Any second now. I wanted to make up for everything, I didn’t want to waste—
* * * * *
Chapter 106
“BRANDT! WAKE UP!” The voice bursts into the peaceful darkness, ruining it.
Who is that? Sharron? I should wake up…
No…there is a universe of pain up there. I don’t want to think about all the damage. And the shame.
I let them all down. The war is going on up there, somewhere. I couldn’t stop it. All those people on the spacecraft died. Because of me. All of this…because I lived instead of dying as I should have. Maybe, if I stay down here, in the dark, it’ll all just go away…
“BRANDT! THE SYMBIONT IS LOOSE!”
The symbiont? What was that …the monster? How could it be loose? Didn’t it die with me?
“BRANDT, THE MONSTER IS LOOSE! I CAN’T CONTROL IT! IT WILL KILL US BOTH!”
How can it kill us if we are dead? Pain burns into my mind, letting me know I am alive. So much pain, so much wrong. And floating in the background, I can sense it. The monster. It’s running loose, reworking me, warping me into something else.
I force myself back to the light.
Agony and damage control information blast into me. I’m a wreck. Every bone is broken. I’m hemorrhaging everywhere, and there are even a few tears in that new super-skin of mine. The only way I’m thinking at all right now is because those backup computers are running along with my hemorrhaging brain. I’m dying, but there’s worse.
The monster is reassembling my broken body into something else. I can see the beginnings of tentacles here and chitin there. Parts of my mind have been absorbed, and when it’s done, I’ll be no more.
No. I didn’t go through all this just to let that thing loose on the world. I had gotten complacent and started treating the thing as tamed, almost as a pet—something friendly to be depended on. No more.
Everything disappears but the struggle. It’s primal—something beyond words or thought, just its pure savagery against my determination. Each instant is forever. If I falter, everything I did will be for nothing, and this thing will be loose upon Luna.
Eventually, after an eternity, I get it under control. There is no time to rest. Now comes the long slow work of repairing my body. I harness the monster and work with Sharron’s systems to see if I can survive on the surface of Luna.
First, I get the external wounds sealed, and the flow of boiling blood stops. My heart is only beating because of electrical stimulation; the fall had stopped it cold. Time to get that repaired and back in shape, and fast. Oxygen is coming from the solid-state oxygen cell, pumping it straight into my bloodstream faster than it can escape my ruined lungs. I prioritize patching those and putting my ribs back together. Now, my brain. I’m not too keen on doing brain surgery on myself, but with Sharron’s medical info and nano-bots, she can put me back together.
I can feel again, just in time for my shattered skeleton to begin moving back into place. The pain is indescribable, but I can’t afford to black out again. Grinding sounds and low pops ensue as my skeleton fuses back together. With Sharron’s bots and the monster, I get the rest of my ruined body put back together, as good as it’s going to get.
How bad is it? Most of the cybernetic boosting survived just fine, since it was protected by a big bag of meat. I lost a lot of fluids and oxygen, and that’s going to be a problem in the long term. In the short term, everything else seems to be working. I may have lost some memories from the fall, but how would I know?
Time to deal with the world. I open my eyes.
* * * * *
Chapter 107
Death is scattered over the lifeless maria.
Pieces of the moon-hopper and pieces of human beings are scattered all over the refinery fields. Hundreds of sad, little craters dot the maria, some with just a hand, others with a body. A child’s stuffed doll landed next to me.
They’re dead, all dead. The world goes red.
Wait…the world is literally turning red. Looking up, I see why. Terra is eclipsing Sol. The black disc has a glowing, red ring around it. Now, all the light falling on Luna is stained blood red. I guess they planned to launch the attack under the cover of the relative darkness from the eclipse, but the hopper was early. Maybe it was just a freak coincidence. Either way, it’ll make my job easier. The killers are down here with me…somewhere.
Movement…over there. I hold still. Just another corpse on a plain littered with bodies. I don’t dare use active sensors; I’d just catch an anti-radiation dart in the teeth. Eyes open, motionless, I wait to see another sign of movement. Modern active camouflage is good, even against enhanced senses. Soon, the stars move and swim over the rim of my crater.
I wait for him to get closer. Active camouflage doesn’t hide the dust kicked up from boots or the footprints heading over to me. There you are. Bending over. Am I the one you’re looking for? Am I the reason everyone else is dead? Come here…I have something for you.
Before he can call it in, I reach up and grab his head in both arms and twist. He’s strong—a boosted Terran soldier in an exoskeleton. He barely has time to move before…snap. He goes limp and twitches a little. I keep going…crunch, crackle. I’ve almost twisted his head completely around and ripped an arm off as I shove his faceplate into the stuffed doll.
I scream silently into the void, “There you are! Are you proud? You couldn’t hit me, you bastard, but you killed a child! Look at it! Loooo—”
“Brandt!” Sharron’s voice snaps me out of it. “There’s heavy jamming going on all over the place. When you killed him, he sent a final signal. You have to move!”
I’m already jumping for my life. With my boosting, I fly high above the maria. I’m now the perfect target. Do they want to capture me alive? If they’re smart, they’ll burn me down with X-ray lasers. Or, they may follow Terran protocol—hit the dirt and use indirect fire.
It’s the latter; I see flashing drives from SPGs. I hit the regolith and roll into a crater. The SPGs fly into my former position and go off in a series of silent flashes.
Why didn’t they target me?
“Sharron…why am I still alive? Not that I’m complaining…”
“I’m sending all the false signals I can. They have synchronized their communications through the jamming, and I’m using that. For the moment, they think you’re dead.”
“Do they suspect you’re hacking their comms?”
“No…but Brandt, they know that finding you is harder than it should be for some reason. Damn! Now they are executing all of the surviving workers.”
“Best thing I can do is engage them in better terrain. I need you to guide me to the main refinery building; there will be some cover and concealment there.”
“OK. Wait…now run toward that pile of ore!”
I make my way to it in long, low jumps. “Sharron, give me some details. What am I facing?”
“A full squad of Special Security.” Bad news. At least it’s all infantry and no battloids. “Brandt…they have an assault-battloid.”
* * * * *
Chapter 108
Assault-battloids. The modern queens of the battlefield. Used properly, they can mop up infantry all day long. You stop them with other battloids, artillery, spacecraft, or nukes.
Yeah, I’m screwed.
“Brandt, I’m keeping them from coordinating their actions, for now, but you have one covering your position.” Sharron gives me a dot showing me where my enemy is on the other side of the tall pile of ore. Eventually he will get his buddies to flank me or attack me with indirect fire. Or they may regain control of their communications. I need to move now.
I jump over the small hill of ore, straightening my arms, and fire the instant I clear the slope. I can’t see him, but my boosted systems tell me I hit his visor dead-on, blinding him and scrambling his sensors. He unleashes a satchel of SPGs that spark and flash as their pulse drives send them at me. My built-in lasers take them out, one by one, in
a series of white flashes. I finally hit the regolith on the far side, next to the massive refinery building. I’m still alive, so Sharron’s still messing with their communications.
The refinery rears up as a huge collection of girders, supports, and pipes, all stained blood red from the crimson light. There are a number of new holes in the building, streaming gasses—it’s taken fire from the Terran forces already. By the door is a corpse in a spacesuit. It has a single hole through the visor, and the whole faceplate has been shattered from the inside.
Did you have a family, I wonder? Did you go home after work and meet with them? Did you have children? What was your life like before the killers from Terra ascended and took everything away from you?
“Brandt! They have figured out that R/F is compromised,” Sharron warns. “They are setting up laser relays for direct, line-of-sight communication and launching drones.”
Time to get out of sight. Once in communication, they will be able to deploy properly and coordinate their fire. Even if I take one out, the others will burn me down. With the drones in laser communication, they will be able to direct guided and indirect fire until I’m gone.
A leap takes me into one of the gaping holes in the refinery. I don’t trust the hatches and don’t want to get caught in a dead end. The hallway is lit by flickering light strips. Holes in the walls and pipes are still venting gas and boiling liquids. Here and there are bodies—workers in a shirtsleeve environment, suddenly exposed to hard vacuum. They died in agony; some are huddled together in death, and others were clawing at sealed hatches at the end.
Going deeper in, it’s all the same. Ruined rooms and halls filled with the dead. The entire complex was exposed to vacuum, killing everyone who didn’t get into a spacesuit. The ones who suited up were executed outside.
The Lunars are going to go nuts over this. This would be just another day on Terra, but the Lunars normally have a sane and orderly home. “Sharron, how did they think they could get away with this?”
“They plan to blame the attacks on local radical forces and deny all knowledge. Apparently, they think the Lunars will be too afraid of a real conflict to push it.”
That makes sense, in a twisted way. After all, Luna hadn’t responded to the previous atrocities, so why not one more? Big mistake.
“How about reinforcements?” I ask. “I assume Lunar forces are on the way.”
“Yes, but it will be a while.” I see a map of the city, with dots spilling out onto the surface from below, and a bunch of vectors curving in from the horizon. “Local police are already attempting to engage the Special Security forces but are inadequately armed. Low orbit interceptors are on the way, and assault shuttles are already being launched.”
So, I just need to avoid them long enough for the fireworks to settle down. This building has magnetic signatures, fluctuating power, heat sources, and a million other things to confuse them. Eventually, they might search the whole place, but that will take them far too long.
They must have figured it the same way, as a hail of fire begins to sleet through the metal walls like they weren’t even there. Railgun fire punches effortlessly through the metal, creating hundreds of small holes and spraying white-hot sparks everywhere. Particle beams blast through in bars of violet-white light, leaving molten, glowing holes. The building shakes from the impacts of plasma blasters hitting the far face.
Next, they will be sending in the SPGs and drones to flush me out. I won’t have time to wait for the Lunars.
* * * * *
Chapter 109
The ruins of the refinery are working against me now. All the structures, pipes, and power cables that hide me from the enemy make it impossible to tell where the attack will come from. I only know it is coming, and soon.
I stay in motion. They will have the plans of the refinery downloaded and will be executing a search pattern based on them. If I remain still, they will converge on me. If I move, I risk blundering into a drone, SPG, or Terran exoskeleton. There is danger either way, and I prefer to act.
I’m racing down a tunnel lined with ruptured pipes, filled with mists and gas that fluoresce in the failing lights. A cluster of three darts hit me in the middle of my chest and are stopped by my subdermal armor. Where did they come from?
There it is—a small, needle-like drone fires another burst of darts from the mists ahead. With a thought, my lasers sweep the drone, and the mists glow a brilliant blue-white as they boil away. The drone flies away, damaged. The mists saved it from the full effect of my lasers. I knock the darts off my skin and follow it around the corner. I need to destroy it before it can give away my position.
It’s lying on the floor grating, trying to rise again. I pick it up and snap it in half.
If it’s in a network, my position is known. Keep moving.
“Sharron, is there an R/F network being laid down by those drones?”
“I don’t see any sign of such. The enemy seems to be in full radio silence.”
That’s good. While I have to worry about lots of little ambushes, I shouldn’t have to worry about a concentrated attack—
The next hatch opens into fire and death.
Brilliant, blinding light strobes through the doorway, as powerful explosives go off in sequence. My vision disappears and is replaced by an outraged violet afterglow and darkness. Feeling, sensation, and awareness wash away in a flood of agony.
Sharron and the monster pull at my mind, the battle between them keeping me from drifting into the relief of darkness.
The monster. I’m going to need its strength. I coerce it into repairing me and boosting me where it will. Sharron…
“How bad?” I ask.
“I’ll be bringing your senses back online soon. The good news is your armored skin stopped the flechettes. The vacuum saved you, the explosives couldn’t transmit serious-enough shock waves, and you are covered in burns, but only skin deep.” I know what I must look like. What a mess—charred skin, riddled with flechettes and shell casings, and the gray armor showing underneath. Still, I’m alive.
I don’t wait for my vision to come back. Running through the halls, I follow the uploaded map of the refinery, glowing where my vision should be, and the sense of vibrations coming through the metal under my feet. I need to leave before the second wave hits.
* * * * *
Chapter 110
“Sharron, that set up…they knew where I was and where I was going and then coordinated the SPGs. How?”
“Still no R/F…” her image frowns. “Got it! They infiltrated the surviving systems of the refinery and used them to communicate and coordinate. The drones laid down hundreds of senor modules, and those are linked in, too. I’ll subvert their systems…”
“Wait! Sharron, I want you to lure those drones and SPGs into a false kill box. I need to use up their munitions and buy time.” The map of the refinery floating in front of my vision shows me what I’m looking for. “That room, right there!” I glide there as fast as I can.
The room is huge and could double as a hangar. Two chemical synthesizers are suspended by chains. One has been ruptured by enemy fire; even this deep, a rail-carbine can punch through walls with lethal force. The other synthesizer looks intact. I power it up.
“Sharron, I’ll need another explosion. Can you program this to go off when the weapons and drones are here?”
“On it.”
That’s all I need to know. I’m back out of there as fast as I can go. I make it a good way before the next series of explosions rock the refinery. That won’t work twice. The enemy won’t take the time to snipe at me and send in probes, one by one. The next step will be rushing the refinery. I need to be elsewhere when that happens.
Finally, I come to the other side. The metal grating of the balcony is open to space; the armored glass blown out by fire that traveled through the building. Beyond the railing, the red, glowing ring of the eclipsed Earth glares at me.
I’m going to need a bigger gun. Then, as
I run outside, I laugh into the vacuum.
The Maxwell Cannon stretches off toward the horizon, pointing at Earth. The great tube seems to rise off the horizon, staying straight and level over kilometers. The monster magnetic accelerator fires two-meter shells that take three days to hit Earth.
It isn’t a weapon, of course. Once it was set, you could never shift the aim. Every time the Earth or moon wobbles a bit, the whole thing needs to be recalibrated. Then there is the ease of hitting shells that cannot maneuver. It’s not a weapon, its purpose is trade.
The ground shakes as another shell is fired automatically. A dedicated fusion generator provides the power to send the precious cargo of He3 off to the Earth in the shells. That trade is going to be shut off soon.
“Sharron, what is the status of reinforcements?”
“Arriving soon.”
That’s good and bad. The enemy is going to get more reckless and aggressive as time runs out.
I jump. The fall through space is silent, even peaceful. The low gravity means it takes a while to get going, but there is no air to slow me down. I’m going to hit what I aimed for—a platform on the other side of the Maxwell Cannon, hiding me from view.
I roll with the fall, absorbing the hit on my limbs, denting the platform grating. This should buy me enough distance to ride this out. I take cover beside the massive accelerator magnets.
When are they coming? I’m about to risk a glance when the nuke goes off.
* * * * *
Chapter 111
It has to be a nuke, it’s the only explanation for the hellstorm of destruction.
Warrior- Integration Page 24