Heavier Than Air

by T. E. Vario (t_e_vario@yahoo. com)

  To their amazement, the building door was unlocked. The crept inside and listened, but could not hear anything above the background noise of the machinery. The building contained a number of large reactor vessels, ranging from about five feet in diameter to over 15. The reactors were arranged in long rows, and accessible from the floor and from an elevated catwalk. There was also a control room that faced the reactors through a glass wall. The opposite wall was covered with instruments, presumably to control the reactors. The reactors gave off heat, and there was the strong odor of yeast in the air.

  Mark spotted two men inside the control room, and a third one working on the top of a reactor from the catwalk. Mark motioned to Menard to take care of the top mechanic, while Henry and Mark went to towards the side entrance to the control room. They could see Menard through the metal latticework of the catwalk, making his way towards the mechanic.

  Mark looked at Henry to make sure he was ready, and then silently mouthed the words “Three, two, one, now.” The both jumped through the double-door of the control room, and fired single shots into the chests of each man. It sounded noisy to them, but the sound was lost in the noise of the machinery. They could see Menard through the control room window. He was pulling the body of the mechanic out of sight. Henry and Mark shoved their two bodies under the desks, and then unpacked their explosives.

  “Henry, why don’t you take a look around. I want to set one charge to destroy these controls.”

  Henry nodded and went outside of the control room, looking for other operators who might be working that night. Mark placed a single charge in the back of the control panel and inserted a radio detonator. He set the frequency switch to number three, and activated the device.

  Menard had joined Henry, and was scanning the area. Menard had blood on his right hand and sleeve. He must have used a knife rather than his machinegun.

  “Let’s put another four charges on the bottom of several reactors. Then we had better get into the smaller building. This one is supposed to be for the production of antidote. Set these charges to frequency 3. The small building is where the bio-weapons are made.”

  They split up and distributed the charges evenly around the building, hiding them next to piping under the reactors. They then returned to the door, and stepped outside into the darkness. They had an open area about 20 feet wide to cross with no cover.

  “Henry, why don’t you take cover by those boxes. Menard and I will set charges in the smaller building, and then return to you.”

  Henry nodded. Mark and Menard ran to the next building and went in. Inside it looked like a small-scale version of the building they had just left. There was another control room, but this one contained five or six men. The reactors were smaller, but the catwalk and layout were very similar. Mark and Menard hid behind some drums, looking for anyone working on the floor. It looked like everyone was in the control room, focussed on some sort of plan stretched out over a table.

  Menard pointed to the drums. “Labeled as alcohol. If we explode these drums we will have an intense fire.” Menard was speaking normally. The noise from the machinery covered their sounds.

  “OK. Let’s take care of the men in the control room first, and then set the charges. How do you want to do this?”

  “Why don’t we approach from the front and just shoot through the glass?”

  “OK, go!” The both crept behind the line of reactors until they were in front of the glass. They moved forward, standing about ten feet apart. One of the operators looked up from the plans and spotted Mark. The man did not seem to immediately grasp the danger. Mark and Menard aimed carefully and fired single shots straight into the chests of each man in turn. One of the operators was quick enough to duck behind the table. Menard ran around to the side entrance while Mark covered him. Mark heard the faint sound of another two shots before Menard returned.

  “They are all dead. How do you want to set the charges?”

  “I don’t want to damage the reactors, because we want the fire to be intense before there is a release. Let’s put one charge behind the instruments and put the others on those fuel drums. I think there are some more drums on the other side. Set these to frequency four.”

  They were done setting the charges in less than two minutes. They were headed back towards the door when they saw two men enter the building. Menard managed to shoot the first one, but the second one dropped to the ground out of sight. Mark ran towards the door, but by the time he got there the man was gone.

  “Shit. He saw us and ran. We’d better get moving.”

  They ran straight back to Henry, paused for a second behind the boxes, and then ran for the storage shed where they had entered. Just as they reached the side of the shed they heard the alarm sounding. It was a deafening sound. They scrambled into the building and looked out through the doorway. The guards were opening the double gates to let soldiers into the compound.

  “Where the hell are Clawson and Hirotomi?” Mark wanted to get out of there.

  “They must still be setting charges.”

  Mark looked around. “We’d better set up some defensive positions in case we need to return fire while Hirotomi and Clawson run in.”

  They opened several incredibly filthy windows, and started piling up bags of supplies beneath the openings. The supplies provided a modest of protection from bullets. Menard and Henry took the side windows while Mark did his best to fortify the area next to the door.

  “Do you have another explosive charge?” asked Henry. “It would be good to blow this building to cover our tracks.”

  “I’ve got two left, but one should do it.” Mark set the charge at the bottom of a supply shelf, so that the supplies would topple onto the drain opening. He had just finished setting the frequency when gunfire broke out. Running to the door he could see Clawson and Hirotomi running across open ground towards some large crates. Hirotomi was in front, and running fast, but suddenly seemed to lose coordination. He stumbled and fell. Mark could see blood instantly saturated Hirotomis clothing, while bullet marks splashed against the ground around them. Clawson grabbed Hirotomi by the backpack, and drug him towards the boxes. He had almost made it when Clawson was hit. Mark could see Clawson’s right foot dangling at an odd angle to his leg as he pulled himself and Hirotomi’s limp body behind the creates.

  Mark was trying to figure out what to do when he saw Clawson reach into Hirotomi’s front pocket and pull out a transmitter. Clawson pulled out his own transmitter, and then looked towards Mark.

  Clawson yelled at the top of his voice. “I’m firing the charges. Get the hell out of here.”

  “Shit, he’s going to sacrifice himself. Hand me that other transmitter, and you and Henry get down that drain.”

  Menard gave Mark his transmitter, but paused watching the scene in front of them. The soldiers continued to peper the area around Clawson with gunfire. Whatever was in the crates was not stopping all of the bullets. Clawson took another hit to the left arm. Hirotomi was motionless. Clawson used his good arm to grab the first transmitter. He pulled the antenna out with his teeth and pressed the button three times.

  Explosions ripped the base of the three huge silos. At first it looked as if they would remain standing. Then starting very slowly, the first silo began to lean. It was so large that it appeared to be falling in slow motion.

  “Get below damn it!” Mark shoved Menard towards the drain. Henry was already squeezing himself down the opening. Mark looked back out and saw that Clawson had the second transmitter in his hand, waiting for the silos to hit the ground. Mark fired his three transmitters in sequence. Mark heard the deafening sound of steel and concrete being shredded by explosive, and saw a flash of yellow light as the alcohol caught fire.

  All three grain elevators were now leaning too far to be stable. The huge structures began a free fall, heading towards the buring buildings. As they crashed into the ground the elevator walls burst open. Grain from the flew into the air like a gigantic yellowish clo
ud. Clawson was still holding his econd transmitter, trying to give the rest of the squad as much time to get away as possible. Mark dove for the opening and pulled himself down.

  “Hand me a torch and run like hell.”

  Mark remembered the last charge he had set in the supply shed. He pulled out the transmitter and pressed three times. A muffled boom sounded above him, and he could hear the shelves collapsing, followed by the walls of the shed.

  Mark had just started to run after Henry and Menard when the ground shook violently. Dust and bricks tumbled around him as he tried to remain upright. An enormous blast of air ripped through the tunnel. In the distance he could hear the sounds of huge stones or pieces of buildings crashing into the ground.

  He knew Clawson had succeeded in igniting the grain cloud, and that the factory would be leveled. What he did not know is whether he had succeeded in wiping out the bio-weapons. There was no way to tell.

  They made their way back towards the church. Remarkably, the tunnels did not appear to have been harmed by the blast. Father Benton’s torch was still flickering as the came up to the door. They did not see the priest as they climbed up the several flights of stairs and exited the modern temple.

  Henry led them directly out of town to the north. The followed the same path around the eastern side of the city that they had taken to the city the day before. They finally stopped as dawn broke.

  “Let’s get some sleep. It’s a long way home.”

  They were too tired to set watch. All three men hid in the low bushes and fell promptly to sleep.

  Menard was the first to wake up. He sat up carefully, and looked for Henry and Mark. All three of them had collapsed under a clump of manzaneta bushes. Menard gently shook the other two men to wake them. It was starting to get dark, and it would be safe to move in a half-hour. They broke out some food from their packs and gulped it down. They had not eaten in almost 24 hours.

  Henry led the way back. He wanted to retrace their steps as much as possible, and he needed to retrieve his mule team. Mark wanted to find the sniper and release her after filling her head with more false information suggesting that the Gecko outlaws had done the attack on the factory.

  They worked their way south until they reached a hilltop that allowed a view back towards Trintney. A huge fire was still raging from the factory, and lighted the center of town. None of the factory’s buildings appeared to be standing, and the huge silos that had once dominated the site were oddly missing. It was too far away to see if men were fighting the fire.

  “We did it Mark. A fire that big would sterilize anything in the complex.”

  “Yes, but Clawson should be the one getting the credit. It was his idea to use the silo grain as the fuel.”

  Menard thought about Clawson. “At least he got to see the damn thing explode. Hirotomi just died without knowing whether we accomplished anything.”

  “I’ve got their IDs back at T12. At least we can tell their families that they died as heros.”

  They followed the path in the moonlight. After two hours of walking they came to the narrow valley where Hirotomi and Menard had caught the sniper. Menard had no trouble finding her, partly because she kept yelling for help.

  “We’re back,” Menard said to Wendy Choo as they came around the tree she was tied to. “Did you miss us?”

  She was silent, undoubtedly thinking that they were going to kill or torture her. To drive the point home, Mark got out his combat knife and waved it in front of her.

  “We should kill you, but I have a mission for you. I want you to go back to your base and tell them that the Geckos will destroy more of the city if the Council does not leave the Geckos alone. Have you got that?”

  Wendy Choo nodded vigorously. Mark kneeled behind her and cut the ropes while Menard kept his machinegun trained on her. Mark had to help her to her feet. He gave her his canteen to drink from, but did not offer her food.

  “All right, get out of our sight, and don’t forget the message.”

  She nodded and took off running down the path they hand just come in on.

  Henry was smiling. “That was pretty clever. They may find the bodies of Hirotomi and Clawson if they were not consumed in the fire. The bodies should look like outlaws who died in the attack. In fact, the guards probably got a pretty good look at them while Hirotomi and Clawson were running towards us right before they were hit. Combined with this girl’s story, they might just believe that it was the Geckos that did the attack.”

  “We need to get home without being captured for the deception to keep working,.” Mark picked up his machinegun. “Let’s get going.”

  * * *

  Claude had been following tracks for several hours. It looked like about ten or twelve men, with all types of boots. He guessed that it was probably a band of outlaws. The problem was that they were ahead of him, on the path that led directly to the weather station and his sister. Dog had picked up their scent, but stayed next to Claude as they made their way south.

  Since he had been down this path just two days before, he had a good sense of the route it took up the side of the mountain. It was getting late, and Claude figured that the men would camp at the flat area near a streambed. That would leave them about a six-hour hike to get up the mountain to the cabin where Anne-Marie was staying. He did not know how organized the men were, but they might be smart enough to leave behind a scout to watch their behind. Claude decided to take a chance at missing them, and detoured down to the streambed. He would approach the likely campsite from lower ground and then climb the mountain at night.

  Although there was plenty of water flowing down the stream, Claude had little trouble making his way along the northern bank. The width of the stream was set by the floodwaters that only happened during heavy rains. It had been dry for the last week, so the banks were exposed and offered good footing on the rounded rocks. A number of trees had fallen across the stream, but these were easy to climb over.

  Claude saw the light from the campfire before he heard the men. They had chosen a spot lower than he had expected, but it was within 100 yards of the edge of the stream. He watched the area for about 30 minutes before moving closer. He wanted to make sure that there were no lookouts posted. As he moved closer he realized that the bright light from the campfire was casting strong shadows amongst the trees. He had no trouble staying in the shadows, invisible to anyone whose eyes had adjusted to the fire’s light. Claude could make out ten men, but figured that there could be others on watch or just out of his field of view.

  Dog stayed next to him, sensing that Claude wanted not to be seen. Dog’s ears were pointed forward and he crept along as if stalking pray. Claud and Dog moved within earshot and then waited.

  “You sure that old couple has food? Last place you took us was near empty.”

  “Damn straight. I seen the mule train go by last week. That man Henry don’t go but once a month, so they got have least a month’s rations.”

  “The old couple likely to put up a fight?”

  “Can’t say for sure, but how much fight an old couple like that going to have? I say it’s easy pickins.”

  “OK, but you better be right this time, or you gonna be the pickins. You got that?”

  Claude had heard enough. He backed in the shadows until he reached the streambed, and then started making his way upriver. He and Dog went a half-mile before climbing the bank and working their way back to the trail. They would have no trouble getting to the cabin before dawn.

  * * *

  “Look at this!” Sara was in Largos’ office, holding a message she had just decrypted.

  TRINTNEY BREWERY FIRE STILL OUT OF CONTROL. TWO OUTLAW SOLDIERS KILLED. SUSPECT OTHERS WERE INVOLVED BUT MUST WAIT FOR FIRE TO DIE DOWN TO CONTINUE INVESTIGATION. UNLIKELY THAT ANY EQUIPMENT WILL HAVE SURVIVED THE INTENSE HEAT. REQUEST THAT THE DIVISION REMAIN ON STATION TO ASSIST IN FIRE FIGHTING UNTIL BLASE IS UNDER CONTROL.

  “I’ll be damned” Largos exclaimed. “The squad from Ca
mp Williams did it. What’s more, the Gengon appear to be giving the credit for the attack to the Geckos outlaws. Remarkable.”

  “Let me go through the rest of the traffic, and then maybe we can think up some more ways to support their misconceptions.” Sara was already scheming away.

  “Very good Sara. I’ll get back on the line with Major Walters and encourage them to keep up the subterfuge that we are still very interested in nuclear sites and dirty weapons. If they think our forces are concentrating to the east, it should indirectly reinforce that we are not concentrating on the northwest area around Trintney.”

  Sara had to admire the labyrinth that Largos’ mind was capable of. She went back to the conference room and started cracking the rest of the traffic.

  * * *

  “Well Henry, I think this is where we part ways.”

  Mark, Menard, and Henry Silva had come to the fork in the path. Henry needed to retrieve his mule train and get back on his route supplying the other posts. Mark and Menard wanted to go as quickly as possible to T12, where they could make their report and then start the long trip home.

  “It has been an honor working with you. I only wish the other two men had survived.”

  “Thank you Henry. And best of luck to you. Your help was invaluable to our mission. We could not have done it without you.”

  The three men shook hands, and then went their separate ways. Mark and Menard were in a rush to get up the mountain. With their mission accomplished, the only thing keeping them from home was the speed at which they could hike cross-country. They would not be doing a lot of sleeping for the next week.

  * * *

  Anne-Marie shook Eric and whispered “I hear something.”

  Eric was instantly awake. He strained his ears, but did not hear anything unusual. He then bolted upright, reacting to Dog running straight at them. Dog went right to Anne-Marie and started licking her face.

  They both stood up and looked into the gloom. Slowly Claude’s form appeared from the darkness of the path. Anne-Marie ran down and hugged him tightly. They were speaking softly to each other in French. Eric walked down to them and shook Claude’s hand.