M'tak Ka'fek (The T'aafhal Inheritance) (39 page)

“That would yield over two megatons!” Reagan quickly calculated. “Man, this vault must really be built.”

“We just rode out an antimatter explosion?” said Sanchez. “I think I really like this vault.” 

“I wonder how much damage the blast did to the station?” JT pondered. “It went off in an atmosphere inside a solid structure. It should have made a huge crater.”

“Let's find out what the ship saw,” the Captain replied, rising. “M'tak Ka'fek, Scavenger, do you read?” Scavenger was the expedition’s call sign.

“Scavenger, M'tak Ka'fek, go ahead Captain,” replied Bobby's almost frantic voice. “What happened to you?”

“We developed a spider and crab infestation and had to use a bug bomb,” Jack replied. “Can you see any damage to the station from outside?”

“Yes Sir! Your bug bomb blew a large section of glazing off of the greenhouse area and a sizable hole in the bottom of the ring. A bunch of debris spurted out but has since cleared the area due to high radial velocity. The explosion sent a ripple all around the ring, the inhabitants must be scared spit-less.”

“Is the station leaking atmosphere?”

“It did at first, but M'tak says the outflow has slowed significantly. The interior must have internal bulkheads to prevent the whole place from depressurizing in case of an asteroid strike.”

Yes, that would make sense,
Jack thought and then admonished himself.
Enough wool gathering, we need to get out of here.
“Lt. Danner, here are your orders. I want you to send Lt. McKennitt in a large shuttle to survey the hole—have her send a surveillance drone through it if she can. I want to see if the shuttle can find the vault we are currently locked inside of.”

“Yes, Sir,” came Bobby's somewhat disappointed reply. Inwardly Jack sighed. 

“I need you to remain in command on the bridge, keeping a sharp eye out for any response from the station. We just did a significant amount of damage to this place and if I was a resident I'd be up in arms. You and Aput must stand ready to beat back any hostile response, do you understand?”

“Aye aye, Captain.” Being left in command of the M'tak was an acceptable alternative to piloting the rescue shuttle in Bobby's mind.

“Very good, Mr. Danner. So shake a leg, I wish to be off this wretched station as soon as possible.”
M'tak, can you read me?
 

Yes, Captain, you are well within my range.

I need you to prepare the sick bay for two casualties—Lt. Bear and Dr. Ogawa. Bear has lost his right foreleg and Mizuki both of her legs from just above the knees.

Certainly, Captain. I will have the facilities prepped and awaiting their arrival.

And M'tak?

Yes?

Do not let Lt. Danner know that Mizuki has been severely wounded. He is a young man in love and would respond badly to the news. I will tell him myself when I am back on board.

As you wish, Captain.

* * * * *

A holographic image appeared, projected on the inner surface of the Captain's helmet, showing the view from the shuttle as it flew through the gaping hole in the bottom of the station's ring. As it gained altitude the devastation caused by the antimatter explosion became evident. Ahead, the vault and its massive door were visible, perched in a jumble of half melted rubble.

“Captain, Shuttle One. I've passed through the blast hole and will land down slope of the vault.”

“Roger, Shuttle One. We will open the vault door as soon as you land.”

“This vault must be built of tough stuff,” observed Chief Morgan, watching the live video. “The explosion hardly touched it.”

“Makes sense to build it strong, Chief,” Jack replied, “considering what it contains. Otherwise, an unfortunate asteroid strike could set off a massive explosion that would destroy the ring.”

“Roger that, Captain. There's enough antimatter in here to shatter a planet.”

“Why don't you and your men see if you can liberate some of those large eggs and get them ready to be moved to the shuttle?”

“Aye aye, Sir.”

“Lt. Taylor, how are you coming with the power?”

“I think we just about have it sir.” JT and Reagan were huddled over an open panel on the wall next to the vault door. Occasional sparks flashed as they labored to attach a spare suit power-cell to the door's control circuitry. A few more sparks and the lights on the control console came on.

“I think that's got it, LT,” said Reagan, sounding quite pleased with himself. It wasn't every day he got the chance to hot-wire an alien bank vault.

“Do you want me to enter the open code, Captain?” asked Betty, who was kneeling next to the unconscious Mizuki. She still had possession of the Trader's instruction sheet. 

“Not yet. We have to assume that there is effectively vacuum outside the vault. Are Mizuki and Bear going to be safe if we depressurize this place?”

“Yes, Captain. Their suit readouts say that they both have atmospheric integrity restored—if you look closely you can almost see the nanites working on the armor.”

“What about the weasel?” asked Hitch. Poonta-ta-ka was an unmoving fuzzy heap off to one side. 

“Forget the weasel, what about the butterflies?” asked Jacobs. “They helped us during the battle with the killer chickens.”

“Indeed,” Jack replied. “That would make them the only thing on this station who is on our side.”

“What about some large sample bags?” Feldman asked. Standard issue on expeditions to alien worlds were several sizes of airtight sample collection bags. Made from multiple layers of tough transparent material, they were intended to isolate biological samples along with a bit of their atmosphere.

“Good idea, Jon. I can put Poonta-ta-ka in one but how do we get the butterflies to cooperate?” Betty had examined the fallen trader and found multiple broken bones. The alien remained mercifully unconscious since the explosion.

“Try talking to them,” suggested Matt Jacobs. “Mizuki used to talk to them and I swear they listened to her.”

“Its that or they stay here,” Jack said, “and I doubt that they would do well in vacuum.”

“OK,” Betty replied, “Matt, give me a hand.” Together the Corpsman and sailor gently placed the trader inside one of the large bags and sealed it.

“Will the trader have enough oxygen in there?” asked Feldman.

“His respiration rate is way down, he should last for an hour or so. I have no idea how much air a flock of butterflies needs.”

Betty and Matt held another sample bag open between them while the Captain tried to talk to the flying swarm. “I don't know if you can understand me but we are about to let the air out of here. You tried to help Mizuki and we would rather not kill you, but we have to escape this place.”

The flock of butterflies formed a globular cluster in front of the two sailors, showing mostly green and blue. The cluster flattened into a disk facing the Earthlings. The disk began pulsing forward and back, forming concentric ripples like a giant loudspeaker. Very faintly sounds could be heard, sounds which the listening ship's AI dutifully began to translate.

“Oh pain and sorrow... the beautiful one is dead... our angel of the flashing sword...”

“What?”

“They must think Mizuki is dead, Captain.”

Again addressing the pulsing swarm of winged creatures, Jack spoke through the AI. “Mizuki, the wielder of the sword, is gravely wounded, but she is not dead. We are going to take her to our ship to be healed. But to do that we will have to leave the air out of this room.”

The swarm pulsed rapidly, showing hints of yellows and reds.

“Without air we cannot fly... we cannot live...”

“That is why we would like you to enter the bag Betty and Matt are holding.” Jack gestured toward the sack opening. “We will seal you in with a volume of air and transport you to our ship.”

The fluttering disc reformed, colors rippling across the visible spectrum. “We can leave the bag on the ship... and the beautiful one will re-awaken?”

“Yes, but we must hurry, time is of the essence.”

The disk began to rotate, forming a tornado of color whose spout reached out and entered the sample bag. Soon the entire swarm was inside the clear container and Betty sealed the opening.

“That... was about the weirdest thing I have ever seen,” said LCpl Samuels, relatively new to the crew.

“Fritz, that doesn't even rate a six on my weird-shit-o-meter,” Joey Sanchez assured him.

The Captain smiled at the Marines' comments, at least they were taking things in stride. “Shuttle One, what is your status?”

“Just touched down, Captain,” came Sandy's chipper, Australian accented voice. “Had to bounce her around a bit to find a firm resting place, all this rubble is a bit shonky.”

“Very good, Lt. McKennitt. Stand by. OK Betty, you have the instruction sheet—see if the door will open.”
It better
, Jack thought,
if it doesn't I haven't a clue what to do next.
But his worries were unfounded. 

There was a mechanical clunk as the bolts retracted. Then the massive circular door slowly swung aside. As it did the air inside the vault screamed out through the opening, the sound rapidly fading as the pressure inside dropped to nothing. The door hung up on outside debris three quarters of the way open, but that was sufficient—they could leave the vault.

Relief was visible on the faces of the Marines and crew. Inside, the sample bags containing the trader and the butterflies swelled until their clear material was taut—puffed up like two balloons.

“OK, let's get the wounded and sample bags on board the shuttle,” ordered Jack, also feeling relieved. “Chief, we will need a dozen of those eggs as well.”

Shuttle Departure

The Marines fanned out and formed a perimeter around the landed shuttle. Bear, Mizuki and the aliens in their sample bags were quickly secured aboard the shuttle. A dozen type 1 AM containers were also stowed on board by Hitch and Jacobs.

The expedition members found themselves standing near the bottom of a bowl shaped crater more than four kilometers wide. About half a kilometer in front of them was a hole, through which could be seen the inky blackness of space.

“I think your little bug bomb came close to blowing this station apart, Captain,” said JT, surveying the damage.

“Indeed, Lieutenant. I had M'tak's AI calculate how big a blast the station could weather, given the hypothetical strength it must posses to simply hold together. I believe we cut the margins rather fine.”

“Captain, Shuttle One. The cargo is loaded and secured. We are not going to have room for the entire party in one trip.”

“Understood, Lieutenant. White, Hitch and Jacobs, I want you on the shuttle.”

“Aye aye, Sir,” their voices rang over the comm. The two sailors headed for the loading ramp, Betty was already on board with her patients.

“When you arrive on board the ship I want you to get the wounded to sick bay. Lt. McKennitt, you will probably need to assist Corpsman White in getting Bear and Dr. Ogawa out of their armor—M'tak will give you instructions regarding what needs to be done.

“Hitch, Jacobs, once the wounded are moved take two of the eggs and install them in the forward fuel bunker. We need to be sure the ship has enough power to defend itself until loading is complete.”

“Then should I return for the rest of you, Captain?”

“Negative, Lieutenant. I have other plans for our egress. Head back to the ship as soon as you are ready.”

“Roger, Sir. Departing now.”

Soundlessly, the big shuttle leaped off the rubble, describing a clean backward arc through space. Like an Olympic diver performing a back-flip from a diving platform, the shuttle's attitude was nose down and vertical as it cleanly exited the hole in the station's rim.

“She makes that look so easy.”

“She does indeed, Mr. Taylor. Now let's get a move on with the rest of those storage containers.”

“Sir? What are we to do with them?”

“Tell me, Lieutenant. What would happen if you threw one of those eggs out of the hole in the floor?”

“It would fly off tangent to the rim at 12km/sec, Captain.” As realization dawned a smile crept across JT's face. “Right into space where someone could just pick it up.”

“Precisely,” Jack smiled back. “Have the Marines spread out and form a line from here down to the edge of the hole. The SEALs can toss the eggs down, one at a time, and the Marines pass them to the hole like a bucket brigade. While you get things organized I will call Lt. Danner and arrange for him to catch our plunder.”

“Aye aye, Captain!”

* * * * *

Once the relay line was up and working they were able to toss several eggs a minute out of the jagged hole created by the Captain's bug bomb. One by one, the cache of antimatter eggs disappeared through the hole and out into space.

“That's the last of the full type one containers, Captain,” called Chief Morgan from the vault. “Do you want the partials or should we look for full smaller eggs?”

“Neither, Chief. You and your SEALs come down and join the rest of us at the edge of the hole.”

As the remaining expedition members gathered round, Sanchez asked the question that was on everyone's mind. “Is the shuttle going to come pick us up, Captain?”

“No time for that, Joey. We have removed the swag and now it is time for us to abandon the station.”

“Sir?”

“The Captain means follow the eggs, Joey,” JT answered with a smile, pleased that he had figured out Jack's plan without having to be told.

“Correct, Lt. Taylor. Since SEALs have been trained to jump out of airplanes we will let them show us how it should be done. Chief?”

“Don't have to ask us twice, Captain!” The Chief, followed closely by Bud and Phil made a short run and leaped into the gaping pit before them.

“See how easy it is? If they can do it, surely Marines can,” chided JT.

“But Captain! Everyone knows that SEALs are insane,” moaned Joey.

“Shut up and grow a pair,” said Rosey as she ran by and jumped through the hole. The remaining Marines, not wishing to have their manhood brought into question, followed LCpl Acuna.