“And all we have to do, is you first defeat Monster, then we overcome armed guards, we climb a 5 mile shaft in pitch black to find a ship that may or may not be there, and head into a war-zone against aliens.”
“That’s about it Gunny. Any questions?”
“No sir. How could I possibly question such a simple and perfect plan?”
Jethro smiled at his old friend. “Glad to have you back at my side Gunny.”
“Glad to see you again sir. No matter how brief that might be.”
They both heard the roar as the monster was released from his heavy metal boots and made his way to the centre of the chamber in a slow almost galloping stride. Jethro was inclined to agree with Gunny’s comment.
“Whilst I’m fighting, gather the team together. Walker will get the boots off. See if you can get some weapons and set up a defensive position near the shaft; I don’t think these prison guards are up for much of a fight but don’t kill anyone unnecessarily. Be prepared to sabotage the generator.”
“And if you’re hurt in the fight, sir?”
“Let me worry about that. But if I get hurt bad, you’re in charge Gunny.”
“Thanks for nothing, sir.”
Jethro had a plan. A stupid plan with no chance of working but it was a plan.
Jethro was ready and moved towards Monster to cheers of the prisoners although Jethro knew they were cheering more to see what would happen to him, than for his potential success. Before he engaged the gaze of Monster, he quickly scanned his surroundings and made a mental note of where each of the guards was and where the prisoners were congregated.
He looked at Monster. At least seven feet tall and as broad. He looked as though he had been fed steroids and lived in a gym since birth. Jethro had never seen muscles so big and with such definition even through the thin space suit he wore. Each arm was like the trunk of an oak tree and each fist as big as a wrecking ball on a demolition machine. Jethro studied his face.
It was an angry face, a face of someone who had suffered a lot, a face that looked like it had the whole of humanity against it. Was it the face of someone who could be reasoned with? Jethro would soon find out. The rules were simple. No deliberate ripping off breathing helmets. That’s it.
“Let the fight begin.”
There were cheers again that echoed around the stone chamber.
Jethro circled Monster whilst staying out of the range of those huge fists. Did Monster have a real name? Ordinarily in a fight he would go in hard and quick to incapacitate his opponent. A kick to the knee was all that was needed. It would put him down and seriously restrict his manoeuvrability so Jethro could pick him off at will from a distance. In a street fight that would be all that was necessary to be able to walk away from an assailant. But Jethro didn’t want to incapacitate Monster; he felt pity for him.
Bang!
Jethro was punched in the chest and lifted off his feet and thrown back a few yards because of the lower gravity. In a way, the lower gravity helped him because it meant he was thrown away from Monster, preventing an immediate follow up punch.
Jethro’s pity for his opponent was fast going.
That was fast. Men that big shouldn’t be able to move that fast. Jethro banged his head on the deck, which temporarily blurred his vision, although he could roll to his feet. The only good news was that Monster was so big it was difficult not to see him even with blurred vision. Jethro circled away from Monster, shaking his head to get his vision back. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.
Finally he could see properly again. He could hear the cheering from the prisoners and presumably the guards. They liked that. But he didn’t look at them because he now knew that he was facing a dangerous opponent who could probably kill him with one punch.
When he thought about it, he realized this was the perfect place for the fight. If one of them died that could easily be put down to the work they had to do. He assumed the guards were filming the fight for their colleagues back in the prison. Jethro knew of a myriad of ways to kill Monster with one blow but he didn’t want to do that as he still managed to maintain a sense of fairness and honor, despite the way he had been treated, and it wasn’t Monster’s fault he was born big and ugly.
Jethro stepped back to avoid another punch, then immediately launched himself with a front kick to Monster’s chest. Monster wasn’t expecting that and took the full force and toppled over backwards. The crowd weren’t expecting that either and were momentarily silenced, but then they cheered, probably because they realized there would be a fight and not just a good beating dished out by Monster. The kick gave Jethro some backward momentum to land on his feet, and he stepped away from Monster’s thrashing arms. The last thing he wanted was to get involved in a wrestling match because he knew he wouldn’t last long.
Having jumped that high Jethro realized he could probably jump over the top of Monster due to the reduced gravity on the Moon. Monster was advancing on him with arms outstretched like a goalkeeper trying to stop the ball from getting past him. Jethro looked behind and saw that he was trapped against a wall of rock so he had to get past Monster and leapt high into the air intending to go over the top of him.
He rose high enough and thought he would make it but as he started to come down behind Monster; he felt one of his legs being caught by a massive hand.
Shiiiiit.
Jethro collapsed in mid-air and found himself dangling from one of Monster’s hands. He tried to kick himself free with his other leg but as he tried that Monster was too quick for him and stepped back into more space and as he did, he swung his arm and turned his whole body so that Jethro was flung outward but Monster didn’t let go.
Monster turned and swung like a hammer thrower in the Olympics, only Jethro was the hammer. Jethro twisted and wriggled but he could not free himself from Monster’s vice like grip on his ankle and was getting dizzy from being swung around in a circle. He could hear the cheers from the spectators and was that a groan from his team?
Finally Monster let go of Jethro’s ankle and Jethro was propelled through the air at least five metres and landed in an ungainly pile on the hard rock ground of the chamber in the mine. He had no time to dust himself off or check the many parts of his body that hurt, for real damage because Monster was already pounding his way in leaps and bounds towards him.
How was he going to defeat this beast without killing him? The only way was to knock him out, but he doubted one of his punches would even be felt by Monster. He could get much more power by a kick and he was adapting to the lower gravity, which would give him opportunities to kick Monster in his head. Although Monster also seemed to have a grasp of the benefits of low gravity.
Monster reached him and they circled each other, both knowing the other could do some damage if they let their guard down. Then Monster lunged forward - he was fast, much faster than his size suggested - and at the last moment gave a perfect roundhouse kick aimed for Jethro’s head. Had he connected Jethro would probably be headless but he saw it in time and rather than try to block it which might be the normal Martial Arts defense he leaned back out of the way and lunged in himself immediately after the kick passed his head. This enabled him to effectively get behind Monster and he applied Push Hands, a Tai Chi technique, to the monster’s hip area from the rear and as Monster was unbalanced in his kick he went tumbling down onto the ground.
Jethro tried to follow this up with his own kick to Monster’s head but it missed because Monster saw it and moved out of the way. Jethro couldn’t believe how fast he was and made a mental note to be careful because every time he attacked, he left himself open so Monster could capitalize on it.
This was serious now and the spectators sensed it. There was less wild cheering and more reverent encouragement; they were watching a fight and not the massacre they had originally expected. Monster was not all brawn, he was very fast, he was quick thinking and he knew some martial arts. Jethro was not the pushover most had expected. This was fun to watch.
<
br /> Jethro thought he could possibly tire Monster out, but he might not have the time and he needed to save some energy to escape. Also, he was thinking he might not be able to defeat Monster without killing him, which he didn’t want to do. Time for Plan B but to execute that he had to get close to his opponent, something that could be extremely stupid and dangerous.
“My name’s Jethro. What’s yours?”
This pulled Monster up short. He stood up from his fighting stance and tilted his head. It was as if nobody had ever asked him that before. They probably hadn’t.
“Can you speak?”
Monster roared and crouched and dived towards Jethro catching him off guard. Jethro was caught in a Rugby tackle around the waist and was thrown backwards off the ground two meters. It was the kind of tackle the Samoans do brilliantly and would bring a Twickenham crowd to their feet in awe at the power shown.
Jethro was on his back on the ground winded and Monster was on top of him holding Jethro down with his left hand to Jethro’s chest and raising his gloved right hand in a fist behind his shoulder, presumably to ruin Jethro’s good looks forever in one giant punch to the face. Jethro wasn’t worried about that but he was worried about the monster smashing his breathing helmet to pieces.
“My name is Sue, how do you do?” said Monster, who then laughed and brought his fist down towards Jethro’s face.
Jethro was still winded but knew what he had to do. He hoped he got the correct finger of the hand holding his chest down and he took it with both hands and broke it.
Sue, if that was his real name, screamed in pain which weakened the pressure on Jethro’s chest and allowed him to squirm away from the fist which came down and just brushed his head as it pummeled into the ground.
Jethro rolled away and stood up and quickly did a front scissor kick at the side of Monster’s head. It connected well, stopping Monster who slowly, whilst on his knees, collapsed onto the ground.
Jethro had knocked him out.
chapter 10
Jethro looked toward where his team were supposed to be. He could see Gunny and Walker and some others who he couldn’t make out in the gloom. No time to waste. He ran towards them and leapt into the air over the prisoners who were in his way. When he landed, he carried on running as best he could in the low gravity and the guards must have recognized something was going down because he heard shouting.
Then he heard shooting. He might not have wanted to kill any of the guards or prisoners, but the guards had no such moral standards. Jethro saw two prisoners go down, presumably shot by the guards.
When he reached Gunny he shouted “Sitrep?”
Stone replied. “Boots off. Team all here. Only two guns.”
“What about the generator?”
“Ready to turn off at your command.”
Jethro assessed the situation. Two guns against nine. The guards were already rounding up the other prisoners and hadn’t yet noticed Jethro’s team who had melted into the dark area where the escape shaft to the surface started.
“Gunny. You and me. A gun each. When I give the signal, I want the generator off for ten seconds then back on again. You go there and I’ll go there.” He pointed. “When the lights come back on follow my lead. We’ll take charge. Code Yellow. Shoot to disable but no killing. Got it?”
“Sir.”
Jethro briefed the rest of the team. Brains was on the generator which fortunately the guards had neglected to guard. Walker was ready with the metal boot key.
Jethro gave the signal. The chamber was plunged into darkness.
One - two; Jethro jumped twice in the direction he intended to go.
Three - four; he heard shouting and shooting and hoped that wasn’t Gunny.
Five - six; all the time he was counting in his head.
Seven - eight; he ran the last few meters in the dark to where he hoped he would be in position when the lights came back on.
Nine - ten; the lights flooded the chamber. Jethro clocked the guards immediately as he was in exactly the right place as was Gunny.
Jethro fired a shot of laser upwards hitting the roof of the chamber bringing down rocks.
“Prison guards. Drop your weapons now,” he shouted.
He immediately got their attention, and they turned towards him, a couple raising their guns as if to fire at him.
“The man said now,” shouted Gunny, who was the other side of the Prison Guards.
This killed any last hint of bravado the guards had left and they all dropped their weapons.
“Over there. Now.” They quickly obeyed Jethro who was firmly in charge.
Walker secured one metal boot on each guard.
Jethro turned to the prisoners. “You lot. Get in the carriages.”
Some prisoners moved towards the carriages, some didn’t, led by Rutter, the man who had annoyed Jethro on the train journey along the tunnel.
“No. We’re coming with you.”
Shit. This was all Jethro needed.
“What are you going to do? Kill us?”
Jethro wasn’t prepared for this eventuality.
“Gunny,” Jethro kept his voice down so Rutter and his gang couldn’t hear him. “We’ll take them with us but watch them like a hawk. Don’t let them have any weapons. I don’t trust them.”
“Then why take them, sir?”
“If you want to kill them go ahead.”
“I want to kill them, that bastard in particular.” Gunny pointed Rutter out. “But I’m prepared to wait until it’s self defense.”
“Did they cross you in prison?”
“Yes sir. About a week before you arrived, Rutter wanted me to join his gang. I said no. I put three of them in hospital. To get on this duty, I had to pick on someone so why not one of them?”
“What happened?”
“There were four of them.”
“Look on the bright side Gunny,” said Jethro. “At least they didn’t ruin your good looks.”
“Funny sir, very funny.”
“Bide your time Gunny. I’m sure you’ll get another chance. I’ve got a funny feeling he won’t want to escape from prison to go to a war zone.”
“Yes sir.” That cheered Gunny.
They separated Rutter and his gang and secured the prisoners and the guards in the train.
“What about him?” Walker pointed out that Monster was still lying on his back in the center of the large chamber. He looked as though he was stirring.
Jethro went to attend to him.
Monster slowly got to his feet. He was still dazed.
“What’s happening?”
“There’s an escape.”
The monster shook his head then looked around, taking everything in.
“Are you escaping?”
“Yes.”
“Take me with you?”
“No can do. Sorry.” Jethro was sorry but he had his hands full with the escape, his mission and Rutter. “We’re not going back to Earth. We’re heading into a war. You’ll be better off here.”
“You’re military, aren’t you?”
“Yes. How did you know that?”
“Everything about you and your friends, although not them,” he pointed to Rutter. “You look organized. I was military, once.”
“What happened?” Jethro was interested.
“Look at me. Everyone I ever met wanted to fight me or wanted me to fight someone else so they could earn money. They discharged me for obeying orders.”
Jethro made a snap decision. He would take a gamble. It was the “not them” that swung it.
He offered his hand. Monster took it and shook it.
“Welcome to my team. We’ll sort stuff out later but I’m in charge. You obey all my orders and his,” Jethro pointed to Gunny. “He’s a good man. You won’t have to do any more fighting that I’m not prepared to do myself first.”
“Are they with you?” The monster pointed to Rutter.
“They’re along for the ride but I don’t exp
ect them to complete the journey. Not where we’re going.”
“I understand.”
“Good. Are you sure your name is Sue?”
Monster laughed. “That’s a line from one of my favorite songs by Johnny Cash. My real name is Raja.”
“Raja. Report to Gunny. He’ll give you something to do. We’re not out of here yet.”
Jethro’s team took the guns and any other weapons from the guards and Jethro was keen to ensure Rutter and his men didn’t get hold of any which made them even more surly than they already were. Jethro was seriously regretting letting them come along. Maybe he should have killed them.
Gunny found some head-torches and dished them out to the team. They also took most of the spare oxygen tanks from the train, leaving only enough for the passengers during the return trip to the prison and then they sent the train on its journey back to the prison, knowing that as soon as it got back it would be full of armed guards or even troops heading back this way. They had little time to lose and had to get up the shaft to the surface because the train could be back in under eight hours.
chapter 11
“How are we going to get up the shaft?” Rutter asked.
Jethro had been thinking about that since he had first seen the shaft because realistically it was the only way out. He could see some counterweights at the bottom of the shaft with cables attached to them heading upwards within a metal framework. This suggested to Jethro that somewhere up the shaft there would be a cage to transport people and equipment up and down. He looked carefully at the cables - they were made from one of those compounds so they should still be strong as they were when the shaft was regularly used.
More out of hope than expectation he pressed the big green button that probably brought the cage down and nothing happened.
“Great fucking escape plan this is.”
Jethro was getting pissed off with Rutter.
“Gunny? You’re a climber. What do you think?”
Gunny went to the side of the shaft. In places the shaft was shored up with timbers and with steel but mostly timber. He pulled at a piece of timber and it came away in his hand like balsa wood. Then he gave his attention to the structure that supported the weights and presumably the cage. He pulled at some metal girders. Then he jumped up and climbed up the structure a little way, stopping to pull hard at cross members to test the rigidity and strength of the structure.
Blue Sky of Mars Page 4