she came to him and took his large, thin frame into her arms. She collapsed against him and he held her.
“I ruined my damn hat,” he said, as he placed his arms around her for the first time with anyone watching. He squeezed her as she cried. “There, there, knock it off. You’ll embarrass us in front of the German.”
As Everett and Sebastian took in the scene in front of them, they failed to notice a man that Lee had only grazed rise to his feet and take aim at Alice and Lee. Carl, unable to react in time, shouted loudly in fear and frustration as the terrorist aimed. Suddenly, a single shot echoed loudly in the now still gallery. The terrorist spun away and fell down the slope, dead.
“I’ll be damned,” Sebastian said.
A hundred yards down the slope he and Everett could see Tram, bloodied and dirty from his fall and with more than one bullet in his body, lower the pistol he had used and then, exhausted, turn and sit down.
“I guess he can shoot anything,” Sebastian said. He looked at Everett. “I’ll flip a coin with you to see who gets to take him home.”
Everett smiled and then moved off to tend to Lee. “You’ll have to ask Jack. I think he’s already claimed him.”
Lee held Alice. They both were content. Alice could feel Lee’s heart through his shirt and knew it was fighting a losing battle. She finally looked up as she noticed Everett standing over them.
“I think your hat’s had it, Senator,” Everett said, and reached down and pulled Alice to her feet.
“Funny, that was the one thing I was going to give you in my will,” Lee said as he tried but failed to look up at Carl.
“We have medics on the way,” he said as he held Alice. “They’ll take a look at you, sir.”
“They’ll look, but that’s all they’ll do. How is Jack?”
Everett’s silence was enough for Garrison Lee.
Alice turned and watched as Lee lay back against the large rock. With his good eye he fixed her with that look that said everything without his having to say a word. She pulled away from Everett and went to Garrison. She sat with him for a while.
The battle for Columbus was over-at least on Earth.
18
“Look, all we have to do is get these vehicles into the sunlight,” Sarah said as they examined the large solar panels on the tops of all the vehicles. “These damn things look like they’ll run almost immediately without a charge once the light hits them.”
Kwan was looking at the large roll-up gate that separated the storage area from the outside environment. He shook his head inside his helmet as he turned to face the others.
“That is just one of the problems facing us, Lieutenant. I fear once this gate is open we’ll be faced with the task of getting at least two of these vehicles up the slope of the crater-an impossible task for so few men without tackle and block.”
Sarah slammed her hand down on the smaller of the vehicles. “We’re not getting any breaks here,” she said.
“I see no point in arguing,” Mendenhall said, looking for a release point on the large steel gate. “We have to use this gate for our escape, anyway. Let’s get it open and make a run for it. I’d rather die out there than be caught in here like rats.”
“Will’s right. Let’s get out of here,” Sarah said as she looked at her oxygen readout. “We’re all running low on O.”
Several of the men followed Mendenhall’s lead and started searching. They soon found the simple magnetic lock attached to a large handle that would free the gate. Will pulled the lever down and soon the bottom came loose from the lining of the ancient frame. As six men lifted the gate, they half expected a ton of Moon dust to avalanche inside, but instead they found themselves looking into a large black area. Will allowed his helmet light to penetrate the darkness beyond.
“We have a tunnel,” he called out.
Sarah looked down the long, upward-sloping shaft. The roadway was lined with what looked like aluminum plating. It was then that the idea struck her.
“Of course. The visitors wouldn’t have had a road that led up and out of the crater. They would have built a road that angled out far beyond. There must be a door at the other end of this.”
Kwan stepped forward and saw immediately what Sarah was talking about. A plan began forming in his head.
“Yes, I see your point. We need at least two of the lighter vehicles, because we can’t push anything heavier. We can crowd onto them once we’ve pushed them out of the opening. If there is a gate at the far end, we will have a fighting chance-one vehicle aimed for the Magnificent Dragon, the other for Altair.”
“It’s worth a try,” Mendenhall said, and he and the others raced around to free the chains holding two of the smaller electric vehicles in place.
The sound of the robots’ destructive approach was getting terrifyingly louder. Sarah stepped to the large doorway and looked back up the way they had come. She saw the giant arms of the mechanicians as they pivoted like buzz saws, tearing away the composite material that made up the base. They were only fifty feet away. She turned and ran back inside to assist the remaining twelve men as they started pushing the vehicles free of what had been their home for the past 700 million years.
As they rolled the vehicles out and into the tunnel, they saw the ceiling rip away and sunlight fill the underground chamber. While pushing, they saw the shadow of the first robot swipe at the retreating men. The three-fingered hand missed the last car and slammed into an acetylene-type torch system, knocking it free of its restraining chain. The first robot stepped near it and planted its feet in an attempt to slam its massive hand into the last car, which had caught its wheels on the jamb of the large door that had been used as an environment shield. Sarah, at the rear end of the car, saw something that made her want to shout. Far above the two robots was a figure aiming a weapon down into the subbasement of the bunker. She saw the American space suit and knew immediately who it was and just what he was aiming the kinetic weapon at.
As she pushed the other away from the back of the vehicle, Jason Ryan fired his rifle. The bolt struck the first of the acetylene tanks and passed through it into the second tank. The resulting explosion knocked the vehicle free of the jamb and sent it careening down the tunnel. The robot nearest to the detonation was taken out at the legs. Pieces of the steel-encased leg and wiring from within went flying. One chunk hit Sarah directly in the visor and she saw the spiderweb crack as it raced across the glass. She closed her eyes in anticipation of a horrible death. But instead the crack halted just as someone was pulling her to her feet. As she fought to look back she saw Ryan disappear. The second mechanical giant stepped over the remains of the first and started tearing furiously at the ceiling of the vehicle garage.
“If I didn’t know better, I would say that thing was pissed off,” Mendenhall said as he pulled Sarah to the vehicle that had come to rest against the far wall after the explosion. “Who saved our asses?”
“Jason,” she said as she struggled to hit her COM link.
“Jason, we’ll meet you at Altair, do you copy?” She screamed even though she didn’t need to.
Mendenhall didn’t give her time to try again. He placed her where she needed to be and turned the large toggle lever that straightened out the vehicle’s large wheels. Then he waved to tell the six men and Sarah that they should start pushing. Soon they had the vehicle moving at a pretty good clip.
The tearing noises filtered through their speaker systems as the second robot continued its frenzied search far in back of them. Soon they saw light up ahead as the end of the long tunnel came closer. They saw Kwan and his men as they pushed the far outer door open. Then they pushed the first vehicle out into the open sunlight. Sarah and the others maneuvered the vehicle into a spot right beside the first. The men immediately collapsed as the car came to rest.
“It… would… have… been nice… if we… could have… just popped… the clutch,” Sarah said, trying to catch
