by Craig Allen
“Right.” Cody adjusted his finger accordingly.
“Let’s move.” Deveau headed down the tunnel. “Gunny, what’s our status?”
Her voice crackled through interference, but Cody could still make it out. “The bats made another strafing run, and we took a few more out. They haven’t come back. Toads were doing turkey-peeks from the southern hill. We fired a few warning shots, and they haven’t come back, either.”
“They will,” Bodin piped in. “They’re planning something.”
“Keep me apprised,” Deveau said. At another junction, he pointed at a corner and turned right. Anne sprayed an arrow on it.
“Where is everyone?” Anne said. “They didn’t all leave, did they?”
“Maybe they did when they heard the commotion outside,” Cody said.
“No.” Deveau checked his receiver at another intersection then pointed at a corner. “They wouldn’t do that. This is the most valuable thing they have.”
“Think they’re set up at the ship itself, sir?” Anne asked.
Deveau nodded. “I would be.” Deveau gestured down a passage at another intersection. “Seven meters. This one’s pretty long. I bet it leads to the ship. Switch to thermal.”
Cody switched to infrared. The hall reflected their heat signatures like a series of mirrors. His HUD put an outline around Deveau to help him ignore the mirror images around him on the shiny tunnel wall.
After a few more meters, Deveau held his fist in the air. Anne dropped, tugging at Cody. He squatted next to her. Deveau stared ahead for a moment then crept backward until he reached them. His voice was low over the comm system. “It’s there. Jesus Christ, it’s there. Most of it anyway. I can see the cargo bay, but the rest is buried. Have a look.”
Cody started to stand, but Deveau pushed him back down. “You want to get your head shot off?”
“But you said—”
“We’re recording, remember? Rewind my video view and look.”
Cody pulled up Deveau’s recording and rolled it back a couple of minutes. He almost swore. The ship rested at an angle inside a cavern. Most of it was buried in the surrounding rock, but the aft was visible. The Kali wasn’t the biggest ship of its day, but it was big enough to raise hell.
“Port impellers are wrecked,” Anne said.
“Notice the Daedalus struts are damaged but still somewhat intact.” Deveau gestured down the hall. “That thing can’t fly, but they could get a general idea of how it could fly if they understood the physics behind it.”
“There’s a hole in the hull,” Anne said. “Right at ground level.”
Deveau’s gaze appeared unfocused as he searched something on his HUD. “That leads into the primary cargo bay. From there, it heads right to the factory section.”
“That whole section looks intact,” Cody said. “Then maybe the factory is, too. That’s how they made the resin covering the halls, isn’t it?”
Deveau nodded. “And more, I’m sure.”
“Sir, there’s something else.” Anne highlighted a part of the recording and shared it with the rest of them. “Look at this on thermal.” She rolled her recording forward. A circle appeared around the entrance to the ship on the infrared. Something warm stood, moved, and sat back down again.
“They’re taking up positions inside the ship.” Deveau gestured at the walls. “The rest doesn’t matter. That thing is the most important thing they have, and they’re defending it.”
“Do they know we’re here?” Cody asked.
Bodin barked over the comm system. “Major, we got problems.”
Gunfire erupted over the comm, but it sounded distant.
“Those don’t sound like your weapons,” Deveau said.
“They’re not!” It was Sonja this time. “We are taking fire. Those goddamn toads have taken up positions on top of the southern hill. They have a pair of Gus Aces up there.”
Cody chewed his lip. Gus Aces, technically called G-1 Gauss Rifles, were heavy weapons favored by marines for over a century, and they could take out lightly armored vehicles. And the toads had access to them.
“The factory is still active,” Cody said.
“Maybe they just got ’em from a weapons locker,” Anne said.
Deveau waved at both of them to be quiet. “Gunny, what’s your status?”
“We retreated inside the cave where they can’t get an angle on us, but it’s just a matter of time before they approach.”
“Understood,” Deveau said. “The Kali is here, and obviously, the factory is more or less intact. We’re getting ready to blow it. We’ll be outside in five mikes.”
“This thing’ll be over in five mikes, Major,” Sonja said.
Deveau sighed heavily. “How many cherries we got?”
“Five, sir,” she said. “And we still have the molecular explosives.”
“Give me one.” Anne handed him a grenade. “We have to nuke whatever’s there and get inside.”
“Sir, they’re pinned down. We need—”
“We need to destroy that factory,” Deveau said. “They have heavy coil guns they made in that thing. We can’t just leave it here so they can make more whenever they want.” Deveau glanced up at the Kali as he spoke. “Gunny, blow the entrance if you have to. We left breadcrumbs.”
“I copy that, Major,” Sonja said.
“Blow it?” Anne said. “How the hell do we get out of here?”
Deveau said nothing as he depressed a button and twisted a knob on a grenade. “Doc, you stay here. Anne, when I give the word, you lay down suppressing fire, and I’ll toss this thing. Copy?”
“Yes, sir.” Her voice didn’t shake as it had before. “You know they can probably see in the dark.”
Deveau nodded. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t have the lights out. I wonder if turning them on again would blind them.”
“What about the magnetic shoes on our suits,” Cody said. “If they’re sensitive to magnetic waves, that might work better.”
Deveau nodded. “Yeah. Good idea, Doc.” He faced Anne. “Get ready with the floodlights and your boots. We might as well try both. Ready?”
Anne gripped her coil rifle tightly. “Ready, sir.”
They inched quietly up the corridor. Cody brought up Deveau’s and Anne’s optics and watched as they approached the entrance. Deveau nodded at Anne, and before she could fire, it all went to hell.
A rumble quickly built into a deafening roar that shook the entire tunnel. Sealant-covered dirt rained down on Cody’s head. He assumed that Sonja and Bodin had shut off any pursuit by those outside. That also meant their only escape route was gone.
Cody kept both Anne’s and Deveau’s thermal views active on his HUD as he remained crouched in the tunnel. Nothing moved.
“Nothing,” Anne spoke, her voice very low. “I… shit.”
Dozens of toads flooded through the opening. Many held something Cody didn’t recognize.
“Lights.” Deveau’s voice was still calm, as if he’d been severely outnumbered before. “Activate boots.”
The floodlights illuminated dozens of toads. Some of them held coil rifles. They flinched briefly at the lights, but when the team’s magnetic boots came online, the toads panicked. The effect was immediate. Two of them dropped their coil rifles and covered the thin metal plates on their heads. They let out a screech, which Anne silenced with her rifle. The remaining creatures struggled to get back inside the ship, their only avenue of escape.
“Let them go.” Deveau’s optic tilted upward and then forward again. Something flew through the ship’s opening, right into the middle of toads struggling to reach cover.
“Fire in the hole,” Deveau said matter-of-factly. He and Anne darted back toward Cody, just as the cherry flashed in a micro-nuclear explosion.
The detonation rocked the corridor. Cody’s helmet muffled the deafening roar, and the brilliant flash caused his helmet to polarize, temporarily shutting off his optics. The heat rolled over him like a wave of
water, and then it was gone as quickly as it had started.
The polarization faded. Small fires burned inside the Kali, each of them the remains of a toad not incinerated in the blast.
Bodin came around the corner, his rifle at the ready. “Shit, Major. You know how to throw a party.”
Sonja helped Cody up. “You all right?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I think I’m okay.”
“You got your ass steamed now, didn’t you?” She patted him on the shoulder.
“I assume we can’t go back the way we came,” Deveau said.
Sonja nodded. “That’s correct, sir. They were about to overrun us. We collapsed it pretty good, but I doubt that’s the only way in.”
“Then we need to stay frosty,” Deveau said. “First, let’s make sure we got ’em all. Bodin, Monroe, with me. Doc.” Deveau pointed at Cody. “Do not leave this tunnel. Anne, stay with him and watch our six.”
Anne nodded. “Yes, sir.”
As she went by, Sonja squeezed Cody’s shoulder.
Bodin gave him a wink. “Good call on the boots, Doc.”
~~~
A few minutes passed before they got the word to approach. Cody followed Anne into the massive chamber. She swept her rifle around the open area, checking for any movement, even though they had been given the all clear.
The chamber that housed the Kali had the same sealant shine the tunnels had. Scorch marks covered the hull, which he assumed were from atmosphere entry. Most of the ship itself was buried in the wall of the chamber.
“Inside, Doc,” Anne said. “Hurry.”
The toads apparently had access to more than gauss weapons. A plasma torch had cut away the door, making the entrance larger. It was large enough for four men to enter walking abreast. The interior was similar to the cargo bay on the Spinoza and was about the same size. The angled floor of the partially buried ship made walking difficult. Small burning piles of alien flesh littered the extensive interior. Cody was thankful the suit kept out scents. Deck plates sagged where the blast had occurred. The ceiling above had melted away, revealing the bulkhead on the other side. He was amazed the fusion grenade hadn’t done more damage.
Anne pointed. “Look at that.” The barrel of a coil rifle jutted out from the wall. “There’s more over there.” She nodded her head. “Jesus, we got lucky.”
Deveau spoke before Cody could answer. “Looks mostly intact.” The comm system in Cody’s suit indicated Deveau’s voice had come from the other end of the bay. He and Anne went toward them, stepping around burning alien bodies. A small doorway led to a control room. A display was present, but the holographic controls had been deactivated. Everything was dated, yet functional. A giant window overlooked another bay filled with interconnected nano-construction chambers. An assembly line ran between the machines, connecting to a gate that sat against one wall.
“It’s a lot of stuff,” Anne said.
“Those boxes are nano chambers,” Cody said. “They build the base components. The larger chambers put the smaller pieces together.”
“They could build a coil gun in three minutes.” Deveau nodded at Cody. “Doc, I need your help.”
Cody shrugged. “What do you need?”
“I can do it, but maybe you can do it faster.” Deveau swept his hand over the activator. When a virtual pad appeared, Deveau entered a series of numbers and letters. He touched the red holographic sphere, and the entire control board sprang to life. “Download everything into your suit, then share it with everyone so we’ll all have a copy in case anything happens to one of us. And try to access the bridge-sat from here.” He turned to Anne and Bodin. “Let’s find the fusion plants. Gunny, keep an eye on Doc.”
Deveau and Bodin stepped out of the door and back into the cargo bay. Before Anne left, she gave a little wave to Cody. He waved back.
Cody brought up log files on the displays. He had full access, which meant he could probably read files he shouldn’t be reading. He began selecting every scrap of data in the system for downloading.
Sonja glanced out into the cargo bay. “You got a lot more than you bargained for, didn’t you, Cody?”
Cody smiled, his eyes still on the displays before him. “I think we all did.”
She walked back inside. “Now if we can just find the way out of here.”
“Maybe there’s access through the ship somewhere,” Cody said. “I mean, half of it is gone, but—”
Outside, metal rubbed on metal, as if a deck plate were straining under pressure. Sonja held her finger to her lips and then slipped out into the cargo bay, holding her rifle up in the ready position.
Cody focused on his task. He highlighted all the files and dumped them into the core of his enviro-suit. The system had some ten years’ worth of files, as if it had been in use for that time instead of just sitting idle. It would take several seconds to download everything. A viewer sat on a console, right next to the bridge-sat controls.
Cody slid over to the controls. He waved his hand over the board, and the holo-controls came to life. The grayish controls hovered in the air, emitting an annoying buzz as he ran his hands through them. Red letters hovered over the grayed-out controls. Access code required.
A moment later, Sonja returned, her rifle at her side. “We done here?”
“I contacted the bridge-sat,” Cody said, “but it’s asking for the access code.”
She tapped the side of her helmet. “Major, you copy that?”
“On my way,” Deveau said. “We’re at the plants and rigging some cherries and explosives. What’s your status, Gunny?”
“Objective two complete.”
Through the door behind her, a head protruded. It stared at everything with large yellow eyes. The flier stepped into the control room, staring at the controls in wonder.
“How’s that, Gunny?” Deveau said on the comm.
“We have the prisoners,” Sonja said. “Looks like they’ve come to us.”
~~~
“Son of a bitch.”
It was the third time Deveau had said it. Creatures filled the cargo bay wall to wall. Many were the fliers, but there were others—bulbous blob creatures who had been taken prisoner and the mantis creatures that rode the behemoths. They seemed to hop along on two large back legs that curled like springs. Hundreds of beetles weaved in and out between the legs of everyone present.
Bodin gestured at the beetles. “Those ours?”
Cody shrugged. The beetles took a few steps back, moving in unison, as Cody knelt. “Hey, do you know us?”
The beetles didn’t seem to acknowledge them.
“I think we left our boys topside,” Anne said. “Shit, I never did grab that pack again.”
“Maybe they’ll meet us back at the patrol base.” Deveau went back to the control board. “Right now, we need access to that bridge-sat.” He ran his hand through the red text. A small virtual keypad appeared. He entered several characters, which highlighted on the display. When he submitted the code, red letters flashed before him. “Shit.”
“Major?” Sonja said.
“My code doesn’t work. It’s been changed.” Deveau grimaced. “We still have a job to do. Doc, we need to find a way out of here.” He pointed at the fliers. “They probably know.”
“How do I—” Cody snapped his fingers. He went back into the control room and picked up the viewer lying next to the bridge-sat controls. He returned to the cargo bay and handed it to one of the fliers. “Do you know the way out of here other than the main exit at the base of the cliff?”
The flier’s central arm took the portable viewer. It held it in its single forearm while another flier entered a message.
The way out is known but terrifying. Lots of bad people with loud spears hurting from afar and taking lives not for food but only for hurting.
Cody shook his head. “Wait, make it shorter. You do know the way out?”
The flier tapped out another message.
Two are known. One with loud
noise and other high above.
“Yeah, we made the loud noise,” Bodin said. “That tunnel’s no good now.”
The fliers gave a head bob to Bodin. Cody still couldn’t figure out where they had learned to nod.
“What is this high entrance?” Cody pointed at the ceiling. “Up there?”
They nodded.
“How high, exactly?” Sonja asked.
~~~
The sunken Kali’s roof had created a sort of ramp that led to a tunnel just above the ship. The tunnel started in the rock face and extended upward. It was wide enough for the fliers, but Cody had no idea where it exited. The fliers and beetles stayed close to them, while the mantis creatures wandered aimlessly around the cavern chamber.
“Why aren’t they coming in?” Cody asked.
“They’re waiting for us,” Sonja said. “In here, we could ambush them, but they know we won’t stay in here forever. They’re going to hit us when we leave.”
“Aren’t they afraid we’ll do something to this?” Cody gestured at the ship.
“Yeah, you’d think they would be,” Deveau said. “But they’re not.”
“We took out a bunch of them,” Bodin said. “Maybe they don’t want to take the chance.”
“Maybe.” Deveau coughed. “I jettisoned the deuterium and set a few cherries near the reactor. It should be enough to wipe it off the map.”
After a moment, a flier emerged from the hole above. It gave the equivalent of a thumbs-up.
“I wonder who taught them that,” Cody said.
Deveau motioned at Sonja and Bodin. They took a quick glance down the corridor and joined the major. The flier spread its wings so it could float gently to the floor. It tapped on the viewer held up by another flier.
The way is there. We can all go including you who only travel the ground.
“Them, too?” Sonja pointed at the creatures milling around the cavern.
The fliers fluttered their wings for a moment. Finally, one of them tapped out a message.
