Cavalry

by Thorby Rudbek

  “We are almost in space here,” Latt responded, recalling that the helicopters with which Brad was so familiar were almost ground-effect craft in comparison to the Aircar.

  Paranak, on Brad’s other side, his feet up against the lower part of the forward Transplyous, felt great satisfaction as he found his night’s work was being rewarded; the sensors he had upgraded were providing the detailed data he had anticipated collecting.

  Richard, looking between the shoulders of his team members at the various displays, could see that there was indeed a layer of particulate matter, beginning to become detectable a hundred kilometres or so above their altitude.

  “Brad, let’s see how high we can get,” Captain Fletcher urged. “We need to determine the source of this gigantic ‘sunshade’, so we can figure out how to fold it up and put it away before Earth becomes as cold as Mars.” Or like the deserted Arshonnan star system worlds Colak and Dolen, I guess. Richard knew that these two rocky planets were all that remained in that system of that civilization, but they had never been comfortably habitable or habitually comfortable, even in the ‘golden age’ of Arshonnan history, and had not been occupied, other than by small numbers of pioneers associated with industrial enterprises and research organisations, because of their continual frigidness. According to refugees that had arrived at Frontier Post Nine after the surprise Narlav attack, these bases had been pounded so heavily that little was left of those facilities, and with the passage of the centuries it would probably take an archaeological expedition to figure out the full details of the debacle. Something that will have to wait until we aren’t at risk of subjugation to the Narlavs!

  “I’m scanning for uniformity in the coverage,” Paranak announced. “There seems to be a fair degree of homogeneity at the lower altitudes, but pockets of a much denser nature higher up.”

  The Aircar continued to accelerate, its upward flight progressing at ever-more astonishing velocities. The crew watched as the sky darkened further, becoming hard and black, and the cloud cover far below became whiter and increasingly painful to their eyes.

  Soon Paranak’s augmented scanners found what he had been looking for:

  “There’re an impressive number of what appear to be meteorites tracking downwards some fifty kilometres or so above us. They register as very low density and yet seem to penetrate far deeper into the atmosphere before vaporising than should be possible. I’m not sure how low they can reach, so I am engaging the Structural Protection Field now, in case some of them get down to our level.”

  Brad double-checked, confirming that he had pushed the Drive control Sphere to the maximum forward position on hearing this, realising that their mission would have to be finished in a few minutes or require an override of the safety features, which in turn would risk causing a burnout of key Drive Macrals. And, unlike a ‘copter, this craft would have no means of slowing as it fell to Earth, if its Drive were killed… no rotor tricks – as there’s no counterpart to a rotor!

  Latt correlated the altitude data with information about the International Space Station’s orbit and smiled grimly at the result. “These meteorites seem to penetrate to a little below the orbit of the Station where I manufactured some components for EDEM One.”

  “That station is coming up on our position fast,” Paranak reported from his sensors. “It will pass above us some three hundred or so kilometres from this location in a few seconds. I will get a visual scan recorded for our viewing.”

  Richard leaned forward between Brad and Paranak; he watched as the sensor automatically panned and tracked the object of interest. A moment later and Paranak was replaying the images one at a time.

  The significant distance and the huge difference in relative velocities made the images rather blurred, but they had neither the energy nor the time available to accelerate into a matching orbit – Seagull was not really designed for such a trip, though the Aircar would operate in space as well as it did in an atmosphere. More importantly, such a move would take them around the planet from the hemisphere where the Moon was safely ‘set’ and into the view of a potential enemy lunar-based Earth observation system – and above all they could not risk being spotted by the Narlavs. Despite this spatial limitation, the twenty third image showed fairly clearly the confirmation that they needed. The ISS, started in 1998 and completed after numerous shuttle and rocket flights not so many years past, was twisted, solar panels askew, and one of the main habitation modules was much shorter than it had been when Latt had visited it. The other images, though less clear, showed also that it was slowly tumbling.

  “There are no life signs, no infrared signatures, and the internal temperatures range from a typical high altitude background up to about forty below zero Celsius,” Paranak confirmed.

  Richard leaned forward and pointed at a portion of the damaged structure in the least blurred image.

  “Could that be something curved, lodged in that framework?”

  “You mean – these aren’t meteorites – the Narlavs are throwing some kind of cannonballs at the Station?” Brad questioned.

  Richard pounded gently on Hawk’s shoulder to indicate his confirmation of this astounding idea.

  “We’ll do some further image enhancing when we get back,” Paranak suggested, unaware of this non-verbal communication. “We should –”

  He was interrupted by warning chimes from his display, and his arms seemed to writhe as he pulled up the data behind this new alarm.

  “Suggest we abort the mission. The Structural Protection Field is now inoperative.”

  Richard concurred and Brad took their now-vulnerable Aircar into a power dive towards the brilliant white cloud layer far below them. Nothing was said for a full two minutes, and then Latt commented grimly on his findings:

  “I’ve analysed some of the projectile vectors. The attack involves some kind of spherical delivery devices, each about half a metre in diameter, launched from somewhere behind the Moon. They disintegrate or explode at high altitude, much as we surmised, and spread their contents across the sky, blocking out the sun. If these spheres hit something above their preselected self-destruction altitude, the impact is sufficiently energetic to make quite a hole. The only thing between us and death, a few minutes ago, was the Structural Protection Field.” He looked past Brad at Paranak and smiled thinly. “You seem to have saved our lives again.”

  “I had some personal incentive this time.”

  Richard grinned and slapped Paranak on the side of the head, startling the other members of the team.

  “Take us back to the hangar, Brad.” Richard glanced at the wall of cloud directly in front, then looked down at his lap hastily, until they had penetrated the relatively insubstantial ‘wall’ of water. “We have all the data we need!”

  ***

  “Come on, Captain Alder!” Walt teased, effortlessly holding the angular, creamy-coloured Aircar suspended in the air a couple of feet above the genuine concrete flooring just inside the hangar doors. Stork had only recently been reclaimed from powering ‘life support’ in New Leeds, due to the completion of another Energy Tank and the discovery of an overlooked emergency generator in a snowdrift behind the community hospital, and Konig, the fittest fifty-eight year old veteran pilot in the world, was eager to get airborne.

  A fairly recent Bobcat 3450 four-by-four was busy shovelling snow into the hangar, so that the Bell UH-1N helicopter could be dragged out on the snow (once it was packed down). This was being done to spare the skids. And to spare everyone’s ears! Konig thought about the noise that the metal would otherwise make, scraping along the concrete. “This calm period may not last long, and your Huey might not make it if it ends before we get to NAVSTA[29].” He enjoyed ribbing the relatively young helicopter pilot, but was glad the earth-tech craft would accompany Stork on this short trip. I don’t want this visit to start another fight with friendlies!

  “Roger that.” Thomas Alder heard the very ‘well aged’ Viet-Nam vet over his helmet-mounted co
mmunications system – the Aircar now had the ability to ‘patch’ into the military bandwidths – courtesy the collaborative efforts of Leroy and Paranak. He watched as a team of local volunteers flattened the snow and, together with a couple of Marines, began to slide his Twin Huey out onto well-packed snow-covered tarmac outside. The occasional screech indicated when the skids and the metal-lined grooves of the hangar door tracks came into contact. The morning was cold as usual, but the air was fairly still and the clouds overhead looked light enough not to hold more than a skiff or two of snow.

  Beckie, seated next to Konig, wondered what they would find in Newport, having only heard the ‘PG’ version of the battle in Cold Lake from Kirrina. It was sooo tempting to check out the full details in someone else’s unsuspecting mind – that Baynes, for example. She found the idea distasteful, even in retrospect, as from her perspective the leader of the NUIT was not an admirable ally. Also a part of her realised that she might regret adding such graphic images to her mental visual store; the image of her birth-mother, slipping into eternity, still haunted her dreams from time to time and there was no blood in that moment of disconnect. She brought her thoughts away from the past and speculated further on their intended destination. Can’t read anything beyond a mile or so… and I understand why we must explain ourselves in person – they would be freaked out if we tried to radio them and tell all! She looked at her ‘old’ friend Walt, enjoying his young, vibrant and confident demeanour. Just like going to Boston – ‘cept we don’t get to use his Aston Martin! She was relieved that they had the security of the Aircar this time, and that they would not be at any risk of finding the rogue Empowered one in Newport. I wonder if he’s still alive? He has the smarts to protect himself – and he’d kill anyone who was a threat to him, before they had a chance to act. She shivered, though her mini-Medic supplied winter gear was warm around her shoulders… in fact, it was open at the front to make sure she didn’t overheat during the expected fifteen minute trip.

  Walt looked at her, smiling his usual crazy smile – reserved almost exclusively for her. Yet again he had detected her worries in his own unique way and was responding to reassure his favourite preteen.

  Beckie grinned back, putting the fears aside, and then looked with contemplation at her uncle, or was he more her big brother? Love his hair now! She wondered more than a little mischievously if she would end up marrying him in ten years or so. Who knows? She was tempted to ‘delve’ into the upper layers of his mind, but knew she would find only a confusing multiplexed, mental merry-go-round there. Putting aside that rather weighty future matter as if it were no more than a passing whimsy, she focused her mind instead on the rather overcrowded space that comprised the rear of the transport helicopter, it being physically close enough for her to ‘pick up’ on thoughts from the occupants, as well as visually observe them. Sitting over there, wrapped warmly in a mixture of local winter clothing and mini-Medic coats, were a handful of locals from New Leeds. Most, she recalled from the briefing session and could tell – by the unintentional emotional emissions of a number of the party – were worried about friends or family members that lived in Newport. I wonder, how many will we find? She shivered again, recalling how her adopted mother had felt when she had tried to ‘restore’ semi-frozen bodies found in the wholly submerged houses of New Leeds. Must focus on the ones we saved… and will save. She watched Walt nonchalantly nudge the little soccer ball to take the Aircar up, over the limp ‘insect-ness’ of the ‘copter and out into the whiteness.

  Moments later, Stork dropped close to the snow-covered tarmac and swivelled around, ’copter-like, to face the military craft; the Huey began groaning as the engine started. For the man-handlers, the noise level began to become significant as soon as the rotor started to turn. Captain Alder felt more settled as his normal tasks required his full concentration and diverted his attention from the mind-blowing concept of Aircar anti-gravity systems to more mundane matters. He felt confident that his craft would manage the cold air and the brief journey without difficulty. He watched the light cream, rather straight-edged Aircar floating thirty metres ahead, backing away slowly over the undulating snow banks. No prop-wash! Once again he shook his head at the amazing revelations which had enthralled him since proceeding with the top-secret attack for the somewhat shadowy organization known as NUIT. Let’s hope the local military is still hunkered down at the base. He wondered how long their stock of diesel would last, assuming the emergency generator was still running, and if any of the local population had dug their way towards the sound of that life-sustaining machine.

  Eric Kirouac settled into the co-pilot seat as the engine noise began to swamp his senses, hastily covering his ears with the headset provided. I hope Newport turns out better than Cold Lake! He strapped himself in securely, fully aware that transport in such an Earth-technology craft might be bumpy.

  “Huey to Captain Konig.” Thomas Alder decided a little pseudo-formality would help him handle this mission. “Follow me. And keep that crazy creamy craft away from my rotor!”

  ***

  Richard watched the clouds blur as their Aircar dropped faster than a stone towards what for him was the fortuitously invisible ground below. He shivered as a long-forgotten dream of high-flying birds popped into his conscious mind.

  How? Why?

  He leaned back on the broad bench seat and contemplated the mysterious mechanism by which he had received foreknowledge of this brief trip to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere and back... so long before it happened. This bird won’t get caught by any hawks… I have my own one to protect me! He looked at the back of Brad’s head and grinned, putting aside the mysteries of the subconscious mind and the subtle echoes of eternity so that he could concentrate on the more practical events they had planned for the rest of the day.

  The two ‘avian’ fliers, Stork and ‘Whirly bird’, should be well on the way by now. Richard ran his fingers along his jaw, thinking how their planning session the previous evening had assumed or predicted that the Narlav cold war would continue for some time, probably several weeks, perhaps even months, to ‘cleanse the planet’ of the Shaatak infestation. If we’re wrong, we’ll be rushing back to New Leeds to launch our defence… with our pitiful, hopelessly inadequate force, consisting of two Patrol Craft! He put that thought aside, determined not to contemplate the devastating defeat that would be the inevitable result of such a battle.

  Instead he thought about the hive of activity that was now proceeding, day and night, in the underground construction space formally known as the Subterranean Production Facility. An accelerated program of construction of the Patrol Craft, using our lower GAF and others we have ‘inducted’ into the ‘cavalry’. He knew that the third Patrol Craft would be finished in two more days, though the next one would not be ready for some weeks. Just give us the time we need, oh unsuspecting Narlavs; we will win out!

  Richard made another attempt to mentally move away from his biggest dread. I wonder what it is like in Newport? He was pleased that everyone in the planning session the previous night clearly realised that they had done a marvellous thing by saving the lives of many of the residents of New Leeds. Now, on to other towns, carefully finding survivors, reserving our help for the ones that won’t respond like rabid dogs. And we’ve gotta get our key personnel into the safe zone, too; that means some longer trips – and they will have to be pretty much exclusively by Aircar. He knew that their almost inadvertent development of the enclave of New Leeds was also crucial – how else could they have acted and still stayed true to their life-saving Mission Vision? And Konig will be able to handle the local military – with Beckie’s help, of course!

  In other words, it had to be a priority to seek out lost team members and other known experts, and so that would be their main focus, but they all desperately wanted to locate family members and friends of the team members of the GAF, as well as those of the Marine task force and the NUIT, and although many of them felt guilty for condemning t
he innumerable unknown by this preferential approach, they did not hesitate to incorporate this into their plans. Grimly stated, it would only be after these tasks had been completed that they would focus on helping the rest of Earthkind survive the current extreme weather conditions… or, more correctly, and coldly – in every sense of the word – giving assistance to those who were still left alive by that point.

  Let’s hope there will be a mechanical way to prepare the Newport runway to receive two or three Hercules aircraft, or similar transport planes, bringing down the refugees – and Leroy – from Cold Lake. Richard envisioned the time it would take to level the snowdrifts with hand shovels and concluded that somehow they would have to dig out the snowploughs to smooth out the glacier-like landscape. Meanwhile, we’ll go with Magic Wagon and get that evacuation set up, before the local anarchists there recover from the psychological – and physical – beating that Kirrina gave them!

  Chapter Fifteen

  Frigid finery

  “Just how far south do you think the snow reaches?” Richard asked Judy as he levelled out at around thirty thousand feet, Stork cutting smoothly through the air at nearly twice the speed of sound under his competent control.

  “I, I don’t think my knowledge of meteorology will have much relevance with that layer of Moon dust shrouding the Earth,” Brisson admitted reluctantly, assuming his question was in deference to her specialist knowledge of environmental matters. “No such storms have been known in the time since westerners settled this land – this is like going back to the last Ice Age… or on towards the next one.”

  Latt was sitting close beside her towards the right-hand end of the forward bench – the pilot functions had been shifted to the left-hand area – he smiled as he looked at his fiancée, and then shifted forwards slightly on the bench, looking beyond her at the far-travelled Fletcher. His principal thought was still about his reunion and restoration, together with the now physically optimised Judy; his secondary focus was also a positive one – it was on his thankfulness that his previously unique position of knowledge amongst the NUIT and associated personnel was now complemented by the experiences of this very well-travelled young man. He’s younger than my age[30]… but he has seen another free world, one where Narlavs have never ventured, and his knowledge of Arshonnan technology shows how antiquated the Warrnam equipment really is. Now we have a real chance to succeed – as long as the hated Controllers give a little longer for their Mecuba to finish off those millions struggling far below us.