Earth Afire (The First Formic War) (59 page)

“Negative,” said Calinga. “If you try to make the jump up here, the same thing will happen to you, and we’ll both be dead. I got Formics swarming the sledge already. We couldn’t make the transfer anyway. You two dive. I got this. I’ll give you twenty seconds.”

“It should have been me,” said Wit. “I should have taken the nuke.”

“Time to let someone else have the glory.”

“It’s been an honor,” said Wit.

“It’s been mine,” said Calinga.

How could they talk about this so casually? thought Mazer. How could they resign themselves so easily?

Because they’re MOPs, Mazer realized. Because they’re intelligent soldiers, because they know there’s no other way. “Ten seconds,” said Calinga. “They’re starting to tear into the canopy. I can’t delay here.”

Mazer punched it, going hot. He counted down the seconds in his head, watching the holo on his dash. At zero, the blip that was Calinga’s drill sledge winked out.

*   *   *

Mazer headed for the predetermined location on the map where they had agreed to resurface. None of them knew what the blast radius for an underground nuke would be, but the reach of the radiation would likely be wide. The best they could do was pick a spot ten kilometers away, or the maximum distance the drill sledge could travel.

Mazer broke through the surface at the designated spot and was surprised to see a number of vehicles there on the scanners. He unbuckled, stood, and opened the cockpit.

Half a dozen Chinese tanks and assault vehicles were parked at the site, along with a platoon of armed Chinese soldiers in radiation suits. Wit had already arrived. He was down from his drill sledge stepping into a radiation suit two soldiers held open for him, arguing with an officer.

The officer turned and faced Mazer, smiling. It was Shenzu, Mazer’s contact at the Chinese base who had threatened to shoot Mazer down for taking the HERC. “Captain Mazer Rackham. Welcome back. On behalf of the Chinese Army, we thank you for destroying one of the landers and the biomass. Here, step into this suit. There’s a communicator inside. We’re likely safe at this distance, but we will err on the side of caution.”

“The blast was a success?” Mazer asked.

Shenzu smiled. “This is a great day in China. We have scored a huge victory. Also, you are under arrest.”

For a moment Mazer thought he had misheard.

“We just destroyed the guys who have been slaughtering your people,” said Wit. “You’re supposed to see what we did and copy it.”

“Oh we’ll copy it,” said Shenzu. “We have people working on that right now. This is only one lander after all. The war is far from over. But in the meantime, there are the charges against you. Illegally crossing our borders, stealing government property, conducting a nuclear strike on Chinese soil. All serious offenses. I am to escort you to a holding facility.”

“This is how you show your thanks?” said Mazer.

“Don’t worry, gentlemen. Most heroes in China are arrested first. We’re used to it.”

CHAPTER 29

Mothership

Victor got his hand on the shuttle door, ready to open it. The instruments on the dash indicated that the Formic ship was only six hundred meters away now, practically on top of them. “We’re going to make it, Imala,” he said. “They’re not going to vaporize us.” He watched the numbers tick down as they drifted in closer … closer.

He had known that being cramped in a cockpit with Imala for a few days would be awkward and uncomfortable, but he hadn’t expected the experience to be downright miserable. It was worse than being in the quickship for nine months. At least in the quickship he could do whatever he wanted and not have to worry about being indecorous. If he had to belch, he belched. If he had to urinate, he did. Here, not only was Imala practically right on top of him and thus likely aware of everything he was doing biologically inside his spacesuit, but he was also aware of
her
every move and sound.

Plus their bulky helmets were practically touching, so it was as if they were huddled together and staring at each other. Nonstop. For two days.

“Be careful,” said Imala. “When you open the door, do it slowly. Sudden movements might set them off.”

“Anything could set them off. Heat signatures might set them off.”

“They can detect those?”

“They can travel at near-lightspeed, Imala. Who knows what they can do?”

“It would’ve been nice to have known that before we set out.”

“If you wait until you know everything, you never do anything.”

“Who are you quoting? Ben Franklin? Sun Tzu?”

“My father.”

The dash gave a beep, signaling it was time for him to leave. Imala flipped off the interior lights. “You can do this, Vico. And if it gets to the point where you don’t want to do it anymore, then we turn around. We didn’t come here for either of us to die. We’ll do more good if we live. Remember that.”

“Live. Yes. A good plan.” He turned the handle and slowly opened the door, easing it outward. When it was wide enough, he pulled himself out, weightless. The Formic ship was like a red mountain in front of him. He was nothing compared to it. A dot. A gnat. How could he possibly stop something so big?

He slowly pulled out the duffel bag with his tools and the explosive, which suddenly felt hopelessly inadequate considering the size of the thing in front of him.

The shuttle drifted forward. Victor eased the door closed.

They couldn’t have the shuttle float into the Formic ship. Having the two touch felt like a risk. It was better if Imala stopped the shuttle shy of the ship and Victor flew the remaining distance alone.

“I’m clear, Imala.”

“Roger that. Go easy. Come right back if anything feels wrong.”

“Everything feels wrong already. You should see the size of this thing. It’s like a moon.”

“Firing retros,” she said.

Near-imperceptible bursts of air slowed the shuttle. Victor continued on, floating toward the gleaming red metallic wall. No guns sprang out. No Formics emerged.

He landed soft as a kiss, the magnets in his hands and feet anchoring him to the surface. Now that he was close, he could clearly see closed apertures all over the surface of the ship. They appeared to be made of the same material as the hull, which kept them invisible from a distance. Each was the size of a dinner plate, and there were tens of thousands of them, all lined in neat rows that stretched from one end of the ship to the other.

His destination was the place in the hull where the gun emerged, and he took a moment to orient himself and locate it. He would have to crawl across the hull a short distance to reach it, he realized. Stepping lightly, he set out. As he moved he wondered if Father had landed near here. He looked around him, searching for any signs of a struggle or a breached or repaired hull but saw nothing.

He found the place where the gun emerged. He could see the seams in the hull where it opened or parted. It was time. He anchored the duffel bag and removed the remote control. He and Imala had deposited the decoy ten klicks away. He flipped on the control and punched the throttle. At first he saw nothing. But soon he saw a dot in the distance among the debris that was moving toward him. He increased the speed. The decoy slammed into a smaller piece of debris in its path, and the two ricocheted off each other. For a moment Victor lost control of the decoy, but he quickly regained it and righted the craft’s course.

There was movement beneath him. Gears turning, pieces shifting, a machine coming to life. He could feel it in his feet.

The hull opened silently. The gun extended and unfolded itself from the hole like a giant mechanical flower opening its petals and stretching outward. It was fifty times bigger than he had thought it would be, bigger than a shuttle. It had looked so small at a distance in the vids.

The remote control was long forgotten. He was at the lip of the hole now, shining his light down into the blackness. The space was immense. There appeared to be corners and nooks and passageways down there. Perhaps one of them led into the ship. He couldn’t tell from here.

The ground shook. The giant flower was firing. Victor looked behind him. The decoy ship was now a puff of shattered pieces. Victor turned back, working frantically. His window of opportunity was closing. He needed to keep this hole open. But how? He had envisioned a space much smaller than this. He had brought a bar to force into the hole and wedge it open to allow him to climb inside, but the bar was clearly too short. How could he have been so wrong about that?

The giant flower began to fold in on itself, retracting, preparing to disappear back into its hiding place. Victor thought quickly, reaching out and shoving the bar between two braces that had begun to fold inward. The bar stuck, wedged tight, and the flower’s collapsing motion stopped. Victor waited. If the bar snapped free after he climbed into the hole, the flower might collapse inward and crush him.

The flower didn’t move. The bar held firm. Victor closed the bag, threw it over his shoulder, and grabbed the lip of hole, ready to launch himself inside. He wished Father were with him all of a sudden. Father could lead out and Victor could follow, just as they had done for years on board El Cavador
,
moving about the ship and making repairs. Father always knew what needed to be done. Doubt was not in his DNA. His solutions weren’t always the most efficient, but they always worked, they always got the job done. Yes, Victor was the better mechanic, but Father worked better under pressure. Father never flinched. Father’s hands were always steady.

Victor lifted his right hand and saw that it was trembling.

Be with me, Father. Stay with me, fly with me.
Somos familia. Somos uno.

Then he lowered his hand back to the lip of the hole and pulled himself forward, shooting down deep, disappearing in the darkness.

By Orson Scott Card from Tom Doherty Associates

Empire

The Folk of the Fringe

Future on Fire
(editor)

Future on Ice
(editor)

Hidden Empire

Invasive Procedures
(with Aaron Johnston)

Keeper of Dreams

The Lost Gate

Lovelock
(with Kathryn Kidd)

Maps in a Mirror: The Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus

Saints

Songmaster

Treason

A War of Gifts

The Worthing Saga

Wyrms

THE TALES OF ALVIN MAKER

Seventh Son

Red Prophet

Prentice Alvin

Alvin Journeyman

Heartfire

The Crystal City

ENDER

Ender’s Game

Ender’s Shadow

Shadows in Flight

Shadow of the Hegemon

Shadow Puppets

Shadow of the Giant

Speaker for the Dead

Xenocide

Children of the Mind

First Meetings

Ender in Exile

HOMECOMING

The Memory of Earth

The Call of Earth

The Ships of Earth

Earthfall

Earthborn

WOMEN OF GENESIS

Sarah

Rebekah

Rachel & Leah

THE FORMIC WARS

Earth Unaware
(with Aaron Johnston)

From Other Publishers

Enchantment

Homebody

Lost Boys

Magic Street

Stone Father

Stone Tables

Treasure Box

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy

Characters and Viewpoint

Pathfinder

Ruins

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.

EARTH AFIRE

Copyright © 2013 by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston