SECTOR 64: Ambush (41 page)

Richard shot him an annoyed glance. Impatiently, he said, "These suits are like miniature processing plants. They take everything your body excretes—and I mean
everything—
and process it, breaking down the solids and separating the water. The liquid flows through capillaries in the suit's skin." Pausing, Richard took several long draws from the straw. After an exaggeratedly refreshed sigh, he said, "It provides temperature control and doubles as a potable water supply."

"How did you already get enough for a drink?" Vic asked.

Captain Allison shrugged. "Well, when you gotta go, you gotta go."

Jake shook his head.

After making a sour face Victor looked down at his smooth suit. Holding up his pistol, he asked, "Where do I put this?"

"You don't want me to tell you where to put that," Richard said under his breath. After a warning-look from Jake, he raised his voice. "Just hold it against the suit's skin for a couple of seconds. The nanobots will understand your intentions and grip it." Demonstrating, he held the pistol against his right hip. When he let go, it stayed, making him look like a space-age cowboy. "That'll work for anything you want to carry."

Vic and Jake did the same.

"Where are the oxygen tanks and power supply?" Jake asked.

"There are none. Every time you move an arm or leg, you're displacing millions of nanobots. They convert the movement to electricity and store it in the network of nanoscale capacitors powering the suit. For air, another class of bot harvests oxygen from the water while scrubbing carbon monoxide from your breath."

Slipping his wristwatch on, Jake checked the time. "We have thirty-five minutes left." Stepping to the console, he toggled the radio. "Vampire Six, this is Turtle One, over."

"Go ahead, Turtle One," Colonel Newcastle replied.

"We're prepped for EVA. Right now, we're parked in the ship's blind spot, but I'm about to maneuver us around to the head's left side and approach the tunnel."

"Thank you, Captain. I'd volunteer to join you, but our suits don't have an extended EVA capability. What can we do to assist?"

"I've been thinking about that. They haven't fired at us in a while, but I'm not sure what'll happen when we poke our heads around the corner. As much as possible, I need you and your fighters to keep them looking the other way, sir."

"Will do, Turtle One." Newcastle paused. "Listen, Captain, if you can't finish them off in a half hour, get your asses out of there. I can't hold off. From a hundred miles out, the missiles will never make it to the target. We don't have the Argonian fighters to hide their approach. They'll just pick them off with their lasers. We
will
fire our missiles in exactly … thirty-three minutes."

"Understood, sir."

"Again, good hunting, gentlemen."

"Thank you, sir. Turtle One, out."

"Vampire Six, out."

Jake turned his attention to the holographic display. The two fighter wings came together between the Zoxyth ship and the Argonian Fleet.

"They're making it look like they're protecting the empty Argonian ships," Richard said.

"Hope that keeps them looking the other way," Jake said, grasping the flight controller. As he guided the
Turtle
closer, the ship-remnant, still the size of a basketball arena, swelled to fill the view-wall, blotting out the rest of the star field.

"It makes the Moon look positively festive," Richard said.

Jake nodded. Except for a smattering of distorted structures, conduits, and cables protruding from its surface, this side looked like a normal asteroid, albeit charred and melted.

Closing on the asteroid, Jake stopped the
Turtle
, its nose only a few feet from the ship.

"Whew," Richard whispered. "No lasers so far." He looked around the interior. "There's never a piece of wood to knock on when you need it."

"I'm going to slide left. We'll work our way around to the missile's exit hole."

Jake saw wavering reflections of the
Turtle
as they glided over sections of rock melted glass-smooth in the nuclear furnace of battle. As the
Turtle
rounded the asteroid's back left corner, the Argonian fleet slid into view. Nearer, the horizon of the rock's lifeless surface contrasted strikingly against Earth's azure biosphere.

"There it is," Jake said, pointing at a small crater. Silhouetted against the Atlantic Ocean, it protruded from the rocky surface. Having entered the sculpted alien head aft of the right temple, the missile's path cut downward diagonally from the top right to the bottom left, exiting just behind the chiseled alien jaw.

Richard studied the ship's surface. "Look at all the melted metal and craters. I can't believe there's anyone still alive in there."

Jake stole a sideways glance at Vic. The lieutenant put up a brave façade, but obvious dread hovered just below the surface. Breathing heavily, the slight officer's chest rapidly rose and fell. Jake elbowed him. "Hang in there, buddy. We'll kick their asses. It'll be nice to get some payback."

The last comment seemed to strike a chord with Vic. He lifted his chin and nodded. "I'll be all right."

Jake felt his own adrenaline ramping up as the extraordinary prospect of close combat with an unknown alien species neared reality.

Beyond their destination and still clamped in the alien's jaw, the left side of the pitted and charred human skull slid into view.

As they closed on the crater, the opening appeared. Starting as a dark sliver, it quickly expanded into a full circle, revealing the tunnel's smooth walls.

"Now we find out how accurate the hologram was," Jake said, slowing the
Turtle
.

As they drew closer, the tunnel stretched deep into the ship, a small star-field materializing at its far end.

"Yes," Richard whispered.

Jake stopped the
Turtle
. "Why are you whispering?"

Richard did the Area Fifty-One salute.

Jake chuckled nervously and looked at the tunnel's five-foot diameter. He pointed to the side. "I'll park us right there with the airlock exit pointing at the hole."

"Once we're in position, activate the autopilot position-hold … here," Richard said, pointing out the control.

"Yeah," Vic said through a manic laugh. "It might be a little difficult to leave if our ship isn't here waiting for us."

Jake considered ordering him to remain in the
Turtle
, then decided against it. Stopping the aliens was all that mattered. Deleting a pair of eyes to leave a man on lifeboat guard duty was a luxury he couldn't afford.

Jake pitched the
Turtle's
nose up and extended the landing gear. As it gently touched down, all three sat in breathless silence. When nothing happened, Jake exhaled and activated the position-hold. Picking up his shotgun, he pumped a round into the chamber, wincing as its click-clack sound echoed loudly through the silent
Turtle
. Turning to his two wingmen, he whispered, "Gentleman, any final requests?"

Richard grinned and pumped a round into his shotgun. "Guess it's too late to ask for that steak dinner."

"Yep."

Vic cocked his shotgun too. A slight shiver cracked his brave façade.

Jake didn't blame him. Judging by his own pounding heart, enough adrenaline coursed through Jake's veins to give a rhinoceros a coronary.

"Richard, you take point. Vic, you take the middle and watch our sides. I'll watch our rear. Any questions?"

They shook their heads.

As they entered the airlock, the helmet issue resolved itself. One grew from each suit's collar. Undulating like flowing water, a clear membrane propagated vertically from the ring. Meeting at the top, it solidified into a perfectly smooth dome with a small fixture at its peak.

Victor looked at Jake's helmet. "What's that on top?"

As he turned to look at the lieutenant, light poured into his eyes from Victor's fixture. Jake squinted. "Thanks, bud."

Victor narrowed his eyes against the light shining from Jake's helmet. Realizing he was blinding him, Vic turned away. "Sorry."

Jake heard him over a speaker in his suit.

Victor turned his head and looked up, watching the spot track his line of sight. "Cool, the light shines wherever you look. These guys thought of everything."

Richard nodded. "It's all pretty intuitive."

Each man attached a shotgun to the outside of his left thigh. The smart-suit held it like velcro. Experimentally, Jake peeled off the weapon. It released with moderate effort. It even sounded like velcro. Pressing it back in place, Jake took a deep breath and exhaled, then took a long drag on his waterline. "Let's do this."

They turned toward the
Turtle's
outer skin. A fading hiss echoed through the chamber. Then, the wall vanished, exposing the airlock to space.

Jake's heart raced. His ears rang with an adrenaline-fueled rush. Swallowing hard, he stared through the opening at the fissured surface of the alien ship. With all the handholds the cracks provided, the transit would be easier than he'd feared. "Use the cracks to pull yourself over to the opening." Looking across the enemy ship's surface, he saw the Atlantic Ocean two hundred miles below. "Watch that first step, it's a doozy."

Richard stuck a tentative foot through the opening. "The
Turtle's
gravity field ends right here," he said, pointing at the edge of the airlock's floor. "Feels like zero-Gs beyond."

Peering over Richard's shoulder, Victor looked at the distant ocean. Through another nervous chuckle, he said, "That's good. Otherwise, that really would be a big step."

The lieutenant's words triggered a realization. Jake hadn't considered how far outside the asteroid's surface the alien's gravity bubble might extend. Thankfully, Richard had already confirmed that it reached at least a few feet. Jake wondered how much farther it protruded.

Richard crouched. Reaching for a crack in the asteroid's surface, he eased his head through the opening.

As his body passed through, Richard's respiratory rate doubled. In a surreal gravitational disconnect, he floated weightlessly, only five feet from where Jake stood in normal gravity. Like an underwater swimmer gliding just above pool bottom, Richard drifted hand over hand across the surface.

Dislodged by his passage, a rock drifted up from the asteroid. Roughly the size of a baseball, it tumbled as if in slow-motion, gradually rising. Answering his wonderings, it suddenly fell earthward when it reached eye-level. "Holy shit," Jake whispered.

Victor's head snapped around. "What?"

"Oh." Jake waved dismissively. "Nothing, it's just an awesome view."

The lieutenant gave him a queer look, then shook his head. Breathing heavily, he turned and crouched to follow Richard. Looking across the ten-foot gap between the airlock and the crater, he asked, "Could you have parked any farther away?" A nervous edge crept back into his words.

Vic reached for the first crack and started to pull himself through the opening. When his head exited, Jake saw his body convulse. Throwing his other hand into the fissure, he pulled himself tight to the surface. "It feels like I'm falling!"

"You're doing great, buddy," Jake said, trying to encourage him. "You're just feeling the zero-Gs."

Richard reached the crater rim. Grabbing it, he pulled himself headfirst into the five-foot opening. Disappearing for a moment, he reemerged with his head and shoulders protruding from the hole. Waving impatiently, he said, "Let's get moving ladies."

After a moment, Vic pried one paw from the rock face. Extending a trembling hand, he desperately grasped the next crack and shifted forward. Maddeningly slow, he crept toward the opening.

Jake followed close behind, only allowing himself a brief moment to realize this was his first taste of weightlessness. Before he was fully through the door, he heard a panicked voice over his suit's radio.

"Shit …
Oh!
"

Jake looked up to see Vic flail as a piece of asteroid crumbled under his death-grip. In a panicked swing of his arms, the lieutenant tried to grab the surface. Finding no purchase, his hands struck the rock, only accelerating his drift into space.

"Oh god!" Victor squeaked. His spasming body was three feet up and rising. Two feet above him, the rocks he'd launched reached the edge of the gravity bubble and fell earthward like homesick granite.

***

Still clad in her stark military dress uniform, the dark haired female Air Force major strode into the Command Center and approached the two people standing in front of a large wall map of central California. "Sorry for the interruption, sir, but I think you'll want to see this."

Having just finished debriefing the base commander, Sandy looked from the general to the excited aide.

With a somber shake of his head, the general turned from the long red arc Sandy had drawn on the map. Closing his eyes, the older man ran grizzled fingers through his short gray hair. After letting out a long breath, the general looked at the thin dark haired officer. "What is it, Major?"

The aide placed a hand on the shoulder of a young female sergeant sitting in front of one of the room's consoles. Pointing at the Center's main display, she said, "Bring up video feed sixteen."

The major turned back to the general. "We have one of the new Key Hole spy satellites coming into position, sir."

The large display flared to life, Earth's beautiful horizon chasing away the blank blue screen. Arcane digital location data churned through a gray bar spanning the bottom of the display. Most of the numbers made no sense. However, Sandy did recognize the first four digits: KH-12.

This was a live feed from the National Reconnaissance Office's newest spy satellite. Recently launched, it had optics and sensors better than the Hubble Space Telescope.

"The battle was at a higher altitude than the satellite's orbit, so we had to turn it away from the planet."

In amazed fascination, Sandy studied the ultrahigh definition display. Earth's gently curving surface filled the left half. On the right side, a majestic field of stars shone like diamonds scattered across space's black velvet void.