by Alex Kings
“Our lives are in his hands,” said Eloise. “Imagine that.”
“When the shuttle drops us off, we won't have very long. We'll go as far as we can in the capsule, then go in on the attack.” He turned to Wolff. “Doctor, I'm loath to bring you on the mission, but once this starts up, I'm afraid the capsule will be a much safer place than the Outsider. Just stay inside the capsule, make sure you keep your armour on, and wait for my signal.”
“I understand,” said Wolff. He was slightly pale. “It should be an experience, at least,” he said.
“Olivia, this is your last chance to back out. Are you sure you want to do this?”
Olivia nodded and patted the pistol in her belt. She was pale too. “I can do it,” she said.
“This is it, then,” said Rurthk. “I suppose I should have something profound to say at this point … but I've never been good at that sort of thing.” He shrugged. “I've trusted each of you with my life, and none of you have let me down yet. I think that's worth more than any fancy words I could come up with.”
“Now,” Eloise said to the crew, “last time we were in this situation, Doctor Wolff made everyone a meal. We don't have the time or resources for that now, so this'll have to do.”
She and Rurthk went over to the cupboards. Eloise took out five shot glasses, and Rurthk took out three cartons.
Eloise distributed the glasses, and Rurthk poured them each a drink: Fermented blood for himself, vodka for Elise, Olivia, and Wolff, and some pale blue Tethyan drink for Laodicean.
Wolff eyed the shot glass in front of him. “Not quite as filling,” he opined. “But an admirable substitute.”
“Is there any analogue to this among Tethyans?” Eloise asked Laodicean.
“I know what to do” he assured her.
“Good,” said Rurthk. He took his glass and held it up. Everyone else did the same. “To Kaivon,” he said. He looked at Laodicean. “And Illipa.”
They brought their glasses together and downed them simultaneously.
Laodicean brought the glass as far as his globe of water, and then carried its contents in a little blue bauble with effector fields to his beak.
“Now, let's take down Vihan Yvredi,” said Rurthk.
Chapter 67: Flowers
As she sat alone in the transport pod, Olivia realised that this was one of the rare moments in her life where she wasn't hounded by worries about what might go wrong. The entire plan relied on her, but she wasn't anxious.
She knew exactly what to do. And she would either succeed or fail. That was all. The storms that usually beset her heart had receded to leave nothing but calm resolve.
When she'd left, as they stood at the top of the stairs outside the airlock, Rurthk had shaken her hand and thanked her, Eloise had hugged her and told her to stay safe, and Wolff, after a moment, had hugged her too. Even Laodicean had wished her well. It had struck her that this might be the last time she saw any of them. If she didn't die, they might. The Outsider might be destroyed.
But if she did make it out, the plan was that she would retreat to Liberty City, book a room under a false name, and wait. The newscasts would be enough to tell if the plan had succeeded. If it was possible, whoever else survived would contact her and tell her where to meet.
The transport pod came to a halt and the door opened. She hefted the leather bag beside her, feeling its reassuring weight, then headed out into the station and up the stairs.
The air was chill. The sky was a pale blue, and sunlight shone down brightly from overhead without warming anything. She was in one of Cantor's smaller cities. A smattering of tall buildings lay in the distance. She turned away from them and headed down a small, largely empty street.
There was a closed bar beside a flower shop. This was the meeting place. She looked around. Where was he?
She paced up and down the street a couple of times.
Then, out of nowhere, a hand settled on her shoulder, seemingly out of nowhere.
She spun around to find Felix Zino standing behind her, grinning.
She wasn't scared. But she was acutely aware of how dangerous he was – and how little she could do if he decided to kill her.
He was wearing his white suit, which stood out so much that she wondered how she could have missed him. And dressed like that, there didn't seem much hope of keeping a low profile.
She tugged down her hood so he could recognise her. “Hello.”
“Ah,” he said. “You're that girl who was with Rurthk on Nereus.”
“And Bloodspray,” she said.
“Yes, who could forget that little adventure?”
Olivia held out the leather bag. “Rurthk says you can have these back now.”
Zino unzipped the bag and opened it. Inside, his three knives were laid out together.
“Oh, how generous,” he said, and gave Olivia a wolfish smile. “And now I'll have a chance to use them again.” He took one out and pointed it at Olivia. “I suppose I should test if they're sharp, though.”
Olivia stared at the point of the knife.
Zino moved suddenly. He grabbed one of the display flowers from the flower shop, a lemon-yellow thing with petals that looked like down feathers, and threw it up in the air.
The knife flashed, neatly bisecting the flower up its stem to its head. Zino grabbed the two halves before they came apart and offered them to Olivia. The separated head flopped apart sadly.
“Yeah, still sharp,” said Zino.
Olivia took the flower. The cut was perfectly centred.
They headed down the street together, with Zino leading. Zino took the other two knives out and put them away in his jacket.
After a while, he stopped at a bench, and they sat down. He reached into the bag and took out the final object: A tablet. He gestured at it to extend. “You'd best show me how this works,” he said.
“It's a tracker,” Olivia said. She called up a map of Cantor.
“It's not showing anything,” said Zino.
“Not yet. Not until Rurthk gives us the go-ahead.”
Zino nodded. “Very smart.”
He looked at Olivia. “So you're my helper, huh? This is how things are gonna happen. When we go in, I'm in command. You do what I say.” He looked at her as if appraising her skills. “It won't be much,” he said. “I'll do the heavy lifting. Just shoot down anyone who tries to escape. And try not to die.”
“Try not to die, got it,” said Olivia.
Zino stretched and sat back. Olivia could see he was making little effort to conceal the pistol on his hip. They might have a couple of hours to wait.
“So, uh,” said Olivia. “Read any good books lately?”
Chapter 68: Leaving
They had a technological monstrosity on their hands.
The matte black, windowless cylinder of the mining capsule was strapped to the bottom of the angular, streamlined stealth shuttle with six bands of smart matter coming out of the shuttle's hull. If placed upright, the structure would have rolled right over, so for the moment the shuttle was lying on its side with its belly pressed against the capsule.
The shuttle's now upwards-facing door opened, and Laodicean lifted himself out, his effector fields like ghostly, curved spider legs.
“I have programmed in the trajectory,” he said. “It will react to any attempts to shoot it down by returning fire.”
“Good work,” said Rurthk. He and Eloise were moving gear into the mining capsule. Taken from the shuttle, this included Albascene stun projectiles, assault rifles, a minigun, grenades, larger explosives, and large sapphiroid shields that could stop everything short of a Varanid-calibre bullet.
As Laodicean moved down to the ground, Dr. Wolff walked into the cargo bay carrying a case of medical supplies. “Hopefully we won't have to use this,” he said, patting the box. “But it helps to be on the safe side.”
He looked distinctly uncomfortable. He was wearing armour too. Its smart matter surface had adapted to fit his rotund frame
.
He carried the case over to the capsule and stowed it in the open door along with the rest of the equipment.
Rurthk looked around. “Everyone ready?” he said.
His team nodded.
“Then let's go.” Rurthk hit the switch to open the cargo bay doors, and set up a timer to close them again.
Laodicean and Dr. Wolff entered the mining capsule. Rurthk and Eloise held back a moment to look around the cargo bay.
Rurthk patted the wall. “Stay safe, old girl,” he said to the ship, and followed Elise in crawling into the mining capsule.
It was an awkward fit. The capsule was meant to be oriented vertically, and it had no gravity generators of its own, so inside, everything was on its side: The flat floor and ceiling were to either side. The curved cylinder wall were underfoot (and overhead), with no flat space to stand on.
Rurthk ducked down to the control panel, which was also underfoot, and closed the door.
“I'm activating the shuttle now,” he said to warn them, and gestured at the control panel.
Laodicean had linked the shuttle's systems by remote to the capsule, so they could fly the shuttle from inside the capsule.
Rurthk activated the shuttle and slowly righted it. The chamber rolled around him, and his team moved to stay on the level surface. Equipment, suddenly finding itself on too steep a surface fell noisily.
When the shuttle was directly above them, Rurthk stopped it. The control panel was now at a reasonable height.
The shuttle took off, carrying the capsule beneath it. Under Rurthk's direction, it flew slowly out of the cargo bay. He had to be careful – without gravity normalisation, if he accelerated too fast, they'd all end up in a pile near the floor.
Moving cautiously, the shuttle and its bulky companion took to the sky and accelerated towards the ice fields.
*
Mr. Soul put his ear to the wall and listened.
Nothing.
They hadn't checked in on him for almost twenty minutes now. The ship was silent, apart from a faint creaking in response to the wind. He could only conclude that he was alone.
Which meant their plan was in motion.
He had to act fast. He went back to the hole in the wall and reached past the volatile tanks and resumed work on disconnecting a section of the outer hull.
He stopped to listen occasionally, just in case someone had remained in the ship, but otherwise worked continuously.
Sooner than expected, he finished his work. The ship was such a patchwork, so jury rigged, that it wasn't that hard to take it apart.
The piece of outer hull shifted when he moved it. Reaching between the volatiles tanks, he pushed as hard as he could. There was a short squeak. Then the piece of outer hull fell away.
It landed with a crash that made him wince. A weak light filtered through the hole in the wall, accompanied by a gust of chill air laden with powdery snow. Peering out he saw the grey sky.
He'd done it! He was through!
He wasted no time in squeezing through the hole and between the two volatile tanks. It was awkward, and for a moment he got stuck, but soon he emerged outside. He looked around, took a deep breath and then jumped. He glided down, and hit the ground bounding an all fours.
The spaceport was nearly empty. He raced across it, looking back and forth for a sign.
There!
The transport network. He changed direction suddenly, kicking up the fine layer of snow covering the ground, and headed to the station. He bounded down the steps, only coming to a halt when he had to call a transport pod.
There was no time to lose. If he could inform Vihan Yvredi before Rurthk reached the ice base, they'd be able to crush this nuisance once and for all.
Chapter 69: Do You Have an Appointment?
A snowstorm had broken out. Thick white snow danced back and forth, eddying and whipping about under howling winds. Dark clouds blotted out most of the sunlight.
The shuttle and the mining capsule cut through the snow without slowing. The shuttle was tilted forward, with its nose pointed towards the ground. It had advanced stealth systems, but the capsule did not. This way, Rurthk hoped, from the perspective of the ice base, the capsule would be partially hidden behind the shuttle and harder for sensors to spot.
The downside was that inside the capsule, everything was slanted too. They had no horizontal floor to stand on.
Eloise sat further up the sloping floor, looking at a tablet.
“we're nearly there,” she said, and gave Rurthk some co-ordinates.
“Got it,” said Rurthk, and began to take the shuttle down.
They couldn't get too close. Otherwise, clever positioning or not, the base's sensors would be able to see the capsule. Moreover, Rurthk knew that in an atmosphere, there were always ways to find a stealthed ship if you knew what to look for.
That's why they were going in the mining capsule instead.
The shuttle dropped towards the ice plains, eventually stopping a metre or so above the ice. If they'd done things right, they should be directly above the transport tube that connected to the base.
Eloise checked the positioning against her map of the tube. “That's it,” she said.
Rurthk activated the mining capsule and brought its surface temperature up to boiling point.
“Brace,” he warned them.
The shuttled tilted further until it was vertical. Then the straps of dark matter released, and the capsule dropped into the ice.
As soon as the tip of the capsule touched the ice, it melted. Suddenly-boiling water bubbled up around it as it dropped into the ice.
Inside the capsule as it descended, Rurthk and his team picked themselves up. Tapping the inside of his suit glove, Rurthk activated his comms and sent out a command to the shuttle. There, a copy of Yilva's and Singer's tracking program transmitted information on its targets to Albert Wells, Felix Zino, and Mero Iskultine. The information was accompanied by a single word:
Go.
*
Mr. Soul ran breathlessly into a Petaur fast food joint, ignored the staff, and went straight to the basement where the information brokers were set up.
As he reached the top of the ramp, a Petaur with a large smile and a larger gun barred his way. “Do you have an appointment?”
“I'm Mr. Soul, you fool! Here, check my DNA! And hurry, I need to speak to Mr. Hand as soon as possible.”
The guard, to his credit, was as efficient as any Vihan Yvredi operative should be. He called forward as he was doing the DNA test, so when Mr. Soul made it to the basement a couple of minutes later, everything was ready.
There was an open tablet on the wall to serve as a screen.
“We're just waiting for an answer now,” one of the Petaurs told him.
Good, good,” said Mr. Soul. He was still breathing heavily.
A few moments later, Mr. Hand appeared on the screen. His eyes widened. This was clearly an act – he would have known who was calling before he answered. His curiosity though, was genuine.
“My good friend,” he said. “What a surprise this is. What happened?”
“What do you think? I escaped,” growled Mr. Soul. “For all the help you gave me.”
“I do hope you kept your oath and told them nothing.”
“Of course I did,” said Mr. Soul. Mr Hand began to respond, but Mr. Soul spoke over him: “And when we are done here, I would very much like to know how you managed to escape Blindness without me. But right now we have more important matters to worry about. Rurthk has found a way of tracking us. And he's planning a simultaneous strike – including on our ice base.”
Mr. Hand's eyes widened again. This time, it was barely visible. Because this time, it was real surprise. “You had better tell me what you know,” he said.
Mr. Soul began to recount everything he had heard.
Chapter 70: Forgive Me For My Hubris
On Cantor, Earth, Atlantis, Ghroga and Nereus, strike teams each received a signal
, telling them where to find their targets.
The information was imprecise, a blob spread across several blocks.. They knew it would be. Having moved as quickly as possible to the location, they spread out and began to search. They were as inconspicuous as possible. Normally-dressed humans and Varanids ambled into bars, clubs, restaurants, cafes, and shops, and made for the back room or basement.
Sometimes they made it inside, and found nothing but an empty room full of storage. Other times they were stopped by another human or Varanid, politely saying this area was off limits.
And once in each location, an armed Petaur appeared to ask them what their business was.
Whoever was stopped by a Petaur apologised, said they must have taken a wrong turn and retreated ...
… and then returned a couple of minutes later, surrounded by armed gangsters.
Wells' men shot down the guards without hesitation, and stormed down ramps or stairs, or into back rooms, rough and thuggish, but deadly nevertheless.
It was impossible to synchronise the attacks perfectly, with the delays of travel time and bulkwave communications, but they happened within an hour.
On Ghroga, the first location to be attacked, a team of four Varanids announced their presence with a volley of grenades, then marched into the room, their guns blazing, firing blindly into the smoke. Return fire came thick and heavy from a few ceiling-mounted guns that had survived. They were powerful enough to take down one of the Varanids, and injured another, but as the smoke cleared, only a few members of Vihan Yvredi were left alive.
But on Nereus, some time later, the strike team, a mixed group of humans and Albascene emerged into the back room of some giant building after a grenade strike, guns ready, to find it empty. The Petaurs had gone. While the strike team was looking around in confusion, two hidden explosives went off, incinerating them instantly. Only the human guarding the building survived.
And on Atlantis, the strike team arrived to similar silence, before being mown down by ceiling-mounted guns.