Binary system, p.26
Binary System, page 26
“It will give me great satisfaction,” Var said, “to liberate my fellow Vo who was coerced into dragging the craft.”
Delia wasn’t sure whether she shared the Vo’s sentiments. She would be quite content to locate the life-raft without encountering a single Skelt.
Minutes later the party stopped, Mahn pointing to a pair of timber doors similar to the last. The scuff marks approached the doors. Again they were locked, and everyone stood back while Charlton aimed his laser at the lock and turned the metal to dripping slag.
Delia advanced, holding her breath, as Charlton pushed open the door. So much rode on what they might find in the machine shop... or not find.
She swore as the door swung open. The chamber was empty.
Charlton said, “Are you sure this is the only machine shop?”
Mahn gestured, turning his hand. “I am certain.” He moved off along the street, peering at the ground. He turned quickly and called, “Here! The tracks continue this way.”
They moved along the street and examined the excoriated cobbles.
Charlton urged caution. “We need to consider our options before we give chase. It would appear that the Skelt have indeed taken the life-raft with them underground. Fortunately,” he said, indicating the gouges, “they’ve obligingly left a trail.” He thought about it. “Very well. It would appear that the city is deserted, rendering the guards back at the shuttle pretty much redundant.” He looked at Delia. “How about we leave two guards with the shuttle and have the rest come with us?”
She agreed. “That makes sense.”
Charlton issued orders to a Fahran to return to the square and fetch four guards.
As the Fahran hurried off, Delia’s Imp informed her that Oma was calling.
Oma: Any luck?
Delia: We’ve found the machine shop. It’s empty.
Oma:Damn it. What now?
Delia: We’re following marks where they dragged the raft. I’ll keep you posted.
She cut the connection.
The Fahran returned with four guards.
Charlton said, “Six guards will lead the way, following the tracks. You four, bring up the rear.” He looked up, eyeing the towers and their high window openings. “And keep a wary eye out for Skelt. I suspect they’ve left the city, but we don’t want to be surprised by stragglers. Very well, let’s go.”
They hurried through the brightening streets. The sun was climbing, blasting its light into the caverns between the buildings. Delia wondered how fresh the scrapes on the cobbles might be; clearly they’d been made since the melting of the ice, but that might have been a week or so ago. The Skelt might have transported the raft far underground in that time, and they would be unwilling to give up the vessel without a fight. They were armed only with crossbows and spears, but what the Skelt lacked in weaponry they more than made up for in numbers and hive-mind tenacity.
They came to an archway, into whose stygian gloom the street descended. Mahn said, “An entrance to the underground caverns. The tunnel will drop steeply after a short distance, and soon we will be travelling along corridors chiselled through solid rock by our ancestors many years ago.”
Charlton regarded the Fahran. “Do you have any idea how far down the Skelt have their summer dwelling? What is it down there – a city, a vast chamber?”
“I was taken there once, soon after my capture,” Mahn said. “It is a series of great, interconnected chambers, the largest the size of Alkellion itself. I would estimate that it is perhaps two kilometres deep.”
“And crawling with Skelt.” Charlton nodded. “Very well, lead the way, but be wary.”
They activated headlamps, brought along for this very contingency, and set off again. They passed from the dazzling sunlight into cool shadow, following the bobbing cones of their headlights.
Delia contacted Oma.
Delia: We’ve come to the start of the caverns and we’re descending.
Oma: Hokay. Good luck. Take care, Delia.
Delia: Will do, and I’ll be in touch when I have news.
She hurried along beside Var, following Charlton’s commanding bulk as he, in his turn, followed the Fahran guards.
The floor and walls were squared off to begin with, the ceiling arched, but after a hundred metres the ground inclined steeply and the finished stonework gave way to natural rock.
They had been descending for thirty minutes when Charlton called a halt. “We must have come almost a kilometre by now,” he said. “We can’t be far away from the first chamber.”
“And when we reach it?” Delia asked.
Mahn said, “There will be lights visible ahead, giving warning that we are approaching the cavern.”
“I just hope we find the raft before we come to the Skelt’s lair,” Javinder said. “I don’t like the idea of attacking them on home territory.”
“We won’t,” Charlton replied. “If they’ve taken the raft all the way, then we’ll beat a tactical retreat and come back in greater numbers. Don’t worry, we’ll get what we want.”
Javinder nodded, his headlight bobbing. “I just hope the Skelt haven’t taken the ship apart and damaged the unit we need.”
“Don’t say things like that,” Delia said. “There’s enough standing between us and getting back to Earth. I’m trying to stay positive.”
They set off again.
The tunnel widened, and Delia wondered if this were significant and signalled the proximity of the cavern.
She was startled, then, by a cry from behind her.
“Stop!” Var said.
Charlton called ahead to the vanguard of Fahran, then returned with the others to where Var had come to a halt. Her chitin threw off a hundred highlights from the focused headlamps.
“Var?” Delia said.
“I scent Skelt – close by and recent! They passed this way just minutes ago. They cannot be far ahead.”
Charlton ordered everyone to extinguish their headlamps. Delia deactivated hers, pitching the tunnel into absolute darkness. She crouched, hearing only her heartbeat at first and then, very faintly, as if coming from far, far away, the sound of Skelt conversation – the multiple clacking of mandibles.
Charlton called the Fahran guards to him and whispered, “Two of you scout ahead, see what the situation is. On no account engage with the Skelt.”
Delia heard scurrying in the tunnel, and silence descended.
“Var?” Charlton whispered.
She said, “The Skelt were moving in the same direction as ourselves, towards the cavern.”
“Do you know how many there were?” Delia asked.
“No more than six.”
“Accompanied by a Vo?”
“No. They were alone.”
“In that case,” she said, “it can’t have been the team with the life-boat.”
“It’s my guess,” Charlton said, “that they brought it down here days ago.”
“That’s what I was fearing,” Javinder said.
Delia heard a rustling further along the tunnel, the guards returning. A Fahran voice piped up, “We came upon a party of Skelt guards. We are two hundred metres from the main entrance to the Skelt lair. We advanced to the entrance and we saw the life-raft we seek.”
Charlton said, “How far away?”
“They have taken it far into the cavern and are taking it apart.”
Charlton swore. “Just what we need. We should retreat, come back with reinforcements. But that risks the unit being damaged, or lost.”
The Fahran said, “There is a branch corridor not far away, leading to a gallery which looks down on the cavern. We could hurry there and observe.”
“Good work. We’d better remain in darkness. The only way to do this is to link hands and move ahead slowly.”
For a minute they fumbled in the darkness until they were assured that everyone was linked. Delia grasped Javinder’s hand and that of a Fahran guard, the latter’s hairless palm dry and leathery in her grip.
They edged forward slowly, step by step. Var brought up the rear, murmuring to Delia that she would keep track of her friends by dint of their scent.
Delia sensed they were veering right, and then the ground underfoot inclined upwards; they were traversing the tributary corridor. She saw dim light ahead, and the shapes of the Fahran guards cautiously advancing. She released Javinder’s hand and that of the Fahran and crept forward.
The tunnel emerged high up on the sloping side of the cavern, fifty metres above and to the right of where the original tunnel entered the Skelt lair. They crouched in the entrance and peered down.
The sight that greeted her eyes was at once breathtaking and shocking. Never before had she seen so many Skelt in one place and she was reminded of an ants’ nest, the insect-creatures scurrying back and forth in a ferment of industrious activity that seemed without purpose. She heard a constant clatter of mandibles, a percussive cacophony that rose and fell, eerie in its alienness.
Then she saw the life-raft far below, surrounded by Skelt. Many swarmed across its surface, employed in taking the ship apart panel by panel; enslaved Vo, burdened with machine parts, moved to and from the vessel in orderly lines.
Charlton, crouching beside her, said grimly, “They’re destroying it.”
“With luck,” Javinder said, “they haven’t reached the ion-exchange unit yet. It’s deep to the rear of the craft.”
She watched as a team of Skelt removed a section of the life-raft’s outer tegument, attached it to ropes slung around the rear haunches of a Vo, and ordered the creature to advance. Other Vo were hauling smaller components, and there were even a line of captive Fahran down there carrying ship parts under the watchful gaze of Skelt slave masters. The workers threaded their way across the cavern floor to a clearing where a team of Skelt was examining the components one by one.
“There must be thousands of them,” Charlton murmured. “I could lead a well armed Fahran army down here, but at what risk? I’d be consigning many Fahran to their deaths. The Skelt might not possess sophisticated weaponry, but they fight with little care for individual safety.”
Mahn crept alongside and whispered, “I have an idea.”
Charlton regarded the Fahran. “Go on.”
“There are Fahran down there, going in and out of the vessel. I could enter the cavern by way of the main tunnel, go amongst them and search for the unit.”
Delia objected, “And how will you get away? If you haven’t noticed, there are thousands of Skelt down there.”
“But none of them are expecting an errant Fahran to abscond with a part. They are exhorting their slaves to work faster, not ensuring that none of them try to escape.”
“And when you get into the ship?” Delia pointed out. “Do you know what you’re looking for, exactly?”
Javinder said, “I can describe the unit in detail, Delia.”
“But what if it’s too big for him to carry?”
“It isn’t. It’s only about this big, a cylinder ten centimetres by three, at most.”
She shot him a look. “Thanks for that, Jav.”
Mahn turned to Charlton, who was staring down into the cavern as if considering the Fahran’s plan. “Let’s assess the risks,” he said.
“There’s bound to be a Skelt aboard the ship,” Delia said, “supervising the removal of parts. Mahn can’t simply waltz in there, select the part he wants, and skedaddle without arousing suspicion.”
Mahn touched her arm. “But I will take great care inside the ship,” he said. “I will take no risks. But if I get the opportunity, I will take the part and return.”
Charlton said, “I think the risk is worth taking, Delia. The alternative is to come down here in force, risking many Fahran lives.” He looked at Mahn. “But listen to me, and take heed. If you can’t find the unit without arousing suspicion, abandon the mission. If you are in any doubt at all, do not proceed. If you try, and fail and are caught, then the consequences for all of us are catastrophic. I’d rather you failed honourably, and allowed us to come back another day, than be captured and alert the Skelt to what we want. Do you understand, Mahn?”
The Fahran regarded Charlton with his big eyes. “I understand. I will take great care.”
Delia gripped Mahn’s arm, not letting him go. She stared at him. “You make damned sure you take care, do you hear? I don’t want to lose you, you little monkey.”
He blinked at her. “Monkey?”
“A term of affection,” she said.
Javinder drew Mahn into the shadow of the cave mouth and started a whispered conversation, describing the ion-exchange unit, and where to find it, in great detail.
From where she crouched further back in the tunnel, Var said, “I could go with Mahn in case he needs assistance. Look, some Vo are steered by Fahran riders.”
“You’ll do nothing of the kind,” Delia said. “You’re staying here, and that’s an order. I’m not risking both of you down there.”
“And anyway,” Charlton put in, “we might have to rely on your speed if we need to make a quick escape.”
This mollified the Vo, and she fell silent.
Mahn finished his consultation with Javinder and looked around the expectant group. Delia took his hand. “Good luck,” she said. “And remember, take no risks.”
He inclined his head gravely, indicating his understanding, and retreated into the tunnel. Delia watched him go, wishing that a Fahran other than Mahn had volunteered for the mission.
They moved further back into the tunnel, lest an attentive Skelt look up and spot them. Delia crouched behind a rock and peered down at the ship.
“To me,” Charlton said, at her side, “the Fahran are identical. How will we be able to tell Mahn from all the others down there?”
“I’ll have my Imp track him and place a marker on him,” Delia said. “Of course, only I’ll be able to see it.”
“Your implant can do that?”
“It can overlay visuals, project images, broadcast sounds and a hundred other things.”
Charlton shook his head. “I really want to get back to Earth, to catch up with all the tech, if for no other reason.”
Delia looked down into the cavern, ordered Imp to slap a sigil on Mahn’s head when he appeared, then glanced at Charlton. “But do you know something? I think I’d be able to tell Mahn apart, even without help from Imp. He has a certain jauntiness to his gait, and upright posture I think I’d recognise.”
“You’re close to the little critter, aren’t you?”
“He saved my life, Edward. He’s been selfless on the trek south. Of course we’re close.” She peered down at the line of Fahran and Vo moving back and forth between the life-raft and the clearing at the centre of the cavern. “I just hope to hell he doesn’t do anything foolhardy, thinking he has to play the hero.”
“Well, we’re armed to the teeth and despite the Skelt numbers, we’d put up quite a fight if anything did go wrong.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Imp said, Mahn is approaching the mouth of the entrance tunnel and should be coming into sight in ten seconds, nine, eight...
Delia relayed the message to Charlton and leaned forward, her mouth suddenly dry.
“There he is!” She pointed to the figure of a tiny Fahran dodging between boulders far below; Imp had obligingly hung a glowing letter M above his head.
“I see him,” Charlton said.
Keeping in the cover of rocks, Mahn crept towards a line of Fahran making their way to the life-raft. Skelt overseers with whips supervised the line, calling out orders and occasionally lashing out at unfortunate Fahran.
Delia bit her lip, willing Mahn to make it to the line without being detected. Just as she thought he would make it, a Skelt turned, lightning fast, and saw him. The Skelt vanished, only to reappear a second later towering over Mahn.
“He’s been caught,” Charlton said, raising his laser.
Delia stayed his hand. “Wait. Look.”
The Skelt was reprimanding Mahn for some perceived misdemeanour, and the Fahran was explaining himself. Whatever he said managed to convince the Skelt, who with a flick of its whip directed Mahn to the line filing towards the life-raft.
Delia let out a fluttery breath and smiled at Charlton.
“That was a close call,” he said.
“The Skelt can’t have had any real suspicions,” Delia said. “I think the difficulty will come when he has the part – if he can find it – and tries to get away.”
She returned her attention to the cavern and watched Mahn take on the gait of the enslaved Fahran in the line with him. Gone was his jaunty step; now he trudged along, shoulders hunched.
Beside her, Charlton said, “I’ve lost him. Where is he?”
“Sixth in line, passing the stalagmite on the right. He’s about twenty metres from the ship.”
“Got him.”
Passing Mahn’s line in the other direction, emerging from the life-raft, was a file of Fahran bearing machine parts. Soon, she thought, Mahn would be among them.
“The problem might be,” Delia whispered, “how much freedom he has within the ship. If he’s closely supervised...”
Charlton nodded. “Also, he’ll be stymied if the unit’s been removed already.”
Mahn approached the ship’s ramp, the dancing white M above his head. He climbed the ramp and passed inside. Delia held her breath.
He seemed to be within the ship for a long time. A minute elapsed, then two. “What’s he doing in there?”
“Perhaps the Skelt are removing parts as the Fahran wait,” Charlton surmised.
She eyed the line of departing Fahran, and then she saw the tiny blue creature beneath the letter M. “There he is!” she said, then swore. “Dammit!”
“Where?”
“Coming down the ramp, but that isn’t the drive unit he’s carrying. He’s the Fahran struggling with a bulky box thing, leaking gelware.”
“I see him,” Charlton said. “Don’t worry. He’ll get another chance.”
Delia watched as Mahn laboured under the weight of the box, staggering in line towards the clearing where the slaves were depositing machinery, panels, and com consoles.
