Cavalry

by Thorby Rudbek

  Gich watched as Quetod powered up the N-beam, adjusting the twin levers with anticipation. She depressed the ‘fire’ button and all watched on various monitors, or, in the case of the command crew, through the heavily slanted Transplyous in front of them, as the green globule formed and shifted ahead, crabwise, missing the asteroid by a few metres.

  “Oh, please forgive me, Parents of us all.” Quetod seemed to be apologising for her aim, having just discovered, by personal experience, how hard it was to target anything with the mark one version of the Negatruction weapon, the only version (fortunately for the remaining free worlds of humanity) which the Narlavs had in their possession.

  Making some adjustments to the lever controls, she depressed the green activation button once again. This time the eerie green globule shifted a little differently, whether due to her adjustments or just due to random variations, and the package of negatively charged energy and anti-particles hit the unsuspecting accretion of space-borne matter fairly centrally, or at least this seemed to be the case, as, at the moment before contact was made, the flare of light became so bright that displays and eyes were both overloaded. Moments later, the glare faded away, revealing empty space where once solid matter had once drifted.

  Gich gulped. And if the Narlavs had been able to target those little Quequan, none of this would be happening.

  Quedon turned their lone ship around, handling the controls with casual efficiency, but this seemed to falter as the view ahead became the view back towards Quelood: the twin planets floated on the black, sparkle-sprinkled emptiness of space, the two formed interlocking crescents, an astounding sight for the Quetibb, whose only vessels heretofore were not capable of travelling this far from their home worlds, and so they had never before experienced this perspective on ‘the Parents’.

  Little glints could be seen as they sped back – Gich realised that these tiny motes of light were reflections from an impressive number of Quequan, flying backwards and forwards between the twin worlds. And to think that each is flying because a solar focused beam is accurately, constantly targeting that tiny sliver of a vessel!

  “I wish we could bring along our own weapon, as well as more of the Negatruction devices we are still salvaging from the Warrnam wreckage.” Quetod turned to look at Gich, switching the N-beam device off as she did so. “The solar weapon cannot be brought – there are thousands of Solar Focus Devices mounted across both planets; such a system cannot be easily duplicated, and certainly not inside a small vessel such as this.” Her comments were in reference as well as deference to the size of the Warrnam, fully sixteen times the length of this, the grandest of all Quetibb vessels, in which they could now so casually traverse the space between and around the twin worlds that together comprised her only home.

  “Just mount several more Negatruction weapons and fire them all at once. Nothing will survive that… and you will never miss, then!”

  Quetod snickered, patting her invalid friend on the hairy head in her standard gesture of appreciation. “Living with Narlavs was not good for your health, but it has been even worse for theirs!”

  “And so, I hope, will it be again, when we return to Rhaal!” Gich accepted the stroking of her furry friend graciously and gratefully.

  Chapter Ten

  Above all, Scouts must respect the agency of the unempowered – Cetelima

  Judy had turned to study Kirrina: she was completely immobile – so motionless that, even to the ultra-observant Brisson, she looked almost lifeless, statuesque. The pale-haired figure’s head was leaning back into the top of the seat, with a slight hint of a lean to her right, her expressive eyes covered, and her breathing so slow and low as to be imperceptible.

  Judy continued to examine the young face beside her, wondering if she should wake this silvery, somnolent Aircar pilot, as the display on the panel in front of her indicated they were fast approaching the Cold Lake area. Fast! When I first saw it, I thought this was a fairly sporty ‘family’ kind of Aircar, but it moves faster than any built-for-speed jet-fighter I’ve ever heard of… and I get the impression it isn’t even trying!

  Brisson had been nominally ‘in charge’ of the flight for nearly an hour, since the moment she had touched the powerful girl’s hand as she had ascertained how to use the hair retainer, and had felt a sudden drain of energy. Once she had recovered from the shock, she had insisted on making a longer contact, and did not break the physical connection until Kirrina seemed ‘refuelled’. After this, it had seemed that Richard’s wife had gained more than just energy, as she had become completely at ease and had promptly announced she would take a nap.

  Eric leaned over from the back seat and looked at the display as Judy caught his attention and gestured to him.

  “Don’t worry.” Karen’s voice made Judy jump and Kirouac move abruptly back.

  They found she was fully awake once more, and as the Navigation Sphere reappeared, seemingly without being summoned, she took the floating yellow and black ball in her hand, twisting it and lowering it so that the Aircar plunged at high speed into the continuous cloud cover below. The low sun had been quite brilliant, with no discernible dust-induced drop in the light intensity, but once inside the thick clouds, all was gloom and grey. Kirrina’s eyes flickered over the displays and she pulled back on the sphere. A moment later, Seagull dropped out of the bottom of the storm cloud and cruised slowly through the snow-sprinkled air.

  Eric leaned forward again, trying to make out any landmarks below, but the view was a blur with streaking snowflakes and gusting winds. The descent proceeded with extreme caution until a stronger gust seemed to blow a temporary hole in the veil, revealing the hangars of the air base, less than a hundred feet below them.

  “Judy, touch the panel in front of you and think communications. We need to see if they have managed to restore any of the transceivers they have, even if only at low power.”

  Brisson found the controls appeared as predicted and she thought of the frequency and started broadcasting: “This is NUIT officer Brisson calling Cold Lake AFB, respond please.” She repeated her message three times and again, after a thirty-second wait, but with no effect.

  “That building there is where EDEM Two was being developed.” Eric leaned between the two women and pointed at the relevant hangar. “It’s not there anymore, but a lot of important equipment will probably still be. Why don’t you do a circuit and see if it looks occupied?”

  Kirrina nodded and took the Aircar down to a point almost level with the rooftops, where the view was a little clearer, then skimmed around in a clockwise direction.

  “Can you give me an audio output for here?” Brisson asked. “Perhaps we can contact someone the old-fashioned way!”

  Kirrina turned to explain how this was done, but Judy had already figured it out.

  “And can we become visible? I think my voice will convince anyone from the base that we are friendly.”

  Kirrina adjusted the holographic system as Brisson continued, using both the radio connection and the ‘megaphone’:

  “This is Judy Brisson of NUIT, I am talking to you from the yellow and black Aircar that has just arrived.” Judy leaned closer to the Transplyous windshield, trying to penetrate the blizzard as her need to find Latt seemed to take possession of her mind, pushing all logic aside.

  “Eric.” Kirrina spoke quietly and gestured with her head, and he seemed to catch on immediately, climbing over the seat on the other side of Kirrina and waiting for further directions. “Just think ‘scanner’ and check for heat sources. That’s how we found a lot of the survivors in New Leeds.”

  Kirouac reached out with his right hand and touched the blank panel in front of him, smiling with pleasure as the relevant display appeared. Now I can do Judy’s job… with a little help from this flying car! After a few moments, he figured out what data was being provided and announced his initial findings: “Temperature in the building matches that outside. That would mean –” He stopped talking as he saw the
shredded wall on the south side, and noted the uneven snow drifts at the boundary with the interior so exposed.

  Judy gasped: “Put us down!”

  The Aircar shuddered, sounding like a rapidly beaten drum and Kirrina glanced at her displays as the sudden sound just as quickly ceased: “No go.” She pulled back on the Navigation control Sphere and the ground dropped away beneath them.

  In response to Brisson’s anguished cry, the very young but also very dominant and decisive Mrs Fletcher announced that the Structural Protection Field had cut in automatically, indicating an attack. “And the Field can only be sustained for a few minutes at most, so we dare not linger in harm’s way.”

  “That was a heavy machine gun – the frequency of impact…” Eric surmised, impressed with the concept of a ‘Structural Protection Field’, though the term inspired only a vague notion in him of what this might be. “Just how good is the armour-plate on this bird?”

  “She’s built of Hybralloy, which is kind of like a very tough and flexible black steel, except for the Transplyous windows, of course, but that stuff, too, is certainly sufficient to block most Earth-constructed projectile weapons. There’s no extra-shielding except the Structural Protection Field – a kind of Shell around the whole craft, like the little generators we used to patch up the hangar walls and roof – this Field will stop anything except nukes.”

  “Fantastic!” Kirouac breathed admiringly. “When the other Aircar arrives, we can take them on!”

  Kirrina shook her head. “Not before we determine who is attacking us.” She brought Seagull to a hovering stop at about four hundred feet, where the ground was completely obscured by the storm, and checked that the holographic projection had reengaged.

  “Us Earthlings never learn, huh?” Kirouac shook his head ruefully as he realised his response had been… predictably ‘primitive’.

  “It might even be the base defence…” Brisson seemed to have recovered from her emotional response earlier, and began to make her announcement on the appropriate frequency again: “This is NUIT officer Brisson calling Cold Lake AFB, respond please.”

  “Hello, Seagull! This is Magic Wagon.” Richard’s voice broke through as she was about to repeat her message. “I know you’re nearby!” He sounded amused. “Ah, there you are! Coming up alongside you…”

  Kirrina had disabled the holographic image in response to her husband’s obscure request. She looked past Eric and he turned to see the storm on their right side resolve into a rather bulbous pale blue vessel about twice the size of Seagull, pulling into a hover a scant metre from their side.

  “Hey, Kirrina, it seems your Seagull has acquired another dent or three…” Richard commented.

  “Someone down there may just have decided alien technology must indicate aliens.” Ed’s voice broke in, sounding like a continuation of Eric’s reconsiderations.

  “It’s not nearly as bad as Woodpecker, Richard! Can’t explain from here, you MW occupants. I’m going to lead you down to the point where we were attacked, but we need to be invisible.” Kirrina called up a proximity display and got Judy to watch it. “Set up for descent and maintain this separation.” She knew Richard would be organising the same and pushed the Navigation control Sphere very gently downwards, confident that Magic Wagon would duplicate their motion. Eric watched the comparatively huge Aircar become blurred and indistinct, though this burred image remained a constant metre away, from his perspective.

  Soon the hangar, with its heavy damage, hung a few metres below their craft once again. Kirrina’s eyes greyed, and she became still. “There are no ‘friendlies’ involved. These men have captured several of the base structures, and intend to maintain and increase their conquest by force of arms. The bad news is that they took the base armoury, so they have almost unlimited firepower! I could freeze this group, and – no, there are well over a hundred.” Her eyes started to glaze over, so she shook her head to clear it. “I’m going to need some support here.” She glanced at Eric, seeking his understanding and acquiescence as she mentally urged his hand across and into contact with her skin where her clothing ended – at her neck.

  Immediately, the momentarily embarrassed Kirouac felt the energy being sucked out of him and he started to comprehend the huge effort she had already expended in contacting, reading, analysing and controlling the diverse minds of the morning attack by NUIT and the Marines, and the even more daunting task that she was now contemplating.

  “There’s gotta be a better way!” He muttered to himself, suddenly becoming worried about the impact this mental marathon would have on her.

  “I have an electromagnetic signal coming from the far side of the base!” Fraser’s voice came through like a beacon of hope from Magic Wagon. “Whoever it is, is using Morse Code. Three words, repeated: ‘Hold until relieved.’ Sounds like the signal strength is dropping – it may just be a remote, a recording.”

  “No!” Judy’s voice was barely a whisper as she attempted to control her emotions. “It’s an emergency message from Latt – we watched an old war movie just before I flew down to Rhode Island, and he was impressed by the troops and the attitude they portrayed about duty. Those exact words were used in the movie.[27] He probably heard the gunfire and powered up the littlest electrical power source remaining, to try and reach us.” Judy’s eyes filled as she thought of the trust her very own ‘human alien’ demonstrated in her.

  Kirrina conferred briefly with Richard, and the two Aircars rose as one and headed in the direction of the signal.

  When did this amazing boyfriend of Judy, this Latt, find the time or the motivation to learn Morse Code? Richard shook his head in wonder as he contemplated the non-Earth human he was now hoping to meet at last.

  “We may have found them, but I expect these anarchists have too,” Richard announced as the supremely effectively camouflaged Aircars drew nearer to the transmission point. “I want exact locations and numbers for the attacking forces as soon as we locate our defenders.”

  Judy suddenly got serious about the scanner Eric was operating, leaned across in front of Kirrina and tried to figure out how to tune in to the thermal signals and thus differentiate between the mobile (warmer) attackers and the entrenched remnants of the Base personnel, as well as the approximate size of each living creature detected, though Eric was already doing this. He saw her interest and let her announce his – or their – findings.

  “We have a minimum of two hundred humans, of widely varying sizes, holed up in a maintenance hangar. We can’t be more precise; signal strength is very low.”

  Eric scanned the perimeter and let her continue with the analysis.

  “The marauders number slightly less but are all eightieth percentile or larger.” Judy managed a smile at Eric, for his forbearance. “They have the defenders surrounded, but seem to be holding back.”

  “I can explain that,” Kirrina interjected, hunching forwards at the first opportunity – Judy had sat back for a moment – so they could continue their interactions behind her, and she could see the white-blurred snowscape outside more directly. “I have touched the minds of a number of clerical officers and men just inside the hangar, and their thoughts are all in agreement – they owe their lives to the actions of a few armed non-coms, under the direction of someone they refer to as Major Ulrique.” She grabbed Kirouac’s left hand, as it had slipped from her neck during the abrupt movements initiated by Judy’s compulsion to ‘help’ with the analysis of the scanner information, and she desperately needed his strength for what she had in mind.

  “If we go any closer, we will be spotted.” Richard warned.

  “We are not equipped to engage in an all-out battle.” Ed’s older voice joined the discussion between the two Aircars, not mentioning but wishing his squad had brought more weapons with them than the Marines’ normal assortment of M16s, M4s and M9s.

  “Get your coats buttoned up. Be prepared to take Magic Wagon down on my mark.” Kirrina sounded very grim and both Judy and Eric s
aw her eyes take on their trademark battleship grey as she slipped her arms into her unearthly winter covering and pulled the front together. “The all-out battle will be entirely within the enemy forces, not directed at us nor at the survivors below.” Oh Cetelima[28], though I never met you, I hope you can understand why I must do this. Extreme measures are sometimes needed for extreme situations.

  Chapter Eleven

  Trust can only be earned slowly, but it can be lost quickly – Antoinette

  Forty feet beneath the almost invisible craft, Kirrina’s influence suddenly broke the deadlock. A single assault rifle started up, fired by one hapless and helpless marauder. His aim was good; he mowed down several of his own men from behind. Immediately, those he had not killed brought other weapons into play and an intense fire-fight broke out. Increasingly desperate, angry and confused men ran from one wrecked vehicle to another – even towards the mangled hangar side entrance – finding that their loose alliance had inexplicably disintegrated and apparently death was the only bequest now offered. Intermittent interference from Karen kept the murderous action going, driving many of the attackers into a state of insatiable rage at the apparent treachery of their fellow-combatants. After a brief and bloody couple of minutes there was no one left in the vicinity capable of continuing the battle.

  “It’s safe now; let’s go down.” Kirrina sounded very weary and her voice had become steeped with regret as the blue seemed to soak back into her irises. “Judy, open up on your audio message again.”

  Both vessels – no longer concealed – sank to the ground, the pilots finding it difficult to locate a space between the crumpled bodies sufficiently large to fit their Aircar ‘footprints’.

  “This is Judy Brisson of NUIT; I am talking to you from the yellow and black Aircar that has just arrived. The pale blue Aircar alongside contains a squad of Marines. We have neutralised the attackers surrounding your refuge and are here to rescue you.”