by Gary Weston
'Now he's stopped flapping his wings, sir. He's found the entrance. He's inside. A little blurry, but ok. And we have audible signals.'
Thorne, Patrick and Marie returned to the vehicle so they could follow Muffin's progress.
'That's a terrible mess in there,' said Thorne. 'Hardly any room for the little chap to move. Oh. He's found a gap. Damn it. A dead-end.'
'Not quite,' said Patrick. 'That is a head.'
'Hey, Muffin. Good boy,' said the head.
'That is His Excellency's head,' gasped Thorne. 'Sir. Can you hear me?'
'What? Yes. It's me. We have one dead, Mrs Willows my cleaner. Poor love. But it was quick. Miss Fathershom had a nasty blow to her head, but she'll be ok. A few cuts and bruises for the rest of us. Can you get us out of here?'
'Now we know you're alive,' Patrick said. 'Paul. How secure is your roof space?'
'Hard to say. Just a little light from a crack somewhere. If I take Muffin's camera we'll see from its light. Come here, Muffin. Now, hold still. Stop wriggling. There. Got it. Ok. You go back to Patrick. Patrick. Go find Patrick. He's on his way. Right. How does this thing work? Ok. Got it. I'll give you the guided tour.'
Chapter 83
The light attached to the camera helped Paul Davron show everyone the situation. The dead cleaner had been moved to one end of what was left of the room.
'We had a team reach two floors below that one,' said Thorne. 'Fortunately they were nearly vacant at the time the building was hit and the few there managed to get out before ceilings started to break up. If we can find a way through those two floors without disturbing the roof any more...'
'There,' said Marie. 'Sir. Excellency. Pan back the other way again. There. Can you get a little closer? Is that something?'
'Wait. If I can crawl along a bit. It's some kind of...Oh. I see what it is. The outside wall of the elevator.'
Thorne snapped, 'Of course. Sir. Is the hole large enough for you to climb down to the next level?'
'I don't see how. Hang on. If I can move this lump of concrete. Too heavy. I've a length of steel here. I'll use it to lever the lump out of the way. A little bit more. Got it. Yes. We can get down that. I'll use the light to see inside. Can you see?'
Thorne said, 'That gets you down to the next floor. We'll cut our way into the elevator and then go through the top and find a way up to your floor. Sir. You all need to get down to the next floor before that lot comes down on top of you.'
Paul said, 'We'll get there if you get here.'
'On our way, sir. Patrick. We can take it from here. Thank you.'
Patrick said, 'I'll get out of your way.'
Barton turned and said, 'Captain. A message from the command centre. They picked up a signal from space. Just the odd blip heading our way.'
'They're coming,' said Patrick. 'I need to get back to my ship.'
'I'll get you there,' said Marie.
Under police escort, they made it back to the Romulus in record time. The airlock was already open for Patrick to run into. As the airlock closed up after him, Patrick waved at Lieutenant Marie Drakov who returned the wave as she cleared the launchpad. Minutes later, the fighters took off to take the fight to the attacking aliens!
Note from Gary. Good grief I need a beer after all that. Look out for the final of this serial. You do NOT want to miss it.