“We haven’t got a uniform for you, but I’m roughly your size. I had a spare coverall here with me. Can’t remember why now. Good enough?”
“Sure, Liz. I trust your sense of style won’t make me look fat.”
Liz chuckled. “How can you sit here like this and still make jokes? Your back... it’s like burned hamburger.”
Gina swallowed. “Thanks so much, I was trying not to think about it.”
“Sorry.”
She waved the apology away. “Don’t worry about it. I know it looks bad back there. It hurts, but crying about it won’t help. Kidding around might... it does. Takes my mind off it. How do we do this?”
“I think if you lay face down, we’ll cut your uniform off you. It’s badly charred and I think your skin is growing back over it in places.”
She winced at the thought. No wonder Liz looked sick. She would have to cut those areas out with a knife. Gina unsheathed her knife and handed it handle first to her friend.
“Sorry,” she said as Liz took the blade.
“Stop apologising,” Liz said, starting to sound annoyed. “It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault. I think you’re amazing. All the vipers are. You fight and die to protect us, you sacrifice family and a normal life to keep us all safe, and here you are apologising to me. I should be saying sorry to you, Gina, for your sacrifice.”
Stacey and Heather nodded agreement.
Liz brandished the knife. “Now on your belly if you can. We’ll help if you can’t.”
She couldn’t. She could get down on her side easily enough, but her legs dangling off the counter stopped her from getting flat. Stacey lifted her legs onto the counter top and finally Gina rolled onto her front. Stacey gulped seeing the damage clearly for the first time, and hurried into a cubicle where she was violently sick.
Gina looked that way grimly wanting to say sorry again but didn’t dare after Liz’s speech.
“If you’re going to be sick, Heather, step out,” Liz said.
Heather looked pale but she shook her head. “I’m good.”
Liz placed a hand on Gina’s shoulder and squeezed gently in sympathy. “Here we go,” she said and Gina closed her eyes as Liz started cutting.
Later, Gina would prefer not to think about that torturous half hour. Liz cut, Gina bled, and Heather joined Stacey in the head to be sick. In time Liz had her naked except for panties and tee-shirt, but the shirt had to go as well. It was mostly gone at the back anyway. They didn’t have a replacement, but Gina was beyond caring by then. She was freezing her tits off, not literally thank god, but if she didn’t get back into some clothes and a suit soon, she really might get frostbitten nipples! Liz washed her back, cleaning it of old and new blood, and then she carefully cut away dead charred flesh. Gina couldn’t feel it, but Liz was shaking and in a cold sweat when she was done.
They couldn’t bandage the wound for fear her body would incorporate it as it had tried to do with her uniform. Heather used an entire can of synthskin to protect it, and prevent her coverall sticking to it. Synthskin was clever stuff. It would keep infection away, and was biodegradable. The big plus was that her body was welcome to absorb it. Her bots would love it. It was basically made of the same stuff her IMS used. Stacey dressed her while Liz knelt upon the floor trying to regain her composure.
With her helmet on and sealed, the PLSS connected but sitting beside her to keep it from hurting her back, Gina basked in the warmth that flooded her suit. Ah... bliss. She took a deep breath of uncontaminated air.
>_ Diagnostics: Critical spinal injury, communications failure, TacNet offline, lung capacity 86%. Unit unfit for duty. Hibernation recommended. Hospitalisation at earliest opportunity advised.
>_ IMS: Repairs in progress.
>_ Diagnostics: Critical spinal injury, communications failure, TacNet offline, lung capacity 88%. Unit unfit for duty. Hibernation recommended. Hospitalisation at earliest opportunity advised.
>_ IMS: Repairs in progress.
Excellent. Her IMS was catching up and her lungs were responding well. She would be fixed up in no time.
“Is there food?” Gina asked a little plaintively. “And coffee? I would kill for a litre of coffee right now.”
Liz looked up from her squatting position and smiled. “We have an autochef up. You can order anything you want. Pizza?”
She groaned. “Not you too! Bloody hell, we don’t all live on pizza, Liz.”
Liz blinked. “I love pepperoni.”
Gina burst out laughing, but Liz just looked confused. “Don’t mind me. It’s something Eric said to me. I’m from Faragut.”
Liz’s eyebrows climbed. “Really?”
“Yes really. Anyway, I’m craving steak with all the trimmings and many litres of coffee. Can do?”
“Can do,” Liz agreed, but then frowned. “Actually, you’re the only one who can eat something like that until we get an airlock in place. The rest of us hold our breath, stuff a biscuit in our mouths, and reseal our helmets.”
She frowned at that. “How long to sort that out?”
Liz shrugged. “With a portable airlock, minutes at most. Here with what we have?” She shrugged again. “Hours. We can seal the door no problem, but we still need to go in and out. Sealing the door isn’t enough.”
“True. I’ll need access to the stairs when I get my legs back. I have to defend the only way in. Hey, Eric said you found the prize?”
Liz brightened. “We did! Well, we found the backup file. We’ve made lots of copies. Do you want one? Eric took the first one in case... well, you know.”
She nodded.
“I forgot you didn’t know. We think Sebastian is still online. The file was updated the day we entered the system.”
“You’re kidding! We’ve got to get him then!”
Liz jumped to her feet and hugged Gina. “Thank you! I think so too, but I think Eric would be satisfied with what we already have. We don’t know where Sebastian is, but now we know he’s alive we have to stay as long as it takes to find him. I have some ideas about that.”
“Oh?”
“This place was obviously built to withstand exactly what it did. Everything is hardwired and hardened against EMP. I think we can trace the cables right to him. If not that, we can find the power plant. Surely he draws power from it. We should find him by following the current.”
Liz was making a lot of assumptions, but it was hard not to agree. Surely the hardest part was over. With the backup file in hand, the mission was already a success assuming they managed to get off world. Now they knew Sebastian was active...
“Liz,” Gina thought furiously. “If Sebastian is awake—”
“Yes?”
“Well, can’t you just ask him where he is?”
Liz’s eyes widened for a moment, but then narrowed. “Maybe.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Only maybe?”
Liz nodded. “I’ll have to think about it. A lot depends upon how accessible he was before the war.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, all the A.Is that exist today will only talk to the Council, but back before the war they were more accessible. I don’t know if Sebastian will respond to strangers.”
“You’re kidding,” Gina said flatly. “He’s been alone all this time and you think he might ignore us?”
Liz shrugged. “Not saying he will, just that he might. Look, he was the colonial administrator. Maybe he had protocols to follow like only responding to government officials.”
“But they’re all dead! What sense does it make for him to follow a protocol like that?”
“None, but he’s a computer, Gina. Computers follow rules.”
“Even A.Is?”
“Even so. They’re intelligent machines with vast capacities and intellect, but they’re still machines. They were designed to have only limited freewill. For example, there is always at least one Human being who can countermand anything a particular A.I does. It’s a safety measure.
In Sebastian’s case I would guess that person would have been Kushiel’s president. Just a guess. Also, I happen to know the president here swore his oath before Sebastian. Sebastian is the custodian of Kushiel’s constitution, which means he’s obliged not to follow unconstitutional orders even from his own president.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of power in an A.I’s hands.”
Liz nodded.
“So we could find him and he might ignore us. Even if we entered his centrum?”
Liz nodded. “Even if.”
Gina’s stomach rumbled.
“You’re hungry. Let me get your two admirers back in here to carry you, and I’ll fix your steak. We have time to find Sebastian. No point in borrowing trouble. For all we know, he’ll be happy to see us.”
Gina nodded. She was starving.
Her bearers carried her out of the restroom and helped make her comfortable in the server room. Liz was as good as her word and provided food and coffee. There were many envious eyes watching as she ate. She didn’t tell them it tasted funny, and slightly unpleasant. The air tainted it, or maybe messed with her taste buds. She ate it all anyway.
While she was eating, attention shifted to the lash up being prepared at the door. A committee had come up with a design for the temporary airlock, and now work was beginning using salvaged materials. Gina watched as one of the engineers removed the door from the men’s restroom and carried it to the worksite. The engineers were building a new wall roughly 2metres inside the room from the existing wall, using partitions from the offices she and Eric had investigated earlier. It looked like a patchwork, but she noted they were careful to seal every joint, fill every gap, with expanding foam. They had plenty of the aerosols left over from the dome construction. With the wall up, the restroom door was fitted. The work took a couple of hours. The last part was the most complicated. It consisted of linking all the spare PLSS units for the suits together, and connecting them to the new airlock through a hole drilled in the wall. Foam was used to glue and seal the connection before switching them all on. The effect was to filter the air in the airlock as if it was just a big suit. Anyone entering it from outside would have to wait inside with both doors shut until the air was clean enough to enter the server room.
The inner door was left open for the first few hours with the PLSS units running. Gina let them know when the air in the server room became breathable, and everyone celebrated. They kept their suits on for warmth, but took off their helmets to celebrate with a hot meal and strong coffee. Gina accepted a second steak dinner, and Liz said her face looked better for it afterward.
“Liar,” Gina said with a smile. Her IMS hadn’t started work on it yet. Diagnostics reported it was still working on her spine. “Legs first, Liz. I need to keep watch out there. If I’m not mobile in another hour, I want to be carried outside and left with my rifle and ammo.”
Liz would have argued, but at that moment Gina’s right leg twitched and spasmed. She clutched it and grimaced. It felt like she had cramp in the thigh muscle, but it passed quickly. She tried to flex her knee, but nothing happened. Still, that spasm was the first movement she’d had from either leg. She decided to take it as a good sign.
She endured more twitches and cramps through that hour, but before she could demand to be taken outside, her legs finally came back online. She didn’t feel a sudden difference in her legs. Sensation had returned long before and the cramping had become less frequent in the second half of the hour, but a report informed her of new IMS priorities.
>_ Diagnostics: Communications offline, TacNet offline. Unit fit for duty.
>_ IMS: Repairs in progress.
Gina stood, and grinned as everyone applauded. She performed a few jumping jacks. “Behold this medical miracle!”
They laughed.
She finished her latest cup of coffee and grabbed her rifle and helmet. She shrugged into the straps of her PLSS and settled it onto her back before heading for the door checking the hose connection to the helmet. Liz caught her arm before she could close the inner door, and Gina paused.
“Be careful this time,” Liz said.
“Hey, it’s me! I’m always careful.”
“Be. Careful,” Liz said again very seriously.
She sobered and nodded. She squeezed her friend’s shoulder briefly before closing the inner door and putting on her helmet. She opened the outer door, exited, and shut the door firmly behind her.
She paused for a moment considering options. She needed to defend this door, but sitting at the bottom of a hole didn’t appeal. The bad guys could just drop a crate of grenades on her or something. Also, her sensors were a great advantage, but not down here. She needed to be up top. She ran up the stairs and emerged into bright sunlight. The crane would make a good OP (Observation Point) but it was too obvious. The bad guys might hit it just because it was there. No, she would use the ruins opposite. There were enough walls left to give cover, and she would have a clear view of the stairs.
Plan made, she implemented it. As she hunkered down to wait and watch, she wondered how Eric was doing. She checked sensors and queried diagnostics, but nothing had changed. Her comm was still out.
Archer’s Gift, Kushiel
“Any word?” Leon asked and Haliwell nodded. “Let’s have it.”
“All dead but the shuttle is undamaged. Looks like our people started loading but got jumped.”
Leon nodded. “Tell them to grab what they can and beat feet. I’m taking us down. Give them the coordinates of the first target and have them fly there to meet us.”
“I think we should hit that other site first, captain.”
He shook his head. “What for? There’s nothing we need there, and they can’t leave the surface.”
“Witnesses...”
He waved that argument away impatiently. “They’re only witnesses if they know something. What do they know? Nothing. Besides, they can’t survive down there for long. They’re alone. They only have the supplies they took or those we leave them... tell our people to destroy anything they can’t take.”
Haliwell turned and did that, but he wasn’t finished arguing his point. “We don’t know for sure that their ship didn’t get a report down to them. They might be able to identify the ship.”
“I don’t want to take a year collecting what we came for, and we only have the two shuttles. I need them doing their jobs, not attacking a bunch of helpless castaways that are as good as dead already! Damn it, man, you do want to get paid don’t you? We need to get what we came for before someone puts us and this ship on a defaulters list!”
The kind of defaulters list he was talking about would have every pirate, raider, and shoot first mercenary company, gunning for them. Those kinds of lists weren’t about recovering money; they were all about setting examples. The kind of examples that consisted of derelict ships blown open to vacuum and crewed by corpses.
Haliwell’s jaw muscles bunched, but he didn’t say anything. He turned back to monitoring his station, but Leon knew this subject would come back up. Haliwell was becoming a problem, but then so were others in the crew. Many of them looked to Haliwell and not their captain for orders, but so far they hadn’t pushed things beyond a lack of respect for his authority and a few muttered insults barely audible. The four dead men were Haliwell’s cronies, and Leon was glad they were dead. They’d been some of the worst examples. Undisciplined animals.
Leon needed Haliwell and his men for now. He couldn’t crew a ship the size of Archer without them, but as soon as he could, he would pay them off and jettison them at the next port. He would pay his debts, hire a new crew, and forever more stick to legitimate trading in the core. No more risky adventures in the border zone. He was done with chasing quick profit and fortune in the shadows.
“Take us down,” he said.
“Aye, captain,” the helmsman acknowledged, and Archer’s Gift plunged into Kushiel’s atmosphere.
* * *
20 ~ Dagger Thrust
Aboard Archers Gift, Kushiel
>_ Sensors: Hostiles detected.
>_ Close archive file #0000063577982-3996-SL
It took Eric a few moments to notice his sensor alert had tripped. A few seconds to realise it wasn’t part of the memory file he had been lost within. He glanced around seeing darkness. Read the data again and interrogated his logs and sensors. Right. The crate on the raider’s shuttle. Kushiel. A mission to complete. He stroked his rifle and watched his sensors real time now.
Another shuttle had landed and red icons prowled carefully around. Eight hostiles. Eric watched them scout the domes and find the bodies. He wondered briefly if they would bury their friends, but of course not. They were more interested in the loot they could take. Within just a few minutes, they started filling the shuttle they had arrived in and the shuttle he occupied. He let them have their way. He was impatient to kill them and move on, but he needed them for a short time. He wanted their ship, and they would cough it up. Oh yes, they would take him in and he would end their existence shortly thereafter.
The banging about near his crate gave him pause. Were they going to unload? Surely, they would just put more palettes in and lift. He waited and had to steady himself when they moved his crate, but they weren’t unloading him. They were making more room by shuffling things around. That was fine, though he hoped he wasn’t completely boxed in when they finally did unload him.
It took them over an hour to steal what they wanted. The shuttles took off and he settled back for the trip, but they surprised him when instead of leaving they circled around and blasted all three domes. The shuttles weren’t gunships, but they did have railguns. Missiles were expensive, but railgun rounds cost next to nothing. The raiders didn’t conserve ammo. He was linked into the shuttle’s sensors and external cameras to watch the show. They shredded the domes as if they were some loathsome insect and the shuttle’s guns were bug sprayers. The power plant exploded, the dome erupting in fire. The other two domes had little that would burn, but they collapsed, and that seemed to satisfy. One last lazy circle and they flew off leaving nothing worth salvaging behind them.
Merkiaari Wars: 03 - Operation Oracle Page 30