The High Ground

by Melinda Snodgrass

  “Get his gun,” she said to Sumiko.

  The other girl wiped her nose on her sleeve, nodded and plucked the pistol out of its holster.

  “Glad I asked for you,” Mercedes said. Grief and fear had lodged a stone in her throat. The words crawled painfully past. “Dani would have been useless and I’m not sure Cipriana would be as analytical.”

  “Yeah, that’s me. No sensibility, Little Miss Common Sense,” Sumiko said. Mercedes couldn’t tell if she was trying to make a joke or not. “So, where are we going?”

  “The High Ground. They’ll know what’s happening and help us.”

  “Okay.” Sumiko tilted her head back to look at the ring overhead. “If the bad guys have optics they could spot us.”

  “I really, really wish Chief Begay had had us do more than just target practice,” Mercedes muttered. “I guess it’ll be like hide-and-seek with my little sisters.”

  They tried to use planters, bushes and trees as cover, but Mercedes wasn’t sure they were all that successful.

  “I wonder if we ought to get out of these uniforms, look more like regular ladies,” Sumiko said as they passed a clothing store at the edge of the park.

  “Regular ladies… with guns. And I don’t want to take the time,” Mercedes replied. “Let’s just get to a hyperloop station, and get back.”

  “I wonder where the regular people got to,” Sumiko said.

  “Hiding would be my guess.”

  Sumiko darted out of the park and to the door of a hotel. She tried the door. “Locked.”

  “By the people inside?” Mercedes asked.

  Sumiko ran to a shop and tried its door. It was also locked. “I’m thinking these attackers have put every building in lockdown.”

  “But not ours. Not the door into that ice cream shop,” Mercedes said.

  “Which means…” Sumiko’s voice trailed away.

  “They were after us.”

  “You.”

  They stared at each other. “We’ve got to get to the academy.” Mercedes took off running.

  Never had the curving ring seemed so large. Mercedes noted her breathing, and for the first time was grateful for those agonizing morning runs. An armored figure lunged from an opening between buildings. Mercedes dropped and slid on her hip across the sidewalk avoiding his swinging fist. She felt the burn on her skin, but it was muted by unadulterated panic. She brought the shotgun to bear and fired into his crotch. The pellets rattled off his armored suit like dried peas.

  Sumiko was frantically firing the pistol. It was having even less effect than the pellets, but the kinetic force was at least staggering the suited figure. Mercedes rolled away and pulled a grenade from her pocket. She was behind the man now, and could see the clips on the belt harness that held a variety of tools and weapons. There was an empty hook.

  Leaping to her feet she pulled the pin from the grenade, clutched at his utility belt, and clipped the grenade onto it. The man whirled and backhanded her. The blow lifted her off her feet and she slammed into a bench, knocking the air from her lungs and bruising her shoulder. Her mouth worked as she tried to suck in air like a fish on shore. He stalked toward her, lifted a metal-encased foot, preparing to stomp her face. She threw up her arms in a futile effort to hold him off.

  The flash bang detonated in the small of his back. It wasn’t technically an explosive device, but that close to his body it managed to dent his armor, and balanced as he was on only one leg the concussive force sent him sprawling. Mercedes wriggled from beneath his legs, jumped to her feet, grabbed Sumiko’s hand and she ran, pulling the other girl after her.

  “Shouldn’t we have… well… killed him?” Sumiko panted.

  “How? We don’t have the right guns to get through his suit.”

  “You have that knife.”

  “I can’t. Not again. I did it because I didn’t have time to think. And please don’t remind me.”

  They reached a tram stop that would carry them to the hyperloop station. There was a tram frozen partway down the maglev track. “They shut down transport services too,” Sumiko said in her laconic way.

  Mercedes led them back into the green belt. She knew their infrared signatures would look like flares on a suit’s radar, but there was no help for it. A burst of cool water pattered on her cheek and wet the top of her head. She looked up to where a cloudbot floated past misting the vegetation. Four feet in diameter, the underside of the cloudbot was a curving bowl that held the water. Sprinklers dotted the rounded surface. The top however was flat with a port where the water could be refilled and fitted with a small motor.

  She pointed. “We ride one of those. They make a circuit of the park. We get off when it reaches the junction for The High Ground module. It’s going to be cozy, but we should both fit.”

  “And just how do we get on it?”

  “We jump.” Mercedes scanned the trees and the nearby buildings. It looked like the bot was going to float past a rather impressive oak.

  “Oh dear God,” Sumiko breathed, following Mercedes’ gaze.

  “Didn’t you ever climb trees as a kid?” Mercedes demanded as she ran to the oak.

  The lowest branch was still out of reach. Mercedes cocked up her leg. Sumiko rode so she knew what was expected. She cupped her hands. Mercedes rested her knee in Sumiko’s hands, and the other girl gave her a boost. She caught the lowest branch, swung and got her leg over the branch. She then lay along its length, stretched out her arm, and grabbed Sumiko’s hand.

  It wasn’t pretty and it wrenched her sore shoulder, but Sumiko joined her on the branch. Mercedes, one eye on the approaching cloudbot, scrambled into the higher branches. She shimmied out on a branch that thrust out toward the bot’s path.

  “It’s three feet. If we miss…”

  “We get hurt and then we get dead. Or we don’t miss and we have a chance.”

  Reaching up she grasped a thin branch and a spray of leaves. Carefully she stood up. The branch flexed a bit. Sumiko gasped and clung to it like a baby sloth. The cloudbot floated closer, gently hissing as it deposited water on the park below.

  Heart hammering, Mercedes tried to control the shaking in her knees. She watched the distance, gulped in a deep breath, and jumped. She almost plunged off the other side of the platform, but managed to stop herself, arms windmilling on the far edge. The bot slowed and dipped with her added weight.

  Mercedes turned back. Sumiko was upright and swaying. Mercedes held out a hand. “Come on! Jump! I’ll catch you.”

  Sumiko’s lips moved, she crossed herself and jumped. Mercedes caught her and they sank down, arms wrapped around each other. They were laughing wildly. Mercedes stifled her giggles and looked around. There was a small control box on the top of the bot.

  “Do you think we can make this thing go faster?”

  * * *

  The padding in his helmet was damp. Tracy feared it would soon be unable to absorb his sweat and it would begin dripping into his eyes with no way to wipe it away. He had to hope the hyper-absorbent material would keep doing its job and recycle his sweat into drinkable water. The thought reminded him he was frightfully thirsty. He took a sip from the nipple inside his helmet.

  He was terribly aware of the three bodies clipped to the Infierno. No sudden moves, no sudden acceleration, slow and steady. Which meant the Infierno was moving at a glacial pace.

  The radio crackled to life. Cullen’s voice loud in his ears. “Whoever they are they’re in the central hub—”

  Tracy couldn’t control it; he snapped, “Yes, we knew that when they fired the trimming rockets.”

  “If you’d let me finish!”

  “Go ahead, Boho.” Davin’s voice.

  “They’ve shut down public transport on the station, and put the doors in lockdown. They’ve also hacked the station cameras, but I’ve been able to slip in with them and they haven’t noticed me yet. There are a lot of dead bodies—mostly cosmódromo security, but I’ve found three unknowns in battle armor.
Knowing that I’ve been scanning for their heat signatures. If unarmored bodies are like flares then these guys are like fucking novas. So far I’ve got a count of twenty hostiles.”

  A new thought became number one on the list of Tracy’s worries. “You are on tight beam, Cullen, right?”

  The hesitation made the lie obvious. “Uh… of course.”

  “Shit,” Tracy muttered. Thanks to Boho’s carelessness the hostiles might have picked up their conversation.

  “Have you found the girls?” Hugo, his voice anxious and tight.

  “I found Sumi and Mercedes. No sign of Dani or Cipri yet.”

  Tracy bit down hard. He had to let Hugo ask, and the big man didn’t disappoint. “Where are they?”

  Boho’s voice quivered on a laugh. “Riding a cloudbot over the park.”

  “Headed where?” Davin asked.

  “Probably toward the junction with The High Ground module, but with the lockdown they won’t be able to get in.”

  Sensors picked up a flash of energy among the jumble of satellites and platforms that orbited Ouranos. Tracy hesitated, his hand hanging in the air over lidar control. “Reach out and touch someone,” Tracy muttered to himself. “But what if they reach back?” He decided against making the scan.

  “They’d have to let her in. She’s the Infanta,” Ernesto was saying.

  “So do we turn back?” Davin asked.

  “Our duty is to the crown, nothing more,” Cullen added.

  Irritation with Cullen pulled Tracy away from the sensors. “And I’m thinking leaving women and children in danger isn’t exactly doing our duty.” Tracy had tried for a sarcastic drawl, but was afraid he’d come across like a sanctimonious prig.

  “May I quote Chief Begay,” Cullen said. “We’re not paid to be heroes. We’re paid to be effective.”

  “Of course Chief Deal would say we are supposed to be big damn heroes,” Ernesto offered.

  “Tracy’s right,” Hugo said.

  “Fine! I’m just saying—” Cullen began.

  “Is there a docking bay near the Infanta’s position?” Tracy interrupted.

  “Yeah, I’ve got the cosmódromo schematics up now. I’ll send you the coordinates.”

  The diagram sprang to life in the air in front of Tracy. “Got it. Thanks.”

  He altered his trajectory with a slight burn of the engine. A blaring alarm screamed through the cockpit, sending his stomach jumping into the back of his throat. Eyes flicking wildly Tracy read the screens flashing to life before him. Incoming slugs, three of them heading right for them. Somewhere in the clutter and the darkness an enemy ship lurked. With a sweep of his hand Tracy flipped the Infierno so the slugs would hit armor and not the soft bodies riding on the upper surface.

  The fighter shook with the impact. There were yells of fear from his passengers. “Hang on,” Tracy yelled, and he sent the Infierno spinning toward the docking bay coordinates.

  On a screen he saw a second round of slugs rip through the space the fighter had occupied only a second before. The bay doors appeared before him. On the curving surface of the ring just above the doors was one of the giant cables. Tracy sent the opening code. Nothing happened.

  “They’ve got the bay doors locked down too,” he yelled.

  “I’m trying to override.” Cullen’s voice was tight with tension.

  “Let me try it manually,” Ernesto said. Before Tracy could respond a human form shot past the clear dome of the cockpit, the jets on the battle armor flaring.

  Ernesto ripped open a cover on the exterior of the ring. Tracy alternated watching Ernesto and watching the screen that showed another round of slugs heading their way.

  “Hurry!”

  “I’m trying.”

  “Try harder!” Frantic breathing was the only reply. Tracy was doing mad calculations. Slug versus missile? Missile—the slug was too much of a blunt instrument. Detonation on impact with the bay doors or just before? Before. He couldn’t risk puncturing the ring and causing the sections to seal. He was out of time. “Hugo! Davin! Bail out. Ernesto, get away from the doors! Boost hard! Now!”

  “Why? What are you…?”

  “Missile coming!” Tracy targeted a few meters shy of the doors. He was very aware of the three small figures on his screens. They were boosting away. His missile detonated as programmed and white fire blazed and bubbled across the bay doors. He washed the area with a sensor sweep. The computer thought the molecular integrity of the metal had been degraded. Tracy prayed it was right. He accelerated toward the doors. The metal did seem deformed, slumping slightly. The leading edge of the Infierno crashed into the doors.

  It wasn’t sound but sensation. Tracy watched with horror as the leading edge of the Infierno deformed, crumpled, coming ever closer to the fragile bubble that held his even more fragile body. He closed his eyes and prepared to be crushed. Then realized he didn’t have the luxury. He had to bring the craft to a stop before it plowed into the inner wall of the cosmódromo.

  Hands outthrust as if he could hold back the momentum, he keyed the forward rockets. The Infierno hit the far wall, but it was a kiss rather than a blow. He lowered the battered craft to the floor of the bay, popped the dome, yanked the jack from his battle armor and ran for the airlock mechanism.

  “You are fucking crazy, man!” Davin shouted as the three men entered the ruined docking bay. “I love it.”

  “Quick. We need to get into the station,” Tracy ordered. “They will have alerted their forces inside. Sent them to intercept us.”

  “What’s to stop them just lighting up this bay?” Hugo asked.

  “Their men inside,” Ernesto replied. “They may be in armor, but eventually they’ll need oxygen, and in space you don’t willingly poke a hole in the thing that keeps the air inside.”

  “Unless you’re Tracy,” Hugo chuckled.

  “I took the risk it wouldn’t penetrate the inner hull,” Tracy said defensively. “Now come on.”

  They ran to the inner airlock controls. This time Ernesto was able to manually override. They piled into the airlock and waited for it to stabilize.

  “We need to stay in the armor, but click back the face plates, preserve our oxygen,” Tracy said.

  “And hope nobody shoots us in the face,” Hugo grunted.

  “How did they spot us?” Davin asked.

  Before Tracy could speak Ernesto slid in smoothly and said, “Probably read our signature. With four bodies plus the engine on the fighter we looked like a flare.”

  The dark eyes shifted to Tracy and they held a warning. Tracy bowed his head, accepting the reality.

  “Cullen, have you got a location on the Infanta?” Tracy radioed.

  “Yes. Syncing it to your suits. Good luck. Get her to The High Ground.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  * * *

  Since they were prone on the top of the cloudbot Mercedes hoped they wouldn’t be noticed. And that the battle-suited figures wouldn’t notice that this particular bot was flying rather lower than its companions. So far it had worked and Mercedes filed away that bit of information in case she ever again found herself in a combat situation—people didn’t think to look up. Or at least not nearly often enough.

  Their attempt to increase the speed of the bot had proved futile so it had been an agonizingly slow journey, but they were finally approaching the junction with The High Ground. The park ended there, and didn’t resume until the far side of the station facilities module.

  “This is our stop,” Mercedes said.

  “If we jump one or both of us will likely get hurt,” Sumiko pointed out.

  “Then we need to force the thing down. We might not have been able to reprogram it, but I bet we can break it.” Mercedes wondered if her cocky smile looked as forced as it felt.

  Sumiko crawled to the control box and opened the panel. She began randomly pushing buttons and pulling wires. The bot shook, and dropped its entire load of water in a great deluge, but it didn’t si
nk closer to the ground. Muttering a curse, Sumiko pulled out her pistol and shot the controls. The bot headed down rather faster than was comfortable.

  “Oh shit! Jump and roll like Deal taught us!” Mercedes yelled as the ground came up to meet them. Clinging to each other, they climbed to their feet on the platform. Mercedes frantically tried to judge the distance, gave up and just let instinct take over. She jumped, took the shock in her knees and went into a forward roll. It jarred into her knees and now her other shoulder was bruised, but otherwise she was undamaged. Her uniform hadn’t fared so well. Her coat sleeve was torn and grass stains smeared her white shirt.

  She looked around. Sumiko was climbing to her feet, brushing flower petals out of her hair. “Fine,” she said in answer to Mercedes’ inquiring look. “Let’s go. Somebody might have heard that gunshot.”

  They ran for the transfer station that would carry them down the massive cylinder to the doors of The High Ground and safety. Out of the corner of her eye Mercedes saw four suited figures running toward them. She swung the shotgun to bear then realized that all four figures were frantically waving, and they weren’t carrying guns. At the last instant she recognized Tracy and she yanked up the barrel of the shotgun, sending the pellets into the air over the men’s heads.

  They dove to either side and Tracy yelled, “Mercedes… Highness! It’s us. Don’t shoot.”

  Sumiko ran to Hugo. He opened his arms and enfolded her. Mercedes so desperately wanted to do the same, but fought the impulse. She did run to Tracy, but stopped a few feet short and gave him her best regal nod. He bowed, which looked ludicrous in the battle armor.

  A cacophony of overlapping conversations began. “Why are you?” “How did you?” “No guns?” “What’s going on?” “Who are they?”

  “Shut up!” Mercedes yelled and amazingly everyone did. “None of this matters. We’ve got to get Cipriana and Dani and the kids then get to safety.”

  “No.” It was Tracy, of course. Who else would have the nerve to contradict her so bluntly. “We’ve got to get you to The High Ground. Once you’re safe we’ll go back for the others.”

  Mercedes opened her mouth to object, but Sumiko said in her matter-of-fact way, “He’s right and you know it.”