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DUN SURPRISED HIMSELF by having slept at least a little. He was still in Stef’s bunk. This on account of the fact that she didn’t need it right now and therefore no one had to bother themselves to allocate him a new one. When a passing militia-folk knocked on the door on the way past to tell him food was up in the canteen for wake span, he couldn’t wait to get there. He hardly tasted the food, gulped down a drink so fast it burned his throat and dashed across to the control room. Tam was already there.
“Hi,” Tam said as Dun entered. “Sleep well?”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Good. Ready for an update?”
“Sure.”
“Okay. Rat team are at checkpoint two. They’re standing by for a signal. Bee Team are having a little trouble with a jammed hatch to the down-pipe that will get them down to the river we need. Stef’s busted out some tools to try and help them get in.”
“Where’d she get the tools?” Dun said.
“Stef always takes tools,” Tam said, matter of factly.
“How long ago did you hear from them?” Dun said.
“Not long, couple of thou clicks, maybe. Stef said she’d be back when she’d cracked it.”
“Good. Rat Team have a good trip?”
“No problems,” Tam said. “They sent a scout into the prison block for a check through, and although there are one or two maintenance staff, there are no prisoners there to liberate at the moment.”
“Oh, that rather puts our liberation distraction plan to the sword, doesn’t it?”
“Well, Dash said she’d think of something distracting. Although if I know Dasha, it’ll wind up being destructive. Still, we can’t argue about finesse at this point now, can we?”
“No, I suppose not,” Dun said. “What now?”
“Wait,” Tam said.
Dun could smell familiar bitter hot drink fumes, but coming in some volume from the corner of the control room. There was faint bubbling and hissing too now. Dun listened carefully.
“Oh yeah,” Tam said. “I had the catering roster put a drink station in the corner of the control room. Figured we’d be here for the long haul. Just don’t hover over the consoles when you’ve got one, okay?”
Despite Dun’s aching throat from the last cup, he plodded over to the drink station and felt around to pour himself another one. More to do something with his hands than anything.
The speakers crackled to life. “Bee to Nest, Bee to Nest.”
“Nest receiving Bee, send your message, over.”
“We are clear to descend the down-pipe, Nest, the door is open,” Nev’s said over the static.
“Good work, Team Bee!” Tam said.
“Technically, it was Team Fish,” Nev’s said over the speaker.
“We won’t split hairs. Well done, all. Proceed to checkpoint four. Gods’ luck.”
Tam fiddled with the console in front of him briefly and then turned to Dun.
“They need to sort themselves before they ping us back; there’ll be a reasonable amount of sorting the raft and the winch.”
“What happens while the winching is taking place?” Dun said.
“Hopefully nothing,” Tam said. “But it’s when everyone’s at their most vulnerable. While the winch is running Team Bee can’t move, and they’re stuck in position at the top of the shaft. There’s a whole team of militia on board, armed to the teeth. They should keep any risk down to a minimum.”
“Hopefully,” Dun said grimly.
“As you say...” Tam said and left the chair he was sat on for the corner containing the drink equipment.
There was a crackle of static from the loudspeaker and everyone jumped. No communication followed. Tam walked back to the drink station and pulled on the spout. Only air hissed out. He cursed under his breath.
“Where the hells is the catering rota? Come on!”
Someone behind them sighed and then sidled out of the door. Dun could hear cooling fans from Tam’s console kick in. Tam went back over, clicked a few controls, and then huffed into a chair at the console, tapping something on the surface in front of him. A few more folk shuffled into the control room and sidled along the back wall.
Another hiss from the speaker. “Bee to Nest, Fish is ready to go. Do we have clearance, over?”
“Thanks, Bee!” Tam said. “You’re clear to proceed!”
“Received and understood, Nest. Proceeding to positions for phase two, over.”
“Great!” Tam said. “Okay, Nest to Rat standby at phase two positions and wait on my order.”
There was a brief pause.
Static. “Rat receiving,” Dasha said. “Standing by, over.”
There were now intermittent noises over the speakers of the winch from Team Bee. And brief snatches of talkback between Team Bee and Team Fish. Tam adjusted something at the controls and the interference became less.
“Team Bee to Nest.”
“Send your message, Bee.”
“Half winch line paid out. Five hundred strides left, over.”
“Thanks, Bee, proceed, over.”
“That thing works fast,” Dun said.
“Sure does,” Tam said. “Okay, now for our distraction. Nest to Rat.”
“Rat receiving, Nest, go ahead.”
“Team Rat, phase two go. Repeat, phase two go!”
“You got it,” Dasha said. Then she added, “Over.”
There was more brief exchange from the other end, and then a massive boom, followed by sounds of whatever had blown up, coming down again.
“Boom,” Dun said.
“Now, let’s find out what happens,” Tam said.
The noise from the speakers now became more urgent and had shouts from voices that Dun didn’t recognize.
“Duchy have arrived,” Tam said.
Then came sounds of weapons fire.
“I’m hoping that’s Team Rat,” Tam said.
“Can’t you tell?” Dun said.
“No, not really. It all gets a bit chaotic at this point.”
“Oh,” Dun said.
More weapons fire. Someone shouted in pain. Then a loud chorus of yells and the level of noise rose considerably. Dun noticed an ache in his hands, then realized he’d been clenching the edge of his chair for, how long? 500 clicks or so?
“I reckon they’ve found each other now,” Tam said. “Come on... Where are you?”
“Fish to Nest,” Stef’s voice came over the speaker. “Fish touched down, proceeding with phase two, over.”
“Received, Fish. Team Rat is on phase two now. Gods’ luck.”
“Thanks, Nest!” she said brightly. Dun released his grip on the chair.
More weapons fire, and then a huge shout and a cheer, certainly featuring the voice of Dasha. More fracas followed and another brief explosion. There were more cheers, and then a new burst of weapons fire.
“Rat to Nest! All done here. No one to rescue, small amount of resistance. Eliminated. And we wrecked that silly torture office, over.”
More weapons fire and some shouts were heard.
“Gods,” Tam said. “That shooting’s coming from Fish. Damn.”
“No,” Dun said.
“Nest to Rat,” Tam said. “Fish has come under fire up the tunnel. Anything Team Rat can to to help out? Over.”
“On our way, Nest. Hold tight Team Fish. Over.”
The weapons fire became more intense. Dun was sure he heard a shout from Stef. There was certainly more desperation to the sounds as well as an increase in volume. Dun hoped the rescuing Rat Team weren’t too far away.
“Stop pacing and sit down, Dun!” Tam said.
“Sorry.”
There was a change in noises; something new, a deep thudding, followed by splashes and crashes. A hiss broke through the speakers.
“Under heavy ... ungh... They’ve got ... kind of... heavy slug firer... Damn, we’re gonna be in shreds if we don’t get back-up... Gods!”
A huge splintering noise and a splash rent the speakers.
“Rat to Fish, we’re nearing your position.”
“Fish to Rat, can you hurry the hell up, or there’ll be no one here to save!”
More splashes, swearing, and cries of pain. Dun felt like he needed to cover his ears.
“Rat to Fish, we’ve got you. Let’s find out what we can do about those heavy guns,” Dasha said.
Lighter weapons fire joined the orchestra of destruction hammering through the speakers, and then a crazed whooping cry and an explosion.
“Boooooom!” Dasha shouted over the radio, her voice distorted.
The heavy gun did not sound again and the battle descended into sporadic light weapons fire. When the melee died down, Tam stopped hopping from foot to foot and ran back to the console.
“Teams Fish and Rat, this is Nest, report!”
“Team Rat here, Nest. We have isolated the resistance pockets for the time being. The heavy gun installation has been neutralized. We have sustained losses but nothing we can’t cope with.”
“How many of your team are there left, Rat?” Tam said.
“Two, but we’ll be fine to help cover,” Dasha said.
“Team Fish, report,” Tam said.
“Hey, Nest,” Stef said and coughed. “We took some hits on the raft with all that heavy slug-fire. We need to off-load the raft. I’m pretty sure it’ll only take the charge and one folk onboard at once.”
“Can you float it and let the timer take it?” Tam said.
“Well... the thing is”—she stopped for another coughing fit—“that’s the worst of it. The whole electrics package is shot to hell. Took a direct hit. Half a stride farther up the raft, and we’d have all gone up.”
“What do we do now if the timer’s wrecked?” Dun said.
The control room was starting to fill up with the rest of the tribe. Even Bel had come in. Everyone seemed to know something and was holding their tongue behind their teeth.
“What?” Dun said. “What happens now? Tell me.”
“Tam?” Stef’s voice came from the speaker. “Is that Dun? Put him on.”
Someone pushed Dun forward, and Tam gently guided him to a high stool in front of the console. As he sat, his feet left the floor. Tam placed a metal band on his head that covered his ears with a curved arm that reached in front of his face. Immediately he could hear in great detail all the goings on in the tunnel at the Duchy’s entrance. He could almost smell the debris in the water. He could hear Stef’s breathing, heavy and very close up.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey, yourself. Tam, mute those control room speakers, can’t you?”
“Sure,” Tam said and reached past Dun to flick a switch. The noises over their heads above the console cut out.
“Better,” she said and broke into coughing again.
“You okay?” Dun said.
“No, not really,” she said.
“Are you...”
“Shush. And listen. That raft’s got a bomb on it, and its timer is all broke up. I can set it off manually, and I’m the only one who can.”
“But...”
“Shush already,” she said half wince, half laugh, “Dun, I’m not going to make it back either way.”
“We c...could abandon the mission,” Dun said. “Get you some help.”
“We’ve got it all down here, Dun. There may not be another chance to do this. Remember how many lives you told us this would save? That hasn’t changed.”
“But I don’t want ...”
“No, I don’t want either kid... but there you go.”
“Stef?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I... um, I err.”
“I know, kid.”
More coughing, then she spat. “Hey, Dun?”
“Yeah?”
“It was fun, right?”
“Yeah...”
“Yeah. Put Tam back on.”
Dun turned in the seat, but all of the control room had emptied.
“Tam!”
He came back from the doorway and flicked the switch over again and the hiss returned over their heads.
“I’ve not got much... time here, Tam. Let’s do this,” Stef said.
‘Sure?” Tam said.
“Mmm-hmm,” Stef said.
“Okay. You got any of your team left, Stef?”
“Negative, Tam. We lost Nev and the two vent-techs in that last exchange. Just me, Dash, and her other fella.”
Tam made some kind of noise in his throat. “Okay, Dasha, am I right in remembering that where you are there’s a walkway either side of the sluice channel?”
“That is correct.”
“Okay,” Tam said. “Rat Team split up. One of you on either side of the sluice and cover the raft. Keep complete silence unless you hear anything or you’re engaged by the enemy.”
“Received,” Dasha said.
“Gods’ luck,” Tam said.
The next thousand clicks were the slowest Dun had ever experienced in his life. The entire control room waited in silence. Over the speakers was an occasional faint splish of a paddle. No one breathed. A massive explosion took the speakers to their limit, and then they just cut out. Tam tapped some controls and the relay cut in again in time to hear tonnes and tonnes of stonework falling back to earth and a sound that brought so many emotions to Dun at once that he froze: gushing. Gallons and gallons of water gushing in great gouts. Even over the noises of falling debris, he could hear it pouring billowing out of the ruptured machinery made to contain it.
Dun fell to his knees and heard his own voice echoing around the control room, laughing. Laughing so hard he couldn’t stop. So hard the tears ran down his face.
