Chapra studied a schematic on one of the lower screens. There were more than a couple of leaks. She made some adjustments.
"I"m bringing up internal pressure to match," she said. "What"s the mix out there?"
Abaron said, "We could breathe it if it was cooled down a bit."
"Funny man."
"I"m a barrel of laughs. By the way, we"re sinking."
Chapra compensated with the AG; making the shuttle light as a wooden ship so it floated and bobbed on the sea. They both peered through the screen. It was Earthlike out there, yet, only the two atmospheres of pressure kept the sea from boiling. If they stepped outside the shuttle without environment suits the heat would flay them. They might survive for a few minutes while they were being boiled alive. Chapra swallowed dryly. And they must go out there.
"That"s it," she said, and flicked off the braking thrusters. For a moment there was quiet then she turned on external microphones and the shuttle filled with the sound of sea. Only the sea gulls were missing.
"What have we got?" asked Abaron as he unstrapped himself.
"The edge of the continent is twenty kilometres away. We should be able to get there on AG and thrusters in about an hour." She checked the time. "Forty-five hours before the Cable Hogue gets here." She increased the shuttle"s AG and it rose higher, came out of the water, then using the thrusters in short burst she turned it on course for the continent. "You sort out some travelling packs: medical supplies, food, spare power packs for the suits. Jesu! Will you look at that!"
Abaron leant forward and looked down at the sea. Tentacles thrashing the sea"s surface and just below the waves a giant nautiloid was dragging down a huge lobster-thing with a long eel"s tail and more legs than seemed probable.
"I"m glad you didn"t suggest swimming," said Abaron.
Chapra glanced at him. He seemed almost happy. Perhaps he was enjoying the buzz.
Davis hurt and the pain-killing patch on the side of his chest was not enough. Perhaps this was because of his previous overindulgence in such patches for recreation, though he wouldn"t put it past Conard to order him under-dosed. He had a hidden supply, but dared not use it. He needed to keep his wits about him to survive the next few days. It would take very little provocation for Conard to set one of his trained dogs on him, and maybe it was the General"s intention for Davis to die up this particular s.h.i.t creek. His ribs were broken and not only was he likely under-dosed, he had been denied access to the bone welder. That he might come back to the ship with a punctured lung was the least of his worries. He wondered if he would be coming back at all.
"This is not a good day," said Artris, fingering the settings on his pulse gun. He too was one of Conard"s least favourite soldiers.
"Surprise me," said Davis.
"There"ll be Golem over there," Artris told them.
Davis moved all his weapon"s energy settings up to their highest. His ribs started to ache even more.
"Golem?" said Jan, the youngster.
"Cut the chat back there!" yelled Conard"s pet, Talist.
"Guess who"ll be directing operations from the Junger," mumbled Artris.
Talist glanced around from the flight controls but said no more when the bay doors opened. The clang of docking clamps releasing shook the hull and the Junger moved slowly forward on its track. The soldiers closed down their masks limiting all talk to com.
"Out and away," said Talist. "ETA five minutes maximum."
Once the Junger was out past the doors and sliding into the light of the burning ship it accelerated and corrected. The wrecked science vessel came into view and rapidly grew in the screen. When Davis saw the size of it he once again wondered about the futility of the Separatist cause. This was just a science vessel and it was the size of a city. Polity battle ships were bigger, a lot bigger.
"G.o.d be with us," said Sheena, the other member of the troop. This elicited no reply.
"Weapons check," said Talist, then, "Davis, you take the CTD in."
It figured. Davis checked over his weapon then took up the chrome cylinder from its clamps on the floor and fixed it to his suit straps. There was no AG in the shuttle but the device seemed heavy. No one said anything more for the long five minutes.
Talist matched the ponderous spin of the Box then carefully manoeuvred the Junger to a cavity in the wall of wreckage.
"You all know what is expected of you. We want the CTD as near to the ship AI as you can get it. Just get in there and get the job done. Any trouble and I want to know about it right away."
Trouble started when they were halfway into the ship on their suit jets.
"What"s that? Something moving above you, Artris," said Sheena.
Artris"s weapon strobed and slagged wreckage, blew it into vacuum. The sound over the radio was like a diesel engine starting. Nearby something silver and spidery darted aside. Davis opened up, a line of flashes down a structural member, a blur of movement, and a silver leg spiralling through vacuum. Golem; without the hindrance of artificial skin, metal skeletons. One landed on Artris and he managed to yell before his breath gusted out through his smashed visor. He hung in vacuum struggling for breath he would not find as the Golem efficiently completed its task by opening up his suit from neck to crotch. Davis got it when it used Artris as a launch platform to come at him. Spewing molten metal it fell past him.
"What"s going on in there!? What"s happening!?"
"Golem. Got Artris. s.h.i.t! Over there! Move!"
The static from weapons fire drowned out anything else. They opened up their suit jets and traversed the corridor of wreckage at lethal speed. More Golem appeared out of the tangled metal. Subliminally Davis saw Sheena impaled on a stanchion, her blood a candy floss cloud all around her. He fired in bursts. Metal splashed like solder. Ceramal ship"s skeleton retained white heat, sometimes warped. The CTD was a heavy pain against his ribs. Jan screamed as a skeletal silver hand slammed him to a halt. Even over the suit radio Davis heard breaking bone. Spinning in mid flight he hit that Golem once and it released Jan. Out of control the boy slammed into a metal wall.
"I"ve got a leak! I"ve got a leak!" he had time to yell before a Golem came running past on magnetic feet and kicked the helmet from his head. Davis tumbled through the air, his suit warning bleeping as a laser flashed across his legs. He was in a chamber near the centre. As he got himself under control he saw a ship"s runcible below his feet. It was operating when it should have nowhere to open to. Perhaps that was where the dark-skinned Golem was going with the silver ovoid of the ship AI: nowhere. Davis aimed at them but did not fire. The Golem stared at him, perhaps expecting to die. Davis glanced at the CTD display as it told him in glowing letters that it was armed and how so very little time he had left to live. Talist was probably halfway back to the Samurai even now. Davis released the straps and kicked the device away. So the runcible might be open on nothing and no one ever came back from that. But who was to say no one ever survived? To the best of his knowledge no one survived a CTD blast at this range. He slammed on his suit jets and followed the Golem and the AI through the cusp. He entered blackness on the edge of white-hot light.
"You know, we really should think of a name for you," said Abaron as he released the girl"s safety straps. She smiled at him and sat on the edge of her seat.
"How about Jane?" she suggested.
"Hah!" Abaron surprised himself with that bark of laughter. But then in the last few hours he had been surprising himself a lot. He had never before felt so alive.
"Chapra, what do you think?"
"Think about what?"
"A name for our friend here. She suggests "Jane"."
"Sounds fine to me. Have you got those packs ready yet, Tarzan?"
"Sorry?"
"Never mind."
Abaron looked down at the two packs. He had tried to cover every conceivable bet, but there was so much they could not take. He put the packs next to the airlock then turned back to the girl. "I think it might be an idea to put you in a suit anyway, Jane. What do you think?"
"It will offer some protection, though obviously I do not need it for the same purpose as yourselves."
Abaron winced, realising he was patronising her. She might look like a little girl, but in that body was an alien mind probably far superior to his own. He pulled a small suit from a locker and handed it to her. Without a.s.sistance she put it on and reduced it at all the expansion points. Shortly after he felt the thrusters cut out and the AG go off. Chapra came through from the c.o.c.kpit.
"Let"s move it," she said. "We"ve only half an hour to get clear of the shuttle. That other craft is nearly here."
Abaron pulled his visor down and popped the inner door. He took up both packs and handed one to Chapra. He noted the singun hung on her utility belt. He went first into the lock, and remembering those monsters they had seen in the sea, pulled a short range cutting laser from his pack and held it ready as he opened the outer door.
Nothing immediately attacked. The shuttle was up on a beach of red sand scattered with nautiloid sh.e.l.ls up to a metre across, into the cover of which scurried thumb-sized lobster things as soon as he stepped out. Two steps from the lock he looked out to sea at the swarm of atolls and saw the heave and glistening backs of great beasts swimming between them. Inland towered trees the size of redwoods, but with globular blue objects on their branches rather than needles. Jammed between these giants was a tangle of life that on Earth would have consisted of smaller trees, bushes, and vines. The only resemblance these growths bore to such was that they filled the same niche. It seemed a frightening place to negotiate and a perfect place to hide. Abaron wondered what creatures were making the racket of groans and shrieks issuing from there. Soon Jane and Chapra joined him. Chapra led the way into the hot shadows under the trees. There she drew the singun and aimed it at something on the ground. Abaron stepped forward in time to see a giant leech heaving itself out of her way.
Half an hour into the tangle Abaron was thoroughly grateful for his suit"s impenetrable fabric and the hard chaingla.s.s visor. There were insectile horrors here: blood-suckers and flesh eaters with all their cutlery in their mouths. Beetles as big as hiking boots landed on him and immediately tried to bite him. His chest ached where a wingless mosquito-thing the size of a cat leapt up and tried to ram into him probosces like the barrels of a shotgun. That thing he cut away with the laser before it broke his ribs. Chapra twice used the singun on things charging out at them with intent that did not seem joyous greeting. They bore appearance of Rottweilers crossed with hornets, before the singularity converted them to sludge. The expected danger revealed itself to them when they had been travelling for an hour.
The explosion was loud and brief, and it silenced the jungle racket for a few minutes.
"The shuttle," said Chapra.
"Will they come after us?" asked Abaron, then he fell silent at the sound of boosters overhead. The three of them stood waiting. They could see nothing through the foliage. Nearby an actinic flash then blast was followed by the monolithic fall of a great tree.
"Can they detect us?" asked Abaron.
"Only if our suits leak, and then it won"t matter to us."
"Suits?"
"They could use infrared and maybe pick up cold spots, even then ... " Chapra gestured up at the thick foliage.
The next explosion was close. A lightning flash, and a hand of force knocked Abaron stumbling. It hurled Jane to the ground and knocked Chapra against a tree.
"Oh s.h.i.t! Run!" shouted Chapra, and she led the way to the right.
"I thought you said they can"t detect us!" yelled Abaron.
"The gun!" Chapra yelled back. "Both those explosions were where I shot those things! It uses an unders.p.a.ce tech to open the singularity! That"s what they"re picking up!"
Another explosion behind, this time in a straight line from the last two. Gasping, they eventually stumbled to a halt, and rested at the base of one of the forest giants. When they moved on again it was to the distant and repeated sound of explosions and a loud sawing sound that Chapra identified as a particle beam fired in atmosphere. Shortly after that, sparks and smoke boiled out of the jungle, driving out swarms of creatures. The three had to flee as well - back towards the sh.o.r.e. One look at the white fire consuming the trees was enough to tell them their suits would never survive it. Near the beach, attacking hornet-dogs forced Chapra to use the singun again. Immediately lasers droned in the air and turned the dog-things into exploding ash.
"Stay exactly where you are! You have been targeted!"
The ship slid above them. It was an old-style AG gunship but no less effective for that. Chapra stood with the singun at her side. Abaron waited for her to raise it and for the three of them to die.
"Throw the weapon to your right!"
The ground suddenly boiled in front of Chapra. She threw the singun to her right. The gunship came down on the beach, its gun turrets locked on them every moment. Abruptly Jane screamed. Abaron turned, thinking she had been fired on, saw she had pulled off her visor and hood and ripped open the front of her suit. She was staggering away. Her face and chest were bright red. She screamed again and fell to the ground. Abaron and Chapra exchanged a look, then looked back at the gunship as its hatch popped and four people came out carrying pulsed-energy a.s.sault rifles.
"Move forward," one of them said, then, "You, drop the laser cutter!"
Abaron let go of the thing as if it was hot. He had forgotten he was holding it. He and Chapra moved forward as instructed.
"Right, lay face down with your arms and legs spread."
They did as instructed. Abaron heard one of them move over to Jane.
"She"s dead, sir. No pulse."
"What the h.e.l.l did she do that for? She"s just a girl."
Dead, thought Abaron, no, she had probably just turned her heart off for a moment.
"What"ll we do with her, sir?"
"Just leave hen Find the weapon, it was an EC singun." Abaron heard the greed in that voice. Of course the Separatists would be very glad to get their hands on that kind of weapons technology. He lay there staring at one of the thumb-lobsters as it checked out his visor with its feelers. He wondered if they would be killed here on the beach or if they were to be questioned first. "I can"t find it, sir."
"Then try harder you - what the f.u.c.k is that!" There was a brief yell cut off by a sucking explosion. Abaron heard the sound of something moving in the sea and thought about monsters. There were two more screams and they carried on; dreadful panicked screaming. Abaron pushed himself to his feet shortly before Chapra. The beach was alive with movement. Worms coiled in the sand and leapt serpent fast. One their captors staggered past, blood pouring from holes in his environment suit, other worms flicking away from him, others attaching. Abaron well knew what kind of worms could penetrate an environment suit. Another sucking explosion and a man disappeared and reappeared as a rain of organic slurry. Stuttering white fire from an a.s.sault rifle. Abaron turned and saw Jane cut in half at the waist. She fell away from her hips and legs, face-down in the sand, then calmly propped herself up with one arm and fired twice more. Of the four Separatists little remained but spreading stains on the sand; organic slurry that excited the thumb lobsters. Abaron grabbed up the laser cutter and ran for the craft, expecting to be cut down at any moment. Some of the worms. .h.i.t him but did not bite. Inside the craft were two more Separatists. Shock and blood loss from hundreds of coin-sized holes the worms had punched into their bodies, had very quickly killed them. What remained of them hardly looked human.
Outside the gunship Abaron leant against the hull and tried very hard not to be sick in his suit. After a moment he looked to the sea and saw the Jain resting in the shallows, worm-things swarming in the water all around it. Beyond it, partially concealed by the reflection off the surface, Abaron could see a sh.e.l.l-mouth a couple of metres wide, at the end of a tube disappearing into the depths. He could not really grasp what that meant; couldn"t make any sense of it.
"I thank you," he said, and nodded to it. The weird head dipped in reply, it seemed. Abaron went to Chapra who was by Jane.
"Get her legs," said Chapra, holding the girl upright.
Jane seemed quite calm about the fact that she had been cut in half. Get her legs? Abaron glanced aside to where the other half of her lay. Then he looked back to her.
"I can be repaired," she said.
Abaron picked up the legs, surprised at their weight. Chapra carried the top half. They took Jane to the Jain, who took her in its tentacles, pulled her under the sea, and into the mouth of its machine grown huge there. The worms went with it.
PART SIX.
"Tell me about the Jain," said Diane.
"There is little provable fact. From the few artefacts discovered and from some cultural archaeology it is evident that their technology was ... is far in advance of ours," said Alexion. He did not look away from the information scrolling up on the screen before him. It was just too fascinating: some things proven beyond doubt, others now possible, and so many more questions to ask. Alexion normally did not hold much of an opinion about the current political situation, but would gladly see the Separatists hung who might halt this lovely flow of information.
"Their nanotech is fantastic. It might easily be called picotech ... "
"Are they warlike?"
Alexion looked around. "There"s so much s.p.a.ce. Why?"
"We are."
"We"re stupid."
Diane shrugged.
"I suppose it is possible. G.o.d help anyone they declared war upon."
"Meaning?"
"As I said to Chapra, "the Jain moved suns" and we"re fairly sure of that. I have to wonder if a race capable of that kind of thing would have any enemies left at all."
Alexion returned to his work and Diane grimaced at the back of his head. They would be there soon, ahead of schedule because of the Laumer engines and ready to deal with an enemy they knew. Smith was with them on the off-chance they found an enemy they did not know. She wondered if he was aware of how closely his ideas and summations were being inspected by the Hogue AI. Thus thought of, that AI spoke to them in its gravelly voice.