Burnt Ice (40 page)

‘Got her! Send the message,
Topaz.’

‘Sending. I shall send again
every three seconds until I get a response.’

They waited.

‘Interesting. I just had a bounce
from something much closer — and invisible on all spectra. I believe that we
are being observed by another party.’

‘What! How close?’

‘Seven kilometres at twelve
degrees above the horizon. I am upping the power to its maximum and hoping she
has sensors around her forward docking bay. She should ... Contact! We are
communicating. She says that we are making extremely good AV and congratulates
us for our efforts thus far! I believe that we are an AV hit once again. I have
her now. I can continue this conversation without your assistance, thank you
both.’

Marko grabbed Nail and ran back
to the cave.

After announcing what had just
been learnt, there was silence for a few seconds before the major erupted. ‘Those
sneaky fucks! I wondered why the vehicles that we shot up were a little worse
for wear. They were write-offs! Sneaky devious shits! The Administration must
have been in on this. I wondered why they were so bloody cheerful about getting
Basalt
to the station so quickly for a refurb. I put it down to
celebrity status. Guys, I am sorry to say we have been set up. Bastards. Those
clever bloody bastards. OK, what do we do about this? I think that we are
expected to attack 27’s core, and either die gloriously — those core bunkers
are nuke-proof — or go off into the desert and die nasty deaths, after
performing whatever tasks those bloody altered viruses would have us do when
the suit seals finally let go.

‘OK, the most precious thing to
the Games Board is the information. That’s always triplicated. The monitors
will have one copy, the director another, and another in orbit on the
interstellar transporter. That one would have been further edited and broadcast
already. Time to screw them up a little. We need to find the Games Board
dropship.’

Topaz swept back into the cave. ‘We
have an unexpected ally. The AI on
19 Rose Foxtrot
is very happy to help
in any way she can.’

‘If she aids us she will not be
able to able to carry on as an AI with the Administration. The Games Board is
very stringent about that. Unless this whole scenario were an unsanctioned
Conflict, then she’d be OK. Oh shit — Sirius! They don’t need our permissions.
Sirius as our PR agent will have done that for us. There’s a clause in her
contract which gave her permission, in extenuating circumstances, if it would
generate exceptional AV, to not consult us. Arguable, but a moot point right
now. We’re stuffed! How secure was your link?’

‘The link was very secure,’ said
Topaz. ‘The first transmission was one of Fritz’s more exotic codes. Major, she
is very happy to assist. She said that she has watched the manipulations of the
Games Board for a very long time as she plied the stars. She says that she is
tired and wishes to move on to whatever plane of existence there is after life.
She says that she has had a wonderful series of lives and as an astronomer of
old has seen many spectacular and wonderful things. She is convinced that there
is something after life and as such holds no fears for herself. She says it
would be an honour if you would allow her to help. She has seen the dropship
and also knows where the Games Board interstellar is. These are the coordinates
for the dropship. It is relatively close. She says to watch this set of
coordinates above us, as in forty-nine standard minutes, the interstellar is
going to meet with a most unfortunate accident.’

‘Oh dear. What is she going to
do?’

‘She would not say, major,’ said
Topaz. ‘But she did stress that she will be able to help further afterwards.
She did say that the Games Board is keen to know how we are communicating. She
says also that it would be most interesting if we opened our radio comms and
made contact with 27. She said that it would be most informative.’

‘She must be going to hit it with
a missile, boss. Haulers are a very cheerful but seriously armed bunch of folk.’

‘Yeah, been meaning to ask for
some time, Harry. Ever met the one called
Rick?’

‘Rick?
You mean the great beast, boss?
Yeah, the one everyone goes into gibber mode over, but very few have actually
seen. He’s one of the Haulers’ Collective’s long-range explorers. Seriously
potent piece of kit. Know him of old. Softly spoken, very pleasant fellow, of
Arabian descent, who by all accounts carries a very big stick or three.’

Jan smiled to herself as another
small piece of information about Harry clicked into place. She too had had
dealings with
Rick,
but was not about to let on.

As they waited, they cleaned the
weapons and rubbed down each other’s suits as best they could with sand.
Knowing that they were live on AV all around the Sphere of Humankind was not
fun, especially being sticky with smashed flies, and filthy. A few minutes
before the appointed time the crew all walked out among the boulders and looked
up.

If they were expecting something
spectacular they were disappointed. Marko could not see the projectile but did
see the results and linked it across to the section. Something very fast hit
the Games Board interstellar. They saw a flash, then a rapidly expanding ball
of debris, as if whatever had hit it had been spinning rapidly.

‘If there were any sentient
beings on board they would not have survived that,’ said Topaz.
‘Rose
will be above the horizon in five minutes, standard time. I shall reestablish
comms with her then.’

‘Right, well. Scrub one Games
Board interstellar. Back inside, people. Open your radios and let’s listen in.
I hope it is good entertainment.’

Each of them toggled through the
comms menus and selected the frequency that 27 had been working on.

‘... there is anyone of the
Administration listening. That was an unspeakable act that you have
perpetrated. We shall now call in the Expeditors and hunt every one of you
down. If you are listening, Major Longbow, you and your team’s lives are now
forfeit. I shall kill you myself. I do not know how you have done this, but I
will find out.’

‘Games Board representative. This
is the Gjomvik Carrier
19 Rose Foxtrot.
You are in breach of your own
Codes Of Conduct. I have relayed these broadcasts of yours. Your interstellar
was destroyed by a rogue ingot of chromium. It is on the record that your
interstellar ship was advised by me, and two other carriers prior, that it was
in a dangerous place and that it should move. It chose to ignore us and the
inevitable has occurred. The logs of these messages have been relayed to the
nearest Administration base. We are sorry for your loss. Please accept our
condolences. I suggest that, as you are in breach, you surrender yourselves to
Major Longbow and his crew. I am observing you very carefully. I am also
enacting section 174 of the Sentient Protection Act, in that any act by you
against Major Longbow and his crew will be regarded as an act against myself. I
shall retaliate directly against you.’

‘Foxtrot!
I shall hunt your people down
after I have erased you from living memory. I have a sacred task to fulfill in
regards to the deviant Major Longbow and his crew. You will not interfere, you
old bitch. If you are listening, barbarian Longbow, we are coming for you. You
have in your midst an individual who goes by the name of Jan Wester. We believe
we know who she really is. She is a killer of brave and faithful Games Board
monitors. Give her up to us for interrogation and I shall make your death quick
and painless. If you do not, I shall slowly kill you and then erase your
storage Soul Savers as well.’

Harry tapped the major’s
shoulder. ‘Don’t engage with her. It’d be a dumb move. I know that you want to
but don’t do it. She sounds just like Sirius. Interesting.’

‘Right. Time and place of our
choosing?’

‘Yes.’

The radio channels were still on
receive. They heard the AI of
19 Rose Foxtrot.
‘I observe you are
moving, Games Board representatives. Perhaps it is time for a demonstration of
what I am capable of.’

‘Get away old woman. Your time is
done. The dawn of a new age of enlightenment is upon us and you have no part in
it. Leave us. I order you to leave orbit now!’

‘Go fuck yourself, you talking
camera! Oh, that’s right, you have no genitals so you can’t do that anyway, you
fascist creep!’

Topaz came hurtling back into the
cave. ‘Get the gear into the deepest part of the cave.
Rose
says take
cover. The dropship is only six kilometres away. “Crow ride a bike”, whatever
that means, on the other side of this mesa, Harry. Her final warning was “Incoming
in five minutes”!’

‘Holy shit! Move it! That bloody
lander is only six clicks away in a straight line.’

~ * ~

Four

Sprinting
across to the machines and powering them up, they flew as far into the cave as
possible. Taking cover as best they could, they watched the time tick down.
They all lay down on the cave floor just as it bucked hard. Large amounts of
dust flew up off the floor and stones and more dust rained down from the
ceilings and walls. Their suits automatically dampened any sound as a few
minutes later the shock wave, from whatever had hit, sucked the air and light
sand out of the cave. The atmosphere rushed back in as they were tumbled
against the cave wall. Thousands more stones rained down on them.

The major jumped up first,
yelling at them to grab whatever they could and get out. One of the Gunbuses
was a write-off, a large slab of stone pinning it to the floor. Marko and Harry
manhandled the trailer from it and hooked it onto Jan’s Gunbus. They held on
tight as Jan in one and the major in the other piloted them out through the
still falling debris.

Outside was surreal. The whole
horizon to the south was lit up cherry red as they made their way back to the
other side of the first mesa. Billowing dust blanketed the area, obscuring the
stars. Flint was wrapped around Harry’s neck, holding on for grim death. Nail
was clinging tight to Marko’s leg, while Glint was like a big dog peering
forwards, enjoying the scene as winds ripped swirling through the low scrub on
the desert floor.

‘So.’ said Harry, ‘that’s the
result of twenty-eight tonnes of chromium travelling at eighteen thousand
kilometres per hour when it hits the ground. Impressive! Obviously tore apart
the antigravity units and the antimatter containments as well. Good big bang.’

‘We just love you, Harry! Weapons
analyst, no matter what crap is coming down on our fucking heads. So just how
the hell did she achieve that?’

‘Think about it, Fritz. The
ingots are boosted into orbit by a steam catapult to get them up to about two
hundred fifty kilometres per hour, then the electromagnetic accelerators take
over and move the ingots up the catapult rail for some forty kilometres. They
are at escape velocity when they climb up through the atmosphere, so there is a
rocket steering pack strapped on each ingot, which manoeuvres it into orbit
with sufficient fuel to RV with the carrier on command.
Rose
simply
selected one and nudged it out of orbit at exactly the right instant just as
she did with the GB interstellar. Lovely stuff. Be interesting to see the
impact site and the down-range effect as well.’

‘That’s the sort of solution I
would expect from you, Harry! OK. I want my Hog, then let’s go find the
puppeteers, eh? Since our suits will not be able to navigate by the stars,
everyone switch to inertial navigation. Stay close.’

They raced out across the weird
landscape, the horizon behind them still bright from the fires created among
the low tough vegetation, ignited by the detonation of the Games Board lander —
and the superheated rock and soil ejected from what seemed to be a large
crater. The prone Hog was heavily coated in sand. They had to clear it away
from the cockpit to allow the major to slide into it on his belly and stand the
machine up using its reserve electrical power. Then they quickly cleaned the
air intakes, shook out the filters and checked the fuel and weapons. Satisfied,
the major started it up then moved out into the desert towards the main
facility with the remaining Gunbus following in formation.