Gunner opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it.
Calix massaged the bridge of his nose. “I’m not saying I completely buy it, okay? But she did see the vidya.”
“She did, sir,” said Saffron. “And it’s not like it would hurt to go to the base. Hell, even if there aren’t any tolen bolts there, we’d be stupid not to look.”
“Here’s the thing about those bases, though,” said Gunner. “They’re still monitored. If we break in, the Xerkabah will know it. We’ll have… what do you think? Ten hours until they send a ship out to take us out? A lot less if there’s someone in system.”
“There’s nothing in system,” said Saffron. “I scan every three hours.”
Calix turned to Eve. “If you saw this future, then couldn’t they? They could be waiting for us there when we arrive.”
“I suppose it’s possible,” said Eve, “but it’s unlikely. A being can only its own future. The Xerkabah can’t see our future.”
“What do you mean?” said Gunner.
“I mean, that I can only see events in the future that I’m involved in. I can’t see your future, captain, or Pippa’s, not unless I’m there too.”
“So, you’re saying that the only way the Xerkabah could see that we were going to be in the base is if one of them was going to be present too.”
“Yes,” said Eve. “And it’s empty, right?”
“As far as we know,” said Calix.
“Well, someone could see a vision of us breaking in and tripping the alarm down there, right?” said Gunner. “Whatever guy is monitoring the bases might see that and have anticipated our arrival.”
Eve bit down on her lip. “I suppose…”
Calix eyed her. “Can you have another vision? Make sure we won’t get intercepted if we go?”
Eve shook her head. “It doesn’t work like that. I don’t choose them. They come or they don’t.”
“Wonderful,” said Gunner. “So, we go there and maybe we die. And even if we don’t, we’re on the clock, and we have to get there, get the bolts, get back, and do the modifications all in the span of less than ten hours. Which is the generous estimate.”
“It still makes the most sense, sir,” said Saffron. “Sending the distress signal is risky as well, and it means we’re stuck on the planet for even longer, weak, with no chance of escape if they do come.”
Gunner ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, so we go. We don’t have a choice. But we’re overlooking a big problem here, and that’s the fact that the only person who can do the modification is Breccan, and I’m guessing he’s not going to be up and moving any time soon.”
“No,” said Calix.
It was quiet.
“We could look it up,” said Pippa. “There have to be instructions in one of Breccan’s manuals—”
“It’s a non-standard rig job,” said Gunner. “It’s going to be in a manual?”
“On the nets, then,” said Saffron.
The nets weren’t what they used to be before the Xerkabah, but the aliens hadn’t managed to eradicate everything. There were still secret servers scattered around the galaxy, and information was available.
“Verify we have instructions,” said Gunner. “If we have them, we try this. If we don’t, then going would be a suicide mission.”
* * *
Saffron found three different step-by-step tutorials, one with a video, and she downloaded them all into the Swallow’s memory banks.
After that, it was just a matter of figuring out how they were going to get down to the base.
The base was not necessarily close to the outpost, but it could be reached in about an hour if they took one of the hexacrafts from the outpost and sped across the planet’s surface as fast as it would take them. Once there, they’d need to get into the place, which would probably be locked, and then get into the heating unit to get the tolen bolts.
Eve’s vision had shown her, Pippa, and Gunner going to the base, but Gunner didn’t see why Eve should go. He was still wrestling with this idea that she could actually see the future. Maybe it was true, maybe it wasn’t, but he didn’t know how to accept it. He ignored it. Whatever the case, she had no skills, and there was no point in bringing her.
But Calix couldn’t leave Breccan in case something happened, and Saffron was better off at the ship, where she could run scans of the system and let them know if any ships came.
Still, Gunner thought he’d just go with Pippa. No need for Eve.
But Pippa pointed out that the tolen bolts were difficult to remove, and that they’d need three people to loosen them unless they had use of the bot specifically designed to do it. Which they didn’t.
So, she was coming along, not that Gunner was pleased about it.
They prepared for a day and night cycle on the planet, which was equal to about one standard day, and then they slept. Gunner had a hard time resting when the sun was out, even on the ship where there were no windows. Something about being planetside made his ability to rest go wonky. He didn’t understand that, but there it was. He tossed and turned in his bed for a while, and then he gave up and got ready to leave anyway.
When Pippa and Eve showed up on the hexacraft an hour later, they both looked well rested, and Gunner felt annoyed with them.
For the first time ever, Eve wasn’t wearing that ridiculous dress she was always wearing, which was a good thing, because the outfit was no good for a mission like this. She had been given something from Pippa—a black jumpsuit—and Gunner found he didn’t much like it.
It wasn’t obscene or anything. It didn’t cling to her body like a second skin. But it was fitted, and now he found he could really see the shape of her. Her hips and her small waist and her breasts, and he was more attracted to her than he’d been before. Which was distracting and annoying.
Because of that, he found himself snapping at her more than he usually did. He hated this girl. He wanted her off his ship and out of his life. He took comfort in the fact that they’d get the bolts, fix the ship, and blast out of here to Hoder, where he’d leave her and never see her ever again.
The transport journey was uneventful. To get to their destination quickly, they needed to gain altitude, which meant they went up high enough that the clouds on the planet obscured the ground below. He couldn’t even look at the scenery. It was just puffy purplish fog out the windows the entire time.
Pippa kept up a steady chatter about braids, of all things. He wished he had never brought that up by the end of the trip. Pippa knew all about different styles of braids, and she babbled about how to do them and the time that she’d styled her sister’s hair for some event back years ago.
“Of course,” said Pippa, “the Xerkabah came in and bombed just before the event, and we all had to evacuate the planet and go into hiding for five years. And so it was all pointless in the end.”
And then she was finally quiet.
“I didn’t know you had a sister,” Eve said.
“Don’t anymore,” said Pippa, studying her palm.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Eve. “That’s—”
“Everyone’s lost someone,” said Pippa.
“Right,” said Eve in a different voice.
“Who have you lost?” said Pippa.
“My mother,” said Eve. “But I barely remember her.”
And then everyone was quiet.
Gunner was glad of it, but he felt sorry for them both. He noted that no one had asked the details of either loved one’s demise. It was pointless these days. All the stories were the same for the most part. The Xerkabah killed, and loved ones were caught in the explosions. So many dead.
The humans were going the way of the vidya before them. They’d been defeated, and now they would slowly die out. The only thing left of them would be the Xerkabah themselves, who would take human form when it suited them. Maybe they’d use human form to defeat the next species they decided to wipe out.
Gunner clenched his hands into fists and
glared out at the fog.
Eventually, the ride was over.
Pippa put the little craft down just outside the base.
The military base was built into a stiff rock face that jutted up out of the ground on top of a hill. It had been crafted out of metal and stone, and yet it almost looked as if it belonged where it was, as if some strange accident of nature had created it. It was three stories high, with sparse, tiny windows. There was only one way in—a large door that opened wide enough for hexacrafts to enter as well as humans.
They left their hexacraft about twenty feet away, which should be distant enough to keep off the base’s scanners, keeping their ship’s location safe until they could return to it. From what Gunner knew of the base’s security protocols, they wouldn’t have left anything as draining on a power grid as video surveillance. They’d have something simple. A tracker that could be powered by the planet’s solar energy to go off if a door opened—either outside the base or inside.
They wanted to manage their time as best they could, so they opted against opening the main door.
Instead, taking grappling hooks and cable with them, they hiked up to the side of the building. They were going to climb in one of the windows. There was a good chance that they could do that without tripping the alarms.
They gathered under a window about seven feet up. Gunner could reach the sill, so he locked the grappling hook in place by hand and then ran his fingers down the cable. He gave it a tug. It seemed sturdy.
The sun was high overhead. They had maybe two or three hours until nightfall again, but now everything seemed bright and cheery.
Gunner looked up into the sky, as if he could scan with his eyes for enemy ships. But all he saw was the sky and the clouds above.
He hooked the cable onto a tether on his belt and put his feet on the wall. It was smooth metal, hard to get purchase, so mostly, he needed to use his upper arm strength to pull himself up. The window wasn’t high, though, and he was clambering up over the sill within minutes. He unhooked himself from the rope, and crouched there, clinging to the side of the building.
He didn’t look down. A fall from this height probably wouldn’t cause too much damage, but it wasn’t something he wanted to risk. Besides, there was always the chance of falling wrong and breaking one’s neck. No, the first rule of climbing was not to look down, because the ground was always a siren song down there, calling sweetly for flesh and bone to come and kiss it.
Instead, Gunner concentrated on the window pane. It was made of duraglass, two layers of it. He reached into his belt and got the suction-slicer he’d brought. He palmed it and the thing snapped out into position from its folded up state. He applied the suction cup to the window. It latched on and beeped.
Gunner nudged the controls, selecting the size circumference of the cut he wanted to make.
A breeze blew by, riffling his hair and throwing him off balance. He looked down for a minute, and saw the ground below, saw the faces of Eve and Pippa. Everything spun, and he wasn’t sure which was up.
But it was only for a moment, and then he got control of himself. He pushed a button on the suction-slicer. It began to make the cut, a perfect round hole in the glass.
When it was done, he seized the suction cup, pulled out the circle of glass and detached it, letting it fall. “Heads,” he yelled down to Pippa and Eve.
He heard the glass hit and shatter, but he didn’t look to see it. Instead, he reached inside the window and unlocked it. Now, he was able to crank the window open. He climbed inside. Once safe on the floor, he turned and peered down at the other two. “Who’s next?”
Eve climbed next, easily pulling herself up. That was right. He’d forgotten the girl’s wicked upper body strength. He wondered if she’d done pull-ups in the Cloister or something. He hadn’t seen her do any exercise on the ship, but that didn’t mean anything. She had lots of time to herself. He didn’t watch her all that often.
Eve climbed inside the sill and brushed off her form-fitting jumpsuit. She wriggled in it a little, adjusting it and wrinkling up her nose.
He raised his eyebrows at her.
“Sorry,” she said. “Just not used to these clothes.”
“They suit you,” he said. And then wondered why he’d bothered to say anything. He really didn’t need to encourage her to be wearing that kind of thing more often. Her big dress would be just fine. Of course, now he’d be able to better imagine what she was shaped like underneath it, but—
Pippa clambered over the windowsill, puffing. “Geez, how’d you guys manage that so easily?”
Gunner helped Pippa climb inside.
They were inside a main entry room with a tall ceiling. It opened onto several different corridors. None of the corridors had a door on them. So far, so good.
Gunner got his cator off his belt. “Saffron?”
“Right here, captain,” came the response.
“We’re in,” he said.
“Main entry room?” she said.
“That’s right,” he said.
“You want to take the corridor on the far left,” said Saffron. “Follow that all the way down to the end, and you’ll find the heating unit housing.”
“Great,” said Gunner. “Thanks.” He paused. “How’s the sky?”
“Empty as an abandoned nest, sir. I’ll let you know the minute I see anything.”
Gunner turned to Eve. “If they, uh, had seen a vision of the future, of us tripping an alarm, you think they’d try to send someone in early to intercept us?”
“I… I have no idea,” said Eve.
Gunner grimaced. “Just trying to figure if we can rule out the idea that they already know we’re doing this.”
“Well, we can’t,” said Eve.
“The minute we open the door to the heating unit housing, they’re going to know we’re here anyway,” said Pippa.
Gunner knew she was right. He nodded. “Right, well, either way, let’s not waste time.” He hurried across the floor of the entrance way, his footsteps echoing on the stone floor.
Pippa and Eve followed.
They filed into the corridor on the far left and started walking back there. The hall was wide and dark. Overhead, there were large light fixtures, but they had no power. They made their way through the shadows. Within five minutes, they reached the end of the hallway. To their right there was a nondescript metal door. There was a sign on it that said Personnel Only.
“Looks like that’s it,” said Gunner. He flipped open the entry panel by the door and tried to palm it.
The door didn’t open.
Gunner got out his cator. “All right, Saffron, I’m going to need a code here.”
“Just try the standard, captain,” came Saffron’s voice in response.
Gunner’s fingers flew over the panel, putting in the standard Xerkabah override code. He’d used it enough times in the war. It didn’t work all the time, but it was always worth a shot.
But the door didn’t open. Instead, the entire entry panel began to blink on and off, red and white. The screen came up with Unauthorized Access.
“Damn it,” muttered Gunner. He tried to put in a reset code, but the entry panel didn’t seem to be responding. “Saffron?”
“Yeah?”
“I think I broke something.”
“Oh, no,” said Saffron.
“Yeah, nothing I hit is doing anything now and it’s blinking.”
“No, no, no, no.”
“Saffron?”
“Ship, captain. Just appeared on the sensors. It’s heading right for you.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Oh,” said Gunner. “Great. Really, really great.” He looked at Eve. “I guess that means that they did see us in the future?”
Saffron’s voice. “You have time. They’re still a ways out. So, move, captain. Get those bolts.”
“Sure thing,” said Gunner. “Only problem is that I can’t get into the heating unit, because the door’s locked.”
Gunner held up a finger. “Saffron, you don’t have a reset sequence for these things?”
“Try zero eight three,” said Saffron.
Gunner punched it in. “Nothing,” he muttered. He turned to Pippa. “Okay, go for it.”
Pippa concentrated a tight plasma beam on the middle of the door. She held the trigger and kept it steady as opposed to letting off bright bursts.
There were sparks where it hit the door.
The door wavered and undulated, and then a circle melted away in the center.
Pippa turned off her pistol. “We can’t fit through that.”
“Nope,” said Gunner. “We’re going to need to do that at least four more times.” He unslung his own pistol and nodded at Eve.
The girl furrowed her brow, getting hers out as well. She turned it over in her hands, as if she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.
Gunner eyed her. “I thought you trained in the Cloister. I thought you had weapons.”
“Nothing quite like this,” she said. “Our guns didn’t shoot plasma beams, they shot bullets.”
Gunner went to her. “Here, it’s really very simple. See, you want to check two things before you fire. First, make sure your unit’s turned on.” He pointed to a switch on the side. “Then check your cartridge, make sure you’ve got enough to power the plasma.”
“I do, right?” said Eve, squinting at the little gauge display on the top of the pistol.
“Yeah, you’re good,” said Gunner. “So, just point and shoot.”
Eve raised the pistol to the door and pulled the trigger. Her beam hit right next to Pippa’s, widening the circle.
“Not bad,” said Gunner. “Good aim.”
Eve grinned.
He grinned back. And then he aimed his gun as well, and soon they had widened the hole in the door enough that they could crawl through and get inside.
The heating unit loomed over them. It was a mass of metal parts and plastic hoses.
Pippa pointed. “There are the bolts.”
“Oh, geez, they look even bigger than they did in my vision,” said Eve.
“Let’s get working,” said Gunner. He opened a channel to Saffron. “Where’s that ship, Saffron?”
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