Battle for the Earth (15 page)

Now that Marie seemed relaxed, Konoco stood up.

‘Well, it’s not so much that we simply lied to you, but we had really to appraise the situation. You see, we didn’t actually build this base; we stumbled across it about ten years ago. Our scientists have been exploring and studying it ever since. It’s only just recently we decided that it could safely support life on a sustained basis.’

‘You mean you didn’t build it?

Konoco shook his head, and the next question was obvious.

‘Who built it then?’ Marie didn’t disappoint with the question.

‘We don’t know. Our scientists have been arguing about that for the past ten years.’

‘You mean there’s a base this size and you don’t know who built it?’

‘Simply put, no.’

‘How about when was it built, then?’

Marie couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but then a thought struck her. She was going to have to explain all this to Lee when she got back.

‘Again, we don’t know. The technology is far more advanced than our own. Where do you think the idea for the magnetic light refractor shield came from?’

‘Jesus!’

Marie wasn’t at all religious but she was now wondering, what in God’s name was going on.

‘What about the Androids here? Can’t they shed some light on this?’

‘Again, they are far more advanced than the Androids we’re used to. Even Thourus doesn’t come close.’

‘Why don’t you dissect or disassemble one, or, well ... you know what I mean?’

‘We can’t.’

Marie interrupted.

‘Can’t?’

‘Ethics. Our scientists cannot rule out the possibility that the Androids are sentient beings. Dropas laws don’t allow that kind of intervention, if you are not sure. We have questioned them at great length but to no avail. Each one in their own way is, how do you say, keeping mum, when asked pertinent questions.’

‘Jesus! They’re alive?’

‘As I said, I don’t know.’

‘Could the Androids have built the base?’

‘I don’t think so. They just seem to run it, almost like caretakers, I suppose.’

‘How many of them are there?’

Marie was now starting to get concerned. It was bad enough having to deal with the Annunaki, but this was a totally unknown quantity.

‘We don’t know. At least four thousand, perhaps, but we still, even in ten years, haven’t covered all the base.’

Marie took another sip of her green tea. Her mouth had gone dry, in her case a sure sign of tension.

‘How much of the base has been explored?’

‘We think around seventy-five per cent, but it’s hard to tell, it’s just so big.’

‘Is it safe to bring up non-combatants, from Earth? After all you don’t seem to know that much about the base?’

‘Well, we do and we don’t, if you see what I mean. Nothing at all harmful has been found, and the Androids are more than happy to make you comfortable. Besides, I don’t think we have much choice.’

‘Well, I honestly don’t know what to say.’

Marie was dumbfounded. Her best bet, she thought, was to speak to Lee. Konoco picked up his green tea which had now cooled down and swallowed it in one gulp. He replaced his cup and saucer on the table. Then, turning to Marie, he gestured to her to follow him.

‘Let me show you what we know of the control room.’

They re-entered the control room from the annexe and approached what appeared to be a main console. Konoco pulled up an image and started flicking through it.

‘Some of it’s self-explanatory. On the whole the systems seem to run themselves, air conditioning, venting, lighting - the day-to-day things. They have a very clever food replication system. We haven’t worked out how it works yet, but you can get anything, and as much as you want.’

‘What about housing the people, when they come up from Earth?’

‘One level of the base is dedicated to living areas, and there are thousands of well-equipped dormitories, which could easily cope with Earth Central’s population.’

‘What is this place, Konoco? This is going to sound really silly, but you don’t think the Martians could have built it, do you?’

‘No, not silly, but we did rule that out a long time ago.’

‘OK, so we have food, sleeping and recreation - oh, and we’ve also got waiter and maid service. This place is too good to be true, I thought we had done really well with the shelters on Earth, but this is incredible.’

Konoco closed down the display and turned to her.

‘Do you think Lee will be OK with this? I know it’s a bit of a shock, but bear in mind it was a shock to us as well, Earth’s defence was in hand, and we really just didn’t know where to begin explaining this. The plain fact is we still don’t have an explanation.’

Marie mulled Konoco’s statement over in her head. A bit of a shock, she thought? That’s an understatement. Still, it isn’t his fault.

‘No, Konoco,’ she said. ‘I’m sure he’ll be fine once I’ve talked to him. Just leave it to me.’

**

31

When Jumouk and Lee entered the control room at Earth Central, Fiona Green couldn’t believe her eyes.

‘Where did you come from, I mean how did you get here? Don’t tell me you walked.’

Lee laughed out loud.

‘Not quite, Fiona.’

Lee brought Fiona up to speed on everything that had happened. She was visibly relieved at their arrival, she felt as if an unbearable weight had been lifted from her shoulders, so much so that she was having difficulty taking in what Lee was telling her.

‘Mars?’

She stared in disbelief, Lee carried on with the story. By the time he’d finished, Fiona’s face was a blank.

‘What do you want me to do now, Lee?’ she asked.

‘The first thing you need to do is organise the evacuation of Earth Central. Use any resources you need, but it must be done as quickly as possible.’

Fiona nodded.

‘I’ll get on that straightaway, Lee. Trust me, it will be done as quickly as possible.’

With that she scurried off with a new sense of purpose.

Meanwhile Jumouk had been watching the advancing Annunaki warriors on one of the view screens.

‘It doesn’t look good. I think we’re going to have to delay them.’

Lee took a closer look.

‘Maybe not. They seem to be fanning their search pattern outwards, they obviously don’t have a clue where we are. OK, I agree they’re eventually going to stumble on us, but I think we’ve still got some time in hand.’

Jumouk took on board what Lee had said, and nodded in agreement.

‘Do you think we should deploy troops, just in case?’

Lee thought for a few seconds.

‘No I don’t think so. How about deploying Androids to the perimeter of Bailey’s Crossing? That way they can stall the Annunaki warriors if necessary, or we can also use them for a diversion when the time comes. Bear in mind we’ve still got twenty-four assault craft here as well. They should help in the diversion.’

‘Perfect. Can I leave you to organise that, Lee? I’m just going to track down Fiona and see how she’s getting on with the evacuation plans.’

‘OK, leave it to me, Jumouk, I’m going to need to talk to Grant, though.’

Fiona was doing an excellent job overseeing the evacuation; things were going extremely smoothly, shuttles were picking people up from level four at intervals of around three minutes, the journey to the undersea base was taking around ten minutes and with eight shuttle craft each carrying up to two hundred people, it wasn’t going to be long - maybe forty-eight hours - before the base would be completely deserted.

The tunnels could then be severed from the undersea base, and Earth Central and the tunnel complex flooded.

Jumouk was pleased with the progress to date. His only fear was that the base would be compromised before the evacuation was complete. This thought had also crossed Fiona’s mind but she had an idea. She turned to Jumouk.

‘Do you think it would be a good idea to seal up the entrances to Earth Central? I mean after the Androids have been deployed and the pilots have got to their assault craft.’

Jumouk nodded in agreement.

‘Good idea, Fiona. Just to be on the safe side. After all, we won’t be using them again, How do you suggest we go about it?’

‘Well, it’s just a thought, but remember the barrels of expandable foam that we were going to use for insulation? That stuff is as tough as old boots once it’s expanded and it also goes a long way.’

‘Go on.’

Jumouk was impressed by the inventiveness of the people around him.

‘Well, when the last of the Androids leave they could burst the seals on the barrels and dump them down the lift shafts, that would seal everything up nicely.’

‘How many barrels have we got?’

Jumouk was looking a bit sceptical.

‘More than enough to seal all five turbo-lift shafts completely.’

Fiona signalled to one of her commanders. She sat with him at a small desk and instructed him on what she wanted to happen. The commander confirmed his orders and took his leave.

Jumouk came over and sat down beside Fiona. Smiling, he said in an enthusiastic tone:

‘You know, we might just pull this off, Fiona.’

**

Meanwhile Lee had organised the perimeter defences around Bailey’s Crossroads, and was talking to commander Jefferson regarding the sealing of the turbo-lift shafts.

Five Androids would be sent to the top of each shaft with enough barrels of expandable foam to fill it up. After all the other levels had been evacuated to level four, the lifts would be disabled at the bottom of each shaft, and the Androids would start their task of sealing the shafts.

When they had finished this successfully, they would then deploy to join the other Androids in the defence of the perimeter, along with the assault craft.

**

It had now been twenty-four hours since the start of the evacuation and one of the large transports with two hundred and fifty thousand people on board had just arrived off Western Australia. The other two remaining transports were rapidly filling up at the undersea base.

The Androids on perimeter duty were a whisper away from engaging the Annunaki warriors. In all, two thousand Androids were spread out along the Bailey’s Crossroads city limits.

The first encounter wasn’t particularly spectacular. As the eight-foot tall Annunaki warrior entered the door of the quiet suburban house, he looked intimidating, an air of arrogance and the attitude of invincibility all summed up his confident posture.

He had been in what felt like thousands of similar dwellings and had found nothing. However, this one was different.

Despite the obvious difference in size and stature, as the Annunaki warrior passed the line of sight of the open door, a Dropas Android flew from the back of the door and latched itself onto the huge Annunaki neck, snapping the unfortunate warrior’s spine instantly.

The Annunaki slumped to the floor stone dead, without having made a sound.

The Dropas Androids might only have been five foot in height but they had the strength of twenty men and the speed and lightning responses of a cobra.

The fighting had begun, initially only a few sounds of pulse weapons, then a barrage of weapons fire. The Annunaki had been taken by surprise again. They had for so long been searching without any action, they had become complacent, and sloppy in their approach. The Dropas Androids had gained the upper hand, at least initially.

Nalater was quickly informed of the commencement of the fighting. He knew now that his gamble had paid off. The city limits of Bailey’s Crossroads were ablaze with weapons fire, He was sure they were on to something big. Tannacha would be impressed.

He ordered the assault craft into the fray, and brought up reinforcements from the surrounding towns.

The Dropas Androids were putting up a good fight, using urban guerrilla tactics, moving quickly from house to house to make themselves a hard target for the assault craft and surprising Annunaki warriors as they went. Any advance the Annunaki tried to make was quickly halted and then countered, stretching the Annunaki reserves to the limit.

The fighting was particularly intense on Belleview Drive. The shape and lay-out of its houses made it a particular problem for the approaching Annunaki warriors.

The eight or so L-shaped buildings provided perfect cover for each other, and air-defence positions had been established in another line of buildings close by. These were now protected by the L-shaped buildings.

Every time an Annunaki assault ship came near, a hail of pulse fire would erupt from the line of buildings. The Androids had also released air mines above the structures which were now taking their toll on the Annunaki assault craft as well. The Annunaki were advancing, but it was a slow, costly, advance, and Nalater was growing impatient.

**

Twenty hours had now passed since the start of the fighting and the body count was rising on both sides. The Dropas Androids still had a stronghold in and around Belleview Drive. Five hundred or so were now dug in and putting up a ferocious fight, holding back the ever-increasing number of Annunaki warriors determined to rout them.