A Galaxy Unknown 10: Azula Carver (35 page)

"Don't you want to see what's behind that wall?"

"Not particularly."

"It might be the greatest discovery of the age."

The wall had completed its travel and stopped. The exposed area behind the wall was in complete darkness, and it was impossible to discern anything.

"There. Satisfied. There's nothing behind the wall except empty space."

"No, I see something."

"What?"

"I don't know. Does that look like a red light flickering on and off to you?"

"Let's go closer, and then we'll leave."

As the two scientists approached the now-exposed area, overhead lights in the darkened room suddenly flicked on. With wide-eyed horror reflecting the fear in their gut, the two men turned and raced for the doorway. After exiting the room they found their voices and ran screaming through the corridors like frightened children. Reaching the oh-gee cart assigned to them, they jumped in and Ernie pushed the throttle to the maximum position. The cart, primarily intended for outside use on a planet, raced through the corridor at a reckless speed with the two scientists screaming in fear of what they'd seen, seemingly oblivious of the way the car was weaving erratically and barely staying between the sidewalls. The men didn't stop screaming until they reached the airlock doors at the division wall between ship sections.

Once through the airlock and with the airlock door closed behind them, Ernie pulled a small com device from his pocket and screamed into it, "Marines! We need Marines! Get all of them here now! We need them
all
!"

~ November 14
^th
, 2289 ~

"Who is this?" a voice demanded. "Is that you, Grassdokker?"

"We need the Marines! We need them now! Get them here!"

"Get them where? Is that you, Grassdokker?"

"Yes, yes, yes, it's me. We need the Marines. Sound QG."

"What's QG?"

"You know. The alarm. No, I mean GQ. Sound General Quarters. Do you hear me? Sound General Quarters."

"I'm not sounding General Quarters because you saw a mouse or whatever the Denubbewa equivalent is. Where are you? Your transponder isn't working. I can't get a fix on you."

"We're in Corridor Eighteen, Deck Three Hundred Ninety-Two of Section Five. We just left Section Six and we're heading for Section Three at top speed."

"Section Six? What's the matter with you, Grassdokker? You know that area is still off-limits until the survey is complete. Is Wilhelm Bensent with you?"

"Yes, he's here in the cart beside me. We need Marines here now. We need them all. Call Quesann and tell them we need all their Marines too."

"Why do you need Marines?"

"Dammit!" Grassdokker said and took his hands off the controls in order to express his frustration and anger against the central station com operator. The cart, left without an operator, swerved into a stanchion against the corridor's left wall and spun around when Grassdokker hit the wheel during one of his exaggerated gestures. The two unbelted passengers were thrown out , and when they stopped sliding along the smooth deck they were unconscious.

The com operator, unable to restore contact with the two scientists, reluctantly pressed the emergency services alarm. There was no way he was going to sound General Quarters merely at the request of two men he considered fools without some kind of corroborating statement from a sane individual.

~     ~     ~

Grassdokker awoke first. In a panic, he sat up and realized he was in a hospital ward. An automated attendant notified the nursing station, and a nurse came in to check on him.

"Awake at last, I see. That was a nasty bump on the head you got. A minor concussion, but you're going to be perfectly healthy again in a few weeks. They've told us you must have been traveling at over forty kph when you hit that pole and were thrown out of the cart."

"Where am I ?"

"In the hospital ward aboard the Hayworth."

"The Hayworth? The troop transport? Did they send all the Marines?"

"What Marines?"

"I told them we needed all of the Marines from Quesann."

"Was that after you hit your head, Mr. Grissdokker?"

"It's Grassdokker, with an 'a.' And no, it was before we crashed." Grassdokker swung his legs over the side of the bed and muttered, "I've got to get out of here. I have to warn them."

The nurse grabbed his legs and put them right back onto the bed. "You haven't been discharged yet, and you're not going anywhere until you are."

"And you're going to stop me?" Grassdokker said with all the bravado he could muster.

"If I can't, all I have to do is nod at the automated attendant there and in thirty seconds you'll be introduced to two of the biggest, strongest,
meanest
orderlies who ever worked in a hospital. They will strap you down and do it none too gently."

Grassdokker immediately calmed down. He was a wuss when it came right down to it. "But I have to warn somebody," he pleaded. "We're all in serious danger. I have to see the Lieutenant in charge of the science teams."

"You're going to do better than that. The captain told us to alert him when one of you regained consciousness. He's already been called. I imagine he's on his way down here right now."

As if on cue, Captain Dellzon strode into the room with his XO.

"Is this one of them?" Dellzon asked the nurse.

"Yes, sir. This is Grissdorker."

"Grassdokker," Ernie said.

"Well, Mr. Grossdorker, you're in a pile of trouble. You were in an area you had been explicitly told was off-limits until surveyed. What have you got to say for yourself?"

"Captain, we'll all in great danger. We found a room full of them."

"A room full of what?"

"Denubbewa cyborgs. There are thousands of them. Maybe tens of thousands of them."

"In one room?"

"In a hold. As big a hold as I ever saw. It looked like it went on for kilometers."

"And where is this hold?"

"It's in Section Six."

"Section Six is twenty-six kilometers long, eighteen kilometers wide, and eight hundred forty-two floors high.
Where
in Section Six?"

"Uh, I don't know exactly. It was off the corridor where we— uh— had the accident."

"What's the room number?"

"Uh— I don't know because— it hasn't been surveyed yet."

"The Denubbewa mark all of their rooms. What was the Denubbewa lettering on the door?"

"Uh— I don't remember."

"So somewhere in that twenty-six-kilometer corridor, there's a hold full of Denubbewa cyborgs."

"Yes, sir, Captain."

"And did they chase you?"

"Uh, I don't think so."

"But you don't know?"

"We were too busy running for our lives. If we were allowed to carry weapons, we might have stayed long enough to learn something, but we were unarmed."

"Thank God for small favors."

Grassdokker bristled at the comment but was smart enough not to say anything.

"How do you feel, Grossdorker?"

"I'm well enough to get up, Captain."

"Good. I want you to show a squad of Marines where the room is that leads to a hold full of Denubbewa."

"M-m-m-me?"

"You and Bensent are the only ones who saw it, right? And he's still unconscious."

"N-n-n-n-n-no, C-C-C-Captain. I-I-I-I c-c-c-can-can-can-can't d-d-d-do th-th-th-that."

"You're the only one awake who was in that room. We have no idea where along that twenty-six-kilometer corridor that room is located."

Grassdokker suddenly gasped and flopped backwards onto the bed.

"Nurse?" Captain Dellzon said.

The nurse checked the monitors and said, "He's okay, Captain. He's only fainted."

"Not faking it?"

"No, sir. He is really unconscious."

Dellzon snorted, looked at his XO, then turned and walked out of the room with his XO trailing.

The XO caught up with Dellzon in the corridor outside the sick bay. "What now, Captain?'

"We have several fire teams checking every room in that corridor, right?"

"Yes, but we have no idea how far into that twenty-six kilometers those two jokers went. Do you think they might have actually found Denubbewa?"

"It's possible."

"Really?"

"I'm not suggesting they discovered anything dangerous. It's far more likely they found a fabrication plant where Denubbewa body parts are made and stored. As I understand it, those bodies can be turned out like solar panels. They might have thousands, or even tens of thousands of spare parts ready in case they're needed. They might even have fully assembled but inanimate bodies just waiting for an organic brain to be inserted so it can be brought to life. I think our intrepid adventurers might have stumbled into the Denubbewa machine shop that makes the body parts and saw an inventory of mannequin-like shells."

"So you don't think there's any danger? You don't think we should alert Quesann and request additional companies of Marines?"

"And have us look as foolish as Tall and Squat back there? Absolutely not. I'm not declaring a Stage One emergency unless there actually
is
a Stage One emergency."

"Yes, sir. But do you think it might be prudent to at least put the rest of the company on alert?"

"The entire company is already bivouacked in storage holds aboard the Denubbewa ship until the survey is complete, aren't they?"

"Yes, sir. But two thirds of them are off duty on each watch. We're running a normal schedule since there's been no sign of danger until now."

"Okay, XO. Take care of putting the entire company on alert. But
don't
send any more people into Section Six unless we actually need them in there. We don't want to blow this all out of proportion and scare the other scientists, or they'll be seeing Denubbewa cyborgs in the darkened recesses every time they enter a new room."

~     ~     ~

The Marines aboard the Denubbewa mothership were slowly working their way along the twenty-six kilometers of Corridor Eighteen on deck Three Hundred Ninety-Two in Section Six, thoroughly checking every room as they went. A fire team would check and clear a room while the other two fire teams remained on guard in the corridor. When the room was judged to be clear, the fire team returned to the corridor and the door was marked with a big 'X' in chalk. The next fire team would take the next room and do the same, followed by the third team who would check the next room. In this leapfrogging advance method the workload was evenly divided among the three teams. Three oh-gee carts had carried the Marines from Section Three to Section Six, and the drivers were now following along as the Marines advanced.

"What's the count, Staff Sergeant?" Lieutenant Burgess asked wearily.

"One hundred twenty-seven, sir."

"And just about fifty thousand more to go," the officer said sardonically with a sigh. "I hope we get this job done before it's time for me to go on leave. I've been dreaming about spending a week on those beautiful white sand beaches of Quesann ever since we arrived out here."

"I don't think it's fifty thousand, sir. More like three thousand."

"That makes me feel a whole lot better, Staff Sergeant."

Staff Sergeant Cardaro smiled. He liked the young second lieutenant. He knew Burgess was trying to be amusing, not snide. The officer didn't take himself as seriously as most of the newly minted officers he'd been assigned to during his long career. Burgess had repeatedly shown he had a sense of humor and that he wasn't afraid to display it in front of his people.

Burgess required the checks to be performed by the book, so every room checked took as long as the first one had.

~

Two hours later, Burgess halted the operation for a fifteen-minute break. They had seen nothing even remotely like the reported hold containing tens of thousands of Denubbewa cyborgs. The Marines either sat down and rested along both sidewalls of the corridor or just leaned against the walls as they joked about the two scientists who had made the report. One speculated they'd be reporting ghosts next. Another started to say the scientists would probably be on the next ship back to Region One where they'd be assigned work in such a remote lab they'd be lucky to ever see the sun again, when the fire teams heard a set of doors opening in the corridor just ahead. All eyes went to that spot and opened wide when three Denubbewa stepped into the corridor.

"Enemy aliens," Staff Sergeant Cardaro yelled as he dropped to the deck. "Cut'em down."

The three fire teams had already begun to move and reach for their laser rifles before Cardaro got the words out, and a lightning show of laser pulses began emanating from where the Marines had been resting.

The three Denubbewa, as surprised to find more than a dozen Terrans in the corridor of their mothership as the Marines were to have Denubbewa suddenly appear almost in their midst, didn't react as fast as the Marines. The three Denubbewa stumbled backwards as arms were sliced off and legs cut out from under them. Before their bodies even hit the deck, the red glow from their eyes was dimming if not already dark.

Before the Denubbewa had even stopped moving, the three cart drivers had jumped up, climbed into their carts and turned them around in anticipation of a speedy retreat.

As the Marines on the deck continued to pour laser fire into the non-moving Denubbewa, Cardaro shouted, "Cease fire. Save your batteries."

Cardaro shouted, "Stay low," as the Marines started to get up. "Murphy, check those things out. See if there's any glow left in their eyes."

Corporal Murphy stood but maintained a stooped position as she moved cautiously toward the downed Denubbewa. When she reached their position, never having pointed her weapon anywhere but towards the three Denubbewa, she stood a little straighter. "Nothing showing, Staff Sergeant. Does that mean they're dead?"

"That's what I've been told."

"Then they're as dead as that bottle of vodka I brought to the last platoon party on Quesann."

"Fire team Alpha, prepare to check and secure that room," Cardaro said. "Bravo and Charlie, provide cover from your present positions. Let's move, Alpha."