Chapter 8
The Mound
'That's it, guys. That's the Mound.' We were flat on our armored bellies on a bleak, treeless plain. The snow had stopped and the clouds were blowing away, leaving a clear, luminous pale grey sky and a cold white sun. There was no sign of deceptors. We were lumps of snow in our camfax, crawling like worms through dry packed snow. We were several K away from the Mound but the zoom on my faceplate brought it up close, and the scope on the E brought it even closer. And there it was—the Mound.
It was a massive, circular structure, a great earthen mound on the horizon, the top dusted with a layer of brilliant white snow, glittering in the sunlight. Vents on the roof spewed faint plumes of smoke that drifted off slowly in a light breeze. There were dark openings on the sides—it was hard to make out the details. At ground level, great blackened cenite doors were firmly closed. The Mound rose up against the skyline, an imposing, brooding presence, dark and silent. It appeared to be completely deserted.
'Those windows look like they open,' Psycho said.
'Those aren't windows,' Dragon said. 'They're grates of some kind. Don't look like they open to me.'
'Do so.'
'Don't.'
'Quiet,' Snow Leopard said. 'It's doubtful we'd get to them anyway, they're too high. Does anyone see any camo doors up near the top?'
I snapped up my visor and set the scope on my E to max. Grass grew on the side of the Mound. Earth covered the entire structure. I couldn't see any camo doors. There was not a sign of life.
'They're going to spot us out here,' Dragon said calmly.
'You're a real strategist,' Psycho replied.
'There could be anything under that dirt, One.'
'How do we get through those gates, One?'
'Mother will get us in, guys,' Psycho responded quickly. Exactly—the Manlink would get us through. Tacstars—micronukes. We'd walk right in through a nuclear cloud and die with our fingers on auto x.
'Hopefully, that won't be necessary, gang,' Snow Leopard remarked. 'Merlin, what about those structures on top?' One was off to my left, with his spotter. I brought my sight up to the roof. There were several bizarre metallic devices up there.
'Commo or guidance systems,' Merlin said. 'Hard to say—we don't know much about the O's commo.'
'If there are any O's in there,' Tara said, 'they don't seem interested in what's going on outside.'
'How do you know?' Snow Leopard asked.
'Nobody's psyprobing this area,' Tara replied.
'I wonder why.'
'You'd think they'd do it routinely.'
'All right,' Snow Leopard said. 'Mission briefing. Listen up, guys.'
I knew it was important when Snow Leopard said to listen up. Mission briefing! We were almost on top of the target, and only now does he do the mission briefing. We were about to find out what was really going on. We didn't move; we continued lying there like lumps of snow, scoping out the target, but our One's voice was right in our ears, crisp and clear.
'There are a few details about this mission which I have not so far revealed,' he said. 'But the time is now right. The original mission was to recon the Mound, discover what it is, and report back. If the Legion had the resources and if the situation justified it, a stronger force would then attack the Mound. That was the original mission. The Legion simply wanted to know what the mounds are, what they do. A simple recon mission.
'Shortly before we left, the mission changed. As you know, the O's have built plenty of mounds on Uldo. And as our offensive penetrated into the death zone, something curious happened to the mounds. Starships came out of them—Omni starships. Camo doors opened up near the top, and out of every mound a single starship exited, and flashed on up through the at and escaped, out to the vac.'
We listened, completely silent.
'That happened to every mound on the planet, except for one—this one.'
'You mean the ship is still in there?'
'That's what the Legion thinks.'
'Deadman! An Omni starship!'
'Exactly,' Snow Leopard said. 'An Omni starship. We've been fighting the O's for hundreds of years and never seen the inside of an Omni starship. The damned things detonate when you hit them. If we can seize this one and secure it for the Legion, it could change the course of history. It could win the war for us—it might actually ensure the survival of our species. There's simply no way to stress how important this could be.'
'But it might not even be there, Snow Leopard,' I objected. 'Maybe there is no ship. Maybe it left already, if there ever was one.'
'It's possible, Thinker—but we think it's there. The exterior configuration of the mound changes slightly when a ship is launched. This mound hasn't changed. It looks like it's still inside.'
'Good Lord!' Merlin exclaimed. 'An O starship! Well, you've got my interest!'
'The mission,' Snow Leopard said, 'is to penetrate the Mound and seize the ship, if it's there, and insure it doesn't leave. Cripple it, if necessary.'
'Good Lord!'
'We have no idea what else might be in the Mound. Our offensive has not yet overrun any other mounds, so this is a first. You should also know that Cinta was assigned to us because she is a psycher of extraordinary abilities. With her along, our chances of survival against the O's psypower are increased. Of course she can't counter them—nobody can. But she might give us a little extra warning. And this mission is important enough to the Legion to justify her presence.'
'A psycher! So that's it!' Twister exclaimed.
'We were wondering about her,' Scrapper said.
'Cinta, can you read my mind?' Psycho asked cheerily.
'I'd rather not,' Tara said, 'if you don't mind.'
'If she's a psycher,' Merlin said, 'she must know who set off the nova.'
'Cinta?' Snow Leopard asked.
'I can't tell who set off the nova,' Tara replied carefully. 'The reason is that it was not a conscious act. The person who set it off is not himself aware that he—or she—did it. The act was performed in an autohypnotic trance, initiated by subconscious suggestion to a subject who has been programmed to receive subconscious commands. The neural process involved is so deeply covered that even I cannot read it.'
'How does somebody get programmed to receive these commands,' Dragon asked, 'and who does it?'
'The Legion does it,' Tara responded, 'on a very selective basis. It's a controversial program. Most of the Legion leadership opposes it. But those who favor it—including the upper levels of ConFree—have so far prevailed. You see, it gives them direct control over individuals in the field. It's a long-range, experimental program. The subjects are chosen not with any particular mission in mind, but just to ensure that there are receptive subjects out there—just in case they're ever needed.'
'Must be handy if you don't trust your troops! That sounds like the System, not ConFree!'
'ConFree!' I said bitterly. 'I might have known!' I had not trusted ConFree ever since Andrion 3. The bastards were Inners, manipulating us like toy soldiers. The Legion took its orders from ConFree, we existed only to defend ConFree, but sometimes I wondered about ConFree's motivation.
'The initial programming is rather lengthy,' Tara said. 'It takes several hours. Once that's done, the subject is yours, forever. You can access the subject during sleep, through normal sleep-ed channels, awaken the program with a code word, and give your orders. When the circumstances are correct to accomplish the mission, the subject
