Tethered Worlds: Blue Star Setting

by Gregory Faccone

  He turned the etch on the other riflemen. He was making his way up at a slow, cautious pace. It was taking too long.

  "Catch a fish while the water is disturbed."

  "Fitting," Max said. His library included every ancient military dictum Kord ever inculcated. "Going to head down Khai's way?"

  Jordahk jetted off after her, etch held before him. "Yup. That's where the confusion is." He made a determination regarding his conventional suit's scutum versus those battle rifles. "I figure the shield will hold for a couple of shots."

  "I agree," Max said.

  It was strange. Khai's no-suit appeared all orange in the etch. As if it wasn't machine at all. She approached the ambush corner swiftly and blasted into the rifleman's view. He tried to bring up his rifle, but such actions were more difficult in zero G with no anchor. Just focusing upon a no-suit was difficult. She was already at the wall, gushing long streams of propellant to slow, when his rifle swung toward her. She absorbed the final portion of her momentum against the rock with leg strength enhanced by old mystic technology, and bounced off the wall like a ball.

  She tore behind the rifleman, slicing through two of his jet pack nozzles. Monomer blades could cut through most things with ease, and the rest with some difficulty. They were thwarted only by extremely hardened creations, such as mystic ones with ruthenium, or hard air. Neither were present here. But keeping the micro thin edge from shattering was the technical limiting factor. Most such blades, including hers, were only about palm length.

  The man's maneuvers were slowed by his damaged pack. Khai jetted off the opposite wall and blazed in front of him, slicing into his arm and chest. No doubt his suit alarms blared as systems self-sealed, but there were limits. Khai bounced off the walls four more times, each time slicing more functions and sections of the suit.

  The man never got a shot off. He was rendered unconscious from his injuries. The suit went into failsafe mode, anesthetized him, and tried to escape slowly with one remaining thrust nozzle. Khai let him go but kept his rifle.

  Jordahk whizzed past as she was finishing up. No doubt their enemy's comm lines were filled with frantic, confused chatter. Through the etch he could see the commander edging close to the tunnel entrance, perhaps to help.

  He couldn't know what was about to slam into him. With the last intercept solution calculated, Jordahk put away the etch and swung a wide turn. His full metal scutum unfolded on one arm. In his other hand he grasped the hunting grister.

  The commander was totally shocked. A surprised expression was visible through his helmet canopy as Jordahk plowed into him, grasping his rifle. The man grabbed Jordahk's grister arm, but for once the smaller weapon came in handy. A rifle could be pushed to the side, but a pistol could still be aimed with the wrist. The commander realized it and squinted. Jordahk pulled the trigger multiple times, slamming the man's helmet and canopy with super accelerated ammo nuts.

  It was impressive firepower, but not for a combat suit. They didn't penetrate, although it must have been quite loud inside. The commander ignited his thruster pack, and the two of them spiraled around in a duel. Jordahk didn't have the firepower to end it, and the man had help coming. But Khai was closer.

  "Wixom, transmit whatever you must so Khai can unlock that rifle."

  "Picking off this commander without a smart barrel is a tough shot the way we're twisting," Max said. Suit rifles and many battle rifles were too powerful for last-second barrel adjustments.

  Khai raced around the corner, the rifle on her back, monomer knife still in hand. Her straightforward plan negated the need for precision shooting. She slammed into them both, bringing the energized blade down onto the man's crystal canopy. It cracked deeply before shattering on the second stab. The crystal blew out in shards along with the commander's air.

  The man flailed, releasing one of Jordahk's arms. The suit semi-solidified escaping air as an emergency seal. But it wasn't strong enough to keep out Jordahk's suit-enhanced punch. Just one broke the man's jaw, and he was out. There was no need to kill him. Khai cut his thrust spars, leaving just one. After stripping him of his rifle and officer's pack of seeker drones, they let his compy drive him back from whence he came.

  "The other's about to come into rifle range," Max said.

  "Unlock these seeker drones, quick. Khai, scutum on!"

  They both raised the metal shields in the direction of the oncoming rifleman, trying to put as much of their body behind the silhouette as possible. Jordahk threw a couple of inactive seeker drones in the man's direction as he and Khai aimed their just unlocked rifles.

  "Wixom, forget about trying to hack them," Max said. "Just use my exploit. Mimic their command system!"

  Max was streetwise, something Wixom lacked. The seeker drones, on their relatively slow ballistic course spurted once, twice, then blasted off towards the rifleman.

  Jordahk rocketed ahead, his rifle pointing forward, next to the scutum. "Come on, Khai, blitzkrieg."

  Her no-suit caught up quickly. They aimed through the rifle's targeting eyes, fed into their helmet displays. The zoomed-in image showed the man rocketing away from them backwards. He was trying to take out one of the seeker drones with his battle rifle. A difficult shot under the circumstances. He turned his rifle after spotting them, and took a shot at Jordahk. It ricocheted off the scutum. The man probably didn't even see Khai.

  They both put a shot on him. Jordahk hit his scutum and turned him. Khai put one through his thruster pack, and burning propellant jetted out. Still, his bracer zapped the first seeker drone, but the second turned his tumbling, flaming form into a ball of heat. They kept on, jetting past his smoldering remains. There was no time to consider more.

  They wended through unfamiliar tunnels in the general direction of their goal. A couple of times they stopped and Jordahk penetrated the rock with the etch, finding nothing. He had a growing, almost nagging sense that they were getting close, but the mine was a big place. He used this intuition to guide them at each fork. Time was running out and they needed a break.

  They jetted through a rather promising tunnel but saw no clue, no indication. At the end, the nagging feeling lessened.

  "I think we missed it."

  Khai believed him and was already turning around. Her confidence in him increased his own. About halfway back through the tunnel, Jordahk spotted someone in a crag. His rifle went up and zoomed for a shot, but nothing appeared in its targeting system display.

  "Max, do you see him?"

  "See who, kid? Tunnel's clear."

  "I see no one, Jorh-Dahk."

  Jordahk magnified and enhanced the spot using other systems, but nothing was there. He turned off all the displays and looked through bare crystal. A person hovered in the distance.

  "You don't... never mind. Come on." He moved forward at a careful pace. It looked like a person without a suit on. Then the details flashed into clarity. "What? God of my mystic mother!"

  It was Judicum, standing there as if that spot was his home. Jordahk wanted to rub his eyes, but he couldn't. He tried to stay calm. Was it some sort of post-adrenaline delusion?

  "Max, do a gas check and bio-diagnostic. Am I okay?"

  "Your heart's racing, but otherwise you check out."

  They got within a few meters and stopped. Judicum's eyes bored wordlessly into his. The apparition cast no shadow. Jordahk sensed something large and mystic nearby in this desert of rock and thin khromathyst veins. Was this a manifestation of his intuition by whatever was housed within the numenium coupling?

  "What is it?" Khai asked.

  "I'm seeing something. Someone." He didn't know what to do. "It's Judicum."

  She knew who he was from the thresh. Jordahk knew it was more than just a computer construct, yet he let himself categorize the creation as such. Why? Fear?

  "He is here for a reason," she said.

  From the deep place in his brain, inspiration—or something—struck him. He looked through the etch. Judicum didn't appear i
n it. Beyond was rock, crags, and... something metal? He focused, finding a hatch behind an arranged layer of rock. Beyond the hatch was a small chamber and another small hatch. It was a rudimentary airlock. Jordahk concentrated deeper and suddenly perceived a large open space. It was wide and easily as tall. Sitting at the bottom was a ship. A wonderful, corvette-sized ship. It looked "retracted" somehow. Like a powerful animal curled up in hibernation.

  "We've found it!"

  Jordahk pushed the focus to the other side of the chamber and saw a larger hatch arrangement. The front door. Past those hatches, the connecting tunnels were tiny at that distance without zoom. He swept the tunnel, stopping abruptly at recognizable figures next to a transport frame.

  Yes. They're close.

  He continued peering up the tunnel until it turned away and became difficult to see. At the edge of his vision, a formation of oncoming suits appeared. Three normal-sized and one giant.

  "Khai, grab a seeker drone from the bag. I'll direct you where to put it. My grandfather's close on the other side, and he's got company."

  The man was perplexing. He stood as still as the rock into which he peered. It seemed no different than the kilometers they had passed.

  Are all Sojourners this strange?

  Humberto had no idea, this being his first Sojourner.

  "We have found it, my friend," Aristahl said.

  "What? We have?" Humberto admitted to great surprise. Then again, he had gone on the mission expecting... something.

  "Yes, this way. Let us hurry. Barrister, send our unconscious guide and the frame on a goose chase to lead our pursuers away. Activate its transmitters at a safe distance."

  "Let me off first, platinum brain," Torious said. He half tumbled out. The ungainly robot did much better when the frame did the driving. "Couldn't I have stayed on the scout?"

  The frame spurted off. They followed Aristahl quickly down the tunnel.

  "Pops," came a transmission from Jordahk. "You're close. Some hundred meters down on the right."

  "Yes, I sense it."

  "You've also got incoming. Three small fries and a big boy. We're at the back door. See you in there soon."

  They stopped at another nondescript section of wall. Apparently, the Sojourner "sensed" more.

  "Yes, this is it." He affixed one of his two remaining seeker drones to the rock. "Get back. Yield down, Barrister."

  Humberto was no seeker drone expert, but he had seen enough cineVADs to know the explosion that blossomed was outside the norm. The bright ball of heat held together more firmly, and the color was different with a hint of purple around the edges. It atomized the rock as if it were pulper, partially exposing a metal hatch.

  "The frame is approaching our pursuers," Barrister said.

  "Take it in benignly. See if any take the hook. Show us, please."

  Their helmet displays came alive with the transmitted feed from the frame. Three men approached in Polis combat suits. The other was in something else. Something big.

  "Madre. What's that?"

  Aristahl seemed nonplussed. "A behemoth. Squad heavy support. Very armored."

  He palmed the exposed hatch and was still. The man had coolant for blood. The transmission from the frame showed it coming to a stop at the men. The Sojourner's AI must have led them to believe the vehicle was under their control. The large suit kept a weapon trained on it.

  One of the small suits got in the frame to check on the guide. The large suit waved frantically, but it was too late. The vehicle gushed propellant at dangerous levels and rocketed away into the darkness, with one man holding on for dear life.

  "He is in for quite a ride," Aristahl said.

  "I know the sensation," Torious said.

  Humberto smiled. "That's one out of our hair." When had he started to believe they would overcome everything?

  A large, manual wheel popped out of the hatch. Of course, because stored energy could be detected. Aristahl's boots gripped the ground, and with his special suit's enhanced strength, he turned the wheel. Rock crumbled away from a vehicle-sized hatch as it inched open just enough to let them pass. The chamber beyond angled back a short distance to another hatch.

  "Close this one while I start on the next," Aristahl said.

  He had made it look so easy, but with effort, Humberto finally got it closed. His suit's sensors registered air as Aristahl and the nurse slipped through the next hatch. He followed and beheld a voluminous chamber with an interstellar-sized ship resting in silhouette at its bottom. The hatch closed easily compared to the first. The ship lit up as Humberto looked up.

  Landing lights went from dark to dim. Glowballs came to life around the chamber circumference, reaching higher in layers to an artificial ceiling. The ship was beautiful. It looked showroom new but was covered in dust. The colors were strangely moving to him. His grandfather had spoken of such a ship. It fought like a Centurion and respectfully wore the sand and sepia of preoccupation Beuker.

  Their helmets folded open. Humberto enjoyed breathing the thin, stale air of success.

  "My grandfather would be proud knowing I helped you, Sojourner."

  Aristahl nodded. "Let us hurry. It has been mothballed for two centuries and will take time to bring up. The secret is out, Barrister, go active scan."

  "Our pursuers are working the first hatch," Barrister said.

  "What is your status, Jordahk?"

  "We've exposed the hatch, and I'm working it now. We'll be with you in about two minutes."

  Caked dust fell from the ship. With a groan, an entry ramp dropped down a short distance and stopped. Metallic unlocking sounds echoed in the chamber. The ship sat so the large asteroid's microgravity kept it resting "downward" on landing gear. Stacked supply crates lay gently before the ramp.

  Aristahl moved quickly and palmed the landing strut. Torious planted himself in front of where the ramp would open and hunkered down.

  "They are coming through the second hatch," Barrister said.

  Humberto readied the guide's pistol, for what good it would do, and took cover behind the crates.

  Aristahl threw his last seeker drone into the air with one hand, leaving the other still touching the ship. "Send this through when it is open just enough." The drone began a slow, lazy circle at the outer edge of the chamber.

  The man looked like he was straining, not unlike when he took out Sosimo's escort. This wasn't the right way to bring up a ship dead for 200 years.

  The wheel of the inner hatch turned suddenly. The hatch peeled back faster than when they had worked it. It wasn't even open a meter when the orbiting seeker drone shot through the opening. A bright flash behind the hatch was followed by sustained light. A thundering blast echoed now that air could carry it, and Humberto felt the shock in his chest.

  An blackened scutum peeked through the open hatch. It was oversized. The big boy's. A powerful looking, multifunction suit weapon appeared from behind it, turning their way. Acting on instinct, Humberto leveled the guide's pistol and squeezed off a string of shots. They bounced and sparked off the shield and suit weapon. It paused for just a second until the operator no doubt realized the small caliber of the attack, then continued aiming.

  With a sudden, ground-trembling thud, the entry ramp slammed down. Torious sprang into the ship, bouncing off something before crashing out of sight.

  "Now, quickly." Aristahl started up the ramp.

  Humberto was there with a leap, and half-turned back. The squad support suit was fully in the chamber, its nasty suit weapon pointed at them. He pushed Aristahl up the ramp without a second thought as the crates shattered into shards. The concussive force hit as he leaped behind Aristahl. It propelled him beyond expectation.

  "No!" Jordahk yelled over the comm.

  Humberto didn't understand what was going on. Why was he flying so fast? Aristahl grabbed him out of the air and laid him down as the ramp shut under a fusillade of impacts and ricochets.

  "Torious!" the Sojourner yelled.

/>   Humberto's suit was malfunctioning. The side was damaged. He felt a pressure within his ribs. Something was wrong. He coughed, and blood filled his mouth.

  Jordahk witnessed the heavy firepower behemoth spray the entry ramp and hit someone. They had come all this way and were so close.

  "No!"

  He cut loose with his battle rifle, shooting too rapidly for precision aim. Khai joined in. But battle rifles were not suit rifles, and their target's heavy armor withstood the shots before he raised his shield to block the rest. He aimed his monstrous combination rifle at them.

  They were sitting ducks if they stayed in the hatch chamber.

  "Quick, behind the ship." They jetted toward the rear of the corvette, scutums forward, trying desperately to get behind its silhouette. The heavy fired full power shots faster than a normal suit could. Jordahk was almost to safety when the world spun, and it felt like his arm was crushed by a boulder.

  Khai grabbed him, but before they could both get behind the silhouette, they spun again and slammed into the back of the ship, finally out of direct fire. His shield arm felt numb and looked pretty bad as Max brought up the damage report. Before he even looked at it, he swung the rifle onto his back and got out the hunting grister.

  "Get ready for seeker drones." That would be Jordahk's next move.

  His shield was completely gone, his bracer was damaged, and the suit was trying to keep a long gash along his arm sealed. Even Khai's shield, a mystic no-suit scutum no less, was damaged. Bent, it would never refold.

  "You're bleeding," Max said. "I've got micros on it. You'll live."

  "For now."

  "The bracer won't charge. The one arc you got in there is all it'll do."

  "Great. Khai, let's get some espies out there."

  Two pairs of the eyeball sized reconnaissance drones deployed off their packs. Hopefully, their opponents would be too busy or too distracted to pick them off. They got visuals. The heavy suit maintained his position near the entry hatch, and a Polis suit edged out enough to launch a pair of seeker drones.

  It must have been a panic reaction, or poorly planned. You needed seeker drones in numbers to overwhelm combat troops with bracers. The heavy knew this, because he launched four of his own about a second and a half later. That interval was a slim hope.