Steven Gordon 3: The Modloch Empire (43 page)

He looked down and pressed a button on
the arm of his chair. ‘Crew of the Michael Collins. Our namesake
may well not have walked on the moon during the Apollo Eleven
mission. Many people don’t even know who he was. I am quite sure
they will never forget him now. This ship that was named after him
has just saved the planet Earth from an extinction level event.
Well done everyone, I am very proud of you.’

Every member of the crew cheered him.
He turned to the navigator when the noise abated a bit. ‘Get us the
hell away from this debris cloud. Communications, let the world
know we stopped the first asteroid.’

CHAPTER 53

Steven stared at the second asteroid.
They were just in front of it, however to get into that position
quickly enough they had lost their bomb. The tether could not take
the strain and it had snapped. He felt despair creep up through his
soul. The surface of the asteroid was pitted with a half dozen
scorch marks where bombs had detonated but missed their mark. In
one place, the web that connected the explosives had been cut by a
bomb. Steven wasn’t sure that, even if they could detonate the
asteroid, it would be smashed evenly.

Komoru caught up with the asteroid but
she was too far away to be able to help. She hadn’t managed to get
in front of it. A quick glance was all it took to see that she had
also lost her bomb. Despite the warnings from the Michael Collins,
no one had been able to place their bomb directly over one of the
explosive devices on the surface.

Steven made his way aft. At the far end
of Babes a small room had appeared. Colonel Howe was firing a
pistol through a small opening in Babes’ shields. Steven could
actually see the different layers of the shields that protected
them. Babes was protesting dramatically at the abuse. Every time
Howe fired, Steven could see the ripples in the shields.

‘
This is highly
dangerous Colonel. Can’t you see the distortion you are causing in
her shields?’

Howe ignored him for a few seconds.
Beaver, who was spotting with a large scope, shook his head. ‘No
idea where they are going. They don’t seem to be hitting the
surface of the asteroid.’

Howe sighed and unloaded the pistol.
The magazine slipped into his hand and he cocked back the slide and
looked inside the chamber. He eased springs and slid the pistol
back into his holster.

‘
I’m sorry Captain,
Babes said this was about as big as a projectile as she could let
through. We thought it was worth a try.’

‘
I didn’t think you
were going to try and discharge a dozen of them.’ Babes
protested.

It brought a small smile to the men’s
faces. ‘Any luck Captain?’ Beaver asked.

‘
I’m lost Beaver,
sorry.’

Another three men turned up: Matt
McGuire, the ship’s Chief Engineer, Kelly and Charlie. Matt was
carrying a long tube, Charlie what looked like a compressor with a
large gas bottle and Kelly a box of grenades.

Matt rubbed his hands together. ‘Plan B
gentlemen.’

‘
I think its plan D,
E or F.’ Steven mused.

‘
No matter. We have
come up with the idea of hurling grenades at it. We are going to
use compressed air so there is no disruption to Babes’
shields.’

‘
I didn’t say no
disruption Matt, but a lot less than a bullet.’ Reminded
Babes.

Steven stood out of the way as Matt set
the device up. Kelly helped him aim it while the other three primed
the grenades. It was quite a neat device. Kelly loaded the first
grenade, which was placed inside a plastic form that materialised
beside him. A pot of grease appeared and Kelly greased up the
outside of the plastic form. He slid it into the tube with the
ring-pull sticking out of the side. The ring-pull, or pin as some
liked to call it, ran up a thin slit. Matt placed on the back end.
When it was hard up against the grenade Kelly pulled the pin and
Matt slid the breach on fully and locked it down.

Steven began to panic as Matt seemed to
be taking his time. ‘Is that going to explode?’ He squeaked. The
soldiers laughed.

‘
The pin holds down
the leaver sir.’ Matt explained. ‘When the leaver flips up it
strikes the fuse, which burns for seven seconds. The grenade then
explodes. You are completely safe until the leaver flips
up.’

‘
Sorry, didn’t
realise that.’

‘
You aren’t a soldier
sir.’ Howe excused him.

Matt fired his home made cannon. The
yellow form punched through the ship’s shields with barely a
ripple. As it shot out of the end of the ship it began to spiral
wildly.

‘
Does anybody spot
anything wrong?’ Charlie sniffed.

‘
Yeah, the form
hasn’t split.’ Beaver surmised.

Matt growled, ‘The damn grease I used
has probably frozen. It’s also taking too long to reach the
asteroid.’

When the form eventually hit the
asteroid, it split in two. Every man was on his feet counting the
seconds.

‘
I’m at ten now.’
Charlie’s eyes zoomed in. ‘The leaver is still stuck
down.’

Howe leaned forward. ‘Wait, you can see
that?’

‘
Aye.’

Howe shook his head. ‘Wish I had a pair
of eyes like that.’

‘
The oil on the
grenade must have frozen as well.’ Matt grumbled. ‘Let’s change it
out.’

The next grenade was sprayed with a new
oil. It launched successfully. Just after leaving the ship the
plastic form split apart, but about halfway to the asteroid the
grenade shattered into a hundred pieces. The men sat
dumbfounded.

‘
What happened
there?’ Kelly asked Matt.

Matt pondered it for a while before
coming to a reasonable explanation. ‘Well... It’s minus two twenty
below. The fuse burned and the detonator blew alright, but the
metal casing and the explosives inside were so cold they just
shattered when it went off.’

‘
So what now?’ Steven
asked.

‘
We could get Babes
to refill the grenade with explosives that will work.’ Howe
suggested.

They tried that, but the detonator
wasn’t sufficiently powerful enough to set off the explosives. They
tried changing the detonator, but it was affected by the extreme
cold as well. Kelly suggested using the explosives as a form and
wrapping it round the detonator. Over the next few hours they
exhausted every technique that they could think of. Electronic
detonators were fried before they even left the ship.

‘
What the hell is it
going to bloody take?’ Steven eventually shouted in
exasperation.

‘
Why did the Michael
Collins bomb work?’ Charlie asked.

Steven gave his head a little shake.
‘Everything was prepacked. The box the bomb was contained in was
doubly insulated and actually heated to keep everything at about
freezing point. There was only about twenty pounds of explosives
aboard, the rest of the package was to make sure it worked.’

‘
Can’t we replicate
that in some way?’

‘
No, we can’t open a
hole that big in the shield.’

‘
How big a hole can
you make in the shield? Let’s build something based on that and
shove it out.’

Eventually, after another few hours of
playing around, they managed to open the shields a little wider.
They began trying again but nothing worked. Charlie could see the
asteroid was covered in explosives.

Babes came to a conclusion. ‘The only
way to do this would be to send a bomb of the same size and
dimensions as the original one through in pieces to be assembled on
the surface of the asteroid. The electronics would not fry if they
were inert. I could shield a battery to protect it, but again it
would have to be removed from its protective container and
assembled on the surface of the asteroid. As the placing of a Human
being on the surface of the asteroid is impossible, then I have to
come to the conclusion that the Earth is doomed.’

‘
That hole is big
enough to squeeze someone through, isn’t it?’ Howe
asked.

‘
Irrelevant.’ Steven
growled. ‘Doesn’t matter what you do. We couldn’t get someone down
to the surface.’

‘
I could crash myself
on to the surface.’ Babes suggested. ‘But there is no way I could
evacuate any of you.’

The men fell silent. All bar one were
thinking of the consequences. ‘I will put it to the crew.’ Steven
decided.

‘
Sit on your arse
Stevie.’ Charlie reached over and shoved Steven down. ‘Could we
generate a shield, like the one that protects us now, around a
space suit Babes?’

‘
No, it would have to
made of an alloy, like the ship is made from.’

‘
What about the alloy
I am made out of Babes?’

She was silent for a moment. ‘What are
you suggesting Charlie?’

‘
You once told me
that my skin was a metal alloy, didn’t you?’

‘
Yes, but it is
completely different to the kind of alloy that could hold a force
field of the type required to keep you alive.’

‘
What would it take
to change it?’

‘
Charlie!’

‘
What would it take
to change it?’ He asked firmly.

‘
I could infuse your
body with millions of nano bots. They could rise to the surface of
your skin and generate a field to protect you. I would also have to
upgrade your internal power plant and change your muscles at the
molecular level. There is only one problem.’

‘
What’s
that?’

‘
I don’t know if you
would survive the process.’

‘
How long have we got
until this thing hits Earth?’

‘
Three days and four
hours.’

‘
How long to change
me?’

‘
Two and a half days.
I could do it in a few minutes, but that would definitely kill
you.’

He turned to Steven. ‘You have two and
a half days to make a new bomb that I can piece together on the
surface of that asteroid. That means simple.’

‘
Charlie, you could
die.’ Steven looked lost.

‘
What would I care? I
will be dead. You should be worrying about what to do if it doesn’t
bloody work. Babes is going to put me to sleep, I will never know.
You, however, are going to have three and a half days to
contemplate crashing this ship and everyone on it into that
asteroid. Have fun.’

The soldiers laughed heartily at
Charlie’s black humour while Steven could only gawp at his back as
Charlie headed to the infirmary.

CHAPTER 54

Amanda Freeling staggered back from the
creature who appeared from the floor. The blood drained from her
face.

‘
What is it?’ Charlie
asked as he sat up.

‘
Don’t look in a
mirror.’

Charlie stood and did exactly as he was
told not to do. His eyes had been replaced by a metal plate, yet he
could see clearly enough. He gave himself a dunt on the side of the
head. It made a clang. ‘Oh this is so cool.’

‘
That is a joke?’
Amanda gasped.

‘
Oh hell
no.’

‘
For God’s sake
Charlie! You look like a... like a bloody tin man or
something.’

It was the first time she had ever
called him by his first name. ‘I think I look like a real cool
robot. I often played at being a robot when I was a kid. This is
way better.’

‘
Bloody men!’ Was all
she could think of to say.

‘
Can you hear me
Charlie?’

‘
Yes I can
Babes.’

‘
How are you
feeling?’

‘
Very, very strange.
I can’t even feel myself breathe.’

‘
Every one of your
organs is covered in nanites to protect them. You require very
little oxygen. You can access your field generator by thinking
about it. Please think about it now but do not activate
it.’

A menu appeared before Charlie’s eyes.
As he moved his head up and down the menus were highlighted. ‘Cool!
How do I actually activate anything?’

‘
Think of the word
activate while highlighting the menu option. Think end to quit the
menu.’

Charlie quit the menu. ‘OK, what’s
next?’

‘
Amanda has your
space suit. Put it on. They are waiting for you. The shield will
encase your suit, so you won’t lose it.’

Amanda helped him put it on then
escorted him to the small room. They were all startled by his
appearance.

Charlie snapped up an arm and pointed
his hand at Steven. ‘Exterminate all Humans.’

Steven suddenly burst out laughing as
he remembered their childhood. ‘You finally became a robot. Way
cool man.’

‘
I really need to get
a selfie like this Stevie.’

Steven retrieved his phone and they
took a few pictures. Now they were all laughing.

Matt spoiled the mood. ‘OK lads, stop
pissing around. Charlie, get your arse over here and let’s see if
you can build this thing.’

They spent an hour sorting out a few
niggles as Charlie found the tools hard to grasp. Once he had put
it together three times Matt decided he was ready.

‘
We are going to
lower you down first. That way you can unhook all the different
parts.’ Matt told him.

‘
Sounds fine to
me.’

Matt hooked him up and they slid
Charlie towards the opening. He had to push himself through the
internal force-field, the one that held in all the air before he
activated his shield. From there he had to lie on his back and
propel himself out.