Their Master's War (25 page)

The others moved up and peered into the opening. Dyrkin had been right. There was nothing in there except a pile of dark blue hexagonal cargo containers and a rack of gleaming new chiba frames, presumably waiting to have the sacs of intelligent goop fitted to them. Glowing scars of residual heat from the firing crisscrossed the walls. One of the containers had fallen and burst open. Its contents, a kind of gray packing fiber, had spilled out and were burning, giving off oily smoke.

"Don't touch any of that stuff. It's probably booby-trapped." Two explosions came from somewhere else in the tunnel system. Some of the men ducked. More dirt fell from the tunnel ceiling. A meter-square section detached itself and crashed to the floor. Everyone froze. In tunnel clearing, the other hazard, apart from the enemy, was cave-in. This planet was so young and unstable that tunneling into it was a dubious business at the best of times. The constant low-level quakes meant that the best reinforced tunnel was prone to collapse even without a fire-fight inside it. The men waited tensely. There were no further rockfalls.

"Did anybody think that the Yal's best bet would be to wait until we were all inside and then blow the whole system?"

"I don't want to hear that talk." There was no authority in Elmo's voice. It was pure fear. Dyrkin slung his weapon over his back. "You want that we should move on?" The squad pressed on deep into the hill. There were sounds of firing and more explosions from other parts of the system, but nothing engaged them except a handful of miggies that dropped from the ceiling and were quickly dispatched. At regular intervals, wafts of scalding hot air washed down the tunnel. These only helped to accentuate the feeling that they were parasites in the bowels of some monstrous beast. Every step was racked with tension. Just because nothing had happened so far didn't mean it couldn't happen at any moment. The troopers, particularly the new recruits, flinched at every sound and movement. Already frayed nerves were being

stretched to their limits. The prolonged stress involved in a search-and-destroy mission was bad enough in the open. In these claustrophobic tunnels, it was close to unbearable. Dyrkin called another halt. Up ahead, there was what looked like a yellow glow in their redscoped visors. As far as they could see, the tunnel was opening out into a larger lighted space. The air had become very warm, so warm that it was starting to interfere with the function of the redscopes. The walls were now pulsing with a blood-red light, and the men were pouring sweat. The yellow glow seemed to be the source of it all. Nobody had any particular desire to be the first to find out exactly what it was. Finally, when Elmo offered no suggestions, let alone orders, Dyrkin beckoned to Hark and Renchett.

"Okay, let's go and see what we got here."

The three of them walked slowly forward, silhouetted against the yellow glow. Their weapons were held in front of them, away from their bodies, ready to fire at the widest possible sweep.

"When the tunnel opens out, keep on going. Hark, go to the left; Renchett, you go to the right. Look for cover and hit it. Best cut out your redscopes; that yellow light's going to blind us." For a moment, the three men couldn't see, but then their eyes adjusted to regular light. Now that they weren't looking at heat, the yellow was little more than a suffused purple glow.

"That's plasma."

"It must be a main energy interface." Renchett halted. "Then it's got to be defended." "So let's go in and find out," Dyrkin said. "Do we have to?" Renchett said. "You got a better idea?" "No." The spectacle that greeted them was little short of

awesome. The tunnel had opened out into a wide, high-ceilinged, roughly circular cavern that seemed to be at least partly natural. The centerpiece was a tall translucent column that rose for the fiill height of the cavern and then vanished through the roof. A massive charge of plasma was pulsing up it. This was the source of the purple glow. In addition to the channeled plasma, white flares of secondary energy flickered on the outside of the power stack. The base of the column was a large containment sphere of dull black, extradense metal. It was supported by five heavy-duty grav pumpers. Without their aid, the sphere would simply have sunk into the ground and gone on sinking until it reached the center of the planet. The sphere had to be unbelievably massive. It contained what was, in effect, a miniature sun. It was banded by an intricate system of interconnected subducts. Below the sphere, the ducts ran out and away, across the floor in a sunburst that extended all the way to the walls of the cavern. These were also attended by outward ripples of dancing static. As Dyrkin had guessed, it was a major energy interface. "Mother! It's big!"

"This sucker could power a couple of firetowers." "Move it!" There was no time to stand and stare. Renchett and Hark peeled off as they came out of the tunnel, just as Dyrkin had instructed. Hark spotted a pile of the hexagonal containers that seemed to be a standard item with the Yal. He ran for them, jumping the ducts as he went. When there were no more ducts, he dived and rolled. So far, there was no one shooting at them.

In position behind the containers, Hark tentatively called out to Dyrkin. "Nothing so far. You think this place is empty?"

The plasma was crackling in their helmets.

"Seems hard to believe they'd just leave it."

Renchett came in. "I don't like it."

Hark carefully studied the cavern. Other tunnels ran into it at regular intervals all around its circumference. The spaces in between them were taken up with racks of what, alien as it was, had to be control and monitoring equipment. A gantry, constructed from one molded piece of an ultrahard ceramic, ran around the containment sphere, some three meters above the ground. A broad ramp of the same material ran down from the gantry and into the mouth of the widest of the intersecting tunnels. Where the ramp and the gantry joined, there was a huge black chair. It appeared to have been contoured for some large, angular multilegged creature.

Renchett hissed in his helmet. "You know what that is? That contour chair?"

"What is it?"

"It's Yal. It was built for a Yal. There's been a Yal here." There was almost reverence in his voice. Most humans never so much as came close to a Yal. To be where one might recently have been was sufficient to inspire awe.

Hawk whispered back to him. "You never told us you saw a Yal."

"I never did. Never saw a Therem either, for that matter. I heard plenty, though. Big black bastards, all legs and joints with a dark energy shimmer around them like they weren't completely in the same dimension as us."

"I heard the Therem were—"

"Knock that off." Dyrkin didn't seem to be as impressed as Renchett or Hark. "You sound like a couple of recruits."

"There's been a goddamn Yal in here."

Dyrkin ignored him. "I'm going to move forward. Stay put and cover me." He ran alongside one of the floor ducts toward the center until he found shelter behind one of the gantry supports. Still nothing happened.

"I'm going to take a look into that wide tunnel."

"Is that a good idea?"

"Somebody's got to."

His suit had to be pumping.

"You want us to back you up?"

"Stay put. I'm just going to take a look. If anything happens, get the hell out of here."

"You can bet on that."

Dyrkin ran in a low crouch, keeping well under the cover of the ramp. Still nothing. He reached the mouth of the tunnel and flattened against the wall beside it. Slowly, he craned forward and peered up the tunnel.

"Not a damn thing. Just another tunnel."

"You think we should bring up the others?"

"Not yet. I want to check out a couple more of these."

"Okay."

Dyrkin moved from tunnel mouth to tunnel mouth. "The whole area seems deserted." "Let's call up the others."

"Yeah, screw it. We can't do nothing more on our own. Yo, Elmo, can you hear me?" "I can hear you."

"What we have here is a major energy interface, and it's secure as it's going to be. I got to warn you, though, it could be a trap. It don't feel right that a thing like this should be left unguarded."

"Maybe we should hold back here for a while."

"Why? If there're chibas waiting to jump us, they would have done it by now. If there is a trap, it won't be sprung until we've all moved up here."

"All the more reason to stay where we are."

"You chickenshit bastard, Elmo. You expect us to sit around here waiting for the axe to fall?"

"I don't have to listen to your shit."

"Move up, damn it!"

"I don't have to take orders from you."

It was at that moment that the chibas hit. They came out of one of the tunnels that Dyrkin hadn't examined. Hark and Renchett opened fire, giving him a chance to scramble into cover. Hark noticed that when he fired past the energy stack, the fire from his MEW was noticeably deflected, bending around the curve of the containment sphere. He had to aim accordingly. Dyrkin, who was now on the other,side of the cavern, also started blasting at the chibas. The three-way cross fire managed to keep the chibas at bay in the tunnel. Dyrkin was yelling into his communicator.

"Elmo! Move up, damn it! We're under attack!"

"What sort of numbers?"

"Fuck the numbers, just get up here and bail us out." "How many enemy are there?" "I don't know!

We've got them bottled up in a tunnel, but we can't hold them too long." "I'm holding this position."

"Damn you, Elmo."

There was a confusion of shouting in the communicators, then Helot was yelling. "Hold on, I'm coming!" Helot, Kemlo, and two others came out of the tunnel mouth, immediately drawing fire from the chibas. They all scattered for cover. Kemlo wasn't fast enough. He was hit square in the back. Blood fountained. There was no way that he could only be wounded. The chibas were now pressing forward. A squad was crawling across the floor, using the power ducts and even their own dead as cover.

"Elmo! Bring the others up here!"

There was no answer.

Dyrkin rose from cover, sprayed the crawling chibas with a long blast of lasertrace, then ducked down again. Enemy return fire spattered all around his position.

"I'm out on a limb here... Hark?
Ckn
you hear me?"

"I hear you."

"Can you get back to the rest of the squad?"

Hark looked over his shoulder. He didn't fancy breaking cover and running the gauntlet of chiba fire back to the original tunnel, but it was no time to argue.

"I guess so. It'll be hairy, but I can try."

"Get back and convince Elmo to send up the rest of them. Make him get on the command channel. We need reinforcements here."

"Suppose he don't want to?"

"Just convince him."

Hark looked carefully around. There were no chibas near him. Crouching low, he left the cover of the hexagonal containers and sprinted. Sporadic fire flashed at his heels, but he reached the tunnel mouth unscathed. Elmo and the remaining troopers were waiting some distance down the tunnel, hugging the walls, weapons at the ready.

"Move the goddamn men up. Those guys in there are going to get creamed." Elmo shook his head. His voice was flat. "Nobody's moving anywhere. We're outnumbered. The only thing we can do is pull back."

"Dyrkin, Renchett, and Helot are in there. Kemlo's been killed already."

"They're expendable."

"You bastard."

Elmo tapped his weapon. "So are you, for that matter."

Hark slowly raised his MEW until it was pointed straight at the overman. "I'm not leaving my friends to die."

"So what are you going to do? Kill me?"

"If I have to. I want you to send in the rest of the twenty and then get on the command channel and call up reinforcements."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I'm going to spread your guts all over this tunnel."

"You're not going to do anything to me, boy." There was a flurry of weapon fire from back in the cavern. Hark knew that time was running out. "Just do what I say."

"I'll tell you why you won't do anything to me. It's called imprinting. Apart from Rance, I was the first thing you saw after you came out of the datashot. I'm like your mother, boy. You can't do anything to me."

"I'm going to count to three." Hark took a deep breath. "One..." He was very aware that everyone was watching. It was possible that Elmo was right. Maybe he couldn't kill a noncom. Maybe his programming wouldn't let him, or maybe he didn't have it in him.

"Two."

Elmo slowly turned away. He faced the others.

"I've heard enough of this crap. Start moving back down the tunnel." Hark didn't bother to count three. He touched the firing stud and blasted Elmo. As the MEW bucked in his hands, there was a sense of complete unreality. The overman staggered forward and fell. His body was all but cut in half. The others were staring at him openmouthed. Hark rounded on them with a snarl.

"Get into that cavern and help the others. Dacker, you're in charge."

"Me?"

Hark knew that he was near the end of his rope. "Just do what I say, damn it!" Dacker recognized the desperation in his tone. "Okay, okay." He waved the troopers ahead. "Let's get in there and see what we can do."

Hark waited until the others had moved up the tunnel, then he knelt down beside Elmo's body. He took off his helmet, placed it on the ground, and reached out for Elmo's, the noncom model with the command-channel link. He stopped; he didn't want to touch the dead man's helmet. He closed his eyes, fumbled for the facemask, and ripped it loose. He opened his eyes again and took a firm grip on the helmet. At first it resisted. He tugged harder and twisted. It slid off the head. There was blood coming from Elmo's mouth. The dead face looked tired and old. The spell was broken. Whatever hold Elmo might have had on him was gone. The overman was just another body. Hark placed the helmet on his own head, checked the twenty's position on the projected schematic, and opened the command channel.

"Twenty at coordinates 435-623-678, we have run into a large force of chibas around a main energy interface. We need reinforcements urgently."