by Jason Kent
Kate gripped the rusted railing again when the searcher's vehicle topped another ridge. It was closer, much closer. Kate could see it clearer now, especially their heavy armament. Tral, Kate thought. She turned and squeezed into the tiny cab.
Merrick sat in the driver's seat, his rifle propped against the grimy front window as he studied the controls. The sniper tentatively pressed a button.
Nothing happened.
"Are you kidding me?" Kate exclaimed as she examined the controls. All of the markings and labels were worn off.
"I think I have it," Merrick announced. He pressed an oversized pedal and twisted a knob. Something clunked far below their feet in the engine compartment. The silence which followed was filled only with the sound of the mining complex outside and the rising sound of their approaching pursuers.
Kate dropped her head.
"You have someone to take care of," Kate declared and pointed out the door with a thumb over her shoulder.
Merrick scanned the controls again and gave a resigned sigh, "All yours." He got out of the seat and pressed against Kate in the tight space to snag his rifle. He leaned out the door to check on the search party now rushing to close on them.
Kate twisted around to let Merrick have more room at the door and landed in the driver's chair. She could drive a standard car and drove her share of trucks, neither was very hard. This was just a much bigger version of the pick-up trucks back on Earth. Much, much bigger. She cracked her knuckles and reached out tentatively to the controls and...
...starter, acceleration, brake, gear control, all-wheel engage switch, clutch, lights, speed, RPM gauge, dump lever...
With these rapid, intrusive thoughts, Kate suddenly knew how to drive a JD-4300 Heavy-Duty All Terrain Material Transport.
"Right," Kate breathed, "who doesn't." She ensured the brake was set, threw the fuel supply level against its stops, and mashed the start button. No key, Kate thought, because, hey, who would steal a JD-4300?
The dump truck's huge engine roared to life. For an instant, Kate thanked the heavens this vehicle was a human design, not Tallinn. She could not have wasted time waiting around for one of their steam power plants to build up pressure.
"Thanks for the expert advice, Javin," Kate muttered. She grabbed the over-sized steering wheel, released the parking brake with her left foot and tramped on the accelerator with her right. The truck jumped forward with amazing agility, a testament to its giant engine and evidence of an empty load bed.
"Tral," Merrick cursed. He grabbed the door frame and pulled himself back in the cab. "How..."
Kate cut him off with a waving gesture which took in her eyes and the controls all at once. "No idea."
The urgent sound of a whistle caught Kate's attention. She looked down to the left and saw a Tallinn running out of a shack. He blew his whistle again for all he was worth. The man waved his arms frantically as he hustled into Kate's path.
"Apparently, he doesn't want you to borrow his truck," Merrick noted.
The Tallinn with the whistle jumped out of Kate's way just in time to avoid becoming road kill. The building he ran out of did not fare as well. With a deafening crack, the left wheels rolled over the worker's hut.
"Oops," Kate commented. She rocked back and forth in the driver's seat as the wheels surmounted what was left of the shack. In her side mirror, Kate saw the man throw his whistle into the ruins of his office.
"Well, I think you just put yet another dent in Earth-Tallinn relations," Merrick remarked. He leaned out over the railing and studied the damage left in their wake.
"Just tell me where to go!" Kate shouted and nodded out the dust-encrusted floor-to-roof windshield. Her ponytail was thrown over her shoulder as she used a hand-over-hand method to turn the truck's large steering wheel. Kate lined up with a dusty avenue laid out between two rows of mining buildings and pressed the accelerator down as far as she could.
"Straight," Merrick advised.
Kate looked up at the sniper and grinned.
"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?"
"As I mentioned earlier, we're 'improvising'," Merrick replied as he studied their limited options. He pointed out the window. "I suggest you improvise to the left."
Kate smashed the brake and twisted the steering wheel. Merrick was forced to grab the back of the seat to keep himself from being thrown out the door. The trucks ancient frame shuddered and tilted wildly on the worn-out suspension system while the huge tires threw plumes of dirt and gravel into the air. Kate managed to get the truck going straight between an elevated conveyor belt heaped with crushed ore on the left and a row of steaming pipes stacked one atop the other forming a nearly solid wall on the right.
Merrick pointed ahead of them. A digging machine, obviously Tallinn by design, moved slowly into their street from a cross-road on the left.
"I see it," Kate exclaimed. "Should I stop and ask directions?"
"No."
Kate goosed the accelerator and the trucks massive engine revved with additional horsepower. She was not sure if the miners were moving the machine to block her path or if they just happened to be in the wrong place at a really bad time. She eyed the vehicle's clanking treads and hissing steam power plant. A huge claw hung out in front of the digger. Even in its idle state it looked menacing. Given the digger's heavy steel frame and solid engine, Kate did not relish going up against the machine in a head-on collision, even in her gigantic truck.
"Watch your back!" Kate screamed.
Merrick's eyes narrowed. He glanced over his shoulders at the rusting pipes rushing past the cab's open door. The sniper nodded and squeezed up against the driver's seat, putting his body between the opening and Kate.
"Go for it," Merrick encouraged Kate, a grim smile spreading across his face.
The plodding digger up ahead filled half the street now. The driver waved frantically at Kate. When he realized the truck bearing down on him was not slowing, the Tallinn threw a few levers at his open control console and ran toward the rear of the digger along a narrow metal catwalk bolted to the side of the massive boiler and thrumming drive pistons. The digger lurched to a stop.
"Smart guy," Kate commented. "Still, I wish he would have put the thing in reverse."
Kate steered the dump truck to the right until she was as far over as she could get. A string of lanterns hanging out from the struts supporting the pipes were snapped off their mounts one after the other as she crashed past. She eyed the now-idle digging machine blocking most of the road.
"Not enough room," Merrick noted.
"Nope." Kate swung the steering wheel hard to the right. Metal shrieked against metal as the front corner of the charging truck made contact with the wall of pipes.
"More!" Merrick yelled to be heard over the cacophony. He hunched harder over the chair to get even further from the doorway and the bursting pipes just beyond. Kate was forced to lean to the left.
Kate steered her roaring truck even further into the side of the pipes just as they came up on the digger's position. The front grill of the dump truck caught the clawed bucket and bent its support strut with a groan of protesting metal. It snapped but not before dragging the rest of the crawler along for several meters. Behind Merrick, pipes cracked and burst. Molten sulfur, boiling water, and something green and nasty hissed together as they mixed and gushed out in their wake. Kate slewed the truck shakily back to the center of the street and looked back.
"What a mess!" Kate shouted after a quick glance in the cracked side mirror.
"They're on to us," Merrick remarked. He ignored the liquid dripping off the side of their load bed and the twisted debris laying in their wake. Ahead, another Tallinn digger and a massive crawler with four sets of treads and a dump bed heaped with ore moved to block their path.
Kate looked left and right.
"Time to bail out again," Kate declared. She nodded to the conveyor belt as it thrummed along on their left, moving rocks along the road at nearly the same
speed as their truck.
Merrick took one final look at the improvised road block and nodded. He picked up a heavy metal tool box jammed into the back of the cab and grabbed the wheel.
"Move!"
Kate did not hesitate. In fact, she surprised herself completely. Not only did she come up with a plan in an instant, she was about to put the plan into action. Tral, Kate thought, she was about to jump from a speeding truck, a stolen truck, she added, onto a moving conveyor belt. There was something seriously wrong with this picture!
Merrick jammed the tool box down onto the accelerator pedal with a rattling thud. He turned the wheel slightly so the cab of the truck moved closer to the conveyer belt. He laid a hand on Kate's shoulder.
Kate felt a surge like an electric current shoot through her back as Merrick touched her. She wanted to get through this and somewhere safe where she could actually enjoy Merrick's touch. But, for now, she needed to—
"Jump!" Merrick shouted.
There was a narrow grated walkway on the far side of the cab. The railing was a little less than a meter tall. Kate took a step out onto the grate, ignored the ground speeding by far below and put a foot up on the railing. She tried not to think about what she was about to do.
"AAAAIIIIEEEE!" The guttural sound came from some reservoir Kate did not know existed within her until this very moment. She surged up onto the railing and launched herself out over the two meter distance separating the truck from the clanking belt. She landed with a scraping thud atop the low mound of ore piled along the center line of the conveyer. Kate's momentum nearly caused her to roll off the far side of the belt. She shoved her heels into the lose mix of rocks until she found purchase on the rubbery surface of the conveyer. Kate discovered she was shaking as she scrambled back from the edge. Whether this was from excitement or fear, she was not quite sure.
The conveyer bucked like a trampoline as Merrick jumped behind Kate. He landed neatly atop the mound of ore but quickly pulled himself over to the side furthest from the alley. Kate caught on and hunkered down. If the Tallinn's did not see them jump, they might assume they were still in the truck hurtling toward them. The cab windows were so dirty, it would be hard to tell who controlled the vehicle even if the driver's seat were not empty.
As Kate watched, the truck careened down the street and picked up speed. It swerved away from the conveyer belt and bounced off the wall of pipes. Molten sulfur and steam exploded in the wake of the speeding vehicle. It hurtled toward the digger and crawler which now fully blocked the street ahead.
"This ought to be good!" Merrick laughed.
The sniper's rare display of glee made Kate turn to look back at him. She pushed her hair out of the way and smirked at the tight grin on Merrick's face. Kate looked back just in time to witness the show.
The dump truck's battered front grille hit the digger full on and crushed the huge boiler like a tin can. The boiler exploded in a deafening explosion of superheated steam and burning oil. As the massive pistons driving the treads snapped and the clawed bucket sailed away, the dump trucks massive wheels clambered over the digger's wreckage. The out-of-control dump vehicle was not done yet. Before the sound of tortured metal could subside, it was headed straight for the next obstacle.
Kate's stolen truck met its match against the quadruple-treaded crawler. The speeding mass of the dump truck pushed the crawler back a few meters before its entire face crumpled and caved in, including the cab Merrick and Kate had vacated moments earlier. The truck flipped end-over-end over the crawler's bed. The rocks loaded onto the crawler went flying in every direction. The truck skidded on its back like a huge green turtle right up to the edge of the open pit of the mine. Kate turned her focus from the collision to the pit which stretched into the distance at the end of the street.
The truck teetered at the edge of the open mine, having smashed the token safety railing. The truck's tortured metal groaned for long seconds, then the entire mass of wreckage plunged into the mine. Kate heard several loud impacts as what was left of the truck hit the wall of the pit on the way to its inevitable, final resting place.
Tallinns and mechs swarmed from the buildings near the pit, attracted by the disturbance.
"That got their attention," Kate shouted back to Merrick. The sniper pointed past Kate down the conveyor. Kate turned her head and swore.
The conveyer ended a hundred meters ahead. The belt hurled Kate along so fast she could do nothing but pray.
"Lord, let the landing be soft!"
Kate reached the end of the belt and dropped with the crushed rock. Her breath was knocked from her lungs as she hit the ore piled up in the center of a huge hopper. She fought the urge to suck in the roiling dust-choked air. She knew Merrick was right behind her so she attempted to roll out of his way. All the while, she struggled to stay on top of the mound of shifting rubble and tried not to think about what might be crunching the rocks at the bottom of the hopper. Anything which could pulverize all this rock would certainly make short work of her. Kate forced herself to half swim, half stumble to the nearest rusted wall.
Merrick crashed into the top of the ore pile with a grunt. Kate looked back and watched in horror as he was quickly buried by the never-ending flow of stones.
"Tral!" Kate shouted. She spat out a mouthful of dirt and waded back toward Merrick. She groped through the rocks and dirt and grabbed a hand. Kate tightened her grip, leaned back, and pulled with all her strength. Kate peddled her legs in a desperate attempt to keep her footing until Merrick burst out from under the shifting rubble. He scrabbled away from the ore falling from the conveyor and struggled to Kate's side.
The sniper wasted no time with thanks. He grabbed Kate's arm and hauled her along the wall of the hopper toward a ladder just visible through the choking dust. As they both grasped the solid steel handholds, Merrick looked into Kate's eyes and grinned. She could see the glow of her eyes reflected in his. Merrick leaned in and kissed Kate hard on the lips. He tasted like the dirt they just barely escaped from being buried under.
Kate could have cared less.
A clanking sound disturbed Kate and Merrick's fleeting, if dirty, moment. Kate opened her eyes and looked up at the lip of the gravel hopper reluctantly. She knew what the noise heralded.
The boxy silhouette of a Tallinn mech inched into view, its red eye glowed and the light of its optical range finder sliced through the dust.
"Tral," Merrick grunted. He pulled his rifle off his back and cursed again when he looked down at the weapon. The obvious damage to the trigger spoke volumes about the beating they just took as they continued on their adventure. It could not be fired. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and eyed the mech as it managed to clamber up to the top of the hopper. Merrick glanced back at Kate.
"Stay here," Merrick hissed.
Kate opened her mouth to protest but realized it would do no good. She pressed against the rusted steel of the hopper, pulled her feet out of the shifting ore and tried to make herself as small of a target as possible. She flinched as flecks of corroded metal fell down upon her as Merrick pulled himself up the ladder's rungs. He made it only a few meters before the machine's searching optics found him.
Merrick froze. He smoothly reached down for the combat knife secured to his belt. Kate figured he wanted to try and take out the mech with as little noise as possible. Otherwise, he would have chosen to use his sidearm.
The mech propped its arm on the hopper's edge and strained to twist its bulk sideways and down in order to bring its main weapons to bear.
The awkward angle of fire bought Merrick a few precious moments. He snatched the knife from its sheath, flipped it in his hand, and caught the black blade neatly between his fingers. Merrick squinted into the mech's inhuman eye, judged the distance and prepared to launch the knife straight into it.
The blur of another projectile stayed Merrick's hand at the last instant. A short arrow bounced off the mech's steel hide.
The mech's gun arm flung sideways
as it tracked the source of the new attack. It was too late. A second arrow hit the mech. This time, the projectile buried itself deep into the mech's optic's housing. The machine was blind. A self-protection sub-routine kicked in then as the battle mech calculated if the risk to its continued existence was greater than the risk of hitting any friendly forces. The Gatling gun spun up as it aimed into the dust and falling ore. Heavy caliber bullets smashed into the far side of the hopper.
Merrick sprang up the ladder. He moved in close to the mech to avoid its field of fire and methodically attacked every exposed hydraulic line he could reach with his blade.
Bullets ricocheted every which way off the thick metal of the hopper. Pieces of ore and chips of rust flew at Kate.
"Tral!" Kate shouted. She did not intend to get killed cowering in a rock crusher. She kicked away the pile of stone and ore chips which conspired to bury her completely inappropriate footwear. She grasped the rungs and pulled herself up after Merrick. Sharp pebbles in her shoes ground against the soles of her feet.
"You get out of this, you're getting boots, Kate," she breathed to herself. "Boots! And you really need to start carrying a gun." Kate did not know exactly what to do when she got to Merrick's side, she just knew she needed to reach him. Kate laughed as she topped the ladder. Merrick stood over the mech, holding his long combat knife. Hydraulic fluid dripped from his blade and venting superheated steam whistled.
Merrick caught Kate's eye. He reached over and pulled her close to him on the tiny catwalk. Kate looked down at the dead mech and a question arose in her mind.
"How'd this thing know to look up here?"
Merrick looked sideways at Kate. Before he could answer, a shout from the street below caught his attention. Merrick swiveled and crouched behind the cover of the mech's corpse. He grabbed Kate's arm.
Kate nearly fell as Merrick used his firm grip to drag her down next to him. She relaxed slightly as she realized the soldier's hold on her would easily keep her from falling into the churning rocks behind her. She followed his gaze down into the street. The wreckage of the digger and crawler spewed oily coils of dark smoke. Luckily, this kept the swarming Tallinns from spotting them up here in their otherwise exposed position. With the smoke, it was as difficult for Kate to make out details of what was going on down in the street as it was for the miners and mechs below to see them. Kate glanced at Merrick's kill. Again, she wondered how it knew to clamber up after them. Getting up here with those oversized foot pads and clunky three-fingered hands could not be easy, probably something a mech would only do if specifically ordered to. Could the machine have spotted something which roused some curiosity deep within its hard-wired mechanical brain? What tipped it off? Surely its optics could not see through the smoke any better than their eyes could.
