by S A Pavli
“Okay. Fancy a little stroll before tea my dear?”
“Delightful suggestion darling,” said Manera.
“God preserve us,” muttered Alfred.
Putting on a Spacesuit is still, after hundreds of years of Space travel, a tedious business. Not as bad as it used to be, at least one can do it without assistance, obviously desirable in a one man scout ship. But I helped Manera put on my spare suit, as she was not familiar with it, then donned mine.
“Suits you darling,” I said, giving her an admiring look.
“Not sure about the colour,” she remarked.
“Fluorescent yellow Latest thing.” I assured her.
We made our way to the airlock, put on the helmets and carried out some final checks and gave Alfred the go ahead to pump out the airlock.
“Have you done a Space suit walk before?” I asked Manera while we waited for the air to be pumped out.
“A couple of times,” she replied.
“Jolly good,” I said reassuringly. The airlock doors opened and I picked up the bulky external relay which, fortunately because of the moon’s tiny gravity weighed next to nothing, and we exited the airlock. Ignoring the stairs I jumped down, sailing slowly down the ten feet to the ground and landing gently. Puffs of dust came up from my feet but the floor was secure and smooth.
“Do join me, the waters lovely,” I announced. Manera jumped and landed gracefully. “Right, which way up Alfred?”
“Behind you seems the best way up,” said Alfred. “There is a gulley that leads to the top of the canyon.” We kangaroo hopped our way in the direction indicated by Alfred, our suit lights providing a modicum of pale lighting. The gulley was there, rocky but not too steep and we gradually worked our way up to the top of the canyon, Manera helping me balance the awkward bulk of the relay. Sure enough, when we got to the top, out of the darkness, we had a good view across the cratered landscape to the mountain range where Cora’s base was hidden. It would certainly be an easy drive in the ship’s small buggy, if we had to do it. We positioned the relay where it had line of sight with the shuttle, which we could just about see gleaming like a toy aeroplane in the depths of the canyon.
“Okay, check it out Alfred.” We waited, meanwhile looking around us at the brightly lit landscape. Above us we caught glimpses of the ring of asteroids as they caught the sun, and occasionally the sleek silvery shape of a fighter. We looked to see if there was activity at the foot of the distant mountains, where we judged Cora’s base was situated. After a few seconds we caught a flash and then another.
“If they get Cora, we are stuffed.”
“Stuffed?”
“Dead animals, stuffed and preserved.”
“Ah, how primitive. Still do that on Earth do they?” I could not see her face, but I could tell she was smiling.
“I’ll show you primitive.”
“Oooh, yes please.” Despite our banter, I knew we were both stressed. The situation and the environment was truly alien and intimidating and our prospects of survival were getting worse by the minute.
“The relay is working,” announced Alfred. “But our colleagues are in trouble. Their aircraft has made it into the shelter but is damaged and cannot leave. They are besieged by robot soldiers.”
“That means we can’t fly the Epsilon in?” I asked.
“Correct. There is only space for one aircraft at a time to enter and leave,” replied Alfred. My heart sank. I wanted to curse, but I knew that would be pointless, and upset Manera. This was a time to be calm and rational.
“Manera, what do you think?” I asked.
“I guess we have two choices,” she said. “We stay here and hope that the situation improves. Or we go and help.”
“Go and help?” I asked. I thought about that. What did we have? The Epsilon was armed with a few surveyor missiles. These were designed to explode a piece of real estate to allow us to analyse the content. Basically, looking for metals and minerals. They were programmable, and the maximum setting delivered a powerful punch. We had our friend Sundance with his missile launcher, and our two guns. Hardly an arsenal with which to take on the Peacekeeper forces.
“Alfred, can Cora give us more information about what is happening. What are the numbers of soldiers on the ground? What weapons do they have? What forces do we have? And what is the bigger picture. How is the battle against the Pramasticon’s forces going?”
“To start with the last first, we are holding the Pramasticon’s forces for now, but in the long term the outlook is not good. At the entrance to Cora’s base, there are about seven enemy soldier robots blockading the entrance to the base. So far, reinforcements are not getting through to them. Cora has no support, only the base defences are stopping the robots.”
“I’m guessing the enemy robots are waiting for reinforcements?” I said.
“Yes. They have suffered heavy damage trying to penetrate the base. The only way to penetrate the defences is throwing robots at it and taking out the gun and missile emplacements. The corridor is too obstructed for heavier machinery and aircraft are easy targets.”
“If the reinforcements do not arrive, we have a stalemate, and if we remain here for now, we are safe,” I suggested.
“That would seem a reasonable analysis,” said Alfred.
“But if reinforcements do arrive and the base falls, we are isolated and doomed.”
“Agreed.”
“The conclusion seems to be, keep out heads down for now, but be prepared to give support if things deteriorate.”
“Right, let’s get back and plan what kind of support we can provide. Put the kettle on Alfred.”
Chapter 28
As suggested, we kept our metaphorical heads down for the next couple of hours, monitoring the progress of the battle. The Pramasticon and its allies were concentrating on degrading Cora’s asteroid defence, one asteroid at a time. A number of asteroids had been silenced but the network still held, with the support of our four starships. But we received the warning from Cora that stocks of missiles were depleted and we could only maintain the present rate for a couple more hours. We could only hope that the Pramasticon and its allies were in a similar fix. If so, they may decide to withdraw.
The Pramasticon must have arrived at a similar conclusion because all six enemy ships focused their attention on one part of the asteroid defence. Our four ships concentrated their resistance as well and within a few minutes of ferocious action we had lost three ships partially damaged and the Peacekeepers had also lost three out of action. It was three against one and the asteroid defence was breached.
It was beginning to look as if Alfred’s viruses had been a forlorn hope when we received news that another enemy ship had mysteriously stopped its attack and seemed ‘dead in the water’. Our remaining ship was the good old Settang Despass, which seemed to be demonstrating a superior sense of tactics from the other ships. Alfred’s input perhaps? I asked myself. It set about attacking the Pramasticon itself, but the other remaining enemy ship sneaked through our defences and released its last two fighters to attack Cora’s base. It was a last ditch attempt by the enemy and we realised that they had to be stopped. Our time had come, and we hastily donned our Spacesuits again.
One of the enemy fighters was shot down by one of our own, which then also went down damaged. The last enemy fighter landed and disgorged its sixteen robot fighters, but was then attacked whilst still on the ground and disabled. its mother ship suddenly decided to also withdraw, its guns and missiles silenced. Only the Pramasticon remained active and that was being well controlled by the Settang. The outcome of the battle was now down to the defence of Cora’s base.
The strategy we had decided on was that myself, Manera and Sundance would provide the ground attack, and Alfred the air cover. We had been concerned that our shuttle would be vulnerable to attack by enemy fighters, but these seemed to have all been taken out so Alfred was free to use his surveyor missiles against the enemy robots.
Alf
red lifted the shuttle out of the canyon and landed us on the flat plain, close to the base. Manera and I exited the shuttle and waited for Alfred to unload our ‘buggy’, a four wheeled all terrain vehicle. It had a pressurised compartment with two seats up front and a rack at the back that Sundance could hang on to. Sundance looked mean with his rocket launcher strapped to his insect like body, and well capable of taking on the enemy robot soldiers. But our strategy would be to stand well back, bombarding them with our guns and missiles from the rear while Cora used her remaining few soldier robots to attack them from the front. We had no illusions about the enemy robots; they were fast, mobile and well armed.
We took our seats in the buggy and I took the controls. The compartment was un-pressurised so we kept our suits on and the helmets sealed. Sundance clung onto the back like a giant insect. I engaged the drive and with a hum and a jerk the buggy moved forward. Alfred was keeping us updated with the course of the battle for the base and so far the enemy soldier robots were being repulsed but were gradually working their way deeper into the defensive corridor, knocking out gun emplacements.
It was a ten minute drive to the entrance to the giant cave. A hundred meters from the entrance we spotted some serrated rocks poking through the ground, like giant rotten teeth and I stopped the buggy behind them. I could clearly see a number of the enemy soldier robots outside the entrance. They seemed to be providing logistical support for the attackers, who would occasionally return to reload. I wanted to keep Alfred in reserve so I instructed Sundance to take up a good position on a convenient rock where he had a good view, Manera was nervous about using the gun but she very bravely positioned herself in a ‘V’ shape rock, her gun steady and supported. The guns stood on a tripod and were recoilless so all she had to do was aim and press the trigger.
“Sundance, you will shoot first. That will draw their fire and if they come to attack us Manera and me will join you. If things get tough we will call on Alfred to provide backup. OK?”
“Understood,” said Sundance, his deep metallic voice reverberating in my helmet.
“Alfred, have you got that?”
“Yes Paul, I can be with you in seconds.”
“Good, wait for my call. Sundance, proceed.” Sundance aimed his rockets and fired off three rounds, one after the other. I followed the contrails and they zeroed in to three of the robots with devastating results. The explosions and subsequent fire crippled two of the robots. The third scurried around trying to find where the attack had come from but was clearly too disabled to respond.
“Good shooting Sundance. You are well named.” The remaining three robots turned in our direction, then immediately started to move erratically towards us, veering randomly from side to side to create difficult targets. Mine and Manera’s guns needed closer range to be effective so we held our fire. I instructed Sundance to also hold his fire until they were closer.
It was hard to do that, watching the monsters get closer and closer and not firing. Out of the cave appeared another group of the robots and headed in our direction.
“Alfred, now would be a good time,” I said.
“On my way,” he responded.
“Manera, you take the robot on the left, I will take the middle one and Sundance the one on the right. Wait for my word.” My words were pre-emptied when the robots started firing at us. Chunks of rock exploded around us as I shouted “Now!”
It was desperate stuff for me and Manera. We were not soldiers, nor were we trained in the use of guns. But we did our best, pumping our guns, keeping our heads down, and trying to ignore the deadly hail of bullets around us. We had the advantage over the robots because they had to maintain their erratic progress and we were behind cover but it would only be a matter of a few seconds before they got us. Fortunately Sundance the sharp shooter got his on the second attempt and I got mine on the fourth. We concentrated our fire on the third robot and he was barely ten meters away when he exploded into flames.
“Gotcha you bastards!” I cried but was immediately sobered by a gasp from Manera. She was on the floor and holding her shoulder. I leapt to her assistance, babbling incoherently.
“I’m okay,” she gasped. “Calm down. My suit is torn but it is still air tight.”
“Let me have a look,” I said. There was a black line scored along her shoulder but the material seemed secure. The suits were multi layer with a great deal of redundancy so I suspected it would be okay, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
“Get yourself in the buggy and pressurise the cabin,” I said.
“You need me,” she said.
“With your shooting?”
“That’s hurtful.”
“I think it would be better if you were the getaway driver,” I said. “Be ready in the driving seat in case we have to beat a hasty retreat.”
“Be careful darling.”
“No worries. I’ve got Sundance to look after me.” She turned and headed quickly for the buggy and I resumed my position. The robots which had come from inside the cave, there were five of them, were nearly upon us and I readied myself for another interchange. Before I could fire there were gouts of flames and explosions which threw three of the robots into the air. The shuttle thundered overhead, Alfred putting her into a steep turn to come around for another attack. Meanwhile, Sundance loosed off another salvo of rockets which destroyed one more.
“This one is mine,” I said, loosing off a few rounds. I suspect by sheer luck one of them took one of its legs off, but it kept coming in a horrible lurching scuttle. It was almost on top of us and I had to take cover from the hail of bullets that it was spraying around. There was a bang and a screech and then silence. I put my head up over the rock to come face to face with a metallic eyeball on the end of a twisted stalk. The rest of the machine was a smoking wreck, inches from my position.
“Shit, that was close! Thanks Sundance, you save my bacon.”
“You are welcome,” he replied politely. That is the thing about Sundance, he scares the pants off everyone, but he really is the nicest guy.
Alfred did another pass overhead but his services were no longer needed.
“Alfred, what news from Cora?” I said.
“The last few soldier robots have been taken care of,” he replied. “I can land the shuttle outside and you can make your way in with the buggy. Although I think we may need to clear a path. And further good news. The Pramasticon has retreated. It is heading out of the system with one other ship. The other Peacekeeper ships are disabled. I believe the viruses have at last done their work.”
“Fantastic news Alfred!” I gave a whoop of relief. “For a bit there I thought we may be in trouble.” I saw him bank the ship and move slowly towards us until he was overhead. I jumped into the buggy and instructed Sundance to make his way on foot to the base entrance. He headed off at a fast trot while I strapped myself into the second seat.
“Right, follow that robot,” I said.
“Just a small point my darling. I can’t drive this thing remember.”
“Ah right. Okay, first driving lesson coming up,” I grinned. I then proceeded to instruct her on the controls of the buggy. She roared off with massive wheel spin, a cloud of dust and a screech of delight. I held on tight as she veered alarmingly across the dusty floor of the crater, bouncing off rocks and over steering with great abandon.
“Bloody hell!” I gasped. “Where did you learn to drive?”
“I didn’t. We never drive anything. All vehicles are automatic.” She laughed with delight. “This is fun.”
“Now you tell me. Watch out for that boulder. Slow down. Don’t yank the steering wheel like that!” She gradually got the hang of it and her control improved. Eventually we arrived at the cave entrance. Alfred had set the shuttle down and Sundance was waiting patiently. She skidded to a halt with a little cry of delight from Manera, wrestling with the wheel.
“I want one of these,” she said. “It would make a great dune buggy.”
“You h
ave dune buggies?” I asked.
“Yes, but they are boring automatic machines. This is great.”
“Manera, you are a frustrated hot rod driver,” I said. Then I had to explain what a hot rod was, which excited her even more than the dune buggy idea.
We got down from the buggy to explore the cave entrance on foot. It was huge, a tall cavern which disappeared into the depths of the mountain. I could see the wall and ceiling guns and missiles had taken a battering and were mostly just shredded metal. There was movement and a lone soldier robot appeared. I pulled back cautiously.
“It’s one of ours,” said Alfred. “He has come to escort you to the centre.” I was expecting to drive in but it was apparent that the way was blocked by numerous blackened and dismembered robots. I took Manera’s hand and we followed the lone robot soldier through the winding cavern. The walls and ceiling were testament to the fierceness of the battle and it seemed we had arrived just in time because all the defending artillery seemed to be destroyed. We arrived at the central square where we found the Peacekeeper fighter which had transported our friends.
“It’s a miracle we all made it here safely,” said Manera.
“Yeah, particularly with your driving,” I remarked. She gave a happy laugh.
“Just you wait.” We were led into an airlock by our guide robot. The doors closed and we heard the thrum and hiss of air pumps. The blue light came on and the inner doors opened. We removed our helmets and stepped through to find the whole crew assembled and waiting for us. They broke out into cheers and clapping and Hamolatonen walked forward with a broad grin.
“Our heroes,” he cried.
“It was nuthin’” I said modestly while Manera smiled broadly. We got shoulder hugs from Hamolatonen and then all the others, one at a time. Everyone started talking at once and Hamolatonen held up a restraining hand.