by B. V. Larson
“He’d support what I did,” Straker insisted, “especially after we show him the evidence of the refugee bomb and Ramirez’s attempt to kill us.”
“I sincerely doubt that,” Zaxby said. “I have learned from my monitoring of all networks that, according to Ramirez, General DeChang authorized anyone not joining the Unmutuals to be ‘discarded.’ I believe the only reason they weren’t simply executed is that you were present. They didn’t want to turn their only mechsuiters against them… at least, not until they have more suits built and pilots trained.”
“That might be Ramirez’s story,” Straker said. “She might be going against his wishes.”
“Do you really think that’s likely?” Engels asked. “Or is it more likely DeChang plays the benevolent father figure and Ramirez is his attack dog?”
“I agree with your female, Derek Straker,” Zaxby said. “All indications demonstrate the Unmutual organization is practicing deception in order to influence your behavior to further their own ends in a manner not conforming to your moral structure. DeChang is their leader; ergo, he must know.”
“You mean they’re lying and using us, and DeChang is a two-faced snake,” Straker replied.
“I believe I just said that, in far more precise terms.”
“I’m getting sick of everyone thinking they can use me,” Straker said.
“And us,” chimed in Loco.
“All of us,” said Engels. “Zaxby, do you want to stay with these people?”
“Of course not, Carla Engels. They’re making far too many calamari jokes for my taste, and my return banter about monkey-meat never goes over well.”
“That’s the only reason? Because they might eat you?”
“And you are unlikely to. That and your head rubs.”
“Tentacles!” crowed Loco.
“I can reach your air hoses, you know,” Engels said.
“Shut up, you clowns,” Straker growled. “Zaxby, can you access plans of this base without being noticed?”
“I believe so. Murdock has extensive monitoring software installed, but he is no match for my skills.”
“Good. Find us a place in these tunnels to live for the next few days until we transit in.”
“I’ve already done so. There’s an emergency shelter for miners two hundred meters from your present location. I will guide you, and I will disable all sensors indicating you’re occupying it.”
“Great. Once we’re there, I’ll tell you my plan.”
Chapter 27
Freiheit’s outer hull, the edge of the mining labyrinth.
Two bored rebel fighters sat in a corner of one of Freiheit’s small-craft hangars, gambling and sucking on smokesticks. For the last hour the guards had paid no attention to Murdock’s voice as it counted down the arrival into normal space. Straker, Engels and Loco had been watching them from behind a row of ground vehicles after sneaking into the hangar through the outer tunnel system. They’d sent Heiser off yesterday to coordinate with other former prisoners, since those people were unlikely to trust Zaxby.
The guards’ disinterest was no surprise. Once in sidespace, transiting out was easy. All one had to do was shut off the engines that held the base there, and the vessel in question would slide “down” the gravitic spacetime gradient and pop out once the slope became flat enough. The trick was, of course, making sure you exited in the right place. With Murdock at the helm, the guards no doubt had every confidence of arriving on time, on target.
“I’m surprised they’re not drunk or asleep,” Straker whispered as they eyed the two guards that stood in their way.
“They’re not completely undisciplined,” Engels replied.
“It’s not gonna matter,” Straker growled. “Far as I’m concerned, they’re the enemy. No mercy, no prisoners.”
“Got it, boss,” Loco said.
Engels nodded with compressed lips.
Straker could tell she wasn’t entirely pleased with his ruthless order, but they couldn’t afford to be merciful. One lucky rebel guard that raised the alarm could wreck all their plans. This had to go perfectly.
When Murdock’s countdown reached eleven minutes, Straker said, “Let’s roll.” He led a stealthy approach from behind parked support vehicles and didn’t hesitate before rushing the guards.
He caught them flatfooted, before they even reached for their weapons. Two blinding-quick blows of the crowbar he’d appropriated cracked their skulls, spilling their brains onto the deck.
Loco picked up a stunner and handed Straker a slugthrower. Engels relieved the fallen guard’s body of his handgun belt and strapped it around her own waist. Loco held out the other pistol belt to Straker.
“No, you keep it,” Straker said. “These are all I need.” He hefted the slugthrower in one hand, the crowbar in the other. “Hide the bodies. Cover the mess.”
Murdock’s voice droned while they dragged the fallen to dump them in an open tank of used lubricant, and then slammed the lid. Engels said, “I’ll prep the ship,” and headed for the only sidespace-capable vessel in the hangar, a four-seat utility courier with Hundred Worlds markings.
Straker switched on his comlink. “You there?” he said, deliberately not using a name.
“I’m here,” came Zaxby’s round tones.
“We’re securing the objective. Send the rest. Don’t forget the databases.”
“Affirmative. I am now heading there myself, and will no longer be in control of the network, so maintain operational security protocols.”
“Roger.” Straker ceased transmitting and made sure he’d found the controls to open the hangar doors, though he waited to do so. Activating them might alert Murdock’s monitoring software.
As planned, Loco opened the hatch wide on a twenty-passenger shuttle, and then backed up the mini-borer and its trailer full of supplies right into the craft. He and Straker began to unload food, water and extra oxygen.
The main personnel door opened and more than twenty people rushed in, Heiser in the lead. The big man led the eclectic bunch straight to the shuttle and packed them in, civilians and military alike. It would be very tight. “Glad to hear we’re getting the hell off this rock, sir.”
“Good to have you with me,” replied Straker. He looked more closely at Heiser. “You have something to say?”
“Just that… sir… we thought we were freeing the locals, but they’re even worse off now than they were before. Things are getting crazy out there. It’s a zoo. They’d almost have been better off under the Mutuality. I wish we could take more of them, not just....”
Straker noticed that Rita, the young woman they’d saved from being sold, was among the ones Heiser had led into the shuttle. “You’re right, but we can’t fight so many. Maybe someday we can come back and change things for the rest.”
Heiser nodded mournfully. “Yes, sir.” He began pitching in to transfer supplies. The others did too. Straker recognized most from the battle of Corinth or the prison.
As the countdown approached one minute, a cart drove straight through the personnel door at high speed, scraping both sides as it barely forced itself through. Straker raised his slugthrower, and then lowered it as Zaxby tumbled out and scrambled into the shuttle like a rubbery, stimmed-up spider. He rushed directly to the cockpit. Within seconds, the craft began powering up.
“Everybody aboard?” Straker yelled. “Strap down the cargo and then buckle yourselves in. We’ll be lifting as soon as the base dumps transit. Loco, Heiser, get this rig out of the shuttle and board the courier.”
“I’d really like to stay on the shuttle, sir,” Heiser said. “Rita’s there, and with so many aboard…”
“They might need a strong hand to keep order,” Straker finished. “All right. Send over someone. We have an extra seat on the courier.”
A moment later, a short, smiling man ran to the courier and swarmed aboard. The shuttle door closed, while the courier’s remained open.
Straker stood beside the space door
controls, his hand hovering over the big emergency button that would override the massive airlock and open the entire hangar to vacuum.
“Four…three…two...one…” Murdock’s voice broadcast in even tones. “Transit complete. Egress successful, all systems nominal. Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived.”
Straker hit the button at that moment and sprinted for the open door of the courier. A roar of escaping air began at the edges of the massive steel doors as they swung open. He dove through the portal. “Seal up! I’m in!”
By the time he’d wriggled into one of the vacuum suits, Engels was flying the courier through the access channel, with Zaxby and passengers close behind in the shuttle.
* * *
“Now comes the tricky part,” Engels said, her hands white on the joysticks. She hated things being out of her control, and there were too many variables for comfort on this run.
“You can say that again,” replied Loco from the copilot seat.
“Now comes the—”
“Hey, you’re the straight man and I’m the funny one,” Loco protested.
“You’re funny all right,” Engels said. “If Carson is waiting outside and in view, this could be a real short trip with no happy ending.”
“Mm, happy ending. Those are fun.”
“Loco, don’t you ever quit?”
“I ain’t no quitter, baby.”
“Well, quit yakking now. I have to fly.” The courier exited the tunnel and Engels immediately hit the retros, spinning the ship sideways and ducking into a narrow canyon on the asteroid’s surface. She activated the gravplates to cling to a rock face. Zaxby followed more slowly, though expertly, in the less maneuverable shuttle.
“I don’t see Carson or any other warships nearby,” Loco said, cycling through the courier’s excellent sensor suite. Built for speed and evasion, it was one of the smallest sidespace-capable craft, all engines and power plant.
“That’s good, right?” said Straker.
“Yes. It means we won’t have to abandon our people on the shuttle,” Engels replied. “Not yet, anyway.”
Worry lit the extra man’s face. He introduced himself as Chief Gurung, an experienced naval noncom, and spoke in a lilting accent. “How are they going to get away? That shuttle has no sidespace engines, and we can’t pack all those people in here.”
Engels replied, “We’re going to attempt something Zaxby claims is possible, but I’d never try if we weren’t desperate.”
“What is it?”
“This courier can haul a small cargo pod. Even though the shuttle is much larger, we’re going to cram it partly into the pod bay, and then grasp it with the courier’s waldo arms.”
“Can this thing transit with that load?”
Engels gave an elaborate shrug. “We’re going to find out the hard way. If we can’t, we’ll be like two dragonflies stuck together with nowhere to go.” She glanced at Straker. “If we’re really unlucky, I won’t be able to jettison them, and we’ll all get captured.”
Straker patted her on the back. “Then let’s make our own luck. I know you can do it. You were the best pilot in the regiment, and the only thing that’s changed is who we work for.”
“We don’t work for nobody no more,” said Loco.
“You work for me, Loco,” Straker said, “and I’ll work for you. I’m giving up on following other people. I’m sick of being used.”
“Me too,” said Engels, and Loco echoed her. “The only people we can trust are ourselves.”
Straker’s voice hardened. “And I swear, right here and now, I will bring these bastards down. DeChang and Ramirez, the Mutuality and its types like Lazarus, all of them and anyone else that makes people into slaves. I’ll even force the Hundred Worlds to reform, if what Lazarus said was true.”
Engels measured Straker with her gaze. “That’s a tall order, Derek, but if anyone can do it, you can.”
“We can,” he replied. “I need you. All of you, and a lot more.”
“We’re with you, boss,” said Loco. Chief Gurung echoed him.
Zaxby broke in on the comlink. “We in the shuttle are with you as well, Derek Straker, but at the moment Carla Engels and I must mate.”
“What?” yelped Straker.
Loco snickered.
“Our craft,” said Zaxby. “We must mate our vessels together for sidespace entry.”
“Mate and entry.” Loco elbowed Chief Gurung. “I’d like to see that.”
“I’m surrounded by teenage boys,” Engels said, rolling her eyes. “Zaxby, the slot is open and the waldos are ready to clamp. Line up your belly port with my cargo hatch and insert your docking probe.”
Loco couldn’t resist a “That’s what she said,” and gasped with mirth until Straker grabbed him by the back of the neck and squeezed. “Don’t distract her,” he said.
A moment later, Engels smiled. “Perfect. Zaxby, you’re a superb pilot.”
“I’m a superb everything, Carla Engels.”
“Just ‘Carla’ will do. Activate your belly gravplating.”
“Activating.” A clunk shook the courier.
“Stand by.” Engels manipulated the waldo controls and the ship rattled, squealed and groaned as stresses were placed on the arms and cargo-loading systems, forces for which they were never designed.
“Will it hold?” Straker asked.
“We’re about to find out,” she replied. “Everyone strapped in over there?”
“Yes, Carla.”
“Deactivate all gravplating, structural fields, impellers, and inertial dampeners. In fact, shut down everything you can. Nothing energetic to interfere with our sidespace engines.”
“Confirmed. Carla, we’re in your tentacles—ah, limbs.”
“Hands, you mean. Here we go.”
Engels shut off the gravplating and the courier fell upward, outward from the spinning asteroid base, tumbling slowly. If there were hostile ships anywhere, she hoped the simple ballistic trajectory would fool them into thinking the mated ships were merely a metallic boulder that had broken free.
“Using impellers to stabilize… all right, powering up the sidespace engines.”
Loco said, “I got two corvettes, just transited in. Must be Unmutuals, here to meet the rock. Range, two hundred thousand. I don’t think they’ve identified us yet.”
“Good. Only a few more seconds…”
“Uh oh.” Loco pointed at a screen. “They’re pinging us.”
“As long as they don’t shoot us.” Engels tapped controls.
“They’re focusing their sensors on us. One’s moving this way.”
“I’ve activated our distress signal. That should keep them wondering for long enough.” Engels continued to make adjustments, expanding the sidespace field potential to well above its rated maximum and removing safety interlocks. Zaxby claimed his calculations showed this would work, but, as with the asteroid, they were near the limits of engine power.
“They’re hailing us on the mayday band,” Loco said, finger to his earpiece.
“Ignore them,” Straker snapped. “Carla, how long?”
“Soon.” She shoved two levers forward, letting max power flow to the sidespace engines, building up in their capacitors for the jump.
“They’re threatening to fire!” Loco said. “They must detect the sidespace field!”
“Here goes nothing.” Engels lifted the protective cover from a large green button and mashed her thumb on it.
Something seemed to shove them sideways and the universe disappeared, replaced on the visiplates by a deep gray. All aboard cheered.
“We’re in!” Engels cried. “Zaxby, you’re a genius.”
“I believe I’ve told you that quite often. Still, it’s nice to hear you say it.”
“Good job, Zaxby,” said Straker. “How long until we arrive?”
“As I’ve already briefed you, approximately thirty-six hours, nine minutes, seven seconds.”
“Approximately?”
/> “I cannot be held responsible for quantum dimensional variance.”
“Why not?”
“Because there are factors in the multiverse beyond even my enormous intellect.”
“Enormous ego, you mean,” said Straker.
“I’m not the one vowing to overthrow an empire and more.”
“A man’s got to have goals in life. Those are mine.” Straker reclined his chair. “Wake me up if anything interesting happens.”
“In sidespace?” said Zaxby. “Nothing interesting ever happens in sidespace. At least, not as far as we know. Ships have occasionally disappeared in sidespace, which might qualify as interesting, although mainly to those involved, assuming they didn’t simply die, or vanish, or dissipate, or disintegrate. Of course, what passengers do in sidespace might become interesting. I still do not have firsthand data on human sexual activities. Perhaps—”
“I’m turning off my comlink now,” Straker said loudly, closing his suit’s helmet and folding his arms.
“Me too,” said Loco.
Gurung nodded and followed suit, leaving Engels to listen to Zaxby’s babbling alone.
Eventually Zaxby paused and Engels spoke. “Zaxby dear, we’re all going to sleep. I suggest you let your passengers do the same. Emergency contact only for the next nine hours, all right?”
“Of course, Carla. I will amuse myself by continuing my flowchart for our conquest of the Mutuality. Or was Derek Straker planning on reforming the Hundred Worlds first? Because, though that would be easier, it is the one of the few things standing in the way of total Mutuality domination, along with a few allied alien systems. Did you know those of the Trantor system consider the flesh of my people a delicacy? That’s—”
“Good night, Zaxby. Switching off now.”
“Wait—”
Engels set her comlink to emergency mode and closed her eyes, pitying Zaxby’s passengers.
Chapter 28
Sidespace, fleeing Aynor and the Unmutuals.
“Remind me to avoid being cramped in a courier with you guys, like, ever again,” Engels said as she prepared to transit out of sidespace.