He checked his heads-up data screen. There were only five hours until daylight. It was about twelve degrees centigrade. He pulled his jacket around his neck and looked over at Argie. Her head was buried in her jacket, and she looked as if she might be asleep.
Wait a minute. If I can sabotage the base heating system, we might just be able to pull this off.
“Cee, are you there?”
“Yes, I am here. Why are you so excited?”
“I have an idea. Do you think you can find the base power supply? I need to know how they supply heat to the base.”
“A moment please.” After a short pause, Cee came back. “Yes, my guess is that the building with the greatest IR signature is the one producing the heat for the base.”
“Show me.”
A moment later he had the diagram in his head. “That’s quite a way from the prison, but maybe I can pull it off.”
“Yes,” interrupted Cee, “this facility has a nuclear reactor which powers the base.”
“Nuclear, how do you know?”
“I have analyzed the spectrum of the building. It is giving off energy in the parts of the spectrum commensurate with a nuclear reactor.”
“I need to shut it down, without alerting anyone and make it real hard to restart. Any ideas?”
“No.”
“Me neither. What do you know about such reactors?”
“Not much, you?”
“Not much either. See what you can dig up from your computer.”
“Yes, please to be standing by.”
Smith smiled to himself over that. Cee will make a soldier before this mission is over, if we’re still alive.
There was a glow up ahead, probably the base. He reached over and shook Argie gently by the shoulder.
“Maybe you should jump off here. No sense in wasting both of us.”
Suddenly the thought of going on without him was more repugnant than dying with him. She quickly pushed those feelings down deep.
“Just like you wanting to take all the glory for yourself while I stay safe cowering in the darkness.”
He just moaned and shook his head. “If we lie flat against the deck, maybe no one will spot us.”
“Cool, I’ll just hold on to this. Whoa!”
At that moment, a cupola arose from the superstructure. “Hello,” she said.
“Hello, what?” The turret blocked his view.
“Nothing to worry your pretty head about,” she replied with just enough sarcasm thrown in.
“Why did I come on this mission?”
“You were ordered to; besides gramps, you’re crazy about me.”
“I’d be crazier about a high-powered rifle right now.”
“American popgun not good enough for you anymore?” she teased.
By this time, he was getting so annoyed with her he had forgotten to be cold and afraid. He might just be better off shot.
“Yes!” The cupola swung open.
Inside there was room for one big semi-reclined lizard. She slipped down into the seat. She was so short the thing swallowed her up, and she could not see out. Inside all the lights were lit, map showing location, several things set up so the control could not be moved unless it was flipped up; probably firing control. A screen showed what the camera saw and toggles for operating it.
“I wonder …” she said to no one in particular. She moved the camera right and left; then she extended the boom.
“What th’ …!” Denver fell backwards when the boom began to extend. Only now could he see the open cupola. He crawled over to it.
“I’m going to wring your neck before this mission is over,” he scolded.
“Sorry,” was her gleeful reply.
“I hope the lizards have no way to monitor this thing. If they didn’t know we were here, they might now.”
She looked up with her impish face illuminated by the control panel. “Oops.”
“I just might kill her before they get the chance,” he mumbled under his breath.
“I can see the base now,” she said.
He looked up. He could only see the glow. “Is there room for both of us in there?”
“I think so. Just keep your hands to yourself and be careful not to kick any controls getting in.”
He sat up and dropped his feet and lower legs into the control module. “Can you help guide me?”
She grabbed his legs, and he let himself down. It was tight, but they both fit. “We need to close the cupola.”
“Maybe it’s on the lid itself,” she replied.
He tried what appeared to be the mechanism, but it would not budge.
“Hang on a second,” she said. “Okay, pull it once.”
“What did I do that for?”
“This light blinks every time you try to force the cover. Here I’ll show you.” She stood up in the seat and tugged on the handle.
“What about this control?” he asked moving his hand over to it.
“Wait a minute; you don’t want to squash me. What control are you talking about?”
They looked the control panel over. Most things seemed to have pictures instead of written labels.
“I think this one will close it,” she said.
“Go ahead.”
She moved the switch from the up position, to what they hoped was the down position. The color of the light on the display changed, and the hatch closed.
“I can get a pretty good view outside except for the right rear. The turret is in the way.”
“I can’t see any of it,” she complained. “And no, I’m not sitting in your lap.”
“And what would you like for Christmas, little girl.”
“Ha, ha.”
Moments later, they were at the gate. The robot vehicle stopped. This was it; if they were caught, they might die right here. There was no movement anywhere.
“Maybe we can figure out how to use its guns and shoot our way out.”
“I think you disabled the guns gramps.”
He just shook his head.
Suddenly the gate opened up, and the robot vehicle drove itself forward. Inside the darkened cockpit, they could see the lighted base clearly. The vehicle drove itself to a maintenance hangar and stopped again.
A series of lights marched across the screen, and then the doors swung up, and the little vehicle drove itself inside, found an empty spot, and parked itself.
“Friend Denver.” It was an almost painful call from Cee. “There is activity. One of the robot vehicles is moving from the prison and is headed in your direction.”
“Something must have tipped them off. Let’s get out of this thing.”
“Shouldn’t we stay hidden?”
“My guess is, this is what it is coming to inspect.”
“Oh.” She fumbled for a moment with the controls, and the cupola swung up and away.
He stood up and sat on the roof then swung his feet up. She threw the switch to close the hatch then jumped out of the way before it closed.
They heard the other robot coming, and the door began to swing open. She took refuge behind some equipment in the back, and he hid near the door.
The robot device lumbered into the maintenance facility and went over to the one they had ridden in. It carefully looked it over, camera moving first one way then the other. There was room for it to move to the side of the robot vehicle. It appeared to inspect the cupola. Then after a minute, the cupola opened. The camera boom tilted forward until the camera could see into the cupola.
After a long pause, it withdrew the camera boom. The hatch then closed and moved down into its storage position. It then backed itself up so that it could leave. In doing so, it came quite close to Denver’s hiding place.
It stopped and looked around the maintenance bay, but noth
ing moved. It then turned its camera so it could see out and the front wheels followed suit.
Suddenly Denver saw his chance. He low-crawled to the robot vehicle and climbed up on it. The robot left the hangar and the door began to close behind it. Denver only smiled back at his shocked accomplice.
She thought to herself that it just might work for getting in there, but what about getting out? Then she had an idea.
She opened the cupola on the nearest one. She then checked what appeared to be the drums. Soon she got them open, full as she had expected. Somebody had followed good military procedure. She started to slide down into the cockpit; then another idea hit her.
* * * *
The robot vehicle Denver rode returned to its guard position and powered down. He could see the other robot vehicles. Their cameras were turning all the way around slowly. It would be difficult to find a time when no cameras pointed in his direction.
It suddenly hit him that it made getting out almost impossible. Maybe he should not have been so impulsive. He waited until the cameras on the other two pointed away from him, opened the cupola, and dropped down inside closing it after him.
“Cee are you there?”
“We are all here,” Cee replied excitedly. “Your exploits are the thing of legend. “We are all honored …”
“Cee, would you forget that shit; I’m in a pickle down here.”
“Friend Denver, what is ‘a pickle’?”
A moment later, “Is this any time to think of food?”
“I’m in trouble.”
“Yes, we can see that. What daring plan do you have to get out?”
“Oh brother. How long till daylight?”
“It is only two hours till dawn. We are running out of time.”
“Where is the orbiting ship now?”
“It will be almost directly overhead in less than an hour.”
“You are probably going to have to move,” said Denver.
“Do you think they will be able to detect us?”
“We can’t take that chance, and I need to have you closer.”
He thought a moment. “Do you think you can find a way to hide at the old medical facility? They might not notice anything different there.”
“Yes, it is a good plan. We will do so at once. How are you going to proceed?”
“I don’t know?” said Smith.
There were four robot vehicles in the hangar. Methodically, Argie had disabled each one. Now to figure out how the door operates.
Denver shut down as many systems as he could. Eventually, the picture from the camera stopped. He popped the top and stuck his head out. He timed the interval between when both the other cameras were pointed away from the one he was inside.
Suddenly his camera came back on line. “Uh oh, either it automatically reset, or someone reset it.”
He opened the panel just below the controls. It exposed what looked like a printed circuit board. He then turned off the camera again and ripped out the board. Now back to his timing.
“No, do not shoot!” The message in his head was so strong that it was quite painful. It was Cee.
“He is there! Do not shoot!”
Denver stuck his head out. There not thirty meters away was another robot vehicle with its gun trained on his vehicle. Suddenly the cupola popped open, and a petite figure stood up in the seat.
“Argie?”
“You were expecting maybe Santa Claus?”
He crawled out, then remembered the other two vehicles. As he looked, the nearest one’s gun swung around toward them and blew up under a barrage of fire from Argie’s gun.
He climbed out and forced the gun on his vehicle out of line just in time. It took off the side of a building. He thought his ears would explode, but he kept pushing.
He screamed, “Take out the other one.” She was already going after it.
“No, go the other way. You are moving to its line of fire.”
“Nag, nag, nag,” she softly said to herself.
She deftly swung the vehicle around and took off in the direction of the burning robot vehicle. He wanted to let go of the gun and make a dash for the prison.
Suddenly, he looked up and found himself looking right into the gun of the third of the robot vehicles. He let go and jumped just before a burst of fire tore into the spot where he had been standing. The machine was on fire, and the ammo began to explode.
A heartbeat later, the third robot vehicle exploded. Argie had found it.
He bolted for the enormous door of the prison but found it locked as he had expected. He quickly brought his weapon around and fired on the locking mechanism. He then kicked the door open.
With his night vision on, he could see the prisoners. “You people okay?” he called out.
“Who are you?”
“Legion, we’re getting you out of here. Is it just you two?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s the other one?” Smith asked.
“Dead.”
“What happened?”
The young female medic answered. “They wanted to see how we fared against them one on one.”
“How’d we do?”
“It was over quickly.”
“Let’s go.” They began pulling on their boots.
He stepped back outside. The place was lit up with the fires of three robot vehicles and one building. The other robot vehicles will be here soon, he thought.
“No they won’t,” said Cee. “The foundling has broken them.”
“Cee, what else is going on?”
“The base is alerted to your presence.”
“Do tell,” he said aloud. “What do you see?”
“Lights are coming on in most of the buildings. I’m sorry, we have lost our picture.”
The prisoners came up behind him. In the distance, he could see figures running at them. They wore black suits that covered their entire bodies. He took them to be some sort of combat suit with temperature control. This was not good.
He squeezed off several rounds in their direction, and they went for cover. They started in the direction Argie had taken.
Suddenly the entire area where the lizards had been erupted as Argie’s robot vehicle opened up. She whipped up next to them and stood up in the seat.
“You guys call a cab?”
The prisoners were gawking. Denver turned to them. “You heard the lady. Climb aboard.”
He dropped down in the seat. “Ouch, be careful klutz.”
“That’s Corporal Klutz to you. How do you drive this thing?”
“I don’t know that I have the time to teach you; besides, I hate the way old people drive. I’ll get us out of here.” She started off.
“No, not that way.”
“I’m heading for the gate.”
“No, we’ve got to blow up their power station.”
“But that will contaminate … Oh, you’re bad.” She sped off in the direction of the power station. She passed it.
“I think you missed your turn.”
She was almost to the fence when she stopped and turned around. “Could I see your back seat driver’s license?”
She opened up with the gun, and the whole thing went up. A warning suddenly went off in the vehicle. They quickly exchanged glances. “Radiation?” she asked.
“Probably.”
“Time to go,” she said. She quickly blew a big hole in the fence, but before she drove through it, she brought the turret around and began to systematically fire up several buildings.
“Do you know how much ammo we have left?”
“No.”
“Maybe we should save it.”
“You won’t let a girl have any fun.”
“Why don’t you fire a few rounds out in front of us as we go thro
ugh the fence?”
“Why?”
“Mines.”
“Oh.”
She brought the turret back around and sent a couple of rounds in the direction of escape. There were loud explosions. “Uh oh.”
“Now you drive real careful.” He stuck his head out.
“Hang on you guys. This might get interesting.”
At that moment rounds clanged off the vehicle and flew overhead. He brought up his rifle and squeezed off some more rounds, but this time they kept coming.
“Argie!”
“I’m on it.” She swung the turret around and fired into the rapidly advancing enemy soldiers. She then brought the turret back around and blazed a path for them through the minefield.
Meanwhile, Denver was steadily pumping rounds back at the lizards. He suddenly remembered the aliens.
“Cee, where are you?”
“We are hidden among the debris of the medical facility. Your plan goes well though I can barely take the excitement.”
“Get up here now! We have left the facility and are headed east. Meet us one kilometer from the base.”
“Are we not to stay hidden?” asked Cee.
“The time for stealth has passed, now is the time to move at maximum speed.”
“Yes, yes of course.”
“Where is the enemy ship now?”
“Oh, in all the excitement I had forgotten. It passed overhead and is almost beyond direct line of sight.”
“That means they know what’s happening to their base. They will probably whip around the planet as fast as orbital mechanics will allow.”
“We are on our way,” said Cee.
Argie eventually stopped firing. “I think we are beyond the mine field.”
“Hope you’re right.”
“Sir?” It was one of the escapees.
He stuck his head up. “What is it?”
“She’s been hit.”
One of the former prisoners was lying on the deck and bleeding profusely. He dug in his med-kit.
“Argie, quick driving lesson. You’ve got a patient.”
“A woman’s work is never done.”
“Nag, nag, nag,” he said smiling.
He took over the driving.
“Hey watch it. I’m trying to patch someone back together up here.”
“Cee, we’ve got a casualty.”
Hell Fighters from Earth Page 28