Bastion Saturn Read online

  There was another flashing explosion above the surface. Zheng said, “That was the last one.”

  One screen showed that the tunneled moon still had movement inside, but it was spare. Henry Lo said, “OK. Easy mop-up.” He glanced at the screen displaying his shuttle bay. The doors were opening to release the four ships it held. “The boys and girls are going to be sad that they didn’t get to shoot as many as they were expecting.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The Wang Fat forces, like the police escorting them, owned a reputation for their deep desire to experience killing, while also harboring a reluctance to break the law, or more accurately, to do such a deed unsanctioned by some authority. As there was no central government in the Saturn System, Wang Fat was as good an authority as any.

  Some of the non-owners who had been abandoned on the moon started to trickle back into the storage room. A woman named Alice took the lead with five then six people marching behind her toward tThe Princess Belle. Caleb stood was standing on the ramp keeping watch while Jennifer, Natalie, and Saanvi searched for any other sundry items that they might have overlooked for the journey.

  Alice said to Caleb, “You there? Spruck got this thing working?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Don’t play dumb, stranger. If anyone is getting off this rock on that ship, it’s us. We’re the ones who know Spruck.” Her small group backed her up as she stopped and planted her legs square, hands on hips.

  Caleb cocked an eyebrow, figuring he should have expected this, frankly surprised it hadn’t happened sooner. “Well, that’s a shame for you. This thing will hold six. We have five, plus a beloved bot. So even if you talked Spruck into kicking us off, he’s got his friend Natalie, which means three of you aren’t going anywhere anyway.”

  This threw the group into a fit of mumbling. Jennifer stepped up to the ship, laying her goods on the work bench and stood next to Caleb. Natalie and Saanvi did the same. Caleb continued to the newcomers, “But, that’s neither here nor there. The ship’s broken for now.”

  A man came rushing into the room, ripping off his breather. “They’re shooting people! All the ships are blown away. Shock troops landing.”

  Caleb felt his stomach drop. So soon? Where the hell iswas Spruck? He needed a weapon; at the very least, so he could hold off the people standing in front of him. This was going to get ugly fast.

  Another man, holding a crying little boy, ran in wild-eyed, saying, “Rock cutters. Are there any rock cutters left in here?”

  Natalie said, “A crate of them over there, Ken. Fuel cells on ’em should be fine.”

  Ken set the boy down and angled for the crate. “Everyone grab one. It’s only good for close quarters, but the laser will cut a man in two. They’re not safetied like laser guns.”

  “That’s a curious oversight,” said Caleb launching himself toward the crate.

  A few more people ran in, eyeballing Spruck’s ship. Then Spruck came in, Bert behind him carrying the bulk of the CO2 filters. Spruck quickly assessed the situation, saying, “I don’t know if it will start. I can only take six and I already picked those six. Sorry.”

  Ken held up a rock cutter saying, “I don’t think you want to go anywhere out there. They blew away every ship as it took off. The stakeholders are space dust. We have one choice: we cause so many casualties for them that they rethink the whole thing.”

  Alice said, “Ken, you’re a fool if you think we can fight these folks off.” She raised her voice even louder. “They land and Spruck flies. I say we hold a lottery. Five winners.”

  Bert said to Spruck, “Forgive me for interrupting, but why don’t we and these people just leave on the ship that we arrived on?”

  Caleb said, “What did you say, snowflake?”

  “The ship we arrived on, sir. It can hold all of us.”

  Ken said, “No, no. Larry took it. It’s a floating debris field out there.”

  “I highly doubt that, sir. I locked it when I left. Standard protocol upon leaving a ship unoccupied.”

  “Why you beautiful bald bastard.” Caleb stepped over to the to the bright white machine and snatched his face, giving Bert a kiss on the forehead.

  Ken said, “Jesus, people. There are four hundred meters of invading forces between us and the landing bays.”

  Alice said, “They’re clogged with pipes and cable, but we could go through the fiscal plant ducts. We get in there all the time for maintenance. Not too hard crawling through in low grav.”

  “That’s the first place they’re going to look,” said Spruck.

  Jennifer asked, “Is this all of you?” Nineteen people looked at one another. It was likely that none of them had taken a census on non-owner personnel.

  Natalie said, “Most, I think. Tim and Gary at the launch-prep aren’t here.”

  “Not likely coming,” said Ken.

  Jennifer pointed at Spruck’s ship. “I say we go around them. We all pile in, launch and land at the shuttle. Transfer folks right there.”

  Caleb said, “You’re forgetting about whoever is orbiting up there. Take it from one who has been there, they’ve got a cop with a laser cannon and missiles waiting for just such a launch.” He glanced at Spruck’s ship. Like most smaller ships, it had exosuit mounts on the exterior, in this case, two of them, one on each side. He looked at Ken, who was tightly grasping the rock cutter. “What’s the range on that?”

  Ken looked down at the tool. “This? It’s for mining at close quarters. No idea.”

  “But will it put out a strong enough beam to do more than blind someone at long range?”

  “Again, I don’t know, but it cuts through rock like butter so I imagine it’s got some oomph in vacuum. I’m sure counting on it to kill whoever is going to come down that hall.”

  Jennifer noted Caleb looking once more at the exosuits mounts. “Really? After Phoebe you’re going to ride on the outside again?”

  Caleb looked to the crowd and pointed at the double doors. “Weld that door shut. Kill the pass switch. Pile as much heavy crap against it as you can.” He looked at Ken. “You want to use that thing?” He pointed a thumb at the exosuits. “How about a little ride on the outside with me?” He turned to Spruck. “Assuming that’s okay with you.”

  Spruck said, “Sounds nuts. Sure. Why not?”

  “Dad!” wined the kid with Ken.

  “It’s going to be okay, Brian.”

  “No it’s not! You can’t ride on the outside of a spaceship!”

  “Actually, you can,” said Caleb, who then turned back to the crowd. “We pile in this thing and . . . what’s your name again?”

  “Ken.”

  “Rock cutter Ken and I turn it into a battleship. We hopefully kill or scare off the orbiter, land and transfer to the shuttle, like Jennifer said.”

  “That’s nuts,” said Alice.

  A man in greasy coveralls had been keeping watch outside the door. “Hey! They’re—”

  A laser beam hit him square in the right eye, burned through his head in a blink, and briefly flared the wall behind him as he dropped.

  “William!” screamed a woman wore the same color coveralls.

  Two men stumbled over each other pulling the man’s corpse inside and out of the way, while one of them hit the door-close button on the first of two doors that created an airlock for the bay.

  Ken stepped over with the rock cutter and blasted the keypad just as a man wearing antilaser gear stepped up to the observation window.

  Jennifer ran to the door carrying the portable welder and began welding the seam.

  The woman who had screamed for William, loudly swore over and over as she rifled through a tool box, producing a tube of gel. She slapped on a pair of thick rubber gloves as she ran to the door and gently pushed Jennifer’s torch away, squeezing the contents of the tube along the seam. “Don’t touch it. You’ll never get unstuck.” Then she turned and knelt next to William, who still had a thin wisp of smoke curling up out of his burned o
ut eye socket.

  Natalie grabbed a can of orange marking paint, casually stepped to the door, and painted out the window while holding her middle finger up to the man on the other side.

  As Henry Lo walked the halls of his new acquisition, he chewed a fresh stick of cinnamon gum and felt a certain sympathy for his troops. They and their police escort were expecting a firefight, itching for a firefight. But for a few stragglers (fools who thought they could talk their way into a new position with the company), the gang hadn’t been able to melt down a nervous system or put a laser beam through hardly anyone. Then there was this tall lanky black woman with an afro giving them the finger as she painted out an airlock window. Henry Lo stopped at the scene and offered what he hoped was an optimistic smile to Sergeant Gunderson. “There you go, Sergeant. Some resistance finally, eh?”

  They could hear the inner airlock door thud shut. Gunderson pulled off his helmet. “Tricky one, that, Mister Wang. Being an airlock and all. You’ll note that that they are sealing it with Keck Gel. That stuff will instantly grow the door to the frame. Not going to be like cracking a safe. Sealing the inner door, too, I expect. We’ll have to drill the wall.”

  “What about the outside? The surface-side doors?”

  “Same, I expect.”

  Henry Lo offered a hmmm, then shrugged. “It’s a shipping and receiving dock. It’s not critical for now. I suppose we could just let them starve.” The eagerness of the men around him slightly deflated.

  Gunderson’s posture became even more ramrod in response. “Might be a fair amount of food in there. Months, maybe longer. Can’t leave loose ends like that, sir.”

  Henry Lo scrunched his nose. “No, I suppose not.” He turned to his second standing next to him. “Zheng, ask the fellows who are securing the maintenance shafts and ductwork to keep an eye out for a drill rig.” He turned back to Gunderson. “Chances are that the drilling for this place was contracted out and wrapped up long ago, but you never know. Probe the surface side for any weaknesses. If we have to blow the surface door, so be it.”

  Gunderson began to salute, then nodded. “Sir,” and waved a squad to follow him.

  Henry Lo patted his stomach. “I’m feeling a tad peckish.” He turned back to Zheng. “Have Hu check out the kitchen and whip something up.” Then he held up a hand. “No wait. These Albiorix fools were setting up a spread. Chances are there’s a welcome party going to waste. Have Hu check the cafeteria.” He called after Gunderson, “When you’ve got your plan in order, sergeant, have your men get some food as well.”

  “Yes sir, Mister Wang.”

  Shipping and receiving had a low-energy orbital slingshot system that could handle packages as small as a baseball and as big as a city bus (or a spaceship the size of the Belle). The system was designed to put packages out into the moon’s orbit so that fuel wasn’t wasted on the shipping side of the equation. There were three different slingshots, each more heavy-duty than the next, all with sophisticated weight programming so that each package was sent perfectly into a close orbit for pick-up by an awaiting delivery ship.

  Spruck was at the controls of a crane that traversed the ceiling. They had the Belle hitched up and dangling over the receiver for the heavy-duty slingshot when the power was cut off in the entire bay. The sudden pitch black was replaced by the emergency lights blinking on, but the crane was dead, the Belle swinging slowly back and forth over its target. “Bastards,” swore Spruck.

  “It’s only gotta drop about a foot,” said Caleb. “Can you release it?”

  “Nope. That requires electricity, too. The fall’s no biggy. The gear can handle that, but the release is electric. So’s the slingshot. Maglev and all. Heck, so’s the elephant door.”

  The floor suddenly started vibrating and a low pitched hum came from beyond the airlock door to the base hallway. Ken said, “They found the tunneling drill.”

  “How long until they’re through?” asked Caleb.

  “Uh . . . Wall’s about three meters thick—_

  Ken’s son Brian interrupted him. “About, let’s see, half an hour, Dad.”

  Ken nodded. “Yup, that’s about right. If the laser cutters are working on it. They were acting up when we cut the tunnel for the expanded sleeping quarters.”

  Spruck lightly hopped down from the crane-control-box, saying, “Uh, okay. We, uh . . . the Belle . . . We, uh, we hot-wire what we need off her fuel cells. They’re built to supplement an outpost.”

  Caleb, Jennifer, and Saanvi could do nothing else but stand back and watch as the Albiorix team got to work pulling cable to the Belle while simultaneously breaking into the crane, elephant door, and slingshot wiring harnesses. The floor continued to vibrate and dust fell steadily from above. They would have to do it all in sequence: Crane first, then door, and then slingshot. The only way to do each step was to do it manually, which meant that the big elephant door had to be opened by someone wearing an exosuit. Caleb, of course, volunteered.

  The moment the ship was settled on the slingshot, Spruck ran inside through the airlock and gave a thumbs up to Caleb who stood next to the elephant door controls wearing his exosuit. He gave a thumbs up in return. With his back to the wall that was being drilled, he didn’t notice the rock starting to crumble behind him, but Spruck did. He said, “It’s now! Gotta go now!”

  The Albiorix folks were piled inside the Belle. Without enough seating for everyone, most sat on the floor, legs spread so the person in front could snug up their back to a chest. Shipping foam blocks were squeezed in-between each body and the person in back of the line had double the foam behind him. They were lined up from biggest to smallest in two columns. It didn’t take a lot of energy to launch a box of pills into orbit. The diminutive Albiorix didn’t offer much resistance. Launching the mass of a fully loaded Princess Belle was a different kettle of fish. Chances were the humans inside would be so compacted at launch as to likely crush the lungs of the big folks in the back. They just didn’t have time to come up with something safer. Bert was placed as the end receiver in the heavier of the two lines.

  Ken gave his son a gentle squeeze as he set him in front of one of the lines between Saanvi’s leg, when Spruck ran past, commanding urgently, “They’re in! Get in your suit, Ken.”

  Saanvi put her arms around the boy and tried to give him a reassuring squeeze while they watched Ken scramble into the entry hatch for the other exterior exosuit.

  A dim light inside the exosuit chamber automatically turned on as Ken sealed the door behind him. The suit was a one-size-fits-all model, and he felt it expand to adjust to his feet. A small person like his son would still get lost in the thing, he thought. He slipped his arms into the sleeves, wiggled his fingers, and found the rock cutter that he had leaned against the outside of the glove. Sensory feedback gave him the impression that he was holding the tool, his hand covered with no more than a thin latex glove. He said, “Communicate,” and a speaker icon without a slash across it flashed in a corner of his heads-up. “Ken checking in. Caleb, do you see them?” Ken wouldn’t be able to see anything until they were in orbit and he could open the protective canopy that covered the suit. Claustrophobia was a given.

  Caleb turned and looked at the crumbling wall behind him. “Oh crap! Opening the door!” He looked at the cable snaking from the belly of the Belle to the power box in front of him and said a quick prayer before punching the open button. Nothing happened. “Spruck! It’s not working!” Rock scattered across the floor at his feet.

  Spruck frantically glanced around the cockpit. Natalie, strapped in next to him, reviewed a power layout from the fuel cell. “I’m only seeing the crane and slingshot feeds.”

  Spruck said, “Must have come loose!”

  Caleb yelled, “No time like the present, Spruck!”

  Jennifer, who was strapped into a jumpseat behind, Spruck said, “Darn. I should have peed before I got all strapped in.”

  Spruck yelled at Caleb, “You gotta check the connection under the ship! Un
der! We’re not seeing it connected!”

  Caleb ran toward the ship.

  “Motherfuckingcocksuckingmotherfuckersuckyfuckyfuckingshit!” He dove under the belly, reached up into the fuel cell access hatch, and pushed in on all three cables.

  Spruck yelled, “That did it!”

  Caleb ran back. “Christ on a crutch Jesus to hell, motherfucker!” He punched the switch just as the light from the hall outside started to bleed through the cracks in the wall. An alarm blared and yellow flashing strobes lit up the room accompanied by the sound of a huge volume of air being sucked out of the space. Then the elephant door slowly began to slide open. Caleb ran for the exosuit hatch on the closer side of the Belle and leaped onto the platform, slamming his back up against the automatic dock. As he hit the button to close the protective cover, he saw the tunneling drill bust through. This was immediately followed by red flashing lights and a whole new set of klaxons, far more urgent than the first. He said to himself, “Now that’s a real decompression.”

  In the Belle’s cockpit Spruck grew alarmed. The elephant door had just finished opening when the red lights started flashing, causing the door to reverse course. Spruck said, “Gotta go!” and touched the slingshot button on the control glass in front of him, simultaneously screaming, “Hang on!”

  Chapter Twelve: Slingshot

  To the utter surprise of the two cops walking up to check on the exterior of the shipping and receiving door, the door was retracting, revealing the blunt nose of the Princess Belle in the weak sunlight.

  “Elvis has left the building!” yelled Spruck as the slingshot fired.