To Well And Back (The Deep Dark Well) (14 page)

Something’s wrong
, she thought as she turned
and zigged through the brush.  The suit was not running fast enough, and she
noted some blinking icons on the HUD.  Pulling them up she cursed at the damage
the servos in the leg had taken.  She wasn’t about to outrun anyone, and there
were red dots ahead closing in on her.

Pandora pulled a hand
grenade from her belt, setting the explosive through her link, then tossing it
hard behind her.  She pulled another and threw it ahead, it leaving her hand at
the same time the first exploded thirty meters behind.  She pulled the last and
sent it toward the largest concentration of dots, not expecting to do more than
take out a couple of the armored warriors.  But any confusion she could cause
would be to her advantage.

And then she reached up
over her left shoulder and pulled the katana from its sheath, careful not to
touch any of the edge to her suit.

*     *     *

Fleet Admiral Nagara
Krishnamurta looked back at the steaming jungle they had traversed, wondering
how the woman out of time was doing. 
I hope she knows what she’s doing
,
he thought once again.  True, she had those marvelous battlebots, well beyond
anything his kingdom or the Nation of Humanity could field.  And her battle
armor was generations ahead of theirs.  But she was also outnumbered almost a hundred
to one, and quantity had a quality of its own.

“There’s another cavern
system ahead,” called out the voice of Lt. Commander Dasha Mandrake in his com
link.  They were taking advantage of some of Latham’s pizzos, floating in a
cloud around them, to give them secure communications.

“Good work, Commander,”
said the Admiral, looking over at one of the Maurid guides who was making sure
the humans didn’t die in their jungle from inattention, or lack of knowledge. 
He wished they could take a more active role in ambushing the enemy, but bow,
arrows and spears were not a match for modern weapons and armor.  He still
wasn’t sure what Pandora expected to do with that ancient looking sword of
hers, but knowing her it had to be something spectacular.

“Give the credit to the
Latham woman’s microbots,” said the Commander.  “I think they scoured the
entire area, and found something even the guides didn’t know about.  That tech
is amazing.”

The Admiral could hear
in the Commander’s voice her envy of the advanced tech.  Something he hoped
they would someday develop, if they weren’t gifted with it first.  But if
Latham died they might find that well dry.  He was sure the superman would not
be happy if his lover was killed trying to help what to him was a nation of primitives.

“Let’s get these people
under cover, and quickly,” said the Admiral into the link.  “Before something
gives us away.  And make sure we have human sentries covering all approaches. 
The robots are great, but I prefer having some organic eyes out there.”

“Yes sir,” said the
Commander in a tone of someone snapping to attention.

I know I shouldn’t even
bother telling her that
, thought the Admiral with a smile. 
She’s a good
officer, and doesn’t need micromanagement.  But it makes me feel better, and
that has to count for something.

A moment later the
Admiral was cursing under his breath as a Maurid led him around a clearing that
looked ordinary as hell under his untrained eye, but one he had been about to
traverse.  And he wished yet again that he had never come to this orange hell.

*     *     *

Major Dronning Dumas
looked down at the remains of the robot and whistled to himself.  He had never
seen such a lethal machine, kilo for kilo, in his life.

“I lost twelve men
taking this thing out,” said the Lieutenant platoon leader, kicking one of the
six legs of the machine with an armored boot.  “And a couple of wounded who
just might make it.”

“What did it hit you
with?” asked the Major, glancing over at the line of bodies the platoon was
gathering in the clearing.

“Lasers, projectiles, a
wicked little grenade.  And then there was the particle beam.  Like nothing I
had ever seen.”

“We have particle
beams,” said the Major, looking at the snout of the weapon in question
projecting from the head of the robot.

“Not like these we
don’t,” said the Lieutenant, shaking his head.  “I used to work in R & D
before taking a commission, and we have nothing near as powerful.  This thing
glowed an angry red, and sounded like a swarm of bees.  An angry swarm.  That
takes some fierce kinetic energy from such a small weapon.”

“Like the rifle the
woman used before,” said the Major, thinking back on what he had seen in the
recent past firefight.  He looked back at the machine.  “We need to get this
back to the ship, so they can look at it and see what they can make of it.”

“I’m betting that all
the inner systems will be scrambled,” said the junior officer, hunching his
shoulders in an attempt to relieve the stress of the moment.  “If I were them I
would have systems, nanosystems, that were made to destroy as much of the inner
works as possible.”

“We can still get an
idea about how to build the things,” said the Major, sending a message by link
to his commander, his new commander at the landing field, with a sitrep and a
suggestion for the robots.  “And we might get lucky and catch her as well.” 
Dumas knew he would not have to specify who she was.  Everyone down here knew
they were on a search and capture mission for the female of the pair from the
Donut
. 
Which brought both anticipation and fear.

“We have her,” came a
call over the link, and the Major started.

“She’s captured?” he
asked, looking at his HUD and seeing that the transmission came from a company
commander to the right flank of the battalion.

“Not yet, but we’ve got
her trapped,” said the Captain over the link.  “There’s no escape for you,” he
said, his words coming over the link.  “So why don’t you just drop that.”  The
words were interrupted by a gurgling scream, and there were shouts in the
background, just before the link went dead.

“You men, follow me,”
yelled the Major, looking around the clearing.

“What about the
robots?” asked the junior officer.

“They can wait,” said
Dumas, unslinging his rifle and heading toward the position the signal had come
from.  “We have bigger game afoot.”

Chapter Thirteen

I have nothing against religion.  But I take a
stand against those fools who think their religion is the only version of the
truth, and are willing to push it everyone else, by force if necessary.  Those
are the bastards I will always stand against.   Pandora Latham.

The trooper came
crashing through the brush, rifle held at the ready, his eyes searching all the
shadowed spaces for the target.  The target found him first, the ultra-sharp
blade slicing down, taking off the man’s forearms as it cut through the armor
and weapon like they were made of jelly.  The man screamed in agony, before the
blade came back in and took his helmeted head from his shoulders.

Pandora Latham was not
a cruel woman.  She cringed when she heard that scream of agony, agony that she
had caused.  She breathed a sigh of relief after she decapitated the man,
putting him out of his misery.  She didn’t mind killing if it was necessary,
and she had determined a while back that many of the people of the Nation of
Humanity needed killing.  But pain was not her thing, giving or receiving.

“She’s over here,”
yelled someone else on the com link that she was tapping into.  Another Marine
came through the brush, pulling up in surprise when he found himself in front
of the enemy he thought would be running away, trying to raise his rifle and
get off a call at the same time, and not doing either very well.

“I need he…” said the
young man just before the katana was thrust through his stomach.  She twisted
the blade and pulled it out to the side, cutting through intestines, the
inferior main artery, and a kidney.  The man went down gasping out his life,
bleeding out so fast he could hardly have felt the pain.

Pandi ran away from the
kill, using the still functioning servos of the suit to jump over some brush. 
She landed on the other side, her blade sweeping right and left and taking out
the two Marines who didn’t have time to react to her strike.  Rounds rattled
off her suit, and a laser that missed torched the bushes behind her.  She spun
and took off, heading for the three men who were firing at her, straight for
the laser gunner first as the most dangerous.  The beam struck her suit,
reflected away by its electromag field and the nanosurface of the armor, and
Pandi waved her blade into the path as well.  The almost magical sword absorbed
the heat without transmitting it up the blade, and she closed the distance with
the sound of striking rounds in her ears.

She pulled the blade
over her shoulder and down, slicing through the laser gunner and opening his
suit like the shell of a crab, spilling blood and intestines onto the jungle
floor.  Pandi swiveled her hips and brought the blade around into the next
trooper, while the third emptied his magazine into her helmet with no effect. 
The second trooper fell to the ground in two pieces, his torso sliced in half
at an angle.  She slid her feet in the dirt, realigned her body, and took the
head of the third trooper.

The katana was not
really an easy weapon to master, but master it Pandora did, with constant
practice using a lower tech weapon against robot opponents.  She was feeling
warmed up now, and knew she could keep this up for hours, as long as the enemy
didn’t strike at one of her weak points.  And so far they had shown no
indication that they knew such existed.

More shots hit her
armor, including a couple of micro-grenades that did some real damage to her
outer systems, knocking out camouflage and electromag generators.  She spun in
the air in a leap, hitting the ground running away from those firing at her,
then dropping down behind a large tree, her audio sensors turned up full.  The
sounds of the pursuing troopers were clear to her ears, crashing through the
underbrush.  At least one started screaming at something else, a scream that
turned into a death rattle, and Pandi smiled as she thought of the jungle doing
her job for her.

The woman loped through
some more brush, knocking away a vine that reached out and tried to punch a
sharp tip through her suit.  The vine came back and she sliced through it,
ignoring it as the remainder retracted while the severed part fell twitching to
the ground.  And then she was through the brush and behind two more troopers
caught looking the wrong way.  One swing of the sword turned it into the last
mistake they would ever make, and she faded back into the brush again.

*     *     *

“We hit her a bunch of
times,” yelled the wide eyed Sergeant to the Major.  “Full auto.  And the
rounds just bounced away.”

“Lasers didn’t do any
better,” said another trooper, slapping an angry hand on his light amp weapon. 
“Her armor is just too tough.”

“Then we have to change
the way we’re engaging her,” said the Major, looking at the body at his feet
and grimacing.  The weapon she had, which had been described as a sword, had
sliced open the man from shoulder to crotch, right through the alloy and carbon
fiber armor that should have stopped any kind of blade.  The Major thought for
a second, knowing that every moment lost could be another of his men dying.  He
looked over at the Sergeant at the same time that he sent a battalion wide
message over his link.  “Set weapons to single shot, maximum velocity.  I know
it reduces our chances of a hit, but high probability hits don’t seem to be
doing anything at all.  Maybe we can damage that suit enough for us to capture
her.”

“We should kill her
ass,” said a nearby trooper, his gauntleted hands setting his weapon as
ordered.

“She is a valuable
prisoner,” said Dumas, pointing at the Marine.  “She is a lot more valuable to
our cause than your sorry ass.  And I will see that the man who kills her on
purpose is taken before the Inquisition.  Do I make myself clear?”

The soldier nodded his
head, his face pale.  The Major looked around and saw that the rest of the
Marines in sight were either nodding or looking down at their feet. 
I hate
to use those bastards to frighten the men
, he thought, keeping a glare on
his face. 
But they are at least useful for something, if not their stated
purpose
.  And there were Inquisitors onboard the fleet, ready, willing and
able to break any man or woman accused of heresy or other acts against the
Church.

“Then if that is
understood, let’s get to work,” said the Major, his voice rising to a roar at
the end.  The men nodded again and started to move out to scour the jungle, and
bring its most dangerous beast to bay.

*     *     *

Pandora knew that she
was trapped, that there were red dots all around her position now. 
Not
really what I had planned
, she thought, going through her options and only
seeing one.  To cut her way out of through enemy and escape into the jungle. 
Nothing
to it but to do it
, she thought, steeling herself, gathering her courage
and pushing the fear that made her want to hide in the shadows to the
background.  There would be time enough for shaking later.  Now it was time for
action.

At least my friends got
away
,
she thought as she headed for what looked like the thinnest part of the
encirclement.  She had been following them on her pizzos.  They were tucked
away in another cave that seemed almost too good to be true, with entrances
that could only be seen when the observer was on top of it, up steep inclines
from the jungle floor.

Pandora came rocketing
out of the brush, her mouth forming an
oh shit
as soon as she saw the
disposition of the Marines.  There were a dozen troopers within sight, all
pointing their weapons right at her.  One had a laser, one a dedicated grenade
launcher, the others mag rifles, which did not concern her as much as the two
heavy weapons.

The laser tracked in on
her and a few grenades burst on her armor, the majority of them missing and
exploding in the jungle behind her.  She was able to get the sword in the way
of the laser before it found a rent in her light amp protection.  She was
headed for the laser armed trooper, readying herself to move her sword in an
offensive maneuver, when something hard hit her in the right leg.  Four more
heavy impacts hit her legs, then one to her arm.  A schematic of the suit came
up on the HUD, showing damage to the movement elements of her limbs.  Another
hit to her left leg and she was almost falling to the ground, staggering and
sliding through the dirt. 
They figured it out
, she thought, feeling
numb with the realization that she was going to fail.  Their rounds were not
hard enough to penetrate the thickness of the armor, but they could cause
enough damage to destroy motors, power runs and transmission lines through that
armor.

Pandora put everything
she had into hitting the line, her sword swinging to take the laser gunner in
the side in a cross, then reversing to a backhand that killed one of the
riflemen.  She burst through the line and into the brush, when two more rounds
impacted her legs and the right member froze up.  With a cry she fell to the
ground, ordering the armor to open on the way.  She landed on her back and
pulled herself from the armor, hoping she could speed away into the brush
before they got a bead on her.

She was on her feet and
taking her first step when her muscles began to go slack and the world
unfocused around her. 
Sonics
was her last clear thought as she crumpled
to the ground.  She rolled over, watching the armored men walk toward her,
wondering if they were going to kill her, hoping that they would.  She tried
with all her strength to get up from the ground, to at least do something that
would force them to kill her.  The last thing her blurry vision saw was the
butt of a rifle descending toward her face.  Then total blackness and the void.

*     *     *

“Good work,” said Major
Dronning Dumas, looking down on the unconscious form of the woman. 
She is
beautiful
, he thought, taking in the red hair and classic features.  Then
he noticed the large bruise on her forehead that was deepening on her fair skin
as he watched.  “What happened there?” he asked, pointing at the bruise.

“Don’t know sir,” said
the Senior Sergeant that had led the capture.  “She must have hit something
when she fell.”

“What’s the verdict?”
he asked the medic who was kneeling beside the woman, running a scanner over her
slim form.  He shot a look at the Sergeant to let the man know there would be
hell to pay if the prisoner was brain damaged.

“She will be fine,”
said the man, looking up from the scanner with a smiling face.  “Maybe a
concussion.  But nothing we can’t clear up in a medical bay in a couple of
hours.”

The Senior Sergeant let
out a breath of relief, and the Major glared back at him for a moment, letting
the man know this incident would not be forgotten. 
But how do I expect them
to act when she killed so many of their mess mates.  I’m lucky they didn’t
accidentally shoot her. 
He looked over at another Sergeant and nodded his
head.

The Sergeant held a
rifle with a bulbous attachment on the front of the barrel.  He pulled the
trigger and played the emission over the woman’s body, starting at the head and
working down to the toes, then moving back up to the crown of the head.  “That
should do it,” said the man with a grin.  “If she had any nanites in her
they’re dead now.  And I don’t think any implants she has will be functioning
either.”

If she only had our
tech I would believe the last part
, thought the Major, nodding his head, then
looking at the two troopers with a gurney. 
But she has the tech of the
Donut
,
so there’s no telling how well shielded her implants are.

The men picked the
woman up and put her on the gurney, not bothering to be gentle with someone
they saw as a mass murderer of their people.  They picked up the gurney and a
six man guard formed around them.

“Make sure that she
gets back to the landing field in one piece,” said Major Dumas to the NCO in
charge.  “I hold all of you responsible for her safety.  Understood?”

Nodding heads and
shouted answers let the Major know that they knew what was expected of them,
and they knew there would be hell to pay if they didn’t get her back to the
ship alive and ready to answer questions.  Questions he was sure she would
answer once she was introduced to the Inquisitors.

“You men get her armor
back to the field,” said the Major to another quartet of troopers that stood by
with another, heavier gurney.  The men went to work picking up the suit and
securing it to the carryall.

“What about this?”
asked an NCO, holding the strange curved sword the woman had used so
effectively against them.  He put an armored finger against the blade.

“Don’t,” yelled Dumas,
too late, as the edge cut through the armor covered finger, which dropped to
the ground, while the NCO cried out and the sword fell from his other hand.

“Look after him, doc,”
said the Major as he bent down to pick up the blade carefully by the hilt.  He
looked at the sword in wonder for a moment, recognizing that this was
technology on a level with the suit.  He looked over at the suit that was now
on the carryall and saw what he was looking for, the sheath that the wonder
weapon had been carried in.  For a moment he was tempted to take that sheath
and keep the sword, but thought better of it after that moment.  This was
something the R & D people needed to look at.  With regret he carried the
sword to the woman’s armored suit and carefully sheathed it.