Torian Reclamation 2: Flash Move (20 page)

“Extat,” Brandon said. “I knew it. I just knew it.”

“About the same, then?” Olut6 pressed.

“More. Two or three times a week. Once you’ve operated one of those, in a battle especially, no other game is satisfying.”

“You two take the cockpit. I’ll man the REEP cannon.”

“You’re going to come with us?” Mip7 asked.

“Yes.”

“General, we need you here,” the lieutenant on the floor said.

“You know the drill, Lieutenant. There comes a time in a soldier’s career when he has to save the day by his own wits. This is that day for you. I’ll take an O-tube with me so we can be in constant touch. But I might not be able to always reply immediately, so use your training—and your instincts, for Erob’s sake.”

“Yes, General.”

“What about Belle-ub?” Brandon asked Mip7.

Mip7 shook his head. “It takes a while to hear back from him. Typical Sheen, doesn’t carry a lightpad and his subordinates are slow in communicating.”

“We can’t count on any help from him, or anyone else,” Olut6 said. “Let’s go.”

Mip7 looked at Brandon.

Brandon shrugged. “We have no choice. Mind if I fly?”

“I insist upon it,” Mip7 said. “But I have something to take care of first. I’ll meet you down there.”

“What is it?” Olut6 asked.

“Governor stuff. Go on down. I’ll be right there.”

“Please don’t make us leave you behind, Governor.”

“General, I’ll be there.” Mip7 hurried down the steps and exited the bunker.

“Pressurize the lower hangar,” Olut6 said to the lieutenant. “But keep it dark! Come on, Brandon.”

Brandon followed the general to the special lift that led directly to the lower hangar. They had to wait a few minutes, as it wouldn’t operate until the hangar was pressurized.

“I had no idea the lower hangar was even operational,” Brandon said.

“It’s not.” The lift arrived, the two of them stepped inside, and Olut6 pressed the only button on the wall. They started moving. “At least, that’s the official policy. We have it rigged enough to employ for special purposes. But we aren’t using it, other than having built a docking arm for the extra ITF1. As you know, we’re maxed out at the Niptil station at eight. Extat politicians won’t give the go-ahead for increasing the fleet size, mainly because they don’t want to spring for the extra docking stations. But that figures to change after today—assuming we survive.”

“Yeah,” Brandon said. “Defense spending has a disappointing habit of falling into complacency until an emergency revives it.”

The lift opened and Brandon followed Olut6 out to the deck. Dim lighting in the rear of the hangar was all there was to see by. It took Brandon’s eyes time to adjust enough to see the ITF1 up on the docking arm. He had only seen one docked in this manner once before; the damaged one his crew had taken enemy fire from above Milura 25 years ago. Brandon still blamed himself for the death of that smart young human in the REEP cannon turret, but had long since learned to live with it. Mistakes were part of life. Sometimes they were deadly.

Bad memories. Brandon shuddered, and then noticed a saucer-shaped landing craft on the opposite side of the hangar.

“I thought you said the ITF1 was the only ship down here.”

The general saw the landing craft, cursed, and walked towards it. Brandon followed.

“One of ours,” Olut6 said. His tone indicated relief. “For a second there, I thought maybe that gubernatorial business Mip7 had to attend to involved more than he was letting on.”

Brandon looked closer at the saucer. “This is one of the older models. I wonder what it’s doing here.”

“Probably left here after the initial reconstruction was done to the hangar,” Olut6 said. “Not many of these are still in use, if any. I’ll have to remind the governor to get that thing down to Banor for refurbishing.”

“All right!” Mip7’s voice yelled from across the hangar. Brandon and Olut6 turned around. He was carrying a ladder.

“Good,” Olut6 said. “Let’s go.”

*

“How can anyone be afraid of animals?” Jumper said.

Kayla elbowed him. Jumper couldn’t tell if it was in response to his surly comment, or because the cruiser had just been jarred from crossing over a large rock protrusion that penetrated the cruiser’s hover field. These native militia guys weren’t great drivers.

They were squeezed in much tighter on the return trip. Alan and Lakor5 were also in the rear seat this time, on the other side of Kayla. Mulb9 and the three mountain dwellers took up the middle seat. Totlen6 was up front with the driver.

One of the mountain dwellers was the polwar champion Jumper was “supposed” to play before he and Alan decided to dive off the cliff instead. Another had been thrust into the position of being their political representative by Durmat1. The other was one of the natives who had been holding the driver against the rock until Jumper fired a shot over his head. Durmat1 had no interest in coming himself, and his laser injuries didn’t help with that. But he did seem to develop a genuine interest in arranging for the Sinlo Mountain range to be “left alone” by the new C3 coalition, if possible. Jumper was surprised at the diplomacy Totlen6 was capable of.

“Oh, excuse me,” Kayla said. “You aren’t scared of felidors?”

“Erob yes, I’m afraid of them. That’s why I
shoot
my laser when I encounter them.”

“So you’re afraid of them too. Good. Glad we have that settled.”

Jumper was tempted to launch into a lecture on the difference between cowering behind a log and reacting to defend oneself from danger. But he didn’t. Jumper didn’t know a whole lot about women, but he strongly suspected winning an argument with one was impossible. Even if he succeeded in shaming her, the aftermath wouldn’t be worth it. Jumper did, after all, still have to live with her back at the colony.

And ultimately, Jumper didn’t want to embarrass her. That wouldn’t be a nice thing to do. Humans were a tiny minority in this place, and needed to stick together. Sitting close to her like this was kind of nice still, and she was the one who saved the day up there. If it wasn’t for Kayla’s timing, Jumper and Alan might be lying dead in a rock crevice right now.

The cruiser came to the swamp. It was getting late in the afternoon. The driver hit the water too fast, much in the same way Jumper had at the river the other day.

Only that time, the cruiser kept running. This time it didn’t. They stopped dead in the middle of the swamp.

Totlen6 scolded the driver. “You didn’t slow down for the water.”

“That’s not the problem,” Mulb9 said from behind him. “You took that jagged rock too close back there. It ruptured the hover field. This thing is going to sink.” He stood up in his seat, turned around, stretched a leg out over Kayla and said, “Let me through please.”

Kayla hopped on to Jumper’s lap. Mulb9 stepped into her space and kneeled. He leaned out over the vehicle and opened the compartment on the back. The cruiser had already settled on the water.

Mub9 produced a coil of rope and a grappling hook that sat in a tube with its far end out the other side. As he attached the rope to that end he said, “You Earthlings can all swim on top of water, right?”

The cruiser started sinking.

“Yes,” Alan said. He didn’t need any more encouragement and jumped into the swamp. He went in over his head for a second, then came back up and swam towards the other side.

“Are there any water serpents in this swamp?” Jumper asked. He felt Kayla’s fingers dig into his arm and immediately regretted asking that. Hopefully, Mulb9 would be smart enough not to answer that question—

“Yes,” Mulb9 said. He then looked at Kayla and said, “But not many. It doesn’t matter. None of us are getting out of here without getting wet. We need your help. Please, get over there and hook our line securely.”

Mulb9 pressed a button on the tube and the grappling hook shot out across the water. It landed on a patch of land next to a small grove of leer trees.

“Quickly please,” Mulb9 said.

“Go,” Kayla said to him. “Secure the hook. You know natives can’t swim. I’ll stay here and help as needed.”

Jumper and Kayla both stood up in the seat. Jumper looked at Kayla and shook his head.

“Go!” Kayla said and pushed him out of the cruiser.

Jumper felt the brackish water tug at him from underneath. For a second he panicked, but then surfaced and began swimming towards the grove of trees. That was so stupid, bringing up the possibility of snakes. Now Kayla might be too scared to leave the sinking vehicle. But at some point she would have to. Wouldn’t she?

Jumper made his way to the shore. Alan was on all fours coughing. He might have swallowed or inhaled some water. The rope was laid out on the ground next to him. Jumper followed it to the end and found the grappling hook. He picked it up and tried to hook it to a tree trunk, but the rope wasn’t quite long enough. He pulled on it and waved to the cruiser, hoping Mulb9 would understand he needed more length. But they must have taken the signal wrong, because one of the mountain dwellers jumped into the swamp while holding the other end of the rope.

The new weight on the rope pulled Jumper forward. Jumper reacted by leaning backwards and digging his heels into the ground, but the soft soil wouldn’t anchor him and he was pulled forward like a water skier, leaving ever-deepening trenches behind his feet. He couldn’t hold the heavy native in place.

His feet then struck something in the ground. Jumper stopped and started to pitch forward. He looked down and realized he was caught on a large submerged root. He immediately starting pulling on the rope with all his might, and then worked his way up the length of it hand over hand. Jumper was still losing the tug-of-war, but the grappling hook was dropping behind him. He kept pulling and moving up the rope. The hook was now dragging on the ground. One of the prongs dug in and caught on the root. Jumper let go. The rope pulled tight.

The mountain dweller in the water was up to his shoulders. Everyone else was standing on the seats still. The cruiser was sinking and the water level was even with the top of the doors. Water was beginning to pour into the seats. If the vehicle didn’t strike anything solid, it would be gone soon. Native Torians can’t swim. Jumper waved them forward. The native who was in the water began pulling himself along and the two other mountain dwellers jumped in behind him, keeping their hands on the rope.

Jumper looked down at Alan. “You okay yet? We might need your help.”

Alan was sitting up with his head buried in his knees. Jumper saw him spit up swamp water. He wasn’t going to be much help.

There was some dry wood in the leer tree grove. Jumper ran over and found a piece of a trunk. He threw it out in the water. It floated. He looked around. There was one additional, shorter piece nearby. He threw that in. It floated too, but not as well. Jumper ran back in the water and ferried the two pieces of wood out towards the natives on the rope.

The lead native was about halfway between the sinking cruiser and the shore, but was up to his neck and looking concerned. Jumper pushed the bigger piece of wood to him.

“Hold this in front of you and kick your way in,” he said. The first mountain dweller grabbed the wood and followed instructions. The wood sank, but his head stayed enough above water to be able to breathe. Jumper gave the other piece of wood to the next in line and repeated the swimming lesson. He then swam back to shore himself.

When the first mountain dweller arrived, he took the wood from him.

“Listen!” Jumper said to him. “Every time a swimmer gets to shore, throw his piece of wood out to me! Do you understand?”

He nodded. Good enough. Jumper swam out with the wood and got the third mountain dweller kicking his way in. Then the first one launched the second one’s wood. He was a bad shot and Jumper had to swim for it. By the time he returned, the other wood was out there as well, a better throw this time. He got the driver and Mulb9 kicking their way in from the middle of the rope.

“Extat!” Totlen6 yelled from the vehicle. A great noise of gushing water followed. Lakor5 was next in line on the rope, but Totlen6 and Kayla were still on the cruiser—which had just sunk. Kayla was quickly swimming. It took a few more seconds before Totlen6 was submerged to his neck. Kayla came up under one side of him. Totlen6 desperately grabbed ahold of her. He dunked her. Kayla struggled to come back up, but was promptly dunked again by the big Amulite.

Jumper looked back to shore. The wood was flying in the air at him. He had to move his head to avoid being hit. Good shot. He pushed the wood to Lakor5, who was almost fully submerged by now, and swam out to help Kayla.

When he reached them, he came up under one of Totlen6’s armpits, who leaned on Jumper and dunked him. Jumper kicked his way back up. Then, the pressure eased. Jumper saw that Kayla now had his other side. They were still both getting dunked, but not as deeply. They could manage.

“Calm down and lean forward!” Jumper choked. Totlen6 complied and they were able to slowly kick him along.

When they reached shore, Alan was still hunched over and looking incapacitated. Jumper and Kayla remained on all fours and caught their breath. When Jumper finally stood, the driver was looking around frantically.

“Where’s Lakor5?”

Jumper did a fast head count. Everyone was there except Lakor5. Jumper looked out over the swamp. He was nowhere to be seen. The last piece of wood was floating by itself. The rope was now sunk at a steep angle and vanished under the murky water a short distance from shore. Jumper panicked.

At that moment, a great boom sounded in the sky above. All the natives cocked their heads. Two of them steadied themselves against each other. Jumper looked up. An alien spacecraft was speeding overhead. No, wait—there was another one behind it, a different design of ship. They weren’t that high. As they whooshed by, it kind of looked like one was chasing the other. But no weapons were being fired. They both started vibrating, and slowed. The ship that was in the rear veered off course and visibly shook. They both then slowly ascended upward on different routes.