Crystal Venom (9 page)

~ * ~

It was not often that the famous ship was seen in an atmosphere and close to a terrestrial base, in daylight and on the ground, so they had quite a few sightseers lining up against the fences as Patrick refuelled the ship via the large diameter, tendril-like pipes which slid from
Basalt’s
base then snaked out to locate and latch onto the various fuel feeds. Marko flew the Gunbus and its trailer down from the great wasp-shaped vertical mass of
Basalt
and ran a few trips lifting the materials back into the engineering deck access hatch in the side of the ship.

He enjoyed flying the odd little machine and got a few enquiries from some of his mates wanting to have a go. He had to admit it was great fun with only a low little windscreen and then nothing out in front, so he felt quite daring. Veg suggested that he needed a leather flying hat and aviator goggles. On the second run, Glint arrived, and promptly hung out over the front making appreciative noises as they swooped down over the complex. Marko grinned as he opened comms. ‘Major.’

‘Yes, Marko.’

‘When are we going to tart up
Basalt,
exterior wise? Looking a bit worse for wear, don’t you think?’

Marko heard the major give a little grunt. ‘Agreed. Put a file together and send it at your leisure. Won’t be this trip, but soon. OK?’

The comms link cut off abruptly as Marko swore quietly and wondered why he did not engage his mind before his mouth. He saw something below and turned to Glint. ‘Glint, do I spy your bicycle on the ground beside
Basalt
? When we drop this load off I want you to go get it and store it properly.’

The ACE looked off into the distance, shrugged and muttered, ‘Flint said that he would do it.’

‘Flint wouldn’t be able to manage it — he simply does not have the mass. Your bike, your responsibility, end of story. What would the boss have to say? When we land go sort it, or no more rides today.’

A few moments later he had to stop himself from laughing out loud watching the steel-grey ACE trying to stomp away and act bad tempered, which was not really his nature. Marko looked across to see the Albatross lander descending to settle beside the main accommodation area just as the comms link chimed open.

‘Crew, this is the major. We lift in two hours Standard Time unless there is a pressing need for a delay? No. Right, two hours to sort out your stuff.’

~ * ~

Patrick remotely took control of the Albatross, after they had dumped all their gear on board, flown it up the side of
Basalt
and gently eased it in through the tight main hatchway. The winds were gusting a little so it was much easier for Patrick to do it.

Jan was privileged to fly Stephine’s craft up into the hangar deck once the Albatross was sorted, with Veg riding shotgun. Later she told Marko that she really wanted to take it for a decent blast but controlled herself, although she felt that the craft wanted to go much faster. The last job Marko had was to go pick up Ernst from the repair facility, where he had been acting as a standard dumb medical unit. He was very relieved to be back on board and able to behave as a sentient individual once again. Jan performed all the standard tests including a 17J5AI as he had received an upgrade from the base facilities along with the other two medical units on board.

When everyone was finally on board, the major said, ‘Lift stations, please, five minutes.’

Most of them were already at their stations although Fritz was late as per normal. Harry ran to get to his comms station in time to hear the major say: ‘Harry, whenever you are ready.’

Marko had brought all the antigravity units and thrusters online a few minutes earlier to warm them up. He had also opened the atmospheric jet drives, rotating them out from their housings at the waist of the ship, so he shunted control of them across to Harry, who lifted the ship and rotated it around its axis so he could see out across the barren rocky hills and wide blue ocean bay. Using the AG and side thrusters, Harry took the ship out over the workshops and wharves, slowly climbed up a kilometre or so, powered up the jets and gathered speed. Once they were a few kilometres downrange of the facilities, he lit up the fusion rockets and they roared out through the atmosphere at a leisurely one gravity of thrust.

The major visibly relaxed and issued instructions. ‘Two-hundred-kilometre orbit, please, Harry. All crew, we have three hours to establish biosecurity protocols. Once under way to the local Lagrange point, I will brief you on the mission.’

It was one of the drawbacks of bringing the frigate down onto the surface of a planetary biosphere. Bad enough with the lander, but with the frigate, even if they had only had it on the ground for a few hours, the checks still had to be carried out. It was a bit easier with the ACEs helping, and they only found a few of the planet’s spider-type beings. This pleased Patrick, who had a phobia about insects in general, having confided in Harry how he had once had a colony of ant-like creatures invade his outer casing. They dutifully set off the bio-gasbombs to ensure they got everything, and then each of them was scanned and tested for pathogens or unwelcome hitchhikers of any kind by Topaz and Ernst, before the major gave the all-clear. The information was logged with the Orbital local control and they were free to be on their way.

Three hours later, with the crew back into their routines and the journey out to the nearest LP under way, the major gathered them in the mess room.

‘Right. Interesting mission for us. No Games Board involvement, only Administration and the Haulers’ Collective on this deal, so we’re effectively off the public audiovisual grid for as long as it takes, something I’m very happy about. I have flashed the files to each of you, but the basic story is that this is a recovery or destroy mission. Briefly, a little over thirty-nine standard years ago a heavy Hauler was tasked with transporting a cargo of nasties after the war known as “Infant”. If you don’t know about it, look it up. Not one of the battles in that war covered any of its participants in glory. In fact, that war led to the Games Board having considerably more power and influence than they had previously enjoyed.’

He looked around the faces of the crew, before continuing. ‘So, this Hauler was tasked with dumping a cargo of biological weapons onto Hades, but it never made it. Big search at the time; nothing found. The Hauler has now turned up. Located by a Ranger Scout who had been tasked to look for octopoids. We have to return to Cygnus 5, uplift a specialist crew of ten, plus the Ranger, and go have a hard look at the Hauler. I have also been advised that the Haulers’ Collective want us to recover the ship’s core if it is still intact.’

~ * ~

During the week’s transit, Harry, Topaz and Marko made a new replacement arm for Marko. They built in a few extra facilities, but there was not a lot of improvement to be made on the previous one anyway, so Marko programmed up the auto-mills and then had Topaz grow the rest of it.

Harry had managed to procure a few extra sheets of titanium, which they earmarked to replace the shielding on the Hog mechanised walker which they had taken as a prize from 27’s planet. So now that they had everything they needed, and the time, they decided to rebuild it completely. The original chassis was stripped down to bare metal and still further into its individual components. Harry programmed a couple of the engineering robots to grind the original welds and then re-weld the entire main structure. He smiled to himself, immersed in the physical making, thinking that sometimes it was much nicer to actually build something rather than have it grown.

Veg was having fun redesigning the machine, so they gave up on the old version and basically junked most of it. They retained parts of the cockpit, the primary chassis, the legs and the feet. Following Veg’s lead, they laid out a new engine bay, upgraded hydraulics throughout and also decided to put a rail gun on one side and a heavy rotary cannon on the other. With the major’s permission, Harry pulled one of the spare gas turbines from storage to mount behind the cockpit, together with a gearbox driving the primary hydraulic pumps. Once they had all the framework and main supports in place, they surface-coloured everything in dark green carborundum which Topaz had modified bacteria grow onto the metal structure. Over the next couple of days they fitted the new cockpit and the hydraulics, the cracker unit, weapons and magazines, and had Fritz run the electrics. They still had all the covers and shielding to make and fit when
Basalt
arrived back at Cygnus 5, but at least the Hog could stamp around and look menacing if required.

~ * ~

Gliese 667C

A few days later they arrived back at the control Orbital Epsilon with Harry announcing that a Ranger would be the first to join them.

Marko considered that the Ranger Squadrons were made up of interesting, but peculiar, people. Deeply calm, utterly fixated on the task at hand and superbly happy in their own company, they were in some respects the elite of the elite. Every Ranger he had met seemed to be able to put people immediately at their ease and then gently, but remorselessly, pump them dry of the information they required. And every one of them he had met was heavily muscled and tall. It took more than twenty-five standard years to train one to full certification, so they had to be something special to start with. They were also rumoured to carry substantial armour under their skin — he supposed that was another reason for the bulk. The exception was the one who presented herself at the crew airlock as a full colonel, which everyone knew was a rare rank to still be an operative without a crew.

‘Hello, ma’am. I am Sergeant Major Marko Spitz. Welcome aboard
Basalt.
Major Longbow will join us shortly; he is currently in conference with Epsilon Admin.’

She looked down at him, smiled, extended her hand and grasped his in a slightly firm way, denoting respect. She towered over him and he felt the same way he did when around Stephine. I must be a midget, he thought.

‘So you are Marko. I am very pleased to make your acquaintance. Once I am settled in, I need to discuss a project with you. And I am informed that you have a remarkable crew and something called “real coffee”, which is talked of everywhere. Lead on, Sergeant Major.’

He escorted her around the ship introducing her to everyone, and then to the galley where Veg made her a coffee. Veg had told Marko that after making a few thousand more shots he would be an adequate barista, but baking was considerably more interesting being much more like engineering. To go with the colonel’s coffee, he brought out his latest biscotti. He figured that everyone had a right to be proud of their work and it was always a good move for any non-commissioned officer to impress a colonel. He was very careful to advise the colonel in the art of dunking, before she broke any of her perfect teeth.

The terrible trio, who had been stalking something or other, came hurtling in and surrounded the colonel. Nail, as the intelligence-gathering ACE of the crew, sat on the table in front of her, staring hard and passing on the information he was gathering via the crew’s comm link; Flint scrabbled up onto the table and introduced each of them to her in his very quiet, almost inaudible, way; Glint slid onto his specifically grown stool, which was movable but still attached to the living table by a vine so it could gain sustenance, reached for a biscotti and started taking bites out of it, generating small fragments which whistled through the air. He pointed the remains at her as he spoke. ‘So you are Colonel Andrea White. You are a legend, I’m told. What makes you a legend? And how did they grow that ceramic fibre armour into you? It covers all your organs, even those parts that males would find interesting. Marko, I think I need some of that. Nail would like some too, but he is not big enough. No, I think that I would like a penis first.’

Marko cringed and Veg burst out laughing.

The colonel just started giggling, then she reached out and started to stroke Nail, who, amazingly, allowed her to do so. Glint reached for another biscotti, hesitated, and took another two. ‘Yup, she’s OK. Really different from any other human I have seen but should be fine. Good biscuits, Marko. Make some more. Right, come on you lot, work to do. Let’s go.’

Glint led them out at the same speed they’d come in at ... flat out. They watched them go and the colonel said: ‘Veg, this coffee is completely different in taste, texture and effect from anything I have ever had before. Can I have another, please?’

The huge man shook his head. ‘Nope. One per day, that’s the limit. Sorry, Colonel. Stephine will join us shortly and, if you like, she makes excellent tea. Tea you can drink as much as you like. Your ship is approaching. Shall I give it docking instructions? I have moved your personal manoeuvring unit to the main hangar deck.’

She gave a quick shake of her head. ‘Thanks, and no that won’t be necessary. I should imagine that
Crystal
has already received instructions from Patrick.’

They watched as a beaming Michael Longbow strode into the mess. ‘Hello, Andy.’

‘Hi, Michael. It has been too long, beautiful.’

She stood up, lifted him off the floor in a hug and kissed him full on the mouth. Everyone started to look for things to do and left the two of them to it. Marko shuddered to think what Glint would have said had he been present. He briefly saw the major much later in the galley, with a big grin on his face, making a large bowl of fresh fruit salad. He disappeared with it back to his cabin, carrying two spoons. Harry smiled and saluted his receding back with his large mug of tea.