Metal Boxes - Trapped Outside (25 page)

THIRTY-FOUR

Stone watched the feed from Ryte’s camouflaged drone hovering over the Hyrocanian settlement, or rather, he tried to. Tammie had gone back to wearing her skintight unitard leaving little to his imagination. She’d dialed the color to a camouflage setting and disappeared as completely as any marine’s suit on the gilley setting. He could see the outline of Tammie Ryte’s backside. The curve of her lower back as it melded to her bottom, was perfect. He wouldn’t have admitted to anyone that taking his eyes off her was hard, certainly he wouldn’t admit it to anyone who might report it back to Allie. Besides, he could smell Ryte’s loyalty and friendship, but there wasn’t any hint of wet, dark chocolate, the odors of love and sexual excitement. He knew she liked him, just not that way.

The unsuited humans wrapped themselves in camouflage tarps despite the heat to avoid being spotted by any Hyrocanian automated defenses that might be looking their way.

Numos said, “Dammit.” He pointed at the Hyrocanian shuttle floating over the far end of the enemy compound. “That thing will make getting away all that much tougher. I don’t think we have anything that can damage it.”

Li said, “It’s only twenty feet off the ground or so. I can throw a satchel charge that far.”

Numos shook his head. “From what we’ve seen of this type of shuttle when it destroyed our compound, it takes a solid strike on the topside—er, the bottom side, or whatever you call the other side.”

The shuttle was in its pyramid configuration. The four flat pieces were locked together with the thick armored bottom side bristling with weapons pods facing the ground. “When Hammer’s team ambushed them, their anti-aircraft missiles had to curve around and strike the inside flat section. When the parts are connected, we can’t reach the flat part, even if we had missiles.”

Li nodded, “Yes, sir. A satchel charge might work if we could get it inside.”

Numos chuckled, “Or if we had a satchel charge.” They watched a suited Hyrocanian pop onto the surface of the shuttle through a dilating hatch. The hatch was on the underside and from their perspective, it looked like it ran upside down across the bottom surface. It leaped away from the shuttle. About halfway to the ground, the shuttle lost its anti-gravity grip on the creature, giving it over to the planet’s gravity. It spun in mid-air landing on its feet. Three of its compatriots followed.

An unsuited Hyrocanian on the ground ran under the shuttle carrying something behind its back in its second set of arms. Stone doubted it could jump up the eight to ten feet to catch the shuttle’s anti-gravity field. It didn’t. Stone continued to watch as it ran up a ramp going nowhere and at the end of the ramp, leapt up, spun in midair, and landed feet first to hang upside down from the bottom of the shuttle. As if it was the most natural thing to do, it ran along the bottom, performed a small hop at a corner, bounced from the bottom to one of the slanting upper sides of the pyramid, and ran until it disappeared through a dilating hatch.

Numos waved a hand at Li. “Pool together what explosives we have and see it you can rig a charge. Maybe we can get in close enough to toss it through one of those hatchways. It all depends now on how effective Whizzer’s distraction will be. If it works at all, I’ll let you try to run in a charge.”

Private al-Julier spoke up, “Sir, let me do it. I’m faster than this old goober anyway.”

Li snorted, “Who’re you calling an old goober, Private?”

Pointing a suited finger at Li, al-Julier said. “You, Sergeant.”

Li nodded, “All right by me, but I ain’t that old.”

They had been following the crab swarm along a creek. The flowing water disappeared beneath the Hyrocanian’s compound wall, passing through a tight grate, bringing fresh water into the enemy’s settlement. The crabs were marching along this wide creek heading straight for those high, slick-looking walls. They hoped the crab swarm would be enough of a distraction the Hyrocanians wouldn’t notice the humans sneaking up on them. The distraction didn’t appear to be necessary as the four-armed freaks seemed to ignore everything happening outside their compound walls.

Numos’s plan was to wait for the crab swarm to turn at the walls and then attack in a quick hit and run strike, lobbing explosives over the walls, bouncing in and out of the compound doing what damage they could and hopefully sewing a little panic. The marines were ready to attack barehanded if that was all they had. Even a sharp rock made an effective missile when thrown by the enhanced muscles of an angry marine in a combat suit.

Stone had fought the Hyrocanians once before in face-to-face combat. He wasn’t excited about doing it again, but he definitely wanted some payback. He wasn’t in a suit this time so he wasn’t part of this attack plan. None of the unsuited humans was tasked with anything to do. Whizzer’s role had been to divert the crab swarm, making their journey through the jungle safer and creating the diversion. Ryte’s role had been handling and managing their tiny intelligence drones. They huddled with Numos as Ryte fiddled with the drone controls, trying to watch everything in the Hyrocanian camp at the same time. Stone and Triplett had nothing to do. He wondered again why he’d insisted on coming along. So far, he’d been useless. As the Emperor’s representative and the governor, no one had the authority to overrule his desire to be involved. He’d only brought Triplett because he felt responsible for protecting her and he knew there was more than one person back in the canyon waiting for the right opportunity to put a knife through her heart. He knew it because he smelled it. He was sure Dr. Arnold would be first in line with the knife after she manipulated him in the murder of Private Tighe.

He glanced over his shoulder. He didn’t see Triplett, nor could he smell her. He had almost become nose blind to her overpowering odor of sour milk and grapefruit, but not so much he couldn’t smell her when he tried. Private January watched the jungle with one eye, keeping her other eye on the Hyrocanian display.

Stone asked, “Where is Doctor Triplett?”

January hooked a thumb over her shoulder, “Taking another dump back in the bushes. I swear that old woman has her pants around her ankles more often than Tuttle does.”

Stone gestured with his hands, waving them around the jungle. “Where?”

January slapped her faceplate down and then back up again. “Dammit. Where the hell did she go?” She started to go search for the older woman. Numos stopped her.

“Stand fast, Marine. We’re too close to kickoff for you to go bouncing around looking for some lost scientist.”

Whizzer shouted, “There she is.” He pointed at the screen.

Triplett had raced around the edge of the crab swarm, running scant yards in front of it, racing for the Hyrocanian’s defensive wall. For an older woman, she was fast on her feet. Stone wasn’t surprised. Any scientist chosen by the Emperor for exploration on an unknown planet would have to be top in their field academically and physically fit for the challenges of such an assignment.

Triplett shouted, “Attack! They are attacking! Defend yourselves!” A dataport taped to her chest blared out howls, screeches, and moans that might or might not be an approximation of the Hyrocanian language.

A suited four-armed creature bounded over the wall, grabbed Triplett none-too-gently, and bounced back. A host of armored and unarmored Hyrocanians appeared at the top of the wall, each with a weapon of some sort. They spread out along the top facing the oncoming crab horde.

No sooner had the suited warrior dropped Triplett in front of an obese Hyrocanian, than the front of the crab swarm walked into the middle of a minefield. Pieces of crab blew in all directions. Smoke, rocks, and dirt clouded the sky. Numos grunted in surprise. His marines would be attacking from the flanks and he’d already planned on their bouncing into the compound from farther back than any minefield. The crabs continued their march straight into the minefield. Any lead crab who might have stopped to study the danger was now little more than pieces and already being passed back to feed the hungry hordes behind the front line.

The obese Hyrocanian holding Triplett waved a casual hand at the four-armed freaks on the wall. The Hyrocanians fired their weapons at the advancing crabs. Some crabs blew into smaller pieces, some vaporized when balls of acid sludge were lobbed at them, and a few shrugged the projectiles off their hard-shelled backs. The few surviving crabs in what was now their front line stopped and began their peculiar dance, hunkering down and then raising up. It may have been the way crabs studied a situation, but it also made them easy targets and they were soon blasted to pieces too small for a good crab cake. However, their dance had lasted long enough. Crabs going back line after line began their up and down dance, studying their dead and dying.

The obese Hyrocanian ignored everything going on outside the compound walls. It had a firm grip on Triplett’s forearm and it yanked the dataport from her chest, listening. Triplett continued screeching and yowling, trying to pull her arm free, but the Hyrocanian was more than a match for her. It looked at Triplett, hinged its ears toward her and then back toward the dataport. The words may not be a perfect match, but the four-armed freak made a connection.

It propped the dataport against its ear. Without showing any apparent thought to its actions, it placed a foot flat against Triplett’s chest. Keeping a tight grip on her forearm, it pushed, yanking her arm out of the socket, ripping it free from her torso. The Hyrocanian peeled the coverall sleeve away from the flesh and gnawed on the end of Triplett’s arm as it listened to the dataport. As soon as Triplett passed out from the pain and fell to the ground, a group of unsuited Hyrocanians circled her bleeding body. They tore Triplett apart in chunks, to feed.

Stone almost gagged. He didn’t and he didn’t feel sorry for Triplett, even though he doubted she lived long enough to realize how wrong she’d been about Hyrocanians. He was beginning to wonder about the intelligence level of the Hyrocanians. What kind of intelligence allowed a creature to kill and eat another species trying to communicate with it through a manufactured device? He realized that was what his instructors at the academy had tried to say: intelligence is about how a species can know and sentience is about how a species can feel. Hyrocanians could know, that was clear, as they operated advanced space going technology. However, they didn’t evidence empathy, sympathy, compassion, or consideration.

The crab swarm caught Stone’s attention. Li had a hand on his collar, preparing to yank him out of harm’s way given that the crabs were being decimated by Hyrocanian weapons fire. A high slick wall was in front of them and the swarm had nowhere to go except to retreat back over Stone’s position. A lot of the enemy’s attention was focused on the crabs, away from their flanks where the marines hit and run attack would come.

Stone shouted, “Hold it!” He pointed at the front of the crab swarm. Apparently, the creatures didn’t think retreat was their only option. Maybe they didn’t think at all, but like Hammermill said, they get mad when you shoot them. As one, they rushed forward, running twice as fast as a human could run.

The swarm hit the wall as if it wasn’t an obstacle. Some crabs drove their spike-like talons attached to the end of their spider legs into the slick wall and walked up the side and over into the compound, stopping only to rip apart a Hyrocanian or two with giant pinchers. Other crabs jumped over the wall, their saucer-style bodies sailing over the height, slicing through any Hyrocanian too slow of wit to duck.

Row upon row of eerily silent crabs swarmed into the Hyrocanian settlement. Their invasion was punctuated by weapon’s fire and explosions. The Hyrocanians were killing more of their own with panicked friendly fire than attacking crabs. Stone caught a glimpse of the obese Hyrocanian so absorbed in listening to Triplett’s dataport it didn’t notice the trio of crabs until they grabbed it and pulled it to pieces, not unlike what had happened to Triplett.

Pockets of Hyrocanians were trying to take refuge in their buildings, but the crabs swarmed too quickly, tearing through a plasticrete wall to get at a knot of Hyrocanians shooting at them from a tiny gun port. Each piece of flesh, whether Hyrocanian or crab, was passed back along the crab formation, feeding even the smallest crabs at the rear as they followed their bigger fellows over the wall.

Stone patted Ryte on the shoulder. “Good thing you turned that swarm back by the canyon. I don’t think our little rock wall would have slowed them down in the least.”

She nodded in stunned silence.

Whizzer snickered with delight. “Effective aren’t they? It does make you wonder about the Hyrocanians. They seem to be an out-of sight, out-of mind type of creature. Maybe that’s why they didn’t actually try to track us down, they forgot all about us when the next bright shiny object caught their attention. This activity will fascinate our behaviorist Kat Emmons, she might even get a paper published on it if she stops spending so much time writing reports on humans.”

Everyone looked at the scientist in surprise. Stone asked, “She is writing reports on us?”

Whizzer nodded as if it were a silly question from an undereducated undergrad student. “Of course she does. Well, on some of us more so than others, I’d suspect. Why else would the Emperor send a behaviorist on a planetary expedition?” He glanced back at the compound video. “The diversion is working out a little better than we hoped.”

Numos nodded, “Not exactly a textbook diversion, but it’ll do. Pity about Triplett though.” There wasn’t any pity in his voice.