“Stay focused on what’s happening above,” I told them. Gerard nodded reluctantly.
“Yes, Magnum,” I said. “Let’s do this.”
“Then here’s what I can do. I can send a few armored ships with armored guard mechs to the area. How they will match up I don’t have absolute knowledge without more information but they can do a lot of damage. But then that will leave your family vulnerable and without the best security that I have brought to bear here on Venus, for them and you.” I hated to make that decision but if I could get off this satellite I could protect my family at least until I could get them back to Earth where they would be under guard from one of Vartan’s security teams.
“I have received the coordinates from Will as to your location. I will be there as quickly as possible. Give me a few hours to muster the necessary force and get to your location.”
I was worried about whether this hare-brained plan would work. But there was no time for thinking it through. If I did I would probably be paralyzed by fear over how foolish this whole idea was.
And this as supposed to be a vacation!
“Are there any safe routes out? Any secret tunnels or doorways?” I asked. Gerard scratched his beard.
“There are several, aren’t there, Randall?”
“Three. Two of them have collapsed. The other is half finished. It’s near the pyrite mine. It’s dangerous to go through there because it might cave in any minute as well. There’s some scaffolding there but we haven’t been able to finish things up yet with all the violence and lack of resources now,” said Randall.
I took a deep breath. Great danger lay ahead. A foolhardy plan to face down said danger is banged out on the fly. In rushes Bob, where wise men fear to tread. The story of my life. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
“Let me try it anyway. If my people can get here we might be able to stop these scuzzballs in their tracks. I can’t make any promises but I’ll see what I can do, Gerard.”
“But what are you going to do?”
“I want to get them away from the satellite and the orchards and farms.” I wasn’t sure how that would work but something had to be tried until Magnum arrived.
“I’ll go with you!” insisted Gerard. There was a huge boom that shook everyone. We all looked up at the ceiling in fear. Screams echoed somewhere else in the huge cavernous tunnel system. Wailing sirens sounded. On a holo-vid screen map of the underground town and tunnel system, one of the living sections was lit in red.
“Dear Holy Father, what did they do?” cried Wendy.
“We’ve got to see about our families!” said Randall running from the room. Several of the others hurried behind him.
“Go!” I told Gerard. “You’ll be needed by the community if anyone’s been hurt or worse!” Gerard left to follow the commotion but then turned back.
“Bob, the tunnel leads toward the hills behind the town here but not entirely. Once out of the tunnels you’ll have to run at least a thousand paces to reach the cover of the hills and there ain’t much cover there either. The town once spread out nearly to those hills but that part of it has been destroyed by these gangs. I’ll have to take you part of the way so you don’t get lost.”
He led me down one more level and through a lean-to opening. The tunnel was dark. The ground above shook and trembled. They would be using more powerful weapons than these and soon. But weapons that didn’t draw too much attention. I didn’t have much time. I wondered if this accursed special metal was really worth all this. I watched as he retreated deeper into the tunnel system to see about the people in the living quarters. Then I took a deep breath and climbed inside. The air was cool. But the thin curtains of falling dust made me cough. Above were cracks of light in the roof of the tunnel chamber. I was standing on a slanted, gradual incline upward. I climbed steadily, wiping dust and dirt from my face and suit when it became too thick. Stalks of wan light from outside seeped in, thin and jagged and weak like long, broken stems. Along the walls, I could see the pyrite which grew brighter as I climbed. It glittered marvelously and I felt as if I were traversing through a temporal world into a mystical one to meet mysterious gods. Fool’s gold for a fool’s errand.
I climbed on and reached the doorway outside. The firing had grown quiet now. I peeked outside. Just as he’d said the hills were some paces away. Really, the only outstanding feature on this rock. And the only place where I might take cover. I looked around cautiously. The skies were empty. I ventured out carefully and then ran toward the hills. Halfway there I heard the last thing I wanted to hear – laser fire! I saw the lights of a ship far off diving toward me. I dodged and flew around a boulder, the laser hitting and searing half of it off, just missing my head. Dust flew up in clouds everywhere. I dove down a ravine just in time to miss a deadly volley of firepower from a small black ship. I grabbed my pistol out and fired. I saw that there were ample places for me to hide in this narrow ravine. Arches and columns of rock revealed small hiding places. One of the small ships came at me as I made my way down the ravine, turning on its side to navigate inside after me. It shot down part of the small tower of rock I was standing under and half of it crumbled to the ground in sharp shards, nearly pinning me into the dirt. I shot the bottom of the ship twice, targeting its fuel compartment as it passed by, hitting the engine and also disrupting its fuel cells. It upended and crashed into the side of the ravine and then fell and crashed in an explosion of pieces to the ground. Several larger ships flew overhead and instead of flying inside after me they pummeled the ravine with fire power mercilessly from overhead.
While they kept this up and I wasn’t able to move about easily without being hit so I stayed hidden but the rocks and debris their shots dislodged threatened to bury me alive. The shadow of another ship overhead appeared and fired, destroying one of them and then it turned into a battle between the ships overhead. It didn’t last very long. I recognized one of the ships as something the Boss herself owned and the other as the Ghost. I fist pumped the air like a maniac.
The blasts echoed through the ravine between the two hills and the second ship came tumbling down, crashing and burning some yards from me. Another blast of laser fire came toward me with an obscenely loud scream that pained my ears so that I had to bend down to the sheer sonic power and then suddenly another pirate ship was shot down, crashing into the narrow valley in fire and smoke. Above me, the sky was lit with fire and lightening streaks. Just outside the opening of the ravine, I saw three ships settle down. One of them was the Ghost. I heard Diamond’s familiar shout and I was glad to hear it!
“Bob, we got your message!” I came running out.
“Diamond, where’s Magnum? Are my wife and kids safe?”
“Yes, they’re safe. Magnum left one of his security mechs with them. They were fine when we left Vepaja.” Magnum came down the rampway of the second ship. “Looks like we arrived just in time too.”
“What’s this business about some special material you’ve found, Robert Astor? I expect this whole mess has some rational point to it?” That was Magnum, all business.
“Well, it’s a long story.”
“Let us hear the short version then. We haven’t much time. More criminals will be on the way and things in other places are on the move.”
“On the move? What have you heard?”
“We think the aliens have finally thrown down the gauntlet,” said Diamond.
“It would be better to discuss these things in privacy for security reasons,” admonished Magnum.
“Those sonic tremors, some new weapon you’ve outfitted the Ghost with?” I asked. Diamond grinned and nodded.
“Sonic power explosives. An experimental version of them. A new shipment came into Gunner’s Run months ago. I grabbed a few of them to test out from a guy I know.”
“It would be best not to mention where those came from, Diamond. If law enforcement asks, I prefer to claim ignorance and innocence.”
“Yes sir! Right-o, sir!” Diamond said, saluti
ng Magnum and grinning at me, giving me a wink. “I’ll make sure I don’t put us in a situation where they’ll feel the need to ask.”
“I’ll do my best to be brief. I’d heard that Vartan was looking for a special material, a metal with special properties for building a weapon. I believe I’ve found what she’s looking for.” Magnum nodded slowly. Diamond had a look on his face that rested between surprise and satisfaction.
“She may need quite a lot of it. I’ve been trying to negotiate with a supplier of this material for a while now and you’ve actually managed to find this stuff on your own?”
“By accident, naturally. You know how I roll,” I said. Diamond laughed. I turned to Magnum.
“There’s one more thing.”
“What is that?”
“The small community here. They’re peaceful, good folks under attack by The Collector and his ring of thieves. I believe it’s because of the diamond mine they found. The Collector and his gang, Hussa and the Kappa Mining companies which he is working in tangent with want to seize it for themselves. Can you lend them at least some temporary protection until a rep from the TAAAM can get here?”
“As I’ve said before, I can lend some help but I don’t see how it is our problem.”
“Technically it isn’t. But we can’t abandon them here to their fate.”
“Yeah. The Collector is a monster,” said Diamond somberly.
“They’ve been living here peacefully for decades. More importantly, this part of the land on this satellite is their land. They own it and any mine or other land feature under it. If we have the power to stop criminals from running rampant over people’s rights, we should do it. They aren’t much different from the aliens who want to invade, take a planet that isn’t theirs and kill the original inhabitants of it,” I added meaningfully.
“I have preliminary reinforcements. Two of my battle mechs I have brought with me and they have their own ships, capable of heavy cloaking abilities.”
“Vartan’s improved on cloaking and ghosting technology but she has most of the weapons outfitted with it still in reserve,” added Diamond.
“It will be of some help with stealth attacks for anyone should they show up again. Right now they are cloaked. Alien cloaking technology, I might add. Very advanced and very useful.” I smiled in great relief.
“You might also want to know that Magnum’s having a small device, a remote ghost drone as it’s called at Vartan’s lab, launched here.”
“Something created in the lab?”
“Sort of. It’s a mix of alien and human technology. Magnum says it will help these people immensely at least for a while but not forever. They do need a true defense set up here.”
“With the kind of immense wealth the mine here can bring them, they’ll be able to do that eventually. They just need a leg up and some protection for a while to get themselves together out here.”
“Hopefully after a few months they can deal with the situation on their own,” said Magnum. “We don’t have a shield powerful enough to hide and deflect attention away from the community indefinitely right now as most weapons we’ve built are going for the future battle. However, the drone will be useful temporarily. It should operate for about seven months. Just so long as no one detects it traveling to the sky and knocks it out.”
“Once it’s in place the drone will be difficult to detect unless their enemies are using advanced military technology.”
“I wouldn’t put it past some of them to have access to such tech.”
“It’s the best we’ve got for now, Bob,” said Diamond.
“It will have to do,” said Magnum. The mech then turned and opened a channel on his comlink and gave a terse command to someone on one of the invisible ships above. He gave directions for the two mech lieutenants to stay behind at the town temporarily and get the drone properly programmed to pinpoint the location it needed to bear all its focus upon and then launched into the satellite’s atmosphere.
“I do have concerns, Robert,” said Magnum.
“Like what?”
“The atmospheric program for this Venusian satellite is not as stable as it might be nor is it particularly complex. Too much stormy activity for such a small planetoid. It may disrupt the drone’s cloaking capabilities after a few weeks. It may even kick it out of orbit at some point. But there is not much we can do to adjust for such a thing once the drone is launched. There are a number of factors that can lessen the effectiveness of the drone’s power to protect the community.”
“I think every little bit will count. They’re very resourceful when it comes to fixing things here.”
“I will have one of the mechs instruct them on what to do if that happens. My battle mechs are equipped with the best weapons available right now as well as the ability to cloak themselves while firing. It may not be enough but it’s what I can do for them. But we need to leave here. Where’s the metal?”
“It’s in the town. Follow me.” I boarded the Ghost with Diamond while Magnum boarded his own ship.
“Diamond, I thought there was one more thing you guys were worried about?”
“Yeah,” he paused. “The cheap weather software the system or bio-dome this planetoid uses and also, I counted eight ships stationed not far from this satellite. They are cloaked now but I’m sure they are still there. I’d noticed them while on the station nearby in Venus’s orbit.”
“What about them? Do you recognize who owns those ships?”
“No, I don’t, which worries me. I have no doubts that Magnum and his bare bones team on Venus can take care of any small band of outlaws. None at all. And if he had his entire team of warrior mechs then even a formidable outlaw gang of pirates or smugglers would have a difficult time of it. However, a consortium of smuggling gangs or a pirate confederation is another matter. It would start an all out war with Vartan Inc. and maybe with other companies doing business in space, which none of us need. I’m not sure who owns those ships or why they are hanging about. They are well hidden from the unsuspecting traveler, but with my past knowledge of how smugglers and thieves hide in plain sight I know outlaws when I see them.”
“Can you make a wild guess?”
“I could make an educated guess if we had more time. We don’t.”
“And you think they’re watching this place?”
“Why else would they be hanging around? I could be wrong but my smuggler’s radar is rarely off.”
This didn’t make me feel any better. Another problem on the horizon. But there was no time to worry about it any further. I did what I could. I collected my things back at the living quarters in the underground town.
“Gerard, is everyone okay?”
“They were using bombs that could reach below the surface. A bunker-style bomb. Luckily no one was killed but we have a few injured. And one of the women is now in labor. Don’t worry about that. We have several doctors and nurses here among the population.”
“I’m glad to hear it. You’ll be happy to know that help is here. You won’t see most of them because their ships are cloaked but they are right above the surface of the town. Battle mechs.”
Magnum’s presence sent the town into a flurry of excited questions and murmuring among the people. I could see the smoke and damage the bomb had created. It was as if a small comet had hit the place, blasting out part of the underground area, creating a small canyon. People were already dragging out tools and preparing to salvage what they could, busily engaged in making what repairs as they were able to seal off the new damage with a wall made out of the rock and rubble of the surrounding the area. They were a thrifty and efficient, resourceful folk and I admired that.
It was time for me, finally, to leave. Gerard came up to me in the commotion and shook my hand.
“I’m mighty glad you showed up, Bob. It’s almost as if you were meant to come, even if you don’t think so.”
“Oh, I wonder about such things. I do. Sometimes you are put into certain situations to
help others, or for them to help you. I’m just glad that I could help.”
“You don’t know how much help you’ve been. A felicitous thing, your accident. Like a mighty one that fell from heaven, you are! If you see him out there tell my grandson he needs to call us this week!” Gerard gave me Peter’s new address and we said our goodbyes one last time. The whole community gathered to give me a warm sendoff as Diamond helped me gather the box onto the hover-carrier and onto the Ghost.
I had one more thing to do for them before I focused my attention on larger matters. I alerted the closest authorities in Vepaja about the incident and then sent an urgent voice message to the Trans-African Alliance of Artisanal Miners once we got off the satellite. I was glad to see the back of it and hopeful and still worried for the little, embattled community there. I gazed at the metal box, happy to possess what might be a game-changer for us all. But we needed more. And where could I get it?
A ship close by hailed us. Magnum was contacting us from his ship. Diamond brought his hologram image onscreen.
“Mr. Astor, I have one more piece of information for you from The Boss. This is new information.”
“Yes Magnum, what is it?”
“She seems to have found that the alien loyalist named Abor has a new ship he uses regularly now to travel across the solar system, carrying out his misdeeds. It is called Kendilau, translated Noble Fist. It is shaped like a spider, a large fighter ship, dark blue. She has been tracking a few of these loyalists active in space near Earth for some time. If that information is important to you in your own business, there it is. She thought that you would like to know this information in case you run into him again.” My face must have flared in vengeful satisfaction because Magnum decided, for some reason, to caution me.
“I can tell by your facial expressions and the groups of muscles twitching in your face that this pleases you in a most spiteful way. I would not go after him alone. If you feel the need to confront him call in security from my forces. In fact, I think it better to let us handle it if he crosses us again.”
Mission: A Venus Affair Page 11
