we all pile in fast.”

  “What if the door closes but doesn’t let us out again?”

  “Then we’re all together Bells. Unless you fancy running about up here on your own?”

  “Coming down.”

  “The Putes are coming down but well away from here.” Magpie paused. “I can’t see the other two capsules yet.”

  “The radar relay from Aggie shows them stopped. One is moving sideways, this way.” Mickey cursed. “They’ll use this door.”

  “We can’t stop them unless we find a bolt inside. Everyone down and in sharpish. We need a lead to get clear and unpack weapons. Those with the capsules still have their extras.” Bobby barely finished before the last two of his squad came down into the hole. “Everyone pick up a chunk of ice and stick it behind your belt, for later. We all cram in and shut this door, then I’ll try the door at the other end. This should be an air lock even if there’s no air.”

  “Go for it, sergeant.” The six of them crammed in, which meant they were crowded with the spacesuits and packs. Bobby waited until Mickey pulled the door closed and reported the catch engaged. A set of yellow lights glowed before turning to purple, one at a time. As they did gravity tugged until the flat portion became a floor. It felt close to Earth gravity, Bobby thought. He pulled at the handle in the door ahead. Nothing.

  “Push. It won’t open into the airlock in case it’s full.” Siflis had it right because the handle slid in, Bobby felt the catch click, and the door swung out. Wasting no time, he took one quick look each way down the corridor outside, and beckoned.

  Once everyone came out Siflis spoke first, while the rest gawked at the blue-lit corridor stretching each way. “I’d like to jam this door. I don’t think the outside door will open with the inner one not sealed.” Siflis shrugged, barely visible inside his spacesuit. “That seems like a basic safety precaution on an airlock.”

  “Good idea but I’d rather not lose another weapon.” Bobby frowned. “Unless someone has something else to jam it with?”

  “Hang on.” Mickey sat and raised his left foot. “Unscrew the bottom. Use a steel fingernail. I can do it but you’ll be quicker.” Magpie did it while Hood held the foot, and Mickey stood back up. “My balance is off but I can’t fight properly anyway. Now jam the door and let’s go.” Hood closed the door until it jammed the steel strip in place.

  Bobby looked at Mickey, in case he wanted to take over now they were inside. “We’ll go right? Towards the end? This might be a spaceship so we’ll find engines or the controls.” Bobby’s said that without thinking as his mind registered they’d come through an airlock, a real airlock, into a corridor. Which meant this whole asteroid had to be a spaceship or space station, one over half a mile wide and two miles long!

  “Engines? Control room? Shite, there must be. Yes, go, quick. All the other holes in the ice are the other way.” Mickey sounded just as shocked.

  “Siflis, we are on patrol so scout. Hood, can you get at your ammo yet?”

  “Not yet, it will take time to get into the pack because the basteds didn’t want me using it out there. The rest are all frangible but they might go through a spacesuit.” Hood moved in behind Siflis with his hand laser out, while Magpie positioned herself on his flank with a punch dagger on her fist. Bells moved back as rearguard with his laser and Mickey’s knife.

  “Come on Mickey, we stay just behind Hood and Magpie. Don’t get in her way if it goes viral.” Bobby drew his laser pistol. “Basteds, move out.” The corridor stretched away ahead, very slowly curving away to their left. There were cracks in the wall with a dimple plate beside them, outlining occasional doors, but the squad had no time to investigate.

  * * *

  The squad moved quickly, looking for a break in the five-metre-wide, four-metre-high corridor, an intersection to leave some doubt about which way they’d gone. The hatches to their right, towards the skin and space, looked utilitarian; big steel ovals bolted and clipped into place. The inboard doors were only cracks in the light blue material covering walls and ceiling, and all those had the small dimpled bulges. Bobby noticed that although still lethally cold, the temperature inside seemed to be creeping up.

  “Oxygen trace! Somebody is leaking.” Mickey pointed at the small probe protruding from his suit. All eyes turned to Bobby and the mess of sealant and tape across his chest and belly. “Let me check you over Beebi.” Mickey pulled the probe out until it became a wand on a wire, and passed it slowly over the repair and then the rest of Bobby’s suit. “It’s not you,” he concluded.

  The rest looked at each other, alarmed, but a quick visual showed no obvious leaks, no vapour around anyone. “We keep going, then at the first chance Mickey will check everyone with the probe. Come on, we need a base.” Bobby waved Siflis forward again. A brisk five minutes later Siflis slowed while the rest caught up.

  “Looks like we’ll have to learn how to open a door anyway.” The uncompromising slab of steel barring progress had the usual bulge and dimples on the wall nearby. Mickey peered at it. “I remember dimples, tiny hollows like this, shooting lasers on the vids showing the original find.”

  “Not on a door lock inside a spacecraft.” Bobby tried to sound confident. “If a crewman had a hangover and poked the wrong dimple, he wouldn’t get diced and sliced.” Bobby glanced back, but he didn’t think anyone would be chasing yet. “Mickey, will you help Siflis to open this door and check him for leaks? Hood and Magpie, have a go at that smaller door. I’ll take Bells and try one further back. Vid what you do, then if a door opens that might work for the rest.” The squad split up.

  Bells kept glancing back the way they’d come. “I need my guns and knives, Beebi.”

  “I know but we have to get off this corridor first or we’re sitting ducks. Just keep watch and I’ll have a go at this.” Bobby looked helplessly at the bulge. Thirteen dimples, five in the middle and eight in a circle around them. He tried fitting the ends of his fingers and thumb into the five.

  “Maybe they’ve got lots of fingers. Tentacles. I saw a vid where the aliens had tentacles.” Bells sounded terrified at just the thought.

  “That’s because vids try to be scary. This lot might have been cute little Teddy Bears.”

  “Or three metre Demon Teddy Bears with tentacles, look at the height of the ceiling.”

  “Shut up Bells or I’ll punch you.” The fist Magpie raised had a punch dagger on it. “I’m crapping myself without any help.” She snorted. “That’s if the liquid diet had left me able to crap.” The squad worked in silence for a while until Mickey came back up the corridor with his atmosphere wand.

  “The oxygen levels are rising, just a bit. We had pure vacuum, or nearly pure, when we came in. Now there’s a five percent mix of gases, the right sort to be air.” He waved the wand. “I’ve checked Siflis and he’s clear.”

  Bobby continued trying different numbers of fingers in different dimples wit
hout result until Mickey finished with Bells. Then he used the wand to check Mickey. “Anything?”

  “No. The levels stayed exactly the same so the atmosphere is background. The temperature is up to minus ten.” Mickey took back the wand and looked up and down the corridor, baffled.

  Bells sniggered. “It’ll be Hood’s heavy breathing now that he’s holding hands again.”

  “It’s definitely warming me up.” Hood laughed and it cut off suddenly. “Got it!”

  “What?” Though Bobby needn’t have bothered to ask as the door in front of the couple moved back a little and slid smoothly to the side. “What’s in there?”

  “Bins and racks with weird bits of metal and possibly plastic. Those are nuts and bolts.” Hood laughed again. “Spares. We’ve found a storeroom full of spare parts.”

  “Never mind that, how did you open the door?” Mickey moved closer and peered at the bulge and dimples. “Nothing has lit up.”

  “It doesn’t need to with the corridor light on.” Bobby pointed up at the glowing blue strip along the middle of the ceiling. “So, how did you open it?”

  “Not on coms!” Mickey sounded really worried.

  “Why?” Bobby frowned. “How do we talk without coms in a vacuum. Sound won’t travel.”

  Bobby’s leg tapper started up, a message from Siflis in squad code. “Touch helmets. The sound will travel that way.” Bobby turned off his coms and touched helmets to let Mickey know. The rest would have heard the message from Siflis and turned their coms off.

  Mickey thought a moment, then turned off his coms. “I can hear the other squads on my receiver and their Supers will hear you. We don’t want them to know how to open doors.”

  “Shite! You might have mentioned it!” Bobby held up his hands, “I know, Supervisor shite. You’ve got to forget that now.”

  “I just realised that. They’ll hear the tapper as well, but that was a code that’s not in my databank.”

  “Squad code, we made it up. We’ll save it for emergencies.” Bobby broke contact.

  Hood explained the door with his helmet touching Bobby’s. “Magpie tried to elbow me like she usually does, and I twisted away. I’d got my fingers in the dimples, and the bulge rotated a bit and slid up. I twisted a bit more and felt the click through my hands as it slid up further.” Hood put his hands on the bulge, both of them, twisted and lifted. The door slid smoothly back into place.