Game Reserve: Earth (Shaitan Wars Book 5)

by Sudipto Majumdar

  “What I have been able to figure out is why the barrier is a ceramic one and not solid metal… you see sir that this tube is not just a lighting system that simulates an artificial sun, it is also an air circulation and a filtration system, so air needs to circulate through the entire axis, presumably towards an air pump.

  “Normally the ceramic barrier would be raised letting the air circulate freely. In case of an accident, like the one we engineered when we set of the nuclear blast, the ceramic barrier comes down on both sides to isolate the air and prevent it from leaking out. The barriers on both sides must have come down automatically, but the one on this side was shattered by the impact of debris. The barriers had to be made from ceramic because metal absorbs radiation and would melt, like a metal plate in a microwave oven.

  “That said, there isn’t much good we could do, even if we found out that we can break through that ceramic barrier on the other side, because we will not be able to reach it in the first place. This is some sort of junction for the central axis tube, where it is fed with power and whatever else that needs to be fed to the central axis tube. The tube out here may not be filled with hard radiation of short wavelength like X-rays and Gamma rays, but the infrared and microwave radiation intensity is strong enough to cook a human in minutes and make him lose consciousness within tens of seconds.

  “Even if by some miracle a Marine managed to pass through that kind of heat, it would be no good, because within that time the electromagnetic radiation and the microwave radiation would have fried every piece of electronics inside the suit and weapons of the Marine. He would arrive at the other end in a nonfunctioning armored suit, and would suffocate within minutes, assuming he could survive that long without a functioning weapon at the other end, where a demon is sure to be present to welcome him.” Lt. Sharma surmised pessimistically. His drooping shoulders gave away his mood amply.

  “Thank you, lieutenant, for your words of encouragement. Leave it to me to decide what can or cannot be done.” Desmond replied sarcastically. Then realized that he had been a bit too harsh on the poor lad, who was only trying to be helpful. He continued in a softer voice. “Sorry, just battle nerves I guess. Your analysis is valuable, and keeps us alive, so don’t mind me. In the meanwhile, I would like you to help us figure out the composition of that ceramic barrier and the best way to break it assuming we do not have powered tools. That would help a lot in what I am planning. Take the help of marines in trying to pull a piece of the shattered ceramic from the barrier. I am sure you guys will be able to figure something out.”

  Desmond and Lt. Sharma were standing about five meters away from the shattered ceramic barrier that led to the radiation filled tube junction. It was the closest safe distance one could stand without risking a damage to the electronics inside their suit. The engineers had sent hardened spider probes into the tube, but the probes hadn’t been able to last long enough in the radiation to give them all the information.

  What the Marines knew was that the tube was ten meters long and sealed on the other side with a barrier, probably the same ceramic barrier as was present on this side of the tube. It probably opened on the other side of the iron wall that separated the two compartments. The infrared radiation would bear an effective temperature of hundred and twenty degree Celsius on organic material like a human body, only marginally cooler than being put through a toaster.

  The microwave radiation on the body, even after the shielding of the armored suit would be enough to boil the fluids inside the body beyond twenty second exposure, but an average human would probably be dead long before that. An e-Marine could probably take a maximum exposure of ten seconds. Even if the Marines could cross the tube alive, they would immediately have to shed a lot of heat, otherwise their body would go into a state of thermal shock, knocking them unconscious and eventually causing death. The odds were not stacked in the Marines’ favor.

  Chapter 13

  Breaching Gates of Fire

  Central Compartment, Hunting Shell ‘Ravenous’

  2205

  The Master of the Watch was regaining her nerves, her calm and her composure. It had been some time since any further news of a disaster had filtered to her. As far as she could see, things were finally getting under control. The remaining two human ships had overshot and were far enough not to be the cause of any immediate threat. Even when they had passed by, the human ships had hardly been any threat. They had spent all their time defending their own ships to ensure their own survival. The human ships had not been able to fire a single shot to threaten the Ravenous.

  The disaster had been caused by the human boarders, having used deception to approach the Ravenous, and then through a stroke of good luck, caused by the Master of the Watch’s own stupid decision been able to enter one of the three compartments of the Ravenous and devastate it.

  It was a mistake to have sent Bodar hunters out in the fashion she did. It gave a potential ingress opportunity to the enemy, which the enemy utilized competently. The Master of the Watch was coming to terms with her mistake. She knew she would have to pay a heavy price for it. She was prepared for any consequence to her personally, that didn’t bother her much. She would get what she deserved.

  What had bothered her was the likelihood of any further damage. That possibility seemed to have been forestalled. As far as she could make out, the human boarders were stuck in the third compartment. They seemed to have no clue how to proceed further, and in effect had been stopped at the barrier. As far as her hunting commanders indicated, the humans had not even tested the strength of the barrier or made any attempts to try and force the connecting gates on the barrier. She was not surprised. If she had been in the same position as the human boarders, even she would have been stumped trying to breach through a ten-meter-thick iron wall, with gates that were effectively ten meters thick plugs on the wall that hermetically sealed one compartment from the other.

  She once again thanked the wisdom and the capabilities of the Bodar designers to have made such a robust fighting shell, that could withstand a nuclear blast inside and yet lose so little of its fighting capability. To top it all, her comfort level was increasing by the moment knowing that the Lord of the Hunt was not just in space nearby, but would arrive at the Ravenous any moment to relieve her of the burden of command. Perhaps she could atone her sins of command, by leading the charge as an ordinary hunter that takes back the third compartment from the human boarders, and hopefully she would die in that battle, but not before taking many of the humans along with her. That way she wouldn’t have to face the harsh judgement for her miserable failure in command.

  –XXX–

  “Be mindful of the back-blast, we are in an enclosed space here.” Lt. Rohit Sharma issued a needless warning to hardened Marines who dealt with such issues all the time. Lt. Sharma was more worried about the back-blast damaging the airlock that his engineering platoon had rigged on to the tube. Temporary airlock patches were standard issue in the toolkit of the Marine corps, but they were designed to be patched on to the breached hull of a ship, not on the insides of a five-meter diameter tube. It had been quite a challenge for the engineers, and the patch was a bit dodgy given the hurry with which it had been rigged up. The airlock had been fitted a few meters from the jagged broken edges of the transparent broken central axis tube. It left enough space for Marines climbing on to operate the airlock from the outside.

  All the pieces of the plan were in place, and it would be a real bummer if the airlock got damaged at this juncture. Their plan once set into motion wouldn’t spare them any time to repair the airlock, and if as suspected the air pressure on the other end was greater than one atmosphere, then the air would rush out with such speed that it might become impossible to repair the airlock. If the airlock was busted, then that massive airflow through the radiation filled tube connecting to the other compartment would make it impossible for any Marine to pass through it. If there was air pressure on the other side, then the airlock was there to
ensure that the air inside the radiation filled tube stayed still. It was critical for the next part of their plan.

  When Lt. Rohit Sharma and his engineers had finally been able to analyze the broken pieces of the ceramic barrier on this side of the radiation filled tube, they had concluded that nothing short of a sledge hammer blow could shatter such a piece. It was likely that multiple blows from a sledge hammer would be required to shatter the entire barrier for a Marine to pass through. That was clearly not going to happen.

  Even if the Marines had a sledge hammer, which they didn’t, there was no way a Marine could survive long enough inside that tube to be able to deliver the hammer blow, assuming he could find the space to swing the hammer in the first place. The way to deliver the equivalent of a sledge hammer blow from a distance was to take standard issue armor penetrating shoulder launched missile, remove its explosive warhead, but retain the depleted uranium nosecone of the missile. Now when the missile rammed into ceramic barrier, assuming it had been able to gather enough momentum in flight, it would deliver the equivalent of a sledge hammer blow at the nosecone, which should shatter the barrier. That was the theory.

  There was a complication to this plan though. The missile was likely to have its electronics fried as soon as it entered the radiation filled tube. The actions of the missile after that would become indeterminate. To prevent such an eventuality, the missile’s guidance control system and its fuel burn control electronics had been removed, and it had effectively been reverted into a crude shoulder launcher missile like the ones used hundreds of years ago during the era of World War 2. The Missile fuel burn would be governed entirely by the geometry of the solid fuel propellant like in those ancient shoulder launcher missiles.

  Lt. Sharma had calculated that if the missile was fired from right next to the airlock, the missile would have the space to travel six meters inside the transparent central axis tube, and an additional ten meters inside the radiation filled tube connecting to the other compartment. According the math, sixteen meters should be enough distance for the missile to have gathered enough momentum to deliver a blow equivalent to that of a sledge hammer. That was the math, reality was about to be tested.

  To ensure that if the first blow only partially managed to crack the barrier, then there would be other missiles at hand to quickly finish the job, eight such missiles had been jury rigged. If eight missiles didn’t shatter the barrier, then probably more of them wouldn’t make much of a difference. Modern shoulder launched missiles had significantly reduced back-blast compared to their ancient counterparts. Back-blast used to be the Achilles heel of ancient shoulder launched missiles. They had such huge back-blasts, that they couldn’t be launched from enclosed spaces.

  In an enclosed space, the shock of the back-blast was just as likely to kill the soldier launching the missile as its target. As a result, they couldn’t be launched from safe cover like a pill box. One had to stand out in the open to launch them, exposing the launching soldier to as much danger as its target. Modern shoulder launched missiles had such low back-blast, that they could be launched from most enclosed spaces. However, the back-blast was still there, and standing so close to the airlock put the airlock in some amount of danger of damage.

  When the first missile was fired, while everyone else was eagerly looking at the ceramic barrier, Lt. Sharma was staring at the airlock. To his relief no damage could be discerned, which enabled him to focus on the strange whistling sound that he could hear inside his suit. He turned towards the ceramic barrier. Through the infrared heat haze, the ceramic barrier was barely visible and it looked intact, but it must have cracked! The whistling sound was that of air rushing in through the cracks to equalize the pressure. Which meant that the place must be filling up with air! Sure enough, he could see the flapping of the temporary airlock, indicating air streams splashing on it.

  Others had noticed it too, and he could hear Desmond shouting. “Hit it again!” The second missile broke through, and dull red light was visible on the other side. “Hit the corners!” Lt. Sharma heard Desmond shout again. The ceramic barrier had broken, but there were jagged pieces sticking out of the corners of the barrier. Two more missiles ensured that almost all the ceramic barrier was gone, and that it would present no impediment when the Marines tried their maneuver.

  All eyes were focused back on Lt. Sharma for his final technical clearance. He waited for several moments for the readings on his screens to stabilize before announcing. “Atmospheric pressure stabilizing at 1.2 times Earth standard. Mind you, we are at the axis of the ship at zero G where the atmospheric pressure is bound to be the lowest. As you would go down towards the inner surface of the ship, the atmospheric pressure is bound to increase along with the gravity. By my calculations, it should be around 1.6 times Earth Standard at the surface. No known toxins detected in the air so far, but there is no guarantee that the air is safe to breathe. This equipment is designed for measuring chemical composition in sterile environments, it is not particularly good at detecting bio-hazards.

  “If there are any alien bugs floating in the air, this equipment is not designed to detect that. Oxygen level is sixteen percent, a bit lower than Earth, but due to the higher pressure, the oxygen supply to the lungs would be almost normal. Rest of the air is composed mostly Nitrogen, with trace amounts of Methane and Ammonia. The air likely to smell of fart and rotten eggs at the same time, definitely not a pleasant-smelling place!” Lt. Sharma paused to give his final advice. “The air is breathable in theory, but there are too many unknowns to be absolutely sure. My advice would be to breathe in this alien atmosphere only if there is no other option.”

  Desmond had heard enough, he gave his orders - “Go, go, go, go!”

  The Marines were going to try something, that had never been taught or rehearsed in any of their training regimes. It was so weird, that no one could think what to name it. Each suit had a urination pouch, into which a Marine could discharge during a long stint inside the suit. The suits were too compact to have a recycling unit, so the pouch had a mechanism to discharge the urine into space by manually pulling a plug on the exterior of the suit.

  There was no risk of depressurization because the pouch plugged itself off when fluid ran dry. In any case the pouch was isolated from the rest of the suit. In fact, the pouch designers had the opposite problem. They had to draw power from the suit and keep the urine heated during discharge to space, otherwise there was a risk of the discharging fluid freezing up in the cold of space and forming a plug to prevent any further discharge.

  Inside the narrow temporary airlock, the Marines about to go into the radiation filled tube had previously ripped out their urination pouch. From now on, if they had to go, they would go directly within their suits ??! Ripping out the patch also meant that from now on if the external plug was removed, it had to be manually re-plugged back, else there would be real risk of depressurization. However, the Marines were not expecting to be fighting in hard vacuum for much longer. The Marines had dipped into their precious water rations and each of them had filled their suits with about 15 liters of water.

  The water had filled the tight space between the Marines’ body and their suit. The water had started freezing almost immediately because the temperature inside the tiny airlock had been well below zero. When the Marines put their helmets back on, they had set their internal temperature at minus twenty Celsius, which was easy for the suit to do. It simply had to heat the suit less. It wasn’t so easy on the Marines though, with ice hardening at twenty below on their bare body. It was the lowest temperature the Marines could dare to set without getting into a thermal shock from cold even before they entered the tube.

  Only two of the Marines were initially designated to go through the tube one after the other. This was an exploratory dive into the unknown. No one knew if the Marines would survive the trip through the tube, and if they did, what awaited them on the other side. The hope was that the transparent lighting tube on the other side would be int
act, which meant no demon should be inside it. If that logic held true, then the only way the demons would be able to attack the Marines would be by first breaking the lighting tube and perhaps plunging the compartment into darkness.

  That fact might give the demons some pause, and the Marines some measure of protection. What would be critical if the Marines managed to reach the other end of the tube would be to immediately shed a lot of heat. Without that the Marines would get into a thermal shock and die in short order. The hope was that at least one of them would be able to keep themselves conscious through the plunge to be able to do that for both the Marines.

  Both the Marines were floating in a horizontal position, ready to go when the ceramic barrier was being hammered. Once they got the go ahead, they powered on their rockets on their suits but held on to the central solid core of the lighting tube for about two seconds to let their suit retro rockets develop maximum thrust. The hope was that the six meters of flight outside the tube would enable the Marines to build enough momentum that they could cross the ten-meter tube in under ten seconds even if their rockets failed the moment they entered the tube.

  If the Marines had been doing this in vacuum, it wouldn’t have been much of an issue, but now there was a thick atmosphere that the Marines had to cut through. The atmospheric pressure had climbed up to 1.2 times that of Earth, which must be the native air pressure of the demons’ planet. Air resistance from such thick air would slow the Marines down, and if the rockets failed early then the Marines might be in real trouble, even though they would float through almost zero G and wouldn’t have to face much friction even if they bumped into the sides of tube.