“We did it,” Omi whispered. “We took our asteroid.”
“Maybe,” Marten said. “We haven’t checked everywhere. There may be some cyborgs hiding.”
Omi shook his head. “They attacked when it might have been better for them to wait for us. I think they’ve thrown every cyborg into the fray.”
Nadia stood up, moved near and half-collapsed into Marten’s arms. He kissed her salty lips as she wept silently.
“I thought I was going to die,” she whispered.
“We all did,” said Marten. He hugged her. It was difficult with her armored vacc-suit. Their pieces clanged against each other. He was overjoyed she was alive. If she’d died…what would have been the point of all this?
“It’s time,” a tinny voice crackled from each of their helmet’s headphones.
Marten lifted a hand-unit. “What was that?” he asked.
“The fusion core is online,” said Osadar.
“What about the damaged coils?” Marten asked.
“There are some secondary banks,” said Osadar. “I’ve already rerouted.”
“You should send a message to the Highborn,” Nadia said. “Otherwise, they might bombard the asteroid if we move it without first announcing it.”
“I don’t agree,” said Marten. “By moving the asteroid, we show we won. And I don’t like the idea about broadcasting our victory.”
“Why not?” asked Omi.
“Maybe the cyborgs will send torpedoes from the other asteroids,” Marten said.
“They’ll more likely do that once we’re moving,” Omi said.
“But at least the asteroid will be moving by then,” said Marten. “That’s the point.”
“What do we do after that?” asked Omi. “Ride the asteroid to its new heading?”
“You know the answer,” Marten said. “Once our asteroid is safely headed to a new destination, we climb into the patrol boats and storm another asteroid.”
“We don’t have enough space marines left for that,” Omi said. “Look how many we lost capturing this one.”
“We’ll have to coordinate with others,” Marten said.
“Has anyone else won?” asked Omi.
“If we did it, Highborn should have been able to,” Marten said.
“We tackled a small asteroid,” Nadia said. “They hit the big ones.”
“It is time,” Osadar radioed.
Desperately wanting nothing more than to sleep, Marten stood up just the same. Then he approached the asteroid’s primary controls. Mankind’s future rested on their ability to decipher cyborg routing.
-76-
Captain Mune witnessed it from a nearby asteroid, the one designated as D. Grand Admiral Cassius watched from the
Asteroid E rotated as huge jets flared. Seventeen minutes later, a flicker appeared in the giant, crater-sized exhaust-port. Then a vast plume erupted from the asteroid. It lengthened to over one hundred kilometers. With the thrust, Asteroid E so very slowly began to change its heading and velocity. Given enough time on this new vector, it would glide past the Earth and no longer impact with the third planet from the Sun.
Unfortunately, it was only one asteroid out of seventeen, and time was fast running out.
-77-
As the battle raged on the asteroids speeding for Earth, Hawthorne accepted a fateful call from Cone.
She was in the Japanese Home Islands, Highborn-controlled territory. During these past few days, Cone and her teams had made contact with Free Earth Corps people. Now she called with interesting information, and spoke via a tight-link security beam to Hawthorne in his office in the Joho Command Bunker.
***
CONE: I’m afraid I must keep this short, sir. My expert has established the fact of nearly constant enemy surveillance of my whereabouts and communications. The FEC soldiers and their loyalty monitors are nervous.
HAWTHORNE: Are you in immediate jeopardy?
CONE: Every minute I’m here. The islands are heavily militarized, full of military police and secret service personnel. The first runs loyalty checks on the soldiers and the second searches for spies and saboteurs.
HAWTHORNE: Perhaps we should try to establish contact with the security services.
CONE: The FEC soldiers don’t recommend it.
HAWTHORNE: Why not?
CONE: Sir, my expert has assured me I’m clean of listening devices—for the moment. But the tails will close in soon and likely frisk us more thoroughly. This will be my only call from the islands where I can guarantee a tight link.
HAWTHORNE: I understand. What do you have for me?
CONE: As I said, the FEC soldiers are nervous. Everything is in turmoil and the Highborn have left Earth as we surmised. I can fully substantiate that now. The soldiers I’ve spoken to are certain the asteroids will strike the planet. Why otherwise would the Highborn have completely evacuated Earth?
HAWTHORNE: And these soldiers are willing to turn?
CONE: (pauses) They’re sensitive to terminology. Perhaps it’s their long association with the super soldiers. They bristle at the idea of disloyalty to the Highborn or any idea that they’ve betrayed Earth through their hostilities.
HAWTHORNE: What is it they think they’ve done?
CONE: Become the best soldiers in the world.
HAWTHORNE: Do they think they’re better than the Highborn?
CONE: They’re proud of their military achievements and constantly point to their victories in North America.
HAWTHORNE: Don’t they realize that space superiority and Highborn insertions into critical battles allowed them these victories?
CONE: They’re proud, sir. And they think of these victories as coming from their sweat, blood and military acumen.
HAWTHORNE: So they don’t understand that they’re traitors to everything they used to hold dear?
CONE: Enemy propaganda has brainwashed their thinking.
HAWTHORNE: I think I understand. The ancient French Foreign Legion used to achieve the same results with their recruits.
CONE: I’m unfamiliar with this legion.
HAWTHORNE: It doesn’t matter now. You’re on a tight schedule and wish to let me know something critical, I presume.
CONE: I’ve found several colonels willing to meet with you, sir.
HAWTHORNE: I’d hoped to speak with generals and preferably with a field marshal or two.
CONE: There are no FEC generals or field marshals.
HAWTHORNE: Before they left the planet, did the Highborn order them shot?
