“They’ve extended their force field,” Vic yelled. “We can’t hit the track.”
Alic’s black virtual hand thumped the carriage accelerator symbol, and held it down. There was a shrill whining sound from the axle motors, and the carriage lurched forward.
“They’re gaining on us,” Matthew yelled. “We’re going to get bulldozed.”
Alic whirled around. The gateway was only two hundred meters away now.
A searing scarlet explosion erupted from the side of the GH7. Flames splashed across the giant engine’s force field, twisting away into the sky to fuel a writhing cloud of black smoke.
“Oh, great,” Jim moaned. “Now someone else out there is shooting.”
Nigel’s expanded mentality examined the physical connections into the Boongate gateway control center. Fireshields had been erected at every interface node in CST’s Narrabri network, isolating the entire system.
There has to be a way in!
He could crack the fireshields, but it would take time. They were based on one hundred ninety geometry encryption.
“Get a security team into the gateway control center,” Nigel snapped at Nelson. His digital presence circled around and around the network, interrogating every routing node, hunting a weakness. Eight of Narrabri station’s RIs were diverted from their primary function of managing wormhole generators, and assigned decryption on the fireshields. He knew they wouldn’t do it in time.
The traffic control network, with its complex sensor system spread across the station, was still available to him. He accessed the cameras on top of the Boongate gateway, receiving a clear view looking down on the little carriage as it shuddered its way along the last hundred fifty meters of track. The GH7 was right behind it, headlights illuminating the shoddy paintwork and grime-smeared wheels. The distance was shrinking rapidly as the carriage accelerated as best its ancient hub motors could manage. Missiles slammed into the GH7. Completely ineffectual.
Where did they come from?
“Gateway control center is closed and barricaded,” Nelson reported. “We can’t get in.”
“Blow it open,” Nigel ordered. One aspect of his expanded mentality was examining the orbital platforms to see if their beam weapons could get a clear shot at the GH7. But he didn’t have access to the Narrabri force field, and by the time he got through to Alan it would be too late.
Another slender particle lance shot came from the carriage to strike ineffectually at the force field around the GH7. Then the carriage swept through the open gateway.
Alic was instinctively bracing himself for the impact. The GH7 was closing fast now, bearing down on them with more inertia than a falling moon.
“Get ready to jump,” Alic said. He bent his legs, ready to use the strength of the suit’s electromuscle. It should be enough to power him clear, then if he sprinted …
“We stay,” Vic growled. “We’ll be through any second. I’m not going to let him get away from us now.”
“But—”
The weak rose-gold light emanating from the gateway was almost lost in the harsh blaze of the headlights behind them. Alic was mesmerized by the GH7 as it raced ever closer. Decision time was measurable in seconds. Less.
“Stay with it,” Vic pleaded.
Which was a personal choice, Alic knew, whereas he should be making cool operational assessments. Too late.
Another barrage of missiles hammered at the GH7 engine. Then they were through the force field, and Boongate’s planetary station was laid out in front of them under the gloaming of a twilight sun. Alic stared in consternation at what was waiting for them. “Jump,” he yelled frantically.
The GH7 vanished through the Boongate gateway.
“It got home,” Nigel exclaimed. He couldn’t believe what he’d just seen. “Right under our fucking noses. Son of a bitch!”
“Commander Hogan’s link has dropped out,” Oscar said. “They must be under attack on the other side.”
“No goddamn kidding.”
“Unisphere connection to Boongate has failed,” Nelson said. “It looks like the physical link was taken out just the other side of the zero-width wormhole.”
“Mr. Sheldon,” Bradley Johansson said, “we need to go after it.”
Nigel shot Justine a look, anxious for advice from someone who must surely understand all the factors. She just shrugged, her left hand held against her belly. He thought she was going to be sick; her cheeks were puffing out.
“We’ll put a team together,” Nigel said. It came out like an admission of defeat.
“Your pardon,” Bradley said. “We already have a team. And I have spent a hundred thirty years preparing for this eventuality. Let us go through.”
“I don’t even have control of the gateway right now.”
“My squad is getting entry into the gateway control center,” Nelson said. “Some resistance. Oh … they’re all dead, all the staff, he murdered them.”
Nigel closed his eyes, experiencing an anguish that was close to physical pain. One of his grid squares expanded into his virtual vision. He couldn’t recall summoning it. Links from the security squad showed him the carnage. “Oh, Christ.” It was Anshun all over again. “How many of these Judas bastards are there?” Four of the security squad were chasing someone in a force field suit, blowing flaming holes in the structure of the gateway administration building as they went. A grade one security alert was slowly closing off the building, force fields compartmentalizing it. Too little, too late, Nigel knew.
“We have to get back to Far Away,” Bradley Johansson said. “The Guardians can stop the Starflyer. This is our time, Mr. Sheldon; let us do what we have devoted our lives to achieving.”
Ion rifle fire and enhanced energy grenades were shredding the fourth floor of the administration building as the security squad closed in on Daniel Alster. Nigel took a breath, steeling himself. “What do you need?”
“We have a train here at Narrabri station loaded with our equipment. All we need to make it work is the data Kazimir was carrying. Senator Burnelli has it.”
“I do,” Justine confirmed. She held up a memory crystal, then grimaced against another burst of nausea.
“Once we have that,” Johansson continued, “we need passage through the wormhole to Boongate. Investigator Myo can guarantee that.”
“No,” Paula said. “I will not do that. I will not legitimatize Elvin’s criminal activities.”
“We need a guarantee if we are to expose ourselves,” Johansson said. “Surely you must see that?”
“I have no reason to lie,” Nigel said. “You can go through. No catch.” The RIs were breaking the fireshields, hacking a route back into the Boongate wormhole systems for him. It didn’t look as if Alster had inflicted any physical damage to the giant machine.
“Investigator, I am not asking you to legitimatize anything,” Bradley said. “I am asking you to help us overcome the mistrust that has assisted the Starflyer for a hundred thirty years. In addition, you will be able to witness its final demise.”
Nigel had never seen Paula look so uncertain before. There was even a sheen of perspiration on her forehead. He put the link to Johansson on hold. “You’ll have to go,” he told her gently. “Take Cat’s Claws with you; they’ll maintain your safety.”
“I arrested Morton,” she said indignantly.
“All right, some CST security operatives, then. But we need to get this moving.”
Wilson and Anna had been whispering together. “We’ll go,” Wilson said. “Someone from our group needs to confirm what happens on Far Away, if we ever reach it.”
“You two have no experience on dealing with unknown terrain,” Oscar said. “Besides, I’m a serving navy officer.”
“Enough.” Nigel held his hand up. “The three of you and Paula can go with Cat’s Claws. That’s it. Nelson, get them suited up, the best armor we have.” He brought Johansson back on-line. “Bradley, we’re sending a team out to you, including Investigator My
o; they’ll accompany you to Far Away.”
“Thank you, Mr. Sheldon.”
“I also will accompany Mr. Johansson,” Qatux announced.
Tiger Pansy’s giggle was loud in the auditorium. “I guess that means I get to go, too, huh?”
“If you would be so kind,” Qatux said. “I do not believe anything you can experience in the Commonwealth will be as rich with emotional content as this chase.”
“Sure. Okay,” Tiger Pansy said. “It’ll be a laugh.”
“Qatux, you can’t go,” Nigel said.
“Why not?”
“It’s dangerous.”
“That is for me to judge. I am an individual.”
“But we need you here,” Hoshe said.
“I will return to assist you in investigating Starflyer agents. I expect I will be of more use on Far Away in the immediate future; there are likely to be more Starflyer agents there.”
“Oh, why the hell not.” Nigel grunted with ill grace. “Anyone else?” He stared at Mellanie, who responded by looking up to study the ceiling.
“Could I ask you to hurry, please,” Bradley Johansson said. “We’re running out of time.”
There wasn’t much government left on Boongate by the time MorningLightMountain sent its ships and flare bombs into the star system. The population, too, was much reduced; people had been leaving ever since the Lost23 were invaded. For the rich it was easy: they could afford to switch home without too much trouble; the middle classes, well informed or with a young family, took the loss as the price for safety; for single people it was even easier to pack up and leave. Local government, assisted by the Commonwealth Senate, did their best to discourage the exodus. The navy strengthened the planet’s defenses, including the force fields that shielded cities and the larger towns. Recently a starship had been assigned to the system for patrol duties, complementing the orbital platforms. The displacement continued more or less as before.
So many police had left that Boongate’s First Minister was forced to ask CST for additional security staff to help with crowd control around the planetary station. Sure enough, Nigel sent them in from Wessex, though it was in their contract that they returned to that base between shifts. Without that concession they wouldn’t have taken the duty.
As more and more people drifted away from the countryside and villages, leaving for the far side of the Commonwealth, so the rural police were withdrawn to the towns. Eventually, they were brought back to the cities, and just patrolled the towns. Intermittently.
Best estimates were that thirty-seven million people had so far abandoned their world. That still left over ninety million living there in various levels of trepidation. When the flare bombs and quantumbusters detonated in the star there was no real mechanism left for counting how many people made it to safety under the force fields. The frenzied particle storms that swept around the planet disrupted power supplies and communications. Everyone who heard the warning did their best to make it to safety, cowering in cellars or behind thick walls, heading underground, driving into tunnels; a lucky few had caves nearby. Once the borealis blizzards had diminished, the agitated atmosphere hit the survivors with gales and hurricanes. People struggled on to the nearest population center with a force field.
The War Cabinet had given planetary governments of the Second47 half an hour’s advance warning before they made their public announcement. Boongate’s First Minister and the remaining members of the cabinet were left with the near impossible task of getting the survivors to the capital inside the one-week deadline for evacuation. Anyone with a car started to drive. Buses were commandeered. Train schedules were drawn up, utilizing both passenger carriages and cargo wagons.
The CST planetary station force field, which had powered up when the invasion began, remained on. With everyone left on the planet slowly congregating underneath the capital’s force field the government needed to keep the station clear to prevent a stampede. Within hours, the new deluge of refugees had ringed the entire station. Their numbers expanded constantly, without order. It was soon impossible for food, or police, or medical personnel to reach the innermost migrants pressed up against the force field. All anyone could do was wait for Nigel Sheldon to make good on his promise. The cabinet knew that as soon as the gateway was opened to the future, and the station force field turned off, there would be a panicked race for the gateway, with injuries reaching horrific numbers. Medical contingency plans were drawn up with little prospect of ever being implemented.
In the meantime, those who were inside the station boundary when the force field came on rejoiced in their amazing good fortune, and settled down for the kind of relaxed wait impossible outside. It lasted right up to the moment when the gateway to Wessex opened without any warning.
The battered old track maintenance division carriage burst through the opening. Its frame was shaking violently as its motors strained away at torque levels they were never designed for.
A host of vehicles was waiting on either side of the track. Big four-by-fours and covered vans, all of them equipped with bulky mounted weapons now openly deployed. There was a long moment broken only by the metallic screeching of steel wheels and bearings that were being pushed far beyond their safety margins. Armor-suited figures leaped through the carriage’s shattered windows as the vehicles fired lasers, kinetics, and ion bolts into the bodywork. The flimsy metal panels crumpled and vaporized, yet still the tormented chassis held together. It was nothing more than a fireball on wheels now, plummeting forward.
The giant GH7 engine raced through the gateway, its five big cargo wagons intact. All the vehicles stopped firing. Two seconds later, the GH7 slammed into the burning wreckage. What was left of the carriage simply disintegrated, its remnants forming a short-lived halo of flame around the front of the GH7.
Scraps of scorched twisted metal pattered down around Alic. His passive sensors showed him their blackened shapes bouncing across the stony ground. When he shifted the focus, he saw the GH7 slowing to a more reasonable speed now its mad dash for the gateway was successfully concluded. It was already half a kilometer away. The parked vehicles started up, and drove off after it, providing a tight escort on either side. They rocked violently as they cut across tracks and drainage ditches, always maintaining their position in the line.
The two vehicles bringing up the rear of the little convoy opened fire with magnetic Gatling cannons, strafing the area where the armor suits had landed. Instinct made Alic clasp his arms over his head as the ground erupted into clouds of stone chips around him. A couple of the projectiles struck his armor, punching him sideways, but the force field held. Their impact was like taking a kick in the ribs.
“Son of a bitch,” Jim groaned. “I got hit on the helmet.”
“You okay?” Matthew asked.
“Hangover like an eight-day stag weekend.”
“Boss, you want us to hit the vehicles?” Vic asked. “I can target at least eight with missiles.”
“No. They’re not important. The Starflyer’s all that matters now.” He saw a red square flashing in his communications grid. “Damnit. We’ve lost the unisphere, all I can hook into is the planetary cybersphere. I can’t tell Oscar what’s happened.”
“They’ll be here soon enough,” Jim said.
Alic climbed to his feet. That was when he noticed that John King’s telemetry grid was black. “Oh, shit. Anyone see John? Did he make it out?”
“I got him,” Vic said. “Some of him. The kinetics got through; he must have taken a real pounding. Damn, they made a mess. Chewed him up bad.”
“Crap.” Alic wanted to hit something. Hard. “Can you see his helmet? Did his skull get damaged?”
“No, I think that’s okay; he’s in one piece from the shoulders up. More or less.”
“Okay, his memorycell’s intact. He can be re-lifed.”
“By who?” Jim cried. “This planet isn’t even going to be here by the end of the week.”
“Before we leave, w
e come back and recover the memorycell,” Alic said. “That goes for all of us. Last man standing has that duty. Agreed?”
“Yes, Boss.”
The other two grunted acknowledgment.
“All right.” Alic stared along the track where the GH7 had gone. The Far Away section force field was a gray-shaded bubble squatting over a cluster of diminutive buildings and warehouses six kilometers away. “We know where it’s going. Let’s get after it. Matthew, get Edmund on-line. It’s about time he earned his money and switched off that force field.”
“Just us four?” Jim asked.
Alic looked around at the gateway. It was still open. I could run through. We all could. It would be so easy. Technically the mission’s over. We’ve proved the Starflyer exists. “I don’t think we’ll be alone for long.”
His visual sensors picked up something moving a kilometer away across the station yard, heading toward them. A laser radar sweep showed him a bike, moving fast as it jumped rail tracks, heading for the wormhole. It picked up a couple of other moving objects behind the bike, possibly small cars. “Let’s move,” he said. “We’ll get run over if we stay here much longer.”
Adam eased the Ables ND47 out of the shed and applied the brakes. Narrabri traffic control logged them onto the system, and assigned them a transit code. He had to smile at the file name: Guardian 0001A.
Now we’re The Man.
“Here they come,” Bradley said.
Adam opened the cab door, looked out. A medium-sized truck and a fifteen-seater bus were racing along the service road to the shed.
“Everyone okay down there?” he asked the team crammed into the armored vehicles. The three squad leaders, Kieran, Rosamund, and Jamas, all replied yes. He thought they were all wound too tight. Even for a Guardian, committed since birth, it was quite something to finally know the Starflyer had passed just a few kilometers away. As for him …
I don’t have to take it on faith anymore. It was an astonishing release, almost spiritual. The Starflyer was real, the Guardians were mainstream, and there was a noble cause to be fought. In the middle of a war for species survival with millions already dead he actually felt good.
The Commonwealth Saga 2-Book Bundle Page 197
