Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Down, down, down
The
slightly reddish dirt of the plateau was sticking to the boots and
legs of their pressure suits. Kim Lu-Hyun kept checking the data
stream from the drones as well the atmospheric research sensors from
the ship. The sight of Earth in the sky was a reminder they weren't
in Kansas.
“We
should have no problems breathing this. Plus, this world's been in
interstellar space so long, I bet all the germs are dead.” He told
them as they walked.
“So,
frozen germs can't be revived now that it's orbiting a tar again?”
Lt Lowery asked, knowing he had read somewhere they could. Of course
you can't believe everything you read.
“Normally,
yes. But thousands of years seems like a stretch to me.” Kim
Lu-Hyun answered.
“I
doubt it. I seem to recall that they find germs deep in the
permafrost of Antarctica that readily come back to life.” Senior
Lieutenant Igor Kerensky said.
The
Korean replied, “Maybe. Look, I'm not saying we should take off the
suits, I am saying if we have to it won't likely kill us.”
“Then
you should have jut said that.” Max Jackson answered, still looking
around for any sign of enemy activity. “Do you think they know
we're here?”
“No
way to tell. I don't think they feel any reason to put guards or
sensors up here. What we are doing is so far outside of their
experience, it might never have come up.” Lowery reminded them.
After
a couple of kilometers they came to some kind of vent shaft. It was
probably used to radiate heat from the inside, to regulate
temperature in the underground city. The drones showed that there
were several of these in a rough circle around the perimeter of the
plateau.
“Can
we drop the nuke down the shaft and run?” Sgt Gore asked, trying to
keep a straight face.
“I
don't think that's a good idea.” Kerensky said, “If it hit the
bottom before detonating it could be damaged and not work.”
Lt
Jackson shook his head. “Are you saying we need to go into the
city?”
“That
would work, but we would most likely get killed before we got
anything done.” he said with a grin. “I think we should fine a
shaft that goes under the city. If possible.”
“We
don't know how far down the city is. Even if we reached ground level,
we might still be above the city itself.” Kim Lu-Hyun pointed out.
“The factories and whatever that are producing those ships might be
far above the rest of the city.”
“That's
why we have to go down there and see for ourselves.” Lowery told
them, “We might be able to assemble the device up here. One of us
could have it strapped to our backs on the way down.”
Everyone
looked at Lt Jackson “Action” Jackson. He was the biggest,
strongest amongst them and he tried to ignore it. “Really?”
“I
think I would rather assemble it at the bottom if we have a choice.”
the Russian said, then he looked at the Korean. “Get a drone down
the shaft, I want to know if it always slants down or if there is a
drop somewhere.”
He
recalled one of the four drones. It was only as big as his hand, he
soon had it reprogrammed. Everyone set the HUD screen in their
helmets to receive the feed as it flew into the shaft. Once inside
the large tunnel-like shaft slanted downward at a slightly steep
angle for several kilometers, it had probably descended downward more
than a kilometer at point.
The
side of the shaft opened up and they could see what looked like large
counter-rotating fans, and beyond this it was a little dark. Kim
Lu-Hyun ordered the tiny drone forward, closer to the fans where the
wind produced buffeted it some. A better image of what was beyond
came to them.
The
inside of the plateau was hollow except for rows of pillar-like black
rock columns from the bottom to the ceiling. These columns were like
tall buildings, there were artificial lights all up and down them. On
the ground between them was a mass of alien activity, like some sort
of homeless encampment. There were aliens brewing vats of stuff,
aliens with carts of roots and such and even a few mechanical
vehicles.
“Why
does this look familiar?” Lowery asked out loud.
“So
many countries in history have impoverished their people to build
mighty armies and edifices that it should look familiar.” Kerensky
said, “My country was like that for a long time. It still happens
that governments would rather build large monuments than feed the
people, monuments can be used for propaganda.”
“My
people were split in half.” Kim Lu-Hyan reminded them, “This
looks a lot like the north half.”
Sgt
Gore turned off his viewer. “Maybe we can set the nuke off in their
military factories? I don't see how nuking the city will help.”
Lance
Corporal James Arlen shook his head. “Read a better history book.
Factories can be rebuilt, the people in the city are much harder to
rebuild. When Caesar conquered the Gauls, he didn't make them his
equals, he made them his slaves. He showed no mercy to civilians at
Alesia. The whole notion of war not being waged on civilian
populations is a modern one, but it's not realistic in most
situations.”
“Those
swarms of robots on Earth were built by automated machines. Those
factories would make a fine target.” Lt Jackson said.
“All
right. Let's not debate this. I'll decide what we do. Right now, I
think we need to start our descent through this shaft.” The Russian
told them. Kim Lu-Hyun ordered the other three drones to land near
the ship and recycle their power cells. He landed the other at the
bottom of the shaft so they could see if any aliens started moving in
that direction.
The
first thing was the three meter drop to the inside of the shaft. For
this Jackson, Gore and Arlen took off their packs and weapons and
climbed down. They hung from the edge and dropped down, then their
packs and weapons were carefully dropped. Finally Kerensky, Kim
Lu-Hyun and Lowery dropped their special and critical equipment to
the waiting hands below. Then they joined the others by climbing down
the same way with the big drop at the end.
Lt
Kerensky seemed to hurt his ankle but he said he was fine. He carried
his heavy burden without any problem most of the way down. By the
then the others had decided he must be fine. It was hot in the shaft,
the dry wind didn't help.
They
were all a bit startled when a loud noise came from below. It was
coming from the city.
“Something
is happening on the far side of the city. I can't make out any
details, though.” Kim Lu-Hyun said, referring to the feed from the
drone parked at the bottom. He reconnected to one of the drones by
the landing ship and sent it airborne to check the large metal doors.
Sure
enough the massive doors were slowly opening.
“Are
they going to launch another wave?” Sgt Gore asked. The answer to
this seemed obvious.
“Those
massive ships hanging around the moon must have returned to carry
another wave back to Earth.” Lowery said, “Bloody hell. We should
have nuked those ships.”
“Those
ships are probably unmanned. Besides why destroy them when they're
empty?” Kerensky said through heavy breaths, he was also leaning on
the wall a lot. Everyone else had just noticed this and were glancing
at him when he fell down and began rolling down the inclined shaft.
Once every few revolutions the atomic backpack hit the ground and
tossed him into the air to land with a thud.
The
others were now chasing him because he seemed unable to stop the
roll. Jackson had thrown his own pack and heavy 50 cal down to
increase his speed but he finally reached him and stopped the
momentum.
Kerensky's
faceplate was smashed, much of the suits arms and legs were ripped.
The alien armor shell was not scratched or dented though. The armor
had probably saved him from more serious internal injuries, except
his left arm was a mess and he couldn't move it.
Sgt
Gore ran back up the sloping shaft and brought Lt Jackon's pack and
gun. Jackson had a first aid kit but even if he sealed up the gashes
on the left arm, there were still broken bones. The arm was useless
even if he didn't bleed out.
“We
should have brought a med-bot.” Gore said.
“On
a suicide mission?” Arlen asked “Well I guess we could have had
the nuke inside of it.”
Speaking
of the nuclear weapon, the device was scratched and scuffed on the
formerly shiny silver surface, but nothing vital looked busted.
Kerensky reached up with his right arm and started unlatching the
helmet. Kim Lu-Hyun had to help him remove the busted helmet.
He
took a deep breath and coughed. “That doesn't smell good. I know I
didn't take a dump.”
“Can
you walk?” Jackson asked after he wrapped the ankle with a blue gel
device that tightened itself while form-fitting the wearer. “How
does that feel?”
“Russia
doesn't have those.” He complained, and then grinned. “I would
have asked for one.”
They
helped him to his feet and he gingerly put some weight on his left
ankle. “I can walk.”
The
left arm had to be tied to his chest. They used a strap from the
ruined helmet to accomplish this.
They
started moving again. Jackson now carried the atomic backpack while
Gore had Jackson's pack slung over the shoulder. It was going slower
than before.
“They
probably have many cities, right?” Sgt Gore asked. “Even if we
succeed here, it doesn't really mean they will stop the invasion.”
Kerensky
looked at him. “You are looking for loopholes. The next level will
be to convince yourself that we shouldn't nuke the city.”
The
Sergeant looked defensive, “No, man. That's not it. I just don't
want it to be pointless. So f--- that!”
“We've
been through this. We all volunteered.”
Gore
stopped. “We were losing the war. It wasn't like there was deep
pool of soldiers for them to choose from at that point, the launch
site was even being attacked. It's hard to change your mind in that
situation. And if you are trying to imply that I'm a coward, then
f--- you.”
Kerensky
laughed. “You are a US Marine. I would never think you were a
coward, but you are very defensive.”
They
reached the bottom of the shaft and they all dropped onto their
bellies immediately. Taking off their packs at the same time. Lowery,
Arlen and Kerensky moved closer to the edge to get a better view.
Lowery had high-tech binoculars while Arlen used the scope on his
modified 50 cal sniper rifle.
The
only thing between them and the city now was the two giant
counter-rotating fans and a drop of about twelve meters. The nearest
of the giant black-rock columns, which were almost a kilometer thick,
was about one kilometer. From human experience there would be
hundreds of apartment windows where one might see the strange figures
in the shaft. The odds of any of the aliens looking might be rather
tiny, but it was still a concern.
The
noise of the giant doors opening ended.
“They're
open.” Kim Lu-Hyun said, his HUD screen showing him a view of the
giant doors. He dropped the altitude of the drone and then set it
down on a tall boulder. The camera soon showed more of the triangular
vessels atop tall, and unmistakable rockets, being moved toward the
launch sites outside the plateau.
“We
need to set off the nuclear weapon before those ships can be
launched.” The Russian said. “If we could only move it closer to
the center of the city we can be sure of damaging those rockets. It
would probably collapse the plateau onto the city too.”
“There
is a dirty looking river that comes close to us and goes through the
center of town toward the industrial area.” Lance Corporal James
Arlen said.
“Ugh.
Ever been to places like India or central America? The water going
down the center of the street is usually open sewage canals.”
Lowery told them, “I don't want to do it if we have any choices.”
Suddenly
Lowery noticed through the binoculars one of the mechanical vehicles
carrying a single alien moving up what must be some sort of road not
more than a quarter of a kilometer from their positoin.
“We
might actually have a bloody choice.” he told them. He handed the
binoculars to Kerensky who used his right hand and soon saw the
vehicle. They had no idea how to drive the thing, of course, and they
might be noticed too.
“Maybe.”
He said.
“I'm
guessing we have ten or twenty minutes until those ships are in the
launch sites.” Kim Lu-Hyun told them, “Somebody make a decision.”
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