by J D Huffman
“Thanks,” Demeter smirked. “I look forward to it.”
Chapter 20
Dumped
The initial phase of their plan had gone so well. Fred’s calculations were perfect: he tracked a methane extraction drone as it made its circuit from the powerplant down to the giant ball of gas and back. Fred caught it on the upswing and Serim launched their improvised methane-based bomb at it. It stuck without a problem, didn’t knock the drone off course, and kept it moving along quite nicely. A countdown timer began immediately after, with Fred knowing the precise moment to set off the explosive to fulfill two criteria: first, giving the illusion that the explosion occurred due to an inadvertent collision of the drone with the powerplant entrance; second, facing the blast such that debris would be unlikely to strike the weapons depot itself. Both elements were satisfied without the slightest flaw. Fred smiled. He was proud of himself, Sasha knew. He communicated as much over their voice link. “It’s your turn,” he said confidently.
Sasha and her team waited several minutes to give the Totality time to don their environmental suits and attend to the explosion and resulting fire. The powerplant’s methane tanks would likely burn for a while, according to Fred. “They are well-built, more inclined to puncture than explode, otherwise the Totality could simply let them detonate and burn out. It is likely that the initial impact will damage the powerplant’s control mechanisms too severely to allow a controlled but deliberate venting to hasten the process, as well.”
Sasha didn’t care much about any of that. She just wanted the plan to work. She found herself more confident than she expected when they first touched down on the gray, rocky moon, well before Fred had intercepted the methane drone. She and thirty others—Demeter among them—disembarked via the ship’s rear loading ramp and waited for the signal from Fred. When it came and news of the powerplant in flames reached them, they had only to wait. Once Sasha believed they had waited long enough for their opening, she and her team advanced. She found the low gravity confounding, an element she hadn’t much considered in the planning phase of this operation. The gravity between her homeworld and Actis hadn’t been profoundly different, but this place was another story entirely. With each step she was able to bound a few meters, but the landings took more out of her with each impact. Gravity did little to halt her forward momentum, leaving her feet to absorb it instead. The experience wasn’t particularly comfortable, either, considering the environmental suit she wore didn’t fit all that well. The tight fabric that made up the suit’s material chafed against her skin, hugging some parts of her body too tightly and hanging loosely from other parts. The bubble that surrounded her head jostled and banged occasionally against her shoulders, as if the ring that supported it on her neck was designed for a larger frame. She wondered if anyone else was so uncomfortable.
But, as she stared down the advancing Totality force, she realized how petty such concerns were, overall. Physical discomfort was nothing compared to the prospect of imminent death, and the Totality were quick to offer the latter. Her team moved in a loose formation toward the weapons depot once she was reasonably certain the Totality had time to respond in force to the powerplant fires, and arrived in time to see that some were, in fact, engaged with the apparent accident, but others were patrolling the perimeter of the base and holding a position equidistant from the three major structures that comprised the facility. There are too many, was her first thought upon seeing them. Her second thought was, This is going to end badly.
A rapid procession of thoughts followed. Should we turn back? Why is this place so heavily defended when it wasn’t supposed to be? Do we even have a chance if we try to retreat? She decided that they had to, at a minimum, attempt to accomplish what they came for. She knew that William had likely already begun jamming Totality signals from the moon to prevent the enemy calling in reinforcements, and such cover would end the moment the free humans departed this place—if they left any Totality survivors. Which means only one thing: no survivors. Intellectually, she knew that was the necessity. Emotionally, however, she despised the toll she’d have to pay to advance their uprising. We need these weapons, she reminded herself, and they were bound to exhaust much of their existing ammunition on this particular mission, which would leave them with diminishing options if they did not meet with success here.
The Totality left her no more time to think. They opened fire.
Her team did likewise, but in less coordinated fashion. She didn’t have to turn around to know they were scattering in all directions, which was smart in its own way, but potentially doomed them in another. She couldn’t guess at how many might have been running back toward the extraction point, even though the ship wouldn’t be there yet. And if her own people led the Totality to the location of their planned escape, it would be easy enough for the enemy to prevent them from leaving. She watched as their carefully crafted plan collapsed before her eyes, as her organized force designed to go up against a tiny Totality contingent instead scattered like insects from a downthrust boot. She turned to see where the cargo handlers were—all eight of them, each pushing a cargo mover. They had also dispersed, though for the most part they continued on toward the weapons depot, partially shielded by the front plates of the rectangular vehicles. Each one was supposed to have two guards, but only three of them had any protection at this point. She couldn’t guess at where their designated defenders had run off to. Any explanation would not have been favorable. She could do nothing but fire into the approaching Totality force.
The ten Totality that formed the perimeter patrol fell under coordinated fire from Sasha and Demeter, the uprising’s only advantage in that moment was being such a disorganized, chaotic mass of people that the Totality soldiers couldn’t discriminate well enough to determine who was firing at them and who wasn’t. Clearly, they intended to take out the most dangerous threats first, but with both targets and shooters moving so quickly, it became a tangled morass of bodies and weapons blasts. Sasha thought momentarily about the survivability of these environmental suits, if they could tolerate even a small puncture. Small tanks of compressed oxygen wrapped around her wrists, ankles, and waist, all connected to a modest processing system attached to her back that regulated both gas flows and temperature, and she assumed that if more than one or two tanks were compromised, the suit—and her life—would be a loss. She took care not to expose her back, as well, for fear of the Totality hitting the processing unit and eliminating the suit’s functionality entirely. Though she was sure it had been mentioned in the mission briefing, she didn’t notice everyone else taking the same precautions. She watched as a few of her own fell to Totality weapons fire, hit square in the back, on their legs, a couple with bolts right through the spheres around their heads, suffering immediate decompression and being completely deprived of oxygen. They fell and writhed as if being choked or suffocated, and she had only to look away for a moment to have her next glimpse of them reveal only still, lifeless bodies. But that moment lingered through numerous trigger pulls of her own weapon, and several Totality plummeting to the ground.
The only difference was, when the Totality fell, they got back up.
She did not realize it at first, but as the Totality drew closer, she saw how bulky they were. She was not facing merely large men, but men in armor. That was another perk she wished she could have enjoyed. Acquiring even fresh clothes would have been an improvement. She considered falling to her knees right then, to surrender and throw herself at the mercy of the Totality. They would just as soon shoot me, wouldn’t they? The thought passed.
Demeter caught up to her and spoke through their vocal link. “Let’s get to that damn depot!” He rushed ahead of her, firing to his right as he went, seemingly unbothered that the Totality continued to rise after each hit. Perhaps there was a limit to their armor’s efficacy—how many bolts could one of their suits take? She had to wonder. But the Totality had given up assaulting her en
tire force and instead focused on those approaching the depot, which were only a handful including herself and Demeter. She could neither hear nor feel the bolts flying past her, but she saw them strike the outer walls of the depot with a quick flash of light and a blackened depression left as a scar. Aren’t they worried about setting off the weapons inside? Do they even care?
Instead of going inside, Demeter circled the building and approached the inner area of the base, where the bulk of the Totality force waited. In the distance, Sasha saw several other Totality working to extinguish the fire in the large powerplant, cooperating to operate several valves and levers to manually shut off the methane flows and avoid spreading the damage to their living quarters. Their facilities were already without power, she knew, and it occurred to her that if the powerplant had truly been rendered inoperable, then she’d already inflicted a death sentence upon them. There’s no atmosphere here. Anything they breathe is pumped and filtered by powered machines. No machines, no air. No air…
Perhaps the Totality had not assumed an attack was imminent, but they’d prepared for one nonetheless. She didn’t know why they worked to preserve the powerplant, if they had some unknown method of salvaging it. It was possible they could run it in a reduced fashion until help arrived, or maybe it was a vain attempt to stave off the inevitable. In that sense, they seemed almost human to her, as much as the creatures rushing at her with intent to kill could seem human at all. To stop meant death, so she didn’t stop. She never stopped. Demeter didn’t stop, either. That was what separated the survivors from the casualties—and there were many casualties. Less than half their number made it to the inner grounds of the base to face the core Totality force, and very few Totality had struck the ground for good.
She avoided approximating their chances, hoping her rifle had charge enough to take out at least a few Totality before her entire strike team was put down. If we can’t win here, then I have to make them pay. I have to make it mean something. She’d always hated the idea of suicide, of giving up, of accepting fate as something inevitable and undeniable. Those fleeting moments in which she considered despair, she resented—she hated herself for every one. If the Totality broke her, then they had won, and letting them win was never an option.
She steeled herself for whenever the final shot might come, the bolt that went straight through her transparent helmet and her skull, right into her brain, terminating the electrical impulses that fed her consciousness and her existence.
But then, something unexpected happened. A shadow crossed over them—a great rectangle—and massive pulses of energy streaked from the sky to the ground, exploding the group of Totality who, just a moment before, she assumed to be her executioners. Their bodies flew into the air like a kick at the ground stirring up pebbles. A few more shots came, then the shadow quickly moved off as the surface cannons engaged. She cringed as she saw the ship shake under multiple impacts. Get out of here, William! she wanted to scream to him, but she knew the jamming signal wouldn’t allow anything to reach him. She wanted to throttle him for going against her orders, for risking the ship to help them, but she also couldn’t have been more grateful for the quick save.
The Totality took several long moments to recover, time Sasha and her team desperately needed to regroup. Six of the cargo movers were still operational and a dozen others gathered around her with the intention of completing their mission. The odds had improved, but the battle was not won. This isn’t over yet.
As the survivors of her team gathered around her, she aimed down the sight of her rifle and shot at the Totality crawling around on the ground. She didn’t care now that they were defenseless. They will kill me if I don’t kill them first. However much she favored mercy, however much she would have preferred to strip them of their power and humiliate rather than kill them, she knew that in this moment, in this place, those were not her options. She could kill, or be killed. She remembered this with each shot placed in a Totality’s skull, each body slumping sickly in whatever direction the bolt’s inertia tossed them. The odds didn’t feel so long, and once the surviving Totality in the inner grounds of the facility were brought down, they could concentrate on loading up and escaping with their weapons. Once she saw no more of them moving, she turned to see that Demeter and a few others had been assisting her. Somehow, her attention had been so focused on the enemies before her, she failed to realize that she had others backing her up. I can’t ever forget that. I am not this movement, and the movement is not me. The movement is more important—the freedom of all humans is more important.
“I suggest you work on getting the weapons loaded,” Demeter said through his voice link, bounding past Sasha. She watched as he moved closer to the powerplant, taking aim at the Totality trying to render assistance there. It didn’t take much contemplation to figure out what he was doing. That will keep the other Totality busy while we make off with our prizes.
She rushed toward the large double doors that represented the entrance to the depot building. It took herself and a few others to help force the door open, since they didn’t have the requisite keys or palmprints to accomplish the task. Some carefully-placed weapons bolts along the hinges plus physical force got the doors wide open, beckoning the lot of them to seize the priceless tools of freedom within, stored in myriad crates. The cargo movers went in first, followed by the defenders. Sasha turned her back to them, scanning the other two buildings as she shuffled backward into the arsenal. Demeter had the Totality who fought the methane fires on the run. Most of them weren’t armed, and he cut them down easily enough. Sasha didn’t find his approach very sporting, but she couldn’t question its effectiveness.
She was about to turn her attention to the depot’s interior when she noticed the main door on the barracks sliding open. Three more men emerged, their uniforms clearly denoting them as Totality, but there was something more—she caught decorations on their shoulder pauldrons that she swore weren’t present on the others they’d faced. These men looked larger and fiercer, and worse than that, they didn’t appear to be carrying weapons of any kind.
An old memory sparked involuntarily, of a Totality soldier who made buildings collapse with only the movement of his hands, and as she watched the three new arrivals make similar gestures, she knew immediately that they were in far more trouble than before.
“Hurry up!” she ordered the rest of her team. “We’ve got more enemies incoming!” To her right was an open crate of rifle cells, which she quickly exchanged to replace her nearly depleted one. Two more women did the same and flanked her as she stepped back outside, knelt down, and began to fire. Her shots did little, despite her weapon being at full strength. The bolts aren’t doing a damn thing. Like they aren’t being hit at all. She wondered if that was the result of armor or whatever abilities—”magic,” as Fred called it—allowed them to move things with their minds. She felt the ground below her vibrate and then tremble, which made her aim unsteady, for what little being able to level her weapon at a target mattered at that moment.
Her attention was diverted by an explosion rocking the powerplant—she caught sight of it out of the corner of her eye and turned to see it, watched as flaming debris streaked through the air and landed all around the facility. Some of it bounced off the outside walls of the depot. One particularly large piece slammed into one of the encroaching Totality, a helpful coincidence that Sasha spared a moment of gratitude for, but that was only one enemy out of three, and she still couldn’t hit the other two with her rifle. The ground beneath her continued shaking, growing in intensity, making her unsteady on her feet. She didn’t know what to expect, if the entire building was going to fall on her, or if the Totality were powerful enough to lift not just the structure but the rocky earth beneath it, and perhaps toss the entire thing through the air to allow inertia and gravity to do all the work of crushing them into pulp. Their hands continued to move, and then she saw someone else enter her field of view from the di
rection of the powerplant. Demeter! With the attention of the two Totality diverted, Demeter threw one of his arms around the throat of the nearest, dragging him into the dirt. Demeter, not being a small man in his own right, used his bulk to hold the enemy off balance. This distracted the other, and gave Sasha a moment to think. “Explosives!” she shouted. “Give me explosives! Anything! Grenades, bombs, I don’t care. Something I can throw!”
Seconds later, one of her compatriots rushed from inside the depot to put a little gray sphere in her hand. A blue button on one side evinced the timed detonator. She had no idea what kind of yield such an explosive would have—it didn’t look large enough to pack much of a punch, but she knew nothing of portable Totality explosives. She primed it, tossed it toward their enemies, and retreated back into the depot, not wanting to be in the way of any shrapnel about to be flung in her direction. The two women by her side followed her lead, and when a bright flash signaled the explosion, Sasha waited a moment before poking her head out to observe the results. One of the Totality consisted of nothing but a pile of flesh and bone. The other staggered unsteadily, clearly stunned. She saw no trace of Demeter. Did he run away? I hope he fled to safety. If he didn’t, then he’s part of that pile of guts, she thought grimly. It wouldn’t have been a fitting end for him, she concluded, as much as she may have had trouble trusting him.
But there would be time to grieve later, if there was any grieving to be done, and such time would not arrive if she wasted the present moments on such thoughts. She got her hands on another spherical explosive, primed, and tossed again. This time, the lone Totality soldier expected it, moved his hands, caused it to stop in midair, and she watched as it exploded harmlessly above them. From a distance, she swore she saw him smiling at his handiwork, and then she was knocked down by something hitting her from behind. She fell forward, smacking her helmet painfully on the ground. Nothing broke, but the experience certainly hurt, not least because her body banged forcefully against the rifle as she landed on it. She pushed herself up with her hands, picking up the weapon again, then looked up to see that what she’d been hit by were dozens more rifles, floating through the air. They must have needed two or three to shake this building down, but with one, this is all he can do? As if this isn’t enough! She was awestruck by the horde of weapons aimed down at them, and didn’t want to waste time wondering if the Totality could actually make them fire. It was a safe enough assumption that he could. She and her companions retreated at once into the depot, and Sasha ran to pull the doors shut just as the Totality opened fire, pelting the ground around her with bolt after bolt. She felt something sting the bottom of her foot as she rushed around, and she managed to get both doors shut before all weapons were firing in a coordinated volley. She couldn’t hear the building being hit, not without any atmosphere to conduct the vibrations, but the way dents formed throughout the walls and ceiling made quite clear that the structure was being compromised in rapid fashion. The only answer was to make another exit before the whole building went up. Sasha began to bark out orders. She pointed to two men. “You and you! Head to the far wall and use your weapons to cut an opening big enough for our cargo movers!” To the six people loading the cargo movers, she urged them to hurry. “We don’t have much time. We don’t have any time, frankly. This building could come down any moment.”