by Ian Miller
Three armed men then bounced across to the foreman, who saw trouble for the first time. The purpose of the weapons was clear, and he surrendered and permitted his intercom to be disabled, before being led away to be tied up with his companions. The rather bemused workers now began staring at their own species. The first problem was to communicate, as there were no common frequencies between the suits.
Natasha was prepared for this. With a felt pen, she began writing instructions on one of the walls. The workers stared in surprise, but then realized that this was likely to be their only chance to leave Miranda alive. They were divided into groups. Most of them were required to clear away the last of the scaffolding, and if possible to use the winch to get the ship up to the ramp. Harry was to determine whether the ship was operable. If it were, that was their escape vehicle, while if it were not, his job was to immobilize it in the launch area, to prevent pursuit.
There were four entrances to this assembly room: the exit tunnel was secure, directly opposite was an entrance to a tunnel through which, the newly liberated prisoners assured them, was the worker's compound. To the left of this was another giant ramp shaft, below which was the main enemy fleet. To the right was a tunnel, down which the prisoners believed was the main part of the M'starn base.
The Marines were despatched to this latter area. Their task was simple in concept. If they could break through and capture this section, overall victory was achieved right then. As Gaius had warned them, the probability that this would be achievable was very low, but they could hardly leave without trying. Their orders were very clear: this was not a suicide mission. If progress became stalled, they were to retreat.
Natasha led a small Russian squad, together with two of the workers, towards the airlock that they had been assured was the entrance to the workers' quarters. Led by the workers, they entered through a large circular hatch of some strange ceramic-like material. Natasha held the hatch open until the squad was inside, then she pulled on the hatch. To her surprise, it moved almost effortlessly, but to lock the door required more force to turn the large wheel. She braced her hands under one of the spokes and lifted, to turn the wheel clockwise. Nothing happened, although one of the workers became agitated. Natasha guessed correctly the second time, moved to a spoke on the other side, and lifted. The wheel moved anticlockwise, and the door locked. Lifting was easy; she could use the floor as a brace. Had she pulled downwards, she would have propelled herself to the roof.
After a few moments fumbling with the wheel, which was the only object within the walls, Natasha stared dumbfoundedly at the smooth white circular wall. There were no controls, and no other exits. It seemed quite impossible. Suddenly she grabbed back at the wheel; this must be a trap. One of the newly released workers became agitated, and grasped at her arm to urge her on. She turned, drew her Krezell wand, then suddenly the workers became frightened. A devious M'starn trap!
There seemed to be a stand-off between the troops and the workers, but nothing happened. Natasha stared at the room, the ceilings, the floors, the walls. Nothing was apparent as a clue. It was then one of the workers edged forward. A soldier, probably as frightened as the worker, pointed his weapon at the worker's stomach. The worker held out his hands in an open fashion, and indicated he wanted to do something. The soldier looked towards Natasha, and she nodded. The worker moved to the wheel, checked it was closed, pressed the centre, which initiated an inflow of air, then he moved over to the far side of the airlock, at one hundred and sixty degrees clockwise about the centre, braced himself against another worker, then he struck the wall firmly. To Natasha's surprise, the room began to rotate. When it finished, the hatch was over the spot where the worker had hit the wall, and when the hatch was opened, the entrance to the compound was before them.
As they entered the compound, the initial looks from the prisoners there were of stunned fear. What next? Then two of the pressure-suited workers took off their helmets and passed on the news, then instructed the others to spread the word, and get suited up. The settlers immediately began yelling for joy, a move that annoyed Natasha. She should have anticipated this, she realized. She grabbed one of the workers to question him. Yes, there was only one way in or out; yes, air was supplied through that vent in the ceiling. Natasha looked up to see the large ducting. Immediately she took her wand and began cutting a sheet of metal from the wall of a store.
Meanwhile the soldiers opened the store of pressure suits. Prisoners soared through the various barracks, quickly passing on the news. Prisoners, at first bemused, then highly elated, poured from their barracks and surged to the store. Each person was given a suit and told to move on and suit up elsewhere. There was the inevitable congestion as the prisoners, having received a suit, immediately blocked the exits as they tried to suit up as quickly as possible. Soldiers quickly moved them on, in some cases too quickly as settlers suddenly found they were missing some item.
Then, suddenly, there was a high-pitched noise and a flurry of flashing lights; the alarm was being given, the noise of which slowly became thinner as the air was being pumped from the area. Rather than let them go, the M'starn intended to kill the prisoners. Natasha grabbed her large sheet of metal, aimed, and leaped. As she soared up like a comic-book heroine, she pulled her fingers back from the edge of the sheet. Then the air pressure grabbed the sheet and sucked it towards the vent. Success! The sheet closed over the vent, and the air leak slowed. Natasha hit the metal with a thump, allowed her arms to coil, then she uncoiled and flung herself back towards the ground..
Precious seconds passed, then the M'starn reversed the airflow, and the metal sheet was flung out towards the room. Natasha aimed her Krezell wand to hold the sheet just away from the vent, so that when the airflow was reversed, again the sheet was flung towards the vent. Again it came off, and again it went back on as the flow reversed, but this time the aim was not as good, and there was a segment of space for the air to whistle out. Natasha got a second sheet, and once again leaped. It covered the segment, but the surfaces were not flat. The move, however, bought more precious time. Again she propelled herself floorwards, while the prisoners hurriedly finished their suiting up. Again the sheets were blown off, and this time, because the pressure was uneven, they flew off in different directions. Natasha caught the largest, and again directed it towards the vent, but by now the air was getting very thin. Eight settlers did not survive; the pain was too great, they had been too slow and despite the best attempts to help them, their bodies began to swell and rupture in such a way that death was guaranteed. Natasha winced, closed her eyes, then mercifully ended their pain.
She stared at the wracked bodies, and at the strange antics of the suited workers. The grief! The pain! The flashing blue lights seemed to callously highlight the agony. But those lights were alarms. Something had to be done, and quickly. She barked orders to her soldiers; the workers had to be sent through the airlock as quickly as possible. The soldiers calmly lined them up. There was no means of verbal communication between the two different sets of pressure suits, but the workers quickly realized what was happening, and having already had the example of what dangers were present, now showed commendable self-restraint as they allowed themselves to be herded towards the airlock and to be sent through without panic.
* * *
The attack on the M'starn living quarters came to an early halt. The passageway began to take giant S curves, and on each outside corner there were two weapons nests, each of which could train along both directions. There was also some hidden detection system, for as soon as the first of the troops were halfway down the first stretch a series of lights began flashing and energy beams began tearing through the corridor. Four men were killed and two wounded, with torn pressure suits, before two strange grenades destroyed the first two nests. The wounded were lucky in that the suits were torn on the leg or arm, and the rapid application of a tourniquet by comrades prevented the air escape from being critical, then patches could be applied and pressure resupp
lied. These two men were quickly placed on a trolley, and sent back for evacuation.
The troops advanced, but when they reached the corner all lights were turned off. The infrared enhancers on their suits were useless; they, and spots where weapons had struck, were the only sources of warmth in this corridor, which somehow seemed to be maintained at the Miranda ambient temperature. An ideal defence; any life form warm enough to survive was its own beacon.
A captain glided along the floor to the corner, and to his horror, found he could not stop. With almost no weight, there was virtually no friction. As he drifted past the corner he poked a light around at normal head height. As expected, there was another weapons nest and beams tore into the floating body. While the Colonel was trying to work out what to do next, a soldier leapt around the corner, intent on firing a grenade into the area where the nest should be. He had, however, barely rounded the corner when the beams tore him apart. As he died, the grenade was launched, although not in the right direction. His kicking body drifted on, hit the far wall, then rebounded off to float towards the M'starn. At the instant of the explosion, another soldier tried the same thing, but the first explosion had not upset the enemy detection system; again the man was killed, this time before the grenade could be launched.
The Colonel thought for a moment, then indicated he wanted two to throw grenades. He signalled for the men to approach, then took the grenades to set the delay fuses. The Colonel himself took the first one, and moved to the outside wall, pressed the timer, then as if in a bowling alley he let go the grenade. It hit the far wall, then bounced off to disappear around the corner. After some delay, there was a tremendous flash. He tried again, with a slightly different delay, and again there was a tremendous flash. The problem was, had it achieved anything? Someone still had to look around the corner. It was then that the Colonel remembered the thermite flares they were carrying. These were devices for melting their way through metal, and would obviously provide a heat signal to thermal detectors. He attached one to a dart and threw it at the far wall, then as it ignited, he glided along the floor and around the corner. As he poked a dummy object in front of him, a beam tore through it, and he was quickly withdrawn. Even that brilliant source of heat and light had not overloaded or blinded the detectors. There seemed to be nothing he could do, and this was only the first obstacle.
Then, through the floor he could feel some vibration. A sensor was attached to the wall, and this confirmed his suspicion. Something mechanical was coming up the tunnel, and it took little imagination to work out that this would be some form of weapon. The Colonel immediately called the attack off and withdrew to the entrance, but not before he left several of the grenades lying on the floor, modified in such a way as to act as mines to be activated by any close movement. His troops were instructed to take cover at the tunnel entrance, and destroy whatever was coming after them. His marines were, after all, the only defence for the escaping workers.
The marines retreated with skill, ensuring they remained close to the walls of the tunnel, and always with the last men taking turns to provide covering fire or to retreat behind the next covering fire. One of the machines appeared and beams tore through the vacuum. Immediately the marines let off a barrage of strange grenades. The grenades struck, but the armour held. One grenade, however, managed to roll underneath the 'tank', and it leaped in the air, came back down, and ceased firing. Something was behind it, obviously trying to pull it out of the way.
A sergeant immediately sent three marines towards this tank. They leaped, and flew through the space, to stop against the tank's armour. They pushed downwards, and rolled the grenades under their tank with slight delay fuses, then they kicked off and 'flew' back towards the tunnel entrance. There were a series of explosions, and efforts at clearing the disabled tank seemed to cease.
The Colonel was contemplating a restart to the mission when out in the open three figures were suddenly cut down. He suddenly realized what was happening. The M'starn were firing beam weapons with the beams being reflected off the tunnel walls. He quickly ordered a sequence of grenades to be bowled down the tunnel with long delays on the fuses, and he immediately ordered everyone outside to keep clear of the line defined by the tunnel.
This saved further casualties, but it also meant that those escaping could not cross in front of this tunnel, which meant that those who had taken cover on the wrong side of the tunnel mouth could not get to the ship. It was a stalemate, but only one that would last as long as his supply of strange grenades lasted. That, he reflected, would not be long.
* * *
Gaius had little difficulty. Any thought he might have had of reaching the main fleet vehicles and sabotaging them was immediately discarded when the alarms went off. At this depth of the caverns, his Krezell wand and his shielding depended on the power pack he was carrying. To go down the ramp would be futile, for he could never get close enough to carry out any effective sabotage. His mission, then, was to make the ramp to the main fleet inoperable for the immediate future. The ramp was raised at that moment, and the major control system was on it. He simply destroyed the controls. This would be no more than an irritation to the enemy, but it would prevent pursuit for a few hours. There was a gap at the edge of the ramp, and below he could see the entrance leading to the main fleet. He was carrying a small bag of mines so he set the fuses for a four-minute delay, then holding the mines in two hands he dropped them gently but at the same time he imparted as much spin as he could. He watched them drop down, hit the floor, then spin on into the cavern where they would continue rolling until detonation. Hopefully that would do some damage.
* * *
Harry had found that the ship was operable, although there was no way of determining whether the main motors would work until an attempt was made to start them, and that would have to be done outside the complex. Nevertheless, by the time the alarm went off he had managed to ignite the first reactor. This was really only a starting device for the main drives, but when in the open it would provide propulsion. More importantly, it would also power the lighter weapons.
The ship was hauled to the main ramp and the newly liberated Mars settlers were brought aboard. It was then that the remnants of the marine squad emerged from the tunnel to the M'starn living quarters, evidently pursued by some form of armoured vehicle. The marines kept rolling grenades down the tunnel, and high-energy beams kept coming back.
Harry signalled to the troops that they should get out further away from the entrance. The Colonel gave the necessary order, and the marines retreated. As the last of the soldiers dragged a wounded comrade free, a vehicle appeared in the tunnel. The warship's weapons fired, on low power, but that was easily sufficient to tear the vehicle to a mass of scrap. Two more bursts brought a huge icefall over the entrance. The evacuation could recommence, and suited figures scurried towards the warship or the ramp.
The next problem was to raise the ramp. As Harry had already determined, the M'starn had cut the power to the ramp. Harry signalled the marine Colonel, who immediately got one of his men to jump up and grab the cable. This was cut, and the end brought to the ship. Harry knew of one place where he could tap into power from the ship: he prayed that the voltages would be appropriate. With special clips he had brought in case this was necessary, he joined the cable to the power point, and threw the switch. Very slowly the ramp began to rise. It finally stopped at the top, and one of the workers managed to lock it in place as the motor to the ramp began to overheat. Meanwhile all troops not required for the warship's launch scurried for their dear life towards the main entrance, then towards the huge bunker beyond the mouth of the tunnel that was used to shield those working outside from the exhaust of a departing vessel. There was considerable relief amongst those who had settled into the bunker.
There was some apprehension amongst those on the ship, because some sort of vibration had begun emanating from below the ramp. If the ramp lock could be broken and the ship brought down, there was no escape. Th
e engineers had managed to make a connection with the mule, and it was being dragged, but this was so slow. The noises became louder, and it appeared that someone was cutting through the ramp near the lock. Harry arranged for one of the crewmen to aim one of the ship's weapons at the hole. If anything came through it was to be blasted, except that the locking system had to be not blasted. Whether there was sufficient accuracy was unknown.
Something came through the hole: some sort of robotic arm. The weapon fired, and it was shattered. By now the great ship was almost off the ramp, and Harry began to breathe more freely. The ship was turned around, and the mule returned to the bunker. When someone questioned that, Harry pointed out that something dragging the side of the ship would lead to their destruction in the tunnel.
They sat fretting in the launch position, while Harry went through what he hoped was the correct launch procedure, with what he hoped was sufficient fuel to bring this off. There was, after all, no reason why the ship should be fuelled up, however by the same token there was no easy means of removing fuel other than by removing the motors, and he hoped that that had not been done. He went through the procedure of preparing the motors for firing as the two engineers boarded and closed the hatches. The ship was sealed and ready for departure.
A M'starn put its head through the ramp, then withdrew. He would have had a difficult choice. Unless he did something now, they would lose the ship, but if they entered this zone and the motors fired, they would be vaporized. Discretion prevailed, particularly as hand weapons would be inappropriate against a battleship. Perhaps he realized that the firing of the motors was imminent.