Waiting (7 page)

'Or I could
just put holes in your heads,' said Willis.

That was as
much encouragement as they needed. They made a dash to the exit and
disappeared through it.

Willis put his
rifle on safety and strode over to the others. 'Hi. So. How's it
going?'

'Better for
seeing you two,' admitted Loretti. 'Where the hell did you two come
from?'

Staples
laughed. 'We were just passing. May I suggest we go to your ship
and talk it over with a beer?

Willis asked,
'You do have beer, right?'

'Beer can be
arranged.'

Staples said,
'Time to go, then. Your place or mine?'

'That depends
on our stingers. One took a hit so it depends on the damage.' The
buckled stinger seemed to warm up normally. 'So far so good. Strap
our esteemed guest to the saddle and we'll return to the ship.'

'Kill me now,'
demanded a groggy Salamandra. 'I'll never talk.'

'Sounds like a
challenge to me,' said Naylor. 'But I do take a professional pride
in my work.'

'He does,'
affirmed Villiers. 'He wrote a book on it called "torture and its
applications". Going to be a best seller, I gather.'

Captain Loretti
said, 'Thanks for dropping by, lieutenant.'

'Happy to help
out, Captain. But to be honest with you, helping you out was by
default, not design. Do what you will with Salamandra. This is what
I wanted to discuss with you.'

Staples took a
tiny disc from a pocket and handed it to Loretti.

'And this
is...?' demanded Loretti.

'A message. I
have no idea what is on it. You
are
Captain Bridget
Loretti?'

'I think you
know that to be true.'

'Right. Your
mother is...'

'Commander
General Loretti as you are well aware. But who the hell are you two
jokers.

'I'm Lieutenant
Giles Staples and this is Sergeant Nathan Willis.'

Willis looked
to Staples and said, 'So this is what this is all about? Captain
Loretti?'

'You just found
out?' said Loretti.

'Yeah,'
confessed Willis. 'My lieutenant, bless him, forgot to mention
it.'

From outside
came the sound of laser rifle fire hitting the building.

'Enemy on the
ground,' said Villiers. 'Time to get out of here.'

Their prisoner
was coming round about to call to his men outside but Villiers
drove a fist hard into Salamandra's face, rendering him unconscious
again. She heaved him to his feet, draped him over her shoulders
and carried him to a stinger, strapping him onto the back seat.
Staples sat behind Loretti and Willis hitched a ride with Naylor.
Led by Loretti, the stingers flew through the window they had
entered by, racing towards the spider.

From the rubble
strewn ground came streams of laser rifle fire, perilously close to
the three stingers. Villiers' stinger took a hit and smoke poured
from the engine cowl, but the machine refused to die. A much more
powerful blast split the air, but this was from the ship, and the
resistance on the ground was no more.

The airlock of
the fighter opened wide to receive them and with Villiers' stinger
spluttering badly, they entered the ship, the damaged machine
crashing against the inner wall. As Villiers shook herself free
from the wreckage, she unfastened Salamandra and threw him to one
side as the stinger burst into flames. As the airlock was closing
up, Villiers dragged the burning stinger to the edge and hurled it
outside.

'Now that's my
kinda woman,' said Willis.

'In your
dreams,' said Villiers. 'She'd have you for breakfast.'

'Yeah, but what
a way to go.'

Sparrow had the
fighter at close to top speed heading away from the battle battered
city. Naylor dragged Salamandra away for a "little chat" and
Loretti had the undivided attention of Staples.

'Time to play
that disc,' said Loretti.

Instead of the
ship's disc players, Loretti used her personal one as she lay in
the cramped bunk room. She had put the latch on the door to avoid
interruptions and pressed play. A tiny three dimensional image of a
man she hardly recognised appeared.

'Bridget. You
seeing this message means Lieutenant Staples was successful in
delivering this to you. I need you to come here to the Base with
Staples and Willis. I'll explain it all to you when you get here.
Oh. Not a word to your mother. That's vital. Find a way of leaving
your command so as not to reveal you are coming here. I can't risk
your mother finding out. That's very important. Everything depends
on it and I mean everything. Over. Oh. One last thing. I love you,
Bridget.' The message ended.

'Bastard!'

Loretti
swallowed the tiny disc and left the bunk room and found
Staples.

'Not bad news I
hope?' asked Staples.

'I doubt if
it's good.' She checked they were out of earshot of the others and
said, 'I need to go to the Base with you and Willis and without the
others knowing about it.'

'Oh. Ok. A
little unexpected. I suppose you were off to headquarters with
Salamandra?'

'Yes. This
mission to capture him was a direct order from General Loretti.
She's expecting us.'

'She's
expecting Salamandra, not necessarily you. As long as he's
delivered, I assume that concludes the mission?'

'It does. What
are you thinking?'

Staples said,
'We need to find you a valid reason for you not going on to
headquarters with the ship. We must also not take the ship too
close to the Base, otherwise your people will suspect that's our
destination. Remind me. What is the range of a fully-charged up
stinger?'

'At full speed,
about one hundred and fifty miles.'

'That's what I
thought. Have three fuelled up and ready to go. Then wait
here.'

Staples went to
the small galley kitchen and found the door locked. Muffled screams
were coming from inside. Staples knocked hard on the door. 'Naylor.
Open up.'

Staples heard
the door being unlocked and Naylor not looking too happy about
being interrupted.

'I'm busy,'
said Naylor, wiping blood on a cloth.

'Say sir when
you address a superior officer, Corporal Naylor.' Staples could see
Salamandra slumped in a chair with his arms and legs tied behind
him. Blood dripped from his fingers where two fingernails had been
pulled out with a pair of pliers. 'Crude.'

'But usually
effective.'

'Has he talked
yet?'

Naylor
shrugged. 'I've not asked him to talk. I'm still warming up.'

'I want ten
minutes alone with him. Something I need to ask him.'

'But I could
do...'

'Alone, I said,
corporal. Wait outside.'

Naylor obeyed
and stepped outside and Staples locked the door. A groggy
Salamandra raised his head and stared at Staples, wondering what
new variety of hell was coming his way.

'I have nothing
to say to you, scum.'

Staples said
nothing, but picked up the bloody pliers off the galley table and
Salamandra flinched back in the chair. Instead of working on the
prisoner's hands, Staples applied the pliers to the right earlobe.
He clamped the pliers together with all his strength and
Salamandra's screams were burnt indelibly into his memories.
Staples was certain Naylor would be listening and he let the
screams continue for a full minute before putting the pliers back
on the table. Standing behind Salamandra, Staples used both hands
around the neck and applied a choke-hold until the man passed out.
He checked the pulse to make sure he hadn't overdone it. The man
was still alive. Staples unlocked the door.

'Damn it,
you've killed him,' cursed Naylor.

'No. He's
alive. Leave him for an hour and you can work on him again.'

Naylor said,
'Ok. I'll go eat. But if he dies in the meantime,
you
can
explain it to Captain Loretti.'

'I'm just off
to see her now. I've some vital information from Salamandra for
her.'

'How did you
get that?'

Staples
grinned. 'I always go for the earlobes. Works every time. You
should make a note of that, corporal.'

'Ears. Ok. Got
that,' said Naylor with a new respect for Staples. 'I'll keep an
eye on him as I eat.'

'You do that,'
said Staples, away to talk to Loretti.

Loretti joined
him a quiet corner and said, 'Well?'

'We need to get
a move on. Are the stingers fuelled up?'

'Yes. They're
ready to go.'

'In that case,
tell Villiers I've discovered information from Salamandra and we
need to leave the ship to check it out. Tell her she's to continue
to headquarters and hand the prisoner over. No need to say more
than that, but hurry or we'll be out of range to reach the Base on
the stingers.'

'Nice work,
lieutenant.'

Loretti went to
the flight-deck where she found Villiers with Sparrow. She told
them just enough to make leaving the ship plausible, instructing
them to continue to headquarters. Back in the hold she found
Staples and Willis already to go on their stingers, and Loretti sat
astride the third machine.

'Lieutenant
Sparrow. Open the airlock.'

The airlock
opened and the three stingers dropped out of the ship.

Chapter 17

'Jay Jay. Are
you ok?'

'Pleased to
still be alive and in one piece, Sam. You?'

'Same as you.
Pleasantly surprised to still be breathing. Anne?'

Lee said, 'Make
that three of us. How bad is the shuttle?'

'I'm about to
find out,' said Clifton, bringing everything back on line. 'No
pressure leaks. One electrical system fried. Other two seem to be
fully functional. One of the plasma drive exhausts has been
damaged. Happened on landing. We'll need to go outside and
see.'

'Now is as good
a time as any,' said Jacobs, unstrapping himself from his seat.
'Anne. Looking at the screen all I see is low cloud cover. Not much
lightning going on in this region. Maybe a good time to locate the
terraformers. By the way, Sam. Where is here, exactly?'

'According to
the readouts we are on the main land mass, twelve hundred miles
from the equator.'

'At least we
won't freeze to death. One of my least preferred options of my way
to go.'

Leaving Lee
with her equipment, Jacobs and Clifton opened the main hatch and
stepped outside, the suits protecting them from the acidic fog.
They could only make out vague shapes of the landscape through the
mist. Far in the distance to the south the storm discharged its
power and the lightning flashed .

'This looks
like the damaged exhaust,' said Clifton.

'It could have
been a lot worse,' said Jacobs, running a gloved hand over the
buckled exhaust. 'We should be able to repair it enough for our
trip out of here. We're dead meat if we can't.'

Clifton said,
'We have limited spares. As long as the antenna hasn't been
compromised. Everything else is pretty indestructible. I'll get the
tool kit. Don't go wandering off.'

'I'll try to
resist the temptation.'

Clifton entered
the shuttle. 'Any luck, Anne?'

'For once, yes.
We're about thirty miles from a terraformer. Due south. I'm
detecting a feint signal from it.'

'Excellent
work. I'll let Jay Jay know when I take the tools out.'

'I'll tell him
myself. I've been cramped up in this can too long.'

Lee went out
and was followed a minute later by Clifton who set the tool case
down on the ground by the damaged exhaust.

Jacobs said,
'Anne's told me the good news.'

Clifton opened
the case and selected a large screwdriver to take the exhaust cover
off. 'With this amount of cloud cover it's hardly surprising the
terraformer is only letting out a weak signal.'

Lee said, 'We
have a couple of charged up power-packs. One will be enough to get
the terraformer operational again. Once the shuttle is working we
can find the others and change their power-packs, charging spent
ones as we go.'

'That could
take a while repairing this,' said Clifton, examining the plasma
drive exhaust. 'Fortunately, the main working parts appear
unscathed. But the magnetic nozzle which creates the directed
plasma flow has been bent. I need to take it off and try to beat it
back into shape, otherwise we'll not be able to control our
direction.'

'We'll all
help,' said Jacobs.

'Too many cooks
spoil the broth, Jay Jay. It's basically a painstaking one man job,
that man being me.'

'How long to
fix it?' Lee asked.

Jacobs said,
'At least a full day.'

'In that case,
I can make myself useful and locate the terraformer. With the new
power-pack I should be able to get it working. Damn! I can even use
it to ride back here on.'

Jacobs said,
'Not on your own, Anne. Sam. If Anne and I set off together now,
will you be ok here?'

'Of course I
will. I'll work better on my own, anyway. But I have to question
the wisdom of you two trying to find your way in these
conditions.'

'About thirty
miles you reckon?'

Lee said, 'Give
or take a mile. Ten hours could do it.'

'And what do
you do about food and water?' Clifton reminded them. 'Can't eat
with your helmets on.'

'Anne. If the
terraformers did a partial job of it before closing down, could
there be enough breathable air to take off our helmets for a few
minutes?'

'Not sure. The
oxygen level was always good here, considering the lack of plant
matter. Not good enough to live permanently outside without
helmets, but that's what the terraformers were supposed to do.
Create all the green stuff to up the oxygen level. But the dense
clouds will have a high sulphur content and that could kill us. Now
we're on the ground away from the worse of the storm I might get a
reading to find out.'