System Shock Part 30

The Doctor caught the hint of sarcasm in his voice and turned round. 'Did you want something, Harry?'

'Oh, yes. Clark wants a word.'

'Does he? Does he indeed?'

'Yes he does. They're about to go in.'

The Doctor grunted, took another look at the computer screen, and followed Harry to the door.

As they jumped down to the roadway outside, Harry asked: 'Doctor, what happens when your creature meets the alien one?'

The Doctor frowned. 'You know,' he said, 'I haven't the faintest idea.'

Stabfield was going over his charts. He was updating the main plan with progress so far, and was pleased to see that it fell within the target parameters. Across the room, Johanna was completing a status report.

'Sir.' The technician's voice was urgent, hissed insistently from the main console.

264.

Stabfield looked up from his laptop. The technician was gesturing to the wall map showing Voractyll's progress. At the opposite end of the room, Johanna Slake was already on her feet.

An area of deep blue colour was spreading out across the map. The epicentre seemed to be Hubway itself.

'What is it?' Stabfield demanded.

'Self-repair,' the technician said. 'The systems are on-lining and running diagnostics.'

'That's not possible,' Johanna said.

'No,' said the technician, 'it's not.'

The Doctor and Harry stood beside one of the Sea Kings.

They were greeted by a huge man dressed entirely in black. A respirator was hung round his neck ready for immediate use.

The Doctor shook his hand enthusiastically. 'Good to see you again, Sergeant Collins.'

'And what can we do for you, Sergeant?' Harry asked after the Doctor had made hasty introductions.

'We're a man down, sir,' Collins said. 'Flu, apparently. That leaves Unit Two exposed. We've heard a lot about what you've done so far, Doctor, and wondered if you could fill in?'

Behind Collins another soldier dismounted from the helicopter. He was holding a set of black clothes like the sergeant's. 'We think these will fit, sir,' he said with a grin.

Several more troops were crowding round now, watching for a reaction.

There was silence for a few seconds. Then the Doctor said: 'Gentlemen, I'd be delighted. Though I don't think much of your wardrobe.'

'Doctor,' Harry said quietly as the soldiers exchanged glances, 'I don't think they're entirely serious.'

'Well, I am,' the Doctor retorted. 'I'm not so naive as to think I'll be able to help very much, Sergeant, but I shall indeed follow you in.'

Collins was s.h.i.+fting nervously, looking round his fellows for support. 'Sorry sir, bit of a j.a.pe. Usually the civvies go weak at the knees straight off.'

265.

'I'm not worried about your j.a.pes, Sergeant Collins. My friend's in there, and I'm coming in with you to get her out. Just let me know when the first round is over and I'll follow you in.

Besides,' he added, 'I've some unfinished business in there.'

At 06:00 the two Sea Kings lifted noisily into the air and headed towards the main house.

As they watched, the area of blue began to spread more rapidly. Other blue areas sprang up across Europe and started to spread outwards, began to link up with each other.

'No,' Stabfield murmured. 'This was not predicted. There's no data, no contingency.'

Before any of them could comment further, they became aware of a low, m.u.f.fled sound from outside. It had been there as a background for a while. Now it was rising in volume and pitch. A mechanical, rhythmic beating like a compressor.

Johanna ran to the window. She pulled aside the curtains and looked out into the dawn. 'Helicopters. Two of them, coming in low.'

'Could this be it?' the technician asked.

Stabfield said nothing. He stared at the map, then at his laptop. He was confused. 'I don't ' he started, then broke off.

'Is BattleNet active?'

'They haven't gone on-line with it yet,' the technician said.

'They can't act without using BattleNet. That's a one hundred per cent probability scenario.' Stabfield's voice cracked slightly as he watched the helicopters. 'We need more input data,'

Stabfield mumbled. His head was swaying violently as the sound of the helicopters got ever louder.

'Sir?'

'We need more input data,' Stabfield repeated, louder this time. Then he turned to Johanna. 'Find out what's going on.

Check on the hostages. Check on everything.'

Johanna did not move. She stared at Stabfield.

'Well go on!' he shouted. His gloved hands were clenched into claws at his sides. His artificial face was contorted and damp with alien perspiration seeping through the osmotic membrane.

266.

Johanna nodded, grabbed her gun from a desk, and ran from the room.

The helicopters swung low over the roof. They paused for a few moments as they pa.s.sed over the house just long enough for the men inside to drop ropes and abseil to the rooftop.

' Unit One down and safe. Unit One down and safe. ' '

As the SAS units checked in, Colonel Clark sat at a desk on the roadway outside the control van. He wore a headset and was watching the house through high-powered binoculars. As each team called in, he marked their current position on the maps of the house. Harry and the Doctor watched, silent.

' Unit Two in position. Unit Two in position. ' '

A quarter of a mile away, the Sea Kings veered off and sped away from the house into the distance, circling lazily and then heading back towards the control point.

Black figures ran across the skyline rooftop, leaping easily over the b.u.t.tresses and positioning ropes.

' Unit Three in position. Unit Three in position. ' '

Johanna ran into the office where the hostages were. The d.u.c.h.ess was still arguing with one of the Voracians. The Amba.s.sador was sitting innocently at the edge of the group.

'What's going on?' one of the Voracians asked as Johanna crossed the room and looked out of the window. Two of the aliens joined her, but they could see nothing.

'It's dawn,' Amba.s.sador Anderson announced loudly from across the room. 'Always a good time for some aerial observation.'

The spotter at the edge of the woodland to the north of the house saw the curtains move, and swung his binoculars.

' Three terrorists first floor rear, second window from Three terrorists first floor rear, second window from west. west. ' '

Clark marked off each sighting and pa.s.sed the information on to the unit leaders.

'They circled the house,' the technician told Stabfield. 'Two of them. They've returned to the front now and landed.'

267.

Stabfield sat impa.s.sive. There was still not enough data.

Sarah ran along the corridor. She had to find somewhere safe to sit out the attack. If anywhere was safe.

The Icarus glider levelled out and headed for the house. The SAS man flying it came as close in to the first floor windows as he dared, then swung away and up.

' Icarus unit, distraction underway. Icarus unit, distraction underway. ' '

The Voracians watched the tiny machine head away, oblivious to the two Land Rover SOVs bouncing across the lawn and disappearing amongst the outbuildings.

' Units Four and Five, ready to start our run Units Four and Five, ready to start our run.'

Clark marked off another position on his chart. He pulled the tiny microphone on his headpiece slightly closer to his mouth, as if afraid his words might be lost. His voice was quiet and calm, as steady as the hand which held the pen poised over the maps.

'Commence Shutdown. All units go.'

Johanna watched the Icarus bank away. There was something happening. She still had no data, but she had more instinct than Stabfield, and more of an inclination to improvise.

'You two, come with me,' she said to the two nearest Voracians. To the other two she said: 'If anyone moves, kill them.'

The d.u.c.h.ess sat down slowly and carefully as Johanna and the Voracians left the room.

The first Land Rover started its run. The driver revved the engine, then swung the vehicle from behind the interactive television centre on to the main driveway. Gravel kicked up from the wide tyres as he gunned it towards the main house, slamming it into second gear as the engine roared.

' Unit Four, commencing approach. Unit Four, commencing approach. ' '

268.

Stabfield could hear the helicopters again. Somehow, even without the relevant data, he knew what was happening. He grabbed a machine gun and went to the window.

Outside a Sea King lifted over the treeline and swung towards the house. As it approached, Stabfield could see that the cargo bay door was open. A dark figure crouched in the opening, the snub nose of a missile emerging from the tube it held to its shoulder.

Stabfield watched the helicopter grow larger, louder. He stood totally still. Paralysed. Ineffective and inefficient. He had no action plan for this situation. No data. A tiny bubble of hydraulic fluid welled up behind his eye.

' Whirlwind, starting approach. Whirlwind, starting approach. ' '

A Stinger missile headed straight and true from each side of the Sea King. They streaked noisily towards the upper floor of the main house. One took out the window of the Blue Drawing-room, the other exploded inside the Tapestry room.

The observers outside watched the trails of smoke as they connected with the building. The windows burst into brilliant flame as the Stingers exploded, sending debris flying out across the main drive.

' Whirlwind, message delivered Whirlwind, message delivered.'

The Land Rover roared up the short flight of stone steps to the main entrance. Above it the smoke from the Stingers drifted upwards into the lightening sky.

The three soldiers in the Land Rover leaped out before it stopped moving. A soldier stood each side of the double doors, backs to the wall, each holding a sledgehammer. They stood as if to attention, faces blank and impa.s.sive behind their respirators, as the third man fired his shotgun at the door hinges.

The shots wrecked the woodwork and twisted the metal. The soldier stepped back, and his colleagues swung their sledgehammers.

On the second blow the doors collapsed inwards, cras.h.i.+ng to the floor in a cloud of dust.

' Unit Four, entry achieved. Unit Four, entry achieved. ' '

269.

The sounds of the twin explosions from the front of the house were sudden and loud at the back of the house where the hostages were.

The two Voracians guarding them turned towards the noise, uncertain how to react.

As the closer Voracian turned, Anderson leaped to his feet and grabbed it from behind. He reached over the creature's shoulders, pulling the machinegun up so it clamped round the alien's throat.

The alien reacted immediately, pulling the gun away from Anderson's grip. But just as it seemed the creature would win the tug of war, a large handbag caught it full in the face.

Caught by surprise, it relaxed its grip slightly.

The creature hissed in anger. Its fellow spun round, machinegun levelled. As the second alien fired, Anderson swung the alien he was holding into the line of fire. The creature spasmed as the burst of shots tore into its body. Then it went slack, its grip on the gun loosened.

As the alien fell, Anderson wrenched the machinegun from its dead grip. He dived across the room, away from the other hostages. He was up on one knee, firing, before the surviving Voracian had realized what had happened. Its chest exploded in a green starburst, and it crashed to the floor.

'Thanks, d.u.c.h.ess,' Anderson called, ripping the magazine from the dead creature's gun and jamming it into his belt. Then he told the hostages to take cover behind the furniture. He turned over a desk and knelt down behind it, covering the main doorway.

'My pleasure,' the d.u.c.h.ess murmured as she pummelled her battered handbag back into shape.

' Unit Five, commencing approach. Unit Five, commencing approach. ' '