Dust & Iron (Adventures of the Starship Satori Book 9)

by Kevin McLaughlin

  DUST & IRON

  ADVENTURES OF THE STARSHIP SATORI: 9

  KEVIN MCLAUGHLIN

  ROLE OF THE HERO PUBLISHING COMPANY

  Copyright © 2018 by Kevin O. McLaughlin

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental.

  CONTENTS

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Kevin’s Notes

  Afterword

  About the Author

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  ONE

  An alarm was blaring somewhere near Charline’s head. She tried to reach out an arm to swat the thing and get an extra ten minutes of snooze time, but her arm was caught. Shifting around didn’t help. The arm was well and truly trapped. Panic started to settle in, and her eyes snapped open. For a moment all she could see was the bright red light of an alarm notification directly ahead in her line of vision. What the hell?

  She was laying down. No, she was suspended upside-down, strapped into a harness. Memories came flooding back in a rush. The straps were holding her position in an exo-skeleton.

  She’d been carrying equipment and supplies from the ship to the cave. It wasn’t an ideal location. The place was infested with giant, man-eating centipedes. Charline was pretty sure they’d cleared the place out, but on an alien world, ‘pretty sure’ didn’t cut it. They’d have to scour the entire cavern from one end to the other before she’d be certain it was safe for her people.

  Her people. Charline was the official governor of the first extra-solar colony humans had ever attempted. The whole point of the venture was to develop a bolt-hole, a self-sustaining group of humans who might keep the species alive if Earth was wiped out. The Naga had come dangerously close to doing that just half a year before. They might succeed next time, and if they did, this colony would be all that remained.

  It was a responsibility Charline hadn’t asked for or wanted.

  There was a small quake, and part of the cave collapsed. Charline happened to be right under the mess when it came down. The suit shielded her, but the cave-in had knocked her over. That had to be debris from the collapse, blocking her view out and pinning her in place.

  She put her hands on the control sticks and tried to shift herself upright. Rubble clattered around her. Engines whirred, then whined, as the suit tried to shift the stuff piled on top of it. But it wasn’t enough. There had to be too much rock pinning her down.

  The enclosure around her that had felt so comforting and secure just a few moments before seemed a lot more like a coffin all of a sudden. Charline found herself breathing faster. She jerked hard at the controls a few more times, trying to bust loose. A handful more rocks tumbled free, but that was all.

  “Shit!” she shouted.

  “Ms. Foster? Is that you in there?” A man’s voice. One she didn’t know.

  Someone was out there! She wasn’t alone. Thank god. “Yes! What can you see?”

  “Big pile of rock, ma’am. Your suit is about half in, half out. But it’s the top half that got buried.”

  That was why she couldn’t break free. The weight was on top of the suit’s main body. It was going to be a bear getting out until some of that rock was moved. Charline looked across the display in front of her. The good news was that most of her systems were still online. As soon as she could get the suit upright, she could get out of this thing. It couldn’t be too soon.

  Charline forced herself to slow her breathing. Hyperventilating wasn’t going to do her any favors. She needed a cool head, right now more than ever.

  “OK, listen, can you go back to the ship? Get some help?” Charline asked.

  “The cave-in blocked the tunnel entrance. We’re both stuck in here until they can get us out.”

  “Terrific. Guess I’ll just hang out here. No place else to go, anyway,” Charline said. She tried to put some levity into her voice but wasn’t sure she managed.

  “You’re not alone, ma’am.”

  Charline’s attempt at a chuckle came out sounding dry and unconvincing to her ears. “All in this together, hmm? One big, happy family trapped together by a rock slide?”

  “Sure, ma’am. Something like that, anyway,” the voice replied in a deadpan tone that made Charline crack a true smile at last.

  “Glad someone is keeping a level head around here,” Charline said. “Who am I speaking with, anyway? I don’t recognize your voice.”

  “Arjun. Arjun Varna,” he replied. “I’m an electrician for the colony. Or I was, anyway. I don’t suppose there’s going to be one now, is there?”

  “Do you want to have killer bugs as neighbors?” Charlie asked. The caverns below had been crawling with monstrous centipedes with armor that would resist all but their most powerful weapons. Not to mention scimitar-like claws and jaws that could cut a person in half with a single blow. They’d won the battle, sure, but no one had any idea how many more of the monsters might be hiding in the warren of caves.

  Charline didn’t want to find out, either. They were dusting off this planet and returning to Earth. If the higher-ups back home waited a colony here, they could send back a bigger team. Ideally one with tanks and Marines. Lots of Marines.

  A low rumble shook the stones, sending a few clattering down from the pole pinning her exo-suit. The shaking increased in intensity.

  “What is going on out there?” Charline asked.

  “I think...it’s the ship. I can hear the engines whine,” Arjun said. “I think they’re taking off!”

  “What?” Charlie felt her earlier panic returning. Why would they leave?

  She’d been counting on help arriving from the ship to free her from the rubble. Something really bad was going on out there. Beth would never just abandon her friends.

  “They’ll come back for us as soon as they can,” Charline said, as much to reassure her own fears as Arjun’s.

  “I do hope they hurry,” Arjun said. His voice crack
ed, and Charline heard real fear from him for the first time.

  “What is it? What is wrong?” she asked.

  “I hear noises. Sounds of movement. From down below,” Arjun replied.

  They’d already evacuated everyone out of the lower chambers. If he heard something moving around down there, it wasn’t human. Charline had a bad feeling she knew precisely what it was.

  “It’s coming closer,” Arjun said. “Up the passage. What are we going to do?”

  A very good question. Charline wished she had an answer, but her rifle was in the rack beside her. If she couldn’t get out of the suit to defend them, they were both in a lot of trouble.

  TWO

  The same rock keeping Charlie pinned down might protect her from the alien bug – at least for a while. She’d seen the creatures’ strength and had no doubts they could dig their way down to her, given enough time.

  Arjun was another story. He was out there entirely exposed. Once the alien reached the top of the tunnel and saw him, his life expectancy would be measured in seconds.

  Of course, her own might not be much longer. They had to do something!

  “I can’t see what the mess on top of me looks like. Can you shift some of it? Maybe you can move enough of the junk that I can break loose,” Charline said. “I have a rifle in here that I can use to defend us.”

  “I can try,” Arjun replied. He followed that with a grunt and some clattering as he set about shifting rocks.

  Charline wanted to grab her controls and try again to break loose, but she held off. If she moved while Arjun was close rocks shifting could injure him. Besides, the more rubble he moved, the better her odds of getting herself free. But wait too long and she wouldn’t have time to save him.

  “How fast is it coming up?” Charline asked. She couldn’t hear the creature at all. That left her reliant on Arjun to let her know how close it was. The insects were lightning-fast. She knew it could close with them in a flash if it wanted.

  “It sounds like it’s taking its time. So far, at least,” Arjun said.

  Charline couldn’t help but feel impressed by his courage. He knew what was coming their way, but Arjun never allowed panic to overcome him. He kept working on the rocks as quickly as he could.

  “All right, back up,” Charlie said. She couldn’t afford to wait any longer. “I’m going to try busting myself loose.”

  “I’m clear. Go for it!”

  Charline twisted the steering controls, desperate to get free. She felt the engines struggle against the weight of rock on top of her, heard them whine in protest. Rocks rattled against the suit’s plating as they clattered loose and fell to the cave floor. But it wasn’t enough. The motors didn’t have enough strength to overcome the weight still pruning down on her.

  The exo-suits were marvels of technology. Wearing one, a person could lift about a ton. But they weren’t easy to get back on their feet if they fell over, even under the best of conditions. Which these were not!

  “OK, I think I see the rock pinning you down. There’s one specific slab you’re hung up on,” Arjun said. “If I can shift that even a little, you ought to be able to get yourself free.”

  Charline felt damned fortunate to end up trapped with someone who could keep a cool head in a crisis. “You’ve got nerves of steel.”

  Charline let go of her control sticks, hoping Arjun could do something in time.

  “Not really,” he replied. “I may need a change of pants when we get out of this mess.”

  “Being scared doesn’t matter,” Charline said. She couldn’t count how many times she’d been terrified that she was about to die. “Getting the job done anyway is what counts.”

  “Then I’m your man,” Arjun said, grunting with strain. “The rock is moving, but not enough. Let me try again.”

  “Hurry!” Charline said.

  “You really don’t need to remind me.”

  Charline could hear his gasping breaths as Arjun struggled to remove the rock. It had to be massive. Would he be able to shift it in time? More rocks tumbled free.

  “Whatever you’re doing, keep it up!” Charline said.

  “Just about got you loose, I think. Then–”

  Arjun cut off in mid-sentence. Charline heard him scream – whether in fear or pain, she couldn’t tell. She knew what that meant. The bug had reached the top of the cave. There was no more time. She had to break out now, or Arjun would die.

  “Now or never! Give me everything you’ve got, you bucket of bolts!” Charline hollered as she jerked her hand controls hard. The suit twitched, then shifted. Slowly, it rose back to its feet, internal gyros helping Charline stabilize the machine as it stood. Rocks and debris tumbled away in all directions. She hoped Arjun hadn’t been hurt by a flying stone. There had been no time to warn him. Stopping the bug was the only thing Charline could focus on for the moment.

  It must have just reached the upper chamber at the cave entrance. The alien insect was near the passageway down to the caves below. It stood on its rear legs, the front half of its body rearing back. The limbs it waved at her might look like those of a centipede, but Charline knew better.

  Aside from their enormous size, each of those legs was a deadly weapon in its own right. The inside curve of each was sharp and strong. She’d seen them cut through metal before. The exo-suit would offer her some protection, but she was still vulnerable.

  Arjun lay on the cave floor a short distance away from Charline, roughly halfway between her and the insect. There would not be time to exit the suit and use her rifle. The bug would carve them both to bits long before she could. But maybe she didn’t have to.

  The insect wore its own armor, but so did Charline. The hardened steel of her suit protected its wearer against industrial accidents, but it ought to give at least some defense against alien claws, too.

  And while her adversary was armed with dozens of razor-sharp claws, Charline wasn’t helpless. Her suit stood ten feet tall. The strength in its limbs came from powerful motors capable of lifting an enormous weight. Each arm ended in a gripper-hand that worked like a monkey wrench, capable of closing with enough force to bend steel.

  Charline took an experimental step forward. She still wasn’t too used to wearing the suit. Nothing about walking around in the thing felt natural to her, and there wasn’t a manual on using an exo-suit for a boxing match with an alien bug! She didn’t know if a combat application was under development or had just been set aside as impractical. Either way, she was breaking new ground today.

  Charline took another step forward, growing more confident.

  The bug hesitated. Its body twitched, swaying back and forth like it was trying to figure her out. There was a theory that these insects were far more intelligent than their smaller cousins on Earth. Charline had seen them lay traps and demonstrate cunning firsthand. Now this one was showing caution. She was something new, outside the creature’s experience, so it paused to assess her. Maybe she could just frighten the thing away?

  Charline moved her arms. Sensors embedded in the exo-suit read those motions and amplified them. The suit’s powerful arms rose in what she hoped was a threatening manner. The massive claw-hands ground shut, then opened again as she clenched and relaxed her own hands.

  The alien bug reacted to her display, but not as she’d hoped. Instead of fleeing, the monstrous creature rushed forward, its deadly claws slashing the air as it came.

  THREE

  Charline instinctively flinched away from the sudden attack. The suit sensors detected her movement and responded by activating motors to raise the powerful upper limbs. The move came just in time. Heavily armored arms collided with half a ton of angry insect. Razor-sharp claws squealed against hardened steel, trying to find purchase.

  She screamed and staggered backward. The armor took one step back, then a second, and a third. for terrible moment Charline thought that the armor would collapse backward, baring her beneath those terrible claws and teeth. Instead, the suit’
s back came to rest against the cave wall. The impact threw Charline hard against the harness, pinning her in place. She felt all the wind leave her lungs in a rush. Stars danced in front of her eyes, and it was all she could do to keep her arms raised.

  Half out of instinct, she pushed hard with her right arm. Then she slammed her left arm forward, smashing it into the insect is hard as she could. It gave a squealing cry as the steel impacted the side of its head with a crunching sound. The insect hissed and backed away.

  Breathing room. That was what she needed more than anything else right now. A little bit of space between them gave Charline a few seconds to collect herself. The creature eyed her warily, circling but not closing again. The armored plates were cracked and leaking fluid where she’d struck the thing.