Breaking Point

by David Alastair Hayden

  “We can’t go back through the tunnels,” Tamzin answered. “It will take too long to reach the other entrance. They’ll just corner us there. Besides, I’m sure we’d run into more than four.”

  “Given our limited firepower, I don’t know if we can get past the Tekk Reapers outside,” Siv said. “I defeated more than four once, but I had help from an exploding security cog.”

  “I took some out using proximity mines,” Tamzin said, “but I’m all out of those.”

  "We've got more reapers on the way, sir.” Silky cursed. "And now the Tekk Reaper ship is inbound to our location. We're talking dozens more, maybe more than a hundred. And I'm not counting the probably ten to twenty here in the tunnels with us."

  “ETA?” Sid asked.

  “Nine minutes and forty-three seconds, sir.”

  “So what do we do now?” Galen asked.

  “All I know to do is to hold them off in a firefight until Tamzin can jump us to wraith space,” Siv replied.

  “How long is that?” Galen asked.

  “Fourteen minutes until I can make the jump,” Tamzin answered.

  “Thirteen minutes and forty-seven seconds,” Silky corrected.

  “Asshole,” Tamzin muttered.

  “We’re just going to have to draw this out until then…somehow,” Siv said.

  Tamzin shook her head and frowned in worry. “No. Galen can’t take much more of wraith space.”

  "We're trapped here,” Siv responded. “Even if we could shoot our way through the reapers in ten minutes, there's no way we can ride past their ship without getting spotted." He glanced down at Galen and consulted a readout in his HUD. "According to my scans, Galen is okay physically. If he gets overwhelmed, we can carry him along with us."

  “That’s not what I’m talking about,” Tamzin said. “He’s getting close to losing it. His brain just can’t take much more.”

  “I’m not having the two of you die to preserve my sanity,” Galen said. “Especially when you don’t know for certain that I will lose my mind.”

  “Tamzin, there’s no other way out,” Siv said. “You know there’s not.”

  “There is one more way, sir, but it’s a risk-all kind of play. And I do mean all.”

  “Hold onto it, Silkster. I believe Galen’s tougher than Tamzin thinks.”

  A barrage of fire zipped through the tunnel. Siv ducked, pulling Galen down with him. Tamzin slammed against the wall, and a shot burned past her face.

  Two plasma bolts struck the bike. One scorched the frame and melted part of the leather seat. Another cracked the outer housing of the antigrav unit. Acrid coolant began spraying out onto the ground, forcing Siv and Galen to shift over.

  Tamzin returned fire, and the Tekk Reaper leaped back to safety.

  “Shit,” Siv cursed.

  “Well, we weren’t going to use it again,” Tamzin said.

  “You can’t move the bike into wraith space?” Galen asked.

  “It’s almost certainly too big for that,” Tamzin said. “Besides, even if I could, I’d have to wait another twenty minutes before I could come back for you.”

  More dots popped up into Siv’s locator.

  “Eight reapers nearby,” Silky said.

  “I see them.”

  “And, if you’ll allow me to continue, sir, I’m picking up two just outside the locator display range and closing in. Also, the Tekk Reaper ship will be here in seven minutes, ten seconds.”

  “You can’t jump sooner?” Siv asked Tamzin. “Even if it’s risky?”

  “It’s not about the risk,” she replied. “It’s just not possible.”

  Again a Tekk Reaper emerged around the bend. Tamzin fired a high-energy beam and burned a hole through his head. His plasma shots spattered into the ceiling as he collapsed dead on the spot. Either an earlier shot had taken down his force field, or he didn’t have one

  “As soon as they have the numbers, they’re going to storm around the corner and take us,” Silky said.

  “So what now?” Galen asked.

  Tamzin shrugged. “No idea.”

  Silky gave words to the idea that was just starting to form in Siv’s mind.

  “We send the bike down the tunnel and blow it up,” Silky said.

  “Will that work?”

  “Will it kill a few Tekk Reapers, sir? Definitely. Will it buy us enough time for Tamzin’s mini stardrive doohickey to recharge so we can jump to wraith space? If we do it just right and get a little luck, for once…Yes, it should. But it’s risky.”

  “It’s your call, Silkster.”

  Tamzin threw her hands outward and huffed. “You’re seriously going to put your chippy in charge of making this decision?”

  “I have trusted Silky with my life many times, and he hasn’t ever let me down.”

  “That’s insane!” Tamzin responded. “There’s no way in hell I’m following its lead. ‘Nevolence, you could collapse the tunnel with an explosion.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m hoping to do,” Silky said. “That way, not only do we kill the reapers nearby but we prevent any others farther back in the mine from reaching us.”

  “Are your circuits misfiring?” Tamzin asked.

  “Screw you!” Silky said. “I know what I’m doing! And we do not have any other options. None. Nadda. Zero. Zilch-a-rama.”

  The fiery look in Tamzin’s eyes and the fang-exposing snarl on her face made it easy for Siv to suppress a laugh.

  “Look, Silky’s a combat specialist. He has military software and decades of field experience. He’s smarter than all of us, and he knows the odds. Believe me, this isn’t his first time collapsing a tunnel.”

  Tamzin glared at him, her hands clenching and unclenching by her sides. “I say we try to hold them off. They haven’t taken any other shots since I killed that last one that fired at us.”

  “I know,” Siv replied. “They’re prepping for an all-out assault. As soon as the rest of their buddies get here, we’re done for.”

  Siv rotated the bike to face the reapers and manually removed the safety locks that would prevent the engines from overloading. Silky had already transmitted a software patch allowing them to spike the antigrav, the battery pack, and the propulsion systems.

  “We can’t let them figure out what we’re up to,” Silky advised. “The bike must reach the bend in the tunnel before exploding.”

  “Fine. I’ll lay down some suppression fire.” Tamzin sighed and knelt near the back of the tunnel. “Galen get behind me.”

  The ambassador sat behind her with his back against the wall and covered his head with his hands. “I’m ready.”

  “Silky, fuzz them with the sensor array.”

  “Roger that, sir.”

  Silky took control of the bike and charged it down the tunnel, coolant streaming out the back. Luckily, enough remained in the system for the antigrav to function correctly.

  Tamzin pulsed beams above and to either side of the bike, while Silky unleashed a signal-burst on all bands. Siv huddled at the back of the tunnel with Galen and Tamzin, bracing himself for the explosion.

  A Tekk Reaper stepped out from around the corner and blasted the bike with five plasma shots from a cannon just as it closed in on him. He was too late.

  A sudden flash of light, followed by a tremendous boom shook the tunnel. A wave of heat and dust pelted them. Cracks spiderwebbed the walls. Debris rained down. Then, with a cracking groan, the tunnel collapsed.

  36

  Siv Gendin

  Dust everywhere, filling his lungs, covering his face. Siv coughed and took a deep breath, but that only brought in more dust. It was frighteningly dark in the tunnel. Even with his smart lenses, he couldn’t see anything.

  His eyes focused on the locator in his HUD. Two green dots burned beside him, along with four red ones outside the mine. There were no other dots. The Tekk Reapers near the explosion were gone.

  He blinked his watering eyes, trying to clear the dust from them. “Silkster,
how long was I out?”

  “Just a second, sir. You were stunned is all. Galen and Tamzin are both okay, likewise only dazed.”

  Siv freed himself from a light blanket of earth and debris. He ran his hands along his belt couldn’t find his flashlight. He felt around for his c|slate, but couldn’t locate it either.

  “A rock shattered your slate, sir. No idea about your flashlight.”

  “Launch the drones.”

  “Copy that, sir.”

  “Tamzin?” Galen muttered as he sat up and dusted himself off. “Are you okay?”

  Tamzin coughed. “I’m here, and I’m alright.”

  The drones flew out from the compartment on his belt. Mounted on their bellies, LED emitters intended for emergency signals pulsed bright red as the drones circled above in the dense air, bobbing like fireflies. With his smart-lenses, it was just enough light for him to see the others and gauge his surroundings.

  The cave-in had stopped just short of them. Piles of rock clogged the tunnel, starting only a few meters beyond Siv’s feet. Instinctively, he scooted back, and so did Tamzin and Galen. As they did so, the rubble shifted and slipped forward, new debris from above filling in where the old had departed.

  Feeling something damp, he wiped his brow and smeared blood across his dusty face. He looked at the red-tinged mud on his hand and frowned.

  “It’s just a small cut, sir. Doesn’t even need a bandage because the dust sealed it over.”

  Tamzin fumbled around, found the backpack she had dropped earlier, and pulled out a flashlight. Under the sweep of its beam, the extent of the cave-in and how close they’d come to dying was even more apparent.

  “‘Nevolence, that was close,” Galen said. “Pardon my language.”

  Siv laughed, and Tamzin gaped at Galen. Her eyes flicked back to the rubble before locking on Siv. “We nearly died.”

  He didn’t respond. There was no point.

  The earth around them shifted and growled like an angry beast beginning to stir. More rubble slipped toward them.

  “Is that as unstable as it looks?” Siv asked.

  “I’m afraid it is as unstable as it looks, sir,” Silky replied, transmitting his statement to Tamzin. With the c|slate broken, Galen could no longer “hear” him, though. “Ideally, we’d leave the mines within the next five minutes.”

  “Nine more minutes until I can jump,” Tamzin said out loud.

  “Nine more minutes in here is a big risk,” Silky responded.

  Two more red dots appeared on Siv’s locator. “Late arrivals?”

  “Affirmative, sir. The reaper ship will arrive soon.”

  “So what our options?”

  “We can wait here and risk the tunnel collapsing onto us, or we can exit five minutes from now and take on those six Tekk Reapers. We’d only have to hold them off for four minutes. Of course, the likelihood of surviving against them that long is low since they’ll have clear shots on us as soon as we leave. And if Tamzin goes down, we’re screwed.”

  Siv relayed the info to Galen.

  “What does your chippy recommend?”

  “I like this guy, sir. I say stay near the door and wait as long as possible and only rush outside if we have to. Otherwise, we should risk staying put.”

  Siv thought that was the best route, too. And, for once, Tamzin agreed.

  “So,” Siv said, “once we enter wraith space, what then? Do we travel all the way to the city?”

  “There’s no way Galen can withstand three hours of wraith space,” Tamzin said. “And you’ve had significant exposure over the last day. I doubt you could handle it either.”

  “It will take three hours to reach the city?” Galen asked in surprise. “It doesn’t seem that far.”

  “It would only take two to walk to the edge of the city in real space,” Tamzin replied. “But as I’ve explained before, the planet in wraith space is larger.”

  “Do you know of any places where we can safely reenter real space without bringing too much attention to ourselves?” Siv asked. “Maybe near somewhere we can take cover?”

  A boulder tumbled down and crashed into the wall beside them. Pebbles and dirt streamed behind. They sat in stunned silence for a few moments, resisting the urge to charge outside immediately.

  “It’s best to focus on planning what’s next,” Silky said. “I’ll tell you when a collapse is imminent.”

  “There’s no way you can perfectly estimate something like that,” Tamzin argued.

  “I assure you I can, lady. Now, focus on planning!”

  Tamzin practically growled, but she did follow orders. "There are a couple of farmhouses…a grain silo…and…" She scratched her chin. "Oh! The old sentry station. If we can break in quietly, we can hide there. I don't know whether the government still monitors it, but the facility was retired ages ago."

  “Aha! I found it on the map, sir. It’s five kilometers outside the city. It’s heavily armored and easily defended. The government doesn’t maintain it anymore, but on their last survey five years ago, it was reported to be operational and in excellent condition.”

  “Why don’t they use it anymore?” Siv asked.

  “Orbital defense platforms are deemed more than adequate, sir. This facility and dozens like it were constructed on every planet during the first war with the Krixis.”

  “Is it monitored?”

  “It is, sir, but that’s nothing I can’t handle.”

  “How close can you get us to it?” Siv asked Tamzin.

  “About two hundred meters,” she replied. “Through wraith space, it will take us about thirty minutes to get there.” She studied Galen. “It may take longer than that for him. And I’m not sure he can handle it.”

  “Mitsuki could meet us at the station,” Siv mused, “although I’m not sure how much good one bike will do four people.”

  “I have already shifted Mitsuki onto a new strategy, sir.”

  “A van would be good,” Siv said.

  “I got something grander than that in mind, sir.”

  Silky planning something grand could only mean one thing. “We’re screwed, aren’t we?”

  “More or less, sir.”

  “You’ve already started your desperate gamble, haven’t you?”

  “I’m putting the pieces in place, sir.”

  Siv chewed at his lip and didn’t reply. There was no point asking for details yet. Silky knew what he was doing better than anyone else when managing a situation this complex and with this many players involved.

  He considered telling him not to involve the Outworld Ranger in his scheme, but what was the point? Silky was going to do what he wanted. As for Kyralla, Oona, and Bishop, they were going to do what they thought was right, regardless of his opinion. Or Silky’s, or Galen’s for that matter.

  The earth piled up in the tunnel shifted again, and a cascade of debris swept toward them. Tamzin placed her hands against the door, preparing to charge out, but Silky stopped her.

  “Wait! Not yet.”

  “You can’t know the timing for certain,” she told him, hesitating. “There’s no way.”

  “After you survive a couple of situations like this and then sit around for centuries with nothing to do but a lot of research and calculation, you’ll find that you can, in fact, know the timing for certain.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Tamzin said.

  “I’m ancient and experienced. And in my line of work, there are some skulls you ride on that take you to strange, dangerous places. I always figured I’d end up in this position again. And, guess what? I was right!”

  “My chippy’s telling me yours is sentient and eccentric,” Tamzin said.

  “That’s very kind of her.”

  “She doesn’t approve of it.”

  Silky sighed. “Well, I’m not surprised by that.”

  “I don’t approve of it either,” Tamzin said.

  “Still not surprised.”

  Siv noted the six red dots outside we
re closing in. “Looks like they’ve decided to press the issue.”

  With time running out, the three of them crowded against the door. Tamzin drew out her black cube and wrapped her arms around Galen and Siv. Galen nuzzled into her affectionately.

  Siv positioned himself so that he was still in Tamzin's arms but facing the door. He drew his plasma pistol and neural disruptor. It wouldn't take long for the Tekk Reapers to disarm or kill him, but he might be able to buy them a few seconds with a couple of well-aimed shots. A few seconds could make all the difference

  Rubble began tumbling down in waves. Dust and small pieces of stone rained down.

  Siv recalled the spy-flies. The little drones zigged and zagged between bits of falling debris and returned to their compartments.

  "Collapse imminent," Silky said.

  The heavy door leading outside was wrenched open, ripped free from its hinges, and tossed aside. The reaper standing in the doorway was at least seventy-five percent metal and looked more like a monstrous cog than a human.

  Siv popped two plasma shots and a neural blast into him. The reaper fell back, spasming, and collapsed on the ground. The one ten meters beyond him grinned at Siv and opened fire with a neural disruptor.

  37

  Mitsuki Reel

  With her wings tucked hard against her back and her head ducked low to keep a slim profile, Mitsuki squeezed the accelerator on the right handlebar until it was flat against the metal.

  She shot out of the city like a bullet from a railgun and weaved through traffic along the freeway. After a short while, she veered onto a mostly empty highway that took her in the general direction of the mines where Siv and the ambassador were holed up.

  Eventually, she’d need to find a rural road that cut towards the mines, probably one half overgrown and almost never used by locals. Which would make it pretty obvious where she was going. Not that a lone woman speeding towards an abandoned mine was any more suspicious than three people piled on one bike fleeing those same mines.

  This didn’t seem the wisest course of action, but she trusted Silky. If he said this was the best play and them traveling back to the city through wraith space wasn’t an option, then so be it.