Chapter 18

Fallout

Sunbolt could contain no more.

The moment broke in a burst of light.

Gravestone’s beam reached him, struck him in the very centre of his chest, and Sunbolt screamed as he dissolved. Bright white light splintered from Sunbolt’s body as it collapsed in on itself. Splinters struck the floor, the ceiling, Pilvi and Seventhirtyfour, the Ascension Machine.

And then Sunbolt was gone.

Just gone.

Nobody deserves...

Sorry.

Yes.

Sunbolt was dead.

# # #

Gravestone dropped to the ground, barely glowing a glimmer of red. “What are you doing, get away from the Ascension Machine!” he shouted, as though the last few minutes hadn’t happened at all. He stumbled towards the machine. “Keep away from it!”

I hobbled towards my friends.

Pilvi had collapsed at Seventhirtyfour’s feet. He was looking down at her with a confused expression, but he seemed more aware than before.

Gravestone fell to the controls, trying to undo Pilvi’s tampering. He seemed to have forgotten we were there. “No, no, no. I can’t... what have you done? Hauberk! Hauberk! I need you!”

I reached Seventhirtyfour and Pilvi. She was unconscious, the stray blast she’d caught when Sunbolt... died... it had knocked her out, though I could see she was still breathing. I turned to Seventhirtyfour. “I can’t carry Pilvi out of here, not sure I can make it myself. Pilvi needs you.” I grabbed him by shoulder, tried to give it a shake. The Brontom hardly moved. “Snap out of it. Come on. I promise, if you can get her out of here, that’s all I ask.”

A siren sounded all around us.

Gravestone was shouting, an edge of panic in his voice. “Hauberk! Hauberk! Come on! Where are you!”

I could see a light back in Seventhirtyfour’s eyes, he frowned, looked at me for the first time. “Grey?” he croaked.

“Seventhirtyfour! We’re in trouble. Pilvi’s out, I can barely walk, let alone run, and I think this thing might be about to explode. We need to go. Now.”

He shook his head to clear it, then stooped to pick up Pilvi. “I’d try to carry you too,” he rumbled, “but I need you to lead. Don’t know the way out.”

“Okay, sure, but let’s get moving.”

We left, three survivors of a failed rescue attempt. Behind us, the monster that the man we came to rescue had become bellowed for his bodyguard.

We were in no shape to fight our way out of the caves, but for once luck broke our way. Half of the Vadram we saw were running towards the Ascension Chamber, the other half ran ahead of us towards the exit. Neither group seemed bothered by us. Not enough to try to stop us anyway.

Seventhirtyfour came back to his normal self with each step; which was a relief, because we hadn’t made it to Hydroponics before my ankle finally and totally gave out. Seventhirtyfour slung me over his shoulder and ran. All I could do was call directions and try not to get jostled off.

Up the last corridor to the exit, we were running with Vadram. They were talking in their own language, and while I didn’t get the words, I got the sense; they were in a panic. The siren still echoed through the tunnels, and a rumble from far behind us was building. Dust and grit rained down on us. Seventhirtyfour fought to keep his footing as the rock floor juddered.

“That machine is bringing the whole cave system down!” I yelled.

Seventhirtyfour just nodded and powered on.

There was an explosion, far behind us, down in the depths. The floor kicked us up, then vanished beneath us, sending us and the Vadram sprawling. I was thrown from Seventhirtyfour’s shoulder, but he managed to keep Pilvi secure, his lower arms holding her into his body, while he broke his fall with his upper arms.

“Go!” I yelled and pulled myself forward with my hands. I could see daylight ahead, we were almost out, but I could feel the entire cliff we were under shifting and re-balancing, the air pressure from behind rose, pushed us onwards as tunnels and caves were crushed flat.

In a last desperate heave, I pulled, kicked, threw myself forward, rolling sideways as a great gout of rock-dust exploded above me.

We were out.

But so were a few dozen Vadram, and it wouldn’t take them long to go from dazed and confused to looking for someone to blame, and we would be head of that queue.

Seventhirtyfour was there, covered in rock-dust, still cradling Pilvi to his chest. “Grey... Grey, where’s Sunbolt?”

I shook my head. Later. No time for grief now. “We can’t stay here. Can you carry me? We need to get to the car.”

He knew what me dodging the question meant. I could see it in his face. He said nothing though, just nodded, shifted his grip on Pilvi, and dragged me up as well.

He set off at a stumbling run. I could tell that Seventhirtyfour was exhausted. Already today he had taxed his psychic abilities to the limit, suffered migraines, a beating, and now I was pushing him again and again, draining his physical resources too. But I couldn’t help. Could only be a burden, now.

We circled the ridge; the car was just ahead. His pace slowed, his breathing more laboured. What he was doing was superhuman, pushing the limits even for a Brontom. He was amazing. Pilvi was amazing. She’d faced off against Gravestone, afraid, but determined. What she did was downright clever, using the machine as a bargaining chip to get us out of there. Sunbolt had been amazing, beaten off one monster, then sacrificed himself to protect people that he didn’t really like from another.

And I... had dragged my friends into danger, to rescue someone who not only didn’t need rescuing but was, in fact, the biggest single danger there. And my greatest contribution to the ensuing confrontation was being extra weight for Seventhirtyfour to carry.

The last few steps to the car were torture. But we got there.

I slid behind the controls. Sunbolt had driven us out here. My piloting experience was limited to lifters in space docks, so it wasn’t a smooth ride, but we made it back to town in one piece. I parked, badly, in the Med Centre car park, and Seventhirtyfour got me and Pilvi into the building.

# # #

The med tech was not happy to see me again.

This time she wanted to admit me, and restrain me, but I couldn’t let her do that. We compromised on a cast and a wheelchair. I promised that I didn’t want to walk anywhere right now. She told me in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t to even try walking for a fortnight. There was only so much osteo-stim could do.

In the meantime, they were getting Pilvi settled. The med tech dealing with her was a little more forgiving than my sparring partner. He gave us a running commentary as he worked. Her vitals were good, though her temperature and pulse were a little high.

“No sign of any physical trauma. How did you say this happened?”

“An energy discharge,” I told him, keeping the truth as simple as could be managed.

He hmm’ed. “I see some burning on the clothes, but there’s no discolouration of the skin, no scarring or puckering. Skin temp is a little elevated, but not much. What type of energy discharge?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” I kicked myself, I try never to say ‘honestly’ because it reminds people that the rest of what you said might not be true.

He hmm’ed again. “I need to check her neurological response.” He took a pen light from his pocket and flicked it on. He pulled back Pilvi’s left eyelid, then jumped back in surprise.

“Sorry, that was a shock. Her charts say she’s human,” he said, accusingly.

“She is!”

“Any cybernetics I should know about?”

“None,” I said.

“In which case, I need a consult from a colleague.” He pulled a curtain across Pilvi’s cubicle and pressed a button on the panel on the wall. A low continuous hum started, and I could see a shimmer in the air. “Stay clear of your friend for the moment. Since you can’t tell me what type of energy she was exposed to, I have to assume it was some kind of exo-tech. I can’t say for sure if it’s dangerous, but for your sake, better stay clear. Were either of you exposed?”

Seventhirtyfour and I shook our heads solemnly.

“Well, okay. But if you experience any odd symptoms at all, you let me or one of the nurses know immediately, understood? Okay, you’d better go back to the waiting room.”

“What did you see? What’s got you so worried?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Too early to make any kind of diagnosis. You boys go take a seat in the waiting room, we’ll make sure your friend is okay.”

I cast Seventhirtyfour a very quick glance. I caught a slight nod from him. “Thanks, Med Tech Naimon,” I said. “Could I trouble you for a push in the right direction, I’m afraid I haven’t mastered the chair yet.”

“Let me call an orderly for you,” he said and stepped out into the hall.

Seventhirtyfour quickly disengaged the quarantine lock, slipped through the curtain, and was back just in time to switch the quarantine on again before the Med Tech returned.

Seventhirtyfour was looking far too deliberately innocent; the med tech gave him a long look before saying, “So then, lads, the orderly is on the way, let me just move you to the hall.”

“Thanks for your help,” I replied.

He pushed me out into the corridor, Seventhirtyfour obediently followed.

Once the Med Tech left, I shuffled the chair around, so I could look straight up at Seventhirtyfour. “Okay, spill. What did you see, what was it that spooked the Med Tech so much?”

“Her eyes,” said Seventhirtyfour, “they were glowing, with a bright white light... just like...”

“Sunbolt.”

# # #

We retired to the waiting room. Seventhirtyfour folded himself into a chair, and I wheeled up beside him, intending to sit there and wait for news that Pilvi was okay. I sat, fidgeting, worried. Worried for Pilvi, but also worried about the wider situation.

I was trying to figure out what we had to do next. I needed to talk to Mrs. Gravane, but I was also worried about the Vadram. What would they do now that we’d taken down their leader, blown up their base and destroyed their Ascension Machine? I was all too sure that it was bad news for Nymanteles having a few dozen hostile, angry and abandoned alien warriors near to town. They might leave. If we were lucky. But their shuttle wasn’t big enough to evac them all.

Seventhirtyfour broke me out of my spin with a subdued rumble. “Tell me what happened to Sunbolt, Grey.”

I nodded. “In the fight he... how much did you get of what went down?”

“Not much,” he admitted. “My migraine blotted out most of it, except loud noises, high emotions...”

“Yeah. Sunbolt died. He was saving Pilvi and you from Gravane who... No. It’s too much. I need to start at the beginning to try and process it too. But in a moment. First. Yes. Sunbolt died a hero.”

“And it was Gravane who killed him? How did the guy we came to rescue end up, you know, like that?”

“Yeah. The full story, near as I can figure it: Kayda Buchanan encountered the Vadram who were trying to infiltrate Nymanteles. For reasons I’m not so clear on, instead of reporting this to the authorities, she put the Vadram in touch with Gravane. Gravane for his part saw the Vadram as his own power base to let him cut ties to his family, so took some of the family wealth and helped the Vadram set up that base.

“The machine in there that we blew up was called the Ascension Machine, and it gave Gravane, Hauberk, and I think Buchanan superpowers. The Vadram use it to augment themselves, the effects are less dramatic on them. On humans, it does something to the mind too... Hauberk was mentally... gone, and I think it affected Gravane too, although in a different way.”

“You think he was working with the Vadram because their machine drove him insane?”

“No. That would be a nice out. But, no, I think he was already all in with the Vadram long before he used the machine. But it did something to him. The more he used his powers, the less of a grip he seemed to have. The stronger he got, the less coherent. When he... blasted Sunbolt, he was pretty much mindlessly raving. And calling himself ‘Doctor Gravestone’.”

Seventhirtyfour took a long moment to process it all. Eventually, he said, “We’re out of our depth here, Grey. We need to talk to the authorities. We need to contact Captain Hawk.”

I nodded. “And Mrs. Gravane. I hate to leave Pilvi here alone, can you…?”

“Of course, Grey. I’ll call you immediately if there’s any news.”

I took the chair out of park and whirred away.

Time was of the essence, but I still didn’t want to make the call out where anyone could listen in. The hotel was a better choice, it was nearby, and the route flat enough to navigate in the chair. There was the matter of the open sky, but I wasn’t letting that stop me. I’d just survived a cave-in, if anything was going to cure me of the need to be under a roof, you’d think that would be it.

Sadly not. I still needed to close my eyes and push the control stick forward to get the chair through the front door. One day, one day.

It was full dark now. Late in the evening, but there were a few people on the streets, heading home or heading out. Lady Jane’s mail shuttle roared overhead, coming in for a hard landing, it all seemed so normal. I hoped it could stay that way, but if the Vadram decided to take out their frustrations here, then it could all change very quickly.

I had to decide what order to make my calls in. The most important was notifying the local police that there might be trouble, but on reflection, they’d have little reason to believe me. Oh, I could bring them around, a few choice words in the right places, but that would take time and I needed to get them mobilised fast. That required some proper heavyweight clout. Fortunately, I knew just where to find some, though it meant making the hardest call first.

I keyed in Mrs. Gravane’s comm code.

I saw her greeting die on her face as she saw my expression. “You have news. And it isn’t good,” she said instead.

So, I told her everything. My first instinct had been to soften the blow, a few white lies to ease her mind, but I’d lied to her often enough, she would have known. And she deserved the truth.

She sat quietly like stone through my recap of events, and all that had happened to her son. When at last I had run out of story and breath, she nodded once, calmly to acknowledge the telling. Her expression was fixed, closed, but I could see a reddening of her eyes as she fought tears.

“You do not...” her voice cracked “... know if my son is dead for sure?”

“No, ma’am. I don’t think it’s false hope to suggest he could have survived the explosion and cave-in. I can’t say what state he will be in mentally, he... was having problems, towards the end.”

“Nevertheless, I must thank you, Mr. Grey, it is more information than my investigators brought me. Though many of them were associated with Mr. Hauberk, and I do wonder if there were divided loyalties fuelling their reports.”

I said nothing. I’d wondered the same thing. Finding Gravane hadn’t been that hard.

“We have more immediate concerns though?”

“I’m afraid so, Mrs. Gravane. The Vadram...”

“Quite so. I will speak to the Councillor for Nymanteles immediately and have him report to you.”

“I... that’s not what I was asking for. I need them to be warned, just in case...”

“Mr. Grey, if the threat is real, I need to know somebody capable is on hand to deal with it. With the greatest respect to the locals, they’ve done nothing about the Vadram before now. Whereas you have scored a victory.”

“Not a victory. Not that. Sunbolt. Pilvi. Even your son. Not a victory, Mrs. Gravane.”

“It was not a triumph, granted, but it was still a victory. You made it in and extracted your team with useful intelligence. You know more about the Vadram than anybody else on that world, it seems to me. You are a known quantity, Mr. Grey, and I have good reason to respect your competence. I can think of nobody better suited to lead in the event that tensions escalate. Stand proud. We are Gravane.”

“I...”

“Still, it is probably best I arrange reinforcements for you. I have some mercenaries nearby. They won’t be able to reach you for a few days, but if things do turn badly, you will no doubt need them.”

My head spun. What must it be like to have the level of wealth that could conjure up a military resource at need? I still didn’t think I was the right choice to lead, but with a bit of luck, the local police would refuse to defer to me anyway. “Thank you.”

“Well then, we had both better get to our duties.”

“Yes. Mrs. Gravane?”

She quirked an eyebrow.

“I... just want to say again how sorry I am about your son.”

“It is not a situation of your making. There will be time to grieve later if grief is called for. But duty first. And... if you do see him again. Try to bring him home, if you can.”

“I promise.”

She ended the call.

What were my duties? The first thing I needed to know: were the Vadram coming to take their frustrations out on us? If they were just going to sit back and mourn their losses, problem solved. That would be nice. I needed intelligence, and I knew just the pilot to get it. I needed to get to Lady Jane at the spaceport and persuade her to do a flyby.

I backed the chair up to the hotel room door, leaned back to open it.

And standing on the other side were Gadget Dude, Dez and Avrim.