“That’s probably unlikely here,” Kalish said, nodding toward the darkness around the platform. Even if the disks had stopped spinning, nobody would forget them. She expected they would have to navigate them again on the way out.
Tick took a side trip, trotting toward the top of a hill. He stopped two-thirds of the way up and pointed to some lumps by his foot.
“Animal scat?” Thatcher asked.
“Large animal scat,” Tick said. “Something lives on this platform. Or visits now and then. I haven’t seen tracks, so it might be a flying creature.”
“So Thatcher isn’t the only genius in here that figured out the pattern?” Striker asked.
“Apparently not.”
“Great,” Kalish muttered. She quickened her pace, taking the lead. As much as she looked forward to exploring, it should be done quickly and efficiently.
Her sister stuck to her back. She had a pistol of her own, but hadn’t had much weapons training, and she gazed around at everything with wide eyes.
They approached the first of the refineries. Aside from the accumulation of limestone that had built up on the roofs, they did not appear to have been much affected by the passage of time. The group scrambled around the side of the dome-like structure to a wide door that rose high above their heads, curving along with the wall. It was large enough that those mining ships could have flown through it.
“Any ideas on how to get in?” Sedge asked.
“Knock?” Tia suggested.
“I got an idea.” Striker removed his grenade launcher. “You all might want to stand back.”
Kalish patted along the door, hunting for controls or anything that would make entry easier—and less destructive. But the water-stained walls did not offer anything obvious. She tugged her pack off her shoulder and dug around inside for her laser torch.
“What’s she doing?” Striker asked as she applied the concentrated beam to the door.
“Attempting to open the door without blowing up the building?” Sedge suggested.
“I wouldn’t blow up the building. That alien stuff looks strong. Might take out the wall at the most.”
“On the off chance that there’s something flammable on the other side of the door, I thought this might be best.” Kalish was relieved when her laser bit through the material. After seeing how indestructible the saw blades had been, she had not been sure this would work, but she made progress, outlining a square.
“Ugh.” Sedge had been leaning against an ore pile towering in front of the door, but he pushed away, wiping his hands on his trousers. He frowned down at them.
“Problem?” Thatcher asked.
“Hives. Either there’s gold under that grime that’s been leaching out, or I’ve developed an allergy to limestone to add to the list.”
“Gold?” Striker ambled to the pile and pulled out his knife. He chipped away at the hard mantle, knocking shards away.
Sedge touched the pocket he kept his handkerchief in, but reached for a cargo pocket on the side of his trousers instead. He slid a finger along the closure to open it, then tugged out a tin, which held a moist cloth. He rubbed it over his hands, scenting the air with some alcoholic disinfectant. Thatcher was watching and Sedge offered it to him, but the commander shook his head.
“There is gold under here,” Striker said. “Damn, Sniffles, you and your hives are a divining rod. Who knew?”
“So glad my hives could help you,” Sedge murmured.
“I could use some assistance here.” Kalish had succeeded in cutting a square in the door, but did not want to shove it through to land inside, not until she had seen what waited in there.
Striker was too busy chipping ore out of the pile to help, but Tick and Sedge came forward and tugged it out. It landed on the gray ground with a puff of rock dust. Tick aimed his rifle and flashlight into the cavernous interior.
“Lot of machinery,” he said. “Conveyor belts. Other stuff I don’t know the words for.”
Kalish crouched beside him, playing her own light over the interior. “There should be some small items that would be worth selling. Look for anything technological.”
“You’re giving mercenaries tips on how to loot ruins?” Tick asked. “That’s not really necessary.”
“Oh? I thought you would only be practiced at looting bodies.” It was a line from an early Foundation-era poem about soldiers of fortune, but after she made the joke, she worried she should not have. It seemed a little tasteless, and she caught a wince from Sedge.
Tick only shrugged and stepped through the hole. Kalish followed after him.
“More scat in here,” he said before she had so much as stood up. “There must be another door in here, one that’s already open.”
“Inside, Striker,” Thatcher said. “Leave that for later.”
Thatcher, Sedge, Striker, and Tia joined them inside, shining their lights around.
“There’s your door,” Sedge said, nodding toward the ceiling. On the far side of the cavernous building, a gaping hole had been torn in the wall, about twenty feet off the floor.
“Uh,” Striker said, “does that remind anyone else of the hole in that downed mining ship?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Tick said.
The men looked toward Thatcher. Waiting to see if he would cancel this exploration? Kalish frowned. This was her expedition, and she was in charge.
“Split up,” Thatcher said. “Find anything valuable for Ms. Blackwell, then let’s get out of here.”
“Uh huh,” Striker said, ambling off along one wall. “One for the lady, one for me...”
Sedge headed after him. Illogically, Kalish felt stung that he chose to go that way instead of exploring with her. But how could she blame him when she had been giving him the ice-lady attitude all morning? She wasn’t supposed to want him with her anyway, not after the information her mother had found. Murderer.
She headed left, following the wall in the opposite direction. Tick and Thatcher came with her.
The roof had protected the equipment inside from the limestone coating the rest of the platform had received, but dust and cobwebs lay thick in the building. Something akin to rat droppings littered the floor in places too. She couldn’t imagine how rodents or anything that couldn’t fly had found their way up here, but now she knew why other creatures came to hunt.
“Looking for anything specific?” Tick asked, his flashlight skimming the dusty machinery. It was all alien, of course, but there was a familiarity to it as well, in the height and the way things were laid out, a reminder that the ancient people had not been much different in makeup or stature from humans.
“Anything small enough to toss in a pack that might have some value,” she said.
Thatcher stayed a few feet behind, pausing now and then to examine a piece of machinery.
“Can I ask you a question, Tick?” Kalish asked as they followed the curve of the wall.
“‘Course.”
“Do you know why Sedge left the Fleet and joined your group?”
“Killed a feller, I think.”
Kalish nearly tripped. She had been hoping for the truth, a more complete version of the truth, but she hadn’t expected him to be so bluntly forthcoming with her. She had figured he might try to protect his comrade’s reputation or direct her to speak to him about the matter.
“Someone important?” Kalish asked when she had recovered.
“Oh, let’s see. We got a few stories like that on the ship. I think with the LT, it was... yup, he killed his commanding officer.”
“That didn’t bother your captain when Sedge came looking to hire on?”
“Nah, the captain was Crimson Ops. Came out of the Fleet himself. He knows at least two-thirds of the fellers in there are assholes that most likely deserve to be killed.”
“I see. And in a mercenary company, there are fewer assholes?”
“Can’t speak to all of them, but we’re at sixty percent assholes, tops.” Tick winked at her. Th
en, more somberly, he added, “The LT doesn’t really talk about it, but you have to figure it wasn’t a real clear-cut situation. Usually, you would be shot if you killed another officer. But they just kicked him out. So, something was going on there.” Tick shrugged.
Kalish chewed on his words while they continued on, passing huge vats and ladles for pouring melted ore. Was it possible that the man Sedge had killed had deserved it? That seemed an unlikely thing for a young lieutenant to judge. If the captain had committed some crime, surely he would have gone to a military tribunal or been called up on charges. Or... maybe not. She had heard enough stories from her mother to know that the Fleet wasn’t always fair and that, as with any organization, who a person knew could affect everything from promotions to punishment.
“That looks promising, you think?” Tick’s flashlight pointed toward a storage area stacked high with molds of various shapes. In the center of his beam rested a squat cylindrical object covered with engravings.
“Oh, good find. That’s one of their robots, probably made for performing some task related to the smelting process. I’ve seen pictures, but I’ve never seen one in person.”
She veered in that direction, tugging her pack from her shoulder. It wouldn’t fit inside, but she had some flex-nets tied to the outside that could hold larger items. She hesitated before touching it, her gaze roving the area. Even though she doubted this little robot had been that valuable in the aliens’ eyes, she couldn’t help but think of booby traps. She didn’t see anything obvious, and her senses weren’t screaming danger to her.
Kalish bit her lip and picked up the robot. Nothing happened. She let out a relieved breath and tucked the foot-high device into one of her nets.
“Thanks, Tick. I—”
An animal’s cry came from somewhere outside the building, the eerie shriek part roar and part screech.
“I’m afraid it’s time to cut the hunt short, Ms. Blackwell,” Tick said, grabbing her arm. “Let’s get back to the door. Sir, you still back there?”
“Yes.” Thatcher stepped out of the shadows with a find of his own, some flat oval disk with glyphs etched on the side. He tucked it under his arm and led the way back toward the door.
The screech sounded again, closer this time. Something banged on the roof. Kalish sprinted after the men, her pack bouncing on her back, her pistol in hand. She reached the door at the same time as Sedge, Striker, and Tia, and squeezed her sister’s arm briefly. Tia, her eyes rounder than full moons, lunged for the exit square. But Striker stepped in front of it, blocking the hole at the same time as Thatcher spoke.
“Don’t go out,” he said. “We’ll be more vulnerable out there. Here we have cover.”
“But Mom,” Tia blurted, looking to Kalish.
Kalish was inclined to hunker here, with the roof and machinery for cover, as well, but she also worried about their mother. Just because she was back in the ship did not mean she was safe, not if this was the same creature that had torn open the hull of that mining craft.
Sedge shifted his flashlight toward the hole in the roof. Yes, some ferocious creature had likely torn that jagged gap as well.
Even as they were looking in that direction, a shadow fell across the hole. Claws or talons landed on the roof, the high-pitched metal scrape assaulting their ears.
“Then again,” Tick whispered, “leaving the building might not be such a silly notion. Especially if it’s got a new weather vane.”
Striker crouched and peered through the hole in the door, poking his rifle out as he looked in all directions. “Nothing out here yet,” he whispered.
“I would prefer to fight an aerial creature from the air myself,” Thatcher said, “but it’s a half mile back to the ships.”
Before they could debate further, the claws scraped again, and a bulky, dark shape flew through the hole in the roof. Rifles fired, painting the shadows with red laser beams. The creature arrowed behind machinery and towering vats that blocked the view from the floor. Kalish lifted her own weapon and tried to find someplace to aim it, but it was too dark to see much. She had the sense that the creature either had not been struck or that it had... and had not been wounded by the laser fire. The image of those bones scattered around the mining ship flashed into her head.
“I hit it,” Striker said, dropping his rifle to swing the grenade launcher off his back. “Don’t think it did much.”
A squawk came from the shadows near the ceiling. The creature swooped down at them, almost as big as the Mandrake Company shuttles. Darting flashlights struck it briefly, revealing scales rather than feathers and a beaky proboscis full of long, sharp fangs. Machinery toppled, and Kalish was pushed to the ground behind the men before she could think to fire.
Tia was squished against the wall beside her. Sedge, Tick, and Thatcher stood their ground, blasting laser fire into the oncoming creature. It screeched but did not slow down. It fell upon the men, talons raking the air.
The mercenaries hurled themselves to the side, ducking or rolling to avoid the attack. Those talons were longer than daggers and one sliced within an inch of Sedge’s head. He flung himself to his back but kept firing as it sailed past. Kalish rose to her knees and shot at the creature’s backside, a leathery tail whipping back and forth in agitation. At least one of her laser bursts hit it—she was sure of it—but the crimson beam bounced off the scaly hide.
“Down, everyone,” Striker barked.
A split second later, a soft thunk sounded, and one of his grenades arced out, chasing the creature.
“I’m not sure blowing things up in here is the best idea,” Kalish said, thinking of booby traps as well as the danger of machinery and roofs toppling and crushing them.
She had no sooner than finished the sentence, when someone grabbed her and forced her head down. A deafening explosion rang out, and a blaze of yellow and orange flames brightened the upper corner of the building like a sun. Heat roiled from the inferno, and Kalish needed no further urging to bury her head on whomever’s shoulder that was. Metal screeched, or maybe that was the creature. Kalish could not trust her battered ears. Then came the shrapnel, pelting the walls and pinging off the vats. A piece sliced through her clothing and embedded in her shoulder. She gasped, tears springing to her eyes.
“It’s coming back,” someone yelled.
“Outside,” Sedge said in her ear. Only then did she realize he was the one with his arms around her, protecting her head. “We’ve got to get back to the ship.”
He pushed her toward the door, and she didn’t object. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the winged creature flying back toward them. It shrieked, and she could not tell if it was injured or merely angry.
She rolled through the square hole she had cut, bumped into someone, and landed without grace, her pack on top of her. Kalish scrambled to her feet. Tia was already outside and grabbed her arm.
“Back to the ship?” she asked.
Lifting her pistol, Kalish scanned the mounds of ore around them, searching for more trouble. Just because there was one creature inside did not mean there was not another out here.
“Wait for the men,” she said, expecting them to fling themselves through the hole right behind her.
But another explosion came from inside the building. The walls shuddered, and something that must have weighed a ton slammed to the ground, causing a chain reaction of clatters and bangs. Someone shouted a battle cry that almost matched the ferocity of the creature’s screeches.
Kalish scowled at the hole, realizing the men had pushed her out here to protect her and that they were not following, not until they dealt with their attacker. An attacker that could survive direct hits from lasers and had flown through the blast of a grenade...
“You were close,” came Sedge’s voice. “See if you can drop that thing over there on it. You can—”
“Look out!”
Kalish crouched, torn between jumping back in to help and not wanting to get in their way. What could her
small pistol do against that thing, anyway? Still, it felt cowardly to wait out here while they battled such a deadly foe. Maybe she could think of something more effective than laser fire to hurt the creature. Maybe—
“Kalish,” Tia whispered, tapping her shoulder frantically. “More trouble.”
Another crash came from inside, but Kalish had spun to see what her sister was looking at and barely registered it. A blocky humanoid construct had walked around the corner of the building, its hide—or was that armor?—gleaming an oily black under Tia’s flashlight. It must have been eight feet tall, and as it walked toward them, its eyes burned a malevolent crimson from the shadows of its helmet.
“Robot?” Tia asked.
One of the construct’s arms lifted, the barrel of a weapon existing where a person’s hand would have been.
“Security robot,” Kalish barked, grabbing her sister and pulling her out of the way. “Sedge,” she yelled as they scrambled up the slope of the hill Striker had been digging into earlier. “More trouble out here.”
The robot fired its weapon, a short burst of energy that made the air crackle with blue lightning as it blasted into the ground where Tia had been standing. Ore and limestone flew up, pelting her and Kalish in the backs. They raced behind the mound, but not before Kalish glanced back and saw the size of the smoking crater that shot had left behind. The words swimming pool jumped into her mind.
She ducked around the mountain of ore, hoping it would provide enough cover if the robot fired straight at them. Though it probably was not wise, Kalish risked a peek back to see if their attacker would follow.
At the same time, another boom came from inside the building. Half of the roof collapsed. A cloud of dust rose into the dark air, and dirt and metal rained down outside, landing all around the robot. It continued walking, unfazed even when a rock the size of its head glanced off its shoulder.
“Got it,” someone inside cried. Striker? The voices were muffled, and Kalish couldn’t tell.
“Don’t come out the door,” she yelled in case they had not heard her before. “There’s trouble out here. A robot.”
Said robot reached the square in the door and turned straight toward her. Another crackle of electricity burst from its arm. Kalish was already flinging herself down the back side of the mountain of ore. She lost her footing and tumbled, rolling halfway down the pile. That was fortunate, because the assault blew the top of the mountain away.
The Ruins of Karzelek (The Mandrake Company series Book 4) Page 18