by Peter Telep
Kyoko handed him a pair of KQ747 infrared binoculars, a special high-powered model with spectroscope. "Take a look at the conduit now."
He complied and was able to see heat sources within the pipe. A long line ran straight through his view, a line that he guessed represented the liquid running through what must be a smaller tube. "I got the juice, I think."
"Yeah, the stuff comes out of the ground at such a high temperature that the Chigs built a tube within a tube within a tube to cool the stuff," Penny explained. "That's why the conduit is so large. Pan around some more."
"I hate mysteries," Nathan said. "Couldn't stand watching them on television. And I've never been able to keep a secret. You guys are good. I'll give you that. What the hell am I supposed to be lookin' at?"
"Do you see all of those tiny blips, those glowing red blips spread out almost evenly over the conduit?" Kyoko asked.
He turned back to face them. "Yeah. What are they? Part of a ventilation system?"
"Look again," Penny instructed.
If Nathan were Italian, he would have bitten his fist in frustration. "Why don't you just tell me!"
"You need to see what we saw. To understand," Kyoko said.
Nathan repeated a question which he was growing very tired of asking. "Where's the rest of your squadron? Were they captured? Are they down there?"
"No, they're not," Penny said. "Look again."
Glowing red blips. He studied them. One shrank a little, another attenuated, then still another moved right and left as if pacing. "Oh, God. I get it. Those blips are life forms. What are there, maybe five hundred inside?"
"Approximately," Kyoko said.
"Intelligence reported maybe a hundred Chigs at the most stationed on this facility," Nathan told them. "I knew we'd be outnumbered, but this is ridiculous."
"The intelligence report was correct, West," Penny said. "There are only about a hundred Chigs stationed here."
Nathan scratched the stubble on his chin in thought. "So the rest are silicates. I think they're easier to take down than Chigs."
Kyoko looked grave. "Those aren't silicates. Those are military Prisoners of War. The Chigs decided that a POW camp would be the perfect shield for this operation, so they built one within the aqueduct. We blow it up, and maybe five hundred of our people die."
Nathan shot to his feet. "You're positive they're our people?"
"We picked up their PLB signals. That's how we came to suspect something," Penny said.
"Any civvies in there?" Nathan asked, wondering if his lost Kylen could be among them.
Penny shook her head. "We don't think so."
Before speaking again, Nathan paused a moment. It had all hit him too fast. "Now, let me understand this. You weren't notified of the POW camp beforehand?"
With her brow raised, Penny snickered. "Were you?"
He took off his helmet and raked fingers through his hair. "Oh, man."
"Let me put it to you this way, West," Kyoko began, "the lieutenants in our squadron were not privy to this information."
He frowned. "Meaning?"
"Meaning that Captain Hasford, the twenty-first squadron's commanding officer, knew all about the POW camp, and his orders remained unchanged: Destroy aqueduct. Prisoners expendable."
"I don't believe it," Nathan retorted. "I don't believe the United States Marine Corps would sentence fighting men to their deaths without at least trying to save them."
Kyoko went to the wall, put her back to it, then shrank to a seat. "We think the brass knew exactly what they were doing. They needed someone desperate enough for advancement to take on a mission like this. We think Lieutenant General Osborne guaranteed Hasford a promotion if he successfully eliminated the target. They told him all about the POWs, and they told him to keep the information compartmentalized."
With tears building in her eyes, Penny came to Nathan. "What would you have done? Would you have gone along with this?"
He took a step back from her and let his hand ever so gently glide close to the pistol holstered at his waist. Nathan eyed Penny, then he tossed a glance to Kyoko. "What did you do? Where's the rest of your squadron?" He vowed he would not ask the question again; now he feared its answer.
Kyoko stared at the mottled stone floor. "Captain Hasford is dead. So are Lieutenants Jay Greenberg and Martin Van Buren."
"I want you to tell me they were killed in a Chig ambush," Nathan said. "I want you to tell me that now." His hand rested on his pistol.
Penny turned away from Nathan, rubbing tears from her eyes. She crossed to the wall and kept her back to him. Kyoko continued to stare blankly into nothingness. He listened to his breath, watched it float away from him, and considered what he would say next.
Were they murderers? Had there been a mutiny in which they had gunned down those who had not agreed with them?
Kyoko looked up and regarded Penny. "We might not make it out of here, and somebody should know."
"The truth. What a joke," Penny said. "Tell the truth." She cast a glare at Kyoko, her face streaked with fresh tears. "They lied to us! And we should repay them with the truth?"
"We're not going to lie," Kyoko answered. "I know we said we were. But they're snakes. I need to put my conscience to rest."
Nathan stepped forward then hunkered down between them. "How did they die?"
"I was operating the T-140 and got off a signal before it happened," Kyoko said. "Did the Arkansas receive it?"
"Friend of mine, Charlie Stone, is stationed aboard your ship."
Kyoko's eyes lit slightly with recognition. "He's a womanizer."
"Yeah, anyway, he said a pilot intercepted your transmission. The rumor was that you guys deserted the mission."
"We told Hasford about the PLBs," Penny said, jumping in. "We told him we suspected POWs were in the duct. He kept lying to us. Then, finally, we broke him. He told us he knew about the prisoners but that our orders didn't include saving what he called 'five hundred already lost souls.'"
"Who's 'we'? You and Kyoko?"
"No, West," Kyoko said. "All four of us."
He regarded her. "So it's you against the captain. And when it's all said and done, three Marines are dead."
"Nathan, listen to me," Penny pleaded.
"It's 'Nathan' now, huh? More chummy, that it? You gonna say something to make me draw my weapon?"
"Just listen. Hasford shoots up the radio. Then he looks at Jay and asks, 'Are you gonna obey the orders of the United States Marine Corps?' And Jay says no—"
"And Captain Hasford shoots Lieutenant Greenberg in the head," Kyoko finished.
"Then he goes to Marty and asks the same question, but Marty's not looking at him. He's looking at Jay the way the rest of us are. And Hasford's screaming at Marty, pressing his pistol to Marty's head. And I can't watch it anymore."
"So you killed Hasford," Nathan said, removing his pistol from the holster.
She bit her lower lip and nodded.
"But not before Hasford killed Lieutenant Van Buren," Kyoko said. "And we both fired upon the captain."
Penny pulled off her gloves and wrung out her hands. "We buried them not too far from here." Then she stared at Nathan, her eyes so wide that he felt uncomfortable. "Do you know what it's like to eat a dead man's food? It's weird. It's like you're killing him all over again because you're starving him," she said, a bizarre lilt in her voice.
Nathan rose, his tone all business, his pistol trained on them. "Lieutenants Kyoko Iwata and Penny Navarone. Consider yourselves under arrest."
With a wounded look, Kyoko stood. "Lieutenant West. Do what you must. Because we did."
His gaze traveled from her to Penny and back again. He tried, but he couldn't see them as murderers. In truth, they were victims, victims of a conspiracy that had probably begun in some hidden little conference room light-years away. But Nathan still had a duty to perform. Yet news of the Corps' brutal and unforgivable decision to sacrifice POWs now made Nathan question his duty alto
gether. What did any of it mean now, when the Corps was willing to sacrifice its own? He was probably as expendable as the POWs below. As expendable as Kyoko and Penny.
He lowered his gun.
fifteen
Cooper watched Teddy dart between a pair of crags, circle around one, then sprint to the meter-high barrier of stone behind which Cooper had sought protection. "I forgot to thank you for the pistol," Teddy said, arriving at his side.
"No problem," Cooper said. "Just put it to good use now."
"I don't know why Captain Vansen has such a difficulty with me being armed. There are enough explosives in my rucksack to create a crater the same size as the one I crawled out of."
Cooper hazarded a look above the rock and spotted a Chig edging out from behind a pile of debris from a long-ago landslide. He fired, struck the alien in its chest horn, and the armored thing hissed and flailed its arms as it struck the ground. Once the alien had stopped moving, Cooper gave Teddy a cue to move.
Repressing the urge to let loose with his M-590 in an effort to confuse the aliens, Cooper conserved ammo and simply raced for the stone pile. The rock face all around him erupted with Chig fire, and a particularly large stone struck his helmet with such force that it knocked his head sideways. He ducked behind the pile and hunkered down for a breath. Teddy joined him a second later, and Cooper, looking at his compass, said, "Shane's not far from here. But all the Chigs need is one lucky shot, eh?"
"I'm not sure why the enemy needs luck to strike us, Lieutenant," Teddy said, narrowing his brow.
Cooper flipped the silicate a crooked grin. "Those spoogemeisters need luck and then some." He looked to his next destination: whatever lay behind a small slope. It was a risky course but in the right direction, so he winked at Teddy and took off.
As he ran, he listened intently to the enemy fire and realized that it was becoming more tightly patterned. He had developed a healthy respect for Chig marksmanship and a keen awareness of when he was being hunted by a particularly good shot. While other Marines might panic or become oblivious and wind up in gladbags, Cooper kept himself alive by paying attention with all of his senses.
Up and over the slope, and below was Shane, squatting, her rifle ready, poised at the edge of the ravine. "I'm right above you, Vansen," Cooper said. "Hey, Teddy? You with me?"
No answer.
He turned back to the top of the slope and heard two shots resound from behind it. He raced up to find Teddy moving away from the bodies of two Chigs, gas still venting from their combat suits.
"I'm with you, Lieutenant," the silicate said.
Cooper eyed the corpses. "Damn right you are."
"'Phousse and Wang are here, Hawkes. Let's go," Shane ordered.
"Aye-aye." Cooper withdrew a smart grenade from his sack and held it up to Teddy. "This'll buy us a little more time." He armed the device and let it fly. Tiny fins on the grenade popped out as it streaked away and out of sight.
And before Cooper had even managed another half dozen steps, he heard the grenade detonate. He hoped he hadn't wasted the expensive weapon on a miss.
Then he heard Wang report, "Smart grenade got three," and Cooper shook a fist.
The rest had gathered at the bottom of the slope, and the second that he and Teddy arrived, Shane went up to the silicate and extended a hand. "Your weapon. Now."
Teddy handed it over, saying, "I'm sorry, Captain."
"Oh, what a joke!" Cooper cried, turning a glare on Shane. "He waxed two Chigs up there, and you're still worried about him?"
She threw the pistol to Cooper, then said, "Shut up. Turn around. And jump in that hole."
"When you gonna learn how to trust?" Cooper muttered. Then he walked over to the ravine and took a look. He shook his head.
Damphousse came to his side. "That's what I said, Coop. Too deep."
Then Teddy rushed abruptly past them and plunged into the ravine. Cooper and Damphousse stared intently into the cavity to see Teddy pick himself up off the snowy floor. Then he regarded them, shaking a thumbs-up. "You can make it."
"No, that's all right," Damphousse said. "You're into dropping from high places. I don't have the stomach for it. I'm still recovering from our HALO."
"Wish we had time to think about this, but we don't," Shane said. "Both of you in."
And then her words were punctuated by the sound of incoming laser fire.
Damphousse looked at Cooper. "You first."
"No, ladies—" But someone shoved him from behind and he found himself falling, falling, and bang, his boots hit the snow, and then he fell onto his butt, the impact reverberating through his spine.
"Get out of the way, Hawkes," Shane ordered. "Wang, you're next. Let's go. Let's go."
One by one, Cooper watched them drop. Damphousse let out a scream, but otherwise her fall was without incident.
Shane came last, and she gave herself but a second to recover before she was on her feet and once again spouting orders. "Three-two fan out. Same groups as before. Cooper, your group's got the tunnel."
With a nod, Cooper clicked on his helmet's light and led Damphousse and Wang through an uneven throat of rock that, toward its end, forced them to hunch over. The tunnel ran into the foot of the second in a series of hogbacks that were remarkably devoid of snow. In fact, Cooper got his first glimpse of Bulldog's vegetation, foliage more than likely imported from Earth. A loosely scattered pattern of low-lying shrubs gave way to a muddy basin that had frozen over.
"They said we'd start seeing vegetation when we were getting close," Wang said from over Cooper's shoulder.
"What do you got?" Shane asked, her voice sounding tinny in the link.
Cooper pushed his microphone's arm a little closer to his mouth. "Tunnel runs into more hills. We got vegetation here. Area looks secure. But don't they all."
"We hit a dead end back here," Shane reported. "We're headed your way. Get ready to move. And fast."
He gave Damphousse and Wang a wave across his throat, the sign to switch off their comlinks. "Teddy can help us. I'm telling you, those Chigs back there could have wasted me. Shane's holding him back for nothing. Paul, you should have seen him. You needed to see him."
"Forget it," Wang said. "We gotta evade the enemy. That's all I care about."
Damphousse put a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, let it rest for now, Coop."
"I can't. I'm not gonna stand by and let her jeopardize this mission by refusing to let a member of our unit defend himself."
"That's wonderful, Cooper. Good luck. God be with you. And have a nice day," Wang said, a sarcastic grin splitting open his face.
Cooper shot a glance to Damphousse. "She already wrote off West. Without Teddy, we're down to three Marines. What the hell's she trying to prove?"
"Shane's honcho. We know you got a problem with authority, Hawkes, but this is getting pathetic," Wang said. "You're not gonna stand by, huh? Well, what are you gonna do?"
Damphousse told them to shush, and just in time, for Shane and Teddy rounded the comer.
Shane gave silent cues for Cooper to take right flank, then she instructed the others. Cooper took the safety off his rifle, kept it aimed at the tunnel's ceiling, then shadow-hugged the wall. He crept with others toward the tunnel's edge, then he slipped outside, turned back, and aimed up at any Chigs who might be waiting to jump them from above and behind. But the area was unoccupied and eerily silent. A zephyr tugged at Cooper's shoulders as he turned toward the east. He watched the others, as he had many times before, move with an almost underwater slowness, focusing on every detail, every kick of rock and snap of twig, their senses heightened by training and survival instincts.
"All right," Shane said, breaking the silence. "Let's jog it out. They bring in air support, and we scatter. Don't let them take us down with a single shot."
Wang, who had been fidgeting with the Motion Tracker, said, "Got one, maybe two Chigs at the ravine. Don't think they're gonna attempt the drop. They'll probably circle around and come o
ut there." Wang pointed to the top of a hogback immediately west of the tunnel.
"Captain, I can have a trip wire set within three mikes, if you'll permit it," Teddy said.
"And I'll help him," Cooper chipped in.
Shane began to walk away. "Negative. We're not sticking around."
"But those soldiers may continue to pursue us," Teddy said.
She stopped but kept her back to everyone. "We've all been trained in evasion tactics. And there isn't much snow here. No tracks for them to follow. None of us are bleeding so they won't smell us. Move out."
Cooper gave Damphousse and Wang a look that said it all. He then fell in behind Shane, muttering, "God forbid someone different comes up with a good idea."
But strangely, the comment did not provoke Shane. It was odd that at times he wanted to kiss her because at the moment he despised her. Even the way she walked made him angry, her boots, one after the other, robotic. Teddy seemed more human than her.
"Guess we can keep our links open now," Damphousse said. "Cat's out of the bag."
"I'll remind you once again that just because we bumped into a Chig patrol does not mean that those in the duct know we're here," Shane said.
"We were ambushed by that patrol," Cooper corrected.
"We can't confirm that," Shane recorrected.
"Anybody getting hungry?" Wang asked innocently. "We never did get our long break."
"We'll eat on the fly," Shane said. "We keep a good pace, we'll be at the duct in about six hours."
The good pace of which Shane had spoken neared double-time and had everyone, especially Cooper, ragged and gasping for breath. By the time the sixth hour had come, he and Damphousse had fallen about fifty yards behind the rest. They presently ascended what Cooper hoped was the last slope, one completely covered with snow that had a crunchy crust when you stepped into it. Below the crust was a foot-thick powdery sub-layer, and below that, a layer of ice. The hill rose at a forty-degree angle and inspired everyone to don their spiked crampons and to sidestep. While belaying would have been a good idea, Shane had suggested that it would waste too much time. She had instructed everyone to utilize their ice axes in the event of a slip. Thus far, that moment had not come, but the slick surface promised anything but a boring climb.
