"This structure is the latch ring," said Earl, patting the northern wall of the inspection corridor with his hand. "In a minute, we'll get to one of the clamps."
Within the next thirty seconds, Harley instructed the group to stop and look upwards as he shined a hand torch at one of the latch ring clamps, a thick, L-shaped structure that was actually part of the ninth ring. The clamp fit into a matching notch that had been designed into the latch disc. The clamps were pushed inwards into their respective notches by massive, threaded rods, also a part of the ninth ring, that were connected to a set of huge, geared down, electric motors. The "L" portion of the clamp was slightly beveled so that pushing the clamp onto the latching disc tended to pull the ring more tightly towards its neighboring ring.
The disc and latching system did more than just hold the hubs of the rings together. A spinning structure as large as the Santana Nexus station was subjected to a great many forces and these forces could vary considerably over time. One of the most frequent of these was the expansion and contraction of the rings and hubs due to temperature changes as the station rotated and portions of it were alternately bathed in sunlight from the neighboring star on one side and exposed to the cold dark of space on the other. There was a complex system of sensors and computer programs that would periodically operate the motors to adjust the tension on each of the clamps, tightening or relaxing the pressure on the latch disc to keep the hubs perfectly aligned. Most of the occupants of the Nexus Station were blissfully unaware that their home was a living, breathing construct!
"There are seven more of these clamps, each one of them located exactly half way between each of the spokes. When I actuate the motors connected to these threaded rods, these clamps will be pulled outwards and lifted out of their locking slots. All of you look carefully and tell me right away if you don't understand what I'm saying. Note that each lug has got to have at least a meter of clearance from the latch disc before we can safely push the tenth ring away from the rest of the station. Pulling these clamps away from the latching disc is how we'll begin the process of detaching the ring. We'll need a person at each clamp to observe the progress and tell us when the clamps have that meter of clearance so that everything is ready for the separation. I'll need eight volunteers to monitor the clamps. I'll warn you right now that there is a catch."
"And that would be...?" asked one of the men.
"The plan is to get everyone evacuated before we begin to move the ring because the entire area we are now in will be opened to space when the ring comes free. I want all of our volunteers to be wearing spacesuits but if you can't get out of this space in the allotted time, I'll tell you right now that you could be in for a pretty rough ride!"
"How much time do we have?" asked one of the men.
"I'm only going to wait for two minutes after the clamps are clear before I initiate the separation," replied Earl.
"I think we can live with that," said another of the men.
"And if one of these clamps isn't retracted far enough?"
"That's a very good question. It means that attempting the separation could result in massive damage to the ninth and tenth rings and, very likely, to the rest of the station. If all eight clamps aren't free of that latch ring, we won't be able to go forward without risking a lot of lives."
"What if, for some reason, one of these clamps doesn’t pull clear?"
"We'd have to wind the motor for a long enough time that he tension rod comes out of the clamp," said Earl, "but I would really rather not have to do that. It would require several extra minutes that we may not have."
"How soon are we gonna try to do this?"
"As soon as we hear that the threat from the Sheik's Navy has been neutralized. Hopefully within the next few hours."
Chapter 54.
Santana Nexus Station, January 13, 2599.
"Maintenance? This is the ring ten spindle hub control room."
"How can we help you?" said Jeremy Fenster, who was the station's Head maintenance foremen.
"We have a problem down here in the control room; the low gravity toilets are malfunctioning."
"There's been a lot of that going on since the station...changed hands. I'll get a crew down there sometime in the next fifteen minutes."
"Fifteen minutes? I would advise you to get someone down here now! If you don't have someone down here in the next five minutes, you will be receiving a personal visit from me! Are we clear?"
"Loud and clear," replied Fenster.
In the maintenance headquarters facility on the fifth ring, Fenster turned to the three federation infiltrators, all dressed in maintenance coveralls, who had been picked to temporarily take over the ring ten control room and authorize the ring separation. Orville Steuben, the maintenance expert, had actually been a maintenance foreman on the New Ceylon Orbital Station and looked right at home in the outfit. The other two agents, Carlisle and Donahue, had been selected for their combat abilities in zero and low gravity. Donahue, who was one of Kelly's Marines, had worked with Carlisle before.
"The restroom malfunction is a go, everyone," said Fenster. "Steuben? You and your team need to get to the computer station down there and enter the codes so that we can get to work on the clamping system. No heroics! Just get your team in there, get the job done as quietly as you can and then get the hell out of there!"
To keep the enemy from discerning their true objective, the team would make it look as though their real target had been the life support computers for the tenth ring, though the plan was to vacate the control room before doing any real damage. It wouldn't do to alarm the enemy too much. A failed attempt on the life support system was a perfect diversion, since various random acts of vandalism had been steadily increasing on the station over the last few weeks.
The small infiltration team was able to get to the tenth ring hub area without incident. They simply went to the number one spindle elevator in their Station coveralls, accompanied by a maintenance cart loaded with plumbing supplies. One of the guards even opened the elevator door for them. They exited the elevator on the tenth ring and, in the low gravity, carefully maneuvered the cart down to the computer control room. They were granted immediate access.
Fenster may have done his job too well, the odor from the malfunctioning restroom was nearly overpowering in the confined area. After the outside door was closed, there was a brief scuffle with the two guards stationed in the room before Carlisle and Donahue disabled them with stun rods.
"It's this console over here, Steuben," said Carlisle.
Steuben took a seat in front of the console and began working the keyboard. Ten seconds later he announced, "I'm in! The password worked!" He typed in the first set of authorization codes that he had gotten from Harley Earl and hit the return, "It took the codes for the alarm system," he said, sounding somewhat relieved, "now to authorize the separation sequence." His fingers began clicking furiously on the keyboard again.
Leaving Donahue to stand guard, Carlisle crossed the room to the life support computer and began negotiating the main menu, searching for the programs that regulated the carbon dioxide scrubbers. She found what she was looking for and left it displayed on the screen, to leave the impression that she had been interrupted before she could finish what she had come to do.
"Separation sequence authorized," said Steuben. He then set the display back to the normal interface for that computer station, as though nothing had been done at that console.
"That's it!" he said, "I'm done, let's get the hell out of here!"
The escape plan was to get back onto one of the spindle elevators and use the service door in the back of the elevator to join up with the crew that was monitoring the clamp system. The plan worked, but only up to a point.
Steuben and Donahue were pulling the maintenance cart towards the nearest elevator when they were spotted by three of the Sheik's men who, as luck would have it, were coming around the hub to use the same elevator. One of the guards thought that three una
ccompanied maintenance people in that particular part of the station looked suspicious.
"Halt! In the name of the Sheik of Barsoom!"
Carlisle had remained on the other side of the maintenance cart in case she needed to cover their retreat and found herself blocked from a direct path to the elevator by the now superfluous cart. She snaked her hand into the cart, pulled out a pulse pistol and snapped off a series of pulses in the direction of the guards. One of the bolts struck home and a guard went limp in the low gravity while the others, not expecting to be attacked, frantically pulled or shoved themselves around behind whatever cover they could find.
"Go!" she said to her team. "I'll hold them here while you guys get to safety." She emphasized the order by snapping off another burst of pulses to keep the enemy soldiers pinned down.
"We aren't leaving without you, Tamara!" said Steuben as he and Donahue dove into the elevator. Carlisle fired another burst to keep the enemy pinned down and prepared to leapfrog over the cart to cover the short distance into the elevator, intending to simply abandon the cart. In the meantime, one of the two enemy soldiers that the infiltrators had stunned earlier during the takeover of the control room had revived. The man was still groggy but he was able to figure out that something was going down due to the commotion out in the corridor. After fumbling his stun rod free of its holster, he came unsteadily out of the control room behind Carlisle. Just as she was getting ready to vault over the cart, the revived guard knocked her down with a stun bolt to the middle of her back.
For Carlisle, suddenly everything went black.
Steuben wore a look of pure anguish but, unable to get to her without suffering the same fate, or something worse, reluctantly allowed the door to the elevator to slide closed.
***
Santana Nexus Station, somewhere on ring ten, January 13, 2599.
When Carlisle awoke, she found herself on her back strapped to a metal bedframe that was welded to the wall. There was no mattress. She could tell by the pull of gravity that she was no longer in the central spindle area and that she must have been taken to somewhere on one of the rings. The strapping holding her down appeared to be overkill, the doorway into the holding cell she was in was covered by a force curtain. There wasn't much to see through the curtain but it looked like her cell was one of several that lined the walls of fairly large compartment. A guard sitting at a desk out in the compartment made a call on the intercom.
"The prisoner is awake," he said, "You wanted me to call you right away."
"Very good," came the reply, "bring her to me."
The guard made another call and just a few moments later, four of the Sheik's guards entered the large compartment. The guard at the desk entered a string of code into his computer terminal and the force field on Carlisle's cell shut down. While two of the guards stood watch, pulse pistols at the ready, the other two undid Carlisle bonds and escorted her out into the central compartment and down several corridors to an interrogation room. The guards forced her to sit and bound her into a chair that was bonded to the deck. The guards left and after a couple of minutes a short, homely little man came in, closed the door behind him and took a seat across the table from Carlisle. He laid an old-fashioned folder on the table, opened it and spread out the papers within in front of him. Only then did he speak.
"I am Rahman Halabi, the chief interrogator for the Sheik of Barsoom. If you answer my questions, things will go better for you."
Chapter 55.
Santana Nexus Station, ring ten, January 13, 2599.
Carlisle looked at the Sheik's chief interrogator dully, still groggy from the stun bolt. Halabi picked up one of the papers from his folder.
"You are not from the Nexus Station, you have come here from the Federation's accursed Scrapyard. Is that not correct?"
Carlisle couldn't see any reason to argue that particular point and was wondering just how to respond but Halabi continued without waiting for her to reply.
"There is no need to lie, we have security video that shows you not only arriving here several weeks ago, but also shows you getting onboard a shuttle that took you over to the Istanbul. The Istanbul is known to be in the Federation's Scrapyard at the present time."
Carlisle fell back on the cover story that the conspirators had all agreed upon beforehand, "We came here to get some medical supplies," she said, "our people at the Reclamation Center are isolated and many of our wounded are dying. Your two attacks have left us devastated. Our only goal now is survival."
The interrogator looked at her for a long moment before speaking again. "That is certainly a good story but I don't think I believe it," responded the little man, "You appear to have many amazing skills, but lying is not one of them. I think you should know that I questioned one of your co-conspirators yesterday and, with the aid of some very effective drugs, he told me a most interesting story."
Carlisle was beginning to get worried.
Halabi continued, "I'll tell you what I think, I think you are part of an invasion force that has come here to take back control of the Santana Nexus and overthrow the Sheik of Barsoom!"
Carlisle said nothing and hoped that her expression didn't give anything away. Maybe Halabi was only playing with her, the interrogator could learn everything she knew by simply administering the same drugs.
Yet... for some reason he seemed to be hesitating. Why?
Halabi stared directly at her face for a few seconds and then looked away, focusing on a spot on the wall somewhere above her right shoulder, his brow furrowed in thought. After that longish pause, he seemed to come to a decision. He directed his gaze back at Carlisle.
"For years I have done nothing but seek to ascertain the truth. In that, I can say with confidence that I have done a commendable job but...finding out the truth does not automatically mean that Justice is served or that wrongs are righted. All too often the end result is just the opposite." He looked back at her, "Fear not, little one, I am not going to question you further. Perhaps if you had been captured even a week ago, I would have felt differently but this...this Glorious Revolution is spinning out of control."
Carlisle remained silent, wondering what perverse angle the wily interrogator was trying to play.
Halabi continued, "When the Sheik started this Revolution a year ago he had clear motives and a close-knit group of dedicated followers. That was then. As the movement has gained momentum it has been joined by more and more greedy opportunists and people whose only purpose in life is to oppress others. I greatly fear that at this point in time the bad people in this revolution far outnumber the good and if the Sheik is successful, many of these unscrupulous people will wind up in positions of authority. I cannot allow that to happen."
"What are you going to do with me?" asked Carlisle.
"You?" Halabi thought for a short moment and shook his head before continuing, "I do not think I can spare you, too many of the wrong people know about you."
Just then there was a commotion in the corridor outside. Someone pounded on the door to the compartment.
"But perhaps I can stop this misdirected revolution," said Halabi, almost under his breath as he got out of his chair. He went over to the door, unlocked it and immediately stepped out of the way.
The door burst open and several guards swept into the room.
From behind Carlisle came a female voice, dripping with sarcasm, "So, my little Sleeping Beauty, you have finally awakened."
The speaker sounded strangely familiar but it took a moment for Carlisle to remember where she had heard that voice before it came to her; this was the woman who had attacked her inside the turret of the wrecked cruiser back at the Scrapyard.
It was Fahada, the Sheik of Barsoom's female assassin!
"Have you finished questioning her, Halabi," asked Fahada.
"I have, Fahada,"
"What did you find out?"
"Very little that we didn't know before," Halabi lied, fluently, "As our sources report, the Federation force
s are nearly defeated and are becoming desperate. She was part of a small force that came here to steal some medical and military supplies. I was...about to send her back to her cell. She knows nothing of importance."
Carlisle was speechless and sincerely hoped that her shock didn't show. It appeared as though this man, the Sheik's right hand, greatly feared by the populace of the Nexus Station, really wasn't going to give away the plan to retake the Nexus Station!
Though it was a great relief to Carlisle to know that the master plan could go forward, her own personal future was very much a different matter.
It soon became apparent that Fahada had ideas of her own for the prisoner.
"Good, then you won't mind if I take her," said Fahada.
Halabi could do nothing to interfere.
"As you wish, Sayyeda," he replied with a short bow.
"Very good," was the sinister reply. Fahada came around in front of Carlisle and looked her full in the face. "So you are Ensign Doctor Tamara Carlisle, Commander Kresge's pet Spacer killer."
"I'm not the killer," replied Carlisle, "That would be you."
The response was met with laughter, though there was little mirth in it.
"Oh, yes, little Spacer, I am indeed a killer."
"Then why am I still alive?"
"I have a very special plan for you, little pet Spacer killer, I plan to kill you in a very public place, for the entertainment of the Sheik of Barsoom and his men. You have been a particularly sharp thorn in our side and we have decided to make an example of you."
"What do you mean? What're you going to do to me?"
"You and I will fight to the death in the weightless arena. Your death, I mean. Prepare yourself, little pet Spacer, we are heading for the arena in a few minutes. Guards? Prepare her and bring her to the arena. The game is about to begin! Getting rid of this one will be a particular pleasure!"
The glare that Carlisle gave her would have melted steel.
The Santana Nexus (Junkyard Dogs Book 3) Page 33
