"You understand me, you functionary, you do work for me! You were assigned to me!"
"Keep your voice down, Doctor. Did you read my orders? I am assigned to you administratively. You do not have operational control; that remains with my superiors in Washington. You want to be in charge, fine—then you lead from the front. However, if you travel too far ahead of us I will stop you any way I can." With that, Mr. Smith walked away. Stanley looked at Mary and Balaji as they followed Mr. Smith.
As Mary drew near the table where the E-COM lay, she sent out a silent prayer. She so wanted Hugh to call. She bent her mind on the device trying to will it to life. She paused and looked down at it. "Dammit to hell. Do something!"
Shock rifled through her entire body as the tiny green light illuminated followed by an electronic crack and the sound of Hugh's voice, "Hello in the shelter."
Mary gasped and reached for the E-COM. At the same instant, Stanley also reached for the device but was stopped when a powerful hand grabbed his wrist. Mr. Smith just looked at him and gently shook his head.
"Hugh?" Mary shouted his name into the device.
"I'm okay, but it is a little nippy out here."
"Hugh, where are you?"
"I'm at the first stair well. Looks like an old friend of mine is stuck in it."
"What?"
"Big freezer. Remind me to tell you how he and I almost ran into one another. The other stairwell is too far away. I'm going to take the elevator."
"Hugh, there's no power out there," Mary reminded him.
"The cold has already affected his mind," Stanley ventured.
Hugh laughed, and then replied, "I'm going to climb up the shaft. It's only one floor."
Mary shot Stanley a hot look. "Be careful, Hugh," she pleaded.
"Ask him how he's going to move all those suits down here with the stairwell blocked," Stanley persisted, obviously trying to establish his claim to leadership over Hugh.
Mary squinted at Stanley then asked, "Hugh, how do you plan to transport all the Ess-CEPS down here through an elevator shaft?"
"I'll have a suit on pretty soon and can carry two suits back, then two volunteers can come to assist me and in one more trip we'll be done."
"Good plan, Hugh. Be careful."
"You said that already."
"Don't try and be funny it's not a joke. I mean it when I tell you to be careful, so be careful!"
Mary lowered her arm to return the E-COM to the table and as she did so, a sense of relief and happiness washed over her.
She set the device back on the table and her hand lingered on it for a heartbeat. She raised her eyes to glare at Stanley from under her brow. She took a deep breath and a small smile came to her lips. She raised one eyebrow and said slowly in an overly calm manner, "Well, Stan, seems he's almost there, and he has a pretty good idea about moving the rest of the equipment down. Perhaps he's not suicidal after all."
Stanley stood, unmoved. He snorted and turned his back on her, saying "He's not back with a suit yet. Regardless, Doctor, we all have work to do."
Chapter 13
Hugh knew that the emergency key that unlocked the elevator's doors was kept in a small housing just left and above the door. He also noted, as he tried to extract the key that his fingers were slow to move. The cold was getting to him. It must be minus sixty Celsius by now. It would become a lot colder if the dome was sitting in the shadow of a deep rill, canyon, or crater where the sun's light never reached. Even he could not survive exposure to minus one hundred fifty-five degrees Celsius.
With the door open, he showed his lamp inside. The shaft only dropped ninety centimeters or so, enough to accommodate the buffers, but it rose four stories. The elevator car was not here, it was at some location above him in the dark. Hugh could see the next floor up, so the location of the car was immaterial. To his right, slots in the wall served as a ladder for maintenance workers and his access to the second floor. Opening the second floor door from the inside was not a problem. He moved down the hallway toward the room in which the new Ess-CEPS suits were housed. He found the security doors closed and the room beyond the windows dark. The access key pad was likewise dark.
Hugh stood wondering, how, with the power off, was he to open the security doors?
Through the large window to the right of the doors he could see the door into the room containing the suits. It was open, no doubt damaged in the dome's jarring descent. But he still had to pass these security doors. Back the way he had come, he remembered seeing a fire fighting station. He turned and ran to it. Here, he grabbed an axe and a long, pinch bar.
****
Hugh spent the next fifteen minutes trying to pry open the security doors. He had even attacked them with the axe. He knew when he started it was a long shot. He backed away and studied the problem. Security doors, closed and locked, and he had an axe and a pry bar. It was like assaulting Fort Knox with spitballs. He glanced again at the large window to his right. The window was bowed. Hugh stumbled over to it, the cold now affecting his legs, and examined it.
The structure around the window had warped and placed the window under great stress. He moved to his right then with all his strength he brought the axe around and slammed it into the upper corner of the window.
Less than a second after he hit the window, there came a sound like an explosive crack, and the entire window seemed to vibrate like a gelatinous mass. The bottom had popped out of its frame a good seven to eight centimeters extending sixty centimeters to the right and thirty upward. Hugh reached for the pry bar now. Five minutes later, the massive window lay at his feet.
Quickly, he climbed through the aperture and headed for the suits. Between his lamp and the emergency lighting, he could see that there were dozens of the new suits here. With this new system, the people he was sworn to protect would be able to breathe for twenty four days as opposed to the few hours the old suits allowed. He donned the first suit, but before placing the mask and helmet on, he powered it up and instantly felt the warmth it generated saturate his nearly-frozen body.
He applied the mask to his face and felt it grip his skin; it was not uncomfortable, but would definitely take some getting used to. He secured the helmet next and pressurized the suit to point five of an atmosphere.
As he turned, he noticed a machine nearby suspended from the ceiling. There was a four centimeter power cable that came out of the machine and ran along the ceiling, over a supporting pulley wheel, and into a slot in the wall. Hugh approached it and pulled. There was a spring loaded coil inside the wall that allowed for the relocation of this mechanism. Hugh pulled the cable out to its full extension, then with his axe, severed it at the wall. He then yanked the other end out of the machine. Hugh took down two of the suits, their helmets and packs, and then tied them together with the cable. He then checked his suit's on-board COMde, turned it on, and set the frequency.
"Mary, are you there?"
"Yes, Hugh, how are you?"
"I'm okay. I'm in an Ess-CEPS and have two more with me. I'm heading your way now. And yes, I'll be careful."
"Okay, hero, you do that. And being careful is not a joke!"
Hugh reached for his bundle of suits when his eye caught an observation portal. There was nothing visible. He stood upright and advanced toward it. Still, he could see nothing. He stood at the portal, looking in every direction. It was as if some unseen hand had painted the outside of the portal black. Before the quake, he would have been looking west over the wide, flat expanse of Mare Insularum toward Rima Milichus. Now, not even the stars were visible. Hugh ran around the curving room to the farthermost window, some fifty meters from the first. It was exactly the same.
Hugh walked back to his bundle, considering this latest oddity and what exactly it meant. Retrieving the suits, he began his return trip.
****
Inside the shelter, all the supplies had been organized and inventoried just as Stanley had directed. At two meals a day there were emergency rations
for eight people to last seventy-three days and water for seventy-seven. The air and power in the shelter would last another forty hours or so. They would run out of breathable air before they ran out of food and water.
As they had been organizing their supplies, Stanley watched Mr. Smith and Bob working at arranging the boxes. They were stacking food and water on a shelf unit. As Mr. Smith reached up over his head to place a box on an upper shelf, the bottom of the holster that contained his pistol briefly became exposed from under the bottom of his jacket.
The ubiquitous government thug and his obligatory cannon, Stanley thought to himself as he enviously eyed Mr. Smith. Oh Smith had his use while the terrorists were a threat. Now, though, he saw Smith as an armed impediment to his leadership, and perhaps a threat to his survival.
****
As Hugh neared the door, he could feel his feet crunching in the solidified EFS on the floor. A reminder they were losing atmosphere. The door to the shelter was just ahead.
"Mary?"
"Yes, Hugh?"
"Think you guys could open the door and let me in? I come bearing gifts!"
They opened the door and Hugh entered with two Ess-CEPS suits in his arms.
All but Stanley heralded him a hero.
"Let me help you off with your helmet," Bob offered.
"No, better not Doctor, I need to return. We need five more of these. Give me two volunteers to climb into these suits and we can have them here in one more trip."
Everyone volunteered except Stanley and Martha. Even Bob spoke up.
Hugh selected Bob and Larry.
As they were dressing, Stanley approached Hugh. "Tell me Sergeant, how did you learn to use this suit?"
"I volunteered to test them, Doctor. I was provided all the necessary information."
"Yes, but you were rejected. Still, you know how to use the suit. How is that?"
"I was rejected as a test subject, true. But I was accepted as part of the support team."
Stanley just nodded and was about to walk away when he noticed that the light indicating the operational status of Hugh's regenerative bio filter backpack was not illuminated. He jerked back around, wide-eyed. "By God, Sergeant, your RBF's are not on!"
Hugh looked down at his chest pack and tapped the light with his gloved fingertip a few times. "Hmm...light must be burned out…"
"The light's burned out?" Stan was incredulous. "But this equipment is brand new!"
"Hey, I just walked half way around the dome with this thing on. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's on, wouldn't you agree?"
Stanley was about to take a closer look when Mary commented, "So, you got all the bugs worked out, did you?" Stanley corrected his posture and walked away.
****
Mary took Stanley's place in front of Hugh. Through his visor all she could see was the mask over his mouth and nose, and his eyes.
"You really are the hero type, aren't you?" she asked.
"You gonna recommend me for a medal?"
"Yeah, I just might. Tell me, after we all have suits, then what?"
"I have to figure out where we are first. I got a look out of some of the portals up there. There was total darkness, no illuminated crater rims, mountains, and no stars, nothing."
"No stars? Could those windows have been buried?"
"No, the light from my suit's lamps would have shown through the window to reveal rocks and dust."
From behind her, Mary heard Stanley explaining the functioning of the suits to Bob and Larry, who were both now completely suited up. She and Hugh turned to listen.
"Gentleman, in a moment I'm going to ask you to exhale all the air out of your lungs that you can. When you've done that I will push this button on your chest packs and the EverBreath, at the same temperature as your own bodies, will start to flow into the mask now covering your nose and mouth. It is odorless and tasteless, and you will hardly be able to feel it. At that point, I want you to let it fill your mouths. Do not swallow it. It will not hurt you should you do so, but it is not a beverage, it is the breath of life. Once your mouths are filled, and this is the difficult part, just inhale through your nose. The EverBreath will quickly fill your lungs and you will immediately feel the oxygen course through your bodies.
"However, I do want you to be prepared, because at first, your brains, in an attempt to survive, will reject the notion of a liquid filling the lungs. You will panic, it is a basic instinct. Your brain will, at first, think the body is drowning. That will be alleviated with the second breath, so strive to take that second breath as quickly as possible. In addition, EverBreath is, well, just a little thicker than air so you will have to consciously draw it in and expel it. Eventually your bodies will grow accustomed to this new experience."
Stanley rose and looked about at everyone. "Now, if you are all ready, I must ask everyone to assist here. You will have to grab them firmly. Pay particular attention to the arms and legs, as they will flail about. Get a solid grip. We'll do Bob first, then Larry."
Everyone got a grip on Bob, including Mary, and even Martha.
"All right Bob, exhale all that you can. Nod when you're ready."
Bob's chest deflated. He looked up and nodded.
"Now Bob, keep looking into my eyes at all times," Stanley said, and he pushed the button. There was no sound. The button just turned green and illuminated. Bob sat still a few moments.
"Let it fill your mouth, Bob."
Bob nodded, the fast jerky movements of his head indicating his extreme apprehension. Then he inhaled. His body went bolt stiff, and as Stanley had warned, he began to convulse and reached for the helmet to try to remove it. It was Martha who pulled his arms down. Bob's eyes indicated panic.
"Breathe, Bob, breathe! Look at me; you're all right! Breathe!" Stanley shouted at him. At last he calmed, but his chest was heaving.
"Good, Bob. Good. Now, slow your respiration rate. Start breathing through your nose. Breathe normally. You see? You're okay. Now, just relax."
Stanley turned and looked at Larry.
"All right, let's do this," Larry's voice came through a speaker on his helmet.
Perhaps because Larry had an idea of what to expect, his experience was somewhat less explosive. He had panicked as forewarned, but mastered it quickly. Both men were soon ready to accompany Hugh.
Mary looked again through Hugh's visor and into his eyes. She could not see his expression, but his wink was indicative of his innate confidence.
****
The temperature outside was now minus seventy-seven degrees Celsius and still falling. Fortunately there was no wind, so opening the door saw little heat loss from inside the shelter.
As Hugh and his companions made their way toward the elevator shaft, they encountered new damage to the hallway. Stresses on the dome were still manifesting themselves. The left wall had crushed inward. The floor buckled and the ceiling had come down. Hugh held up his hand and bid the others wait as he went searching for a safe way through the damage. He found a spot where they could climb over, then crawl under.
They reached the elevator shaft and climbed up one at a time.
Once they got to the suits, Hugh handed one to Bob and two to Larry along with half of the cable he yanked from the wall. With these, they tied four suits into two bundles. Hugh took one and Larry the other.
"Hugh," Larry called out. "Did you notice these portals? You can't see a thing through any of them."
"Yeah," Hugh said joining him at the portal. "I saw this last trip. What do you make of it?"
"If you look almost straight down there's...something there."
Hugh tried to shine his suit mounted lamp down but most of the light was reflected back at him. "I'm sure you're right, I just can't see it."
After several more attempts to verify Larry's observation, they turned to leave and found that Bob was already gone.
"Bob, this is Hugh. Where are you?" Hugh called to him over the suit’s COMde.
"Oh," Bob so
unded out of breath. "I'm waiting for you at the elevator shaft. Sorry, I just want to go to where it's safe."
"Don't move, Bob. We're headed your way."
Hugh and Larry picked up their bundles and began to retrace their steps to the elevator shaft.
Chapter 14
On their arrival at the elevator shaft, Hugh noticed several cables hanging down that he had not seen the last time he was here. He looked up, but could see nothing.
"What's wrong, Hugh?" Bob asked.
"Nothing. Let's keep going."
Using the cable tied around his bundle, Hugh lowered it down the shaft as he had done the last time, then turned around to find himself staring Bob in the face.
"Ah, Hugh, would you mind if I go last?" Bob asked.
"No problem, but Bob, this is easy. It's just climbing down a ladder."
"Thanks, Hugh."
Hugh then turned to Larry. "Once I'm down, you toss your bundle to me then climb down. Bob, you toss the suit you are carrying to us, and then follow him. Understand?"
Once at the bottom, Hugh moved his bundle out into the hallway. He told the others to wait as he checked to ensure they could still move through the crumpled area.
"It's okay. Larry, toss your suits down." Hugh caught them, then told Bob to send his suit down. With all five suits stacked out in the hallway, Larry started down the ladder. Larry swung his legs over the edge into the elevator shaft. His feet found the rungs and he started down.
Hugh was looking up when a flash caught his eye. Sparks! The car was falling.
"Larry, jump!" Hugh shouted.
****
Larry looked up and saw his death approaching amid a rain of sparks. He pushed backward off the ladder and was in free fall on his back looking straight up at the bottom of the plummeting car. He was about two meters above Hugh, but the car seemed only centimeters from his helmet. Larry felt a vice-like grip on his right wrist as he was violently jerked out of the elevator shaft. The falling car hit only the tip of his left boot. Larry and Hugh lay in a heap on the hallway floor, Larry gasping for liquid breath. In their helmets they could hear Bob screaming, "Oh, my God! Are you all right? Larry? Hugh? Anyone!"
Dark Moon Rising Page 10
