Part 14 (1/2)

”Maintain control of that elevator,” Hale replied as projectiles pinged the modules around him, ”but find cover. It won't be long before they attack you as well. Over.”

Hale heard two clicks as Kawecki acknowledged the order. Yorba was using the heat-activated reticle to find targets and fire through through the module he was hiding in. Striking up a rhythm, he began to destroy the drones with machinelike efficiency. Some of them exploded, strobing the big room with momentary light, while others crashed into storage units, cargo modules, and the floor below. the module he was hiding in. Striking up a rhythm, he began to destroy the drones with machinelike efficiency. Some of them exploded, strobing the big room with momentary light, while others crashed into storage units, cargo modules, and the floor below.

Hale managed to bag a couple of Patrol Drones with well-placed shots from the Marksman. Then the battle was over, and an uncanny silence spread through the room.

Barrie was the first one who crawled out into the open. ”Come on,” she said. ”I don't think the cores are stored on this level, but we need to make sure, and the clock is running.”

Hale gestured, and the team followed her over to the vertical storage units, where the inventory continued. It took about ten minutes to check the rest of the shelves and confirm what she had predicted. ”The fuel cores are located somewhere else,” she announced. ”Probably on a lower level. We need to get back on the elevator.”

Kawecki and Pardo were waiting for them by the time the rest of the group arrived. They gathered together, and Gaines took the controls.

”Check your weapons,” Hale said grimly, as the platform began to drop. ”Because if there are a bunch of stinks on the next level down, they sure as h.e.l.l know we're coming.”

But once again there were no Chimera waiting to shoot at them. The only illumination came from regularly s.p.a.ced pools of light, and they could see that this room was quite different from the one above.

The floor consisted of gratings that crisscrossed a large open s.p.a.ce. Below them, and located to either side, a maze of large storage chambers could be seen. They were open to each other and filled with what looked like water. Vertical boxes occupied each chamber, some of which were empty, and others of which contained cylindrical objects.

Above the storage chambers a system of rails could be seen, along with the chain hoists that rode them, and could be positioned anywhere in the room.

”This is it!” Barrie said excitedly, as the platform came to a stop. ”They store the fuel rods in those water-filled chambers in order to keep them cool.” From what Hale could see, it looked as if the rods came in several different sizes.

Barrie was gone after that, and he had to jog to keep up with the scientist as she hurried out onto one of the walkways. Kawecki and Yorba remained behind to guard the elevator. Gaines and Pardo followed Hale.

”There!” Barrie proclaimed, as she came to a halt. ”See the smaller ones? That's what we want.”

Hale followed her pointing finger down to a section of storage silos and saw that roughly half of them were filled with silvery canisters. Each was about the size of a standard oxygen tank. That meant they were larger than he would have liked, and no doubt heavier as well, which explained the need for chain hoists.

”It's my guess that the actual fuel rods are about the same diameter as a milk bottle,” Barrie said, ”and twice as long. Each canister probably contains three or four of them, all protected by a steel cylinder and at least three inches of s.h.i.+elding. Inside, nestled between them, is some form of neutron absorber. What we need to do is jerk one of them out of there, load it into one of the s.h.i.+pping containers stacked against the far wall, and take it up to the roof.”

Hale met her eyes.

”Is that all? For a minute there I thought the process might get complicated.”

Barrie's eyes narrowed.

”The clock is running, Hale ... Shouldn't we get going?”

”All right,” he conceded, turning to Gaines. ”Go get one of those chain hoists and slide it over here. Pardo, jump down there, and get ready for the hookup.”

”Gotcha, Lieutenant,” Pardo responded as he laid his weapon on the grating. ”We'll jerk that thing outta there in no time at all,” he said confidently.

The Fury lived in the ever present now.

It didn't think, not the way humans do, nor did it have a need to. Because its purpose was simple-to execute a carefully prescribed set of activities which, when combined with the functions carried out by other Chimera, would enable the virus that had created them all to conquer the planet.

Any planet. planet.

In this circ.u.mstance it meant living where the Fury was designed to live, in a body of water that it considered its own, defending it against anything not Chimeran. So when the not-Chimera appeared on the gratings above, the Fury could hear their discordant speech-sounds, and followed them to a point it knew as a unique water-taste.

Stealth came naturally to the Fury and it propelled itself through the water with its flexible tail, making barely a ripple as it swam through the shadowy depths.

The chain hoist ran along a rail, and made a loud rattling sound as Gaines towed it into place. Then, having positioned it directly above Pardo, he lowered a pair of cargo hooks.

Pardo took control of them and bent to make the necessary connections. Gaines, who was watching from above, took hold of the control unit that dangled from the hoist. The moment he touched a delta-shaped b.u.t.ton a loud whine was heard, chains rattled again, and the canister began to rise.

Pardo was crouched down, waiting for the canister to clear the surface, when a pincer shot up out of the water to grab his throat. His features contorted, and he made a horrible gargling sound as both hands went to the sinewy arm that held him.

As soon as he saw what was happening, Hale opened fire. Gouts of water jumped into the air as the projectiles sought their target, but the creature was extremely tough. Barrie's Bullseye was slung across her back, and she couldn't fire the Reapers without spraying Pardo, so she looked as if she was about to jump down when Hale beat her to it.

The thing was pulling Pardo under by that time, and as Hale landed on the concrete chamber wall, he drew the .44 Magnum in a last-ditch attempt to save the Sentinel. The two-handed grip came naturally but the pistol was still difficult to control due to its ma.s.sive recoil. He put all six of the explosive rounds into the Chimera's brown sea lion-sized body.

There was blood in the water, lots lots of it, as what remained of Pardo floated to the surface. He arrived belly-up, and when Hale saw that the Sentinel's face was missing, he triggered the revolver's secondary-fire mode. That detonated all five of the bullets that were buried in the monster's muscular body and blew it in half. A series of closely overlapping of it, as what remained of Pardo floated to the surface. He arrived belly-up, and when Hale saw that the Sentinel's face was missing, he triggered the revolver's secondary-fire mode. That detonated all five of the bullets that were buried in the monster's muscular body and blew it in half. A series of closely overlapping thuds thuds were heard, the water heaved, and chunks of raw meat boiled to the surface. were heard, the water heaved, and chunks of raw meat boiled to the surface.

The kill brought Hale no pleasure as he emptied the revolver's spent casings into the water, replaced them via one of the two speed loaders that he carried on his belt, and flipped the cylinder closed. The handgun went back into the cross-draw holster.

The canister had cleared the walkway by then, and as Gaines towed it toward the elevator, Barrie knelt on the grating.

”I'm sorry,” she said softly, ”but we have to go.”

”Yeah,” Hale replied. ”I know.”

Then, as he'd been forced to do so many times before, he had to leave a fallen comrade where he was. Adrift in a cooling tank, his face gone, and no longer recognizable as human.

By the time he and Barrie arrived at the elevator, Kawecki, Yorba, and Gaines had already dropped the canister into a rolling cargo module. It was equipped with both a cradle and clamps to hold the cylinder in place. Once the lid had been closed and secured, all they had to do was transport the module to the roof. And that, based on the earlier battle, was where Hale figured the team would run into trouble.

More than an hour had elapsed, which meant Chimeran reinforcements were on the way, or had already arrived.

So as the elevator began to rise, there was a series of clicks, clacking sounds, and a loud whine as Hale slipped a full magazine into what had been Pardo's Bullseye. While the Marksman was ideal for some tasks, a free-for-all melee wasn't one of them.

No sooner had that thought pa.s.sed though Hale's mind than he heard a chorus of guttural growls, screeches of rage, and incomprehensible stink-speech, and an army of Hybrids rushed the humans. Someone, or something, had released them from their vertical coffinlike storage tubes, and the air was thick with their rank odor as dozens of the raging beasts surged forward.

Fortunately, none of them was armed, but the strength of their charge was sufficient to instantly put six of the hideous creatures on the platform, where one threw itself at Gaines. The Sentinel fired through through the Hybrid's abdomen, thereby killing the stink immediately behind it in the process, but not before the Chimera managed to sink its fangs into his throat. Bright red blood sprayed the surface of the elevator as Gaines went down, his neck ripped open, his eyes already gla.s.sy in death. the Hybrid's abdomen, thereby killing the stink immediately behind it in the process, but not before the Chimera managed to sink its fangs into his throat. Bright red blood sprayed the surface of the elevator as Gaines went down, his neck ripped open, his eyes already gla.s.sy in death.

Meanwhile, the platform continued to rise and Hale, Kawecki, Yorba, and Barrie poured automatic weapons fire into the ravening horde from point-blank range. The mad chatter of their weapons, combined with the screams of dying Hybrids, created a cacophony of sound.

Having emptied her Bullseye, Barrie drew both Reapers and fired them into the mob. Chimera fell like wheat before a combine, their bodies effectively blocking the beasts behind them while the elevator made its way upward.

Hale lobbed two grenades into the crowd just before it disappeared from sight, heard two slightly m.u.f.fled explosions, and took pleasure in the knowledge that another half-dozen Chimera were dead.

But then the body-strewn platform delivered the team and their hard-won prize onto the building's flat roof. The AA batteries were still operational, and even though there were fewer brids than there had been before, those that remained began firing on the elevator as soon as it surfaced.

The closest Chimera were only a dozen feet away, and scored hits on both Kawecki and Yorba, but they were unable to put either Sentinel down before being killed themselves. That gave the humans control of one AA gun and the northwest corner of the roof. Though wounded, Kawecki and Yorba were still functional, and already starting to heal as they took cover behind the gun mount and s.h.i.+eld.