Quiet Invasion (32 page)

Kevin pulled the wheel forward with one hand and pressed in the two keys that engaged the flight engines with the other. The flight engines were tiny things, mostly for guidance and stabilization. The wing provided the lift in the dense atmosphere, and once they reached them, the 360-kilometer-an-hour winds in the cloud layers provided the speed.

Kevin eased the wheel forward to angle the wing for a little extra lift. He probably wanted to get as far away from the volcano wall as possible, as soon as possible. Beta Regio never failed to make Adrian nervous. Too many outcroppings, too many weird corners.

Today, though, it didn’t bother him half as much as the dead, gray look on Kevin’s face. He was not here. His hands were flying the scarab without his head. This was not good.

“Flying a little sluggish, do you drink?” asked Adrian to try to draw him out.

Kevin nodded. “A little. Might be some grit in the works. How do the diagnostics look?”

Adrian’s gaze swept the instrument panels and screens. “Everything’s green and go.”

“All right let me get a little more clearance from the wall. We’ve got that big shelf coming up.” He pushed the wheel down and away, dropping them, swinging them wide, without waiting, without looking.

Without seeing Scarab Fourteen on the monitor.

“Pull back!” shouted Adrian.

The radio crackled to life “Scarab Five, get—”

WHANG!

The whole scarab shuddered and swung wildly to the right. Stunned, Kevin gripped the wheel and pulled back, trying for height.

“What happened?” cried Adrian. A sick creaking sounded through the roof. “We got a critical failure in the wing joints!” Adrian glanced down at the roof camera. The cage around the right wingtip was crumpled in. The scarab lurched and leaned right.

“It was an accident!” Kevin hauled the wheel left. That worked, sort of. The scarab stabilized for a moment but then slowly slewed right and down.

“Okay,” said Adrian under his breath. “We’re going back down.” He bit the radio key. “Scarab Fourteen, Scarab Fourteen, are you there? Come in, Charlotte…”

Nothing. No answer. Adrian punched the keys for the sweep cameras in the scarab’s belly to scan the ground. All he saw was the broken landscape, crisscrossed by the tracks of old lava flows and the glowing rivulets of fresh ones.

“They’re not answering,” he said sharply. Kevin didn’t seem to notice. Kevin pulled the wheel back and left. The scarab started a shallow dive, dipping a little to the left as it curved gently around.

He heard screams, shouted questions, more creaks and strains. Too much noise, too many possibilities. Oh, Holy God, too many ways to die.

“Deploy chutes,” ordered Kevin.

Adrian slapped the key and saw the red message glowing next to it. “We don’t have the chute! The hatch is nonresponsive.”

Too many ways to die. If one of those creaks was the hull. If they landed too hard on their belly and a rock bit through, if the joints and seals that were moaning all around them gave way….

Something overhead groaned. Then, something snapped.

The right half of the scarab dropped, dragging everything with it. The world rattled and clattered and clanked. Voices swore. Somebody screamed again. The straps bit into Adrian’s shoulders.

Oh, Holy God and Mother Creation, I don’t want to die!

With a hiss, the outside airbags deployed. The scarab banged against the side of the mountain, bounced back, rattling them all like dice in a tin can, and headed down.

“No response!” shouted Kevin, wrestling with the wheel.

Adrian grabbed the copilot wheel and threw all his weight behind it. It didn’t budge. “Nothing!” No steering, no way to get away from the rocks, the sharp rocks that could cut right through them, let in the poison and the pressure….

A bang, and Adrian’s body bounced hard against the straps. He bit his own lip to keep from screaming. The scarab’s rear quarter bit the volcano wall with a sickening crunch and settled slowly on a drunken angle, head down, right rear corner sticking up.

Adrian didn’t try to move. He just sat still, listened to his heart hammer, and watched the thousand red lights shine on the panels.

But it was quiet again, and he was alive.

“Everyone okay?” called Adrian, half to the intercom, half to the air.

Answers tumbled over themselves, but it sounded like the team in the couches had weathered it all right. Better than Scarab Five itself had, that was for sure.

Better than Kevin, who sat blinking at his controls.

“Kevin? Boss?”

“It was an accident. It was an accident,” he whispered hoarsely. “I didn’t. Oh, God.” He stared out the window.

Adrian followed his gaze. In the distance, maybe a couple of hundred meters, it was hard to tell, Scarab Fourteen snuggled against the side of a rough foothill, as if it were attempting to crawl inside the rock. Its treads were crushed. Its hull wasn’t the right shape anymore.

“It was an accident,” murmured Kevin.

“Shut up!” shouted Adrian. “Just…shut up! I don’t care what it was!” He didn’t. He was scared; he wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go.

Okay. Okay. You know what to do. Do it.

The radio still showed up green. He hit the key for Scarab Fourteen again. “Scarab Fourteen! Scarab Fourteen! Come in, Charlotte. Talk to me!”

Still nothing but silence.

“Send the mayday to Venera,” Adrian ordered his boss. “Tell them Scarab Fourteen isn’t answering. I’ll put together a comprehensive on the damage.”
If we’ve still got hull integrity, we’ll be all right. Hull integrity, all the pumps, most of the air tanks
….He cast a quick glance out the window, trying not to see the battered hulk of Scarab Fourteen. The black and gray land outside was a mass of sharp ridges and steep descents, as if someone had slashed through the ground with a razor. Scarab Five had come to rest against one of the sharp-backed ridges. Orange glow oozed in the distance, filling the crevices below them. Lava.

But that’s over there. Not here.
Adrian dropped his gaze to his hands.
Keep it together. You know what to do. This is why you’re here.

Kevin had pulled himself far enough back into the present to work the radio. “Venera Base, this is Scarab Five. Mayday, mayday. I repeat, Venera Base, this is Scarab Five. Mayday. Mayday. We are down. Scarab Fourteen is down and not responding.”

Adrian tuned him out and concentrated on the instruments. Most of the electronics seemed to be functioning. The computer gave him no errors as he requested a comprehensive list of the damages.

Adrian scanned the report. Bad, bad, bad. The rear axle had collapsed. Two panels on the exterior wall had buckled in to the point they were pressing on the interior insulation and had cut through a whole set of coolant pipes on the way. Ice tank one had been completely crushed. So had air processor three.

Okay. First thing, get back and see what’s to do about those buckled panels. They break through and we’re very, very screwed.

“We have you, Scarab Five.” Tori’s familiar, infinitely welcome voice sounded from the radio. “Your position is fixed. Rescue team being readied for drop now. What is your status?”

Kevin turned to Adrian. The helplessness on his face made Adrian want to hit him.

“Not good, but not dead,” said Adrian toward the speaker. “Crew unhurt. Lost mobility, lost one ice tank, lost one air processor, and have sustained partial loss of one cooling pump. All remaining pumps, scrubbers, and tanks look green. Possible danger of hull compromise. I’m going to check it out now.”

Adrian unsnapped his catches and got to his feet. As he did, a new trembling grind vibrated through the scarab’s floor. The world shifted backward. Adrian pinwheeled his arms for balance. He stared involuntarily out the window. As he toppled backwards, his eyes told his brain that the scarab hadn’t moved, the ground outside had.

The floor hit his back, knocking all the wind out of him. Something hard caught his head, and stars burst in front of his eyes in sync with the pain.

“Holy God!” gasped Kevin. “Oh Christ!”

Adrian tried to lift his head, but the world spun. The floor vibrated again. The scarab slid backward. The front end came down with a crash that rattled his teeth and sent fresh flashes of pain through his head.

“Scarab Five, what’s going on? Talk to me, Adrian!”

“There’s something alive,” rasped Kevin. “Venera Base, cancel drop. I repeat, cancel drop. There’s something alive out there, and it’s coming toward us.”

What?
Adrian pulled himself to his knees.
I did not hear that.

“We’ve found the goddamned aliens,” grated Kevin.

Adrian planted one hand on the counter and pushed. He reached his feet and looked out the front window. At first he saw nothing but black rock hunched up between the streams of lava. Then, two of the islands moved. They slid out of the lava stream and over the steady ground. From behind them rose a translucent jellyfish half the size of the scarab, its tentacles tipped with pincers.

The world spun and Adrian toppled back to the floor. Consciousness started to slip away. To his shame, he let it go.

Br’sei flew into the main chamber with the speed born of agitation. T’sha shifted on her own perch, turning away from the recorder and its reports that she was still reviewing to get herself up to speed on New Home and its New People.

D’han and P’tesk lurched sideways as Br’sei blew past. He managed to snag a perch in time to keep from crashing into the wall.

“What’s happened?” asked T’sha.

“I…there’s…” Br’sei’s muzzle bobbed as he looked around the chamber. “Where is Ambassador D’seun?”

“He’s surveying the wind currents.” T’sha raised her forehand and beckoned to Br’sei. “What’s happened? Talk to me.”

“I…” Br’sei’s teeth clacked. Was he nervous? T’sha’s bones bunched in annoyance at his hesitation. D’seun had them all too well trained. Even Br’sei, for all the doubts he expressed to her. She was an interloper. Only approved information was to be shared with her.

I am also an ambassador to the High Law Meet.
“Tell me what’s happened, Engineer,” she ordered.

Br’sei shrank a little in resignation, but maybe also in relief. “There’s been an accident.”

T’sha’s arms stiffened, lifting her off her perch. “Who? How many are hurt?”

“No, none of ours,” said Br’sei. “It’s the New People.”

The words jolted straight through T’sha. “What?”

Br’sei dipped his muzzle. “The overseers watching the New People report that two of their transports have crashed near Living Highland 76. They believe them to be damaged.”

There are overseers assigned to the New People? This isn’t in the reports.
T’sha went very still. “Are their own kind responding?”

“Not yet,” said Br’sei.

“P’tesk, D’han, come with me.” T’sha spread her wings. “Br’sei, you will sweep the base. Bring everyone we have. Get the dirigibles flying and bring the emergency spares. We need whatever we’ve got to work in cold and low pressure.”

“What? Why?” D’han fluttered. “Ambassador—”

T’sha was already flying toward the door. “We have to help.”

“But their own kind will surely respond.” P’tesk held out both forehands, pleading.

T’sha hooked a forehand onto the threshold and turned to face him. “We cannot leave them there. The research D’seun has so kindly gathered indicates they cannot be exposed to air.”
The research, based on raw materials he collected, which may not have been raw at the time.

“But if we—” began P’tesk.

“If we what?” demanded T’sha, swelling. “If we go they will find out we’re here. Surely. What if we let them die? We are that desperate for our secrecy? We are that uncertain about our claim to this world that we should fail to help life?”

“No,” said Br’sei softly, more to P’tesk and D’han than to her. “We are not.” He inflated himself. “We have several constructors designed to deal with the New People if necessary. I’ll bring them.”

Br’sei vanished into the corridor. T’sha winged after him, all but exploding into the open air. She pushed all thought, all suspicion of what had happened here before out of her mind. That was for later. For now, the New People needed her.

“Scarab Five, Scarab Five.” The radio called from the main cabin. “Respond. Adrian? Kevin? Come on, answer me!”

“Shit,” exclaimed Josh, and Vee heard him start popping the buckles on his safety straps. She started doing the same.

“Maybe you should—” began Julia.

“No.” Vee shoved the straps aside and made her way up the steeply tilted floor after Josh.

Adrian lay on the floor in the main aisle, dazed. Kevin crouched beside him, little better.

“What happened?” asked Vee, dropping to her knees next to them.

Kevin swallowed hard. “It was an—”

Josh just shoved his way past them to the radio.

“Scarab Five, Scarab Five!” came a frantic voice out of the speaker.

Josh slapped the Reply key. “We’re here, Venera. This is Josh Kenyon.”

“What happened? Kevin said he saw the aliens?”

What?
Vee froze.

“I’m not seeing anything except Scarab Fourteen,” said Josh. “They look hurt. Have you been able to raise them?”

“No. We’ve got the rescue on standby. If they leave now, they’ll make it in three hours.”

Josh’s lips moved in silent calculation, or maybe prayer. “Drop them down. Now.”

“Have you got anybody who can get across to Fourteen and check out their situation?” asked the voice from Venera.

Josh looked at the red lights glowing on the control panels, then back at Adrian and Kevin on the floor.

“We’re damaged and have to do control,” he said reluctantly. “There’s no trained personnel to respond.”

Vee stood. Now she could see out the window, and she saw Scarab Fourteen’s crippled body alone on the ragged plain, far too near a lava stream. “How much training does it take to shove someone in a suit and get them over here? How much does it take to look around?”

“You’ll need to get in.” Adrian struggled to sit up. “I can get you in.”

“You saw—” began Kevin.