There was a sudden jolt and the lander door snapped open. There was no convenient ramp to saunter down this time. Mark saw the faint silhouette of Sally leap out, immediately followed by Ti’rrk. Mike flew out of the door almost alongside her with Simon just behind. Orange leapt forward and out of the door with surprising speed considering his bulk. Much to Mark's surprise, he found himself leaping out of the door right behind Orange.
First Engagement
Mark hit the ground hard, jarring his whole body. He skidded in the mud that lay below the layer of leaf litter on the forest floor. It was dark and drizzling but two small moons high in the sky showed as bright smudges on the thin cloud and provided just enough light to see. He looked behind him in time to see the transporter disappearing up into the darkness. He looked around for Ti’rrk, found her and ran to her side. The loud rattle of KE weapons came from the right and left of him and suddenly there was a deafening explosion next to him as Ti’rrk launched a rocket-propelled grenade.
“Mark - straight in front of me! Enemy with armour down!” Mark heard Ti’rrk’s voice on the commlink. Mark looked up and the shapes of several enemy soldiers appeared overlaid on his vision. The images of three of them were slowly pulsing to show that their energy field armour had collapsed. Without thinking, he yanked his Mark Seven up to his shoulder and pulled the chest brace hard into himself to steady the weapon. He quickly settled the red targeting dot onto the head of the first image and fired. The image disappeared from his vision so he targeted and fired on the second and third. The image of a fourth soldier started pulsing as their armour collapsed. Mark targeted the soldier and fired. Their image disappeared too.
Ti’rrk continued firing her heavy calibre KE weapon at the two remaining enemy soldiers. There was a lot of chatter on the unit comms between the other team members. Mark heard Orange calling for support but didn’t know what to do. He had been told by everybody to follow any order that he got immediately but not to do anything that he hadn’t been ordered to. He stayed crouched beside Ti’rrk targeting an enemy whose armour was still active. He could see his shots hitting by the small white sparkling dots that his AI painted onto the enemy’s image. He knew that with just his weapon he couldn’t overload the enemy’s armour but his field attenuator was working on the enemy’s armour too and Mark could see it was about to collapse. What was worrying him was that he could see the muzzle flash of enemy KE weapons who were well hidden, and the image of his armour that his AI was overlaying on the left of his vision was also showing white dots where he was taking hits from them.
“Mark!” Ti’rrk’s voice came over the commlink. “I can handle these. Get over to Orange as quickly as you can. He is about eighty metres to our left.”
A transparent flashing green cross appeared in Mark’s vision as he looked over to his left.
“I have asked your AI to activate your beacon sensor. Just follow the cross and you’ll find Orange. We should have shown you how to do that before - but it got missed. Go. Now!”
Mark ran at a crouch in the direction that the green cross pointed to. He didn’t know if crouching as he ran would give him any protection but they always did it in the movies so it seemed like the sensible thing to do. He saw splashes in the mud around his feet and splinters exploding from the trees as enemy KE fire rattled around him, and he saw the holes from energy pulse weapons appearing in leaves and branches as he ran through them. Mike had told him not to get separated from anyone in the unit, and the first order he received during a battle was to do just that. Mark had learnt Tennyson’s poem The Charge of the Light Brigade for his English GCSE and the words came back to him
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of death
Rode the six hundred.
“That didn’t end well.” Mark thought, desperately hoping that this wasn’t a case of history repeating itself.
Mark slithered through mud and crashed through the dense, fleshy-leaved undergrowth. It seemed like much more than eighty metres before he saw Orange’s image appear in his vision. He threw himself down onto an area of smooth, clear flat ground two or three metres away from Orange. As he landed he discovered that it was either a small shallow pond or a large puddle. He also discovered that his body armour was waterproof, for which he was grateful. He flashed a quick status request to his AI for Orange and got back that his energy field armour was down to thirty percent but he was uninjured.
“Tell me what to do.” Mark asked Orange.
“I got too far away from the rest of the unit.” Orange replied. “I’ve got enemy out there with armour down but there are too many of them still up and protected for me to drop my KE and use my Mark Seven. I’ll drop their armour, you shoot them.”
Mark looked up and saw a mass of enemy images in front of them and more coming in at them from the sides, all firing KE and pulse weapons at them.
“Shit, Orange.” Mark said. “I think I’ve just charged into the Valley of Death!”
“Sounds like a fun place for a picnic.” Orange replied, changing the magazine on his KE weapon.
Mark targeted one of the pulsing images that had muzzle flash coming from it and fired. The image disappeared and Mark moved to the next pulsing image without pausing.
“I’d be happier if there were six hundred of us rather than just six.” Mark muttered as he targeted, fired and moved to the next pulsing image - targeted, fired and moved on. He could feel the adrenaline in his veins and was getting the same feeling of fear and excitement that he got during a particularly challenging level in a video game. He wasn’t thinking about the battle or about laying in a puddle of cold mud. He didn’t notice the drizzle or the small creatures that climbed over his legs and back as though he were just another log on the forest floor. He wasn’t thinking about the fact that he was laying next to a huge orange man-like monster, on an alien planet, killing sentient beings as though they were just digital creations from a bundle of silicon and gold wires.
Mark's whole existence had shrunk to target, fire, find another target. He subliminally noticed that his armour was taking hits but was holding up at about eighty percent, but Orange’s armour had dropped to fifteen percent and was falling, as he was attracting most of the enemy fire. Time lost it’s meaning to Mark. It seemed that for every enemy image he put out, another one appeared.
Target, fire! Find another target. Target, fire! Find another target. The repetition was almost soothing. Target, fire! Find another target. He knew why he was here, he knew exactly what he should be doing. Target, fire! Find another target. Mark was content with this. Target, fire! Find another target. He didn’t want to be anywhere else. Target, fire! Find another target. Nothing else had meaning for him. Target, fire! Find another target.
The blast from a massive explosion on Mark's left pushed him through the mud and vegetation to the right, crashing against a rotting log. He looked over to Orange. He was laying on his side, not moving. His KE weapon lay beside him, half submerged in the puddle, just beyond the open fingers of his hand. Mark looked up and could see enemy images moving forwards towards him. Target, fire! Fire! Fire again, focus field attenuator, fire! Fire! Fire again. Find a target, focus field attenuator, fire! Fire! fire again. Find another target - but there were too many of them. His armour was taking too many hits. Focus field attenuator, fire! Fire! Fire again, find another target.
“Man down! Man down! Many enemy advancing towards us!.” Mark broadcast on the unit comm link. Find a target, focus field attenuator, fire! Fire! Fire!
“Hold your position.” Mark heard Sally’s voice on the commlink. “Help is coming.”
Targets were easy to find now. There were so many and they were getting so close that Mark didn’t need to look hard to find a target. Target, focus field attenuator, fire! Fire! Fire! Mark could hear his heart pounding now. He didn’t know that it could beat so fast - or so loud. At the back of his m
ind, Mark wondered how much longer it would have to keep beating. Probably not much longer now.
As Mark continued to fire he heard a crashing sound coming from his right. “Shit!.” He thought. They’ve come round to my side now.”
Something big and dark came flying through the undergrowth towards him and crashed heavily into him, sending him back across the puddle in a welter of mud and water to where the explosion had pushed him from, finishing squashed up against Orange’s motionless body. A rattle of heavy KE gunfire erupted from beside him and he heard two explosions as Ti’rrk fired off rocket propelled grenades that landed in the thick of the advancing enemy.
“Bloody hell, you know how to make a dramatic entrance!” Mark said to her over the commlink as he lifted his Mark Seven to target the enemy. Several of them were showing pulsing images after Ti’rrk’s opening assault.
“I’m glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humour.” Ti’rrk replied. “I hope you haven’t lost your kill rate. There are a lot of targets out there.”
Target, fire! Target, fire! There were still a lot of targets and they were easy to find, but they had stopped moving forwards. Target, fire! Target, fire! There were so many with armour down now that Mark was able to sweep along through the enemy images firing at all of the ones that pulsed. He realised that there were two lots of KE fire coming from his left now, but even if he had stopped to look, Ti’rrk’s size would have prevented him from seeing who it was. Fire! Fire! Fire! The numbers of enemy images were going down quickly now. Fire! Fire! Fire! There were more of them pulsing now than there were staying steady. Suddenly all of the enemy images starting moving backwards, slowly at first, then at a run.
“Keep firing!” Mark heard Simon’s voice on the commlink. Unnecessarily, he thought, as he was firing on every pulsing image that he could target.
Finally, there were no more images and the KE guns fell silent. After a few seconds of quiet, Mark stood up. Simon strode round the front of Ti’rrk and walked up to Mark. He grabbed the front of Mark's body armour and lifted him roughly off his feet.
“You lying fucker!” He shouted at Mark.
Mark was so pumped up with adrenaline that he just stared at Simon. If he had been in this position yesterday, Mark would have soiled himself.
“You said you had never been in battle before!” Simon shouted at him. He dropped Mark back to the ground, gave a huge grin, grabbed him with both arms and gave him a hug that nearly crushed his ribs. When he released him, Mark almost collapsed and gasped for breath.
“You can fight alongside me anytime.” Simon said, still grinning.
He turned around to look at Orange, still laying motionless in the puddle and kicked him in the ribs. He said to Mark, “What’s wrong with him? Did he get tired, or what?”
“ Leave him alone!” Mark pushed at Simon to move him away. “His field armour strength was dropping fast, there was an explosion and then he was just lying there. I think he might be dead. ”
Stretcher Party
Simon looked at Orange’s body laying in the mud and shook his head. “It would take more than a little grenade to kill Orange. Have you checked his vitals with your AI? We all have. He’s fine.”
Mark didn’t know that he could do this. He asked his AI to give him Orange’s vital signs and when he saw them realised he hadn’t a clue what they meant. He asked his AI for a summary. For the second time he heard his AI speak to him. “All of his vital signs are within normal parameters. He has some bruising to his left arm with minor puncture wounds. He is unconscious and has a mild concussion. I would recommend medical intervention as a precautionary measure.”
Mark was relieved to hear that Orange was essentially unharmed. Orange had hardly spoken to him since they had met, but he had told Mark to stick by him in the battle and that he would protect him. Mark felt that Orange’s offer of protection had formed some kind of bond between them
“Have you got them?” Simon asked.
“Yes, looks like you were right. How is everybody else?”
“We’re all right, the enemy took a bit of punishment though.” Simon said. “Tell your AI to give you a running health update on all of us when we are in a battle. Sally has ordered a rendezvous at her position. We ought to keep Orange horizontal for a while,” He turned to Ti’rrk. “Can you carry him on your back?”
“The only problem I can see with that is how we get him up there. Mark is too small to be much help lifting him and I doubt you can lift him yourself. I can do a lot of things but I can’t lift his weight onto my own back.”
“We could make a stretcher with poles made from two saplings and Orange’s ground sheet.” Mark said. “I presume his ground sheet is big and strong enough to carry him.”
“It should be, but how do we carry that?” Simon asked. “It needs someone at each end. You’re not strong enough and Ti’rrk is the wrong shape to carry one end of a stretcher.”
“No, she’s not. If we can somehow attach one end of the stretcher to Ti’rrk, the other end can drag along the ground.” Mark explained. “If that’s all right with you, of course.” He added hastily, addressing Ti’rrk.
“That sounds like a good plan. You two get Orange’s ground sheet out, I’ll cut the poles.” She answered.
Ti’rrk moved into the forest and stopped at a suitable small tree just a few metres away. Mark was a bit shocked to see her bend down and sever the trunk with her mandibles. He turned back to help Simon get Orange’s ground sheet out of his backpack but it didn’t take two to do that, so he stood and watched Simon get it out and unfold it on the ground. Mark picked up one end, Simon the other and they measured it against Orange’s body. It was about a metre longer than Orange, so it would be long enough to make a stretcher from.
Ti’rrk brought the two poles she had cut from the forest and laid them down. The ground sheets had eyelets along all four edges, but Mark wondered what they could use to tie it to the poles.
Simon shrugged off his backpack and reached deep inside it. “Got it.” He said, pulling out a spool of cord. He knelt down and quickly tied the ground sheet to the poles, cutting the cord with a vicious looking matte black, long bladed knife with that had a slot running down most of the length of it. Simon and Mark moved the stretcher alongside Orange and laid it down in the mud. With a bit of grunting, Simon rolled Orange onto it. Mark went through the motions of helping, but Orange was heavier than he looked - even in the low gravity of Gnn’Ath.
“Right, what do we do now?” Simon asked.
“We need to fix one end to the straps holding Ti’rrk’s weapons, preferably Orange’s head end. The poles on the other end can drag along the ground. It’s a technique that’s been used on Earth for - I’m not sure how long, but a long time.”
“But not pulled along by an Ant I suspect.” Ti’rrk said and gave one of her throaty chuckles.
“That’s no problem,” Simon said, “I can lift one end and prop the stretcher against Ti’rrk. If you can hold it there while I tie it on, I’m pretty sure I can fix it on well enough.”
Ti’rrk backed up and bent her hind legs to make it easier to get the stretcher up onto her back. With a bit more grunting, Simon got the top end of the stretcher propped up with the poles resting on Ti’rrk’s weapons harness at points where straps crossed straps. Mark heaved against the pole on the right-hand side to keep it in position while Simon secured the pole on the left with a complex knot. He soon had both sides tied on, and Ti’rrk stood up.
“Will you be OK pulling that weight?” Mark asked. He was concerned it might injure Ti’rrk or just that the weight may make her fall, possibly injuring Orange.
“This won’t be a problem. If I need to, I can carry five times my own weight.” Ti’rrk answered.
They set off at a slow pace. The poles that dragged on the ground slipped along easily through the soft wet forest floor, leaving twin tracks behind them.
Tea In The Forest
Ti’rrk, Simon and Mark, with Oran
ge in tow, arrived at the rendezvous to find Sally and Mike crouched beside a fire in the middle of a small clearing. They both stood up and walked over to meet them.
“You did well Mark.” Sally said. “I knew you would. You can relax now, come and sit by the fire and warm up while we get Orange down and make him comfortable. Mark walked over to the fire and stood a moment, feeling the warmth seeping through his body armour and realised that his teeth were clenched and his whole body was tense almost to the point where his muscles hurt. As he consciously relaxed his muscles, he started to think about what had just happened and all of the people he had just killed. He turned and ran a few metres from the fire to the edge of the clearing, bent over and vomited the contents of his stomach on the ground in front of him. He continued retching well after his stomach was empty. He could feel himself shaking and sweat ran down his face.
Mark felt an arm around his shoulders and heard Mike say “Cough it up, Mark. It’s not unusual for someone after their first firefight. I’ll get you some water in a moment. You’ll feel better soon.”
Sally spoke. “You go and get him a drink Mike, I’ll stand with him a moment.” Mike took her arm from Mark's shoulder and Mark felt Sally’s arm replace it. “You did lot a better than I expected Mark. You have a great fire and kill rate. I don’t think Orange would have survived if you hadn’t been there.”
Mark spat on the ground, trying to clear his mouth from the sour taste of vomit. “Does this mean you’ll stop threatening to kill me?”
Sally laughed, “You were never in any danger from me Mark. I was just annoyed with you for leaving like that.”
Mark spat again. He could really do with some water to rinse his mouth. “Not in any danger? Have you forgotten that you broke my nose?”
Unwilling From Earth Page 19
