Waiting (14 page)

Bridget wanted
to believe Salamandra wished the mission to succeed more than
anything. It was probably the only thing they had in common.

'Tell me
something. If you were free right now, what would you do? Keep
fighting a war nobody can win or try to do something useful and
help save the mission?'

Salamandra
rattled his chains. 'A rather pointless question, don't you
think?'

'Perhaps.'

Chapter 40

'I'm surprised
you called me back to the surgery,' said Friar. 'Anything wrong?
Shall I strip off again?'

Doctor Cormack
said, 'You are fine. Nothing to worry about. This is what I wanted
your opinion on.'

'Easy. It's a
spacesuit and it stinks.'

'It also has
puncture marks in it.'

'Really?' said
Friar picking up the suit. 'Let me see. Where?'

'Here on the
back. Just below the helmet collar lock. See them?'

'Not
really.'

'Try holding
them up to the light. That's how I noticed them.'

Friar did as
Cormack suggested. 'Oh. I have them. Two tiny pinpricks. Who does
this belong to?'

'It belongs to
Captain Jacobs. What do you suppose caused the holes?'

'Hard to say,'
said Friar. 'We each have two complete suits. Most of us just use
the one, keeping the other for when we settle on Spero. A few suits
look pretty shabby now. Take Steph Fowler, our mechanic. I swear
that thing walks around on its own sometimes.'

Cormack said,
'Dirt is one thing. These are two tiny holes.'

'Hmm. Could
have been punctured anytime in the last few years. Don't worry
about it. We have a patch repair kit for small damage like this.
Once cleaned, one can be stuck on. They have a special adhesive
once the little cover is peeled off.'

'Joe. You seem
totally unconcerned by this.'

'Why shouldn't
I be? I thought this was common knowledge. With the best will in
the world, suits are prone to leak occasionally. A tiny prick like
this would hardly be noticed.'

Cormack
chuckled. 'No comment. I know very little about suits. Jay Jay was
outside the shuttles in space in this suit. Wouldn't that be
dangerous? Deadly even?'

'Not at all.
Sure. If I'd noticed this on my suit before a space-walk I'd insist
in slapping a patch on it. But if it happened whilst actually in
space, say by a tiny speck of space dust, the pressure in the suit
would compensate for what would be a tiny leak like these. Wait a
minute. Jay Jay had to do a space-walk from the damaged shuttle to
mine. It's possible his suit was hit by a couple of tiny
micrometeorites on his way over.'

'That would
have killed him though, wouldn't it?'

Friar said,
'Let me guess. You were off with a cold or something when we had
the lecture on spacesuits.'

'Don't you mock
me, Joe Friar.'

'Sorry. Anyway.
Our suits were based on the most basic design. If you follow their
logic, we don't have to rely on them much in theory. If the Goliath
lost pressure and air, at least half of us would be in the pods
asleep and perfectly protected. In an occurrence of a hull breach,
much of the ship automatically seals off most of itself and the air
and pressure would build back up again. Once on Goliath, allowing
for the terraformers having done a halfway decent job of it, again
no suit needed. Of course, there is always the possibility of a
repair crew going outside, but what we have is adequate for that
purpose. We do have a couple of suits with backpacks with small
jets for propelling those around, but safety lines work well
enough. Same for space-walking.'

Cormack said,
'So cheap and basic.'

'Makes sense if
you think about it. More money for other things. Most of our suits
are based on a simple design from twenty twenty-five.'

'You still
haven't answered my question about leaks.'

Friar said,
'Ok. The truth is, most suits probably leak a little sometime or
other. They're built up of several tough layers, so a rip in the
outer layer causes little harm. If Jay Jay's suit had suffered a
puncture by micrometeorites during the walk-over, he wouldn't even
notice. The suit would automatically compensate. That uses more
oxygen of course, but fortunately they weren't outside long enough
for it to be a problem.'

Cormack said,
'I feel like a fool now.'

'Well, I'm
available.'

'Behave, you.
I'll just get his suit cleaned and patched up. Please don't mention
to Jay Jay how dumb I've been.'

Friar winked
and grinned at the doctor. 'Our little secret.' He paused at the
door. 'He's a lucky man.'

'OOh! Wait till
I see that Anne Lee.'

Chapter 41

'Corporal. In
here now,' Bridget demanded.

'Please tell me
you haven't killed him? I've only another twenty minutes until my
shift ends and I can't be done with all that paperwork.'

The corporal
stopped in his tracks when he saw the prisoner was no longer
chained to the bed. He opened his mouth to speak, but Bridget's arm
wrapped around his neck stopping him breathing. She held onto him
as he dropped to his knees, his face turning purple as he
struggled.

'Is he dead?'
asked Salamandra.

'Of course not.
No need to kill him. Now swap clothes with him. The replacement
guard will be here in minutes.'

Salamandra
pulled off his shirt and Bridget could see the work Naylor had done
on his body. And yet he had endured and still not talked. He
dressed in the guard's uniform and they lifted him onto the steel
bed and chained him as Salamandra had been but with his mouth
gagged.

'Let's go,'
said Bridget.

'Wait.'

Salamandra
found a rough filthy blanket and covered the entire body. 'Maybe
the next guard will think Salamandra has died and his pal here has
gone to fetch someone. Might buy us some time.'

'Nice thinking.
Now move it.'

Bridget locked
the door after them, slowing entry even more. 'Listen. The
elevator's coming down.'

'The stairs,'
said Salamandra.

They took the
concrete stairs two at a time, but Bridget stopped on the first
landing. 'The basement, not the ground floor.'

They entered
the huge basement which turned out to be the weapons and equipment
room.

'Aladdin's
cave,' declared Bridget. 'Make yourself useful.'

They donned
body armour and strapped it quickly on then put utility belts on,
each festooned with armed hand-lasers, knives and grenades. Both
selected yard long battle clubs to carry with them.

'Is that a way
out?' Salamandra asked.

'A delivery
hatch for larger weapons. The alarms will go ballistic the second
we touch it.'

Salamandra
heaved up his club ready to use. 'Then you do the touching, I'll be
the welcoming committee.'

Bridget kicked
the code locks to pieces, slid the thick steel security bars away
and swung open the delivery hatch.

'Going
somewhere?' said a huge security officer, who was flanked with five
others almost his size. All had laser rifles pointed at the
intruders.

Salamandra
rammed the sergeant hard in his midriff, Bridget deflecting the
laser with the club before taking down three others with a swipe at
their legs. Lasers and clubs were aimed in all directions, the
bulbous business end of Bridget's club became sliced off and
dropped to flatten a soldiers toe and as he hopped around in agony,
Salamandra brought his own club down on the other foot. A solid
punch from Bridget laid the man out cold.

'That was fun,'
said Salamandra. 'Mind if we go now?'

'This might
help,' pointing at a neat row of fully fuelled stingers.

Bridget fired
up a Stinger and Salamandra did the same to one of its
stable-mates. They roared out of the storeroom, and headed up the
stairs towards the ground floor main entrance hall. Security alarms
were blasting off all around them and armed security officers
poured from every door. Ten dived out of the way of the two
stingers as they raced over them. Huge wooden doors were blasted to
splinters by two rockets from the front of Bridget's stinger and
they were outside. Ahead was the force field.

They flew side
by side with their machines. 'What about that?' yelled Salamandra
as they raced at the blue shimmering forcefield surrounding the
entire headquarters.

'It stops stuff
getting in, not out.'

They zigzagged
to dodge the laser fire from the officers chasing them on their
stingers. Bridget glanced behind her and counted three in pursuit.
As Bridget knew would happen, they became almost lost to view in
the curtain of the forcefield. Those chasing knew it was safe to
follow through the blue haze but the rope held between the escapees
came as a real surprise, taking all three off their stingers which
continued ahead without riders, to crash together a mile away. The
rope was dropped and Bridget and Salamandra raced off into the
distance.

Chapter 42

'Anne is going
over the results from her samples,' said Jacobs.

Cormack said,
'Probably a higher level of sulphur than we would usually expect.'
She ignored the wink she got from Friar at another table. 'That
volcano going off really puts a spanner in the works.'

'Just one of
those things. The air will clear eventually. We just have to stay
on the Goliath until it does.'

'It could be
worse. We could be back on Earth.'

A sad
expression crossed Jacobs' face. 'We all lost our relatives to the
war. That was the most painful thing to see. We were safe in the
Base, working on the mission, as those outside destroyed
themselves.'

'Your wife and
daughter amongst them.' She pushed her plate aside, reached out and
reached out taking Jacobs' hand in hers. 'We all lost loved ones,
Jay Jay. Which makes it imperative we succeed.'

'We've come too
far not to succeed. This is all rather sombre. I'd rather
concentrate on all things positive. The terraformers are working;
we're able to survive here for at least a couple of years, so we
are back on track.'

'We could
increase the time we stay in the pods. That would stretch the
supplies further, but more important, help maintain the mental
health of everyone. Less time to fret about things.'

Jacobs said,
'Something to consider. I'll leave things as they are for the time
being. The main thing is we survive and get down on that
planet.'

Cormack
considered telling her captain about the holes in his suit, but as
Friar had explained what a non-event it had been, she decided to
forget about it. Jacobs had enough responsibility. Besides. She had
other things on her mind, such as taking her friendship with Jarvis
Jacobs to another level.

'Why don't we
go to your rooms? There's something I'd like your opinion on.'

'Oh? What?'

Cormack leaned
over and whispered, 'Me.'

'Then let's go,
Val.'

Chapter 43

Commander
General Loretti was furious. She was flanked by her two most
trusted officers and the guard was still chained to the bed.

'You miserable
cretin.'

'But how was I
to know, general? She
is
your daughter.'

Loretti
clenched and unclenched her fists in fury. 'You failed me. What
were your orders?'

'Only you or
Corporal Naylor allowed to see Salamandra. But...'

'But nothing.
Had I time, I would slice parts off you and make you eat them.
Something to look forward to. I intend to track Salamandra down.'
She turned to her her escorts. 'Now off to the Spider.'

'And him?'

'Leave him
here.' They stormed out of the cell and Loretti slammed the door
shut, locking it for good measure. 'I'll deal with him when I get
back or I might just forget about him.'

Outside, the
Spider was waiting to take off, twin plasma drives emitting a deep
throbbing sound. Loretti stomped up the ramp and took the spare
seat next to her pilot.

Lieutenant
Sparrow asked, 'Where to, general?'

'I have no
idea. Would Captain Loretti go with Salamandra over to his
side?'

Sparrow said,
'I have fought with Bridget on a few missions. I can't believe she
would do that.'

'Then she would
go to somewhere she'd feel safe, but would Salamandra go with
her?'

'They would
have a limited range on the stingers. One place comes to mind. The
Base.'

Loretti said,
'Of course. It all makes sense. Yes. Gunther. Oh wait until I get
my hands around his neck. Get us there, lieutenant.'

The black
Spider battle cruiser lifted off, speeding away towards the Base.
Sparrow had guessed correctly where Captain Loretti was heading.
Bridget and Salamandra had been pushing the stingers hard, sending
up clouds of desert sand from the propulsion jets. Stingers had
limited range up to a maximum of one hundred and fifty miles. They
were intended for close battlefield use; their agility and speed,
armed with missiles and lasers, designed for close fighting. With
still sixty miles over the arid environment to fly over to the
Base, the machines whined to a halt, settling in the soft sand.

'It looks as if
we walk from here on,' said Bridget.

They covered
the stingers with desert scrub to cover their tracks, took a
compass reading and started walking.

'Are you sure
you are up to this? You took a hell of a beating from Naylor.'

Salamandra
said, 'Ah! The delightful Corporal Naylor. Can you imagine his
curriculum vitae? Hobbies, torture. Speciality teeth and
fingernails. One has to admire his work ethic, though. One day we
will meet again on my terms. Don't worry. I know all about pain and
suffering.'