The Girls From Alcyone (29 page)

"Holy shit…" Christian gasped.

* * *

The corridor was abundant with confused passengers looking about, wondering why the
Lift
had stopped. Such a thing was an extremely rare occurrence.

Still in her dressing gown, Karen came out of Hitomi's quarters with the wheelchair; Sigrid eased their mistress into it.

"What do you think the problem is?" Karen asked. "I hope it's nothing serious."

Sigrid felt her skin tingle. She was growing accustomed to the various ways her sensory modules functioned to alert her to danger. She felt something now, something familiar.

"We have to get out of here now," she said, starting down the corridor at a jog. "Everyone—back in your rooms!"

The bemused passengers looked at her in wonder as she ran by. Even the Security Chief looked confused.

"Get your men out of here, Chief," Sigrid said over her shoulder.

"Wait!" Karen said. "Where are you going?"

Sigrid stopped at the corridor junction just ahead. When Karen saw her draw both her pistols, she gasped, but instantly quickened her pace, rushing alongside Lady Hitomi. Sigrid stood with her back to the wall, hurriedly motioning them past her.

"Keep going. Run!"

Neither Karen nor Hitomi stopped to question her—probably what saved them. The corridor behind them erupted in a hail of gunfire forcing Sigrid to duck back behind the wall out of harm's way. She'd seen what she needed—three men in the same mechanized armor, just like the ones in the CTF tower the night before. The Chief and his security team weren't so fortunate. They fired back at the attacking soldiers, but their bullets bounced harmlessly off their armor—Sigrid looked on in horror as the security men were gunned down mercilessly. Passengers screamed and ran quickly back into their rooms, most of them fortunate to get out of the way. Most, but not all.

"Dammit," Sigrid said. She dialed the ordnance selector on her pistols, switching to the armor-piercing rounds she'd added to her arsenal. Taking a moment to shroud, she rolled out into the corridor, coming up firing. The thunder of the high-powered slugs was deafening; two of the soldiers stumbled and collapsed as the armor-piercing rounds ripped through the plating on their chests, bursting through the layers of composite material into the soft flesh underneath.

She missed the last one and was forced to dive aside into an open suite. Explosive rounds pierced the air, tracking dangerously close to her own head. Sigrid touched the side of her ear and her hand came back a bloodied mess.

The man—the
Mech
—she wasn't sure what to call it—was on her in an instant. She couldn't believe such bulk could move so swiftly and gracefully. His huge frame suddenly silhouetted in the doorway, and she fired, wide, as he leapt forward, crushing her with his massive weight and knocking the wind completely out of her.

Sigrid tried to raise her guns, but powerful arms, aided by some kind of servo system, pinned her back easily. The weight on her chest was too much. Sigrid couldn't breathe. Her guns were still in her hands, but even trying with all her strength she couldn't wrestle her arms or hands free of his grip. She fought for breath, already starting to feel the blackness coming. If she didn't break free in the next few seconds she knew it would be over.

The gun in her left hand was pointed at the glassed-in viewport on the suite's wall.

Sigrid fired.

The explosion and howling rush of air was deafening. Alarms sounded all over the
Lift,
but the vacuum lifted her assailant off her, pulling him quickly toward the opening and out into space. He grabbed the frame of the window and clung precariously to the edge. Sigrid was also carried across the room; her PCM had already logged every possible handhold, and she opted for the leg of the table in the center of the room; she could only hope that the bolts held where it was fastened to the floor.

The armor her attacker wore must have been pressurized; he was already clawing his way back inside. A drawer from one of the dressers flew across the room and smacked into his helmet, but he still managed to hang on with one gloved-hand. Sigrid lowered her pistol and fired; the armor-piercing round shattered his faceplate, and he cart-wheeled freely, finally, out into space.

Firing at the window had been an act of desperation, and Sigrid's predicament hadn't exactly improved. The freezing cold of space pervaded her bones, just as the torrent of air from the
Lift's
environmental systems threatened to blast her out into oblivion. She was only meters from the doorway and safety, but reaching it was like climbing up a waterfall. All the time, she had to dodge the debris that was tumbling by her from the corridor beyond.

With the last of her strength, Sigrid lunged for the doorframe and heaved herself out, sliding it closed behind her and sealing it shut. The sudden silence filled her ears, and she shivered; she was blue with cold. Her uniform was torn where the mechanized hands had held her, and she was bruised and bloodied. She had a long laceration on her right arm; she couldn't even remember how she'd gotten it, but she was alive.

Sigrid hauled herself up and started back down the corridor; she only hoped that Lady Hitomi and Ensign McTeer were still all right. She caught up to them at the next junction. It was sealed off from the breach, but she was able to override the locking system and let herself through. She collapsed in Karen's arms, sinking to her knees.

"Oh, my God!" Karen said, distress visible on her face as she held Sigrid.

Hitomi looked equally concerned. "Those men, are they…?"

Sigrid nodded. "Dead. I had a little trouble with the last one," she said, managing a grin—she didn't want them to worry about her. "But he's off touring the universe."

"Do you suppose there are any more?" Karen looked terrified.

Sigrid opened her mouth to answer, no, when they heard the sound of a far-off explosion, followed by the agonizing sound of groaning, twisting metal.

Karen screamed, clutching at Sigrid; all three of the women looked to each other. Sigrid noticed it first—the slight tilting of the floor.

"Oh no…" she said.

Even Hitomi, always so steady and strong, paled. "They cut the tether."

* * *

"Yes, Lieutenant, I see it," Selene said, leaning forward.

They'd all seen it—a massive explosion just at the top of the
Lift
that carried Sigrid and her party. The
Lift
had already reached the Earth's thermosphere, at some 135 kilometers, but the explosion had severed the tethering system that connected the elevator to the orbital platform above; the sheer weight of the massive cable, still connected to the base of the
Lift
, was already dragging the elevator back down toward the planet below.

"Holy…" Ensign Greenway said, breathlessly.

"Can you reach them on the com?" Selene asked.

Christian's hands flew over his console. He shook his head. "Too much interference, ma'am."

Selene nodded. "All right, I'll bring us in closer."

"
Closer?
" Christian asked.

"We can't very well do much good back here, now, can we." Selene pushed the thrusters harder, accelerating and moving the
Morrigan
ever closer to the massive elevator.

"Uh…Commander," Christian said, nervously.

"Watch your tactical monitor,
Lieutenant
. I want a second by second report on the course of that elevator."

He gulped. "Um—it's headed down, ma'am. And we still have those three ships on our tail."

"I know!"
Selene said. She bit her lip.
Well, you're really in it now,
she thought and laughed.

Christian caught the laugh. "Ma'am?"

"Just keep trying to hail them—we don't have much time."

* * *

Sigrid heard the second explosion, followed by a horrible tearing sound of metal being ripped away. Karen screamed again.

Sigrid's comlink chirped on the emergency frequency and she heard Selene's voice. She quickly hushed both women, listening as Selene fed her the series of instructions. Only when Selene was finished did she turn to her companions. "We need to get down to the lowest level, and we have to hurry."

"Wait!" Hitomi said. "The data modules—I left them back in the rooms. We must go back."

Sigrid looked down the long corridor, and then at the increasing tilt of the floor. She could feel the vibrations intensify as the
Lift
accelerated in its descent.

"I don't think there's time."

Hitomi nodded and Karen looked relieved to keep going, helping the Lady's chair along.

Sigrid led them quickly down the corridor. The tilt of the floor slewed even more as they ran, making progress difficult as the three forged ahead. Sigrid stopped at each junction, checking to make sure their path was clear.

"Sigrid, wait!" Karen called out to her.

She turned back and saw the girl struggling with Lady Hitomi's wheelchair; the angle of the floor was pitched at thirty degrees and Karen could no longer manage the chair. Lady Hitomi looked thoroughly angry and embarrassed.

"You girls go ahead. I'll only slow you down."

Sigrid scanned the corridor, checking again to see that their path was clear before rushing back to the two. Holstering her weapons, she lifted Hitomi out of her chair.

"Sigrid—"

"Please don't argue," Sigrid said, starting back down the corridor. "We're not leaving you behind."

"I'd never dream of it. I was only going to tell you—it's the other way. We need to go down."

Sigrid chuckled, as she turned around and spotted the maintenance hatch at the end of the corridor.

Sigrid helped Hitomi along as fast as she could. She could feel the vibrations in the floor becoming more pronounced, and she realized they must be entering the planet's atmosphere. They heard a series of loud bangs—what sounded like entire sections of the
Lift
being torn away as the elevator shifted further on its axis. Sigrid stumbled and fell, twisting so that Hitomi landed on top of her. They all rolled from the floor onto the wall as the
Lift
dipped sharply. Sigrid tried not to think of how far or how fast they were falling as the cabling system dragged them further down into the atmosphere.

The
Lift's
stabilizing systems groaned in protest, working desperately to right the elevator. The three women were thrown back in the other direction. They landed hard on the floor; Sigrid caught Hitomi, who shook her head at Sigrid in surprise.

"Sorry about this," Sigrid said, gathering Hitomi up into her arms and carrying her the rest of the distance to the maintenance hatch. She kicked it open. "Go!" she yelled at Karen, who scuttled inside, climbing quickly down the ladder. Sigrid looked down the shaft—the ladder led down two decks below.

"I'm sorry," Hitomi said, frowning at the ladder. "I don't think I can manage that."

Sigrid examined the length of the access shaft again. "Hang on!"

Hitomi nodded bravely and Sigrid jumped, pursing her lips as she landed hard on the deck below; the pain was intense, and she felt something tear, but she'd worry about that later. Sigrid looked about her; they were at the bottom of the elevator in a small maintenance room; there was a large access panel in the floor painted with red warning signs, marked, 'Authorized Personnel Only'. The small room shook with tremendous noise and violence.

"Now what?" Karen asked.

"Stand back," Sigrid said, and slammed the emergency release on the floor panel at her feet. Explosive bolts blew the panel away, sending it twirling downwards to be whipped away by the buffeting winds. The sound of the air rushing past them thundered in their ears; Karen's light dressing gown swirled about her head until she forced it back down.

Through the open hatchway they could all see the Earth rushing up toward them, perhaps little more than six thousand meters away and closing fast; Sigrid saw the sorry, twisted shape of the lift cable coiling up beneath them.

But also there, somehow, impossibly, below, the
Morrigan
danced in time with the whipping of the cable. Sigrid thought Selene had to be completely mad as she maneuvered the ship deftly, drifting closer and closer to the plummeting elevator. She brought it as close as three meters, and Sigrid saw one of the dorsal hatches open. Christian emerged from the opening, tethered in a harness and wearing a breather. He waved to them frantically.

"Go!" Sigrid screamed to Karen above the worsening din.

Karen swallowed hard, but there was no time to debate the issue and she jumped the short distance. She landed on hands and knees, spread-eagled on the hull.

Sigrid stumbled as the lift tilted hard over, almost colliding with the
Morrigan,
but the small ship banked hard over, blasting down and away, keeping its distance from the massive
Lift
just above it. The maneuver lifted Karen back into the air off the hull—Sigrid held her breath—but Karen came crashing back down, clinging desperately to the hull some ten meters down the length of the ship.

With a tight grip on Hitomi, Sigrid leapt and hit the ship's deck next to Christian. She handed the Lady over to him and he helped her quickly inside.

"We have to go—now!" Christian shouted.

Sigrid looked down the length of the ship to where Karen still clung desperately for her life.

"Not yet."

Taking one brief look up, Sigrid gulped at the sight of the massive elevator above them—she didn't want to think about how close the Earth was beneath them. She moved quickly and carefully to where Karen clung to the top of the
Morrigan
; The ensign looked completely petrified and desperate.

"I got you," Sigrid said as she grabbed Karen by the wrist and hauled her up.

She heard Christian's voice loud in her comlink.
"Sigrid!"

Sigrid grunted and threw Karen into the open hatch, diving in after her.