Starswarm

by Jerry Pournelle

  "Mortars," Cal said. "Christ, Mike, they're really being serious about this."

  "Looks that way," Mike agreed. He looked over to Gil Kettering. "Don't look like your friends much care what happens to you," he said. "Now, you know, when I was a cop I'd have worried about one of my undercover people. Guess it's different now. That right, Lieutenant Fuller?"

  "Not in my outfit," Fuller said. "But Kettering works directly for Mr. Tarleton."

  "And Tarleton doesn't give hot crap for the company, or his men, or anything else, does he?" Mike said. "He'll blow hell out of this place and everyone in it. Including you, Kettering."

  "You could give up," Kettering said.

  "Yeah, sure. So they can quietly slit our throats? It's pretty clear they'd do that before they let any of us talk to Bernie Trent. Yours too, I expect. Tell us, Kettering, just what were you getting out of this?"

  "A million francs," Kettering said. He was sweating.

  "Think it was worth it?" Mike asked. "I assume you wouldn't be talking to us if you thought there was any chance we'd get out of this alive. Don't reckon you will, either, so you may as well talk. It's good for the soul."

  "What do you want me to talk about?" Kettering demanded.

  "For starters," Fuller said, "you could show me more about the electronics. It sure would be nice if we could listen in on them."

  "That won't help—"

  "It sure can't hurt," Mike said.

  "All right. You'll have to let me out of these handcuffs."

  "Not a chance. You tell Fuller what to do. And Marty watches both of you. Fuller, it's not that I really don't trust you. Tarleton can't let anyone live who's heard that ENDGAME recording, and I think you know that, but they'll offer you anything they think will work."

  "What is this endgame you're talking about?" Kettering asked.

  "It's a recording of Michelle Trent's will naming her son as her heir," Fuller said. "Kip's her son."

  "Son of a bitch," Kettering said. "So that's what became of him. So you're Gallegher. I should have recognized you."

  "You should, huh? You were one of the murder squad?"

  It was difficult to shrug with handcuffs on, but Kettering managed it. "No, but I was in communications. I helped cook up the stories about what happened to the Trents, but I didn't do any shooting."

  "How many like you in the GWE police force?" Fuller demanded.

  "Like me how?"

  "Working for Tarleton against the company."

  "I don't know. Thirty for sure, maybe twice that. I wouldn't think more."

  "It's enough," Mike said. "Look, let me give you an incentive. You help us, and if what you do does any good, I'll get you a pardon."

  "How can you do that?"

  "Think about it. Kip's the heir. Whoever's Governor will listen to him."

  Kettering thought about it for a moment. "Sure," he said. "Probably a better deal than Tarleton will give me now." He went over to sit on the ground next to Fuller and the electronics equipment they had brought from the school lab building. "Tune across the standard tac bands," Kettering said. "Let's see—ah."

  They heard what might have been human voices, but it was all gibberish.

  "Scrambled," Kettering said. "I have all the tac ops keys in there. It's just a question of finding which one fits."

  "Mike," Cal said quietly. He pointed to the computer screen. "They're laying in those guns. Ought to start shooting pretty soon—yep!"

  One of the mortars flashed. Well over a second later, there was an explosion. They felt the concussion, and their ears rang with the noise. The TRI-V cameras in the cave mouth caught an image of flying dust and rocks.

  "Not bad for a ranging shot," Mike said. "Hit just below the mouth of the cave."

  "Big high explosive job," Cal said. "It's going to get pretty uncomfortable in here."

  "You can say that again. Here comes another. Incoming!"

  The concussion was worse this time. One of the cameras jolted and the viewing angle changed. "Close on," Mike said. "OK, maybe it's time to head deep down—"

  "Wait," Cal said. "Look!"

  "What you got?"

  "Behind the mortars. Over by the grove. Here, I'll zoom in." The image narrowed and focused in behind the mortars.

  Twenty centaurs formed a line abreast. Then, as if by signal, they charged toward the mortars. Each centaur held a bronze spear in his left hand, and something else in his right. As they charged forward toward the mortars there were bright flashes from the galloping line.

  "Laser!" Mike said. "They've got laser pistols!"

  "Where the hell would they get those?"

  "I know where they got three of them," Mike said. "From the grayskins yesterday."

  "There's more than three out there."

  "Don't I know it!"

  "Mayday! We're being attacked!" The voice boomed from the speakers behind Mike.

  "Got it!" Kettering shouted.

  "Twenty hostiles attacking! Officers need assistance. Hostiles are centaurs, armed with pistols and spears, I say again, we are under attack by centaurs. Officers need assistance. Get that gun-ship over here!"

  "Tac One Ground, this is Tac One Air, we're on the way."

  The mortar crew turned to face the centaurs. They drew their pistols and fired. A centaur fell. Then another. The others continued at the gallop and overran the mortars. For a moment they could see only spears raised and thrust home, and a few pistol flashes—

  "Jesus," Cal said. "They killed every damn one of them."

  "Here come the gunships," Mike said. "Poor damn horses won't have a chance against that."

  The first gunship swept across the lake, turned, fired, and three centaurs fell. Then something erupted from the lake itself. A bronze spear hit the helicopter just under the pilot compartment.

  "Mayday! We've been hit! We're going down!"

  The second gunship swept into the camera view. A spear rose from the lake and struck it in the tail section. The second helicopter wavered, then turned and moved rapidly out of sight toward the research station.

  Another spear, from another part of the lake, hit the door gunner in the first ship. He fell and hung limply from his strapping. A third spear hit the rotors. The helicopter spun wildly and fell into the lake. It vanished into the water. Nothing came up but bubbles.

  "Kip said the centaurs would help!" Marty was shouting. "Wow!"

  "Keep on that radio," Mike said.

  "Got it," Kettering muttered.

  "Tac Control, this is Tac Two Air."

  "Tac Two Air, this is Baskins. Report."

  "Colonel, Tac Two Air has been hit. I say again, we have been hit. We have damage to the fuel cells and control system. We are airborne. We have casualties. Tac One is wiped out. Centaurs with spears killed the ground crew, and the lake shot down the air unit."

  "Tac Two, repeat that."

  "Colonel, there's some kind of catapult in the lake. Three of those centaur spears hit the Tac One chopper. It's down and sunk with all hands. We were hit by one of those spears. Spears came from under the water."

  "What operates the catapult?"

  "Damn if I know, Colonel. I saw it all, three of them spears came out of the lake and hit Tac One, and down it went. No survivors. Another spear hit us. Don't know where it came from. No targets. Nothing to fight. So I got the hell out of there."

  "Tac One Ground reported attack by centaurs. Did you see that?"

  "Yes, sir. About twenty centaurs with spears and laser pistols attacked the gun crews from behind. They weren't expecting anything and they never had a chance."

  "Survivors?"

  "None, Colonel, and when the Tac One Air unit went in to help the lake shot it down."

  "Where are the centaurs now?"

  "Right by the lake. They're throwing all of Tac One's equipment into the water."

  "Take them out. Stay out of range from that lake and take them out. Then finish their grove."

  "Colonel, I'm hit. I've got c
asualties and the ship's just barely flying."

  "All right, Tac Two, return to the station."

  "Coming now. Out."

  "What a liar," Marty said. "He ran away before the other helicopter went in. Soon as he was hit."

  "You blame him?" Kettering asked.

  "No, I guess not."

  "So what will they do now?" Mike asked Fuller.

  Fuller looked thoughtful. "What I'd do is go back to Cisco and get a hell of a lot of TNT and thermite to lob into that lake. Throw in some rotenone and DDT and anything else I could think of. There were some good men in that unit."

  "Those good men were trying to kill us," Mike reminded him.

  "Yeah, I know. Anyway, that's what I'd do if I were Baskins. Kill whatever's in the lake, hose down the centaur groves, and then come after us."

  "Sounds about right," Mike said. "Well, it'll take them a while to do that. So what do we have for lunch?"

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Try and Stop Me

  THERE was a seventy-knot wind at Pearly Gates. Waves crashed across the breakwater. Huge breakers rolled through the harbor entrance. Raphael lay well offshore in calmer water. A hundred meters seaward from the research boat the waves crashed against a thick mat of flashing fibers and black tentacles.

  Harriman pointed to the charts. "They've dredged out the area around the harbor," he said. "Your friend can't protect us there. We'll have to run straight in."

  "Is it safe?" Kip asked.

  "Depends on what you mean. It'll be a hell of a ride for a while there, but we should be all right."

  "I meant the police," Kip said. "Now that I don't know," Harriman said. "Never thought about it. If they're looking for us they'll sure find us. But why would they be looking for us?"

  "I'd have the computers set to trigger anything about Starswarm Station," Lara said. "Won't the harbormaster put us in his computer records?"

  "Yeah, he sure will," Harriman said. "But with those seas, there's no place to dock, no way ashore except in the harbor."

  "Give me a minute," Kip said. "Are you there?"

  "ACKNOWLEDGMENT."

  Kip tried to picture the crashing waves, the boat foundering against rocks, then of calmer water and Kip and the others going ashore. "We must land. Urgency."

  "MESSAGE FROM ANCIENT ONE. INTERROGATIVE."

  "Wait." Kip ran below to get the other knapsack. He took the striped gourd from it and threw it into the sea.

  "ACKNOWLEDGEMENT." The tone seemed friendlier although Kip could not be sure how he knew that. "ANCIENT ONE REQUESTS HELP FOR YOU. ATTEND." More pictures. The boat moved past the harbor entrance, northward to a shoreline bordered by steep bluffs. The GWE tower was visible just beyond the bluff. The boat ran near the shore, and figures jumped off it, into the sea, to wade ashore. Offshore the waves crashed far out to sea, leaving the area near the boat a comparative calm.

  The picture was familiar: it was the area where Uncle Mike had put the electronics box.

  "Understood."

  "MESSAGE FOLLOWS."

  "KIP IF YOU HFAR THIS YOU ARE NEAR THE GWE TOWERS."

  "Gwen!"

  "THE SEA STARSWARM LET ME RECORD THIS. IT WILL ONLY BE PLAYED IF YOU BRING CONFIRMATION THAT THE LAKE STARSWARM IS ALIVE AND WELL AND TRUSTS YOU. IT IS NOW MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER THAT YOU GAIN ACCESS TO GWE TOWER AND RUN THE PROGRAM CHILD OF FORTUNE FROM THE MAIN GWE CONSOLE.

  "I HAVE DISCOVERED A BACK DOOR INTO A ROOT DIRECTORY OF THE GWE COMPUTER SYSTEM. IT WAS PLACED THERE BY A SYSTEM PROGRAMMER, AND SHOULD STILL BE OPERATIVE. THE USER NAME IS VIGILANTE AND THE PASSWORD IS 7-7-77 THAT IS THE NUMERAL SEVEN DASH SEVEN DASH SEVEN SEVEN. THIS SHOULD GIVE ACCESS TO THE GWT SYSTEM FOR A SHORT TIME.

  "IT IS VITAL TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE PEARLY GATES STARSWARM HAS NO REASON TO LIKE OR TRUST HUMAN BEINGS, AND ANY COOPERATION IT GIVES IS DUE TO RESPECT FOR THE LAKE ENTITY."

  "END OF MESSAGE."

  "Was there more?"

  "END OF MESSAGE."

  "What did it tell you?" Lara asked. "You had that look—"

  "It's the local Starswarm," Kip said. "It says the Ancient One—I guess that's the lake Starswarm—wants it to help us, so it will. Mr. Harriman, is there an area maybe ten kilometers north of here where the bottom is flat and you could get close to shore if the waves weren't too bad?"

  "I'll look." He inspected the charts. "Yes. The park just south of GWE towers. Kip, are you saying that the Starswarm ten klicks north of here is the same creature that's here?"

  "Yes."

  "Good God. That's big."

  "It's big, it's powerful, and it doesn't like us," Kip said.

  "When they dredged the harbor," Mrs. Harriman said, "they tore out tons of Starswarm fibers. They even tried making cattle food from them. Seaweed. It's no wonder it doesn't like us."

  "But it will help us get ashore," Kip said. "We don't have much time, I think. Go up to that park."

  Harriman looked at him strangely for a moment, then nodded. There wasn't a trace of sarcasm in his voice when he said, "Yes, sir."

  The beach area was just as Kip had pictured it. Waves crashed ashore to the north and south, but the boat lay in comparatively calm water despite the strong onshore wind. Harriman ran in toward the shore, then dropped an anchor. When it caught he let the wind carry the boat shoreward while he watched the depth gauge. "We draw four feet of water," he said. "I'll move in as close as I can but when we touch any part of the bottom I'll have to haul out again. We're at slack water now. The tide will be going out pretty soon, you have to be ashore before that starts or it'll suck you out with it,"

  "Lon, you can't let those children go ashore alone!" Mrs. Harriman said.

  "What do you suggest we do? Unless you want to abandon the boat."

  "No, don't do that," Kip said. "We may need it. We'll be all right."

  "What do you plan to do?" Harriman demanded.

  "Get to Mr. Trent," Kip said. "We'll have help. Uncle Mike arranged that. Once we're ashore you can take the boat back to the harbor. It won't matter if they search it. Then you come to GWE headquarters. Try to talk to Mr. Trent."

  "What if we get to him before you do? How will we find you?"

  Kip grinned slightly. "Just tell Uncle Bernie to answer his phone. I'll call him."

  "I don't like this much," Harriman said. "But I don't see much else to do. All right, here we go."

  There was a whir as anchor line payed out and the wind pushed the boat shoreward. The wind was strong, but the sea was comparatively calm here in the shelter provided by the Starswarm.

  "Let's go," Lara said.

  "I don't think you should come," Kip said.

  "Try to stop me!" She jumped off into the water. It swirled around her, and Lil and Mukky jumped in to swim over to her.

  Kip jumped off, with Silver close behind him. The dog swam toward shore and Kip caught his tail and let him pull. Soon his feet touched the bottom but it was easier to let Silver pull him than to walk. Lara was already wading in water no higher than her knees.

  Something was swimming next to him. The gray centaur swam past, got its legs under it, and thrashed shoreward. When it came to Lara it stopped. She grinned back at Kip and mounted the centaur, while Kip had to fight his way through the water.

  The walkway up the bluff was wet and slippery, but the wind blew them toward the bluff so that it was possible to keep their footing. Kip was shivering and nearly out of breath when they reached the top. He turned to wave at the boat nearly a hundred meters offshore. Mrs. Harriman waved a bright kerchief to them, then the boat pulled out to its anchor. They watched as the Harrimans got the anchor aboard and turned southward toward the harbor.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Pizza

  TWO kids, three dogs, and a centaur," Goldie said. "And you want to sneak into the GWE tower." The van was marked "Big Julie's Pizza," and was large enough to hold them all including the two men in bright orange jackets who had the front seat. Everyone else was in the back of the windowl
ess delivery van. The smells of pizza blended with wet dog, wet clothes, and wet centaur fur.

  "Dogs I understand from what Mike said about the way you live in the bush, but just why is that thing with you?" Goldie asked. "I'm not sure," Kip said. "It wanted to come. I think it's an observer, and what it reports could be important."