42
Above Dragon Park
The route to the surface was a little more direct than Khan was expecting, but Lieutenant Day had a simple explanation.
‘We’re checking off another box, Khoffi. Don’t fret.’
Khan pressed his right hand against the roof above his head and held Day’s knee with the other—there was nothing else to grab a hold of. Day did not appear to mind: he was more interested in pointing the index finger of his right-hand flightcontrolskin through the forward window—and in keeping it steady.
Ahead of them, a long way down, and drawing a vertical line through the centre of the cockpit, was the outward, curving delta of Dragon Park. To their left, to port, was the sea. On the landward side, to starboard, was the lush green, red and brown forest, hemmed in by a low mountain range that the 3-D bench showed to curve inland in a 1000 kilometre arc, from one end of the swampy shoreline to the other. Etched into the park were hundreds of rivers that merged like giant fans to form the park’s three giant rivers that snaked their way into the delta and then broke up again as they made their way to the coast. Unseen beneath the lush greenery were the thousands of streams that cut their way down from the mountains to keep the rivers at full flow throughout the year.
Somewhere off to starboard would be Welwyn, nestling at the foot of the mountains, half way around the arc. And somewhere else below them were Goosen and Bing.
‘Thirty seconds of this, Khoffi, and we’ll be flying all upright and proper-like.’
Khan tried breathing. He had to remember to do that. But with the surface screaming towards him at 1500 kilometres an hour it was hard. He distracted himself with a question.
‘Why is the sky sparkling, Alf? We’ve finished with re-entry, right?’
‘Oh, that’s the heat sink. I won’t bore you with the technicals, but we’re in stealth mode.’ Day pointed through the window. ‘This is only visible close up, and never to scanners. The heat’s being dumped a long way back. Don’t ask me how.’
Khoffi decided the time would pass a lot quicker if he were to close his eyes.
‘Oh-oh,’ Day muttered to himself.
At first, Khan refused to admit that the Englishman had mumbled something of a warning, but curiosity got the better of him. He opened one eye and looked across.
Day tapped the forefinger of his left hand twice with his thumb.
‘It’s a signal ...’ he muttered. A map display appeared low in the cockpit. He then tapped the end of his thumb against the end of his middle finger. A red ripple emerged in dead centre. A transponder code appeared. ‘There it is.’
Khan tried leaning forward in his seat to take a closer look, but the G-force was too strong.
‘Willowleaf to Elfwist, do you hear this?’ Day asked over the radio.
The reception was a little rough, but Day recognised Bales’ voice. It was the first time they had spoken to each other since leaving the starflyer behind some 30 minutes ago.
‘Elfwist, yes we do. It’s putting out a standard emergency pulse. It’s ours.’
Day applied the airbrakes and began to level out along a river.
‘Looks like it’ll be a short mission, Khoffi. We just need to alter course a fraction and we’ll be overflying it in around two.’
They made their approach from the seaward end of the park, passing over several small clearings, virtually all of them characterised by rocky outcrops topped off by small concrete structures.
‘Early-day settlements, mostly. They’re all marked and they’re all abandoned.’ Day was pointing to a small overhead display showing a map he had called up from the PC’s general memory. ‘This thing is a little out of date,’ he added, leaning forward to read the bottom of the screen. ‘By five years, actually. The Asians don’t pay for anything they don’t need. This one is mine. I downloaded it from Maps R Us. But it’ll do. It’s a park. It won’t have changed by much.’
Day took the Furtive up a little and started to bank tightly to starboard.
‘It’s close. You’ll see it out your side, Khoffi. Directly below.’
‘It’s a clearing, Alf,’ Khan noted. ‘And another settlement. There’s an aircraft of some kind. Two actually.’
Day stretched across to get a look for himself and then up at the map.
‘“Peebles Farm”. It’s marked as abandoned. Any white handkerchiefs?’
‘No, nothing.’
Day banked more steeply. He saw a Roland Assault Vehicle on the flat roof. Scat had warned him there might be a couple. It was taking off.
‘Willowleaf to Elfwist—break, break, break!’ He paused for a few seconds as he threw the Furtive into a steep dive that took it past the settlement at roof height. ‘Hold off for a bit. We’ll draw it away. You then slip in and take a closer look.’
‘Roger that, Willowleaf. Enjoy!’
Day turned to Khan and beamed a huge and genuine smile.
‘The barf bag is under your seat, Khoffi. I’d get it now if I were you.’
43
A sudden and violent pressure wave hit the tree.
Goosen almost fell. Bing instinctively gripped the branch with his arms and legs, but still he slipped all the way around it, to hang there facing its underside.
Then there was the roar of an engine at full-stretch and a blur of silver as something streaked past, sucking leaves free from the trees in its wake. The water behind it exploded in a continuous line, racing to catch it. An indescribable and deafening noise followed, more violent than the first. Behind that, there was a streak of green light—was it light?—accompanied by a more forceful pressure wave and a loud thunderclap as air rushed in to fill the void behind it.
This time Bing was snatched away, landing in the water a few yards away. He went under, but quickly stood back up, spinning around, wondering which way he was supposed to look.
Goosen looked upriver. The aircraft were gone. He was not even sure he had seen anything. He looked back down at the water. The dino-crocs cum komodos were swimming off. Some were already clawing their way up the far bank.
‘What in heavens’ name was that?’ Bing shouted.
Goosen stared back upriver. He broke off to glance at Rolf. He was still there, still semi-conscious. He looked back down at Bing.
‘I haven’t a blooming clue. But we may not be on our own any more.’
Goosen then remembered he was carrying the shuttle’s transponder. This was their chance. He reached into his pocket. He fished around in the other pocket. He checked his side pocket, although he was sure he had put it in his hip pocket.
It was gone.
He looked at his graf. It was water-logged.
‘I’ve got to go on that walk-about, Bing. Somehow we’ve to let Scat know we’re here. Do you promise not to squeeze the life out of this one while I’m gone?’
Bing nodded enthusiastically, pulling at the air above his head with his fingers, beckoning Goosen closer. He wanted out of the water.
‘I promise. Help me up.’
44
River Line
Cummings led from the front, this time clad in rad-glass armour on both the front and back of his legs.
Sparks and two of the Farm security detail kept close to the forest, none of them wanting to step deeper into the river, or to walk under the canopy. Franks stuck close to Cummings, eager to impress. All of them kept one eye on the long, thrashing tails along the far river line, and another on the now quiet forest.
Progress was slow, the wading uncomfortable. Sparks’ head swivelled from forest to far bank. The two Farm guards looked out of place in their local environment: it was obvious they had never set foot outside of the bunker.
There was a cracking over the net. It died away. Then it burst back into life with a series of loud, halting announcements. Muldrow was screaming over the net. An ISRA-coded interceptor was on his tail. What the hell was going on?
Cummings had no clue. He just recalled Petroff saying that he didn’t trus
t their regulator any more. Maybe he was right. What the hell was going on?
Muldrow’s Roland screeched towards them from downriver. Behind him was a huge and moving fountain of water, driven on by vast amounts of solid shot. In no time, Muldrow flashed past inside an envelope of hot air that threatened to knock them over. A second later a brilliant bead of green light shot past.
Cummings craned his neck to follow the two streaks as they raced up river, only to lose sight of Muldrow as he pulled tightly to starboard to cross the forest. The green blur shot upwards into a steep climb.
Standing out in the open, Cummings mobilised the air rescue helicopter. He then called the company head office in Welwyn and dropped the bombshell that ISRA was chasing one of his assault vehicles. As they mulled that over, he cut the link and put a call through to Welwyn’s spaceport.
He ordered the second Roland airborne.
45
Forest Edge, Dragon Park
‘It’s clear, Elfwist. In you go,’ Day said. ‘We’ll suppress the compound for you.’
‘Roger, Willowleaf,’ Bales replied. He took a quick glance at a white-faced Smithy and shook his head. ‘How’s your passenger holding up? Mine’s all over the place.’
There was a short delay as Day prodded Khan’s limp figure.
‘’bout the same, Todd. Try pinching your chap’s cheeks before you land. He’ll need his wits about him.’
Inside the Elfwist, Smithy wiped his chin.
‘I’m OK, Todd. Just a little woozy. I’ll be fine.’ He threw up again. ‘Really. I’ll be OK. I think I ate a dodgy prawn, that’s all.’
‘OK, then,’ Bales replied, yanking the Furtive over to starboard. ‘We’ll make a first pass along the wood line. Keep a look out.’
They exited the river line and shot across a small area of open ground. The small rocky outcrop lay on their left, the edge of the forest to their right. The forest arced in a semicircle around the outcrop until it met the river again on the far side. Smithy barely had time to turn his head before they were flying over the forest again.
‘Anything?’ Bales asked.
‘Anything, what? Was that it?’
‘We’ll try again. This time I’ll look.’ Bales swung the Furtive around and retraced their path around the clearing.
‘Nope. Nothing.’ Bales looked at the heads-up display. ‘It’s still transmitting. Perhaps they aren’t sure about us. They’re staying inside the wood line.’
He spoke to Day. They agreed Bales should touch down, show a face.
High above, Day began laying lines of PIKL fire across the compound’s roof.
‘We’re going in, Smithy. As I touch down, you head on out and take peek. They might recognise you. One minute only. I’m out of here after 60 seconds.’
Bales took it a little easier now that Smithy was out of his seat and still struggling to co-ordinate his limbs. He brought them in to face the rocky outcrop, the rear door facing the forest. Smithy tumbled over the rear seats and knelt on all fours in the small space by the rear door.
‘Any second now, Smithy ...’