Chapter 4
It was a trap and we walked into it. Worms build sink-holes all over. Soft ground with a thin shell to encourage animals to walk over it, then they break through and eat it. We must have walked right over one while I was listening to her instead of watching the sonar.
The Walker lifted, then fell and we remained aboard only because of the safety-belts. Still the Worm fought his way through the tangled legs to get at us. The gat couldn’t track that low so I pulled my pulser and fired and fired and fired until the Worm retreated. You can kill a Worm, it just takes a lot as they are so primitive they take forever to realize that they are dead. I heard one guy suggest that if you cut a Worm in half, you have two pissed-off Worms. I don’t know if that’s true but a dozen pulsar blasts to the head and neck has got to do some damage.
I ignored the screaming of the passengers and checked the Walker which had shut down when it tipped. Damn! One leg was bent, another strut damaged and that Worm was hungry and mad.
I reloaded the pulser and told the girl, “I need your help. We have to pull those damaged legs up and tie them off or they’ll tangle the others.
As scared as she was, she unhooked, looked at the other guy, then asked, “What do I do?”
“Hand me those straps!”
I wrapped the straps around a joint, pulled the hydraulic lines to ease pressure and between the two of us, we pulled the legs up and teed them off. Finally, “Not perfect, but it might work. How’s your friend?”
“Bad, I don’t think he’ll make it! Will we?”
“I damn well hope so. Brent?”
“Here! Sarge says to dump the cargo and get back here.”
“We all know that isn’t going to happen.”
“Yeah, he knows too but had to give the order. We called in a Zed-Team but the job comes first.”
“I know. What can you tell me?”
“Pack of Screamers on the way. Ten minutes away I think. Can’t read the Worm or any Spiders.”
“OK.” I handed the girl my rifle. “Know how to use this?”
“I used to target shoot but this thing… “
“Just like a rifle, only it shoots plasma. Safety here, sight, trigger. Strap in and shoot ANYTHING that moves.!” I gave her my kerchief and put my mouth-guard in. She nodded, rolled the cloth and put it between her own teeth.
A Walker has six legs, two on each side, one in front and one behind. The rear right and back legs were useless so the computer had to compensate and couldn’t very well. With every step, the back of the Walker jolted and slammed my head against the seat.
God, that ten minutes lasted forever and I was bruised all over by the time the Screamers caught us. The two passengers were much worse, not having a padded seat, but I banged on the cage and when she looked at me, I pointed to the left where she paled but readied the pulse-rifle. I set the gatling gun on hose and tripped the trigger at a thousand yards.
Ordinarily, the gat was an unbelievably accurate gun, on solid ground. Less so on a Walker, not at all on a damaged Walker and the ground around the screamers churned as the Walker shook the sighting off.
Some made it close enough for the girl to open fire, at least I saw the plasma bolts going out. I doubt that she hit anything, but I kept firing my pistol at anything I could see and then it was over. Stinking blood and goop all over the place, bodies covering a thousand yards but we were still alive. I banged on the cage, looked back and gave her the ‘thumbs up! She tried to smile but nodded and I focused on the sonar until we reached the cliffs.
Lincoln isle Page 5