The Machinery Of Light Part 38

"Don't try to stop me," he says.

"From doing what?" what?" asks Jarvin. asks Jarvin.

"Like you need to ask."

Can't you hack it?" asks Linehan.

"Systems are f.u.c.ked," says Lynx.

"Sometimes the old-fas.h.i.+oned way's best," says Linehan. He opens up with his lasers and starts carving through the hatch.

Sarmax stops at the c.o.c.kpit door, turns to face Jarvin.

"You really don't don't want to fight me," he says. want to fight me," he says.

Spencer's doing his best to hack the mech's zone-connections. He figures Sarmax has managed to switch them off again, but it turns out they're still on. Yet he can't break through. Apparently there's a new factor in the mix.

"She's inside you," he says slowly.

"Finally," says Sarmax.

"You've gone insane," says Jarvin.

"Fine."

"You go out there and they'll kill you."

"You're the one who'll die if you don't open that door."

Spencer stares at the man. Being trapped in a confined s.p.a.ce with an off-the-leash mech wasn't exactly what he was planning. He can see only one way out of this.

"Let's not be too hasty," says Jarvin. "We can-"

"No we can't," says Spencer.

The c.o.c.kpit door slides open.

Linehan tears aside what's left of the hatch. They slide into the shaft that's revealed, glad to put the exterior behind them. But as to what's in here with them- "Get ready to start killing," says Lynx.

"They're already dead," mutters Linehan.

The door shuts behind Sarmax. Spencer watches on the camera-feeds as the mech makes his way down the shaft toward the exterior door, stepping around the charges and mines liberally strewn along its length. Jarvin cuts back on the zone.

"Let's take him out," he says.

"Are you nuts?" says Spencer.

"We're nuts if we let him out of here."

"The man's a world-cla.s.s mech. We can't hack him. You really want to get in the ring with him?"

Jarvin says nothing.

"Besides," adds Spencer, "even if we nailed him, he'd still take out half the f.u.c.king defenses while he was going down and then the Rain would be right up our a.s.ses."

"So what the h.e.l.l are you suggesting we do?"

Spenser shrugs. "Write him off."

They roar out of the shaft and through an airlock, coming into the infested areas, letting shots streak out ahead of them. The colonists look almost happy to see them. Linehan figures they have reason to be, since he and Lynx are the only targets left. They're approaching the engines- "Antipersonnel weapons only," says Lynx.

"That'll make it that much tougher."

"You know you love it."

The far door to the c.o.c.kpit access-shaft opens. Sarmax heads through, pulling himself along the walls as acceleration hauls against him. Lights flicker here and there, but it's mostly dark. Quiet, too. Bodies are strewn about. Looks like the crew has finished killing one another off.

Or maybe the Rain has done it for them. Sarmax really doesn't care. All that matters is that she's back. That she appeared in his head and told him what to do if he wanted to see her again. His latent mental abilities have finally coalesced.

Or else he's gone nuts. Or he's been had. Because he sees no signs of her now. His mind's empty. So are these corridors. He keeps on making his way through them.

They come through into the engine area, spraying flechette rounds in clouds around them. The colonists who have broken through to this area are trapped. It's over quickly. Lynx and Linehan fire shots down the corridor through which they've come. They're slamming the doors shut.

"Now what?" says Linehan.

"Now get on that f.u.c.king motor," says Lynx.

The doors are shut once more. The defenses are back up.

It's just the two of them now. Their bodies are in opposite corners of the room, their minds creeping amidst zone fragments, flitting from sensor to sensor, tracking Sarmax as he makes his way deeper into the depths of the structure. Until- "What the f.u.c.k?" says Spencer.

"He just vanished," says Jarvin.

"Into the jaws of Rain."

Total silence save for the feedback in his own helmet. He's no longer on the zone. There's nothing for him there. Nothing in his mind now either. No sign of Indigo. At all. A nasty suspicion's forming in his head. He's the one who almost killed her back in the day. If she really is is alive, then maybe he won't be staying that way for too long. Maybe that's the way it should be. He primes his weapons, gets ready for what he's been waiting for all along. alive, then maybe he won't be staying that way for too long. Maybe that's the way it should be. He primes his weapons, gets ready for what he's been waiting for all along.

Linehan opens more hatches and starts running wires into the microfission chambers while Lynx establishes a link back to the bridge. The Operative's face appears on a screen.

"What's the situation?"

"We're here," says Lynx. "It's going to take awhile."

"What's going on?" asks the Operative.

"The comps are f.u.c.ked. We have to program the thing by hand."

"But it's working?"

"We'll find out."

"Okay," says the Operative. "Keep me posted and-f.u.c.k!"

"What your problem?" asks Lynx.

"This," says the Operative-beams over data- "f.u.c.k me me," says Lynx.

And it's all they can do to hang on. The megas.h.i.+ps just changed gears yet again-heavier racks of nukes start slotting through them as they move to a whole new level of speed. If this goes on for much longer, all the humans aboard will be crushed by the G-forces. They're starting to feel pretty squashed now. Spencer and Jarvin are pressed back in their respective corners. But at least they're braced for it.

Sarmax gets knocked sprawling. He grabs at a doorway, misses-tumbles down a corridor that's become a shaft-he's firing his suit-jets, but not in time-walls come rus.h.i.+ng up to meet him- There's a lurch as the Harrison Harrison throttles up still further and the L2 fleet reaches its uppermost speed. Any extra margin is a function of what Lynx can achieve with the AM drive. He's running through the circuitry now- throttles up still further and the L2 fleet reaches its uppermost speed. Any extra margin is a function of what Lynx can achieve with the AM drive. He's running through the circuitry now- "No pressure," says Linehan.

"f.u.c.k you," mutters Lynx.

"Take a look at this," says the Operative on the com.

But Lynx can spare only a glance at the data that the Operative's forwarding onto the screen. The vanguards of the Eurasian fleet are kniving in along two distinct vectors-releasing their tethers, slinging scores of troops.h.i.+ps toward the Moon. Looks like the two megas.h.i.+ps themselves are going to converge on a point behind it. More specifically- "They're coming for us," says the Operative.

"I get that," says Lynx. "Now if you'll excuse me-"

"No," says the Operative, "they're coming for us."

We're heading straight for them," says Jarvin.

The AI confirms it. The override back at the motors has got them on a collision course with the U.S. fleet, not to mention the other megas.h.i.+p. And now the AI starts to reel off more numbers ...

"Holy mother of G.o.d," says Jarvin.

Waking up isn't easy. Especially when it involves becoming aware of so much pain. Sarmax opens his eyes to find a metal surface pressed up against his visor. He's pressed up against the rest of that metal, shoved against the edge of a doorway that acceleration has turned into the entrance of a rather deep pit. He's trying to move. He can't. His armor's primary gyros are f.u.c.ked. His secondaries aren't reporting for duty. That's when someone presses their helmet up against his.

Lights gleam along the walls: the elevator car's moving along grooves cut into the side of a vast cavern. Machinery's everywhere, crusting along the walls and ceiling like some out-of-control growth.

Yet Haskell knows it's a mere fraction of the total sum of what's enclosed within this part of the Moon. Most of it isn't visible-just endless kilometers of piping running through tunnels too narrow for any but the most specialized of service droids. None of which matters as long as it works. And it's all about to be put to the test. Her car drops through the cavern's floor, slides to a halt. The door opens.

As the Eurasian megas.h.i.+ps streak in from either side of the Moon, the American fleet opens up with all remaining guns. The rest of the Eurasian armada returns the favor. Both sides start taking serious damage. The Operative watches on the screens while s.h.i.+p after s.h.i.+p gets. .h.i.t by DE fire-while simultaneously the KE gatlings throughout the U.S. fleet start churning metal out into vacuum at unholy rates, aiming along the vectors deemed most likely by the computers to intersect with the megas.h.i.+ps, now rus.h.i.+ng in upon each flank- "How's it looking up there?" asks Lynx.

"You don't want to know."

What kind of a flight plan is that?" asks Jarvin.

"It's no flight plan," says Spencer.

"You mean-"

"Yeah."

The AI's spitting out preliminary computations regarding the last section of the files that Sinclair possessed and Jarvin stole and Spencer almost cracked. The fact that Haskell augmented the AI is no small factor in the breakthrough it's managed to make. The overall parameters on the remaining section of the file coalesce on zone. Row upon row of solved equations- "Can we get this in English?" says Jarvin.

"Almost there," says the AI.

"So are we," says Spencer.

A withering barrage of KE hits the megas.h.i.+p.

Software uploads stream into Sarmax's suit. Hands haul him up from his perch, drag him through a hatchway.

A voice echoes in his head.

"Christ, we've missed you," it says.

Almost ... there," says Lynx.

He'd better be. And he's got more than a few incentives to minimize the amount of time he spends near these microfission chambers. Radiation readings are going off the charts all around him as he runs zone. The Harrison Harrison keeps shuddering as it takes fire. Lynx can almost feel those battering rams in s.p.a.ce streaking in toward him ... keeps shuddering as it takes fire. Lynx can almost feel those battering rams in s.p.a.ce streaking in toward him ...

The AI will have it all figured out within the next thirty seconds. But they're now hurtling in upon the left flank of the L2 fleet-which isn't even trying for evasive action. Instruments show the nose of their megas.h.i.+p has been shot off. Doesn't matter. The rest of it is still racing forward, like an ancient war-elephant about to hurl itself upon a phalanx that's bracing desperately to receive it. The ma.s.sed guns of the L2 fleet are a wall of flaring light.

"We're not meant to survive this," says Jarvin.

"You just figured that out?"

He's dragged into some kind of confined s.p.a.ce-opens his eyes to behold- "Indigo," he whispers.

"Hold on," she replies.

The megas.h.i.+ps spear through the L2 fleet, choosing courses that send them slotting in between the larger s.h.i.+ps, smas.h.i.+ng through the lesser ones. Total carnage ensues. Clouds of debris and flame show their paths as they rocket in toward the center, shedding pieces of their hulls the whole time. The Operative watches as they converge on the Harrison's Harrison's position. He knows better than to ask what the situation is back at the stern. On the outer bridge, Maschler and Riley are starting to look like they'd rather be somewhere else. position. He knows better than to ask what the situation is back at the stern. On the outer bridge, Maschler and Riley are starting to look like they'd rather be somewhere else.

The computer keeps processing the last of the files as Spencer starts modularizing the c.o.c.kpit, slamming all blast-doors in antic.i.p.ation of imminent collision. So far the megas.h.i.+ps coming in from both sides have avoided hitting any of the larger s.h.i.+ps. But they're clearly about to make an exception for the Harrison Harrison.

"Brace yourself," says Spencer.

"Very funny," says Jarvin.

Sarmax gets it now. He's in some kind of drops.h.i.+p. So is she. Along with the triad's two other members. He recognizes them, but they mean nothing to him. They're manning the controls, powering up the craft, getting ready to launch. She's holding his glove in hers.

She steps out of the elevator, into a chamber that contains a single mammoth door, reinforced and s.h.i.+mmering with energy. The gateway through the inner perimeter. She takes a deep breath- Linehan watches the megas.h.i.+ps fill all screens, then turns around as Lynx scrambles into view, slamming hatches shut behind him.

"Done," says Lynx.

"Did you hear that?" asks Linehan.

"Believe it," replies the Operative- -as he fires the antimatter drive up. The Harrison Harrison suddenly lurches forward. suddenly lurches forward. Hammer of the Skies Hammer of the Skies just misses the flags.h.i.+p, shoots behind it, smashes another dreadnaught dead amids.h.i.+ps-the combined burning ma.s.s torpedoes like a meteor past the incoming just misses the flags.h.i.+p, shoots behind it, smashes another dreadnaught dead amids.h.i.+ps-the combined burning ma.s.s torpedoes like a meteor past the incoming Righteous Fire-Dragon- Righteous Fire-Dragon- -reaching out toward that door beyond which lies everything that matters- Holy f.u.c.k!" yells Spencer.

"Here we go," mutters Jarvin.

"Here's the kicker," says the AI.

Sarmax looks into the eyes of the woman he remembers all too well.

"You came back," he says.