The Vassal World (The First Exoplanet Book 2)

by T. J. Sedgwick

  They exited the Foxbat in micro-gravity of just 0.005m/s2 – negligible and nowhere near enough to allow normal walking across the surface.

  “Let me do it, Cap,” said Chip, already easing himself towards the front of the Foxbat and the surface beyond. The most prominent tracks lay there from where the cable had pulled the craft back through the dust.

  “Ok, I’ll do the rear then,” replied Motor.

  They used their battlesuit arm and leg thrusters to manoeuvre and brush the track marks smooth.

  They could see enormous Thruster #1 five-hundred metres away. It was the size of a Saturn IV rocket’s lower stage. The curvature of the 10km-wide asteroid obscured the lower part of the cylindrical metal thruster. It looked to Chip like an enormous turbofan jet engine of the type they still used on some models of subsonic passenger plane. The enemy destroyer loomed five kilometres above and worried Chip more than anything else.

  “Takai, I’m next to you now,” informed Motor, as he placed an unseen hand on the invisible suited Outcast tech.

  “Yes, I can feel your hand, Captain,” Takai replied.

  “I’m hooking you onto my back right now, then we’re gonna fly over to Thruster #1 over there,” Motor continued. He reached behind, clipped the second karabiner onto the Outcast’s suit, and confirmed that Chip had done the same with Sarai.

  “All set, Chip?”

  “Yes, Cap. Ready.”

  “Let’s scope out the thruster. We’ll do another visual once we can see it all over the horizon. Takai, Sarai, pay attention to my feed and see if you spot anything noteworthy.”

  “We will,” Takai replied for them both, leading Chip to guess they were in constant telepathic communication. He always found Outcasts quiet, and it was probably for this reason.

  They completed the visual survey and set off, flying the direct route. They stayed five-metres off the deck – high enough to avoid kicking up a dust storm, low enough to get prone behind some cover if they needed to. If an assault came from the destroyer above…well, there would be no cover.

  They neared the first thruster and hovered at a fixed distance, one-hundred metres away, and five metres above ground level. The low, flat metallic housing was anchored in each of its four corners by piles the size of tree trunks. They had been set deep into solid rock – deep enough for the tremendous thrust required to divert a trillion tonne rock. The thruster itself sat atop four sturdy pylons connecting it to the housing below. The pylons were able to articulate to alter the thrust vector. They curved at the tops and bottoms to match the angle of the receiving surfaces, avoiding stress concentrators.

  “Again, Takai and Sarai: please study my feed as I survey the structure,” said Motor, seriously.

  It was just thirty-seconds later when Sarai said, “Captain, can you see those small black fittings in three places around the housing?”

  “Yes, what are they?” To Motor they looked like old school rectangular speakers on angled mounts.

  “I believe they are security sensors – possibly a new type we only heard about recently in a bulletin,” replied Sarai.

  “Okay, and…?” said Chip, a little impatiently.

  “They could be problematic for us – even with our suits cloaking us.”

  “How so? We know that sonic can find us, but this is space – there’s no air for sonic to work in!” said Motor, not understanding.

  “No, not sonic. These new detectors spray out a continuous stream of nano-particles. They monitor the particle plumes and if they see any disturbances in the flow, the Korgax will be alerted. I am quite sure this is the detector type in the bulletin,” concluded Sarai.

  “Well, what are we gonna do about it exactly?” asked Chip.

  Every second they were many kilometres closer to Earth. They floated next to the speeding asteroid and searched their minds for a solution.

  Chapter Thirteen

  January 12, 2064: Mount Hazard, Large Continent, Planet Gaia

  The Hummingbird drone had returned without incident, but much earlier than expected. It had mapped out the broad lava tube leading to the east, but had found yet another unmapped feature. It had forced the Hummingbird to return.

  The dismay had started to show in Jonah’s voice as he asked, “So what the hell are we gonna do now, Jen? Sorensen? Lakai?”

  “We need to go take a look for ourselves,” replied Sorensen decisively. “Come on, it’s only five-hundred metres. Let’s move out.” Technically Guardian Lakai – the Outcast commando – was patrol leader, but the pecking order was context-specific and loose, to say the least. Captain Jen Martin of the SSS outranked them all, but, as with the other three soldiers, they worked as a flat hierarchy most of the time.

  “Why wouldn’t they block the other side of the lava tube too? Stop people like us getting in,” asked Jonah as they trekked at double speed towards the blast doors.

  “We understand that this is an emergency escape route, down from the Korgax installations above,” said Lakai.

  “Can we not just wait here until the attack and pop the leadership as they try to escape?” asked Jonah, sounding like he’d just struck on a fantastic idea.

  “You must have been sleeping during that part of the planning, Sergeant!” replied Sorensen. “There are several routes off the mountain – other tunnels and airlift exfiltration, as well as just trekking down the mountain. We just can’t cover them all. This mission plan has the highest chance of success. We need to locate the Korgax leadership and call in the strike. That’s it,” said a resolute Sorensen.

  They reached the featureless blast doors that the Hummingbird had mapped ten minutes earlier. Some faint shafts of illumination could be seen escaping from behind the doors. The light leaked through gaps at the bottom of the doors in several places where the steel alloy did not quite meet the track set into the rocky ground.

  “What do we do now? Any ideas? Lakai?” asked Jonah.

  “There is no control panel this side. Sometimes there is in lower security places,” replied Lakai, unhelpfully.

  “We can see that, but that doesn’t help. Anyone else?” replied Jonah.

  “We can use the fibre probe to take a look under the doors if it’ll go,” suggested Jen.

  “Yes, let us take a look,” said Lakai, as Jonah started to unpack the fibre probe from his backpack.

  He pushed the hair-like fibre through a gap under the leftmost blast door, sending the feed to all of their HUDs. The bug’s eye view showed them three things: more tunnel, an enemy sentry, and a control panel. The sentry-bot had twin tracks, stood two metres high, and sported heavy-calibre machine guns where it looked like arms should be. The only feature visible – other than the ‘arms’ and armoured front plate – was the stubby dome on top. This was the sensor suite allowed the AI sentry-bot to sense not only visual images, but other things too. This concerned Lakai, who understood Korgax technology best.

  “The sentry will be able to detect us if we open these doors. It has sonic sensors which will betray us,” he revealed.

  Sorensen looked at the menacing sentry-bot with its matte-black armour plate and metallic grey arm-guns. They looked at least the equivalent of a human 50cal and one round of that would spell the end. He looked at the control panel and asked, “So what about the control panel, Lakai? Is there anything you can do?”

  “Yes, Sergeant Sorensen, there is,” and he proceeded to remove his hacking kit from his backpack.

  No one else could see him though and Sorensen was waiting for an answer, before running out of patience. “So what are we going to do then? Can you hack in?”

  “Yes, Sergeant, this is a familiar type of control panel. I believe I can hack in.”

  Lakai eventually managed to connect to the panel wirelessly. The processors carried in his tiny hacking computer were able access the panel’s control software. Lakai fed the page image to their HUDs. The script made no sense at all to the humans, although Lakai could read it.

  “So what do
es it say?” asked Jen.

  “Is says we do not have access. We need to enter an eight-digit numerical code. The physical keypad you can see has seventeen keys; sixteen of them are numerals. They do not use the decimal system. There are more than four-billion combinations and my portable computer does not have the power for a brute-force hack in a reasonable timeframe,” lamented Lakai.

  “So we’d better cut our way through or turn back then,” said Jonah.

  “I do have a way – but it is a risk,” said Lakai.

  “Go on then…tell all!” said Sorensen. Lakai’s parsimonious expositions sometimes grated on his human colleagues, used to more straightforward talk.

  “I need to access the quantum super-computer back on Exelon. I need to establish an uplink to our covert satellite network. The EQP transceiver’s bitrate is too low for what we need,” said Lakai.

  “So the quantum computer will be able to do the brute-force hack. Is that what you’re saying?” asked Sorensen.

  “Yes, I that is what I am saying.”

  “Won’t a regular uplink be detected by the Korgax?”

  “Maybe. That is the risk I am concerned about, Sergeant Sorensen.”

  “Well, I say let’s do it. We’ve got no other decent choices right now,” he replied.

  “While Lakai gets on with that we’d better work out a plan for that sentry. You heard him – that thing will see us as soon as the doors open; assuming he succeeds in getting them open…” said Jen.

  Lakai first overrode the software in the control panel, which limited the number of wrong entry code attempts. Next, he removed the time delay after each attempt. Sorensen knew that without Lakai’s technical knowhow they’d already be facing mission failure. The stakes could not be higher. Taking out the Korgax regime, on one of the rare occasions when all the key players were together, was critical. If they needed to call in the backup team, the delay could prove costly. The Alpha Rebels had a transition government waiting in the wings – groups of exiled opposition figures and leaders close to the Outcasts. Of primary importance for humanity, they had a desire for peaceful coexistence with Earth. Once they had assassinated the Korgax leaders, this new government would take the reins of state power. This would give the Alphas and returning Outcasts a new power class to rally around. Lakai made multiple attempts to route his processing request via compromised Korgax government and commercial satellites and relay stations. Eventually his Priority-1 request to the super-computer reached the front of the queue and the number crunching began.

  “The quantum computer is working on its attempts now. It could be quick or it could be up to one hour. It depends when it finds the combination. Now we must wait,” said Lakai.

  “Question Lakai: when those blast doors open, what’s the likely reaction of the sentry?” asked Jen.

  “I believe the sentry will stay where it is and continue monitoring. That is, unless it has a reason to investigate something. Why do you ask this, Captain Martin?”

  “All part of the plan, Lakai…” she replied.

  ***

  Half an hour later the sound of the motors attached to the blast doors started up. Moments later the two-foot thick metal barriers began retreating into the tunnel walls revealing the sentry beyond. The armoured beast on tracks did not advance, as the doors simultaneously jolted to a halt. Suddenly a faint whir broke the total silence that had returned to the ancient lava tube. The sentry’s body pivoted on its main bearing, scanning with its multiple sensors – first twenty degrees right, and then twenty degrees left, before returning to face forwards.

  One hundred metres away, around the tunnel bend, Zeta-One patrol waited. Tucked in single file against the inside of the curve, they stood shielded from the piercing sensors of the killer.

  “On my mark, release frag grenades – five-second timer – then fall back to position two,” whispered Sorensen. “Three, two, one…mark!”

  All four commandos lobbed a grenade around the bend, and then dashed to position two, five-hundred metres back. Only one of the grenades got anywhere near the sentry-bot, sending its shrapnel at supersonic speeds. The hot metal fragments simply bounced off the thick armour of the sentry, as the echoes of the four explosions resonated along the tunnel. As if angered by the impudent attackers, the AI bot engaged its drive and advanced through the open blast doors.

  “I can hear it coming!” exclaimed Jonah.

  “Hold position. Ready with shoulder pod rockets just in case. Jen – you hit it with laser in case, for some reason the rockets don’t work,” said Sorensen.

  “Copy,” confirmed Jen.

  The sentry-bot picked up speed, the sound from its drive become higher pitched and more urgent.

  “Won’t be long now…” predicted Sorensen.

  After four more seconds, an almighty flash of light and deep, percussive boom filled the tunnel. Ten seconds after that Sorensen gave the order, “Ok, advance…but be ready for anything.”

  With battlerifles raised and shoulder pods scanning for targets, they came upon the partially collapsed tunnel and the mangled base and torso of the sentry bot.

  “Well, he won’t be offering any more resistance,” said a relieved Jonah.

  “Claymores worked a treat, Jen!” congratulated Sorensen.

  “Oldest trick in the book really,” she replied happily.

  They advanced cautiously through the dust and smoke-filled air and through the open blast doors. The tunnel continued to curve around to the left, only straightening out three-hundred metres later. What they saw brought frustration and dismay – yet another set of blast doors.

  “Oh my God, I can’t believe this place!” complained Jonah.

  “It’s okay – we did it once, we can do it again,” said Sorensen, beginning to tire of the Englishman’s fragile morale. He’d have a quiet word once things had calmed down.

  The four commandos – cloaked in their battlesuits – did not need to hack the blast doors, for they had started opening all by themselves. What was revealed the other side was shocking.

  ***

  January 12, 2064: Asteroid 375 Nemesis, 33 days from Impact with Earth

  “I’ve just switched to EMF vision – I can see the particle streams from the detectors,” said Motor. “Great suggestion, Takai!”

  “And there is a gap as we suspected…directly above the thruster,” declared a pleased Chip, as he too used his EMF vision to see the nano-particles.

  The EMF – Electromagnetic Field – vision allowed them to see the electrically charged particles. They looked like a glowing stream of dust, enhanced by the HUD’s graphics processor.

  Chip manoeuvred himself and Sarai above the hole they’d found in the nano-particle streams.

  “I’m in position above the thruster and going in now,” Chip said, easing himself head first towards the metallic cylinder below.

  “Copy that, Chip,” replied Motor. “Be down there in a tick.” He imagined Chip advancing downwards and grabbing onto the vast engine. He could not see his friend, or his passenger, Sarai, on his back. Both were invisible, hidden by their battlesuits. Motor – and the piggybacking Takai – carefully avoided the particle streams and landed safely onto the dormant thruster. He could see from his HUD marker that Chip was only five metres further towards the front of the thrusters, also at its highest point.

  Motor and Chip used their EMF vision once again, this time to follow the interference given off by cabling and electrical equipment. They quickly confirmed the location of the thruster controls. With a combination of suit thrusters and good old-fashioned muscle power, they made it to the control panel. Takai unclipped himself, allowing Motor to secure him to the thruster. They couldn’t risk him floating off, potentially entering detection range of the nano-particle streams. The Outcast tech retrieved the interface lance connected to his battlesuit computer. He slid the port cover aside and inserted the lance into the thruster control computer. Within minutes, the Outcast technician had uploaded the packag
e. Its instructions would remain hidden and inactive until the vital moment. Only then would they know if the Outcast code had saved the lives of Earth’s eleven billion people. It had to be this way. Any sign of tampering or uninstructed thruster operations would prompt the Korgax to investigate. That investigation could uncover the human-Outcast plan and scupper it for good.

  They moved quickly to distance themselves from Thruster #1. Alone, it was not enough to avert disaster. The second thruster awaited, four kilometres away over the short-radius horizon.

  ***

  January 12, 2064: Earth

  Zara thought about her husband. She did not know his exact mission, but she sensed it would be dangerous. Even though she was immensely proud of him and knew someone had to do it, she nevertheless wished it were someone else’s husband. Her mind wandered back to their two boys she’d left sleeping soundly in the basic little bunker below her feet. Chip had briefed her endlessly on how he thought the enemy attack would play out. He’d been pretty convinced they wouldn’t attack suburban Britain, although conceded that anything was possible. They were alien, after all, and not subject to human thought processes or logic; or, according to her husband, the norms of honourable warfare. After reading the London Guardian report on the extensive use of nuclear weapons on Gaia, she’d argued with him about this. Her point was that it hadn’t taken long for humanity to reach for the WMDs and we were damned lucky the Korgax hadn’t done the same. He had pointed out that all of humanity’s targets had been purely military. The Korgax, by contrast, had attacked two cities – Kota Kinabalu and Mumbai – killing millions of civilians. Just because their particle weapons hadn’t been labelled as WMD, didn’t make them any less lethal. In fact, Chip had argued, they should be designated WMD – after all, they fit the description. She dismissed the possibility of an attack on Hereford. It simply wasn’t important enough and wasn’t anywhere near the Tropics. In any case, the only nearby target of any worth was the Army base and they’d already pummelled it in the last attack. She looked up from the couch at the rain-soaked glass of the French doors to the back garden. It was typical cold, miserable British weather outside – no aliens in their right mind would want to colonize here. So, she sat watching the endless rolling news coverage on the TV in front of her. She felt somehow detached from the reality of the situation, there in her unchanged lounge. The Korgax had not interfered with the world’s food production and distribution systems, and electricity and civilian communications had been largely unaffected. Only the bunker and Chip’s absence reminded her of the imminent invasion. Tensions in some parts of the UK had grown, as the sharp uptick of immigration had continued apace, putting a strain on resources, and housing. Nothing the UK hadn’t seen many times before, she thought, as she accessed memories from her earlier years growing up in the twenties and thirties.