Broken Glass (Glass Complex Book 1) (28 page)

He froze, alert to strange sounds from outside the cavern. The sounds came again. He pushed through the heavy drapes and moved forward carefully until he felt the narrow bridge in position over the fissure.

“Millie?” he whispered harshly into the darkness. An answering groan came from the other side of the fissure. Steg was across the narrow and makeshift bridge before he realized he had moved. It did not take him long to find Millie. She was lying crumpled on the rock floor, barely conscious. He picked her up and instinctively found his way back across the plank and into the cavern where he set her down gently on the rugs and cushions.

Millie groaned again. Steg flinched when he examined her and saw the mass of bruises on her body. She had been cruelly beaten. He used water sparingly and gently washed away the blood and rock grime, carefully applying painkilling lotion and a healing accelerant which he found in her supplies. Obviously her torturers had been after information and Steg silently promised retribution. Millie stirred.

“Quiet, Millie. You are safe now.”

She ignored his admonition. Speech was therapeutic. “Taul’s men were waiting. They were very angry and wanted to know where I had taken you. I told them nothing. When one went to get instructions, I—I escaped.”

“Quiet, I said. I’ve applied healing accelerators and you need to rest for them to be effective.”

“I will rest. They apparently tried to kill Ol’ Pete—he killed his attackers and destroyed two of their desert vehicles. They are very angry. They said you were doomed, that you would die on Hellfire. One went to check with Taul. Then I had to contend with only one—he was too slow—he is now dead.” Her head fell back as she finished speaking. Steg checked her life signs. She was sound asleep, apparently using her Fain discipline to aid her body’s healing process.

He was packed and ready to move when eventually Millie awoke hours later. At first an expression of alarm crossed her face when she saw he was prepared to leave and it only disappeared as she absorbed his words.

“We’ll to move out of here as soon as you can walk. Otherwise we’ll trapped if they somehow find your trail. I want you to show me how to enter the company town.” He ignored her frown. “I can get us off-planet, I’m certain. I’ll need access to the town, though.”

“Very well,” Millie agreed with reluctance. “I can take you there. We may encounter difficulties, depending on whether they have guards posted. We can reach either the stockade or the basement of the control and communications building, whichever you want.”

“Control and communications—that’s where we’ll go. Once I see what’s there I’ll be able to plan further. Pack whatever you need. I don’t think we’ll be back.”

“It’ll take me only a moment. I can travel light.”

Steg checked her condition before he would let Millie move. Assured that both her rest and the healing accelerant had done their work, he helped her pack. As they left, Millie pushed away the plank bridge. It thumped and banged its way down the narrow fissure until eventually distance muffled its echoing progress. Millie led the way up the stone passageways and roughly hewn stairs. Steg carried a light cell but did not use it; he was almost accustomed now to the lack of light.

The final chimney of rock was the most difficult part of their ascent. Steg was tempted to discard his pack but eventually succeeded in reaching the upper section of the shaft where he discovered metal rungs to ease their climb. At last they reached the top. Millie used the light cell to show Steg the heavy barrier that blocked their path.

“We have to get through this temporary section. If we loosen and remove some of the blocks of stone, we can climb through. Then we’ll be in the lower basement. No one uses it, so we should be able to get in without detection.”

“Keep the light focused here.”

Steg chipped softly and steadily at the barrier with a metal bar until he managed to free a square block of stone. He pried it out and set it to one side. The second block was easier to move. After that he quickly opened up a gap wide enough to push the packs through. He then went first and Millie followed into the basement.

******

Chapter 21

They moved quietly and carefully through the
basement, looking for access to upper levels. Millie had retrieved a stunner from her attacker in Shantytown and she now carried it with a purpose. Steg also held his stunner ready. This company building was poorly designed and had only one stairwell; Hellfire had no fire or emergency rules. They found and climbed the stairs. Fortunately, security was scant and the building was unguarded. Company security did not expect intruders to threaten them from Shantytown, nor did they expect invaders to arrive from underground.

“We have to reach the top floor,” he advised Millie as they climbed, “if that’s where they have their communications equipment. And if we encounter anyone, we must take them out before they can raise the alarm.”

Millie just nodded. They encountered no one on the stairs and they reached the fifth floor without incident. Steg pushed through the heavy doors and Millie followed, guarding his back.

Technicians froze at the sudden intrusion of warlike apparitions into their domain. Their startled and pale faces reflected a remote likelihood of aggressive reactions on their part. Steg looked around, trying to assess in a quick survey the layout of the floor. The whole floor was devoted to items of equipment and communications facilities with only eight technicians on duty. Steg was relieved at the absence of security guards which made his task easier.
He returned his attention to the deskbound technicians.

He motioned with his stunner and the technicians assembled reluctantly along a wall bare of either decoration or equipment. So great was their surprise that no one protested or objected. He was not entirely confident of their continued docility.

He spoke softly to Millie. “Take care. Keep your eyes on the doors, someone may have signaled for help.”

He turned back to the technicians. “There are too many of you for me to cover all the time. So I might let you go. First, tell me what equipment you have here. Tell me anything you think I might need to know. If you do, you can go. If you don’t, the chances of you leaving this floor alive will reduce, sharply. Now—you—brief me on the equipment here.”

The technicians were not driven to bravado by a cause; they were not united behind a belief that would support them against the single-mindedness that was driving Steg and his companion. Information flowed forth in ample detail. Steg was relieved and silently exultant as he heard computers mentioned.

“Computers? What computers do you have here?”

“Auto-miners and the ore shuttles, they both have computer systems.”

“Tell me about the auto-miners.”

The technician appeared nonplused. Everyone knew about auto-miners. He noticed Steg’s frown of impatience and hurried to explain the basics of their auto-miners. “We have forty auto-miners, operating at the ore face. They’re tracked vehicles, unmanned, completely automated. They’re equipped with laser drills. They have a top speed of twenty kays per hour and can carry five hundred ton of ore. Each auto-miner’s controlled by a sophisticated computer and they each have back-up units.”

“Are the auto-miners armored?”

“Of course, sir. Otherwise rockfalls would damage them.”

“Good. Which one of you is the senior?” No one answered. The silence intensified. “Come on, I don’t have very much time and even less patience.”

“Me—Jackson—I’m the senior,” volunteered a technician reluctantly. With a collective sigh his companions drew back as if to separate themselves from their manager’s fate.

“Very well. You’ll stay. Stand there. The rest of you—go, get out of here before I change my mind and decide I want hostages. Go!”

His urgings were unnecessary. The technicians left in a rush, some doubtful of their good fortune and others desperate to remove themselves from Steg’s presence. The rush developed into a stampede down the stairs and Steg listened for a moment to the noisy clatter.

“Millie, keep watch from the top of the stairwell. Use a grenade if you see anyone on any level. I’ll look after our friend here and then I’ll join you. I can set some HEx to blow a couple of the flights of stairs and that should make it difficult for anyone to get to us.”

Millie took up her position, more than ready to drop grenades down the stairwell. Steg looped a length of flex around Jackson’s wrists and ankles and tied him to a heavy metal desk. “I’ll get you out of that once I attend to the stairwell,” he promised.

Steg hurried to the landing with the HEx that Pete had provided. He set about taping small portions onto the supports of the stairway, down to the third floor. He positioned the explosives and then wired in remote detonators. He climbed back to the fifth floor and signaled Millie. They both moved into the control center. Steg closed and locked the heavy doors, and then fired the detonators. The dull thump of exploding HEx rocked the floor. Dust and small chips of plaster showered down on them. The doors held.

Millie brushed off the dust. “That will slow them down,” she smiled. Her face was lively with mischief and Steg noted she looked younger, with a glow softening her features.

Steg agreed. “Yes, the stairs should be quite a tangle. If you can get one of the viewcams and set it up to give a picture of the stairwell, we’ll link it to one of these viewscreens. The technical team will be reporting to company security by now and the explosion certainly would have attracted attention. We’ve no more than five minutes before security gets its act together.” He turned to Jackson and untied the flex. “I told you I wouldn’t be long. I want you to show me what communication equipment you have here and how it works, both local and starcoms.”

Steg listened to the details. At last he was satisfied. “Right. Set me up with a viewscreen of the ore face where the auto-miners are operating. Then help Millie finish her viewcam setup. While you do that I’ll prepare a couple of messages for transmission—one to your bosses and one to—a friend of mine. OK?”

As Millie and the technician completed setting up the viewcam, Steg sat back and relaxed, watching the mining activities.

He reached out, seeking, searching. If he could take control of the auto-miners, he’d have a small brigade of destructive and potentially unstoppable tanks at his disposal. Out he reached, further and further. At first the contact was feather soft, a whisper of tiny signals. He concentrated and gradually the contact strengthened. He now could discern a multitude of electronic twitterings, tangled and difficult to separate. He reached out to a pattern and held it, pulling the soft thread away from the mass, lifting it out of the flock. The system was a primitive and simple structure and it reminded him of a small bird wriggling and bathing in a pool of warm dust, chirping and fluttering.

He penetrated its basic electronic structure and quickly dealt with its protests, canceling and overwriting its security program, and established a destruct sequence that would be triggered if anyone else interfered with its operation. The destruct sequence would cause the laser drill to short out, rupturing the auto-miner’s drive shield, resulting in a small and dirty nuclear explosion.

Steg dealt with each of the auto-miners in turn, taking control and setting the same destruct sequence until he had control of all forty. He sent ten of the now captive auto-miners on a rampage of destruction at the ore face, destroying spares and supplies, climbing over and crushing makeshift shelters and facilities. Maintenance crews fled out of the way, powerless to divert or stop the blind rush of their charges. He sent another ten units on course towards the ore shuttle launch pad. They would surround the launch pad, and unless Steg canceled his instructions, they would assault and destroy the entire complex, including carriers waiting for their loads. The remaining twenty units he directed towards the company town. The miners had nothing capable of stopping the progress of these huge, robotic, and now rogue vehicles of destruction. He set viewscreens to monitor all three groups of auto-miners.

He checked progress with Minnie. The stairwell viewcam was up and running. The stairwell wreckage was impressive.
He prepared two messages, saved the files
and then handed the two message sticks to the technician.

“I want you to send these. The first one will go in open mode, general broadcast. Copy to security and management teams here, as well. The second one will be in restricted mode.”

“Taul’s acting chief. Our boss is offplanet,” advised the technician.

“Taul will do,” confirmed Steg.

Now that he had control of the auto-miners, he had leverage. The first message was to House of Aluta, describing his control of their mining operations on Hellfire. At the very least he should be able to exchange safe passage for control of the rampaging auto-miners. Trust would be the major—the only—issue. He had to be convinced of his and Millie’s safety in any deal arranged with the House of Aluta. The second message was addressed to Major Denke and it consisted of an urgent request for assistance. Responses to both would be interesting, he thought.

“Sir, security’s trying to contact me,” the technician advised, pointing at a flashing viewscreen. “What shall I do?”

“Switch it on and let’s see. Sound only from here. No nonsense.”

The technician obeyed Steg’s instruction and the viewscreen cleared. The speaker was obviously angry.