Earthfall

by Knight, Stephen

Kelly and Choi escorted Rachel back to the waiting SCEV, then returned to stand guard over the two captains as they went to work on the supports. They had a special dolly with them that was motorized, so they wouldn’t have to carry the supports all the way back to the SCEV themselves; since each support weighed almost four hundred pounds, that was a huge plus. Yet getting them out of the container was a struggle, and it took almost ten minutes to load one on the dolly. Then their return to the rig was limited by the dolly’s slow rate of speed. Andrews was sweating profusely beneath his environmental suit and respirator assembly, and through the visor of his facemask, he could see Laird was as well.

  “Man, this is going to suck,” Laird gasped over the radio.

  “You think it’s bad now? Wait until we have to get them in the rig and store them in the locker,” Andrews said. “We’ll both have herniated discs by the time we’re through.”

  “Thanks, man. Thanks so much.”

  Andrews was right. While extracting the core support from the container had been arduous, getting it off the dolly and into the airlock required some Herculean effort on their part. Stowing it in the SCEV’s tight confines was a hellish nightmare; it seemed like there just wasn’t enough room for them to move while struggling with the support’s incredible weight. Rachel wanted to help, but both men warned her away; if someone lost their grip, the result would be a shattered floor plate, or worse, a crushed foot. They finally managed to wrangle the support into the floor-level locker without causing any injuries.

  “Okay,” Andrews gasped when they had secured the support. “On to the next one.”

  “Man, this is kickin’ my ass,” Laird said.

  “Better that than leaving everyone in Harmony to die, Captain,” Mulligan said over the radio. He and Leona were listening in to their commo from the cockpit.

  “You’re a hell of a motivational speaker, Sarmajor,” Laird said.

  “I am a man of many talents, sir.”

  Andrews waved Laird to the open airlock door. A beeping alarm sounded every ten seconds, telling the crew the obvious: both doors were open, and the potential for internal contamination was increasing. Andrews led Laird outside, then he cycled the airlock closed.

  They repeated the sequence twice more before they had to stop to rest. With three supports aboard, Andrews was motivated to bust some ass and secure the last one, but both he and Laird were almost dead on their feet. They drank from the hydration packs they carried on their backs and leaned against the SCEV for a few minutes, catching their breath and trying to regain their strength. Andrews’s legs and arms felt rubbery, and his back and shoulders ached. His forearms burned, and he knew the pain would just increase over the coming days as abused muscles, tendons, and connective tissue grew inflamed.

  But it’s still nothing compared to what Law could do …

  “Mulligan, this is Andrews,” he said.

  “Go ahead, Captain. Over.”

  “Do you know anything about some special weapons programs that could turn a man into …” Andrews paused, trying to figure out how to explain it. “Into some kind of super-warrior? A man who could inflict incredible pain just by thinking about it?”

  “Lieutenant Eklund has been briefing me on the individual called Law, Captain. No, I’m unaware of such a program, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I did know of a program called OMEGA, where soldiers were subjected to nanite treatments that increased their ability to heal and gave them superior strength and endurance, but as far as I know, it was never fielded. As a matter of fact, Congress passed legislation to outlaw activities like that, but I guess the CIA or whoever created this Law bozo never got the memo. Over.”

  “I wonder how he could have survived all this time,” Andrews said, more to himself than Mulligan.

  “Nanites are interesting little machines, sir. They can self-replicate and continue doing their job for as long as there’s enough raw material to keep the process going. Have no idea if this is the case with that Law guy, but I’ll tell you what—let’s not hang around to find out. Are you guys about done with your smoke break, Captain? Over.”

  Laird pushed himself away from the SCEV tiredly. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he groused.

  “You guys want to trade places?” Kelly asked. “You can stand overwatch while Choi and I get the last one.”

  “Negative, there’s no reason for all of us to risk getting injured,” Andrews said. “We’ve got it. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

  “Take it easy, Mike,” Kelly cautioned. “It’s a long way back to Harmony, and I’d hate it if you guys were laid up for the entire run.”

  “We’ll take care of it,” Laird said, his tone terse and clipped. Andrews could tell his fellow officer was getting awfully close to his limits.

  “Easy, man,” he said.

  Laird shot him a thumbs-up. “I’m all right, Mike. Don’t worry.”

  “SCEV Five to all troops—once you’ve stopped sharing this tender moment, I’m going to have to ask you guys to cut some butt. We’re being scouted. I have visual contact on several OPFOR glassing us from another building down the block. I can engage, but they’re right on the edge of azimuth violation for the minis. Over.”

  “How many, Mulligan?” Andrews asked. As he and Laird struck out for the last support, Kelly and Choi flanked them. If they were going to be attacked, it would be while they were away from the SCEV. Both of them held their rifles at low ready. Laird towed the dolly along after him, kicking up dust as he ran.

  “I see three, but that doesn’t mean jack. There could be fifty more on the other side of the building. You guys need to decide if that last support is worth it. Over.”

  “It is,” Andrews replied. “Mulligan, if we get into a furball, you need to leave right away. You got that?”

  “Sorry, Captain. Your transmission’s breaking up. Over.”

  Andrews almost laughed. He had expected a terse acknowledgement of the order and nothing else. After all, Mulligan was the one who was supposed to babysit the others and make sure the mission was completed. And here they were with goblins approaching, and he wasn’t going to leave the others behind without a fight. Andrews had to admit he was impressed by the old soldier’s attitude.

  “They like to get up high and attack from there,” Andrews said as he crawled into the crate and grabbed another support. “You guys keep your eyes open, and if you see movement, open up. There’s no one friendly out here.”

  “Roger that,” Kelly said, taking up a guard position on one side of the warehouse aisle. Choi hung back, positioning himself so he could see the doorway to his left and maintain watch on the other side of the warehouse.

  Andrews and Laird grunted and strained, struggling to get the last support out of the crate. They finally managed to do it, but at the last moment, Laird lost his grip. With a yelp, he jumped back, and Andrews felt his end of the support slide out of his hands. The support slammed to the concrete floor with a tremendous crash, blasting a deep crater into the cement, sending chips flying.

  “Goddamn it, Laird!” he shouted.

  “Sorry,” Laird said. “Come on, let’s get this thing loaded up—”

  “Captain Andrews? You there, my friend?”

  The sudden voice over the radio made everyone freeze in place. Laird looked up at Andrews, the question visible in his eyes, as Kelly and Choi shifted uncomfortably. Andrews felt a stab of fear run through his heart.

  It was Law. And if he was broadcasting on their frequency …

  “Mulligan, position of SCEV Four!” Andrews shouted, panic plain in his own voice.

  “Negative contact,” Mulligan reported back, and there was an almost embarrassed quality to his voice. “Sorry, sir. We weren’t paying attention to Four’s transponder data. It’s been shut off. Recommend you get back immediately. Over.”

  Laird bent over, struggling to get a grip on the support. “Come on, let’s get this thing—”

  “Everybody back to the rig!” Andrews grabbed Laird�
�s arm and yanked him away from the support. “Now!”

  “Too late, my friend,” Law whispered over the radio.

  The warehouse became a living hell. From outside came the long, drawn-out ripping sound of miniguns firing, their six-barreled, electrically driven guns pumping out four thousand 7.62 millimeter projectiles per minute. The barrage ripped through the warehouse’s shell as if it were made from wet paper towels, opening up great holes through which harsh sunlight poured. The bullets continued across the warehouse, decimating ancient shipping crates and sending splintered wood and fragmented metal whirling through the air like a vicious, barbed cyclone. Steel shelving units rocked back and forth, and as Andrews ran down the aisle, he heard all manner of shrapnel strike the crates and shelves around him. Outside, he heard SCEV Five’s turbine engine begin to wail to life, and then another minigun blast exploded into being as Five opened fire on another target.

  “Mulligan, SITREP!” Andrews yelled.

  “Taking out their observers, Captain. No visual on Four, and I’m prepping to evac. Over.”

  “We’re on our way!” Andrews followed Kelly and Laird as they turned the corner. Choi remained where he was, rifle at the ready, finger on the trigger. Another salvo of minigun fire tore through the structure from the opposite side of the warehouse, and Andrews flinched as something cracked past his head. He signaled Choi to head out, and the young Asian man did as instructed, running in a crouch for the door. Andrews turned the corner and saw the bright rectangle of light ahead of him. The SCEV’s airlock was already open, and he watched as first Kelly, then Laird, vaulted up the short stairway and into the rig’s interior. Then Choi emerged into the bright sunlight, and he skidded to a stop beside the stairway and squatted there, keeping an eye toward the SCEV’s rear. He raised his rifle and started shooting immediately.

  “They’re coming up behind us!” he screamed over the radio, releasing a burst on full automatic.

  “Get aboard!” Andrews shouted. Tinny clanks and clinks filled the air, and he felt projectiles hitting him with enough force to pierce his suit. A spiderweb of cracks filled one corner of his visor, and he realized Law’s rounds were passing through the warehouse and slapping into the SCEV, disintegrating when they hit the rig’s dense, armored hide. He scrambled up the stairs and launched himself through the small airlock, spinning around on the other side and reaching back for Choi. Choi bolted up the stairs and slammed into him, sending both of them reeling.

  “Mulligan—go!” Andrews yelled. The SCEV lurched into motion and it sped away from the warehouse—in reverse.

  ***

  “What are you doing?” Leona shouted from the right seat.

  “They’ve already scouted us, so they know our orientation,” Mulligan said tightly. “They probably have a kill box set up ahead, where your pal the Law is sitting pretty in SCEV Four, waiting to put a missile up our ass as we come around the corner. Sit tight, Lieutenant—unless these fuckers have an Abrams squirreled away somewhere, the other rig is our biggest obstacle.”

  “But he knows how to use it!” Leona said. She sat rigid in her seat, fear etched into her face, her eyes wild.

  “He might know how to drive an SCEV, but he doesn’t know how to fight in an SCEV,” Mulligan said. “I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts he’s sitting in a fixed position, hosing the warehouse, trying to flush us out. And we’ll do what he wants, just not the way he wants us to do it.” As he kept the rig hurtling backward, Mulligan’s thick fingers danced over the center console. He raised the missile pod into firing position and brought up a targeting window on the viewport. He saw through the external cam feed broadcast to one of the displays on the instrument panel that Choi was right—there were about ten or so combatants behind them, obviously placed to add urgency to the situation and force the SCEV to expedite its departure. But they hadn’t expected the rig to come right at them, and they dove behind the corner of the warehouse as the SCEV bolted backwards.

  “Lieutenant, you want to hose those guys with some minigun fire while I tend to everything else?” Mulligan asked. “I’ll pull past the warehouse and bring the nose to the right once we’re clear, so all you’ll have to do is fire. You don’t even have to kill any of them, just get them out of our way. Hooah?”

  “Hooah,” Leona said, and she seemed to throw her fear into a corner as she pushed back her dark hair. She took hold of the fire control yoke on her side of the cockpit. “Guns up!”

  “Stand by,” Mulligan said. He held the control column back until it almost reached the control stop, and the rig’s turbine engines bellowed with power. Then the vehicle flew past the corner of the warehouse, and he brought the column to the left while applying the brakes. The rig slewed crazily, its nose abruptly tracking to the right as a cloud of burnt rubber began to form outside. Leona pressed the firing button on the yoke, and the twin miniguns mounted on the SCEV’s nose erupted as they vomited forth a salvo of destruction. The ten or so enemy combatants there didn’t stand a chance—eight of them went down in spreading explosions of gore while the remaining two dived for the dirt and curled up in fetal positions, likely waiting for Death to tap them on the shoulder and inform them they were required elsewhere. Leona could have set up that meeting by depressing the guns just a few degrees, but she didn’t, and Mulligan wondered why. Not that it mattered to him one whit. They had bigger fish to fry, then they would leave San Jose to rot in the powerful sunlight.

  “Mulligan, what’s the op?” Andrews appeared in the cockpit doorway, and he wedged himself between the seats.

  “I’m going to see what I can do about SCEV Four,” Mulligan told him. “We can’t have that batshit crazy dude you guys say leads these morons taking us out from behind when we try to get the hell out of Dodge.”

  “I agree, but what are you going to do?”

  “Don’t know. Let’s find out, shall we?”

  “Uh—” Whatever sage advice Andrews was about to impart was cut off when Mulligan set the SCEV in motion once again, its big tires screeching on the parking lot’s cracked surface as it accelerated forward, pulling parallel to the rear of the warehouse. The surviving combatants there tried to make themselves even smaller and, for a moment, Mulligan considered running them over, but he dismissed the notion. They were combat ineffective, and the team from Harmony Base had likely taken more than its pound of flesh during the night. The SCEV barreled to the other side of the warehouse and accelerated into the parking lot on the other side. A flurry of projectiles struck the rig’s left side, and Mulligan grunted. Apparently, his opponent wasn’t quite as predictable as he’d hoped.

  Looking to the left, he saw SCEV Four slam its way through the rotting hulk of two cars, sending the metal carcasses tumbling across the parking lot. The miniguns on the rig’s sloped bow were blazing away, raking SCEV Five with dozens of tungsten-cored rounds. If the SCEV had been more insubstantial—like the armored truck Law’s people had tried to use as a gunnery platform earlier—then the crew from Harmony would have been in deep shit. But the rig’s armor was thick and ballistically tolerant. It would take more than 7.62 millimeter to do anything but dimple its hide and mar its paint. Unfortunately, SCEV Four was also equipped with Hellfire missiles, and Mulligan wasn’t keen on sticking around to see if Law knew how to use them.

  “Time to boogie,” he said, more to himself than Andrews and Leona. He kept the rig accelerating straight on, and it crashed through the fence on the other side of the parking lot and hurtled down a mostly vacant street. The rig’s Hellfires were radar-guided, so if he could get Law to follow him down the comparatively narrow city streets, then the chances of him scoring a hit would be reduced. Even millimeter-wave radar was subject to ground clutter, and despite their versatility and high-tech systems, the SCEVs hadn’t been designed for street fighting.

  “Lieutenant, set the chaff dispensers to pop off automatically if we get a launch detection, and take the safeties off the root beers,” Mulligan told her. Each rig carried six p
an-shaped anti-missile warheads that could be launched from the rig’s sides to intercept an incoming projectile. Essentially flying claymore mines, the AMWs—called ‘root beers’ by old timers such as Mulligan because AMW sounded a lot like A&W—would detonate in the path of an incoming missile or rocket and explode, sending a crescent of ball bearings flying into the projectile’s path. The idea was that the missile would strike the steel wall and be damaged so severely that it would be unable to hit its target.

  In theory, anyway.

  “Done,” Leona said.

  From the rear of the SCEV, they heard something like hail hitting metal.

  “Hey, we’re taking fire back here!” Laird shouted.

  “It’s Four,” Andrews told him. “Everyone strap in.” He turned to Mulligan. “You planning on outrunning him?”

  “Not much chance in that, sir. He’s running a lot lighter than we are, so he’s going to have the edge on us when it comes to speed and maneuverability. But I’m thinking I might have a surprise or two up my sleeve.” He nodded toward a multistory building ahead, its exterior battered and worn by war and earthquakes and the passing years. It was a fairly tall and narrow structure, one of what had once been known as pocket skyscrapers—structures that were built on small parcels of land yet provided a remarkable amount of floor space due to their height. In heavily urban environments, they’d become wildly popular in the third decade of the twenty-first century. Many of them had been the cause of numerous lawsuits, because several had proven to be death traps. Mulligan hoped he’d picked a lucky one.

  “You’re going to lose him in that building?” Leona asked.

  “Nope, but he’s going to lose us. Captain, can you visually confirm everyone is strapped in?”

  From the corner of his eye, he saw Andrews turn and look into the next compartment. “Roger that.”

  “You might want to hang on, sir. If this thing has a basement, we might wind up severely fucked.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe you might want to think about this again,” Andrews said.