Alien Enigma (24 page)

"Shit. Okay, give me the good news."

"We got most of the captives back. The vast majority of them were living at ground level as slaves for various Worm family groups.
Welshass'
, they're called. They just hunkered down and came out after we killed their masters."

"Great. Now let me ask you a question. Do you think you've accounted for all, or mostly all, of the Worms and robots?"

"I doubt it, sir. There's just too much territory for two companies of marines to cover and that's not even counting most of the underground tunnel system. From what the captives are telling us it's just a huge warren down there."

"Hold on a sec, Steel. I want to talk to Commander Mundahan and Lieutenant Chavez. I'll cut you into the circuit so you can follow our conversation."

Keane turned first to Lieutenant Chavez. "What's the status at the city, Anita? We've passed directly over it at low altitude twice now since the fighting died down. Is it still populated with Worms or robots anywhere that's evident?"

"I can't say, sir. There are a few Worms and robots wandering around topside but the echolocation resolution isn't good enough for that kind of detail below ground. All I can tell you is that while the tunnel system below our rail gun strikes has collapsed, there are plenty more of them."

"What about other weapons, any kind of EMI like that we took out?"

"Captain Keane, although this city may look completed, we found spheres and triangular buildings being built at the perimeter. We don't know if there's anything else. They could have some more weapons that are concealed."

"Thanks," said Keane. "I don't think we want to stick around here much longer but I do have one more job for you. I'm going to send down the reserve shuttle with a special weapon and a crew to place it. Your job will to make certain they're not observed while doing so, to the best of your ability." He looked in Mundahan's direction. "Cindy, you heard. I think a lot of the Worms and robots may still be holding out. I'm going to send you and some of your weapons techs down with a plasma bomb. Set its controls so that it can be triggered from space. If we see signs of rebuilding when we return, if we come back this way, we may want to simply destroy the place. Major Rambling will see to your security." He gave her a small smile. "And I'd like you to get started on that now."

"Yes, sir. I'll get right on it." She hurried out of the control room.

"Now then, Commander Levy. You said something about more shield modifications?"

"Yes, sir. Now that the fighting appears to be over, I'd like to get started. It's going to be a lot of work even though we have the preliminary programs ready for installation." He also departed the control room.

***

While Keane kept his com open for reports on the planetary situation, and progress in situating and programming the plasma bomb, one of the largest they'd had on board, Jergens and Harriette arrived to give the Captain a brief on the upgrading of
Doc Travis'
shield.

"We haven't tested the changes yet," Juenne said, "but we were able to get into the backup flux containment field generator, thanks to Lieutenant Wannstead. He seemed keen on helping once he realized how close we were to getting blown out of the sky at our last encounter."

"I'm sure he was," said Keane dryly.

"We were able to tune the Quantum drive to any incoming energy beams for auto targeting, but we had problems with doubling the shielding," added Jergens. "It's about one point eight, a lot more than I thought possible-the extra hidden generator helped."

"Yes, it helped in that we probably won't explode when we turn it on full," Harriette said. "This should work, but it was a rushed job."

Keane smiled.
It was amazing what people can do when they attempt the impossible
he thought. The engineers were attempting a twenty per cent gain and his persistence yielded another sixty on top of that.
But would it be enough?

Keane looked at an engineering holo of the shield generator stats. "Great job team. And if you want a test, we have a live simulation coming up. I want the shields up to the new max and the new auto targeting set. We're going to move over the city again and I want to be ready just in case the marines missed something. This will be a good test before we get to Xanadu. Oh, and I'd like that up within the next thirty minutes. I don't want any surprises this late in the game. And one other thing before you go. How are you coming with those robots that went crazy?"

"They settled down after it was plain they couldn't get out of the room we have them locked in. There are no electronic noises of any kind coming from it. The only one that's outside is completely disabled so far as movement goes, but we have it tied down anyway. Now that the shield for the ship is finished we're ready to try finding out what happened."

"Work with Dr. Bergins. The Worms went berserk at the same time, you know."

"Yes, sir," Jergens said, embarrassed that he hadn't thought to include the medics.

The news was fascinating, but Keane wanted to move on to the city and Rambling was waiting. "Well, continue your studies on the robots, and brief me later. For now, I want the shield up to max, and the auto-targeting set. We're moving the
Doc Travis
over the city again to support Major Rambling while he's wrapping up operations. Any questions?"

"No sir," said Harriette.

"We should be able to have the magnetospheric shield up to its new full power within the next thirty minutes sir. I'll call down to weapons when finished," Jergens said.

"Good, I'll head back to command and have the astrogator set our new course."

Captain Keane watched them as they headed from the control room and back toward the engineering department, thinking about all the new things to be found in the universe. Was it reassuring or troubling that much of what he'd read in those old science fiction stories would turn up in the real world? Did the robots have a consciousness? Was their purpose in life just to build cities? Did they indeed have a hierarchy that they reported to? And if that was the case, were they capable of caring one way or another? The
Doc Travis'
massive computer, affectionately called
Eve
, was very nearly sentient. Many times it was hard to tell that she was not, and in fact at times it seemed she was much smarter than he would ever be. Hell, sometimes
he
felt like a slave. The years of study, the hard tedious work to make Captain, the sacrifices to his personal life.

As he walked back toward his day cabin for a short break, he saw Cindy Candrell, who had left earlier for an intermission to relieve some of the tension of combat. Seconds later he smelled her. She was wearing some kind of sweet perfume that tempted his senses. As she came nearer her breasts bounced slightly as if only minimally contained. She smiled while approaching then stopped in the crammed hallway close to him

"I'm going to the wardroom for lunch. Would you like to join me, sir?"

"I'd love to, but I need a quick break before we head back over the city. We'll need you standing by then. In fact, someone should be buzzing your com to tell you right about now."

While standing close together it seemed as if Cindy's eyes were lit by tiny fires. Her glossy chap stick reflected the luminosity of the passage lights, giving her lips a sultry glow. They looked very enticing.
She
looked very enticing. She said something to him that to his distracted mind sounded like: "Captain, you can mount on me. Just a quick bite and I'll be right on my back, sir."

Keane looked at Cindy, fumbling for words. "Ah ...I'm sorry?
What
did you say?"

She spoke louder. "I said you can
count on me
, I'm having a quick bite at the mess and
I'll be right back
, sir"

Keane frowned, knowing his subconscious mind was causing him trouble. He desperately needed some rest. His attraction to Cindy was growing, and he knew he had to be careful. He couldn't let his interest, and apparently hers too, jeopardize the mission.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you the first time. Enjoy your lunch but please get back quickly. Major Rambling may need your assistance."

"Will do, sir."

After a short, much needed nap, Keane headed back to duty. On the way thoughts of Cindy again intruded but quickly faded as he entered the control room.

***

Clemmie stood up from her bed as a fat brown Sinchik from the Stronge
Welshass
entered her sparse room.

"
Human
," said the alien with a heavy stuttering sound.

"Jah," replied Clemmie.

"Come with me to
Vivjo
, we will test," the Stronge said.

"Jah! I obey."

Test what?
There had never been any tests before. But Clemmie dared not ask the question, for questions were what got you reprimanded. And with eight hands, you never knew which one would do the slapping. Sometimes you'd get slapped by two hands. Clemmie recalled when they first crashed how a cook questioned the taste of food rations. Or actually, asked why the food
tasted like dog shit
. He first got slapped with one hand. He then asked:
Why do I get hit for asking questions?
Two hands immediately slapped him a little harder. The final question the cook asked was whether the alien knew if his mother had mated with a retarded earthworm-which resulted in all the foremost hands beating him until he fell to the ground in a bloody heap, moaning in pain. The welts took two weeks to heal. Soon after, most folks realized that questions to Sinchiks were best not asked.

***

"We're in position, Captain" said Mundahan.

"Good, inform Rambling that his men can proceed with the bomb."

Keane sipped at fresh coffee while hoping that any fight while placing the bomb would be short lived. The four hours of sleep in the last twenty four were not enough. The XO could relieve him, but not just yet. Keane watched on a small holo screen as a relayed recording showed a squad of Rambling's men moving into one of the square edifices where they had located a wide ramp that led downward. So far things were quiet. The shuttles landed near some perimeter buildings but kept their engines idling.

"They discovered some Worms hiding at the perimeter, but they immediately went into caverns under the buildings," Cindy said.

Giving up so easily, doesn't make sense
, Keane thought.

Rambling moved one of the shuttles and stopped next to a quiet looking perimeter building.

"Why'd he stop?" asked Keane.

Cindy was on the com. "Sir, Rambling wants to explore a couple of the structures on each side of the main thoroughfare. He doesn't want them coming up behind him while he's planting the bomb."

Keane nodded that he had heard. He wondered why the Worms were now avoiding conflict when they had earlier acted as if it was their favorite activity. It bothered him. He decided he wanted a look at the city and the route the marines were taking, but rather than activate another screen at his position he walked over to where Mundahan and Cantrell were busy.

"Worms are exiting a couple of caverns and they are running back toward the city center. They appear to be fleeing."

Mundahan had two screens active. One showed the city as a whole, with an icon blinking near the center where the defenses had been in the unfinished city. The other was a closer view, depicting the marine advance from the city's edge. A vector showed their progress down a wide passage that bisected the city but split around its central vegetated area. Keane stopped behind Cindy and casually laid his hand on her shoulder for a moment.

"I'm just going to stand here for a while and watch. Cindy, if the marines need air support, tell June. She'll arrange it according to what you call for."

"Yes, sir. There's no need yet. But ..." She cocked her head to one side as if listening. "Now the Worms have stopped running. Others are exiting the city caverns. Major Rambling says he thinks it's because he's outnumbered now."

"Are they firing on him?"

"Not ...yes, he reports small arms fire from their hand held energy guns. No attempt at communication. He's returning fire. Looks like the Worms seem to be assembling some type of heavy weapon. Wait, we've also got movement by some of the worker robots farther in. I see ...They're more pulsars. The robots are manning them!"

Shit!
Keane thought.

Before he could say anything, the
Doc Travis
shook, almost seeming to buckle from a large plasma blast from the city. The auto return fire mechanism worked perfectly; within a second the
Doc Travis
cannon lasers blew a hole into the atmosphere and then two plasma blasts exited toward the planet. The first one met with another incoming plasma bolt that showered the
Doc Travis
with florescent colored fireworks, while the other shot down to the planet and erupted in boiling blaze of color. Bits of debris were visible within the rising clouds of flame and smoke.

"How are the shields holding?"

Harriette had come to the control room with Jergens to help monitor their improvements to the shield, while he concentrated on EW and defensive measures. She turned away from her holo and answered. "Sir, without the new shields we'd be dead. The weapon we just destroyed was almost twice as powerful as the one we saw on the other planet. The second blast was deflected with our counter measures, reducing its power. We couldn't have taken many more, though. It would have drained the secondary coils needed for containment."

Keane decided to get the ship out of range in case there was another concealed defensive site. The risk to the ship was too great.

"Lieutenant Chavez, take us to the other side of the planet. Com, contact Major Rambling. Tell him to set his bomb and withdraw, now. Give the shuttle pilots our coordinates and have them meet us in orbit. We're going to be leaving."

"Aye, aye, sir."

"XO, I think we'll be okay with the planet's plasma weapons destroyed, but I'm still concerned about Rambling. Can you take the bridge and give him whatever support he needs? I'm going to my cabin and think about a few things."