by Richard Fox
Olivia crossed her arms. “Terra Nova was supposed to be a paradise. Free of the Xaros or any other species. Period.”
Moretti finished running his medi-gauntlet over Danielle’s leg. “Your fibula’s fractured in three places. How’s your pain level?”
The woman shrugged. “Whatever’s in your hypo is working great. Should screw up more often now that you’re here.”
“Yeah, well, the break’s dangerously close to your femoral artery,” Moretti told her. “I’ll need to do some quick surgery to fix it.”
“Do I have to watch?”
Birch knelt down opposite Moretti, holding out his hand. She took it, smiling. She looked over his armor, raising an eyebrow when she reached his left shoulder.
“Is that an Ibarra Systems 2nd Series Drone case on your shoulder?”
Birch grunted. “Please, I’m a professional. This is 4th generation Gremlin chassis, but the internals are all custom.” The cover slid back and he pulled the little drone from its housing. “How’d you know that?”
She grimaced as Moretti pushed another hypo against her leg. She took the drone and turned it over. “It’s light. The anti-grav repulsors look a bit worn, but I’m impressed.”
“Thanks, always nice when a fellow droner notices my work,” Birch said, returning the drone to its cradle.
Olivia moved closer to Carson. She spoke, keeping her voice low. “If it’s possible, can your medic look over some of the rest of us?”
“I’m set up to treat acute injuries,” Moretti said as gleaming instruments popped out of housings on his gauntlet. “Little I can do for chronic conditions. Get ready for a pinch.”
Carson sighed. “We’ll do what we can. We came here to find you and report back when we had. Revealing ourselves like this wasn’t actually part of that plan.”
“How many of us can you get out of here?” Olivia asked.
Carson shook her head. “We didn’t even know anyone would be out here when we left. Our ship is big enough for us and a maybe a handful of others, but that’s it. The Spirit, any of our other ships, it’ll take them months to get from Terra Nova to Negev. The Netherguard, Hale, and this Triumvirate is the problem we have to solve first.”
“So, what, you just leave us all here? The Netherguards will be looking for you and if they don’t find you, they’ll take their frustrations out on the rest of us. Broken legs and black eyes will be the least of our worries then,” Danielle said.
“Whatever we’re going to do, we’re going to need to do it fast,” Birch said.
Danielle grimaced as Moretti worked. “I don’t see what you three can do against the Netherguard. They’re everywhere, patrolling night and day. I’m surprised they aren’t in here right now, after that mayhem in the cell block.”
Carson crossed her arms. “Well, slinking out of here like some thieves in the night and leaving our team behind is not an option. We’re Pathfinders.”
“That may be, but you’re still only three people against maybe a few hundred Netherguard,” Danielle said. “We’ve been seeing new ones lately. Some of the older guards were getting a bit…twitchy.”
“The doughboys weren’t designed for long term use,” Birch said. “Almost all of them were retired after the war.”
“Still, you all have guns,” Olivia said. “That’s something.”
Birch shook his head. “Maybe, but we only have a finite supply of bullets. After we run dry, the odds go south very quick.”
“But they just have clubs and…” Olivia touched Birch’s wide shoulders. “…you’re so strong.”
“Why is that?” Carson asked. “Why just clubs?”
“The governor said Marc Ibarra insisted they bring a few doughboy production units with the Christophorous,” Danielle said. “In case we needed simple manpower in an emergency. Solar pulse fries our computers, that sort of thing. Doughboys will do whatever you tell them. Just got to keep them fed and stop them from playing with fire. They’re hardwired not to harm humans, but whatever the Triumvirate and Hale did to alter them fouled their higher functions. They’re nothing more than dumb thugs now. They wouldn’t be able to use guns even if they had them. Some of the newer guards, like the ones Hale has around him, seem a bit brighter. He keeps the dregs on us.”
“Jared Hale controls them? No one else?”
“They’re primed to his voice print. Legacy programming.”
Carson sighed, watching Moretti close up Danielle’s wound. Birch was right, they’d lose in a standup fight, and waiting several months for the Enduring Spirit to come retrieve the colonists was not doable. She had no doubt the aliens would kill every single human imprisoned within the mountain before Hale could reach them.
Then something Danielle had said finally registered. “Wait a second,” Carson said. “You said dock.”
Danielle raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Earlier, you said there was mayhem in the dock. That big chamber we were in, that’s what you are talking about, right?”
“That’s right.”
Carson exchanged looked with her team. “There’s our ship.”
Danielle nodded. “We’ve been building it for years. We’ve been piecing it together ever since they brought us here.”
“How many colonists are here?” Carson touched the hilt of her knife, feeling the crest with her fingertips.
“Maybe…four thousand,” Danielle said. “Out of the ten thousand that came on the Christophorous. The men are in a separate cell block; children and some caretakers in a third.”
“We might be able to put everyone on that ship,” Birch said.
“Does anyone know anything about how to fly it?” Carson asked.
“The Triumvirate tried to have us build systems from their native language and tech, we learned they’re from a race called the Ultari, and I don’t think they’re a robotic race either; too many environmental specifications in their equipment. Their stuff was too alien, so we switched production to our technology. Had to cannibalize most of the Christophorous to make their ship. The controls are all human…but the propulsion system is theirs. It’s not anti-grav, not solid state rocketry, some kind of Alcubierre drive. We lost hundreds to the mines, digging out some kind of crystal, before they swapped us out with doughboys.”
“How close is it to being finished?” Carson asked.
“They’re almost done,” Olivia said. “I trade messages with one of the electrical engineers in the men’s cell block. The workload’s slowed a bit, lots of fine tuning and they’ve been testing the engines since last week; damn things give us the weirdest headaches. Some sort of variation on anti-grav technology, but they keep that kind of stuff strictly compartmentalized. A lot of the engineers are kept on twenty-four-hour lockdown.”
“They were waiting for us to arrive,” Birch said. “The timing can’t be a coincidence.”
“Do you have any idea where these Ultari are?”
Danielle shrugged. “We saw them going to the ship a few months ago, haven’t seen them since. Jared is the only one we ever see, and they keep him on a pretty short leash. We set up an ‘industrial accident’ a year ago to kill him. Thought we got him, but then he showed up in that damn ugly suit of his.”
“His voice wasn’t damaged,” Olivia said. “Which is a shame. That’s how he keeps the Netherguard in line.”
“So, if we could get a sample of Jared’s voice…” Carson said.
Birch tapped his forearm screen and the Gremlin floated up from its housing. It hovered in the middle of the group; when a red light changed to green, a familiar voice said, “This is your second offense. Apparently, your punishment for your first non-compliance was insufficient.”
Danielle pushed herself away from the drone, backing up against the rough stone wall of the alcove. “Holy crap.”
Carson shot Birch a questioning look. He shrugged. “The drones keep a half-hour’s worth of data in their buffers. I flagged his voice files as important, thought it might com
e in handy if he could control some of the drones.”
“Can you copy his voice completely?” Carson asked.
“I have a limited sample. I could synthesize a few words and phrases with what I’ve got, but I’m no Popov,” he said. “She could create an algorithm to fill in the gaps.”
“But if you got more of his voice, you could replicate it perfectly?” Carson asked.
Birch frowned. “I can’t guarantee it would work. Not my specialty.”
“What do you need? A code monkey?” Danielle asked. “Cynthia.” She waved to a painfully thin woman. “She’s done programming in my section for years. I know she’s a pro because the doughboys have yet to break her leg for screwing up.”
“So, now what?” Olivia asked.
“What do you mean?” Carson asked.
Olivia shrugged. “You mentioned getting a sample of Jared’s voice. What was your plan when you got it?”
“The public address system,” Carson said, “if we can get access to it, then we can create some confusion, maybe even force the Netherguard to attack the ship, let the Triumvirate feel what it’s like to be up to their necks in homicidal doughboys.”
“Jared’s control room,” Danielle said. “It’s not in the ship but built into the dome wall where he can look over the entire complex. He made all his pronouncements from there before his ‘accident’.”
“Getting inside shouldn’t be too hard,” Birch said. “Getting his voice print is something else.”
Danielle’s face scrunched up in pain. “You haven’t seen the control room. It was one of the first things we built and there’s Ultari tech in place. But you could hack into the underlying systems, which I installed. I don’t think we have time for me to explain how I jury-rigged parts from eight different computer cores together to make the damn thing work. I need to go with you.” She hissed through her teeth as Moretti applied sutures to her leg.
“You can barely walk,” Moretti said, placing six more staples. “I give you any more painkillers and you’ll start floating.”
She blew out a pained breath. “I can do it.”
“I’ll carry her,” Birch said.
“He normally leaves his office to do rounds at the beginning of each shift,” Olivia said. “That’s your best chance.”
Carson knelt down and drew an oval in the sand. “Okay, here’s the plan.”
****
“This is a terrible idea,” Danielle said, grimacing as Birch bent over and picked her off the floor.
Birch straightened, holding the woman in both arms, one arm around her back, one under her legs. In his power armor, she weighed next to nothing. “It’ll work.”
“You hope it works? Ouch! They should really make these a little more comfortable.”
Carson stepped up and adjusted Birch’s cloak over the woman. “They’re not made for comfort; they’re made to keep you alive.”
Birch adjusted his hold on Danielle. “It’ll work.”
She looked down at Moretti. “What about you? Do you think it’ll work?”
The medic looked up from his kit and shrugged. “A decent plan violently executed is better than the perfect plan ready after the opportunity’s gone. You tech junkies say you can do it. I hope you deliver. There’s been worse decision-making on display.”
Carson worked her jaw, resisting the urge to correct his attitude. She had yet to figure out where his disdain for her came from, but he hadn’t done anything so overt that it required her to reprimand him. She made a note to address the issue once they were back on board the Spirit.
“Worse?” Danielle asked, wrapping her arm around Birch’s plating. “Worse than what? Worse than attacking Netherguard with sticks and stones?”
“We have sticks?” Carson asked. “No told me we had sticks.”
Danielle gave a nervous laugh. “Oh, that makes me feel a whole lot better.”
“It's not perfect,” Carson said. “I'll admit that, but it's all we've got. You said you're tired of living as a prisoner. Well, if you want to get home, this is the way we do it.”
“I didn’t say I wasn't going to do it; I just wish we had a better option.”
Carson chuckled. “Trust me, so do I.” She turned to Olivia. “Now, you’re clear on your part?”
Olivia frowned. “Oh, I’m clear on it. But I'm in the same boat as Danielle; you’re asking a lot of us for having just met you. How confident are you that you and your team can pull this off? For that matter, how confident are you that you can even breach his systems?” she asked Danielle. “How many years has it been since you've seen those components?”
Danielle shifted nervously in Birch's arms. “Like riding a bike. Old or new components, they all do the same thing.”
Olivia turned to Carson, eyebrow raised as if to reiterate her question.
“I have 100% confidence in my team,” Carson said. “They are some of the most skilled and best qualified war fighters I've ever served with. We will get you home, I promise.”
Olivia held Carson’s gaze for a moment, then nodded. “I hope so. I don't like the idea of throwing friends into the meat grinder.”
“Neither do I,” Carson said.
“Okay, we're getting close to shift change,” Danielle said. “Might want to get everyone on the same page.”
“I'll handle that,” Olivia said, stepping away from the group.
Moretti held out a headset for Danielle. “So you can hear us. I still wouldn't talk unless it was absolutely necessary. Your audio won't be secured or confined to the IR like ours will be.”
Danielle slipped on the headset, adjusting it over her ears. “Can you hear me?”
Moretti nodded.
Carson stepped up to Birch and adjusted his cloak collar. After adjusting the field settings, she stepped back and nodded. “Okay, try it out.”
Birch activated his cloak and he disappeared. Danielle’s feet dangled in midair.
Carson laughed. “Well, if the Netherguards don't trigger on two shoes floating around, we should be okay. Here, let me adjust it again.”
“Chuck wagon.” The woman with the mirror pulled back from the bars and stashed the bit of polished metal beneath a rock.
“Guards are coming,” Danielle said. Birch set her down and she slipped out from beneath his cloak. She joined the huddle of prisoners by the gate, walking with an exaggerated limp. Carson and Moretti activated their camo and disappeared.
The guard force had increased to four doughboys, a pair at the fore and another pair in the rear. The Pathfinders followed the group, staying well behind the Netherguard.
As soon as they entered the main chamber, Carson knew she'd underestimated the Netherguard's security. There were patrols at the entrances to all of the workspaces and every ten meters on the catwalks above. Near the top of the chamber, she spotted Hale’s office, a twenty-meter section cutout of the sheer rock face, lined with opaque glass. Four guards stood on a platform separating the office’s double metal doors and the lift a couple meters away.
“We're going to have to go airborne sooner than I thought,” Carson said, her voice muffled by her helmet but words transmitted through the IR links between the Pathfinders.
“Can't stay in the air too long,” Moretti said. “Power packs will run down quick.”
“I know.” Carson took a deep breath, wondering if they should just call it off. Olivia and her people were already spreading out through the honeycomb of workspaces, relieving colonists from the previous shift.
“Get set.” Carson pointed at Danielle. “Should have our distraction in—”
“Get away from me, you son of a bitch!”
Olivia backed away from one of the Netherguards. A woman in the crowd hurled a stone and it smacked off the Netherguard’s face, knocking it back a step. Its partner stepped forward, raising its club.
“No hurt!” the Netherguard commanded, its voice mechanical and gruff. “Who threw? Punish all. Punish all!”
Another rock
sailed out of the group. This time, the Netherguard was ready for it. The doughboy swung its club like a bat and knocked the rock high into the air. In the excitement, Danielle slipped out of the side of the group and beneath Birch’s camo cloak.
The guard stepped forward, pointing its long claw-like fingers at the crowd. “All punish!”
“Go to hell,” Olivia shouted, throwing a third rock.
Carson shook her head. “Dammit, let's get moving.”
They jogged toward Jared’s office, keeping close to the wall and slowing as more Netherguard ran toward the disturbance.
“Up.” Carson jumped onto a wall just below one of the catwalks spanning the cavern and pulled herself to the top. Moretti joined her a second later. They reached down and scrambled the camo pattern on their hands, making them visible. Birch grabbed their hands and they hoisted him up, a struggle even with his suit’s added strength.
They repeated the maneuver and got onto the catwalk.
“I’m so glad I can’t see anything right now,” Danielle said from beneath Birch’s camo cloak.
The angry crowd below grew as more and more people formed up around Olivia, hurling rocks and insults at the guards. Several patrols had left the catwalks, jumping over the rails to join their companions on the ground. With over three dozen Netherguards converging on the disturbance, Carson knew the small pocket of human resistance wouldn't last long if the guards decided to take action.
They reached the platform outside Hale's office. Two guards with the horned helmets standing on either side of the door were either unaware of the situation below or simply did not care, both standing with their clubs on the ground, staring straight ahead.
“Damn things give me the creeps,” Moretti said.
Carson turned towards Birch's outline. “I thought you said Jared normally responds to disturbances.”
“He does,” Danielle whispered. “I swear he enjoys giving out the punishment.”
Below, someone screamed. One of the Netherguards had a hold of a colonist and was pulling them away from the group by their arm. Several of the colonists rushed forward, beating at the Netherguard with makeshift clubs made from bed posts from the cells, though their blows didn't seem to have any effect. The Netherguard pushed several away with one sweep of his arm, knocking them to the ground even as he held the other one up in one hand. With a quick jerk, it shook the woman hard, her head whipping violently back and forth, then it flung her against a wall.