Twisted Spaces: 1 / Destination Mars
Page 15
Chapter 55
Spangdahlem
Wednesday, 09.11.2016
The Lieutenant-Commander observed his adjutant, Major Redkins, reading off his wrist watch. When the man looked up, he knew the time was over. He peeked over the cover into the killing field. The wind had blown most of the fog away, but they had more grenades. Turning to his group, he took a long breath, ready to call in the air support, start the attack.
In a five hundred meter radius ten index fingers touched the triggers ever so lightly, ready to take down their primary targets.
''WE GIVE UP. DON'T SHOOT,'' a female voice called from the shelter.
Wright looked at Redkins in surprise.
''I AM COMING OUT TO YOU NOW,'' the voice continued, ''I AM UNARMED AND I'M CARRYING A COMPUTER WITH THE SECRETS YOU DESIRE.''
''OK, come forward,'' Wright shouted back. Ten hidden snipers relaxed ever so slightly, straightening trigger fingers again. The shelter's outer lights lit up the front yard. A backlit shape became visible, moving cautiously towards the commander's position. Soon it was clear that the person was a younger woman wearing a winter jacket over a dress, carrying a notebook in one hand and holding the other hand away from her body, showing that it was empty. Some soldiers pointed bright headlamps at her, cross-illuminating her from the front, too.
A dozen meters from Wright's cover she stopped, and, putting the computer onto the ground, she said: ''My name is Elisabeth MacMillan.'' She sounded totally at ease. ''Some of you have been in Iraq and Afghanistan, I gather. Know about suicide bombers. OK, don't do anything silly. I'll show you that I'm unarmed. Just watch me.''
Straightening up she reached with demonstrative wide and slow movements to the jacket's zipper, pulled it down - again careful to have her hands visible at all times, then opened the jacket, slipped out of it and threw it aside. A long, yellowish robe-like dress became visible. She turned around her axis, showing that no charge was hidden under the coat.
Wright took his eyes off the woman and looked at his second-in-command, watched his reaction. Redkins had received a very nasty post graduate class on suicide bombing in Afghanistan, surviving two such attacks, one by pure luck, one by killing the bomber. So the commander wasn't astonished to see a drawn Beretta in the Major's hand, cocked and ready, pointed dead center at the woman, finger in the trigger guard. What he could not see was another finger touching another trigger a hundred meters away, crosshairs centerd on Redkins's chest.
He turned back to the woman and saw that she had pivoted towards the group again. She reached up, began unbuttoning her dress, let it slide to the ground, kicked it way. All movements were in slow motion. Under the dress just a white bra with flowery applications appeared, supporting two heavy breasts - and some short, matching flowery panties. No tights, no stockings.
She turned again, arms out far, stopping halfway. Reaching behind her back she opened her bra, stretched out her arms, rotated back to face the soldiers. With a shake of her shoulders she slipped off the bra, unveiling a pair of full, round breasts, complete with hard nipples from the cold. Again she turned slowly. Then she stuck her thumbs into the sides of her panties, stripped them down, kicked them away. Another slow turn. Goose bumps all over her body by now.
''Wow,'' one of the watching soldiers said full of admiration. The rest gawked in silence. The commander and his men now saw a completely nude, buxom female body. Only Redkins's handgun stayed on target.
The naked woman slowly pivoted another round, her hands behind her head, giving everyone a good look at her marvellous forms. See: no attached bomb satchels there. Then she slowly bent down and picked up the notebook, moved in closer, stopping at five meters again.
Chapter 56
Spangdahlem
Wednesday, 09.11.2016
''I have the complete documentation here.'' Ellie's voice sounded clear and true on the ship's bridge. ''On this computer.''
Marlene looked up from her controls, then switched on the outside security cameras. She quickly skipped though the various pictures until she found the best view: a bare naked Ellie standing in front of a group of gawking soldiers, a notebook in one hand, talking to the crowd.
''What the ...'' Mike stared a moment at the front screens. ''Ellie!'' Mike couldn't believe what he saw. ''Damn!'' He turned to Marcel: ''What the fuck is she doing there?''
''Buying us time, my friend. Buying us time,'' Marcel answered, clearly impressed by the guts of this woman. ''How is it possible that we can hear her?''
''She's wearing a quantum communicator,'' a woman on his left said. ''Reyd Shagan, sir,'' she introduced herself, nodding to the old soldier, ''Communications officer.'' The woman was in her late twenties, of oriental type with long, curled black hair and a delicate face. Iranian, was Marcel's guess.
''But she's naked ...'' the older man objected, then, understanding: ''Oh ... it must be hidden in her hair!''
''Yes, she's wearing our prototype, like me.'' Reyd reached under her neck hair and pulled a lacy headset-like construction out. ''You wear it like glasses, just from behind. Hers is switched to unidirectional mode: we can hear her, but she can't hear us. She must have turned it on just now.''
''Security!'' Mike called out on the comm unit: ''Careful now, boys. Don't mess this up.'' Meaning in their language: don't shoot, but if you do: don't miss.
Dupont turned to the lift hole: ''Excuse me a moment, my friends.'' Then, to Mike, in his harsh French: ''You stay focused now, Lieutenant!'' With that he disappeared downward.
Chapter 57
Spangdahlem
Wednesday, 09.11.2016
Wright woke up: ''Come closer,'' he commanded, ''Slowly. Keep showing your hands.''
Ellie stepped forward, holding the notebook in front of her like an offering to an ancient god. When she reached the senior officer, she passed it over into his hands and said: ''I would appreciate it if I could get my coat and my shoes back. I'm cold.''
That much was obvious. Wright nodded to a Private next to him, and the man moved cautiously from his cover towards the open place. No shot rang out, so he ran over to the coat. He fetched and examined it, grabbed the shoes and brought both back to the freezing woman. Ellie slipped into them, shivering.
That done, Wright waved to a man further back, ordering him to come forward. The man's clothing marked him as a civilian, probably a consultant. The commander handed over the computer and the man opened it at once and started to examine it. Wright glanced quickly at his Major, worried he might do something stupid. Redkins' pistol still pointed straight and steady at the woman.
Chapter 58
Spangdahlem
Wednesday, 09.11.2016
Rosskov's voice from the lower deck broke the silence of the breathlessly listening bridge crew: ''Mike, we are ready!''
Immediately Michael turned to a man sitting beside him, in a chair now marked 'Defence': ''Carl, prepare the deflector shield, tightest setting, maximum density. And a gravity trap of up to twenty G's, effective Radius one hundred meters. But ...''
''Don't switch it on yet. Understood, boss,'' Muller grinned.
''Engineering!''
''Boss?''
''How about some gravity for us?''
''At once, Towarischtsch,'' Alex shouted. Immediately everybody felt a pulling force. ''Gravity plating online now.''
''Grav mine ready?''
''Yes, Mike.''
''Thank you. Now we wait!''
Chapter 59
Spangdahlem
Wednesday, 09.11.2016
The man looked up at Wright: ''It's all here,'' he said, ''Theory of antimatter production, the antigrav generator, construction plans.''
''Are you sure?''
''Yes. We can re-engineer the design now, build the machine.''
Lieutenant commander Wright turned to Ellie: ''Thank you. Now tell your friends to come out, one by one.''
Chapter 60
Spangdahlem
Wednesday, 09.11.2016
&nb
sp; The American's voice echoed through the bridge.
''Defence! Grav trap now! Eight G's!'' Mike's order came out as a bark, and the man beside him reacted; Carl pushed a graphical slide up. Immediately a dark, strong hum sounded up from down below.
''Building up. Five Seconds.''
''Deflector shield!'' Again fingers rushed over a glass surface, the hum got louder, stronger and deeper, a crackling sound could be heard.
''Building up. Three Seconds.''
''Alex: open the ceiling!'' Mike's hand rested on the joystick, ready to move.
Chapter 61
Spangdahlem
Wednesday, 09.11.2016
Ellie felt the sudden pull of gravity on her body increasing. Prepared for the effect, she outbalanced it, smiled at Wright: ''Too late, my friend.''
Within heartbeats the effect grew stronger, became a force, pulling everybody and everything downward. It turned into an ironclad fist nailing the surprised men and their equipment to the ground.
In the last second before the power became overwhelming, the Major, being forced to his knees already, cried out: ''Fuckin cunt!'' and by pure exercise of will, lifted his pistol just high enough, fired a quick shot into Ellie's chest. In the next instant a bullet slammed into him, throwing his aim off: the second shot went wild in the air. Redkins smashed against the bunker's wall, then crumbled.
The woman tilted backwards, and, arms spread, hit the concrete hard.
Chapter 62
Spangdahlem
Wednesday, 09.11.2016
The shots echoed hard through the bridge. Everybody looked up, saw Ellie fall.
A pained cry rang up from Mike: ''Ellie! Ellie!'' He tried to jump up, but the four-point belt chained him to the seat. Desperately he grabbed the buckle, fumbling to open it.
Then the French sergeant appeared from nowhere, now in cammies, put his paw hard on Mike's shoulder and bellowed in Legion-French: ''Lieutenant! Get hold of yourself! Do your duty!''
The magic words stopped Mike cold; he remembered what was at stake. He took a deep breath, forced the pain back and tried to regain his cool. Switching into combat mode. He sat up and grabbed the joystick, took manual control of the sphere. A tentative turn to the left, to the right, then he pulled it up to the yawning gap in the roof of the shelter. Distracted by the pain on the rim of his mind, he missed the exact center of the hole and the deflector shield scuffed a sidewall of the serrated opening. Under bright flashes the concentrated gravimetric forces pulverized the concrete pieces, ate their way through without effort. In a second the sphere was floating free of the hangar.
''Position us over Ellie, Lieutenant,'' Dupont commanded harshly, pointing towards the flattened group. ''I'll jump down with a few guys and get her!'' Without waiting he turned, swung into the lift opening.
Mike complied, and in a moment the sphere hovered ten meters above the nailed down group. On one section of the main screen the air lock became visible and the bridge crew saw six people in cammies and weird gear, holding assault rifles in their hands, jumping out of the spheres air lock chamber and drifting downwards fast, their weapons pointed at the flattened soldiers. They touched ground, and immediately the action started. One of the men grabbed Ellie, attached a small box to her that obviously made her weightless, then pushed her upwards like a cargo crate. The unmoving female shape floated up towards the air lock; to the horror of the observing crew a cloud of red dust around her followed her upwards.
Four of the men stepped forward to the immobilised American officers. As soon as they came closer, the soldiers on the ground were encompassed in the troopers' neutralising fields and started drawing hectic breaths. They began to move. Immediately muzzles of assault rifles pointed at them and made them reconsider quickly. The ship's troopers handcuffed the American commander and his hurt Major with plastic strips, pulled them up and two of them jumped upwards to the sphere, carrying the men with them.
''Leave the civilian,' Mike's voice sounded cold over the compound, ''get the computer.''
It was over in less than a minute, and everybody was back in the sphere.
''Airlock closed!'' a voice announced, then another, urgently: ''Medic to the docking bay!''
''Security personnel!'' Mike shouted into the quantum communicator. ''Abort mission.'' That would make the snipers on the adjacent shelters quit, leave their equipment behind and disappear into the dark. A small pyro charge on the weapons, going off in a minute, would destroy fingerprints and any DNA evidence. ''All others: abandon post.'' The remaining ground personnel would leave their protective bunker under the shelter and rush through an underground tunnel to one of the more distant hangars, to dispense from there. Most of them would escape, some might get arrested. It didn't matter, they didn't know anything that wouldn't be public knowledge in a few days.
That done, Michael pulled the joystick all the way back. The sphere's reactor answered with a furious hum, the deflector shield flashed violently, then the little ship, in a demonstration of raw power, jumped upward with breath-taking acceleration, going supersonic in a heartbeat and continuing rapidly until reaching Mach Ten, at last moving with over three kilometers per second. Far below them a shock wave of the violently broken sound barrier echoed harshly across the country-side.
Not having any problems with aerodynamics, the small spacecraft just rushed upwards in a straight line, away from the gravity center of the planet. In thirty seconds it passed the one hundred kilometer mark, four-and-a-half minutes later, meanwhile controlled by the navigational computer, it swung into an orbit. Behind it the air control systems of a dozen countries went nuts. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defence Command, went to full alert and pointed their radars hastily towards the new spacial object.
Not that it mattered. In their new position, one thousand and thirty kilometers above the ground, Twisted Spaces was safe from Earth and its defence systems - for now.
Chapter 63
Bitburg
Wednesday, 09.11.2016
A lone Chinese field officer, parked at a location between Bitburg and Spangdahlem, had turned her binoculars by chance on the distant ex-air base beyond the small town of Spangdahlem, when a bright, brilliant streak of light rush skywards as quick as thought. Then she was hit by a brutal supersonic sound wave.
Chapter 64
Spangdahlem
Wednesday, 09.11.2016
The American soldiers, freed from the dreadful force, recovered quickly. Being next in the chain of command after the abduction of their two highest-ranking officers, a lieutenant remembered his responsibilities and began to act.
His first task was to look after the civilian who had examined the notebook. The lieutenant wondered that the man had been allowed to live - after all he might remember some of the things he had skipped over so quickly - and appointed a sergeant as the expert's support. His knowledge might be the only thing they gained on this distressing mission.
Then he assembled the platoon, ordered them to move forward and search the shelter, weapons at the ready - not that he expected any resistance or more surprises. Next he commanded the comm officer to open a connection to Langley. Things needed to be reported.
In the silence of the night they could hear jet engines roaring, two planes circling above them at slow speed.
Chapter 65
Earth Orbit
Wednesday, 09.11.2016
''Orbit stable and verified,'' Marlene stated, touching graphical buttons.
''Reactor in idle mode,'' the chief engineer reported.
''Deflector shield on maximum,'' Defence said. ''Ship secure.''
Marlene, turning to Mike: ''Now what?''
Mike stared a moment at the enchanting picture of the blue planet below him, then looked into Marlene's pale and shocked face. He scraped together his remaining strength, then replied: ''I'll go look after Ellie now. Then I'll talk to the captives.'' He took a deep breath, working on his equilibrium. ''Afterwards we'll go to Geneva, visit CERN.'' He turned
to his communications officer: ''Reyd, please contact Colonel Leclerc by quantum unit. Tell him what has happened; tell him about the prisoners and the need for medical support. Ask him for all the antimatter injectors he can grab. We can stay on his landing pad for only a few minutes and won't be able to announce our approach until only ten or so minutes prior to landing.''
''Sure, Boss.''
Michael unbuckled, speaking to his second pilot: ''Acar, please take over. Bring her into an orbit passing over Italy. Check out a high-speed approach route for CERN, touch-and-go option. Make sure our six is covered at all times.''
Lieutenant Acar Doganer was a third generation Turkish-German from Cologne, a member of 'A-Shaitan-Allemande' and now, like his comrades, a US citizen. Acar, educated first at a German high school in Cologne and later, after his adventure tour in dune country, like Mike, at the University in Berkeley, was more than clever enough to understand the context of those orders. He also understood the necessity of the one-leader principle in military units, aboard planes and ships - and accepted it. So he just nodded, turning back to the controls. This ship would be wherever his Lieutenant wanted it, whenever he wanted it there. But he would also take the liberty to look at the overall tactical situation ... and possible options. Old habits die hard.
Mike turned to the lift, held firmly on the deck by the ship's gravity plating. He jumped into the man-sized hole in the deck - the lift's 'tube' and drifted through the near-weightless zone down to the love of his life. He knew what to expect, had seen it all to often. A shot from a 9mm into one's chest at point blank range left little room for survival. But maybe she was lucky ... and maybe the shooter was still alive. He touched Jules' Glock in its shoulder holster as if seeking reassurance.