from his right hand, the arm slack at his side. The war leader’s whole being, his whole soul, was in that outstretched left arm, and in his eyes, now face to face, eye to eye, with the God.
Nomad was glorious, perfect, a creature of silver and mercury and liquid light, a true messenger from the Cosmos. He was as cool as ice, and if he never did anything else in his life he would always be remembered for that one magnificent moment. I hardly knew Nomad, but I could feel for him, hanging out his body in front of all that evil, sudden death, and I could feel for the dirt-covered war leader, too. He had more courage than I did, to reach out there and touch that God, even with Gravelight’s magical fingers wrapped around his mind. Gravelight was good, but even she could not turn a coward into a hero.
Make it work, make it work, I prayed! We were all frozen, and the dirtmen warriors were frozen, too, as still as death, all eyes on the two figures in that blazing field of light. The war leader slowly rose up from his fighting crouch, and eye to eye with Nomad; he knew the creature of light was a man, now. Only a man, offering friendship. Almost naked, obviously unarmed. There could be no doubt of his power, because of the manner of his appearance. But there could also be no doubt of his intentions. Enemies do not appear naked, with open hands.
And then it happened.
A shriek, and one of the dirtmen exploded into action, his arm a blur of motion. I fired as he moved. All of Beta fired. A wall of V bolts knocked him head over heels like a rag doll, a halo of dirt flying all around him, the noise a continuous ear-splitting thunderclap. Too late! Nomad threw up his arms and fell backwards, his face spraying blood. Something black and evil glittered between his eyes. The war leader cringed in shock, and falling backwards, raised his axe, confused. The spotlight suddenly cut off as Alpha and Beta both fired continuously into the Scaler warriors, the noise and shock waves echoing off the corridor walls, dirt and dust filling the air, the commands ringing in my ears.
“All units attacking!”
“Attack! Attack! Attack!”
“Fire biogas!”
“Clear the corridor!”
“Second, Lowdrop, we’ve got hostilities, Alpha and Beta engaging!”
“Alpha, recover all casualties!”
“Medic, up!”
It was all a ghostly green again. I fired continuously on v-min, directly into the enemy, now only flying limbs in a cloud of dust. V-min rarely kills, but it will certainly ruin your whole day. Psycho and Dragon crouched in the center of the corridor, firing gas probes in opposite directions along the corridor. The gas probes took off trailing plumes of yellow smoke, the smoke bursting outwards. In moments, the biogas would fill the underground, and every Scaler who breathed it would fall like a stone, unconscious. Amtacs were on the way. Plan A had failed, and Plan B was now in effect.
Chapter 6: Dancing in the Dark
“All right, gang. Drag ‘em in.” My heart pounded. Still underground, we had launched a messy humanitarian rescue mission. The damned Scalers had set fires to drive us out, and the entire underground complex had filled with smoke. Most of the Scalers would surely die of smoke inhalation unless we got them out. Terrific!
Psycho found a smoke-free corridor, but it just didn’t feel right. He led the way, carrying two bodies. I dragged an unconscious Scaler girl behind me, probing the corridor with the flash on my E. Merlin and Priestess followed, dragging more Scalers. The stone walls were featureless and my skin slicked with sweat inside my A- Suit.
Priestess said what I’m sure we were all thinking, “This is crazy.”
“That’s a ten!” I agreed, “Where does it lead?”
“It leads nowhere, gang,” Psycho said, “The room is blocked with big vertical iron bars, and I’m not sure what’s behind them. We’re going to have to cut through and hope they aren’t load-bearing.”
“What?” My Scaler girl was still out cold on the corridor floor. They could all breathe in here. I reached out and touched the bars. I didn’t like it.
Priestess grunted and asked, “Is Snow Leopard coming?”
Right on cue, Snow Leopard broke in on the net, “Thinker, report!” Apparently, he was busy with the rest of the squad, evacuating more Scalers.
“Nothing to report,” I responded. “Have you got our breathers for the Scalers?”
“We’re working on it, Thinker. Keep your position, we’re sending an element to assist you.”
“Tenners,” I replied.
Why bar the room? I looked up at the stone ceiling. A root snake dropped down from somewhere and slithered away. My entire being ached with fatigue. Stay out of the corridors, they had said, stay out of the tunnels. And save the women and kids. Wonderful! Strangely, I felt no rush to leave. I didn’t like the smoke out there. That root snake and I had much in common, after all.
A root snake? My heart gave a little jolt. I pressed my armored fingers against the ceiling. The stone was smeared with a thin layer of earth. I switched to local and yelled, “All right! Psycho! Priestess! Merlin! Get out! Now. Leave the Scalers!”
A terrible metallic screeching deafened me, even through my armor, then it felt like the entire planet fell on me as the ceiling collapsed on top of us. My world exploded in a cosmic flash of glaring white lightning, a great red roar overwhelmed me and the lights went out. My face plate lit up with red warning lights. I gasped and found I could not scream. Dying, blind and helpless and paralyzed, lying on my back, buried beneath tons of earth. Sweety was with me, whispering a sitrep into my ears.
That poor Scaler girl must be dead already, I thought. Now I will join her, another immortal entering the ranks of the dead. They will add my number to the honored lists of the front rank of the Legion, that phantom army that goes into battle with every Legion unit. I will be a footnote in the history of the First Scaler Campaign. Valkyrie will mourn for me. Priestess will feel my loss…Priestess!
Rage and terror and shock coursed through my body. Priestess! I strained every fiber of my being to fight my way out. The A-suit gave us superhuman strength. But even so, I could not move my arms.
“Strength at maximum, Thinker,” Sweety whispered soothingly. “Try the right arm. It’s meeting less resistance.” I tried. Nothing. “Try again, Thinker. It moved a micromil.” Encouraging! Sweat popped onto my forehead. I strained every muscle in my arm. Nothing!
“You’re making progress, Thinker.”
“Yeah, how long is it going to take, Sweety?” I gasped.
“I estimate six hours at the current rate to dig up to the surface of the dirt. However, it is unclear how much dirt is above. And it is unlikely that you can continue at the current rate. This is just an estimate because…”
“Blackout, will you, Sweety? Just blackout!”
“Yes, Thinker. I’m sorry. You should not give up hope.”
“I said blackout!”
“Yes, Thinker.”
Think! The plasmapak strapped to my back, useless. I was going to die! Rescue! They had to rescue us!
“Snow Leopard,” I choked out. “Nova! Tunnel collapse! Thinker, Merlin, Psycho, Priestess need help! Nova! Nova! Nova!” My words died on my lips. A dead, hollow silence in my ears. Surrounded by tons of earth, I realized my comset was down.
“We have no communications, Thinker.” Sweety calmly informed me. No, they could not hear me-but they would know! We would be off scope and off map, and there would be an immediate response. Snow Leopard would be rushing to the scene right now, cursing me for being a damned fool. All of Beta would be digging for us. It was only a matter of time before they found us. I might even live! But Priestess and the others-were they still alive?
It did not make me feel better. I could hear Death, laughing at me. I remembered Priestess in starlight, eyes closed, in my arms, and I knew I did not want to die. All I wanted was to touch her again, to hold her in my arms and fall into those dark eyes, again.
