ARMS Domers Unite: (Book 6)

by Stephen Arseneault

  "I can perform that maintenance if so desired."

  "Oh yeah, it's desired. Roll your square-ass back there and get that done. Our first priority is to bring those generators back online. Can you handle that?"

  "I'm on my way."

  "Harris, Tawn, the bot is heading your way. Don't let it run you over. I'm heading off to find the source of the water."

  Five minutes later, the automated maintenance bot was disconnecting the fuel line from the damaged generator. Harris and Tawn stood back as the shadow of the two-cubic-meter bot whooshed back and forth in front of them. In under a minute, the line was restored, the valve turned, and the generator restarted.

  Sas said, "Can I be of further assistance? There are many other tasks on my list to complete."

  Harris replied, "Any way for us to clear this air?"

  "The venting and filtration system will accomplish that task now that power has been restored."

  Harris gestured through the smoke toward the door. "OK, then. Get on with your work."

  With a wisp and a swirl of the surrounding smoke, the bot was gone.

  "Bax," Harris asked, "you found the issue yet? Power is up. Should have lights any second."

  "It's flowing from the hall, heading back to the main control room."

  "Keep us informed. We're heading back your way."

  Several minutes passed before Bax reached the closed off entrance. "I'm here. The seals on that main door are failing. Water is jetting in from a number of places. I'm heading back now before that door blows open. The column of water behind it must be exerting tremendous pressure."

  As Bax moved back into the drum room, an explosion took place behind her. She began to run. "Guys, we just lost the door!"

  She glanced over her shoulder as she ran. "Wow, we have a torrent coming in. I have a half-meter high wave following me out of here."

  Bax reached the far end of the room, just ahead of the water's rise. Harris and Tawn caught up as she entered the same hallway they occupied.

  "You'll want to head that way. Fast!"

  Harris turned to follow Tawn and Bax. "The door failed? Water coming in around it?"

  "No," Bax replied. "The door blew fully out of the frame, or the frame out of the wall, whichever. We now have a three-kilometer-tall column of water pushing through the door to the drum room in a gush. I seriously don't think we'll be going out that way. At least not anytime soon."

  Through the circular hallway, Harris turned back for a look. "Wow. That's a meter-high wall of water coming this way."

  Tawn said, "We need to unblock those firewalls we built to the other hurricane generators or we're gonna drown in here. That water will just keep flowing in so long as we're the low spot."

  Harris stopped. "I'll go back for this one. You two go forward. I'll meet you around the other side."

  The Biomarine stump sprinted away, boots splashing in the now twenty-centimeter deep water as he ran. Tawn and Bax hurried off in the other direction. A full run around the circular hallway would take nearly two hours.

  As Harris came to the first firewall, a half dozen plasma rounds knocked off the bottom half of the wall. Water flowed away in a steady stream. Just under an hour later, he met with Tawn.

  "Where's Bax?"

  "She went back to talk to the bot about maybe sealing off the hall coming from the drum room."

  Harris shook his head. "We can't block our only exit. If enough of that water drains from the stairwell, we might actually have a way up."

  "Or the Denzee will have a way down. Might be to our benefit to close it up until we absolutely need to get out."

  "Not fond of us blocking ourselves in, but that might just have merit."

  "The way I see it, if enough water drains in without drowning us and we can make it up those stairs, the same situation will be true a month from now. It can either happen or not. Right now we know the Denzee are out there. The longer we keep them out, the better off we'll be."

  "I'm convinced. Let's find that bot and get it started on a seal."

  The hallway air was nearly clear of smoke at the generator room. After ten minutes of additional jogging, the duo entered the maintenance room. Bax was sitting on a countertop with her feet dangling over.

  "Bot is offline. Water shut it down. Its batteries are in that base."

  Harris stared for several seconds. "We need to stop that water flow. One of you go retrieve our cart while I look for materials we can use to possibly divert the incoming water."

  "And where would you send it?" Tawn asked.

  Harris pointed. "Down one of those tunnels leading to another hurricane generator. Bax, you go bring the cart while Tawn gives me a hand."

  "Why do I have to get it?"

  "You good with carrying five-millimeter-thick steel plates that we can weld in place?"

  After a huff, she said, "Fine. I'll lug the cart."

  When Bax had left the room, Tawn asked, "Do we even have any plating available?"

  Harris chuckled. "How would I know? I was just looking to get her to move. Let's check the materials area back here. The bot had enough to build our chairs. There must be stockpiles of stuff we could use."

  As they entered a giant warehouse that had been cut out of the same stone as the rooms and halls, Tawn said, "This place is a mess. I would have expected a neat orderly room."

  "Yeah, I'm seeing generator parts mixed with piping and wall materials. You in need of door handles? We have a full bin over here."

  "So you mentioned diversion of the water. What exactly were you thinking?"

  "Not that this was thought through or anything, but I would put a meter high stub wall across the circular hall where it meets that first hall going out. Then we work our way back, blocking any other diversions. After finally sealing up the drum room door, we block the right-hand split coming out of there. That should send all water down to the left and out into the hallway going away from us. After that we just sit and watch it flow."

  "Too bad we can't just order the bot to do that for us."

  "When Bax gets back, we'll see if we can somehow get it up on our cart. Maybe that will allow it to dry out."

  Tawn stopped. "Here we go. Plate steel."

  Harris nodded. "Our job here is done, then."

  — Chapter 9 —

  * * *

  Harris pulled the cart to a stop. Three meter-square pieces of sheet steel were pulled. A waterproof bonding agent had been found and was used to secure the panels to the walls, sealing off the first section of the circular hall that moved off from the tunnel leading away. The water lazily flowed toward the next hurricane generator located fifteen hundred kilometers down the tunnel.

  A second location had the circular hall sealed off from the left hand side hall coming from the drum room. The process of sealing off the drum room door with its active torrent of water proved difficult. Several attempts collapsed under the pressure before a structure was bonded together, forced through the opening, and allowed to fall back against the doorframe. A second structure was then constructed and used to seal off the spray of water that jetted around the first. A third was then used to buttress the second.

  Harris stepped back. "That was a beast."

  Tawn winced. "Not sure she'll hold."

  "She'll hold. Without that buttress, the pressure of that column of water behind it would eventually have blasted it out. Won't be an issue now."

  A final wall was constructed and reinforced, sealing off the right-hand hall. A small hole was left, allowing the tip of a plasma rifle to be inserted when the time would come for the drum room door to once again be opened.

  Back in the maintenance room, the bot was lifted from the pooled water onto the cart, where it would be allowed to dry.

  As they stepped back from the cart, Tawn said, "We locked ourselves in. Now what?"

  Harris chuckled. "Now we eat."

  A short trek had them back in the freeze room.

  Bax opened a freezer unit. "A p
lant. What am I supposed to do with that?"

  Harris smirked. "You want the real answer or the smartass one?"

  "Let's go with real."

  "Use your scanner to see if it's edible. If not, move to the next unit."

  Between the three searchers, sixteen units were scanned before Tawn returned a strike. "Got one. Says the purple tuber on the bottom is edible."

  "Have one over here as well," said Bax. "Leaves can be consumed."

  Harris looked over Tawn's shoulder. "Pull a couple of those out. We'll thaw them and see how they are."

  Tawn laughed. "You gonna take the first bite?"

  "If I have to. If I like it, I'm eating them both though."

  "Fair enough."

  A plasma rifle on its lowest setting was used to heat the ice. Three minute later, the tubers lay in a pool of water atop a closed unit.

  Tawn stepped back with her hand outstretched. "Be my guest."

  Harris picked up one of the tubers, snapping off the yellow leafy stalk from the top end. Several sniffs were followed by an inquisitive and apprehensive touch to the tongue.

  "Checks out so far."

  "Just eat it, moron," said Bax. "Take a bite. You can always spit it out."

  Harris held it up. "You want to have a go?"

  "Not after you licked it, no."

  Harris chuckled before taking a small nibble. "Hmm. Bland. But edible."

  Tawn reached out for the second tuber, which Harris grabbed away. "Sorry. Go melt your own."

  "Seriously? You're gonna be like that?"

  Harris smirked. "You made me try it, so yeah, just like that. You're welcome to try the leaves Bax found. Make yourself a nice salad."

  Tawn grabbed the nibbled-on tuber from Harris' hand, biting off nearly a third of one end. Her face contorted in horror as she opened her mouth and let it drop to the wet floor.

  Harris laughed as he spit the nibble out as well. "Not what you were looking for, was it? Could use some salt maybe?"

  Tawn spit several times. "That was horrid. How'd you keep a straight face?"

  "Didn't let it touch my tongue. Only got little twinges of the bitterness."

  Bax shook her head. "Trapped three kilometers down in a water-sealed tomb with two complete idiots."

  Harris gestured. "Just melt your leaves while we keep looking."

  Five minutes later, the Biomarines returned with two additional blocks of ice. Bax was finishing a chew of the last of the leaves.

  Tawn gave an annoyed look. "You just eat all those?"

  "I took the same deal as Mo over here. If I had to try them first, I was eating them all."

  Harris chuckled. "Didn't they have us doing some taste-testing back in third grade? Half a dozen items with a blindfold? You remember that?"

  Tawn nodded. "I do. You had to scan for the three of them that were edible and then pick one to eat fully. Part of the survival class."

  "Yeah, that was it. The one I picked had to have been the bitterest thing I've ever eaten. Took days to get that taste out of my mouth."

  "I lucked out with the sweet one."

  Harris looked over a small melon that had melted out of the block in front of him. Tapping it with his knuckles, it was determined to possibly be ripe. A slice with his combat knife revealed a blue flesh. He touched it with his tongue and nodded. He ate the entire melon as the others watched.

  Bax crossed her arms. "No faces. And we know you ate it. Sweet? Sour?"

  "Not bad. Mildly sweet, with a lot of tart. I'm guessing we let that sit for a few days and it would ripen up nicely."

  Bax scowled. "Not a fan of tart. Or of waiting three days to eat. How about yours?"

  Tawn replied, "Berries, but I'm guessing they'll be like his melon, ripe enough to eat but not yet fully sweet."

  She popped a berry into her mouth. "Hmm. Sweeter than I thought."

  Bax grabbed several from the freezer top. Again a horrid expression crossed her face and she spat the berries out onto the floor.

  "Those are awful! How'd you do that with a straight face? I saw you eat the whole thing."

  "I still have the taste of that tuber going. That berry was nothing. And welcome to the club."

  Harris laughed out loud as Tawn chuckled. Bax had to work to hold back a laugh, even though it had happened to her. When the room had settled, the trio got back to the task at hand, trying to feed themselves.

  Three weeks passed with no evidence of any rumbles coming from above. The food in the freeze room had turned into a smorgasbord of plants, fruits, and insects, none of which were even vaguely familiar, but many of which were edible.

  Harris sat in his chair as the maintenance bot brought around a vegetable stew it had been instructed to prepare.

  "Jeffrey? Forty-six degrees as I asked?"

  "Yes, sir. Although it is cooling at a rate of point-two degrees per minute. Shall I reheat it for you?"

  Harris shook his head. "No. This time it's fine. Next time though, add in the time it takes to deliver it and the cooling involved."

  "Yes, sir."

  Tawn chuckled. "You just know how to bring out the best in everyone, don't you?"

  Harris nodded. "It's a gift. No sense in it doing the job if it can't be taught to do it right."

  Bax swiveled in her chair. "I know I've asked this every day now for the past week, but how long we gonna wait? There haven't been any ships up above for a week now."

  "The only way we find out if it's time is if we crack that seal and let the water out. You prepared to do that?"

  "I am."

  "Tawn?"

  "A week has probably been long enough. Worst case, we have to close it back up. I can do three years down here if it means staying alive."

  Bax rolled her eyes. "Please tell me you’re ready."

  Harris stood from his chair after slurping down the remains of his daily soup. "OK, I guess today's the day. Let's go open her up. And keep in mind, depending on the amount of water draining in, it could take a while before we're able to make it out to that stairwell."

  Bax followed as they walked into the hall. "I'd rather wait for that than what we're doing now."

  After further encouragement from Bax, the walk turned into a light jog. When they arrived, Harris looked through the small firing hole at the sealed door structure beyond.

  "Hmm."

  Bax asked, "What is it?"

  "It's dry out there. We did a good job."

  "Just blow the stupid thing before I step up there and do it myself."

  Harris turned. "You know, it might be wise for the two of you to move well down this hall. If this goes and our secondary wall here fails, this hall will be flooded in seconds."

  "I'll take my chances," said Bax. "Just do it already."

  Harris took aim at the lower section. A single full power plasma round sparked and clanged, pushing a nice dent into the steel barrier. A second shot to the same spot saw a high pressure stream of water jetting out through a crack.

  Harris turned back. "This may be it. If that caves all at once, you best be ready to haul ass. That, or I'll be bowling you over as I blow past. This could all happen really fast."

  Bax said, "Do it."

  The next plasma round landed just above the top of the crack. In an instant, the structure gave way. The secondary structure bowed outward, creaked, groaned, and shot water from the firing hole. Harris fell backward, turning as he spun. He pushed himself to his feet and began to charge down the hall. Tawn and Bax were turning as he caught up to them. The three jammed the width of the hall as they came together, fell to the floor, and scrambled to their feet to run.

  At fifty meters down the hall, Harris slowed to a walk as he began to chuckle. "We were all so dead back there."

  Bax scowled as she rubbed her shoulder. "Wasn't expecting to get bashed by you morons."

  "I think we all qualified as morons. As I suggested, you two should have been well down that hall."

  Tawn said, "I hope our single structure
at the end of that other hall holds. If not, we may have flooding coming back this way."

  Bax picked up the pace. "See you back at the maintenance room."

  Tawn smirked. "Thought that might get her moving."

  "She doesn't like not being in control of the situation. I suppose maybe that's training we got that she missed."

  "Not being in control?"

  "No, not being skittish when that happens. I will say this about every Biomarine I've ever known, we by far have more patience than any regular."

  "Well, according to her she's not a regular."

  "I'm still not sold on that idea. She definitely has training, and skills, but being a one-off Bio? Not so sure about that."

  "I'm surprised she's actually been tolerable over the last three weeks. Other than the whining. But I can see our current situation pushing most anybody to do that. Even some of us."

  Harris chuckled. "You aren't gonna start whining now, are you?"

  "Only about you."

  "That I can handle. I'm used to it."

  When they reached the room, the bot was busily constructing what appeared to be a backpack.

  Harris asked, "What's it building?"

  "A rebreather for my suit," Bax replied.

  "We already have a rebreather."

  "And I want to extend its use. Right now we get about half an hour with no oxygen. I'm not comfortable with that given all that water out there. With this pack I should be able to stay under indefinitely. So long as I have power to the microreactor that is. It uses electrolysis to pull oxygen from the water, and a scrubber to remove and swap out the CO2."

  "When that water drops, we shouldn't need that."

  "If you want to rely on your current suit, go right ahead. I plan on getting out of this tomb. If I have to spend time under water to do that, I'll be ready."

  "What brought this on? From the look of it, it’s something you've been planning."

  "I have been. What I was originally thinking was that we build a system of doors, sort of a lock. I go in, we flood it, I move to that sealed section and destroy it. I could then swim through and up the stairwell. See if we could get a comm signal, or at least see what's going on up there."