by Alex Kings
Then, out loud, he said, “Put down your weapon, Agatha. Let's keep it nice and slow.”
“ … Fine,” said Agatha, without taking her eyes off Vance.
“At last, someone's being sensible,” said Vance. “Good on you, captain! I'll try and make sure your people live.”
Agatha began to squat as if she were about to put her gun down. Hanson did the same. But halfway through, he gave one last subvocal command through his comms: “Now.”
Immediately, Srak jumped forward, in between the Glaber and the rest of the team. Hanson sprinted to the left, to the cover of the desk. Already some of the Glaber were firing. A couple of their shots hit his armour; others we blocked by Srak.
A moment later they reached the cover of the desk. Hanson saw Agatha slide in next to him on her side, gasping in pain. She'd dropped her pistol and had a grenade in her good hand. As Srak and Yilva came leaping in alongside them, she flicked the pin out and pitched the grenade back over the desk. It clinked once, twice against the ground – then there was an ear-splitting squeal with a flash that lit the whole room up into a sort of white. When both had receded, Hanson's ears were ringing. The reflection of the flash alone left black spots dancing across his vision.
Agatha wasn't deterred. Already she'd removed the pin from a second, normal grenade. This, too, she threw over the desk.
Hanson was at his comms again. “Sergeant Moore, a big damn heroes moment would not go amiss! We've got a full platoon of Glaber here.”
“On my way, sir,” Moore's voice came through faintly over the ringing in his ears, and was following by a thunderous bang from the second grenade.
The Glaber were still firing and shouting to one another. He had no idea how many were still active. He moved round to the other side of the desk to glance out. Smoke filled the room. The Glaber were scattered, in disarray, but most were still standing. He fired at the closest and saw it go down, then ducked back behind cover.
Then the desk exploded.
Hanson realised what had happened before the chips of wood had finished raining against his armour. The blank.
“Get behind the cylinder!” he shouted, already jumping up himself. His teammates didn't need to be ordered. They were already up and running.
The cylinder was just about big enough for them all the take cover behind. Yilva crouched in the middle, with Hanson and Agatha on either side, and Srak standing behind them them. At least it was transparent, so Hanson could see everything that was going on. Vance seemed to have gone – run off or dead, he couldn't tell.
There was the blank, stepping confidently out among the uncertain Glaber, one arm raised straight toward them. As Hanson watched, it fired again. A spiderweb of cracks radiated through the far side of the cylinder, and huge chunks fell away. One more shot and it would be through.
But there was still that pause between shots. Hanson leaned out as quickly as he could, took aim – a lone Glaber bullet glanced off his armour – and fired.
He hit true. The Blank stumbled back, a hole in the middle of its helmet. The Glaber around it scattered. Then there came a great whump and a flash of light as the Blank exploded. Black spots danced in front of Hanson's vision. He wondered if he'd ever be able to see properly after this was over.
Agatha laughed loudly. “Cool!” she said, leaning out of cover and shooting at one of the Glaber who had survived the explosion and was scrabbling to get up.
Hanson moved to shoot at another, but return fire from the far end of the window chewed into his armour, nearly penetrating, and drove him back. The rest of the Glaber platoon had taken cover back along the platform.
“Any plans what to do next?” said Srak. Assault rifle fire clattered against the cylinder's cracked edge. The last fragments of sapphiroid gave way and collapsed into the hole.
“Try and take them all out?” said Agatha. She rubbed tentatively at her arm where she'd been hit.
“Easier said than done.”
“Incoming!” said Srak. A grenade came flying from behind the window and rolled along the ground beside them. Srak reached from behind the remains of the cylinder – causing a flurry of assault rifle fire – and grabbed an intact chunk of desk. He swung himself between the rest of the team and the grenade, with the desk held out between him and the grenade. The explosion came with a loud crack – Hanson felt a wave of heat that got past Srak, and the chunk of desk fragmented. Yilva, crouched in between Hanson and Agatha, let out a little squeak.
“How're you holding up, buddy?” Agatha asked.
“Bullets and shrapnel all over the place,” said Srak. “I'm going to feel this tomorrow.” He leaned out and fired four shots in quick succession, which punctured the edge of the wall by the window and the Glaber hiding behind it.
It was getting hard to see them through the smoke. Hanson heard gunfire somewhere in the distance, but couldn't place it.
Another grenade came bouncing towards them, but stopped short. When it went off with a great crash, the cylinder shielded them.
“We can't keep this up!” said Srak.
“Yeah, I noticed,” said Hanson. He leant out to fire on a Glaber leaning out from behind the window. Assault rifle fire clattered against the remains of the cylinder, then stopped.
Hanson's grip tightened on his gun. He could hear his heart pounding, and a bead of sweat rolled down his neck. Gunfire sounded in the distance, stopped a few seconds later.
A few seconds passed. Were they planning something?
The door to the anteroom banged. A lone shot sounded from the other side. Hanson raised his gun.
“Sir, it's us!” came Moore's voice over the comm. “Are there any left on your end?”
Hanson sighed with relief. “Not that we can see,” he said.
The door to the anteroom slid open, and Moore and Saito came through. Moore looked around the room and gave an impressed whistle. “Looks you had a good time.”
If there was anything left intact in the office, Hanson couldn't see it. The carpet was littered with pieces of desk, sapphiroid shield, armour, shrapnel, all scattered among the bodies. A stink of rancid smoke hung in the air.
“Yeah, you could say that,” said Hanson.
Agatha laughed, and gave Srak a friendly thump on the shoulder. Yilva finally rose from her crouched position on the floor and looked around. She murmured something in Albascene.
“You did good, sergeant,” Hanson said. “Now let's get out of here.”
“Did you find what you were looking for?” asked Moore as they walked through to the anteroom.
Hanson shook his head. “Mr. Bell. Evidently the people behind this are human, but that's it. We were betrayed.”
“There's a surprise,” said Moore, glancing at Agatha and Srak.
“Hey, screw you,” said Agatha. “I didn't know about Vance, and I told you he couldn't be trusted –”
“Agatha!” snapped Hanson. Then, “And you sergeant. This isn't the time for it.” He sighed as they reached the door, and tapped the panel by the side.
The door opened to reveal the organic chamber that lay ahead of the anteroom. On the far side was the tunnel entrance.
As Hanson began to step forward, an armoured Glaber came out of the tunnel.
Chapter 22: Hold My Breath
For a moment everything seemed to slow down. Hanson caught sight of more Glaber coming down the tunnel behind the first. Another platoon? In the same instant, he pushed himself back through the door and dived to the side, just as the first Glaber fired through the door. Bullets clattered harmlessly against the far side of the anteroom.
Hanson could hear the banging of dozens of armoured boots on the metal platform outside. She slammed the panel on the door to close it.
“Sir?” said Moore.
Could they hold the anteroom? They'd barely escaped the first platoon, and that was with better cover. And if there was a second platoon, there may well be a third behind.
In fact, he realised, it was likely every
member of Hive Shrike on the Afanc was after them. If they stayed here, they'd be ground down by attrition if nothing else.
That left just one other way out. “The transport pod!” he said. “Now!”
The door to the side of the anteroom opened easily. The platform here – where the first platoon of Glaber had been taking shelter – hung over the side of a fibrous, organic cliff-face, and looked onto the internal cavity. Yilva was first into the pod, tapping at its control panel.
Hanson closed the door to the anteroom, and glanced back through the window while the rest of his team crowded into the pod. A few seconds later he saw the first of the Glaber platoon burst through into the anteroom.
Hanson ducked out of sight. Maybe it would take a few seconds for the Glaber to realise where they'd gone. “Any time now, Yilva,” he cried.
“I can't,” said Yilva from inside the control pod. “The power's disconnected. There's nothing I can do.”
Hanson peered through the window. Four or five Glaber were in the anteroom, with more filing through. One of them was coming over to the door to the platform.
His mind raced, trying to find a way out of this.
Srak came out of the pod and took Hanson's shoulder with one of his giant hands. “Get in,” he said, pushing Hanson to the door with a slow but irresistible force. “I have an idea.”
“What?” asked Hanson.
“Down there,” said Srak hurriedly.
Hanson glanced over the edge of the platform. The gravity would be off under the platform, so they wouldn't die by falling – but there wasn't air there either.
“I can handle vacuum,” Srak explained. “Just need to hold my breath.”
There wasn't enough time to debate. Hanson let Srak guide him into the pod and close the door.
The Glaber outside had seen them and was only a few metres away from the door now.
Srak grabbed the pod with all four of his hands in a sort of bear-hug, then twisted it sideways. The pod's connection to the rail whined, then gave way with a squeal of tearing metal.
The Glaber reached the door and hit the panel. The door began to open.
Srak jumped off the platform, pulling the transport pod with him.
From inside, Hanson saw the platform race upwards. The sense of falling – the same of zero gravity – didn't change, but he could see they weren't accelerating any more. The initial jump had given them a boost of speed while they were still affected by gravity, and that was it.
A ridged and rippled plane flew past them outside. Srak held on to the pod from the outside; Hanson could see his scaled nostrils pinched close. Agatha bounded up from her seat and floated to the top of the pod, bounced gently, then waved at Srak with her good hand. He smiled back at her.
“Yilva,” Hanson said, holding onto his seat to keep him in place. “Can you figure out where we're heading?”
Yilva was floating free, anchoring herself lightly to the wall with her tail as if this were the most natural thing in the world. Perhaps for her it was. She pulled her tablet out, holding it in her foot and gesturing at it rapidly with her hand. “Got something! It's … unmarked. But there's definitely something there. We need to go …” She paused for a moment, glanced at the chamber and the way they'd come, then pointed. “That way.”
They kept going. Agatha waved through the pod's surface at Srak, who noticed a couple of seconds later, looked at Yilva, and acknowledged her direction with a nod. Stretching out, he scraped a clawed hand into the Afanc's wall to slow them down, then pushed off to the side, in the rough direction Yilva was pointing.
They moved down and to they side for about twenty seconds, with Srak trying to make adjustments by scrabbling against the wall. It looked like difficult progress: once or twice, they went into spin, and once a strong push nearly took them away from the wall. But soon, a platform appeared below them. From their current angle, it seemed to be oriented on its side.
“Thank God,” murmured Moore, who looked ready to throw up.
Srak guided them into the gravity of the open platform a few inches above its floor.
“Brace,” said Hanson. When they came down, gravity would be pointing to the side of the pod. They all oriented themselves as best they could so they'd be flat against the new down direction.
The pod dropped to the floor with a bone-jarring clunk, and Hanson felt the wall of the pod thump into his back. Agatha grunted in pain, but was the first on her feet, clutching her right shoulder. She kicked the door open and crawled out.
Hanson came out afterwards, checking the platform to try and orient himself. On one side was an overhang looking out into the giant internal space. On the other, a fibrous ochre wall curved up beside them. It had a single door set into it.
He activated his comms. “This is Captain Hanson to Dauntless.”
“Dauntless Actual here,” came Lanik's voice through the comms. “Will you still be needing help with a daring escape?” Hanson thought he could detect the smallest hint of a smile in Lanik's tone.
“Almost certainly,” he told Lanik. “Things haven't gone well on this end. Our source betrayed us. We're trying to get out now.”
“I'm sorry to hear that, sir.”
“Yes, well. How are things on your end? I'm guessing from your cheerful voice that you haven't had to fend off any assaults on the ship?”
“No, sir.” A brief pause. “Should we expect one?”
“Vance said he'd clamped the Dauntless without your knowing. You'll have to remove it before you go anywhere.”
Agatha, hearing this part of the conversation, and tapped Hanson on the shoulder. “Tell him not to shoot his way out. Part of the truce agreement: If anyone fires ship's weapons on the Afanc or nearby, everyone – everyone – shoots back.”
Hanson relayed this advice.
“Thank you, sir,” said Lanik. “I'll try to avoid a shooting match with the giant criminal space station.”
“You do that. Contact me when you're free and I'll tell your where to meet us. Hanson out.” When he'd turned the comms off, he walked across the platform to Yilva, who had her tablet out and was tapping at the door's panel. The door slid open just before he arrived, revealing another winding tunnel. “Found us a route?” he asked her.
Yilva nodded. “Yeah, we're good! It's a bit of a trek, but this way takes us to the end of Ninth Tentacle.
“Are we still in Shrike territory?”
“It's their codes on the doors, so I think so. But it's not clearly marked on the map.”
“Right,” said Hanson to the entire team. “We have to assume the Shrikes are after us. All of them. We take this slowly and carefully, and avoid engagements if at all possible. Srak, Moore, take point. Saito, bring up the rear. Let's go.”
They set off down the tunnel, Yilva still checking her map every now and again. For close to ten minutes, they followed its winding path until at last they came to another door. This, too, Yilva opened.
This opened out onto a large internal chamber. To one side, it narrowed, and was blocked off by a broad titanium wall; on the other, it turned a corner, and beyond that divided into another, rather more spacious, set of tunnels. “Second from the right,” said Yilva, pointing.
They'd just started down the new tunnel when Yilva came to a halt. Her ears twitched.
“What is it?” said Hanson. Then, very faintly, he heard it too. The clang of boots against the tunnel's floor. Another troop of Glaber – and by the sound of it they were approaching rapidly.
“Any branches up ahead?” he asked Yilva.
She shook her head.
“Fall back,” said Hanson. As they retreated to the chamber they'd come from, he asked Yilva, “Do any of the other tunnels give us a way out?”
Yilva looked as the mess of routes on her tablet. “Yes! It'll take longer, but a couple of these lead back out of the Afanc too.”
“Good.”
They reached the large chamber. “Try this way,” said Yilva, pointing at the tunne
l entrance to their immediate right. But after taking a step, she came to a halt. “Oh, crumbs,” she said. “I can hear them down this one too … and this one.”
“Come on,” Hanson urged her, “Give us an option.” He could head the clattering boot-steps down the tunnel mouths too, now.
“There's one last choice. It's back this way, through the wall.” The team ran back across the L-shaped chamber until they reached the wall. Yilva bounded up to the broad doors set into it and started fiddling with the panel.
The Glaber boot-steps were nearly upon them.
The broad doors began to open.
Hanson hurried his team through the doors as soon as the gap was wide enough. Srak, being the largest, waited with him, gun ready.
The sound of boot-steps echoed up into the main chamber. The first team of Glaber had come through the tunnels.
Hanson and Srak dived through the doors as Yilva began to close them again. They were thick doors, Hanson noted – three or four inches, at least. They closed with a soft thump. “I've locked them,” Yilva said.
With any luck, it would take a while for the Glaber to notice they'd come this way. Hanson turned and looked around the chamber they'd entered. It was dimly-lit by panels in the floor, long and broad, but with an unusually low ceiling. Boxy equipment was scattered about, half of it in too much shadow to make out easily.
Moore, who had been advancing slowly through the chamber, suddenly stopped, swore, and raised her gun. Taking his own gun out, Hanson ran to see what it was.
A Blank stood in the behind one of the pieces of equipment.
It didn't move. Hanson lowered his weapon a touch.
Agatha strode up to it and knocked on the armour, then looked back with a grin. “It's empty!” she said.
“Then that must mean …” Hanson took a closer look at the equipment behind it.
A stasis pod.
