by Geoff North
Another man bent down and hauled her up. She could feel the wound under her bandages open up. The pain was excruciating. Kella swung an arm, connecting her fist with the end of his nose. The man staggered back, tripped over one of the spilled rocks, and ended up on his rear end. The other five workers broke out into another roar of laughter.
Kella helped Hail up and shook her fist at the entire group. She walked along the side of the excavation vehicle, past the massive rubber tires, and to the driver’s cab. A greasy-looking man leaned out the open window and looked at her questioningly. Kella motioned with one thumb for him to climb out.
The man shrugged, opened the door, and began hauling himself down.
“Your helmet,” Hail whispered. “It’s red. Mine and everyone else’s are yellow. I think you must have rummaged through a higher-ranking worker’s locker.”
She pushed him onto the steps once the driver was clear. “So long as it works. Now keep your mouth closed until we’re inside the cab.”
Hail climbed in, maneuvering past a giant steering wheel and over clusters of gear shifts. He settled into what looked like a passenger seat on the far side, and watched Kella plop herself into the big chair behind the controls. She glared at him. “You’re going to make me drive?”
“I crashed the fighter, remember?”
Kella studied the console in front of her. It appeared less complicated than the controls in Bee’s cockpit, but every button, switch, and dial was labeled in a language neither one of them could even begin to decipher. “How do I even start the stupid thing?”
Hail leaned over and grabbed onto the only key sitting in the board. “This looks like ignition.” He twisted it and the vehicle rumbled back to life. “Your guess is as good as mine on how to get it moving again.”
Kella pulled down on the shift stick closest to her. The vehicle shook harder. “I think we’re in gear.” She shimmied up on the seat a few inches and reached for another lever. Her right foot found a pedal. She pushed down on it experimentally and they started to move.
“Good guess!” Hail shouted over the roar.
Kella could see the driver standing off to one side in the vehicle’s rear view mirror. The workers that had dumped them out of the back were still grouped together farther back in a growing cloud of dust. “Remember what I said a while back about the Pegans intentionally letting us get this far?”
“Yeah. You still think they’re behind all this?”
“No, and I don’t believe the Spirit of Sol is helping out either.” She shook her head and grinned at him. “It’s dumb luck, Hail—the most unpredictable, most powerful force in the entire universe. It’s what brought Ambition this far, and kept the two of us alive.”
“I’ll believe that when we’re finally in a ship headed for home.” He opened a door located in the console in front of him and started rummaging through the contents stuffed within.
“Anything useful in there?” Kella asked.
“Another one of those medical kits. You should pull over and let me change those bandages.”
“No time for that now. What else?”
Hail placed the kit down between his feet and continued to search. “Garbage… crap… Wait a second.” He pulled a booklet out and leafed through the first few pages. “This looks like some kind of vehicle instruction guide.”
Kella pushed up on another shifter, forcing them ahead at an even faster rate of speed. “I don’t need it, got this baby mastered already.”
“It’s more than an excavation truck, a lot more.” He showed her one of the schematics located near the end.
“Those look like missiles stored in the front fenders.”
“Big missiles, Kella. The kind that pack enough punch to clear through kilometers of solid rock.”
She shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. This rig was obviously designed to carry rock out, not blast through it.”
“I agree, it isn’t a mining vehicle, but maybe it’s equipped with emergency explosives in case of a tunnel collapse.”
That did make sense to Kella. She glanced at the booklet in his hands again. “It’s possible. Turn that last page over.” Hail flipped the page. A miniaturized diagram of the same controls in front of Kella was represented there. Two buttons side-by-side stood out in bolder outlines of black. Kella found them on the upper left corner of the console. She pressed one of them.
The fenders sitting on top of the front tires blasted off to the sides. Two three-meter long missiles secured to metal arms swung out. “Whoa now!” Hail cried out. He shoved the manual back where he’d found it and slammed the door shut. “Do not press that second button.”
Kella put both hands back on the steering wheel. “I won’t if nobody gets in my way.” She winked at him. “Nothing’s stopping us now, kid. Settle in and enjoy the ride.”
Hail slouched back into the passenger seat and shut his eyes. Kella’s feeling that some kind of universal ‘good luck’ had gotten them this far wasn’t rubbing off on him. “Just ease off on the speed, okay? … And quit calling me kid.”
Chapter 49
The travel tube carrying Sulafat to his execution came to a stop. The door slid open and Nash stepped out first, surveying the corridor both ways before allowing the other five men to exit. The robot signaled for them to follow. Chort and Zosma came next, followed by the still cuffed ex-Captain, and two armed guards.
“We’re almost there, Ly,” Chort said. “One more elevator ride down ten levels, and this will soon be all over. No more worries, no more stress. Your extremely long responsibility of command will finally come to an end.”
“I know where garage 2 is. Why don’t you do us all a favor and keep your mouth shut the rest of the way.”
The Sciences section head made a snorting noise, but didn’t say anything else. No one else said a word. Sulafat felt an inner sense of satisfaction; it would likely be the final order he’d give in his life that would be obeyed, and it was a good one.
They walked down the empty corridor another twenty meters to the elevator alcove. The doors slid open noiselessly and they entered. “I know you had nothing to do in any of this, Nash,” Sulafat said quietly. He felt his stomach lift slightly as the elevator began dropping. “You’re simply following original orders… I’m no longer upset with you.”
The robot looked down at him. “I appreciate that, Captain. It is an honor serving with you.”
Is?
The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. A long-haired woman was standing before them clutching a side cannon in both hands. It was aimed directly at Chort Leo’s face. “Everyone step out nice and slow. Guards in the back—leave the rifles on the floor.”
Sulafat was more than a little stunned. “Ma Ades?”
“I haven’t seen you in my bar in ages, Captain. Maybe after all of this is over you’ll start frequenting the place more often?”
“It would be my pleasure.” He stepped out of the lift. “Where’s my firing squad?” A hand to his left grabbed onto his arm and pulled him to the side.
Gacrux Crucis pushed him gently up against the wall and pointed his own weapon at the men now exiting the lift. “Tied up and sleeping in a storage compartment. You didn’t actually think we were going to let those blocks of ice get away with this, did you, Sully?”
Nash wrapped his hands around the necks of Chort and Zosma and forced them to their knees. “I apologize for the deception, Captain. Ma Ades informed me of the planned takeover just a few hours ago.”
The woman shrugged sheepishly. “I have the tables in my bar bugged. How else am I going to learn what’s really happening on this ship?”
A third armed crew member appeared on the right side as the elevator doors closed. He ordered the guards to lay flat on the floor. A large bandage was taped across his nose, and both of his eyes were black. It took the Captain a few more seconds to recognize him as Neb Kaitos, a fighter mechanic.
“You won’t get away this!” Chort yelled
. “There are thousands of crew members now opposing you, Sulafat. The Seven won’t stand for this, the Seven will—”
Nash made a fist and rendered Chort unconscious. “Thousands is a bit of stretch, hundreds maybe.” He went to do the same to Zosma, but Sulafat ordered the robot to step back.
The Captain knelt down in front of him. “All these years preaching lies, pretending to be something you weren’t. You sicken me.”
“It was the perfect cover,” Zosma said. “Everyone listens to the man in the robes. Chort was speaking the truth—there’s a mighty faction on this ship that no longer finds you fit to command. The Admiral will have his way. The citizens of Pega will be wiped away, and a new Earth society will rise up in its place.”
“By society you really mean Ganymede Unlimited, Phoebus Mining, and Kuiper Belt Power.” Sulafat grabbed onto the man’s white beard and yanked him back to his feet. “You’ll transform the planet of Pega into a wasteland.”
“Not just the planet—the entire system.” He removed Sulafat’s fingers from his whiskers. “Don’t look so shocked, Captain… it’s just business.”
Ma Ades lunged forward and belted Zosma between the eyes with the handle end of her side cannon. He crumpled down on top of Chort. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself. I never was much of a church-goer.”
The elevator doors re-opened. Vin Vir and Rastaban Drac stepped out. “We thought—,” Vin paused and stepped around the unconscious bodies, “—we’d assumed you might need help being rescued.”
“We’ll still need all the help we can get taking Ambition back,” Sulafat said. He picked up the rifles and tossed one to Vin. “We have to get to the bridge.”
“That will be difficult,” Nash pointed out. “The remaining military and security forces onboard are firmly under the Admiral’s command.”
Gacrux nodded in agreement. “Lennix may not hold all the hearts onboard, but he’s in control of all the guns. You have to leave the ship, Captain. You have to get down to the planet, find Hadar Cen, and order our people to call off the attack.”
“Tor’s with them,” Rastaban warned. “He won’t stand down unless the Admiral orders him to.”
“Then I’ll have to try and convince him otherwise,” Sulafat said. He looked about the empty bay for a ship. “Aren’t there any goddamned fighters left on this vessel?”
Neb Kaitos still had his weapon aimed at the men lying on the floor. “Anything fit to fly is already in orbit around Pega or on the surface. The only fighter left on Ambition is Rastaban’s piece of crap, Nail.” He pointed with his gun towards the far end of the garage over half a kilometer away where the last ship sat in pieces. “It isn’t as bad as it looks. The wing’s been repaired, and I’ve finished replacing the pilot canopy cover. All that stuff around it is mostly spare parts and tools. She’ll fly if you need her to, Captain.”
Sulafat winced. “You just called it a piece of crap.”
“Only because it still stinks like that traitor, Emin. The asshole broke my nose and knocked out half of my teeth. Trust me, Nail can make it to the planet.” He touched the tip of his bandaged nose and winced. “Do me a favor, and blow Tor’s head off when you get there.”
“There will be no more senseless killing.” Sulafat slung the rifle over his shoulder and spoke to all of them. “I plan to see order re-established here. We’ll fight to take our home back, but I won’t let our efforts devolve into a murdering spree. Our people may be split on how to fight this war now that it’s upon us—they’ve started to take sides, but we’re still one family. We will not kill members of our family just for the sake of killing. Do I make myself clear?”
They all nodded in silence.
“Good, it’s settled then.” He focused his attention on Nash. “Find a way to keep these people safe while I’m gone. Seek out more crew members—find a way back up to the bridge, and take Ambition back.”
“Consider it done, Captain.”
“You’re with me, Kaitos. Let’s get that fighter out into space.” He grabbed onto the mechanic and started for Nail. He stopped after a few steps and looked back to the robot. “Those things you said when Lennix took over—about him being your original commander, how you followed his orders back then, and how you would follow them now…”
Nash tapped the side of his head with a metal finger. “It’s those human engrams floating around up here. I can lie with the best of them.”
Sulafat smiled and turned back for the end of the bay. Vin jogged up behind him. “Get back with the others,” he ordered. “Neb will help me get the fighter launched.”
“You’ll need someone in the weapons turret, Captain. I’m coming with you.”
“You have no military training.”
“I didn’t have much training as your assistant when this started either, but here I am.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Promoting Tor Emin to the rank of General was the biggest mistake I ever made. Am I going to regret placing that much faith in you as well?”
“I think you already know the answer to that, sir.” She slung her rifle over one shoulder, and the three jogged on together towards Nail.
Chapter 50
“Another corridor, sir,” the milun called from around the corner. “No doors, no windows.”
Tor motioned the men behind him to move. They turned the corner and met up with the soldier he’d ordered ahead. “It never ends,” the General mumbled. “One narrow Sol-cursed hallway after another.” He spoke into his helmet mic. “Are the rest of you seeing this?”
The other three groups reported in the same. Tor called again to the fighters circling overhead. He wasn’t expecting a reply, and didn’t receive one. They hadn’t heard a word from the ships in the sky or those parked in the clearing since they’d entered the building fifteen minutes earlier. “It’s a trick of some kind,” he said to the soldiers gathered around him.
“A labyrinth,” Wez said.
“A what?”
“Labyrinth. It’s an old word, a really old word for a maze. The Pegans have separated our numbers and led us into it. This isn’t a building—it’s a container. We have to get out of here, General.”
Tor leaned up against one of the walls and considered his options. Lennix wanted Hadar Cen brought back to the ship; the Admiral was a firm believer in the ancient practice of leaving no man behind. Major Weston would undoubtedly feel the same way, and Tor didn’t want to disappoint his recently revived relative. But Hadar was only one man. Tor was responsible for the lives of hundreds. He would get as many of them back to Ambition as he could. To hell with the rescue mission. “Okay, everybody, we’re pulling out. Rendezvous back at the fighters.”
They retreated back around the corner and Wez ordered them to stop. “This isn’t the same corridor we just came down.”
Tor peered ahead. The corridor was much shorter, and instead of there being a single joining passageway to the left, there were two leading off in both directions. “That’s impossible.”
One of the other group leaders spoke through his speakers. “I hate to admit this, sir, but we seem to have gotten all turned around in this place.”
A third leader reported in. “Hey, General, has your group found an exit door yet? I think we’re lost.”
Tor didn’t wait to hear from the last group. He raised his rifle and began firing into the far wall at the corridor’s end. “We’ll have to blast our way out!” The wall was thick, but it couldn’t withstand the combined fire power of four plasma rifles bearing down on it. Concrete and steel gave way. “Hold your fire!” They crept forward. The smoke began to clear and dust settled.
Tor stepped through the opening first—into another featureless grey corridor.
Wez followed moments later. “Shit. This isn’t good.”
“Then we’ll just keep punching through.” He turned left and aimed his rifle down the hall.
“Hold on,” the boss said. One of his hands was resting against the destroyed wall edge. “You fee
l that? It’s shaking.”
Tor placed a hand next to Wez’s. He felt a steadily growing vibration through his finger tips. “Did we take out the wall’s main support?”
One of the miluns called out behind him. “Not just the wall—the whole building’s moving.”
The fighter ship, Comet, dropped down a hundred meters through the lowest layer of clouds. Platoon Chief Hera Meda could hardly believe her eyes. “Comet to landing party—the entire structure is dropping down into the ground, I repeat, the building is being swallowed up whole.”
Chief Foma Austrin didn’t need air support to tell her the obvious. All of the remaining soldiers assembled around her on the ground could see it sinking. They could hear it rumbling, and they could feel it beneath their boots. She glanced up at Comet; the fighter was still descending. “You’ve come down far enough, Hera. Climb back up and watch our backs. We’re lifting off immediately.”
Men and women started scrambling for the ships. Foma was half way up the rungs to her cockpit when she noticed Comet still dropping. “Hera! Pull your ship back up!”
Static crackled through her helmet speakers as Hera attempted to respond. “—gines down! We’ve lost all—”. The communication suddenly went dead. Foma hung onto the rungs and watched in horror as Comet spiraled down. It crashed nose first into a corner of the still-descending building, throwing up a plume of orange fire and black smoke.
A second impact explosion occurred moments later over a kilometer away on the clearing’s far side. Ambition fighters were falling all around them. Foma scrambled up the rest of the way and dropped down into the cockpit. Atlas Tau, the milun that had replaced General Emin in the weapons turret, called down to her. “The ship’s dead, Chief! Canopies won’t drop and there’s zero power to the controls!”
Every ship in the clearing was dead. Pilots and gunners were unbuckling and climbing out just seconds after strapping in. All helmet communication was gone—they were shouting from ship to grounded ship, jumping back down to the ground. Foma tried her mic again anyway; she called out to the fighters still in orbit around Pega. She even attempted hailing Ambition, knowing full well the ship would be out of range. The background static in her speakers was no longer there.