Halifax cursed, saying, “The others must have revived. We took too long. Now what do we do?”
“Surrender,” Drang said, speaking confidently, as if she’d been waiting for the klaxon. “It’s your only hope. Now that I know you better, I guarantee you’ll receive good treatment.”
Halifax laughed as his eyes brightened roguishly. “You’re going to mind scan him, remember? You don’t have anything new to offer. Cade, let’s go on a shooting spree. Let’s see how many of these bastards we can kill before they get us. What do you say?”
Understanding Halifax’s game, Cade grinned evilly and lifted his stunner.
“No, listen to me,” Drang said. “There’s a better way. I can still get you off station, I swear I can.”
“She’s lying, Cade. Let’s kill her and blow the station. I’m sure we can rig the atomics just as we did on the Helos station. Let’s nuke these suckers.”
“Are you really so eager to die?” Drang asked Cade. “Wouldn’t you prefer the chance to live?”
“Talk to me, Arbiter,” Cade growled.
Drang stared up at the ceiling, and her features paled as they had before. She lowered her gaze to stare at the soldier. “The doctor is a schemer and a liar. I realize that now. You’re a killer, but maybe you’re also a man of your word.”
“He’s an Ultra,” Halifax said quickly. “They’re sticklers for honor.”
“Is that true?” Drang asked Cade.
The soldier nodded.
“Then here’s my bargain,” Drang said. “Get me to a computer terminal, and I can tap in an emergency code known only to the intelligence officers. I’ll fake a radiation leak in the docking bay and the personnel there will flee. Once they’re gone, you take a shuttle but leave me behind. If you give me your word of honor to leave me here alive, I’ll do this for you. Otherwise, I’m finished helping you.”
Cade made his decision. “I give you my word as soldier. Do this for me, and I’ll leave you behind.”
“Alive?” she asked.
“Alive,” he said.
“Okay,” Drang said breathlessly. “We need a terminal.” She snapped her fingers. “I know just the place.” She pointed the other way. “We have to backtrack a little. Are you game?”
Cade released her. “Lead the way, Arbiter. If you try to escape, though, I’ll pump bullets into your back.”
She said nothing to that.
“Go,” said Cade.
Arbiter Drang turned around, breaking into a trot.
Chapter Ten
Arbiter Drang kept her bargain. Thus, Cade left her in a docking-bay closet, her ankles and wrists cruelly wrenched behind her by ropes.
The soldier crouched beside her on the floor as she lay on her side. “If I did it any softer, they would suspect you of collusion.”
“Go,” she said. “Your time is short.”
Cade tied a gag into place, stood, looked over and dragged Dr. Halifax with him. After ten steps, the little man put his pistol away.
“You should have let me shoot her,” Halifax said.
“I gave her my word,” Cade said simply.
“That didn’t mean you couldn’t let me do the dirty work.”
“In fact, it did.”
“You know she’s going to come after us,” Halifax said.
Cade shrugged. He knew that. She would likely be relentless, too, her prestige soiled by her captivity and their successful escape, provided they managed it.
The place was deserted and supposedly locked down, all the docking-bay personnel having fled due to the fake radiation emergency.
“We don’t have much time left,” Halifax said.
“That one,” Cade said, pointing to a small shuttle. “Get it ready, but wait for me.”
“What are you going to be doing?”
“Securing our survival,” Cade said. “Now run!”
Halifax sprinted to the chosen shuttle.
Cade headed for a different one.
***
An agonizing nineteen minutes later, Cade rushed into the shuttle’s control chamber, thumping into a seat and locking the restraints.
Halifax sat at the controls. It was much like the Descartes. Through a small, polarized window, the doctor eyed two larger shuttles drifting toward the main docking door, a door that was still shut.
“Secure all our hatches,” Cade said.
Halifax tapped his panel.
At the same time, the main docking door began to rise. It was, just in time. Air rushed out of the main chamber, propelling the two other drifting shuttles. They barely cleared the outer hatch, ejecting into space.
“I didn’t know you knew how to make them automatically do that,” Halifax said.
Cade said nothing as he tried to calm his nerves. He’d worked feverishly, wondering if the wasted time was worth the distraction. Fortunately, neither of the other shuttles had coded or locked controls. It would have been impossible then.
“Here we go,” Halifax said, piloting their shuttle.
The little craft rose off the deck and began to drift toward the opening.
The other two vessels rotated outside in space as side-jets hissed propellant. One of them turned for the outer system. The auto-shuttle’s main thruster activated, pushing the craft as it picked up velocity. The second auto-shuttle turned toward the star, also picking up velocity. One more shuttle was supposed to come out after them, all the time Cade had dared take to set auto-controls, the precious nineteen minutes.
Halifax wiped his upper lip. “My stomach is in knots. We’re never going to get away with this.”
Cade said nothing.
Their shuttle cleared the main hatch.
“I’m going to use the side-jets for a time,” Halifax said, tapping his board. “Let’s drift away for a few minutes. Hopefully, anyone watching won’t get suspicious.”
“Is the third shuttle coming out after us?” Cade asked.
Halifax tapped his board, peered at a plate and turned to Cade, grinning. “You’re a genius. You work fast, too. Maybe we’ll get away after all.”
Their shuttle continued to drift as part of the space station appeared above them. The third auto-decoy now exited the docking bay.
“Oh-oh,” Halifax said, as he studied his board. “I see a Patrol cruiser heading our way. It’s…it’s a little over three million kilometers away.”
“Start heading for the planet,” Cade said.
“It’s too soon. Let the cruiser track the other shuttles first.”
“Doctor,” Cade warned.
Halifax glanced at Cade, no doubt noticing the intense stare. “Sure, sure, we’ll head for the planet now. Whatever you say. Even if it gets us shot up, we’ll do it your way.” Halifax began to make the adjustments.
Through the polarized window, Cade saw the third auto-shuttle begin to accelerate.
There was a jerk as their shuttle also began to gain velocity.
At that point, the comm board began to flash.
“I knew moving now was a mistake,” Halifax said, craning over to study the comm board. “The call is coming from the cruiser. What do we do now?”
“Nothing,” Cade said.
Halifax stared at him in disbelief.
“The others are accelerating and not answering, why should we?” Cade asked.
“Yeah, but we’re heading for the planet. That’s the obvious place to go. We should answer them.”
Cade did not reply.
All four shuttles continued to accelerate.
“Cade,” Halifax shouted. “Do you see that light?” The doctor pointed at his piloting board. “It means the cruiser has target lock on us. They’re going to fire.”
The comm board lit up again.
At that point, two of the shuttles ejected decoy emitters.
“Was that your doing?” asked Halifax. “Did you anticipate something like this?”
Cade chewed on his lower lip. He did not like this one bit. It felt too much like m
aking a drop assault onto an enemy-occupied planet. He remembered those times, the three drops he’d made during his military career.
A missile left the Patrol cruiser. The missile rapidly gained velocity as a long plume lengthened behind it. The thing accelerated—
“It’s headed for the shuttle aimed at the Asteroids,” Halifax said, staring at his board. “That’s one of the shuttles that ejected decoy emitters.”
Their shuttle continued for the planet. It had started in Therduim III’s thermosphere because the space station was located there. Soon, given their velocity, they would reach the mesosphere, which began 85 kilometers from the planet’s surface. The mesosphere was the region where meteors visibly burned up—the shooting stars people saw.
“When should we start slowing down?” Halifax asked.
Cade focused on the cruiser’s missile. Clearly, the commander of the warship was worried about the shuttle heading for the Asteroids. Did the smugglers work from there? That seemed most likely. Would the fixation on that shuttle give them enough time to land?
The seconds passed. Whoever had been hailing them had stopped.
As their shuttle entered and began crossing the mesosphere, the cruiser’s missile struck the other shuttle. There was a bright explosion as the warhead detonated.
Their shuttle began to shake, although not from the distant explosion, but from the increasingly dense atmosphere buffeting their craft.
“Cade, I should start braking.”
“Not yet,” the soldier said.
“What good is burning up going to do us?”
“Doctor, you’re not thinking. We’re never going to leave the planet in this shuttle. It’s a one-way ride down. All we have to do is survive. If some systems burn up—” Cade shrugged.
Halifax stared at the piloting board. Maybe he was doing some hard thinking. He turned to Cade again. “I didn’t tell you everything about this place.”
“Oh?”
“There’s lots of radiation in places,” Halifax said. “That’s partly what made the mutants. We’re going to want to stay far away from them and the hot radiation zones.”
Cade frowned. “Are you telling me the radiation zones were due to hell-burners from the war?”
“That’s right. Hell-burners took out the cyborgs. It was rough here, or so I surmise.”
“Why are there mutants then? There can’t be mutant cyborgs.”
“No, no, not that I know of,” Halifax said. “The mutant humans are supposed to be murder, though. Some of them are tusked warriors. They’re all cannibals when given the chance.”
The shuttle began shaking even worse than before.
Halifax glanced at his board. “We’re halfway through the mesosphere.”
“Do you know the layout of the planet?”
“Not really,” Halifax said. “I know where the road is and—”
“Put us near the road, somewhere between the middle of the spaceport and Pit.”
“What’s the plan after that?” Halifax asked, as he manipulated his board.
The shaking worsened as they spoke, and the heat in the control chamber began to rise dramatically.
“It’s time for a controlled descent,” Cade said. “Take us down, Doctor, so we survive in one piece, but do it as fast as you can.”
Chapter Eleven
The shuttle raced out of the mesosphere, entering the stratosphere at 50 kilometers above sea level. The highest weather balloons reached this region.
Halifax piloted in earnest, slowing their too-fast rate of descent.
Soon, the shuttle exited the stratosphere and reached the troposphere, its upper height being 20 kilometers above sea level.
A vast green jungle spread out below them, broken in places by narrow mountain ranges and ribbons of rivers. There were a few bleak areas, scars from ancient hell-burners. It was mid-morning on this side of the world. According to Halifax, the burn areas glowed blue at night.
“The cruiser never fired at us,” Halifax noted.
“They’re obviously letting us land,” Cade said. “I was hoping for that. I’m sure they believe they can catch us down here whenever they want.”
“I hope you have a plan,” Halifax said. “This is supposed to be a rough planet.”
Cade stared hard at the doctor.
“What?” Halifax said.
“You said the mutants are cannibals, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re an off-worlder. Perhaps the mutants will consider you as new meat, a delicacy. My plan is to trade you for weapons and whatever else I need.”
Halifax stared a moment without speaking, nodding afterward. “That’s funny, Cade, and I don’t blame you for thinking like that. I was at my wits end before. Luckily, though, I did what I did.”
“Oh?”
“That’s right,” Halifax said, nodding again. “I put a man on the inside.”
“You mean you?”
“One of us had to do it. You have to admit I’m better suited at manipulating the situation from the inside than you would have been. You gave them a focus so they didn’t worry about me. Together, we surprised and trashed them. You and me, Cade, we’re a team, a deadly team.”
“You sold me out, you little prick. You did it in a flash, too. How can I ever trust you again?”
“No, no, Cade, you’re looking at it all wrong. I had to do something once I realized where we were headed. This is a Concord secret site. You heard the arbiter. We tricked them in the end.”
Cade let it go, for now. There was no use arguing with the doctor. The man was a goblin and would always remain so. Halifax would always twist things to make himself look good. The man’s tongue was his greatest gift, well, along with an agile imagination and ability to switch on a dime. He was what he was. Cade would remember, though. The answer to how could he trust Halifax again was easy: he could not. He could use and at times work with him, though.
“What’s the plan?” asked Halifax. “Or aren’t you going to tell me?”
“Where’s the road?”
“Below us,” Halifax said. “I imagine the blinking light on the comm board is the planetary spaceport trying to contact us. They might have SAMs.”
“What?” asked Cade.
“Surface to air missiles,” Halifax said.
Cade thought a moment. He knew what SAMs were, just not that the spaceport would have some. “Put the spaceport over the horizon as soon as you can.” The soldier unbuckled, standing. “I’m going to check the armory, if there is one.” He headed for the hatch, stopped and faced Halifax. “If you’re thinking about violent maneuvering to try to knock me unconscious and handing me over, make sure you succeed. Because I’ll kill you if you fail.”
Halifax laughed nervously. “Cade, Cade, you’re thinking about us all wrong. We had a glitch earlier. That’s all—”
Cade turned away and passed through the open hatch, no longer listening to the fast-talking doctor. The words meant nothing. The man’s actions were the thing. If they managed to land, he doubted the Patrol people would give them long. They needed to hit the ground running so they could fade into the jungle and start to plan in earnest. That meant weapons, water and food, in that order.
As Cade hurried into the back part of the shuttle, he kept an open eye for places or things to grab in case Halifax did try to kill him through violent maneuvering.
He’d lost the Descartes but had regained his freedom. What did that mean on a planet like Therduim III?
Cade showed his teeth. He’d survived worse cyborg worlds during the war. He would survive Therduim III, on that he vowed to Raina, his wife, his beautiful and wonderful mate.
***
The shuttle landed with a jar. It caused Cade to stagger and drop a pistol. He was picking it up when Halifax rushed into the back compartment.
“Sorry about that,” Halifax said. “There’s a target lock on us. I think it’s an aircraft: a plane, you call it.”
“There are
rations over there,” Cade said. “You carry the lighter pack. I’ll grab the heavier one.”
“Did you hear me about the target lock? I think we should talk to them.”
“Negative,” Cade said, as he slapped a bulkhead switch. The rear hatch opened. An oppressive heat and stench of massed vegetation immediately rolled in. There were buzzing insect sounds as well.
Halifax stared at the greenery with obvious trepidation. “I don’t know if this is a good idea, Cade.”
“Stay if you wish.” The soldier moved to the bigger pack, shouldering it into place. He raced toward the hatch.
The heat and jungle smells hit him like a wall. This was going to be a hard world. Cade shrugged inwardly. So be it. He could take whatever this place could dish out.
“Where are we going to go?” Halifax whined.
“Far enough away to survive the blast,” Cade said.
“What blast? Did you rig our shuttle to blow?”
Cade jumped out of the small space vehicle, landing on moist soil that gave slightly under his feet. He started to run through the undergrowth.
“Cade, wait for me. Don’t leave me behind.”
Cade did not wait. He ran like a heavy-tracked vehicle, smashing past wet fronds and slashing branches. His boots sank into the musty soil. He kept plowing, putting distance between himself and the shuttle. No. He hadn’t rigged it to blow. He suspected the plane had missiles, though, air-to-surface missiles that might or might not contain nuclear warheads. If it was a nuke, if Arbiter Drang had wrestled loose from her bonds or if someone had found and freed her—well, this was the Concord’s special secret site. How badly would Patrol Intelligence want to interrogate him? The extent of the coming blast would tell him, if there were a blast.
Cade ran and ran. Doctor Halifax’s reedy, plaintive voice had dwindled to nothing. The man might still be calling out, but the heavy wet foliage absorbed his shouts, which had probably weakened in any case.
What did he owe Halifax? Not a damn thing anymore. Except…Halifax knew the lay of the land better than he did. The sneaky former case officer of Group Six might well have overhead interesting information from the others.
The Soldier: Final Odyssey Page 5