Earthweb

by Marc Stiegler

  The following moments seemed like the longest and loneliest years of CJ's experience. The earlier slidechutes had been a joy-ride; now, all she knew was that, no matter how terrible the consequences, she could not stop until she came face-to-face with the enemy swarm.

  Destroyer guns opened fire. The pyramid in the center of the chute dissolved. Then the sound of Destroyer guns came to life again, much closer—it was Lars firing this time. Roni echoed the roar on the far side.

  CJ shouted, "Yes!" The pyramid had distracted the Destroyers, and now the Angels were getting in the first deadly shots of the battle.

  Her scream of victory was drowned by the bellow of more guns. She could see chunks of slidechute flooring jump up as streams of bullets trained on Lars and Roni.

  And the two Angels were easy targets: the recoil from their gunfire had eaten their forward momentum; they were now sliding very slowly back up the chute. The streams of bullets reached their bodies, and—

  CJ reached Lars first and shoved him forward, out of the spray of death. Pushing Lars forward drove her backward, till she stopped for a moment on the slide, then accelerated down into the focus of fire herself.

  The roar of machine guns ceased. Everyone was out of bullets.

  Having pushed Lars ahead of her, he was now accelerating away, into the middle of a circle of minitanks. CJ knew he didn't have much of a chance, upside down, of defending himself. She jumped from the slidechute surface, screaming, hoping to distract the tanks. The screaming failed to attract their attention, but her landing on the middle one could not be disregarded. The minitank sagged to the floor beneath her, and her spike swept out at the one farther from the wall, sweeping its blade arm away from Lars.

  The minitank against the wall did, however, strike true. Lars grunted as blood sprayed from the right side of his chest. He twisted, trying to get up and away. CJ turned to the minitank, wedged her spike beneath it, and flipped it with the smooth technique she had practiced a thousand times in SimHell. A second swift motion later, her spike thrust home. The tank ceased to move

  Lars had his spike out and managed to block another blow from the minitank farthest from the wall.

  The tank upon which CJ stood heaved itself up. Another person might have been knocked off balance, but CJ simply flipped lightly off, landing with pellet gun in hand. The loss of her weight left the tank suddenly extended to its full height, its belly far from the ground. CJ's blast of pellets ricocheted from the floor into its belly. It collapsed in a heap.

  Lars blocked another blow from the third of their foes, got his spike underneath, and flipped it into position for an easy kill, just as CJ had done the other one.

  CJ looked up to see what she faced next, faintly surprised that she hadn't already been struck down while protecting Lars from the closest three tanks. Her mouth opened in wonder.

  Through the still-settling dust she could see the carcasses of more than a dozen minitanks chewed up by machine-gun fire. A few roboguards lay scattered in the carnage as well, and the huge chests of dead Destroyers poked out of the rubble here and there as well. Almost nothing moved.

  Except at the far side of the chute, she quickly realized. Axel rose unsteadily on one leg to face a Destroyer that reached for him with both hands and a blade. CJ was too far away to help, even if she'd had any idea how to make a difference—neither her pellet gun nor her spike would make a dent in a fully armored Destroyer. Nonetheless, CJ ran toward them, spike held high.

  The Destroyer swung its weapon, and Axel successfully blocked–but the blow shattered his staff and knocked him against the wall. Off-balance, he promptly slid sideways to the floor on top of Roni, who did not move. Axel held up his arm in a futile effort to block the upcoming blow.

  Out of the corner of her eye, CJ saw a blur of sandstone on wheels hurtling down the slidechute. As the blur reached the bottom, the sandstone apparition leapt from the bike and arched forward. Akira!

  With the perfection of a ten-point high-dive, Akira straightened out and crashed helmet-first into the Destroyer's throat.

  The hit did not snap the Destroyer's neck, as it would have done to a human being, but it did knock the robot flat on its back. CJ recognized this position, as did Lars, who had risen to his feet and staggered after her. Even as the Destroyer sank its blade into Akira's stomach, Lars wedged his staff into the Destroyer's gun mount socket and heaved. CJ was already in position with her pellet gun: as the destroyer's gun popped out, she buried the nose of her pistol in the exposed socket and fired. The Destroyer shuddered and stopped.

  Akira rolled off the robot, panting painfully. "I thought those things were supposed to be tough," he gasped.

  "Roni!" Axel wailed. CJ jumped up and ran to his aid. She slowed as she reached them, as she saw how little difference she could make.

  Roni was still lying upside down on the chute. CJ knelt to pull him down, off the chute onto the level ground, then realized it would be a mistake. A stream of bullets had cut him practically in half. If she tried to move him, his lower abdomen would be left behind.

  Roni looked up at her. His eyes bulged with pain. "Akira still alive?" he asked.

  CJ nodded.

  "Good. Tradition preserved," he said. He shuddered and lay still.

  Akira coughed, hideously. CJ stood up, exhausted, and went to kneel beside him.

  Akira raised an eyebrow. "Roni's gone?" He asked.

  CJ nodded to him, as she had nodded to Roni. There was nothing else to do.

  "Well. Glad he got what he—" Akira exhaled sharply. He did not breathe again.

  CJ blinked, again and again, to keep the tears out of her eyes. She sat back, huddled into herself. Axel and Lars came up on either side and hugged her.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The Shootout

  The Dealer permitted himself a small smile. The Angels had set all kinds of new records. This was the first team ever to get everyone alive to the center level, even if two of them had died pretty much immediately upon arrival. And this was the first team to still have a wheeled vehicle operational at the bottom of the slidechute. That was a pretty big achievement. It meant they would use less of their limited compressed-air packs to get to the ship center. They'd be stronger in the last, most terrible battles.

  The smile reflected his belief that he was, in large measure, responsible for their success. The monster gun—his gun—had made the difference. It was very cool.

  * * *

  Jessica closed her eyes, but the hideous images stayed with her. The Angels had set all kinds of new records. This assault was going extremely well. How horrible.

  Ghastly as the sight of the Angel One deaths had been a month earlier, at least she had not known them personally. In contrast, Akira and Roni had always had friendly smiles for her as they passed her in the hall, and she had been an intimate observer of their lives for almost four weeks.

  And soon Jessica herself would be the one giving the orders.

  * * *

  Paolo frowned once again at the results Crockett II had generated. At least this time the results were not wildly out of line with everything that had ever gone before. But the result was certainly speculative.

  Looking at the patterns of corridors and rooms they had passed so far, extrapolating those patterns to a layout around the core of the ship, there was an anomaly. If the team went clockwise around the corridor one ring out from the old Gate location, and if they then turned right at the second opportunity, there should be something there that was . . . different.

  Could it be the Hallelujah Gate?

  Paolo feared that the only way to find out would be to go there, a very expensive proposition if he were wrong. He shrugged, and proceeded to post the forecast. He did not put a lot of money on it. Let someone else figure out what to do with the idea.

  * * *

  It had been a long time since Morgan had had a team this close to the goal with so little idea of what to do next. Should they just go to the old location, on t
he off chance that the Gate still stood there but had been sealed over, despite the doubts that this was the case? The 'cast gave them a dismal twenty-six percent chance of finding the entrance there.

  Of course, there was a perfectly robust, sixty-three percent probability Shiva had set a trap at that location in the absence of a Gate.

  Morgan sagged in his wheelchair. There really wasn't anything else to do, except wander around the corridors hoping for a break. Wandering down the corridors had been exactly his strategy when he had gotten to the heart of the center level on Shiva I. But there hadn't been any Destroyers looking for him that time, either. A rambling stroll would not suffice anymore.

  A new forecast for a new Gate location showed up on the 'castpoint. Clockwise, two radial corridors away, someone predicted an "anomaly," possibly the Gate. Morgan watched almost idly as the odds in favor of this forecast improved slowly, then leveled off at twenty-one percent.

  So the old location was still the better guess. But it was not much better, and still dismal. He clucked his tongue. Perhaps he should talk with CJ about this. She was, after all, at least as smart as he was.

  * * *

  CJ turned away from the scene of carnage, to look down the corridor she would soon start to run. Nothing remained here for her. She had no place to bury the dead. Their bodies would be consecrated in the nuclear fires of Shiva's destruction. There were no dog tags to remove, or even any notices to send out; everyone who cared had watched the ending live.

  Her most important task was to remember how to smile. Her team, after all, had set all kinds of records getting here. For the sake of the morale she must share with Axel and Lars, she had to remember how to smile.

  She turned to her surviving teammates. She managed to bring forth an expression that wouldn't have looked out of place on the Mona Lisa. "Everybody ready?"

  Lars and Axel nodded.

  "Let's go."

  CJ walked down the hall, back straight, head high. Axel limped beside her, using Roni's spike as a cane. Lars rode the bike a few feet behind them. The chest wound Lars had taken in the last battle was not quite as crippling as Axel's broken leg. But Lars, with the special harnesses on his oversized frame, was carrying their supplies. They saved more compressed air letting him ride and making Axel walk. As they rounded the gentle curve of the corridor, leaving the site of the battle behind, CJ began to feel her energy return. Her energy had changed, though. Now she could feel an edge to her strength, an edge born of hate.

  Morgan came online. "CJ, it's time for a strategy session."

  CJ's eyes opened wide. "Strategy! Why Morgan, I never thought you'd ask. Of course the answer is yes."

  She listened as a long pause ended with a burst of laughter. The laughter ended as abruptly as it had begun. Morgan explained the situation, and the question: Should they go to the old Gate location, or the possible new one?

  CJ trudged patiently along till Morgan had finished, then explained, "The answer is obvious, isn't it? I mean, even if they do put a trap at the old location, Shiva would surely put its biggest force in front of the real entrance, right?"

  "Exactly right, CJ."

  "So first we sneak up on the old location, recon to see how big the trap is. Then we trot on over to the new location to see how big a pile of guys Shiva has planted there. Whichever force is larger, that is the one we fight our way through."

  She heard heavy, unhappy breathing at the far end of the commlink. At last Morgan replied, "I was hoping for something more elegant."

  CJ laughed. "This is elegant, Morgan. It's just dangerous."

  Morgan grunted. "Okay, that's the plan, then."

  They came to the intersection where their current ring corridor met the radial corridor that led inward. CJ pointed down the hallway, into the center of the ship. "All right, everybody, let's go walk into the trap."

  "Excellent," Lars proclaimed.

  "Cool," Axel agreed. He waved the Destroyer gun he now carried. "Uh, before we continue, could I try this thing, just once before we get into a firefight? See how it feels when it hammers me into the wall?"

  CJ nodded. "By all means, Axel."

  Axel snapped the spike to his frame, aimed the weapon carefully down the hall they had just come up, and pressed the firing stud. Nothing happened. "Good thing we checked," he muttered. He automatically started a clearing cycle on the gun, the kind of cycle you'd perform as a matter of course on a jammed human weapon.

  * * *

  Jessica jerked back in her chair as the 'castpoint lit up like Vegas on New Year's. As Axel started to clear the breech, thousands of forecasts poured into the 'castpoint, all predicting that the gun would blow up in his hands. Mechanical engineers, retired soldiers, hopeful future Angels, and firearm specialists from around the world spoke as one. It was the Web equivalent of a scream of panic.

  It would take less than fifteen seconds for a million trades to take place on the prediction. It would take much less time for Axel to die.

  * * *

  CJ idly watched Axel operate the gun.

  "Freeze," Morgan said calmly.

  CJ froze, and saw Axel do the same, in midoperation.

  "Axel, do not clear the gun. Unfreeze."

  CJ started to breathe again.

  Morgan explained. "Repairing that thing is a little more complicated than fixing a Ruger, Axel. I'm getting instructions now."

  Morgan relayed the plan, and Axel set to work. In a minute the weapon was ready for another try.

  CJ heard Axel take a deep breath. "Here goes," he said as he pressed the stud once again.

  This time a shot rang out. Axel staggered under the recoil.

  "Wow," Axel exclaimed, "I see why you wanted the gun all for yourself, CJ."

  CJ smiled cheerily. "That's right, Axel. You're the lucky one." CJ didn't have one of her own; magnificent as the monster guns were, the team needed one agile, able-bodied person who could move fast. Since she was the only able-bodied person left (the ache from her fractured arm didn't count), she was it. And the gun was just too big and clumsy for her role. It was a great shame. They'd left plenty of Destroyer weapons back by the slidechute. So many guns, so few people to carry them.

  They walked slowly down the corridor toward the expected trap, staring at the blank wall with tense expectation. They came to the last intersection, where they would turn left to go clockwise to reach the anomaly. They stopped. CJ muttered, "Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." The corridor was empty of all save a deathly quiet.

  Lars chimed in. "Well, at least it means old St. Nick has a chance to lay out some presents." He turned down the ring corridor, took five steps, and stopped. "Up you go, CJ." He held his hands out for her.

  CJ accepted his help as she jumped lightly onto his shoulders. She started planting duodec charges on the ceiling. Axel knelt in the center of the intersection and carefully laid out a set of recon pyramids so that they could see the center of the trap from around the corner.

  At last they were ready. Lars said, "I'm the strongest one, I get to throw it."

  Axel stood on tip-toes and looked up balefully into Lars' eyes. "I was a baseball pitcher in high school. I get to throw it."

  They both looked over at CJ. She threw up her hands. "It's the big decisions like this that leave me completely unable to make up my mind."

  Morgan grunted. "Axel, you've got the pyramid in your hand. Throw it."

  Axel grinned. He stepped to the center of the intersection, studied the far wall, brushed off a couple of signals from a hypothetical catcher, wound up, and threw the pyramid down the hall.

  A massive clattering sound of mechanical movement came up the hall as the pyramid landed. Destroyers stepped out from around both the left and the right corners of the Shiva's innermost intersection. Axel leaped to the cover of the ring corridor as gouts of fire washed the hallway.

  CJ, already around the corner into the ring, smiled sweetly down at Axel as he lay where he landed. Her eyes were wide and f
luttering. "Was that a strike, or a home run?" she asked.

  "Damned if I know." Axel got up. "What next?"

  CJ continued sweetly, "Why, Axel, don't you know? Now we run for our lives." Then she was moving. Then he was moving. Lars was already moving.

  The sound of bad guys in hot pursuit surged up the hallway. CJ glanced back at the pyramids in the intersection, straining to see in the reflections the exact composition of the enemy force. "Mother Mary, I sure do hope we get to fight our way back through that mess."

  Axel looked back. "Are you kidding? The armies of World War II were smaller than that."

  "Yeah. But if we don't have to fight through those, it means we'll be fighting through something worse."