Steven Gordon 3: The Modloch Empire (44 page)

It took them ten minutes to lower him
to the surface of the asteroid.

Charlie looked around. There were
unexploded grenades and explosives everywhere. He didn’t see any
point in wasting them so began to gather them up and place them
around one of the black spots. Charlie inspected it. It was some
kind of cap, no doubt with the explosives underneath.

The first part was lowered and Charlie
dragged it over. Within an hour he had all the parts and had begun
to assemble their bomb.

He had just finished when Babes’ voice
sounded in his ear. ‘You have a little time left Charlie, could you
inspect the damaged section while the bomb is heating up to
operational temperature?’

‘
OK Babes, guide me
will you please?’

‘
I will, be careful
Charlie.’

It took him twenty minutes to reach the
point where a Human bomb had gone off and cut the web. The two
sections were about five meters apart. Charlie’s eyes scanned the
broken end and a digital analysis lit up before his eyes.

‘
It says it is highly
conductive Babes. Will touching the two ends work?’

‘
Tie a simple knot in
them if you can Charlie. That will work.’

It took him a bit of time to find some
slack, but he finally managed to stretch the two pieces and tie
them together. He plodded back to where the tether lay and clipped
himself back on. The bomb was ready to go. ‘OK, Get me off this
damn rock.’

He had barely left the surface when the
line snapped. He floated gently back down to the surface, the line
following. ‘What the hell is going on Stevie?’

There was silence for a moment. ‘The
line broke.’

‘
Of course it bloody
broke. Reel more down.’

Again Steven hesitated to answer.
‘There is no more, we lost most of it when it broke the first time.
Charlie, we have to detonate that damn thing within a few
hours.’

‘
With me on
it?’

‘
Wait a
moment.’

‘
This day just isn’t
getting any better.’ Charlie muttered to himself. Something popped
into his mind. ‘Stevie. Make a jet pack.’

‘
A what?’

‘
A jet pack for God’s
sake! I will take off and fly backwards out of the way. Make sure
its damn fast.’

‘
I got you Charlie.
Hang on.’

Charlie was aware of how quickly the
time was passing. Eventually something appeared in his vision. It
was a large pack. He managed to get under it and caught it.
Steven’s voice spoke in his ear. ‘Buckle it on Charlie. There is
extra oxygen as well. Plug it into your suit. Your shield will form
around it within a few seconds. The pack is strong enough to drop
you out of light speed, and there is a strong homing beacon on it
as well. Get yourself up to that ridge and fly straight backwards,
don’t try to fly off it at an angle.’

‘
Got it Stevie. It’s
going to take me a while to reach that ridge.’

‘
We know
Charlie.’

‘
If you have to blow
it, then blow it. Understand?’

‘
I do Charlie. We
have no choice.’

‘
Give me a countdown
every ten minutes.’

Charlie didn’t hesitate for a second.
If there had been any gravity he could have reached the ridge
within a few minutes. In this weightless environment however, he
had no real advantage.

On board the ship they had returned to
their posts. The hole in the shields had been closed. Steven moved
them off to a safe distance.

Matt was at his engineering station.
‘Charlie did a good job sir. Green lights, right across the board.
Along with all of that explosives he stuffed round the bomb we have
a really good chance of success.’

‘
That may well be
Matt. But we need to blow that damn thing up in the next hour and
scan the debris field to see if there are any chunks large enough
to harm the planet.’

Buzz stepped in. ‘The first one was
pulverized, wasn’t it Stevie?’

‘
It was, but there
was still the odd large chunk.’

‘
Yeah but we built
those huge shield generators to protect Earth from the dust and
debris.’

‘
I personally think
we were lucky with that one Buzz. There wasn’t anything bigger than
a family sized car left of it. But if a chunk as large as a
football field is left then it could punch through the shields and
still cause devastation on Earth. We need time to evaluate the
debris field and take action against any large pieces.’

‘
But what action can
we even take?’

‘
Give it a nudge with
our shields, just extend them if it is within range.’

Buzz scratched his head. ‘I thought
that would kill us?’

‘
If we tried to nudge
something like the asteroid it would. If they are small enough we
should be all right.’

They settled down to watch Charlie’s
race. Matt continued to give him a countdown.

With fifteen minutes to go Charlie
found himself at the foot of the ridge. There was a terrible heat
emanating from his core; the new nanites had changed the density of
his muscles and they were now working against him. He leapt as high
as he could and grabbed a ledge. He was able to heave himself
up.

Matt’s words kept him informed of the
time he had left. ‘Five minutes Charlie. Four... Three...’

At three Charlie crested the rise, bent
over and activated the jet pack.

‘
Two minutes Charlie,
punch it man.’

‘
I am. Full throttle.
As a matter of interest, am I accelerating or am I
breaking?’

It took Matt a moment. ‘Uh... Yeah, you
are already traveling at faster than light speed Charlie. You are
accelerating in the opposite direction, so you are breaking
mate.’

‘
Right. Just wanted
to clear that up.’

Charlie didn’t think he was going to
clear the asteroid before it blew, but he didn’t take into account
the fact that the asteroid was moving and he was accelerating away
from it in the opposite direction. He had a wonderful bird’s eye
view of the whole asteroid as it passed beneath him. He knew if he
survived it would remain a wonder he would never forget.

As Matt counted down the last few
seconds Charlie cleared the asteroid. He closed his eyes and
cringed. He felt the blow and a huge increase in speed. A few
seconds later he opened his eyes and looked around. There was
nothing to be seen. No asteroid, no Babes, just himself, the stars,
and the all-encompassing black.

CHAPTER 55

Captain Jean Wilson felt compelled to
visit the infirmary. It was half an hour since a patrol managed to
recover the body of her fellow countryman. After all, he did save
the planet. Her Chief Medical Officer’s, ‘You really need to come
and see this,’ had filled her with foreboding. James Andrew’s sense
of humour centred on the macabre. She was sure that she was going
to get an autopsy and an explanation on the desiccation of a body
left floating about in space for weeks.

The body had no cover over it. The only
thing removed were the helmet and the gloves. On the floor sat the
oxygen tanks and jet pack. James was standing back from the body,
studying it from a distance. Jean stopped beside him.

‘
What the hell is
that!’

‘
I have no idea. It
looks like a robot of some kind. I am unwilling to touch it until
you have looked over it.’

She got a little closer and he stayed
by her side. ‘How weird. What do you intend to do?’

‘
Autopsy obviously.
First I think I will X-ray him, then maybe an MRI scan.’

‘
Are you a complete
tit?’

The two jumped at the question. The
figure on the bed groaned and tried to sit up. Charlie slumped back
down and raised a hand to his head. ‘Bloody migraine.’

‘
You’re alive!’ James
spluttered. ‘There was no pulse, nothing.’

‘
Who are
you?’

‘
Chief Medical
Officer James Andrews.’

‘
A CMO? Ye sure yer
no a bloody quack?’

James was shocked. ‘No, I’m not a
bloody quack.’

‘
You sure? I’m no a
medic, but I’m sure an MRI scanner is a bloody great
magnet.’

‘
We would take the
bloody suit off first, Sergeant.’ James growled.

‘
It’s no a suit. This
is my skin. Stick me in one of those and all you’re going to be
left with is my lovely soft centre. I’m also one of Steven Gordon’s
crew. Right now the only thing keeping me alive is the nanites
running round in what’s left of my bloodstream. You X-ray me and
you will fry them, thus killing me.’

‘
Aye well, we didn’t
know you were alive.’ James sniffed.

‘
You’re still an
idiot. Sir.’

Jean almost smiled at Charlie’s
hard-ass routine. ‘That’s enough Sergeant.’

‘
And you
are?’

Jean coughed a laugh. ‘I happen to be
Captain of this vessel.’

‘
My apologies ma’am.
I should be a little more grateful. After all, you did rescue
me.’

There wasn’t a note of honesty in that
whole statement, Jean thought. She decided to get away while she
still could. She moderated her tone and hoped her false sincerity
would fool the Sergeant more than his had fooled her.

‘
You have been
through a traumatic experience Sergeant. I will leave to let you
rest.’

The head turned towards them for the
first time. ‘I recognise your voice.’

She hesitated. ‘I am sure we have never
met.’

‘
May I ask your name
ma’am?’

‘
Jean
Wilson.’

Jean watched in shock as the man
struggled to sit up then tried to slide onto his feet. It was the
fumbling of a blind man. He almost fell a number of times but
eventually he stood at attention. Even if he was facing slightly
away from her.

‘
May I apologise for
my foul humour ma’am. And to your doctor as well. I must be on the
Sir William Wallace.’

Jean was now intrigued. ‘Yes, you most
certainly are.’

Charlie began to sway and they both
rushed forward.

‘
Sit down before you
fall down man.’ James ordered.

Charlie’s hand suddenly leapt to his
chest. ‘Wait, have I got my clothes on?’

Jean burst out laughing. ‘Yes Sergeant.
We have only removed your gloves and helmet.’

Charlie sighed with relief. ‘Oh thank
God.’ He reached round and groped for the bed.

Jean frowned. ‘Are you blind
Sergeant?’

‘
As a bat ma’am.
Don’t worry though. Once I get back to my ship she will take care
of that.’

‘
I will try not to.’
Jean was actually sincere, as well as curious. ‘So you have heard
of me then?’

‘
The only Scottish
female pilot to become an ace. Oh aye, I’ve heard of you, and
admired you. I have read a couple of dozen different accounts of
your actions. I have even watched that short documentary. May I ask
a personal question ma’am?’

‘
I think
so.’

‘
Were those your
words or was it a speech made up for you? When you were interviewed
after getting your medal, I mean.’

Jean smiled. ‘You are the first person
to actually ask me that. So I will tell you. They were my words.
Took me a fortnight to draft them.’ Charlie seemed to relax and lay
back down. ‘Why do you ask?’

Charlie took a deep breath. ‘There is
no glory in the taking of another life. Only sorrow and loss for
those who have lost a loved one. Yet one can take solace from the
fact that they may well have saved many lives.’

Jean was speechless for a moment. ‘You
memorised my speech. I am impressed.’

‘
No, not really
ma’am. Just those few lines. It’s not that I memorised them. The
simple fact is they just seemed to stay with me. If you don’t mind
ma’am, I need to put myself back to sleep. My brain has suffered
some damage from sustained lack of oxygen and the nanites are
trying to repair it.’

‘
Painful.’

‘
Very.’

‘
Can you take
painkillers?’ James asked.

‘
No, my internal
organs are encased in metal and I couldn’t digest
anything.’

It was six days before Babes was able
to catch up with them. In that time Jean was a frequent visitor to
the infirmary. Charlie woke up every day for an hour to talk to her
and then put himself back to sleep. The nanites in his body had
become dormant for the most part as they ran out of energy. She
realised he was becoming weaker and weaker with each passing
day.

Charlie was still sleeping on the day
Babes arrived; Jean almost collided with Amanda Freeling as she
stormed on board the battlecruiser. The two women immediately sized
one another up. Amanda didn’t like what she saw. ‘Captain
Wilson.’

‘
Yes.’

‘
I’m Doctor
Freeling.’ She lifted a hand to reveal a metal cylinder. ‘I need to
get this to Sergeant Murison right away.’

‘
This way
Doctor.’

They walked in silence for a short
distance. ‘Do you know if he has been awake much Captain?’

‘
Just for an hour
every day.’

‘
Bloody idiot. It’s
no wonder he is so low on power.’

Jean raised an eyebrow but kept her
peace.